Ask Me If I am .....

Having Fun!

Yep, definitely fun!

 The Moose was a bonus

Thanks go to Michelle for using her iPhone!

Nostalgia!

It may not be a Van Gogh or a Michelangelo, but it hangs in our garage just like it was. About 6 (or 7) years ago, we showed a young lady maybe about 10 at the time, how to groom a horse, pick the feet, and ride in the pasture. Her name is Siobheal ( pronounced Chev ael). It was fun and she was a game little gal especially when the horse rubbed a staple and tore her designer jeans, plus a little skin. She was also game when the horse realized the rest of the herd was down at the end of the field and decided to gallop on down, about 250 yards. Even though the lip was quivering, she stayed on the horse and persevered. It probably inspired the song "Cowgirls Don't Cry". Like I said, a game gal!

Any way, she painted the masterpiece when she went home. It meant a lot to us to have this even though she was scared. It has a place of honour on the wall by my work bench. Yep, I miss horses and kids! I think she is about 16 now and hope that if she sees this, she is not too mortified. Hint and rule #1 " keep the horse between you and the ground" Hint #2 Just like flying a plane " Any landing is a good one, if you can walk away from it"

Finally, Some Horse Time!

The last couple of days are the first time in about a month that I was able to get out and ride. Today was Biz's turn. The monster mulching machine had just done the pipeline right-of-way just down from our place. I took Alpine down the trail two days ago, and she was awesome. There were a few things that she was cautious about, but we worked through those OK.

 The path is very well chewed up dirt and wood chips from the mulcher, and was generally great for footing, although a little slippery in spots.

 Biz had no trouble with this giant, horse-eating sample box. She went right up to it as if she saw these things every day. Alpine had to be talked by it both ways.

 After the ride i hosed down both horses since they were both sweaty, Biz from riding and Alpine from running up and down our fence line. She doesn't like it when I "steal" her herd mate.

The look in the eye says that 1 1/2 hours was enough for an out of shape horse.

  Biz was not co-operating for the photo shoot, so here is one more of Alpine.

It's Still a'comin

I haven't been posting for the last few days for several reasons. 1. I got hit with the Man Flu. 2.It's been miserable outside, with temps going down to -8C and highs of +2C. However, there are some improvements outside. A couple of really good days into the double digits, removed a lot of snow!

The paddock is getting close to being usable. 

The lower pasture is getting clear.

 The horses although being confined at the moment are reaching over and nibbling at a little bit of green along the fence line. Their motto appears to be "If it looks like it might be greenish, eat it!"

 The garden and orchard, on the other hand, likely will be a while longer before it clears up.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the temps go back up to double digits, and hopefully, the snow will be totally gone by the weekend. It will still be 6 weeks before anything can be planted ( if we are lucky).

We here in Alberta have to consider ourselves lucky in that the big dump (15 cm) of snow that hit parts of eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan, missed us!

More Horses and Things

Hot. +1C  and sunny! What better day for a ride? It was Alpine's turn and she was not impressed by being forced to get up and do something. It will be a while before we get to ride in the paddock due to excessive snow, however the roads were good and not too icy.

 I even let Alpine trot for about a mile! She is a trotting devil.

My outriders were away. It's hard to leave them at home. We did manage to wander up to a moose at the crossover. I figured it was going to get exciting, but Alpine listened to me (from Defcon3 level). There was a whole bunch of stiffening, but no attempt to flee, fortunately. When they are loose in the pasture and a moose shows up, there is panic, running and blowing. Good horse! she trusted me.

Sorry there are no pictures of the moose because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It was safer just to be prepared and not to complicate the issue.

Before playtime, I took the opportunity to use the snow blower to get rid of some big drifts in front of the trailer. We may need the room. There is the possibility of a heavy snowfall on Sunday. Hope not!
Only 21 days till Spring!!!!

February Ride

 +3C (37F), sunny and bright! What more could a guy ask for in a ride? Biz and I wandered down the hill and watched a self-loader work the blow down area. He was loading up a semi-trailer with whole length trees. She was all right with that.

 Then we wandered into a natural gas lease and went in on the road about a mile. great! No traffic and reasonable footing. The Texas gate was plugged with snow. That's how we got in.

Brooklyn and Boots came along. By going a different route, we outfoxed the neighbourhood tag-along dogs. It was peaceful!

Self portrait.

Brooklyn crashed when we got back. Biz elected to roll in the snow to cool down and I decided to go plough off some of the loose snow on the driveway. All in all, a good day!

Crisp and Clear!

