A double decision and the surprise

First the decisions.
It should come as no surprise that I am keeping Moondance.

Who, me?

 Yes you, ya li'l cutey!

The second decision- is to sell Drifter. Since Moondance is slated to be my Beamer replacement, and I am not set up to have 3 stallions here, I have offered him  up for sale. Preference will be given to a home where he will be kept as a stallion and promoted.

We already have interested parties, even from as far away as North Carolina. 

A big part of the reason for selling him is that I am not athletic enough any more to match his athletic ability, nor do I have enough income to promote him in the way he needs. 

I think Moondance will be the kind of horse that will suit my abilities in both areas, plus he is a good representative of my own breeding program. 

Speaking of breeding program....

We come to the surprise part of this post.....

As promised.....

I saw an ad on NorthernHorse.com a while ago, and fell in love with a mare....

I know, I know. 

Well somehow, with the help of friends, I made it happen and yesterday I made a trip to Alberta and returned home with one of the nicest and well bred mares I have ever had the privilege of owning. Her registered name is Zanits Miss Diamond and she is a light sorrel with a flaxen mane and tail. Her pedigree reads like a Who's Who of performance horses and she herself was a rope horse until she got a kick to the knee, then became a broodmare. Her sire's performance record:

ZAN IT 250 AQHA points. Qualified for the World's AQHA Show in Jr Reining, Sr Calf Roping, Sr Heading & Heeling, ROM.

I think my smile says it all!

She trailered really well on the long journey home and settled in quite well.

Lots of horse body language here: Belle had just pinned her ears and swished her tail, and the mare looked away, signalling submission.

She has excellent bone- she is around 14.2 hh, will measure her later.

She has a beautiful head....

and a large soft eye.  And so far has the good nature to match her looks. 

I didn't like the barn name she came with so I changed it. 

Everybody, this is Jayne, who will be joining Beamer's broodmare band.

The 3 week photo shoot

I always do a 3 week photo shoot on my foals. Moondance is really starting to chunk up. He is actually pretty laid back, while he does run around, he only does short bursts and then he isn't interested any more and I can't convince him to keep going.He just says. I'm done now thanks!

Who, me?

 Don't run with your mouth full!

 So elegant!

 Power takeoff!

 Sassy boy!

Getting down in the turn

Those long legs! Will measure him soon.

Taking a breather....

and off again!

 Powering into the turn...

One last burst...

And that's all folks! He was DONE.  Chow time!

Wordless Wednesday

Out on Gussie

A leisurely  ride on Gussie was just the thing yesterday. Short ride but long enough as Gussie has a thrushy foot that is troubling her.

Down the road to pick up the mail

 One must stop to smell the lilacs

At home we went down to check out the pond- it is quite high but not overflowing its banks yet.

I have decided to sell the saddle I bought a little while ago- nice comfy saddle, well made but the wither clearance just isn't enough for her.

I got Moondance's registration application sent off today so I have been taking photos to email in- I like this one taken this evening.

However, it isn't quite perfect for AQHA as they need to see all 4 legs clearly on the 3/4 front photo, which is the one that they put on the papers.
Tomorrow I will do his 3 week old photo shoot.

Riding day 21

Done and done!

The shelter is done and horse approved. All made from locally sourced material, from the repurposed pipe for the skids to the locally cut lumber and tin from a locally owned hardware store. Ted and his friends worked on it on the weekends as they had time and I sure do appreciate them giving up their free time to help get this done. I did make a video of it's progress but it's over 12 minutes long so not really worth putting on here, but here are photos of its progress.

 The laminated beams installed

 The back header is on, and working on the front headers

Moving it with a skid steer to finish it on site 

 On site at its location in the mare pen

Installing the facing spacers

 Ran out of lumber to finish the roof joists, had to wait another week.....

Roof trusses and facing all done and roof strapping on

 The tin is going on!

Last sheet!

The horses are now moved and little Moondance just had to do laps around his new pen!

6 ft walls

Everyone in place

There is still some finishing work to do- end caps for the pipe, bevel the edges on the walls, trim the last sheet of tin where it ran off a bit on the end,  and remove the pipe that was welded in the center of the floor as a brace for moving the building. But -dang! I have one skookum tough shelter! It measures 13 x 22 ft.

Have some more gravel to put in then the rest of the mats will go down.

Nearly done!

We are a day late getting the shelter done, the tin goes on today. The last wall and the strapping on the roof were done yesterday before the beer clouds rolled in.... 👀

Moondance continues to delight, and I just have to video his antics.

He sure is athletic! I think his career could be in Working Cow Horse, roping and/or barrel racing. I had to laugh yesterday, he was herding a bird on the ground, one of those cowbirds that sit on the horses; it was hopping around and he was following it.
Gussie and Belle have been together for a while now and later today will get the mare pen back.

You've been promising that for a week, what's the hold up!

Once all the tin is on, I will put together a video of the building of the shelter from start to finish.It's quite impressive!

Stay tuned - next Saturday I will have a surprise!

A few updates

While Moondance was still growing in his mama's belly, I had this feeling that he was special, And I was right! He is absolutely adorable, friendly, easy to work with, curious and so very handsome. I got his dna results back and he is 5 panel negative (perfect!!) and is a true black like his daddy, and homozygous for black, which means that if he was a breeding  stallion he could not throw a red based foal. Beamer isn't - remember Josie, she is a sorrel.

It will be so fun watching him shed out! Those diagonal socks and blaze will sure make him eye catching.

Don't be chewing your mama's tail!

Drifter got the job done with Gussie, he covered her twice and was very easy to handle- once he figured out what part of the mare he was supposed to mount! Gussie was quite patient with him, just a few squeals when he didn't get it right. So assuming she caught, she will be due right around the same time as Belle.

The horse shelter nears completion, we pick up the tin for the roof tomorrow and Saturday will go hard and get the roof done and the last wall nailed up. So happy to be able to move the mares in together Saturday evening!

The folks who have all the Beamer kidz posted some photos on Facebook- check out the boyz and Josie!

Nearest the road is Rio, then Nitro, Kai and Josie and another unidentified horse.

So nice to see them all out together! And check out this photo- Big Butt Belle sure does stamp her foals! 

Nitro, Kai, Rio and Josie

Wordless Wednesday

A Monday Morning Moondance

Just a little video to kick off your Monday!

Beamer's boys

Here is another birthday boy:

Midnight Tumbleweed turned 2 yesterday- isn't he beautiful! A beautiful lady and her beautiful horse- doesn't get any better than that. You can visit her blog to follow his journey and Linda's excellent writing. 

And here is DLH Elijah Peppy, who will be 1 on the 19th:

I do love those smoky blacks, and it won't break my heart if Moondance is a smoky black instead of a true black like his daddy.

I guess I shouldn't complain so much about Beamer throwing so many colts when they look like this!

Just to refresh your memory- here are the other boys, who are living in Alberta:

Diamond Rio Peppy, at 3 years old (Rio)

Midnight Coyote (Kai)

Shining Midnite Moon (Nitro)

Beamer is also the sire of 2 paint colts, full brothers. I only have their baby photos; they are full grown now.

"Cowboy"

"Tuff"