Dogs 'n' horses

 It was rather a busy week! My sister was in town for another dog show, this time she got to show a pup she raised in the baby puppy class. I spent a day with her at the show- the conformation class in a dog show is very similar to a halter class for horses. The dogs are groomed to the nines, and shown in hand, just like horses and the other similarity is that  the presentation is all about what the judge sees. Is it groomed just so, is it up to breed standards, is it well behaved and professionally presented. 

Her pup, Gemma, did well for her very first show! She also showed her male dog, Levi, the sire of the pup. 

Such a handsome dog! I don't know the full show results yet, they were showing today too. 

I went to a horse sale yesterday, not to buy but to get a reading on what the market is like for Driftwood bred horses. A Canadian breeder was retiring and having a dispersal sale. The main buyer was the ranch he originally bought his horse from in Nevada; says a lot about the program when the breeders buy back their own stock at the expense of travelling up to Canada and dealing with all that international paperwork. There were a couple of weanlings there that I was drooling over.... this is the same bloodline as our Drifter horse we sold a few years ago who has gone on to be a good ranch horse and sire. 

Ted snuck out and got a buyer number for bidding, but we really didn't want to buy. We did one bid, just to get the ball rolling on a filly I liked but I wouldn't let him bid again. (Such restraint on my part!!!!)

It seems the market has dropped off a bit, especially for weanlings. We have sold them off the farm for more money than any of the colts and fillies sold for there, but in fairness most of the buyers were looking at the 3 stallions and the better mares and riding horses. 

Mama Belle in the morning light

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here;  happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers. I know I have a lot to be thankful for; I feel I have been truly blessed this year. 

A Supremely good time

The road trip to the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme was a pretty good mini vacation for me- despite the endless hours sitting in bleachers (Note to Self- bring comfy bleacher seat next time!) We saw some darn good horses and visited with some good people, most notably meeting up with bloggers, Sherry from Fern Valley Appaloosas and Crystal (Ranch Riding blog)and her friend Charlene-the two ladies who went on the blogger trail ride with Janice and I last year. Sherry I have known for a while, but it was the first time Janice had met her.

From left to right- me, Sherry, Janice and Crystal- thanks,  Charlene for taking the photo!

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. First, I drove to Janice's place about an hour and a half from our place, and while I was there I got a couple of photos - this is Jazz, a full sister to Rio, and in the background is her 34 year old horse, Tex.

Jazz, who some of you may remember as Sparkle, is turning out to be a solid looking mare, and a real beauty.

I was also entertained by the cat and pigeon game going on on the roof of the barn. 

It was a stand off; I don't think that pigeon is ever going to be a kitty dinner. We hit the road and about 6 hours later were in Red Deer. We booked into our motel and headed over to the Westerner show grounds- the only thing going on at that hour was the trade show and some riding in the reining ring. 

Sunrise outside the Tim Hortons coffee shop

The next day we spent the whole day there -about 14 hours. We watched the reining first, and got to see Tyrel Smith, (the son of the fellow who trained Beamer) ride. He's 23 years old, and was competing against some of the top Canadian trainers and placed 4th in both the classes he entered. Here is a video of part of his run.

I really like the way this young man rides; such a natural way to him, and a quiet manner both on and off the horse. My camera did better with video in the poor light so only 2 of the photos are worth posting. This one was a really pretty dun horse that caught my eye:

Not sure who this was, but it's the only other photo that turned out.

 If I'd known how good the videos were compared to the photos I'd have taken more videos. My favorite part  is the working cowhorse class; the fence work is fast paced and really gets the adrenaline up! 

This is a horrible blurry photo but kinda artistic in its blurriness, it definitely gives an idea of the speed involved.

We stayed for the horse sale, which was very interesting to me. The yearlings topped the sale, with several of them going in the $8000 -$9000 range and the sale topper was a yearling stallion by Sophisticated Catt who sold for $10,800.

 Well started 2 yr. olds were a tough sell, anywhere from $800 to $3900. The reining horses didn't bring as much money as the cutting bred horses- which isn't surprising, as there is more prize money in cutting than in reining, at least in Canada.

