True colors and updates

 Tuffy is starting to show his true color

Around the eyes is the first place to show grey. 

He has his mama's pretty face too

His muzzle is greying too. It will be fun to see his changes over time. 

He continues to be adorable and fun. 

He prefers to get in the trailer without his mama, she takes up a lot of room. 

Tuffy, however, is huge! He is now over 48 inches at the hip- over 12 hh now. 

 Now for the update....

Anyone recognize this mare?

That is Midnight Mesa, with her first foal! The sire is a very well bred reiner, and that little colt looks the part. 

Mesa sure looks like Beamer now that she has matured. One of the reasons I sold her was that she looked too small for me, but she sure has chunked up and I wouldn't hesitate to ride her. 

I came up with names for the colt I am buying, his barn name will be Leo ( of course) and his registered name will be DLH Jetaway Leo.  They haven't handled him much yet, so he will likely be a blank slate for me in September. We are pulling hair for his DNA test including color, but I am pretty sure he will be sorrel and not palomino. If you look around his eyes, that dark red is starting to show his true color. 

I do love me a bright sorrel horse!

Dally update

 Today was Dally's ultrasound to see if she is in foal. 

That look in her eye... just like Beamer

And yes that is a confirmed pregnancy ! Now, I have no idea how to interpret an ultrasound but I sure would like to learn.

I got another photo of the Leo colt sent to me

He sure is put together nice. I am still struggling to find a registered name for him. I will be going to see him by the end of the month, so hopefully one of the names I am mulling over will stand out for me when I see him next. 

Several firsts

 The first "first" is not one I wanted to see. Tuffy managed to get an owwy. He had bright blood on his pastern; a small tear from who knows what. I rinsed it ( blood still flowing) and applied Schreiners solution and once the blood slowed down, put Manuka honey on it. 

If you dont like to see wound photos skip the next image.  But I do post them here for easy reference for me. 

No idea what he snagged it on. 

Second first: This morning's session was an introduction to the horse trailer.  First he had to be led beside his mama, which went quite well. Led them out of their familiar pen, then into the round pen where I turned them loose while I went to get the ration for Happy. I do like to lead them beside their mama when they are going to a strange environment. The round pen is all grass, no sand, so they enjoyed grazing. 

I set the feed tub on the pallet bridge wanting Tuffy to be ok with new objects and hopefully put a foot on it. Bonus- he has started to eat  with mama, which is Purina's mare/foal ration. He loves it, whereas he wouldn't eat the Step I  for mares and foals. I think it is a bit softer. 

He didn't see the point of stepping on it...

Next up, the third 1st. 

Since they had eaten the feed I tossed the tub in the trailer, which I had set up the night before the same way I did for Rally. 

Led Tuffy up to the trailer so he could investigate. 

Protective mama

Let me go first, son, to see if it is safe...

Mama says, it is

Tuffy: Ok, if you say so

At this point, Happy went all the way in to check on that feed tub, so I stepped out in case she tried to turn around to get out. 

I turned Tuffy loose then and wanted to see what he would do. I was content with the lesson that he had put one foot in the trailer and was about to call it a day.

Tuffy however, wasn't done. I love the curiosity of this colt. I once heard Richard Shrake saying that curiosity in a colt is a sign of intelligence, and it stuck with me. Seems to be true. 

What's this all about? 

Mom went in so it must be ok....

It made a funny noise! 

Well not much to see in here!

Let's see, how to get down....

Nothin' to it!

I finally got his dna panel test results as well as his registration completed. He is officially Jess Tuff Enuff, and is 6 panel clean. 

I may yet do the roan test on him, but there is no need to test for grey as it is clearly seen coming in around his eyes. 

So I can now catch him anywhere- out in the field, in the barn or shelter, no problems. I think he expects it every time he sees me. I will give him a few days to heal up before I mess with his feet again, don't want him to associate picking up his feet with pain; but he is doing very well with allowing me to put the foot down instead of pulling it away. 

What a good colt!!!

A Day In The Life Of Tuffy

 The mornings are peaceful, every morning they are laying down, sometimes with one standing guard but not today. 

Then it is chow time....

