First Yello River campout for Pheonix and me

(Now that my puter is back I'm havin fun going thru pics and trying to get them uploaded in here... Good winter project )
This is the first camping trip I ever did, and Pheonix as well, and we had such an awesome time. I can't wait to do it again!

Here is Blue looking things over..

A Blue Christmas

Meet Blue (Blue Array) a 21 year old blue roan Quarter horse retired from barrel racing. She came last nite and pic is from this morning. She is here on trial to see how she fits in. So far I really like her, she seems quiet and freindly and not rattled too much being here. Some of the horses she gets along with, the others we'll see, they've only met over the gate but stall next to each other. Blue seems to really enjoy grooming, she even rested her head on my shoulder to get her money's worth and let out a big ol sigh lol. And she loves to have her ears scratched. The boys have met her and all seems to be going well. Tomorrow I'll have them groom her now that I havent found any ticklish spots. Sadly it was raining too much to take her for that test ride :( but maybe it'll go even better the more she bonds and sees me as the 'food-groomer-scratcher-girl'....

A sad week

Things have been so crazy this fall that I've been slacking off the updates on here. But my beloved mare Kajun passed away on Monday, Nov 15. She had been compromised healthwise for the last 11 years due to a surgery she had at age 4. Last winter her breathing had gotten really bad and her diet was'nt seeming to help keep her energy towards the end of winter. So it was decided that she could enjoy her summer and not put her thru another winter. But it doesnt make it any easier. And her buddy Cim got very depressed over it. Just sucks all around. She had always ruled the herd and made things easy for me cuz they did whatever she did. And she was always so good with kids and young horses, adopting them as "hers". Her grave lies at the edge of the yard near tall pines, and when spring comes I'll plant a butterfly garden there.
It is strange not seeing her out there after 14 years with us. But selling was not an option, nor was giving her away, for the simple reason there would be no guarantee a horse with her condition would be kept retired and given the care she needed. Especially in this economy, so it would not have been fair to her to pass her off on somebody else so I wouldnt have to see her final hours. At least this way I know she didnt suffer.
But it still sucks

WANTED:

a "been there, done that" kid broke horse, mare or gelding. color doesnt matter but brains and personality do. Something in the way of an equine teacher kids can learn from and grow up with. Best of care provided in loving forever home.
And so the search continues...

that's my baby

Big difference from the other pic of me feeding her! She's growing into quite the lady :). I cant wait till she turns 3 and we get out on the trails! I need to get my camera out to the barn and take some newer pics of her one of these days...

Sierra update

She loves to tear around, I was lucky to even catch her in this shot!

gonna go awol...

I'm hoping this is the weekend that a campout is finally gonna work out! Last time everything got scrambled for poor Buckley's ordeal, but this round everybody seems to be doing fine. I plan on taking Pheonix for this one and doing some bond time with her. It's a perfect scenario- we'll go and spend all that time riding, then back at the campsite there'll be other horses but not her stablemates, so I'll be her familiarity and the more time I spend grooming, petting, etc, the stronger she'll bond and it'll be a good thing. Plus I'm really looking forward to a couple days of just horse-ness, instead of all the normal chaos of life otherwise.
So this is my plan (again)

Another major thing is all week I've been practicing hooking up the trailer by myself and it's getting easier every time- so no more asking for help in that regard. now I just gotta work on the backing up a trailer-- which always goes better if nobody's watching cuz hubby just laughs and then I get all grr. But I'll get it eventually.

Pheonix :)

Here she is on her final day at Ray's place. She does everything so beautifully and quietly i just love her more n more...

lol

Buckley update...

Buckley has returned to being her old self and her eye has returned to looking normal :). However she doesnt care for having it monitored for any changes lol. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed I can keep her going and worst case will be removing the eye, which is easy enuf to deal with compared to the other diagnosis. But my vet said to not obcess about it but yeah right, the thought is always there, but at least we've gotten thru round one and Buckley's feeling better thus far. Just gotta keep my fingers crossed!

Pheonix's training...

