Busy Night Riding

I finally had the chance to ride last night. Part of the herd was up when I went to let Joe and Thor out on the lawn pasture. So I decided I'd see who exactly had come up. Maverick was hanging out so I opened the barn door and he gladly walked in. Then I decided I'd be brave and snag Maverick's best friend Jim.

I've had Jim now for seven months and have not yet ridden him. When we first brought Jim home the weather was terrible. December is not the time to buy a horse. We had all that snow and then he started dropping weight. It wasn't until this spring that he started gaining weight. By that time I was wrapped up with wedding stuff. So it's taken me until last night to actually ride him.

I decided I'd start out with Maverick since I know what to expect with him (in the drylot). We puttered around for a short time. But I was really itching to try Jim out. I was a little worried that he'd be too much. I remember trying him out and there wasn't much control. I was more of a passenger. So knowing how I felt when I rode him to try him out I figured there might be some issues. So I round penned him and then hopped on. He's a cadillac... and a trained one at that!

All this time I've been putting off riding him. He's going to be one I'll grab more often. His slow walk is a bit uncomfortable but put him into a fast walk/amble and it's smooth as silk. I'm not sure why I didn't have any control when I tried him out. When I hopped on last night I could tell he was really well trained. Voice commands are superb on him. "Whoa" and he stops immediately. Cluck to him and he moves into a faster pace. I didn't want to go any faster than his amble but I could ride him all day. I'm sure I didn't have much control before because his previous rider was a teenage girl who liked to ride hard. I'm now to the point where slow is good!

I did decided to ride Maverick one more time. So I pulled Jim out (we didn't ride that much), and I round penned Maverick again. I got him into a lope this time... darn horse is so lazy. But when I swung up on him, he acted even slower! I got him into a slow trot for a few paces and then he stumbled and went to his knees for a good half dozen steps. Of course, me not reacting very well, just rode it out. Maverick wasn't upset and didn't get startled. I did swing off afterwards to check his legs... nothing wrong! Dang lazy horse.

So now I'm debating on if I'll ride him on this weekend's Poker Ride. After yesterday's ride I was thinking maybe not. But the weatherman said it was going to be 92 on Saturday. If there is any pee and vinegar in him, the heat will suck it out of him. So now I don't know what to do.

I can't take Rain because of his heat exhaustion/heat stroke issues. I don't want to take Zeke because he lugged me around all last weekend. I could easily take him but there's others that need to be ridden. King's sore muscles are back and I don't have shoes on him. Jim doesn't cross water and I know we have at least one water crossing (and he's out of shape for a long ride). Sam is out of shape and it will be too hot for him. That leaves me with Chaos and Maverick. We'll see which one I finally decide to ride. I guess it depends on if Dad comes along.

I was brave and left Joe and Thor out on the lawn pasture last night. The grass is much more lush there than in their pasture. Their pasture is pretty well dried up. Normally I would pull them but there isn't any other place for me to put them except on the lawn. The lawn is just two strands of electric and I prefer something a bit more stable.

But I guess it will have to do. The lawn grass is pretty thick and they can get out of the wind/rain if they so choose. So all in all, it's not a bad spot to keep them for the next few days. I don't know if they'll polish off the grass fast or not. But I'm planning on leaving them in the "lawn pasture" for at least a week before I put them back into their old pasture. I hope that by doing it this way, the old pasture will come back. It had old grass that wasn't very thick. So my hope is that the grass will come back thicker if I pull the horses off for a week.

I'm really excited for this weekend's trail ride, if not a little nervous and undecided on who to take. It will be so nice to ride. I'm going to get spoiled having three weekends in a row riding. Last weekend was camping and trail ride. This weekend is a trail ride. And next weekend is the Colton Trail Ride and parade. I'll pass on the parade but would like to attend the trail ride. I've not been on it before. If it's in the morning I'm not sure if I'll take Rain. Zeke seems to be my "Go To Guy" for all new trail rides not associated with the Lake County Saddle Club.