It was another nice day at -2C (+29F) and a great day for another ride. I figured on about an hour, but ended up at 2 1/2. It was Alpine's turn and she was more than willing to go. We didn't ride the whole time, but ended up at a neighbour's where I was shown 2 carts for single or tandem driving. No pictures as they were still in the shed. She has a couple of matched Walker horses that are trained.
 Alpine also stood her ground when three large dogs rushed her, barking and being aggressive. Good horse! I don't bounce as well as I used to!

We chatted horses for quite a while as Alpine adapted to 5 strange (to her) horses. The roads were pretty icy so no trotting, just walking to avoid any slips or falls. Needless to say, she got a half gallon of sweet feed as a reward when we got back. OK, OK, the other two also got sweet feed, but Alpine didn't seem to mind.

It was a quiet trip with only my two dogs plus one of the neighbour's along for the ride.

Spring! I can almost taste it, but I know we will get some very cold weather yet.

Ride when you can, and keep the horse between you and the ground!

Early Spring!

The last few days have been great, with another 10 days to come! Temperatures have been above freezing by up to 5 degrees Celsius and I have been able to do outside chores with no jacket or gloves! I took 5 wheelbarrows of "black gold" out of the horse paddock today and filled the horse trough with water. Putting off what I should have done earlier paid off. Working with hose and water when it's not -40C (-40F) like last week was much more enjoyable!

Biz... aka "the Culprit

After several (many) attempts to tip over my wheelbarrow, I decided to saddle up the culprit and get her to show some respect. For some reason, she likes to tip over wheelbarrows, preferably when they are full.

The ride was great! She behaved, the roads had very little traffic on them and we picked up 2 dogs along the way for the walk.

When you look at that face, how can you stay mad at her?

January Ride

The day was great, with a temperature right at the freezing mark. There was no need for gloves, but I took them anyway. A neighbor stopped to chat on the way home and took the picture for me. Biz was very well behaved (as usual) and enjoyed the chance to get out of the pasture a see some newer scenery.

In the next subdivision over, a large track hoe was excavating for a new building. I am sure that she has never seen one operating and making all the clanking and banging noises. We moseyed on up and watched it work for a while. Other than keeping one ear on the machine and the other ear on me, it was a non event.

We had to stick to the roads because the field snow is up to my boot tops (when saddled). We tried an entrance, but gave it up as I did not want to get Biz all sweated up. Besides she and I are both a little out of shape.

We had a bit of a scare with Tucker. With the cold spell that we just experienced, she went from 1150 pounds down to 925 in nothing flat. Her eating rate slowed to about 30% of the other horses and it looked like we were going to lose her. With segregation and an extra heavy feeding I managed to get 75 pounds back on her. The vet came up and floated her teeth which seemed to help, but we both figured this would be her last winter. However, with the weight gain, it looks like she will make it. Tucker is now 26 years old and that's getting long in the tooth.

Weight at 1000 pds, 150 to go

 Tucker has always been prone to abscesses in the front feet, probably due to foundering before we got her. With that history, I have to be careful not to feed her too much sweet feed or beet pulp, or risk another break out. So, extra hay, a half gallon of sweet feed once a day and some tender love and care. My vet donated the horse blanket for the next few months to keep her body temp up, and to prevent a chill. Our neighbour donated some left over sweet feed ( above what I bought) and some used horse blankets to lay on should she want to. This is what I really like about country living...great vets and great neighbours.

 I took the precaution of letting Tucker smell the blanket, and rubbed her with it before putting it on, just in case she had never been blanketed before. The precaution was not required and she took to it well. Today, she was her normal cranky self and pinned her ears to move Biz out of her space.

 I have a whole bunch of funny looking trees. Bad horses!

Boots takes it all in stride. Find a sunny spot in the hay and let the world go by. Smart dog.

On the plus side, I took Biz out for an hours ride  (+2 C}, but could not get into the fields due to the snow pack. She decided to go any way and left the plowed road to go through the grader bank and entered belly deep in the ditch. It's really neat to be sitting on a bounding horse trying to extricate herself from an almost stuck situation! Love it!

Another Good Ride

Another sunny day at the freezing point. Tucker was not laughing so hard today when I caught her. She did enjoy the outing, but is still a little lame. Hopefully it is residual from the abscess from the spring and not arthritis. She is after all, almost 25.

 She enjoyed the open fields away from all horse eating objects, real or imagined.

 I include an older picture taken when I had company on the ride. It is much more fun riding with others. this is the field in back of us.

If you want to read some really good safety tips on dealing with horses, try this one
Link to Fernvalley

What to do on a Warm Day

A warm day is a great opportunity for a ride. At just above freezing and with a light snowfall, an hour and a half went by pretty quick. I took Biz and my two dogs up to one of the open fields where we played for a while in the untracked snow. It was extremely quiet, so much so that we spooked two white tailed deer out of the willows. Biz took it in stride. No spooks and no flinches.Each time out, I am getting more impressed with her. She is starting to pick up the concept of neck reining real well.