Here she is with Ray the trainer yesterday evening, demonstrating a bucket mounting block- very handy for short riders such as myself lol! She rode off beautifully, knows her cues and is getting a great 'back-up' already. We rode thru woods, swampy patches, up steep hills, down steep hills, thru narrow passages, down the road, thru water and upstream into deeper, and over a wooden bridge. She stands wonderfully like she has all the time in the world and is content to let the rider make the decisions. She spooked a little at a bogie in the woods I never even saw, but she just 'froze' and then went on. All in all I am thrilled with her and the fact she'll just get better n better. If all goes well this year, next summer I'll start her in english gear and see how she does...

Sad turn of events

Friday night Buckley had eye surgery. turns out she has eye cancer and my world is crashing down. We removed a tumor the size of a golf ball, but it had spread to the eyeball where it could not be removed without puncturing it. (makes me shudder too)I'm trying to study up all I can on the disease, but what I'm finding is very depressing. I have no idea how long she'll live or how fast it's going to spread. If it conquers the eye it'll have to be removed. She is a good enuf horse that she could do alright with one eye, but the major concern is the cancer could travel up the optic nerve to the brain the same time it's taking the eye. Or we could discover during the surgery for that that it has and there's no hope or point in making her suffer brain cancer. The vet had done a horse like Buckley's case and that horse lived for 3 years. There's just no way to know how fast the cancer is going to grow. What I keep reading on the net is if any cells are left behind they go into overdrive and grow rapidly while the body is compromised in the healing process. And that just sucks ass cuz I already know there's a patch the vet couldnt get.

So I am majorly depressed cuz she is an awesome horse. I've gotten so attatched and had so much fun with her and now I'm losing her

Un-Stable events update

Guess I havent updated how things were in my horse world/barn with everyone, just Sierra and Pheonix. Turns out I wont be buying any new colts this year, Sierra's mom came back open, and did Pheonix's mom, so being thier ordeal was hard enuf for them to survive, a pregnancy wasnt gonna happen. Just makes me wanna kick that rotten SOB girl to Canada for what all she did to them. But next year there'll be a bunch of colts to see at Rhonda's and so I'm gearing towards one then.
Buckley is getting treatment for her eye again, and this time she's alot better behaved for it. She'll see a vet this week for a possible surgery on it. She's in with Sierra for company now so the other horses can't boss her into anything with her eye patch on.
Twista is gonna get shoes this coming week as well and I plan to take her on a camping trip, first ever weekend away and it's SO gonna rock! I cant wait to take Pheonix on one!
Dusty is scheduled to go to the trainer's later this fall and see how he does.
Cim and Kajun are thier old selves, however Kajun is really starting to show her age and health problems, so there's a day coming I really hate thinking about.
So there'll be 3 riding horses here once fall comes.. hopefully Dusty too later on, and that'll be 1 for everybody. Sierra makes 5 when her time comes, and one more colt after that. Then it'll be enuf for us and company too, and I can set aside a horse to try gaming and I'm thinking Pheonix will be it...

Look how she has grown....

they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. Look how far she's come! Still a ways to catch up, really she shouldve been this size last fall, but she's getting there.

Pheonix....

....is off to the trainer for her education! She comes home in a month, and will be getting shoes while she's there. So I am excited cuz she'll come back even more awesome than when she left. I have so many hopes for this horse it isnt even funny, but she's getting the best foundation possible now. Hopefully get to go see her this week if I get a chance and get an update how she's doin.

some new pics

Pheonix and Sierra... so beautiful

Un-Stable update

Some new pics of Sierra (bay paint foal) and Pheonix (buckskin dun). Lol, lots of mud and shedding hair to deal with around here! I dont think Sierra is gonna shed out to be a dark bay though, more just a regular bay. No matter though, brains dont come in designer colors ;)

Spring is finally here....