I am starting to see a lot of cheap horses listed on Craigs List and on Kelo. It makes me wonder what this fall/winter will be like. I'm kicking myself for not ordering more hay. I may have to see if I can't get more. I'd rather have too much than not enough. More hay means more horses that can be saved. Of course I've run out of stalls so I'll have to come up with some type of plan. Seems I'm always coming up with some type of plan these days! :-)

Washing away Worries

It's amazing how my worries and fears of the day wash away when I swing a leg over the back of a horse. I sometimes forget that bit of information as I trudge through the monotonous chores in the winter. But the last two days I have been jubilant and I couldn't figure it out until just now. I've gotten to ride the last two days, which has really lifted my spirits.

I didn't really have any agenda last night other than to possibly ride if someone let me. :-) I pulled Sam so he could eat and fed the mares. I decided I would try and push the issue with Jim and make him come into the barn. After just a little bit of patience on my part, Jim went in. I decided then that I wouldn't saddle him up but that I would groom him down. So I pulled him out and groomed him. Nothing thorough but a little bit of dirt busting and picking hooves. It seemed to help his attitude. I put him back in his stall and let both Sam and Jim devour their grain and alfalfa.

I decided to pull Zeke out next so he could have his grain. I also wanted to groom him down. The rest of the herd is so hard on him I wanted to give him some down time. With Brego gone, the herd picks on Zeke instead. I figured Zeke could use some one-on-one time. I've not really bonded with him this winter although he's an absolute sweetheart. I think spending even just a little bit of time with him, we'll be bonded for life. We're already bonded but I want a stronger bond and I'm sure to get it with him. He's such a loyal and dear horse. I think Zeke enjoyed his grooming and harrassment free grain time.

I grabbed a halter and walked out into the pen. I wasn't sure who I would catch. I sort of wanted Rain but figured he'd bolt the instant he saw the halter. Nope. He stood perfectly still and let me halter him, which was odd. I've walked out to him before carrying a piece of twine and he's taken off so I'm guessing he wanted to stetch his legs a little.

I saddle Rain up with his english saddle and we puttered around the yard. Granted my riding lasts all of about 10 minutes and we do nothing more than a very slow walk but it's something. I'm keeping rain in his english saddle for two reasons. 1) It keeps me from running him hard down the road and 2) I have the western saddle set up for the bigger guys and I'm tired of readjusting all the time. I need to replace a bunch of stuff on my saddle so it's easier to adjust.

I decided that I still needed to pull King out to grain him too but wasn't sure if I should ride him or just feed him. I decided that there was just enough daylight left for me to ride him and do chores in the light. Luckily he let me catch him with no problem. I saddled him up and he took the bit right out of my hands. He's still naughty when riding but I think changing the bit might help. He uses the shank on his tom thumb as a passifier. It's rather annoying. I need to figure out how to fix that issue. I didn't want to work him too hard because of his feet but he really does need a few lessons in manners, both on the ground and in the saddle. We'll see how it goes.

I felt a little guilty not working with Maverick but maybe tonight.

This morning while I was feeding, Jim came up to me. It was rather odd. I thought he was holding a grudge against me. He's been so depressed ever since I brought him home but this morning he walked up to me and let me pet him. It's one of only a few times where he's allowed me to pet him and where he's walked up to me. I'm hoping that daily graining and grooming will make him less standoffish and more hands on. I'm ok with standoffish as long as I can come up and pet you. You can ignore me all you want but don't walk away from me. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday's activities really did make me happy. I was able to put in two, although very short, rides in and did a bit of grooming on some horses. I love finally getting a chance to play with the horses. It's been so long of doing minimal chores that it's nice to actually appreciate them and get to know them yet again. I can't wait until this evening to see what new adventures bring me during chore time.

Bunnies

Jim is definately working my skills and patience. He doesn't like to be caught so I have to be stubborn and force the issue. I'm trying to teach him that getting caught or going into the barn doesn't always mean work. In fact, since getting him December 5th, I have not done anything with him other than let him be a horse. Of course that's mostly due to the weather and my schedule. I don't think he'll ever come around to be an overly friendly horse. But hopefully he'll learn that when I walk up to him it's only to give him a pat and say hello.

