More Ponies and Crafting

Seems all I do these days is crafts.  I been crocheting of course, cant show my last make till next week as its a gift, but I also made a shawl and a sweater and a baby blanket.  Since I signed up for a craft sale in May I want a few things made up that I can have there,  Also gonna make some unicorn purses, some baskets, scrubbies, dishcloths, scrunchies and face cleaners.  Also gonna have some wood stuff there too.  Not sure what as there is still a 4 foot drift in front of my wood shop so its out of use for now. 

But its been -20 or colder everyday (except 1) since the first of February so I turned out Pally and I had planned for Rayne to go to the trainer on Feb 6th for a couple months, get started and going good so when its nice (ish) here in April I can ride out on her.  Well it was -34 when we were supposed to load and so I wimped out and we decided he wasn't doing much anyways so wait till the next week.  A little warmer, only -21 and Rayne was so good, shes kinda a pleaser anyways which helps a lot.  but shes only been loaded once before when I went to pick her up.  So I asked Neil if he would help and I brought Jessie too.  we walked up tot he trailer, I had shavings down and she thought she would eat them silly girl.  I could get her front feet in without even asking but she wouldn't take those last two steps and she just stood there.  I tried bribing her with cookies which I don't normally do but it was cold!  Anyways swung my lead rope and she backed out but no biggie, just walked front feet in and stood again, not worried just hanging out.  I was cold, Neil was cold and I finally said to Neil you have any ideas I don't know what to do.  and kinda just gave up.  Well up she hopped in.  So lots of scratches and there was a hay bag there too and we tied her up and closed the door.  All in all was only 15 minutes, I was surprised at that felt much longer.  Got there and we put her in the indoor arena to run around and she was excited to run without snow and ice everywhere it was funny.  He said he does that a lot then they can check out everything and its not a scary new place when he takes them in there.  We visited a while then I headed home and got home before dark and turned out Jess.  Got an update the other day, they did say I can ask but I don't wanna bug them everyday, well I sorta do but trying not too.  He said she was pushy and tried to run him over which I knew she definitely did try that here too but he said shes coming along pretty good. 

(Dixon and Huck)

(Rayne and Jessie)

(George, Jax, Nita, Razz)

(Huck and Dixon)

Otherwise just feeding colts and trying to stay warm.  And started up paint class again, started with something fun Luigi :)

Horse Goals

Well I beat last years blogger record ;)  Haha not that is was hard but I'm glad to be back anyways.  Well big changes here. Today Easy went to Doug's, he's gonna leg him up and sell him.  I will be sad but I think its best in the long run.

And Pally came along as company and she's staying in for a few days or months lol I am gonna ride her and probly sell her as well.

I got to use my new trailer it pulls so nice!  I got it last October after selling mine in June cause it just wasn't what I wanted and this one is almost exactly what I was looking for except its steel not aluminum but I will use it for a few years and see, it was a steal so I couldn't resist.  No pun intended.

And I got Rayne booked in for 2 months to get started, she will probly be for sale but I'm in no hurry for her to sell, I really prefer they are nice and broke before I sell so it may be another year but she's so big already and she's 3 how do they get so old so fast???

Looking into a beginner ranch roping clinic, I will take Jess cause that's one of my goals this year is to learn to rope and shes my best candidate cause shes done it before.  Not a lot but she did get roped off at a branding and could care less unless you slapped the rope on your leg but that's dealwithable.
Also going to take Jess to BC and we are gonna do some of the rocky trails cause she will have shoes all summer, I'm pretty excited about this.

My boys are growing, Huck is becoming quite bossy and I had to get after him the other day, he wouldn't let Dixon in all day to eat so I locked Huck out and in the morning they were best friends again.  Huck is really good at joining up and Dixon is really good at disengaging the hindquarters, partially cause he wants to keep and eye on me but whatever I will take it haha.  Haven't actually "done" anything with them lately cause of my back but I do have to go in there everyday to feed them so spend a little time just visiting and being friends, its working Dixon comes up to me now, Huck always did.

Got goals for Jax as well, gonna get him pulling a cart and want to go on a group drive with him.  And Razz, shes probly gonna have an easy year but I'm sure she will get used here and there :)  And Nita.  Haven't decided what I am doing with her yet, I will probly end up selling her turns out I can only ride so many and looks like about 4 is more than I need so that means 5 to sell but not yet if I get 2 sold I'm happy with that for this year.

Horses :)

I totally forgot to post a pic of the 6-up horses that I got to ride around on their wagon.  Now that's my kind of team, black and white paint horses :)

Rode Easy, been working him on getting out of the arena, got 2 laps around the yard so far without him freezing up or calling or trying to go back.  That's big progress for him, one day we will actually make it out into the pasture all by our selves that is my goal this summer.  I am so busy and it just hasn't worked as planned with riding early so I am gonna do a few central shows on him this year and I think I need to keep him at the trainer next year if I am serious about showing.  I've tried at home it just doesn't work for me until I get an indoor, or move to Arizona lol.