..which means a new round of chores to do, but a well-welcomed change. Horses are shedding off like crazy now, it's always funny to see the birds rummaging for hair to line thier nests. Later today I wanna get some tack cleaned up and switch bits to different headstalls, comb out the horses again, and look over a saddle to see if it needs any repair. Riding season is at my door, some of the horses have trims and ready to go but Pheonix and Dusty are still waiting, so maybe next week, then they'll be all set to get thier education. I also figured out the mystery to why a freind's horses dont seem to like my saddle, they go so long in it and then get bothered, either uphill or down. She said it may be cuz it's a barrel saddle, and doing more research it seems they're just made for human comfort and not so much the horse's. Twista goes along fine in it for trail rides and such but I'm gonna haveta keep an eye on it if she starts acting that way too, but then she is neither as tall as the blue nor as wide and the other, so maybe it just fits her better. At any rate I'll haveta keep an eye out. This summer she should be able to use the ranch saddle anyway, so I do have a backup ;). Just lol, it's somewhat syled like a Wade with hardly any swells, so not the best for a really green horse ;). The only trail saddle I have is Cim's old one, which is very comfy and fits most of mine, but I was planning to pass it along to Jake since Dusty is outgrowing everything we got for him. Luckily Dusty's saddle was only $15 lol! It'll still look nice as a decoration if nothing else. So I have some digging to do...
The other day was a tack sale, and last year I had such good luck, this year the prices were alot higher, seems everyone's feeling the crunch. I had hoped to find 3 things- a set of chaps, a saddle for Jeff, and maybe a saddle more suited to Dusty. The saddles were very high and not what I was looking for, and like always the chaps were way too long. I hate being short! One of these days I'm gonna save up to get a pair made to fit me, but first comes paying for Pheonix's education and a new filly from Rhonda. But I did find something awesome, an old show bosal handmade in CA. The lady who sold it had lost her horse and was selling the equip. She used to show in it. I had looked at it 3 times before deciding I'd better get it, no way I'd find as nice a one for the same $. It's also bigger than the ones I have here, so I hope it fits Buckley. My other bargain was a pair of Ariat laceups that look new, for only $15. Usually there's a zero on the end of that ($150) so I was very happy.
The other horse-related endevour in the Un-Stable is I finally got some books on braiding with horsehair and horsehair hitching. My first project is gonna be to make some stampede strings with hair from Cim, as he's my first horse ever. So I plan to get some hair and start that too. :)

So many things to look forward to!

dashin thru the snow

...minus the one horse open sleigh lol. Yesterday was an awesome day spent doing horse stuff. Got to see Pheonix's future trainer in action and am very impressed, and then went riding thru the woods while it was snowing. Winter doesnt seem so long now, but I'm anxious to get riding again. Saw Pheonix's mom and sister who are lookin very good, and it's gonna be forever till July when their colts come! But I'll be busy riding anyway so that's ok ;). I really cant wait to see Pheonix in action and then get to enjoy her myself.

My little sweethart

Look at the difference a couple of months makes. I'm trying to get a video uploaded of her buckin and tearin around but not having much luck lol.