Nothing else too exciting going on. Since the snow started flying around Christmas we've been over run by rabbits. Mike's been working on reducing the numbers. I get so irritated when I walk into the hay barn and there's a nice pile of bunny poo sitting on one of the slivers of hay I have ready for the horses. Those damn bunnies have even taken to eating my small alflafa bales. I've had to cover them to ensure they dont' destroy them. They've even hopped up, two bales high, to demolish my alfalfa.

Now that I have three supposedly alfalfa hay bales (which are actually straight alfalfa) the bunnies have started chowing down on those too. Every morning those darn bunnies are at those three alfalfa bales. The bunnies will be plump this summer! But Mike did decide to come out this morning and take one out.

I'm not one for erradification but I do believe in "thinning the herd" when it comes to bunnies. It is also teaching the horses to be less skittish. It usually takes them by surprise the first shot but after that, they settle down; everyone except Babe.

Poor Babe. She really has adjusted to being totally blind. I just feel terrible. I don't believe in leaving halters on horses (even if they are hard to catch). But I'm thinking that it might be a smart idea to leave a breakaway halter on Babe with sheepskin padding. That way when she bumps into something, she'll pump into it with the padding and not directly with her head. I always feel so terrible when she bumps into things. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before (probably because I don't leave halters on). But it may be something I try at the very least.

The horses of Borderlands are always making me think outside of the box and also make me use a different thought process to ensure they are happy.

Tackling the ToDo List

Today has been a fairly productive day. It's been so nice out but we've had to run errands the past week so we haven't had a chance to do anything. Today was finally the day to tackle the projects on our To Do list.

Just before Christmas, we ran up to Wentworth to pick up some hay/alfalfa round bales. It's a bit tricky for us to buy round bales since we don't have the right tractor to easily move round bales. Right after we got the round bales home, the Christmas Blizzard of 2009 hit and we had to just pull the trailer into the shed and let it sit. We finally had enough time to widen the path from the shed down to the mare pen. Mike had to move a lot fo snow before getting a place to leave the round bales too.

After the blizzard and "deep freeze", Mike and I went for a drive in the late afternoon to investigate the roads and snow drifts.

Just preping where the bales were going to go was a huge task. Then came the task of pulling the bales off. It's not an easy task since the tractor cannot lift the round bales. All we can do is slide them off and push them around to where we want to go. I swear Mike must have arms of steal. The tractor has no power steering and no live power. I don't know how he does it.

We finally got the bales off the trailer and then it was on to the next task on our list. Jimmy has been done with quaranteen for a couple of weeks now. Unfortunatley with the terrible blizzard and then the freezing temps, it was impossible to move Jimmy to the back pen. So he had to stay in his quaranteen area for an additional 1-2 weeks.

I was able to dig out the corral panels so I could actually lead Jimmy out of there. We also had to do some fencing. The storm prior to the big blizzard had lots of wind which did damage do the wind block. Unfortunately the smaller pen Jimmy was going in to had some fencing issues.

Brego during the Christmas Blizzard. I think this was the first day of sunshine in a while.

The fences around here aren't the greatest. All of the long standing fences took the hit of a herd of cattle. And let me tell you, cows are hard on fences. So we've had to make due with what's here and improvise. Luckily the fence wasn't too hard to repair and I was able to get Jimmy out of his pen.

I figured there would be a huge uproar with lots of running, squealing, bucking, rearing, farting, biting, etc. Nope. I was wrong. Jimmy did a bit of running and bucking but otherwise everyone was pretty calm. Maverick was the only one interested right away. Zeke came over after awhile since he's best buds with Maverick. Dude did go and investigate after eating all the hay. I'd thrown hay out to the herd just to side track them for as long as it took me to get Jimmy into the pen.

Dude with Rain in the background. Pics taken during the Christmas Blizzard.

