Stupid wind!

What to do on a cold and windy day? First, I'm glad we aren't getting the bitter cold wind chills that my friends in Saskatchewan are battling! Sure hope this Arctic Vortex thingy turns around and marches right back to the North Pole!
My plan was to haul to the indoor arena today, but I didn't want to be outside at all and I'm sure the horses would have been edgy and not much fun to ride, so..... I just spent extra time with the puppies! They are 4 weeks old today, and starting to develop their personalities.

Looks like Chase and Quinn are debating whether to chew the toy, or try it on for size!

Shayla is having fun tickling their tummies:

and getting lots of cuddle time in- gotta enjoy them while they are still here, they will too soon be gone.

Everybody say "awwww!"

I introduced them to drinking water for the first time today. I'm pretty sure Tess doesn't produce enough milk for them now, they are getting big and growing so quickly now that they are on mash. Their teeth and claws are pretty sharp too, her belly looks like a battle zone!

What do well fed, happy pups do most of? They become huddleuppies!

Well the wind is shaking our home, the wood stove can't keep up so the furnace is on, and it's time for me to huddle up into my blankets!
Stay safe and warm everyone!

Nitro update

That was quite the moon and star combination the other day, not sure what that planet is but it sure was pretty first thing in the morning.

I have a Nitro update for you! Shayla has been trmming his feet, and she took these photos of him yesterday.

He is just. gorgeous! He sure looks like Beamer in this photo.... and in the next photo, he shows that he's got some of daddy's moves too!

What a hip on this horse!
It looks like Shayla is going to get the job of training him- that's awesome! Also, some great news; Shayla will be heading to California to intern with a well known cowhorse trainer for 6 months. More news on that once she is there! There is a possibility that Nitro will travel down there too, it is still in the planning stage. At any rate, his training will start next month- after he's gelded. As you can see, he is kinda full of himself right now!

Puppies! (again)

The pups are pretty active now so it is time to introduce toys; the first one is a simple piece of knotted rope. They seemed to like it so tonight I went and got them a couple of rubber toys to chew on- hopefully they will prefer them to chewing their bedding!

Wordless Wednesday

Getting loaded

No, not with beverages!
It is high time miss Josie learned to load in the trailer.
Shayla gave me a hand, (so I could take photos!)
We wanted this to be a good experience, considering that the only time she has ever been in a trailer was when we weaned her and hauled her 5 hours to her new home here. So we took our time. The first day, we were happy with just consistently loading her head and neck.

Of course, she did test her limits.....

Overall, the first lesson went very well. 

The next day, we picked up where we left off, but added a little more pressure with me clucking to her from behind; every time she even thought about lifting a foot she was rewarded with release of pressure. Within minutes, she hopped right in; I had thought she would just load one foot at a time, but she went in all the way.  Please ignore the frozen poo in the trailer! Need warmer weather to clean it out.

And looked quite proud of herself too.

She unloaded like a pro too, no hesitation.

She will get loaded a few more times this week, and once spring hits I'll take her for a few little rides. I think it's a good idea to teach colts to load before you need to; in our case since we live on a potential flood plain you never know when you have to load up in a hurry.

Pupdate: Roper

The folks who are taking Roper wanted an update; he is the biggest pup, but not a bully, he loves his puppy mash and eats longer than the other pups, and he is just pretty darn cute as you can see in this video:

Just for a change...

from puppy cuteness and frolicking horses- this blog has gone to the birds today!
We are in a state of flux here, the winter birds have moved on and the spring birds are trickling in. The other morning I was serenaded  by Red-Winged Blackbirds as I fed the horses, and the geese are everywhere.

My favourite though, is the resident barn owls. I did a photo shoot of them the other day, and as usual, they were perched in the rafters.

One of them took flight, and I was blessed to be able to get some more photos.

Did you know that the flight of a Barn Owl is soundless unless their wings are wet?

The youngsters

The pups are doing a good job of staving off the February blahs for me. It's that time of year when spring is so close you can almost taste it; the red-winged black birds are back, the gold finches have left for who-knows-where; the ravens are courting; the horses are shedding like crazy, every snowfall lasts only a day before melting away, the geese are back, and it's still too dang slippery to ride on the roads and fields. So I amuse myself with puppy watching.

