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!