I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't as much commotion as I'd figured there would be. I'm actually relieved. About this time, I realized it was time to start the never ending task of chores. I was excited to break open the round bales for the mares. I really thought it would make life easier by having the round bales right next to the fence so I couldn't have to crawl through a fence to feed them.

I was, unfortunately, very disappointed after breaking in to them. I was told that I was buying alfalfa/hay bales. After getting into the bale, it's straight alfalfa. I needed the additional hay bales because I brought Jimmy in and I didn't have enough hay. Now I'm in a dilema. I have three alfalfa bales and no hay.

I dont' have enough hay at this point. I've been doing some math, trying to figure out if I have enough. I did buy some small squares when I bought the rounds and that has helped to offset the number of bales I've already burned through. But least to say, I was very angry.

Unfortunately, having those three round bales really puts a damper on my spirits. I'm being over run by rabbits and now I have three bales sitting in the open just waiting for those damn rabbits to dig in. It's practically a smorgishboard.

So I'm now left with a bitter taste in my mouth although we did tackle almost everything on my list that needed to be done today. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'd really like to go for a ride, even if it's just in the small pen. We'll see. I'm betting we'll have more errands to run instead.

Sam resting after being cooped up in the barn all night. This was during the Christmas Blizzard. I did take Sam's blanket off today since the weather has been so nice. I am being brave and leaving it off tonight. The weatherman is calling for rain/snow later this week so the blanket will go back on. I thought Sam might enjoy some time without the blanket for a little while.

2010 is going to be a GREAT year

2010 is already looking great and my plan worked! I've kept Maverick in a pen by himself for months now. He was rude and bossy to Brego before he went to the trainers. When he returned I wanted to keep him close so that I could work him (and I was still intimidated by him).

Maverick has been exposed to all of the horses but has never interacted in a herd setting until today. All of the horses can play with him over the fence and have been for a year now. But the time has come where I need to introduce another horse into the herd. I've introduced other horses along the way (Sam and Zeke), but Jimmy is going to be a different story.

Jimmy is alloof and I'm going to have problems catching him. My plan is to put him in Maverick's pen and keep him there for a few months until we can establish a bond. He'll have more room to roam so it may be harder to catch but I want to get him more space. I also want him to be introduced to the rest of the herd.

With all of this cold weather, he'll have to be caught, haltered, and let into a waiting stall. If I can get him to associate haltering with no work, than maybe he won't be so standoffish. I do believe he was beat at one point. Evey time I raise my arms (to throw hay, give him grain, climb the gate) he spooks. Nothing too serious but he is uncomfortable with people being higher than him. So it'll be another thing to work on.

But back to Maverick. I decided that with all of the horses "starving" away, that I would transition Maverick over into the big herd. I figured everyone would be too involved in eating to pay attention to a "new" horse. And my plan worked. I fed Chaos, Dude, and Brego (those three that are left outside but stay in the leanto), and then I let Zeke, Sam, and Rain out of the barn to munch on more hay. I then led King back into the main herd. Boy has he gotten naughty lately. He's really spooky. I guess I need to start working with him more.

And then came the moment I was worried about, introducing Maverick into the herd. I was worried he'd be naughty leading after being cooped up in a stall. Nope. He led like a champ. He was ready to go and explore but listened fairly well (better than King).

I unclipped the lead rope (leaving the halter on in case of an emergency...for today only), and Maverick touched noses with King and then started investigating. He touched a few noses with the rest of the herd and just wandered around. Maverick is food oriented so I figured he'd settle down to business fairly fast and get to eating.

There was absolutely no drama whatsoever. I'm absolutely excited. I'm sure there will be some adjusting to the pecking order but for the most part, I think it'll be quiet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm planning on going back out in a little while to get the stalls ready for tonight. The weatherman is saying 25 degrees below zero so everyone HAS to go in tonight. I'm glad that I have enough time to prep the stalls and not have to rush around.

2010 is going to be a FANTASTIC year!