 After the ride she was content to chew on some apple flavoured horse treats and enjoy the warmth of the sun.

A warm day also is an opportunity to hang out with the horses, fill the water trough and generally give scratches to all.

Tucker was content to give her the old horse laugh. Little does she know that she is next in line for a ride. We'll see who laughs then.

 Alpine was content to make some Zeds. She was ridden the other day.

Still Snowing!

When it's snowing and only -5 C (23F), it's a good day for a ride. There was no wind and the trails were eerily silent. Alpine here, was not very happy with me because just before the ride, I dosed her with the deworming medicine. It must taste awful as all three horses wanted no part of it. Any way, that's one task done for a while. Hooves are good until a trimming around Christmas. Now all there is left to do is try and work some riding in.

 Boots and Brooklyn accompanied me on the two hour ride. Boots was in much better condition than Brooklyn, who assumed her favourite sleeping position.

Only 6 more days to the U.S. election. We don't get much news about it in Canada, but I try to follow it on the internet. It is much the same as in Canada, lots of hype and not many detailed plans. Can anybody tell me why states like Virginia, are considered to be "swing" states?

First Trail Ride for the Girls

It was a nice, cool, day and we arranged for  a trail ride today. The pictures are from two years ago and the twins have changed a lot, more mature and very lady like. At 16 and going into grade 10 it is still nice to see them want to hang out with "the old guy".

Jamie started out on Tucker, but Tucker being the old wise mare of many riders, would not co-operate at all. So about 1/2 mile out I swapped Tucker out for Alpine. Alpine did awesome. After a few circles Tucker decided to co-operate ( or else). Alpine also did a very good foot stomp on Jamie. I remembered to tell them to wear long pants for the bugs, but didn't mention NOT to wear sandals. Big multi- coloured boo boo in progress.

Jesse did great on Biz, although there were a few moments to be worked through. This was the first time that I let the girls out of the paddock as they only get to ride one or two days a year. It was the first time talking them through a steep incline, up and down. They did awesome!

I took the camera but was a little too busy to take pictures. Hopefully I can get a few from their grandma before the ride.

Oh, yeah, other than the foot stomp, the only casualty was me. A dog was sitting on the edge of his property and spooked Tucker sending me flat on my back. It knocked the wind out of me, but so far, no other damage.  I'm just glad it was me and not one of the girls.

All in all, a very good day!

It Pays to Be Patient

It has been a tough year getting the quirks out of Alpine. We can now pick up all her feet (one at a time). We can now put our hand on the top of her head without her blowing up. It has been a long road, and a tough one to get her trust level up to where it should be. She is still the alpha mare of the herd, and not to be mussed with. All the time spent paid off today!

Elaine is away at family camp and I am into the-get- Alpine- used- to- trail -riding. I decided to wander over to our hay supplier's place to see when the cutting begins. With all the storms we did not get there. The swampy area was flooded and we had a bit of a tussle as to whether she would go through knee deep water and long grass. She did. When we got to a creek, the trail became impassible. Swamp on both sides and a ditch with about 4 feet of water in it.

So, we turned around and started back up the power line. On the way down  Alpine was very reluctant to go past a certain spot. I spun her until I was dizzy and she complied and moved on.

Coming back I saw the reason for the reluctance. There was a good sized black bear feeding on the power line right of way. Alpine saw the bear and went to Defcon 3, and froze. Now this is my idea of the start of a nightmare. Horses hate bears and normally high tail it away at warp speed.

I hollered  and waved and the bear stood up on its hind legs, took a look and headed into the bush. I waited a moment and then urged Alpine on. She walked by as if nothing had happened. Good horse!

All the time that I have spent with her was worth it at that moment. She accepted me as leader, and trusted me not to feed her to a horse eating bear.

Farther along, we spooked out 2 whitetail deer and she did not even flinch.

That was one of my worst fears, to meet a bear or a moose on a trail and get tossed. It's funny how, when the  unexpected happens, sometimes the worst fear is in the anticipation.

Yes, I did have a camera with me, but discretion said to me, don't muss with a camera, she could still blow up!

A Good Ride

I decided that I was not getting enough riding in. The  trip to Texas and work at the Men's Shelter has taken up what seems to be a large part of the summer. Alpine was my first victim candidate. Most of her previous riding with us has been road side and fields. I decided that it was time to take her on some trails and see how she performed.