That's Chase on the bottom, with Quinn and Tag.

Little Nick made his way to the top of this heap, and that's his sister- who now sports the name of Belle- under his chin.
Their eyes all have a bluish cast to them at the moment, but that will change as they get older. They are 3 weeks old now, and it's time I moved them from the house to the shop where we have a whelping pen set up in a heated room. Tess won't be too happy about that, as it will keep her out of the house where she thinks she belongs, but she'll just have to deal with it. By 2 weeks from now, she will only be feeding them a few times a day; I'll start them on mash this weekend.

Josie will soon be a year old- March 19th only a month away! I took some photos of her yesterday, she is so photogenic and seems to have her daddy's love of performing for the camera.

She is pretty rapid, can out run Rio- but then, I've never seen him really open up, I bet he could fly if he put his heart into it.

 Caught Josie doing that extended floating trot that we are so used to seeing Rio do; little miss seems to be saying "anything Rio can do, I can do better!"

 She is going to be a lot of fun over the next few years! I must confess, I'm partial to mares, so I am pretty happy to have this filly to play with.

Just had to include a Beamer photo too- can't leave Mr. Handsome out! He had just had his snow bath- and he needed it, you should see the dirty snow angel he left behind!

He is looking a little chubby, time to get riding him soon.

Wordless Wednesday

Another puppy video

I am honoured....

I got a lovely surprise in the mail today! A pair of lovely hand woven kitchen towels from the loom of Lisa at South View Farm.

I have never had hand woven towels before, these are so soft and nice that I am reluctant to use them for a while, I just want to display them!
Thank you, Lisa, I appreciate the time and effort you put into making these.

Wordless Wednesday (sort of)

Plans for Beamer

As most of you know, I sold my broodmare and riding mare last year. That leaves Beamer without any "ladies" to court this year, so for the first time, I will be standing him to the public.

Contain yourself, Beamer- there are a lot of details to work out first!

The reason I have never really pursued this before, is because dealing with the public is a P.I.T.A. 

Another reason is that there is a limited market in this area, as I will only stand him to registered QH mares- and they have to be decent mares, nothing with bad conformation or nasty disposition. There are a couple of stallions in this area that have been here longer than I have and they pretty well have the client list taken, so I am working on sending him to Alberta to stand at a friend's place- the person who bought Chickory and Coyote Belle. He has a marvellous place, and knows his way around breeding contracts and mare owners. 

My first task will be to get the 5-panel test for genetic disease done, and once I get the results back (he won't have any problem coming up negative for all 5 ) I can load him up and head over there.

Hang on Beamer, we ain't leaving yet!

We put it out feelers on Facebook, and had a lot of interest with 3 people lined up to bring their mares already, so it looks good for the boy over there. 

Yes, Beamer, I'm sure they will find you good looking!

He makes such nice babies, it's a shame to not let him do his job, so I'm glad I have this opportunity for him. 

Sunday Stills

The challenge this week was to photograph things we take for granted. I chose, the ability to see.

Without sight , what a different world it would be. 

Puppies update

Lets start with some squiggly cuteness! With sound!

I have lots of interest in them, at this point I have 4 males left, there are 3 people who have spoken for males although no specific ones for sure yet, and the 2 females are both spoken for.

Wendy- here is the pup you are thinking of; Rope.

Looks like he is going to have his daddy's lovely long fur.
Next up are Quinn and Chase; they are both under consideration;
Quinn:

Chase:

The other pup with lots of white is Cinch, this is the pup that will be going to Montana:

 3 of the pups have a lot more black on them; Tag and Try are quite similar.

Tag:

Try

The last male pup is the one with the most black- and this is the smallest pup in the litter. I have reserved him for myself but will let him go if he picks his person.

Last but not least- the two females!
This one seems to have the name of Ruby Jean... it just seems to fit her. She looks like she will have the beautiful fur of her daddy too.

The other female, I just call her Taken, because she has 2 people who want her!