Pony Play

The constant rain thwarted letting the ponies out on the lawn. Tommy and Skippy were both mad tonight that they didn't get to do any running around like they did last night Picutres are worth a thousand words, so I'll leave you with pictures of Tommy and Skippy stretching their legs. At one point, both Skippy and Tommy raced passed me at full speed. I must have been their finish line.

 Tommy did more bucking and farting than Skippy. Skippy just wanted to eat.

 The few minutes that both Tommy and Skippy settled down to grab a few bites of grass. Tommy did finally coax Skippy into running and bucking around the yard.

 Check out Tommy's extended trot!



Wordless Wednesday

Zeke streching his legs. Love this guy!

Chaos's Six Year Anniversary and Seventh Birthday

Six years ago during Memorial Weekend, we brought Chaos home. He was an unhandled yearling stud at the time. Boy was that a learning curve on my part. I’d only worked with older horses and thought being around six year olds was rough.  Chaos has taught me a lot over these past six years. I really did luck out with him. If he hadn’t been naturally laid back, I don’t know what I would have done.

I consider Chaos one of the first rescues. He was headed to an auction with a gigantic cut on his leg, wasn’t halter broke, and although he came from registered parents, there was a mix up with the paperwork leaving him grade.  Had be run through the auction as is, he wouldn’t have brought much money, mainly because he was still a stud at the time. I don’t know how to emphasis to people that taking a stud to a loose auction or a low end auction is practically a death sentence.

I really consider myself blessed to have been at the right place at the right time. Everyone thought I was nutz for even considering bringing him home. But he’s since turned into an amazing horse and a well-established fixture at Borderlands.  At the time we brought Chaos home, I thought I wanted to still be a rescue but over the past six years I’ve decided that I’d much rather be a sanctuary and let the rescues handle the young horses. But I will never regret stepping up and offering Chaos a permanent home.

And if my memory serves me correctly, the latter part of May is when Chaos was born. So he’s technically seven years old. How time flies.

Release the Hounds...er...the Herd

Saturday we let the herd out into the big pasture. It was a bit dreary and drizzly so the weather added to the horses' mood. I did take a bunch of pictures and posted some of the better ones.

The first set of pictures are of the herd minutes after letting them out onto the pasture. What I would have given to be at the top of the hill taking pictures instead of trying to catch up to them after opening the gate.

The next few pictures are of the herd after setting down for just a few minutes. They decided to settle down for only a few minutes to grab a few mouthfuls of grass and then start running again.

 Zeke and Brego. I'm not sure what discussion they were having.

 The herd finally settling down to grab a few bites of grass. Zeke, Brego, Bo, Chaos, Maverick, Jim, Dude, and King.

 Bo, Zeke, Chaos, Ivan, and Dude. I'm hoping that now that the herd is on grass, some of the harder keepers will be able to pick up weight. Bo is still too thin for my liking and Brego dropped a bunch of weight this month.

 Maverick stirring up trouble.

 The herd decided that they'd had enough grass for a little while and took off running again. I don't often get to see the entire herd run together (at least not lately).

 Rain was busy hanging out with Mayhem and Rabbit and didn't realize that the herd had taken off without him. So he took off as quick as he could.

 The herd running around.

The herd decided to come back to where I was standing (apparently that's where the good grass was at). It is a little un-nerving to have an entire herd coming right at you at a full gallop. But I trust them and they know if they get too close that I'll start telling them what for.

Bo is out front. Doesn't he look gorgeous all stretched out? He's got legs that never end. I can't wait until next year when I can take him on a few trail rides and see how he does. Bo, Ivan (yes he actually did more than a trot), Brego, and Rain)

 

Rain and Maverick stirring up the herd.  I think those two were the ones to get the herd running both times.

 Even Jim and King were bucking and rearing. I dont' know that I've ever seen either of those two do more than a little hop. But both King and Bo had all fours up off the ground.

 Jim feeling his oats.

Ivan and Brego after settling down to eat.

Awesome News!!!

Before everyone heads out for the long weekend, I wanted to share some amazing news. I hinted at it on Facebook but wanted to give you the full scoop here.  I was hoping to post pictures, but it’ll have to wait.

I mentioned not long ago that there was good news about Savanna. Just over a year after we pulled her from the auction, Savanna got adopted!! The best part, it’s a perfect match! How do I know it’s a perfect match? Easy!

The wonderful and amazing volunteer, Britt, from Gentle Spirits who has been working with Savanna over the past few months is the new owner! I couldn’t be more happy and excited for the pair. I’ve seen pictures (head over to the Gentle Spirits Facebook page to see the pics… I’ll try to post some here too when I can switch computers).  These pictures speak a thousand words! The love and caring each has for each other definitely shows!

After Savanna ran through the auction and things were quieting down in the pens, I remember Savanna allowing me to touch her and she put her head into my chest and let out a big sigh. That’s when I knew she was a doll baby with a crusty outer shell that simply needed to be cracked. 

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’d made arrangements with Gentle Spirits to take Savanna to help her find her a home. She would be lost and her true potential never found had she stayed. I’m so ecstatic to find out that Britt saw the same potential and brought that potential to the surface for everyone to see.

I absolutely love seeing the pictures of Britt and Savanna riding around. It’s a perfect combination.  Savanna is a totally different horse under saddle. She was meant to be a partner, not a baby making machine. I’m just so happy that Britt was able to discover this important fact and that the two can spend years together creating such a close bond.

I always knew that there was someone out there that could bring Savanna to her full potential. That for Savanna to be happy, she needed her own individual person to lavish love and attention that she so deserves and lacked for the first five years of her life. I couldn’t be more proud (although I didn’t do anything).