I managed to spend a little money at the trade fair (imagine that!) but not too much. A belt and a purse with a matching wallet, and a billet strap for my saddle. But one of the best things was that Sherry gave Janice and I copies of her book of poetry. 

It was a great couple of days but it's always nice to get home. 

Work and play

Today was a hot one, and I spent it fighting with the tractor, trying to get Beamer's pen cleaned. The linkage for the lever that operates the bucket and boom is totally worn out, it's pretty tough to steer and hold the linkage together and operate the lever all at the same time; I needed another hand! Got'er done though.  Put some dirt in Beamers feed area to level it so that the snow (!!!) won't melt into the shelter this winter. We will be building some walls for him too which will make the area a little larger and keep the winter winds out.
When I rode him yesterday I got this shot of the corn field that the elk are snacking on; they only hit the short corn that they can see over, and left this part of the field alone; these stalks are almost 10 ft. tall.

Speaking of elk, I plan to wait for cooler weather, it's crazy trying to get an animal in the heat and not have the meat spoil. I'll still do some scouting though.

Some of us bloggers are planning a trip to Red Deer Alberta next week to the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme which is a great show that includes cutting, reining, and working cowhorse. There is a huge Equine trade fair, and a horse sale on Friday night. Janice and I are traveling together on Thursday, and will spend all day Friday at the show, and maybe Saturday morning before heading back. The plan is to meet up with Sherry and Crystal, and we are hoping that Linda can make it- and any other bloggers who live close enough to head over there. It'll be great to have a girls night out!

No Beamer, you can't come, even though there would be lots of horse girls for you to look at!

Gussie's new home

We're back from the sale, and I did sell Gussie. There were well over 200 horses in the sale, and I'm happy to say that there was good interest in my pretty mare, and that she sold to a very good home.

I delivered her for her new owners, who live in the foothills of the Rockies and ride the wilderness trails. They have a very nice place and 4 other horses to keep her company; I couldn't have asked for a better home for her. Pat, I hope you enjoy her as much as I did!

The horse market is a little sad right now- the only horses that did well at the sale were the broke horses. Seems no one wants to speculate on a youngster, the only folks buying right now are those who want a horse they can get on and go. So I am cutting back on my breeding program, and will not stand my stallion to the public next year. I will breed my one mare, and have a breed-back to do, but that will be all. So my next project will be to get Sassy broke. I'll get back to work on her ground work, and start riding her next spring.

Road trip

Today after work I am loading up and heading for Olds and the horse sale; Ted is staying home to do chores and keep the dogs out of mischief. It always seems strange to me to go somewhere without my dogs, but they do not belong at horse sales. This looks like a good sale, hope the buyers show up!

Earning Trust

Sale day for Gussie is almost here, and I am really happy with the way she is riding. Here is a link to the website for the sale she is entered in: Western Breeders Horse Sale. She is lot 149, and will be the twentieth horse through the sale ring on Sunday.
I made some progress with Chickory yesterday! Andee is getting quite trusting, and both duns really love their grain, so I held their grain bucket instead of tying it to the fence. Andee came right up and started eating and let me scratch her forehead. Chickory, after some hesitation, came in and nipped Andee to get her out of the way, and snatched a mouthful. After realising that I wasn't a horse-eating monster, she came back for more and even touched her nose to my hand! I think taking my time with her is going to pay off in earning her trust.
We had an electrical short in the auto-waterer recently which resulted in the mares getting a shock when they went to drink. We got it fixed right away, and with a small amount of coaxing got them to drink again. Except Coyote Belle. She was sure that waterer was an evil monster just waiting to zap her lips. After a couple of days, she still wasn't drinking, even with leading her right up to it and scooping it to her, so I resorted to grain. I put it in my hand and made her reach down to the level of the water bowl to eat it and progressed to putting the grain on the edge of the water bowl. The first day, she ate a little from there, but wouldn't drink. I watched her the next morning, and she would come up and look at it, but wouldn't drink. So I did the grain thing again, and this time put water in my hand with the grain and then put my hand right down into the water and got her to eat the grain there. Finally, she took a drink! At last! Good thing, because I couldn't think of anything else to try.