Update on the Un-Stable

Now it's officially an UN-Stable, there are 2 bovines residing in there. The 4H steers now live in the other big pen across from the stalls. Their names are, funnily enuf, Big Mac (who is big) and Happy Meal (who is little). Cowgirl and the new heifer, Little Red, reside with the other heifers in another barn. So begins another round of 4H adventures...
Sierra is doing fantastic, I switched her menu to be her same feed but as a hot mash, and warm her water so nothing cold goes into her. She has stopped needing a blanket or getting the shivers. She's also doing the same thing Pheonix did when she was younger, and that is calling when she hears our voices. Sierra is quite the talker lol. Her mane and tail are really growing out, as is her coat, and it's lifting off the scabs from rainrot. I really cant wait to finally brush her but to try now would torture the poor thing. I wormed her again, with Equevan this time, and her belly has slowly been going away and her condition looking better. I hope to get some new pics of her and see how they compare.
Had a good session with Pheonix last nite as well and got her all spiffy. She has the weirdest quirk I've yet seen in a horse, and that is an obsession with getting her face rubbed or touched. It's her favorite and she's always looking for it, and she just dozes off like it's heaven. She even likes to have her head cradled, wrapping an arm around her head and holding it against me like she's getting a noogie in her hair. She doesnt even care that her eyes are covered up. I have never run into a horse that trusting of thier head that they'll surrender it that far just to get petted. She's getting to be a big girl too, I can't wait for this summer. She's doesnt talk as much as she used to, but she's the puppy that follows you everywhere and meets you at the gate.
Tonite will be somebody else's turn to get brushed out...
Kajun is still cough-free and this winter she's even taken to bucking and rearing when playing, and initiating the play. She hasn't done that since before her surgery so to see that again is a miracle! I cant recommend Safe-Choice feed enuf, that is the only thing I did differently this year.
Cim has a case of cabin fever or winter blues-- he's being extremely naughty trying to escape his stall or break into the Un-Stable during the day when they're turned out. He just doesnt wanna wait to get his oats but the tackroom is Cimproof, so ha!
Buckley is herself, her shin had a bump and she favored it for awhile, but she's rambling around like she used to. She had this once before and I wondered if she didnt get kicked there or something.
Dusty- OMG Dusty. He isnt looking much like a pony anymore! I think there's more Arab in him than what was previously thought, cuz he is taller than Cim now and hasnt hit 3 yet (he will this summer) He was another case of skinny foal and seems to have hit a growth spurt. Still he is beautiful, but I'm thinking he's beyond what Jake could manage as a green horse. So Jake will haveta content with riding Buckley or riding double or being ponied. Dusty's going back to finish his driving training in the summer and from there either I'll send him out to ride or start ponying him on trailrides to get him used to all that before Jake gets to ride him. It's one thing to sit on and have me lead a horse, and another to ride it.
Twista is herself as well, I really wish the weather would cooperate on my days off to spend more time. I have a feeling she'd be squirrelly the first couople rides though lol.
Kazza has trained himself to stand in the same place everynite and pose to be haltered- he then gets his half-cup of oats and thinks he did a very clever thing tricking me like that ;). Yesterday he and Sierra were tearing around bucking, it was funny.
Awhile back I'd found one of my 'bucketlist' horses- it was a black overo filly, quiet and done-it-all for her age, mostly black with a bald face and white markings on the sides. (pretty much like Kajun only the filly was 'louder') She was perfect except for 2 things- she would be 2 this spring and she wasnt registered. Now I'm not one to pass up on grades, but being I wanna someday raise colts again, I prefer the bucket horses be papered cuz those colts sell better. Of course, getting chewed out by the owner that I couldnt make it to come see it on the day we'd hoped was kinda awkward, so I wrote it off that she was probably too mad about her plans changing that she wouldnt wanna bother trying to sell to me. So I apologized and wrote it off. In the meantime Sierra came and needed a buddy closer to her age and I was actively looking again. Out of the blue this lady calls and asks if I'd like to buy this filly half-price, otherwise she's taking her to the salebarn. Somebody there got a nice filly, but it wasn't me. It kinda chapped me- this lady just opened a new store so should KNOW basic salesman skills- and chewing out a potential customer is not how you sell things. I told her I was given a colt and my barn was full now. I didnt have the streak to tell her I dont pay people $ to chew me out- I get enuf of that for free lol. So any of you out there who are trying to sell horses- Dont cuss out the only (or any!) caller you get on that animal!
But it was all for the better, and I'm glad I passed up on it. Rhonda will be having some colts this spring and I know they'll be good. The rescues are Pheonix's mom and sister, and turned out to be bred to a perlino, So I'm really hoping they'll have girls! I think at this point color or pattern doesnt even matter, so long as they are like Pheonix and Sierra I know I'd have a winner. So please,please,please be girls!!

Un-Stable Update

January is off to a cold blustery start. Poor little Sierra has needed to wear a blanket the last few days cuz we had a cold snap and she just can't take it in her condition. Now today it's snowin and blowin and nobody wants to be outside. I think I'll do chores early when I go check on things this afternoon. I'm so ready for it to be spring!