And if the news couldn’t get any better, it does! Savanna is going to stay local to the area! She’s going to be boarded at a local stable so I’ll get the chance to peek in every once in a while to see the happy pair. 

So anyone that ever says there are unwanted horses, Savanna and Britt are the exact reasons why there are NO unwanted horses. It just takes the right combination of horse and person to bring the best out of each other.

Congratulations Savanna and Britt. I am so happy for you and look forward to seeing both of you grow that special bond that you both deserve. For every horse, there is a special person. For every person, there is a special horse. I’m so happy that in this instance the special horse/special person combination is Britt and Savanna. Congratulations!!

Where Did the Week Go?

This week is flying by. Much to the horses’ enjoyment, they have been mowing down the lawn all week in preparation for their release to the pasture. I haven’t walked the pasture since Mike sprayed or fertilized but we’ve had decent amount of rain and heat.  I’ll still pull the horses off the pasture at night to try and make the pasture go that much farther. I expect we’ll have to constantly spot spray and most likely fertilize once more (as long as I can come up with the cash). 

After five days of being on the lawn, the horses have done a fantastic job of eating down the grass. There’s still quite a bit there so hopefully after the long weekend, I can start getting Mayhem, Rabbit, and the ponies adjusted to grass. But I can now see some of the noxious weeds and spray those to eradicate them. I’m sick of seeing weeds.

I’m tossing around the idea of hauling Rabbit to Madison. She’s such an alpha mare and is too hard on Queen. If Rabbit is on “vacation” for the summer, that would be less stress on the mare pasture next to the road. We lost our fall/winter pasture as my emergency backup pasture for the spring/summer due to the accident in February.  If I don’t haul Rabbit to Madison, she may join the “Pony Club” and have to hang out during the day with the ponies. I really want her on grass now. Her heaves are really starting to kick in even with being on medicine.

Queen is looking tough too. I may have to start graining her twice a day (which is what we did last year and it seemed to help). She gave me the stink eye last night when I didn’t let her out on the lawn. It rained and I wasn’t feeling the greatest to manhandle the big gate to let her out. She’ll get out tonight so everything will be better. Every morning I give her a handful of grass just as a peace offering for making her wait 12 more hours until I can get home to let her out.  She’s not impressed that the big herd is on the lawn. She likes to be closer to the house and barn for some reason. She really is a people-horse.  She’s such a doll. I just love her. You can just see the years of wisdom when looking at her.

Ivan has gotten a bit naughty when it comes to going out on the lawn. He’s losing what little ground manners he had. The other day I pulled Brego into the barn and Ivan spent the next half an hour going from the lawn to the drylot looking for Brego. I’ve never seen Ivan move that fast in my life. In the almost two years of caring for Ivan, I’ve never seen him move faster than a slow trot. But when he was searching for Brego, he was moving at a good lope. He could be a pretty flashy horse if he wasn’t so darn lazy. His whinny makes me laugh every time. So the entire time he’s searching for his buddy, he’s whinnying this high pitched whinny. It’s so unexpected because I just assume he’s a big horse and will have a deep whinny. Nope. In fact, it reminds me a bit of Dictator and Ace. Dictator had such a high whinny (even though he was a rangy old-style Quarter horse), and Ace being the petite Arabian, had a deep whinny. It makes me think of Ivan and Zeke. Ivan has such a “girly” whinny and Zeke (who people mistake for a mare), has that deep throaty whinny. It’s an odd comparison.

The other evening while the herd was out on the lawn, Maverick decided to roll. You know what that lazy boy did? He rolled, and then instead of getting up, stayed curled up and started eating. How lazy is that?

Every once in a while someone will forget their manners when I let them out onto the grass. Because it is just the lawn, and I only have to strands of electric (that aren’t on but SHHHH don’t tell them), I insist on haltering them and leading each horse one by one through the gate. King, Ivan, and Bo have forgotten their manners. King rushed the gate so hard he splintered off the corner of the gate. Of course he received a stern talking to. Rushing me and the gate is not allowed. He had to stay in “time out” for a little while. Even Dude got a little naughty and went into “time out” while I lead the others out into the pasture. Haltering and leading each horse out is a pain in the butt but I’d rather do that then have mass chaos with everyone running and bucking all at the same time.

Tomorrow morning I’m letting the big herd out into the pasture. I’m a little worried but they should be ok. I expect everyone will be happy to stretch their legs and run. I’ve had the big herd locked in the drylot since March to keep them off the pasture.  I’ll try to snap a few pictures of the herd once they hit the pasture. I took a few more pictures last night in between the rain drops. I’m sure not all the pictures are flattering but some always seem to go downhill just before they get on pasture for the summer. I am still trying to figure out how to resolve that so it doesn’t happen.

Not much more to report right now. All that’s been going on is nightly lawn time for the big herd and letting Queen eat down the grass by the blind pen. Almost everyone is shed out already and are enjoying the grass. I know it’s time to let them out on pasture. They are actually starting to waste hay. That’s the last sign that it’s time to let them out (and traditionally I wait until Memorial Weekend). I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the pasture holds the entire summer and that the work Mike did has helped the pasture. I guess we will just wait and see.

If I don’t happen to post again, have a happy and safe Memorial Weekend. Remember the ones that have gone before us and appreciate those that are still with us. Have a great Memorial Weekend.

Lawn Pictures

Just a few pictures from the last two nights of the herd on the lawn. I will try to go back and label the pics so you know who is who. But tonight I'm beat and ready for bed.