I had the ponies out the other day cause we needed to load some cows from thier pen and so thought I would give them a good brushing and let them have some grass, Pally is loosing hair like crazy while Jax is slowly loosing his.  I started them on a ration balancer a couple days ago and it has all the vitamins and everything they need in it and they love it so that should help them be shinier, although Pally likes being dirty lol.

(ha half her hair out, half in)

(eww her tail needs a bath)

(hes so adorable)

Called the stallion owner that I am gonna breed Nita too, he sounds perfect.  Even though he is a barrel sire, he is a dash ta fame after all.  He throws really nice friendly colts that just wanna work.  Easy going like him, sounds exactly what I want.  He is a bit taller than I want but Nita isn't very tall so hopefully it won't grow too much.  And shes OK if I never barrel race the colt.  I like talking to her, she has had stallions for years they have the system down and somehow she can remember every horse on the place pedigree and earnings...and they have over 80 there!

Went to the last equine seminar of the series this spring, it was farrier day.  Was interesting the first guy has been doing it a long time and talked a lot about it, the second guy talked more about therapeutic shoeing and showed us a new type of glue on shoe it was a very interesting day, made me glad my horses are fairly easy, all barefoot but front shoes on Jess.

Been debating on selling Pally, wasn't really but I have had a couple people in the last week ask me about her so a friend came out today to try her for her granddaughter, shes not buying just vetting lol.  Pally was good as always and she liked her (as does everyone)  I'm not listing her but if the right home comes I will sell her I am a bit busy too many horses lol.  Be perfect next year when Nita and Jess have colts and Easy is showing we wont be so busy at home.

Otherwise just ranch stuff going on, lots of calves around, only 35 left to go and an orphan we are bottle feeding and a set of twins, still on the cow for now.  Time to start farming, we had a neighbor tear up an old hay field and gonna plant it to oats and plant a different field to hay.  Should work good in a couple years.

TB Testing

Well yesterday was the day and boy was it a long one.  Whew we were tired.  We are not used to working outside that long in the winter time. We got out at 7:30 and I drove the feed truck and Neil and Ty rode bikes to bring them all in.  Worked pretty good even though I lost the bale part way in lol.   They got her about 8 and took a while to set up then bulls first, haha the chute was froze to the ground and its a good thing our bulls are gentle cause one got stuck.  So we just did him in the chute and backed him out.  He just stood there and waited.  The rest fit, not great for the older ones but they are kinda pushy so they made it.  Then the cows.  We tried to be careful cause they are pretty pregnant.  So we got sand/salt from the road crew and spread it in the alleyway where the cows would go.  It works quick we had liquid in not too long later.

(my view all day)

(the crew they sent)

Every animal got a vial of blood taken from under the tail, an ear tag read and written down and the number on the vial.  Then they got a injection of 0.1 ccs of TB under the skin that will either cause a reaction or not and that's what we are looking for on Thursday.  And the brand inspector is coming Thursday to read the brands on all the animals in case of a traceback needed later on.  Since we've bought cows the last couple years lots of cows have more than one brand on. I hope they are easy to read and we don't have to clip any cause that takes way longer.

(the horses were so nosy!  They came then left then came then left, it was cute)

4 people came out, the head vet, 2 other vets and an inspector.  The head vet was super good, the other 2 were not as quick, the one was just learning to take blood so that took longer.  So many records though its a bit crazy.  The worst part is we are so far out from the original herd and they are just getting ridiculous in testing now.  By the time they are done, they might as well test every cow in Canada.  Its crazy how they slacked off and now we as cattle people are paying for it.  They used to do randomtests on cows and they quit that a while ago and they shouldn't.  Its like the vaccines, don't see any disease for a while and people think vaccines are not necessary anymore......until they get a disease that hasn't been seen for 50 years.

(I tried to get a pic of him taking blood but it didnt show as good as planned.  

They have vaccuum vials and as soon as they hit blood 

they break the seal and the blood just goes in.  

Pretty quick, kinda like they do when drawing on horses 

but the tail vein instead of the jugular)

Anyways we are in the middle and I'm not mad about it but a bit frustrated.  Crazy week, everything at once, out accountant is coming today too but that will not be too bad as he was here in the fall sorta trying to organize us.