She was reluctant to leave the other horses, but gave in without a tussle. She did not much want to go down the big, long hill by our place, but again, she complied. Along the way, we picked up our two dogs plus the neighbour's Yellow Lab and Pit bull. Nothing would deter them from coming along. It seems the word gets out pretty quick in doggie land when somebody saddles up a horse.

The temperature was 27C (81F) with a very high humidity. When we hit the trail, I was surprised how well she took to it. Even when we came to blow downs from the big storm, she was willing to leave the trail and go around, or step over some pretty big trunks. When we got to the river, she looked at it and I think wanted to go into it, but the banks were eroded out too bad from the flood and there was no safe way to get down. I took her back a different way and she was fine. The standing water on the trail was no problem for her. She looked at it and plodded on through.

The dogs were another story! They all hit the river and had a very long drink. All  4 tongues were dragging the ground from the heat. Brooklyn and Boots lagged behind about a half mile coming back, and were walking at a dead slow pace. Boots hit the shade and was so tuckered out, he did not even eat his dinner that night. It seems that a two hour ride in that heat was a bit much, or they are not getting enough exercise.

Brooklyn ate OK, but was the next best thing to useless ( Boots) the next day. Maybe next time, they will listen when I tell them to stay, or go home. 

No, I guess that will likely not happen.

Wow! A Tough Day!

I cut half the grass today and left the rest to tomorrow morning when it's cooler.

I am a good horse, honest!

It got up to about 23C and I decided it was time to put a few miles on Alpine. She came to be haltered OK, led to the paddock OK was groomed with no problem and went through all the compliance checks that I normally do before trusting this old bod to the saddle. Everything was copacetic until I went to put my foot in the stirrup. At that point she kept moving away. I am well past the years of vaulting into the saddle!

We did some more ground work and I tried again. Foot in stirrup, weight on foot, ready to swing the leg over and she blew up! Straight forward at a gallop, then into a frenzy of bucking. Shortly after the first buck, I departed. I really had no chance. I landed on my shoulder then my hip. Fortunately, there was no damage except maybe some big bruises by morning and of course there was the pride that went out the window.

I got back up and we did some paddock work for about 45 minutes. She behaved . I did not take her out on the road way. I will save that for tomorrow.

Looking at the positive side, only 85 more involuntary flights and I will have earned the right to be called a cowboy! You are supposed to have 100 to make it so. On the negative side, this bod doesn't bounce as well as it used to!

It really hurt!

Tucker was walking lame for the past few days. I had just trimmed her and found nothing wrong. By today she could not weight bear at all on the right front leg. The vet showed up at 5:15 pm and proceeded to dig away at the white line. The hoof tester showed severe pain all over the place. After going in about 1/2 inch, he found an abscess complete with black gunk. Some more digging, a huge shot of penicillin, preceded by a knock out injection and she could put some weight on the foot. While she was "out", I soaked her foot in Epson salts and water and sprayed her up with fly spray. She will be in the paddock on grass for a day or 2 until she clears up. Tomorrow and for the next 4 days she gets 4 grams of Bute per day.

Boots was a real trooper during all this. He ignored the other two horses and just lay and watched Tucker. He even slept on the front deck overlooking the horse paddock. Dedication!

I can hardly wait for tomorrow! This has been a good one to have in the rear view mirror.

Start 'em Young!

It was a grand kid day Friday. At the ripe old age of 4, he is quite comfortable being around horses, and knows most of the rules.Although a little young to be riding alone, he is quite content to be led around. The reins are there but the saddle horn gives more comfort.

 The lead horse walker did quite a few laps around the paddock before saying that he had had enough. The rules for grandpa were simple: No running! No fast turns, and no running!

The "cheater" stirrups worked fine. His short little legs would not otherwise reach the peddles. All in all, a fun way to keep him amused!

Biz was very docile and compliant, almost as if she knew there was precious cargo aboard.

Easter Sunday.. A Gal With Her Horse

After a very good Easter Sunday service, we decided to tack up and go for a ride. Elaine had not ridden since the fall, but did exceptionally well. The horses are all shedding like crazy, so the area around the fence was like a hair carpet. Elaine took her horse, Alpine, and I chose Biz. 

After checking out whether Alpine was in a receptive mood, (she was) we went around the field once just to make sure. Alpine tucked in behind Biz as if she was glued there.

 Following the test flight , we went out on the county road, followed by 3 dogs, and then down to the end of the next subdivision. There were no slips and no slides and only one minor spook caused by Biz..reason unknown.

All in all, it doesn't get much better than that for a nice relaxing day!

We hope everybody had a great Easter, and remembered the true meaning of Easter.

Oh yeah, pardon the mud. It is starting to dry out, sort of, maybe.