Busy in a good way

Got a few things going on here. Mesa has foal scours so she has been getting bum washings twice a day and I have been giving her yogurt and peptobismal, she is starting to get over it.

She actually seems to like the pepto and yogurt although she didn't like the feel of the syringe tube at first.

She has big toofers now! All the better for grazing! 

I really enjoy watching her zoom around, although with all the hot weather lately, she spends more time napping than zooming.

I took photos for Shayla working on starting her 2 year old- some of you may remember the buckskin colt Fuse who was here for a few months last fall.

Working him in a local arena, the sun streaming in the entrance made for a cool photo.

He is coming along nicely with his groundwork, this is his second time being saddled.

I have been taking the dogs swimming down at the pond nearly every day; Thea finally learned to swim, and even Merle enjoyed getting wet.

I also got started on my Cowgirl Hideout - got the tar paper up and then decided that I want a window put in so that means I have to stop until Ted can help me with that.

Rosalee's birthday

Ride 17
My lovely mare turned 7 today.

I was paid up for another ride at the arena, so that's where we headed. I longed her for about 20 minutes and man, it was hot and dusty and I worked up a thirst trying to get her to lope! But she finally did. She has a little twisting thing she does with her front end when she first lopes, kind of a protest but after that she's good. After some good loping and roll backs into a lope going both ways, I stepped on and rode- and had a really nice ride. I worked on keeping her up in the bridle at the trot- she kept wanting to carry her head too low- and we had some nice slow loping circles. Oh how I love her smooth lope!
To finish up the ride, we played with the obstacles again. I think I'm going to have to set up something here- a bridge, some trot poles, a zig zag for backing through, and whatever else I can dream up.

Now  I need to get her to behave like that riding from home- I'll try tomorrow and see where we are at. I have my round pen set up now so I can do a decent warm up with her. Not every horse is as good as Beamer, who I can just step on and ride even if it has been months since he was ridden.

Ride 16

Ride 16
Beamer and Rosalee

We finally got our round pen up! So that makes it much easier for me to work with Rosalee before riding her. Shayla cam over today, and we saddled up; she rode Rosalee and I rode my B Boy.
A few trips around the round pen  and we climbed aboard and headed out. First we went to the pond to see if they would approach willingly. Well- not quite willing on both their parts but they did go to the edge and check it out. So- we did the route that takes us past the pond to the dyke, and if you remember my last post about this Rosalee flat out refused to go through, and I attributed it to herdbound issues and here I am going to add that she is kind of spoiled and just didn't think she should do it.
However- today, with Beamer for company, we went through all the water, and there was no problem from either of them.

From there we went along the dyke, and it was apparent that Rosalee was still pretty balky. She could hear the other mares calling occasionally and got all squirmy and resistant, but we did get lined out and headed on.

My favourite spot along the river.

After another moment with Rosalee, Shayla figured that we needed to do some long trotting and get her lined out and a bit tired, so we did, then found a spot where she could circle with her. 

Me 'n' Beamer watched while they worked.

After she had to work, Rosalee had a change of attitude and was quite pleasant for the rest of the ride. We discussed it, and the consensus is that she needs a good long warm up before I ride- because I am not confidant riding her out alone. If I was 30 years younger it wouldn't be a problem- I rode a lot worse than her over the years, but it's those years that make me more cautious now. I must say, I had a wonderful ride on Beamer. He did minimal talking to her, and considering it's been a couple of years since he has been ridden in the company of a mare he did really well. He didn't give me any trouble at all, other than the very beginning of the ride where I spanked him with a rein end for refusing to check out the pond.

So- lots of warm up, and lots of hauling away from home should give me back the lovely mare I had last year, and hopefully as the season goes on the warm up will get less and less until I can just step on and go. 

Meanwhile miss Mesa is 2 weeks old now, and doing really well. She has foal scours right now, but it isn't too bad. She gets her butt washed twice a day, and her and mama both got dewormed today. She also gor her second shot of Vitamin E/Selenium yesterday. This is why I halter break at a couple of days old; no stress for the foal, they are still small enough to handle without getting into a fight with them, and it makes it easier to do things like give them shots and wash their li'l hineys.

She's learning to drink water. If the tub gets too low for her to reach in she stands there and bangs on it 😏

Belly bumping!

Just a quick post to share this with you: 

Mama Belle looks so healthy now, all dappled out and in really good shape.She is very relaxed and happy too.

Not quite wordless Wednesday

Whaaaat? Did I miss a spot?

More better

Ride 15: Rosalee
I hauled to the local arena today and got some help from Shayla. She started on the long line and assessed her. Rosalee was dropping her hind lead a lot, and was not as good going right. A lot of the time when she was dropping her lead was because she was gawking around and not concentrating on what she was being asked to do. At first, she was a bit humpy stepping in to the lope, but after having to actually work, she smartened up.