After the Snow Storm

There hasn't been too much going on this past week. It's been so blasted cold that all I do right now are chores. Since the snowstorm Tuesday I've been pulling Babe, Queen, Sam, Zeke, and Rain into the barn. The weatherman isn't calling for below zero temps until Monday. I'm going to leave Rain and Zeke out of the barn tonight but put the mares and Sam back in. That way I don't have to rush them through their supper.

For the past two days with the cold temps, I'd left the ponies in their stall in the hay shed. I also pulled Maverick so he wouldn't have to stand in the cold. This was the first time he'd had interaction with the ponies. I think Tommy was putting him in his place. It was rather fun to watch.

Since I didn't have any place to put the ponies I left them in their stall (but gave them the run of an extra temporary stall that I put up to give them more room. Apparently ponies can only be in that stall for two days. After the second day they start destroying things. They some how managed to pull a bucket full of tools into their pen. Of course I didn't realize what they had done until it was chore time so I couldn't leave them in their stall. It also meant that last night Maverick had to stay out in his pen and deal with the cold.

I moved the ponies back to their pen by the barn. They had to deal with two feet snow drifts which are pretty hard for ponies. Tommy was up to his knees in a snow drift. But I had no other place to put them so I guess that's what they get for being naughty and destroying some of my stuff.

I'm finally making a very small breakthrough with Longhorn. He's actually become my highlight of the evening chores. For some odd reason he's finally discovered that he likes treats. Before I couldn't get him to take one. Now he'll walk up to me to see if I have a treat. It's very good progress. I feel bad that I havent' spent more time with him but I'll be happy for the slow progress. He's willing to eat the treat right out of my hand and sniff my coat for more. Of course this is all while I'm on the other side of the fence. When I'm in his pen feeding him treats he's a bit more standoffish but I'll take it.

Speaking of standoffish, Jimmy really is a very unsocial horse. I'd hoped that he would get over it but I guess not. Every time I come close he walks away. I was warned he is standoffish and that he's hard to catch. They weren't kidding. But I have a plan in place as long as the weather holds. I'm going to have to catch him every night, pull him out of his pen just to groom him down. Then I'll put him back in his pen.

I'd originally planned on putting Jimmy in with Maverick this weekend but I want to spend some time messign with him to hopefully get him more comfortable with me. If he's in with Maverick I may never be able to catch him. I guess I'll just play it by ear.

Last nights chores sort of pushed me over the edge. My temper has been pretty high these past few weeks. But this morning really made it all worth it. Everyone was happy to see me (of course I'm just the food lady). Everyone was nice and calm the entire time. No one was harrassing anyone else. It was great. Mornings like today are why I don't mind getting up so early and going into the cold.

Jimbo

Meet Jimbo (aka Jimmy). I'll blog more but wanted to post some pictures and the ad. The ad is incorrect. Jimmy is actually 20 years old, not 18.

$1,000.00
Liver chestnut TW gelding for sale or trade
LOCATION: Worthington, MN

Jimbo-- 18yr TW gelding--my kids (16, 15, & 11) have used him for 4-H horse clinics, pleasure riding and he was previously used for trail riding. My 15yr old rode him at fair this year in games and pleasure classes and with all the rides of the fairway and commotion of people and vehicles, was very easy to handle with no spooking. He is very easy to work with--saddling, grooming, tying, loading, farrier work, vet work, lunging, trailering, etc. He can be a little hard to catch out in the pasture but we just have him come into his stall/barn and then he is not a problem. Extensive trail riding can make him a bit sore in the front for example the 2nd day of trail riding slows him down. He is sound and does nicely with one day horse clinics, shows or shorter/1 day trail riding. He likes to get up and go so a rider should not be a beginner. He rides out nice alone or in groups. Jimbo is a real go-getter, when riding in groups he likes to be at the head of the pack. We took the horses on a trail ride Sept.26 and Jimbo led the group through the trails including muddy hills and water crossings. He went along very nicely. He is 14.2HH. UTD on shots, deworming, farrier work and Neg. coggins. Asking $1000 but willing to negotiate or may trade for hay or good condition saddles/tack or other possibilities?