The pastures are amazing right now with all the rain we continue to have. 

While the mares get fed, Tuffy gets haltered for his daily lesson. Progress report: leads well, lets me pick up his feet and place them on the ground myself, and is learning to go past me on the lead line (precursor to many things like lunging, trailer loading, obstacles etc.) When I hold a bit of pressure on the lead rope, he thinks about it for a moment then steps forward, precursor to standing tied. 

Then back out on the pasture to find the tallest grass so he doesn't have to bend those long legs so much. 

Walking is fine, but....

zooming is more fun!

It is always better to see if one can get in trouble.... (those ears tell the tale!)

Trouble found! 

Of course, if I am in the pasture it means obligatory rump skritches!

 

Poor Velvet, she  puts up with a lot of pestering from him but she is a very good nanny and never reprimands him. 

She just walks away and hopes he finds another distraction. 

One can scratch oneself...

Or get a little help from a friend. 

He hunts me down, knowing that I will give him lots of attention. 

I love this colt,  he has the best personality and is so very easy to work with. At 5 weeks old today, I am so pleased with his progress and he sure is easy to look at! 

So....I did a thing....

 With the help of my husband, who always supports my crazy horse dreams.

You will recall that last year, I bred Gussie to a palomino stallion who carried a lot of Leo blood (my favorite) and although she checked in foal, she didn't carry  it long. 

I had the option of buying a stud colt by that stallion instead of breeding back to him. The lady who had the stallion had a mare in foal to the Leo stud, and since she threw a colt and not the filly she wanted, she offered him to me. 

Ted and I went to see him today, and since I couldn't fault the colt, we are buying him.

Photos taken today at a week old. Good bone, straight legs and a cute head. 

His dam is a granddaughter of the great Easy Jet. 

The next photos were when he was just a day old. 

Such unique markings! We aren't sure yet if he will be palomino, so are sending in for a dna color test to be sure. 

He will be great company for Tuffy once we bring him home in September!

Mission accomplished

 Yesterday, while his mama had her ration out in the pen instead of in the barn, Tuffy decided to stay in the barn. So I caught him in there and asked him for a few steps each direction. He was a bit uncertain because he couldn't see his mama, but trusted me enough that he complied.  I only gave it about a minute, that was enough. 

Today, I closed up the barn and while the mares had their breakfast, I walked up to Tuffy and caught him. 

No problem!

Leading was also no problem. 

Tuffy will be a month old on Monday. We will continue daily catching and short walks and start introducing him to thing that make him aware of where his feet are, like poles, and soon a tarp and the pallet platform.

Good boy, Tuffy! 

I am a good boy!

The rain has stopped; we got 3 and an eighth inches in a day and a half. Much needed! Some areas in southern Alberta got over 8 inches in that time frame. 

In other news, Dally came in heat and they started breeding her yesterday, June 2nd.  She should be ready to come home middle of next week. 

Walk with me, Tuffy

 I think it is about 10 days into our short halter lessons. Over that span Tuffy did really well, building on each lesson without resistance; I think only twice he walked away from me when I went to catch him, but it was only a few steps. For the last week I have been able to walk up to him and halter him right away. He is a very smart and willing colt. There were a couple of days where I helped him understand to move his hip over by touching his hip while I brought his head around but by the third time he understood. Then we progressed to asking for 1 step forward, reverting to a sidweays step as needed. The next day I asked him to follow me forward, and he did, a bit hesitant at first. And then today.....

Success!  Next will be catching and leading him when he's out in the foaling pen and not in the confines of the barn. 

We have heavy rains right now so that may be a couple of days away yet, but I am sure happy with his progress, and his willingness. 

Here are some photos from before the rain hit

The trouble with being an only foal is he doesn't have anyone to pester except the mares! And Thumper, who was no fun at all and just walked away. 

 

It is possible that my working with him replaces not having another foal to play with and learn horse stuff. 

Tuffy spends a lot of time away from his mama; she can be way down in the bottom pasture, and he will be up by the barn with his babysitter Velvet, and Happy seems quite content with that arrangement. 

She is very patient with him and enjoys his company, with minimal reprimanding due to his antics. What a wonderful mare she is.