While riding her, she wanted to drop her head and neck which made her heavy on the forehand. Shayla bumped her up with her legs to get her using herself better, and bringing her balance up instead of being heavy on the forehand. We both figure it's a result of her reining training, the fad is for them to travel low headed- which I have never liked.

Travelling in balance 

Once Shayla had her figured out, I rode too. I could really feel when she dropped her head even a little too much, and boy howdy my legs are out of shape! I even loped on her (big grin). I usually don't lope much because of my back, but Rosalee has such a nice rocking chair lope that it didn't hurt at all. I prefer to work at the trot. And it looks like I carry my hands way too high! The things you see when someone takes pics....

After that, I trotted her through the poles, and played with the other obstacles in the arena just for fun.

She was pretty good at scooting the ball with her nose.

I used to love gaming...40 years ago! And I think it would still be fun.

All in all, a much more rewarding ride today.

So, it's all about getting a working mindset back on her. She has had way too much time off, and isn't one of those horses that you can kick out and that will pick right up where they left off. She's a high maintenance kind of gal! And getting forward momentum, in balance, with willingness. 

A not so good ride and other things

Ride 14- Rosalee
I had a disappointing ride yesterday. It has been a couple of weeks since I hauled Rosalee to the arena, and Mesa has occupied most of my attention (Imagine that....)  I rode a few minutes in the grazing paddock, then headed out and attempted to ride down to the river.
Attempted... because we didn't get very far. As soon as I point her away from the barnyard she balks. So I worked on side pass, serpentines, circles, etc. and pointed her down the trail again. She spins away, I turn her back. Rinse and repeat..... turn her and back her down the trail, work circles, etc again.

I would have her just stand and relax and look at the pond, as a reward for not evading, but as soon as I asked for forward I got reverse. I wasn't asking her to go in it, just wanted her to go by the edge of it.
Nothing worked.
Dang prairie horse never got her feet wet before or what? When she evaded by backing up she stepped into a little bit of the water.

It was getting to the point where she was losing her mind, so I changed it up and rode up to the road and over to our house. Well, that felt like sitting on a coiled spring... I figured she would relax because she was in familiar territory but nooooo....
I put her away, and need to rethink my plans for her. It's obvious that me riding her out alone is counter productive, so I put out a call on Facebook for trail riding buddies and got a good response, hopefully I'll be able to ride out a few times a week with friends and get her mind back on having to work for a living. Also, Shayla is back for a couple of weeks so I hope to get some help there. It always helps having someone watch what you are doing.
Meanwhile. Mesa is thriving! I have them on daily turnout in the larger pen and in the foaling pen with the shelter at night, it's working great.

The grazing paddock in the background with Belle and Rosalee

Coulee is doing better as a momma, not quite so worried about her precious baby. Mesa's hind legs have straightened up and she is getting easy to catch and loves her butt scratches. I halter them and take them out for hand grazing most days before they get closed into the foaling pen for the evening.

She is eating grass- well, trying to! She doesn't have teeth yet but she is getting some.
I really think I will be keeping this filly for my future riding horse; so far all the horses I have bought to ride don't measure up to my expectations, and I want to ride what I raise. I would have been riding Stella as a 4 year old this year. Such a loss. It could be years before I get another filly from Beamer as he is prone to throwing colts. And really, I don't have years to wait! Not getting any younger!

Also I just remembered that I didn't share with you that Loretta has gone to a new home. A friend of mine (who owns a breeding farm in Alberta) is putting her into his program for raising silver dilutes. He has a stallion who is homozygous for silver bay, and Loretta is a silver buckskin who is not homozygous for bay, so he hopes to get a foal or 2 from her who will be guaranteed to be silver, perhaps homozygous and some different colours other than silver bay. The ultimate goal of course is raising good horses regardless of colour, but colour does help them sell, and he kind of has the corner on the market for silvers in Alberta.

Walkabout

Necessity dictates that I halter break my foals at an early age. I always seem to be living where I have to lead my horses out to their turn out pasture, so the little ones have to learn to be haltered and follow mama.
Mesa is doing really well. She just kind of adapts to everything. I had her out with her mama today, and ended up leading them all over the place; even up to the house, and over to the neighbours so their little daughters could pet her nose.

As you watch the beginning of this video you will see why it is never wise to leave a halter on an unattended young horse. I don't even leave them on adult horses. 

