More Cuteness

 

Not one, but two doggie beds, plus a teddy bear! Is this dog getting spoiled? Or what?

She is also part kangaroo to go along with the Lab! Jump onto the chair and then onto the tomato patch. Needless to say, the chairs have been relocated. Fortunately the tomatoes will not be planted till at least June 1

And so, at the end of a day we have a worn out puppy! Not every pup gets a hand made blanket to cuddle on. How can you stay mad at a pup like this?

If Only I Was This Good!

I found this on YouTube and think it is probably the most amazing demonstration of training and trust in horses that I have ever seen!

No saddle, no reins and complete control!

Honza Bláha - open borders

HonzaBlahaCZ

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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!

Working the Horse!

Tucker was not cooperative on the ride this afternoon. She did not want to be caught, She did not want to be lead. She did not want to be tacked up. She normally gets this way when coming into heat, however, I saw no sign of same.

I figured on lunging her in my shoveled out corral for a few minutes. 20 minutes later, she was still resisting. Now when Tucker resists, the ears go flat back. The neck extends and she just plain looks ornery.

After the 20 minutes, she calmed down enough that I got the saddle on, and bridle, and then did a mount. So far, so good! Her intention after all of that was to return to her buddies just out of sight behind the building. After backing her, spinning her and trying all sorts of things to make sure she was compliant, I decided to take her out.

 We wandered back up to her herd and then went out of sight and down the driveway. She was very good on the road and I was comfortable trotting her and did a brief cantor.

There was no one around to take pictures of the fun in the corral, but I snapped these after. Tucker was in one of the heaviest sweats that I have ever seen on her.

So, back with her buddies she proceeded to roll.

And roll.









The other two were content to watch for a while, then Boom decided to get into the act






There is nothing more awkward than an old horse trying to get back up.

Note the spring-like Cumulus clouds building. No rain or thunder boomers yet, but it shows promise!










                                                                                          

The End!

  

Some Good, Some Not So Good

Ah, it is the time of year that the Taber corn starts appearing at the roadside stands. To be called Taber corn, it must be grown and is licensed within a certain small radius of Taber, Alberta. I am a corn on the cob fanatic. I have eaten fresh corn from Southern Ontario, Northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta. None has the flavour and texture of corn grown around Taber.

Elaine has been away for the better part of the week and I have been living on chicken or pizza plus 3 cobs per day! LIFE IS GOOD!






Here is a picture of our entire apple crop from 5 trees. Slightly bruised from the hailstorm and not enough to really do anything with. Maybe next year....

The horses are going to love them as treats.

I am getting webbed feet from the amount of rain, and the potatoe and carrot harvest is on hold until things dry up. Three days of rain and more in the forecast.

Fortunately, we have few neighbours so they don't get to laugh when I am going up and down the road with Brooklynn on the leash doing dog training. Did I mention it has poured rain for three days?

Odds and Sods

While I was sitting still in the back yard, I looked over my shoulder to see this little knob head sneaking up on my salt lick. My pearless protector of all things on the acreage was sound asleep  in a sunny spot. That's ok, 'cause he knows he can't catch a whitetail. Besides, that requires effort.

There are 6 or 7 of these youngsters hanging out in the area. This one seemed to have a craving for salt.

This guy is Boom in his winter coat. He is also known as the "Wooley Mammoth".

Boom is the old timer of the area. We think he is between 24 and 30.

The last picture is Boom again, almost finished shedding one big mass of hair. Same horse, 6 months apart. We do not have  a barn ( yeah, no mucking out to do!) and we don't supply horse blankets. The horses have a shelter to get out of the wind, and a very thick coat to combat the cold. Fresh snow will not melt on their backs and forms another layer of insulation.

For those of you with herd bound horses, I think I have found the solution!

I put them on fresh grass for about an hour. That mellows them out. Then I put a saddle  and tack on one and lead that horse for about a mile. By the end of the mile, I appear to be the leader. I then climb aboard and continue away from the other 2.  I decided to try this as I did have a couple of rodeos going. I figured it's safer on the ground if they blow up than doing a face plant.

Boom is Elaine's horse.
It seems to be working. I had a very enjoyable ride yesterday and today.