Easy Peasy

So it was time to bring Easy back in and start getting him in shape.  Our first show is April 1/2 and so I guess I better get to lessons cause that is not very far away!  So since Neil wanted the geldings in so he could move the cows through that field I locked them in the alley way in the morning.  After he was done, had to wait a while got a few slow cows and they do move but on their own schedule so finally they were gone and I caught Easy and let out George and Jax and then caught Pally and led her out and then put Easy in with Jess and Razz.

(George's head looks so big lol)

(Jax "rushing" over)

(George still beggin for treats)

(Almost there)

(and meeting, wish I'd have had a better angle)

Worked so easy and well I am amazed, not like they haven't all seen each other before but its been a while.  George is like a puppy dog he wouldn't leave me alone while I'm making sure the ponies aren't fighting.  I did have some cookies so I eventually gave them to him lol.  Jax saw Pally at the salt block and rushed over there (well at a fast walk lol) and she made one squeal and stomped her foot and they smelled each other and went to licking salt together, whew all's good there.

(Easy's priority)

(Hard to get a selfie with 2 horses lol 

Razz was ignoring me so I had to scratch my coat to get her to lift her head up,

 Jess just stood there)

(She waits till he's leaving anyway then "chases" him)

(and he ignores the grouchy ears lol)

And Easy just walks right over to the hay and started eating I think he isn't sad about being in cause FOOD!  lol some horses are easy to please :)  Razz and Jess were a bit pouty cause they wanted to be out too so I gave everyone a treat and then went to get a salt block for them cause they musta licked there's all up it was gone and Neil said he didn't move it I've never seen them go through a whole block in winter before.  And Jess of course has to make grouchy ears at Easy and he doesn't even pay any attention to her lol.

(Jess:  Can I please have some?)

(Razz:  Oh she's watching...OK)

(Jess:  I really really want some salt)

(Razz:  ya ya as soon as I get some)

I got back and the girls wanted the salt so they came and had some and left Easy alone for now.   Jess first and then she had to back away from Razz and ask if she could lol.  I love how Razz is the boss without any real demonstration besides a look or sometimes a flick of her ear.

(and one more of Easy just cause :) )

 Its been a few days and all seems well in there so far.

New Years 2017

Haha Im a bit late but Happy New Year everyone.  Time to make resolutions and blah blah blah.  Actually I like making resolutions and I really like lists and keeping track of stuff so this year I am trying something new and made myself a binder for all the important stuff.  Still working on it and what I like and dont like but after 3 days I like it so far, nice to have everything in one place.

Last year I had lots of goals (written here) and some got done and some changed and some just never got thought of again.  Well this year is a little different I have fewer goals but bigger ones.

1.  Get out and cut, so much so that I am no eligible for the 2000 class in any NCHA show.  I said something last year and Doug said it was possible in a year but wont be easy.  That OK who needs easy anyways...and I got Easy (the horse, lol)  Also in this goal is another one of getting more fit.  I kinda been slacking last few years and I notice it when i ride now and if I wanna be competitive I need to be ready to ride and so I started a workout routine, got it all planned out which helps at least I know what I should be doing when.

2.  Big scary news (for me anyways)  If all goes well I am gonna breed Jess this year, sent away her 5 panel test and they were doing a special for either color or pattern, well shes sorrel no doubting that so I did pattern, she has a lot of white including a belly spot so we will see, not that it matters the stud Im thinking of is sorrel with white too so I kinda know the color of the foal already.  Dont care about color but if it turns out well I am gonna put himéher in training.  Yikes!  Unless it sells haha and then Ill do it again :)  But also because of this this fall I am gonna look at getting a bred mare so I have 2 foals they seem better that way.  But I will be picky cause if I dont breed Jess back Ill probly wanna ride the mare so she has to be broke.  Well that was a longer goal than I expected but kinda needed to be.  No plans to breed Razz yet, I cant find a stallion I like enough for her.  But Im sure I will eventually.

3.  Clean out old house.  Ya that was on my last year list but we just got the garage finished (after a good 6 months grrr)  and this week just moved a freezer and fridge over so I couldnt do much before then althoguh I been slowly working on it.

4.  Ride more.  And Drive more.  Now that I got Jax and a cart and harness for him I plan on doing a lot of driving :)  and last year was a really poor year for riding so I will definitely have to up my game this year, specially with Easy he will need exercise at least 5 probly  days a week.  Im gonna start ponying him so hes not always rode will be nicer for him and hopefully get him more comfortable in the pastures.  And to have more I need a starting amount.  According to AQHA I have 24.5 All breed hours and 98.5 AQHA hours for a total of 123.  Which is a lot more than I thought, most of it while Easy was boarded last winter but I need at least twice that to get through this year.

Oh and Shirley the mermaid, I got a better pic so you can see it, I love it!  And Mrs Shoes I sure will share the recipe.  tomorrow if I get time :)