Meanwhile.... Coyote Belle is getting so big! She always gets as big as a house and I am really curious to see if she foals in June or July. She hasn't started bagging up yet. I'm kind of hoping for a June foal because that would be the dun horse that she was AI'd to and the vet said it didn't take- but they've been wrong before. Guaranteed a black based dun- maybe even a grulla and with her carrying the dilute gene, maybe even a smoky grulla.  Can't wait!

She is still in love with Coulee's baby, and if Rosalee gets too close to it when I have them out grazing near their fence line, she runs my poor yellow mare off. It will be interesting to see how things play out once Belle has her foal. It will change the herd dynamics once again. I may even have to keep all 3 mares separate for a while until the mamas chill out. Actually, Coulee has calmed down considerably thank God! She was pretty nasty at first but now it's just the stink eye and flattened ears when the other mares get too close.

Mesa's first time out

Today was kind of fun. Coulee has been pining for some grazing time, so I haltered her and baby and took them out into the bigger mare pen at first.

Since little miss was behaving herself I led them out of the pen into an area where there is some nicer grass for about 10 minutes of hand grazing.

Mama doesn't have a very big milk bag, so I think I will get her a mare supplement. Baby is 4 days old today and I'd like to see her gaining a bit more. Coulee is also in day 1 of her foal heat so I am expecting Mesa to get scours soon.

Coulee has finally chilled out a bit and isn't so worried about her foal. She was pretty anxious for the last 3 days but is finally realising that she can let baby romp around and not get all panicky. Maiden mares! (insert eyeroll!)

I am quite smitten with miss Mesa. She is quite smart, has taken to the halter training quite easily, and she is just so darn pretty!

Messin' with Mesa

I made the halters, and fitted them last night.  I like to start them in halter when they are only a couple of days old; let them just walk around on the lead without putting pressure on, just following mama. I had to give Mesa a shot today of Vitamin E /Selenium to help with her legs so I got Ted and Dave to help and give her the first walkabout in halter.

I could spend all day watching her, she is so cute! I had to laugh at her when she was trying to get at an itchy spot on her back leg.

When I put Coulee's hay out, she immediately climbs on the pile... and pees in it.

Little rascal!!!

Who, me?

She is discovering the joy of getting scratches and pets, but with Coulee being so edgy I have to tie mama up or get someone to hold her to get quality time with baby. But Coulee is allowing Mesa a little more freedom of movement now.

She zips around quite a bit and is growing stronger every day.

 I gave Beamer some turnout time in the big grazing paddock today. He had to check out all the smells where the mares had been, and was more interested in grazing than ripping around. 

Once I actually get a fencer attached to the white tape, I can leave either him or the mares out there for a few hours a day. 

While he was out, I pulled up a chair and enjoyed the view. 💞

I'm hoping to be able to turn Coulee out in the main part of the mare pen as soon as baby's legs get a bit more sturdy- Coulee is craving green grass. But until then, if I can get Ted to help, I can lead baby out with mama for some hand grazing. 

Lookout!

Sahara, please email Sarah at clearcreekpaints@gmail.com to claim your prize! I told her to expect an email from you.

Between mama and baby being cooped up and having time out in the pen, I have been busy going back and forth to the barn. I had been letting them out while Belle and Rosalee were in the adjacent pen, but then this happened:



In the interest of keeping Mesa from getting run over, I now turn out the other mares so they aren't across the fence while Coulee is out with Mesa.  Both the other mares are okay to be on grass full time now, but I still don't have my fencers installed even though the white tape is up and they don't touch it- I don't want to go anywhere and leave them out. Meanwhile, Coulee is reeeeealy wanting to get out and graze, but to do that I have to halter break the foal, so today I am building a teeny little halter for her. Tomorrow I'll take them out and hand graze for a few minutes- if I can get baby leading!
She's a feisty little thing. She zips around and sometimes gets those long wobbly legs all tangled up. It has been a long time since I have had a foal from a maiden mare so I have to remind myself not to worry, she will come around!
Meanwhile, when she does get those legs working she can zoom pretty good!

Baby and baby daddy

Mesa has really long legs, and they were all folded up in Coulee's tight maiden womb so she is going to take some time to straighten and strengthen those hind limbs.
She was only a few hours old in this video:

Later that day, I left the stall door open for them. Baby wouldn't step across the threshold, and Coyote Belle was trying to visit with her.

I turn them out into the pen a couple of times a day for exercise but only for about 10 minutes. I think in a few days once her legs are stronger they will be able to come and go as they please. This video is from today, she is about a day and a half old.

Coulee is a good mama. She lets me handle her baby but is very protective around the other mares, so I put them out in grass pasture while I let them loose in the pen.

Keeping an eye on things!

The children love Beamer, and he loves children so they all got to be led around on him today, not at all worried about messing up their Sunday clothes.

Yes we were very careful about those bare feet!