Frosty Mornings and Fall Sales

The last few mornings there has been hard frost on my windshield; all my outdoor planters are done for, its time to mulch the leaves, pull up the annuals and add some more soil in the flowerbed. I guess my chore list has to include washing the windows (ugh!). Sure wish we had a wood stove in this house; that's the kind of heat that I love the most-warms you to the bones!

Andee is coming along really well. For the past two days, I just sling my lariat over her, then halter her and she leads nicely now. Today I caught her in the bigger pen, so I won't have to use the mini round pen for her any more. I'm working on her letting me pick up her feet; so far we have the left front only, and I can get halfway on her right front. Every day we advance, so it's all good.

The horse sale is next weekend, so I have Gussie in and blanketed, and I've been riding her lots. Today I roped a cable spool and drug it around a little. I think this mare is going to make someone an awesome ranch horse. She'll be good for dragging calves to the branding fire, maybe do a little ranch roping, and she'll be nice and smooth for those long rides gathering cows. I got to thinking about how much riding time I actually have on her- it works out to about 4 months riding over the course of three years, so it's not a lot. I think she is doing really well. She sidepasses, two-tracks, has the start of a nice turn-around and a super stop and back up. We've been loping circles the last couple of rides. I'd say she is pretty much ready to go on and do a job for someone.

The New Girls.

Yes, that's right, I did say girls. Plural. As in two, not one new fillies. Now, it wasn't my intention to go to this production sale and bring home two little darlin's. I was looking to buy a dun filly who is a granddaughter of Docs Hickory. Hubby was at the farm helping to build the addition to the barn. (A future post.) I went to the horse sale. There were half a dozen fillies who fit the bill, and I really value my husband's opinion when it comes to buying foals; he is very intuitive around animals. So I called him and said,"honey, I wish you were here!" So he dropped what he was doing and came to the sale. He approved the choice I made, and we bought this filly:

Her sire is a son of Doc's Hickory and grandson of Peppy San Badger and Docs Quilchena; her dam goes to Poco Bueno and Johnny Dial.

Meanwhile, I had been chatting with a gentleman who had bought a red dun filly. He owned her full brother , which he had bought at the sale last year. He talked about how much he liked that colt, and what a great mind he had, and how easy it was to train. So when this red dun filly came up at the sale, he started bidding on her, and ended up buying her. Then he says,"I can't believe I bought a mare!" I laughed, 'cause I love my mares, so I told him that if I didn't get the filly I wanted, I'd buy his filly off him, as she is a very nice girl. Well, I got my filly bought, and I was telling Ted this story, and he wanted to see the red dun filly. So I showed him. He took one look at her, and said we should buy her. Now this is my husband, who says we should sell our horses, we don't need that many! But I trust his judgement, so we bought her, which made the gentleman happy, because he lives in Idaho and wouldn't have to deal with all the paperwork of having to ship her across the border.So this is the red dun filly:Her sire is a grandson of Doc O'Lena, with a little running blood thrown in (Mr. Bar None and Pacific Bailey), and her dam is a granddaughter of Sonny Dee Bar.

I hauled them home, and since they were wearing halters from the sale, and aren't halter broke, I decided to take their halters off in the trailer before I turned them loose. I have an open, stock-type trailer, and they were just loose in there. Now, these girls were run in from the pasture, weaned , and run through a sale in the space of 48 hours, so naturally they were a little stressed. I had to put my rope on them and work it so that I could get my hands on them and take their halters off. The red dun, true to the man's word, was fairly easy so I did her first, then the other one, who was a little more worried. They were quite happy to be turned out in this pen (Beamer's winter pen, which is coming in handy!). I left them with hay, grain, water and salt. They really went for the salt! So today, I'll be trying to get my hands on them. I have a little catch pen made of panels inside their pen, so I'll try to run them in there one at a time. This is going to be fun; I love working with the babies! It really makes me appreciate Peppy, who is so quiet that you can do anything with him!