Best. Horse. Ever.

Those smiles make it all worthwhile.

Their big brother got to ride too.

Beamer got fed dandelions and got loved on by the whole family, he lapped it all up! This horse has an incredible disposition. I love him to bits. 

She's here!

I introduce to you.....

Midnight Mesa.....

Bay filly, born May 13 at 1 AM. 

Which makes Sahara our contest winner! 

I did a foal check at 11 PM, Coulee was a bit restless. I woke up 2 hours later at 1 AM to a lot of horse talk, and baby was standing and wet- I just missed the birth. Coulee foaled out in the pen, so I herded them into the foaling shelter. I wasn't at all sure how Coulee would do as far as letting baby nurse, so I stayed with them for a couple of hours. She was a bit touchy and squealed a few times. I milked her a bit and smeared it on her teats- maiden mare teats are so small! Finally, baby latched on and had a decent drink. Ted helped me by holding Coulee backed into a corner while I pointed baby in the right direction. By 3 AM I was happy that it was all good. I was a bit worried that baby wouldn't get her colostrum in time; Coulee was actually cooperating once we got her to stand still. 

So it looks like she has mama's star, daddy's hind stockings, and just the cutest little triangle shaped snip on her upper lip.

I have them confined to the foaling shelter for the morning as baby has wobbly back legs. Hopefully will be able to turn them out into the attached pen today, as the other mares are quite excited and want to meet her!

Barn makeover

The barn.... I love having a barn. When we moved here it was full of stuff that had been relegated to the "don't know what else to do with it" pile. We have slowly been getting it cleaned out- I now have all said stuff in one stall, awaiting sorting out by our landlord (my BIL). The barn is set up with tie stalls, so Ted cut the dividers out of the first stall to make room for all my "stuff" (grin).
The plan is to customise it into my cowgirl getaway. It overlooks the mare pens so a great spot to watch foals playing... when  they finally arrive!
Here are some photos of where we are starting from.

The entrance to the barn (faces east) with my tack area and the second beam is where Ted opened up the first tie stall to make more room. The plan is to put tar paper up and build an inside wall so I can install my saddle stand and get proper hooks up for halters and bridles. Here is another view, with the stall loaded with the previous stuff in behind it:

The metal thing on the floor is my saddle rack, the cabinet is a hand made rustic one for holding all the stuff that is currently sitting on top of it.

The 3 cleaned out tie stalls. At the back is a good sized room that I use for small square bales and storing my barrels and seasonal stuff.
I had Beamer in there the other day, it was before I had the aisle cleaned up so he had to consider it for a while before he stepped in.

But it's nice being able to take my horse in there to unsaddle! I'll bring Rosalee in next time I ride. That might be a while between a rainy week and foal watch and trying to get the barn done!

Beamer balks and still no foal

Ride 12 for the 100 day challenge was hauling Rosalee to the arena (no photos of boring arena stuff!) We worked on little stuff- walk trot transitions, two tracking, shoulder in and shoulder out, etc. - just stuff to get her mind back on work. She was really looky as there were plenty of horses in paddocks around the arena, so getting her to pay attention to me was a big part of our session.

Ride 13 was yesterday, took Beamer for a ride down to the dyke. He was so funny. The water table is high right now with the snow pack melting, and the pond is overflowing onto the trail we ride. He was pretty sure that if he had to walk through the water there might be sharks , or maybe horse-eating ducks, so it took a while to get him lined out and wading through about a foot of water. Silly boy.

Anyway, we made it down to the dyke and had a look at the river. It's running swiftly now but it is not as high as I thought it might be.

In fact, it barely registers on the stick they use to gauge the level of danger of flooding.

Beamer leads a very sheltered life- he really needs to get out more! He was absolutely certain that he couldn't carry me between these cement blocks.

His evasion is backing up, and that would have put us over the edge of the dyke, so I got off and led him through.....

Such a worried boy! This from a horse who usually is quite comfortable in small spaces. But- the way I look at it, I'm not going to get into a fight with him; eventually he will be okay with riding through there. At one other point in our ride he point blank refused to go forward, even with me spanking him with my rein, so once again, I stepped off, led him 10 ft. and got on again and off we went. He sure is getting particular! Mostly because I don't ride him much because of his arthritis, so I can forgive a lot with him. He still is my heart horse.
The rest of the ride was very enjoyable, he was all ears up and striding out nicely.

I need to get him a set of boots. He is pretty tender footed on all the rocks and chooses his path for the softest ground, as you can see in the photo above he was walking on the soft bed of leaves.

Meanwhile, still no foal. For those of you whose guess has passed, feel free to leave a comment with a new guess. I will close the contest when she waxes. She is overdue now.