The Pet Fair

Saturday was a pet fair day. A day where I take all of my foster dogs to the local mall to be hopefully adopted. So bright and early I was up bathing all six dogs. They for the most part were not to happy about this part. By the time I am finished, I am soaked (on the bright side, I should not have any fleas or ticks for some time), the shower curtain has a few new holes, the bathroom is very wet and hairy and the dogs had to be tied out so that they would not roll in the dirt. That took about four hours. Next we load the sweeties into the dog box. Another part that some of them would rather not do and dog wrestling is not my event. Fifteen minutes later everyone is loaded safely in the dog box and we are on our way. We get to the mall and start taking the dogs in. For some reason, the glass doors scare some of the dogs and the rest are afaid of the tile floors. Twenty minutes later and two Turk "accidents" all of the dogs have been coaxed in and placed in their kennels. The Ohhhs and Ahhhs start. "Isn't Otis so cute and cuddley?" "Whow, Layla is so pretty!" "Why is Missy's tail like that?" "Turk's eyes are so cool!" etc. We take each dog out in turns to be petted and walked. The dogs eat up the attention. Layla was in heaven there where no less than 5 people seriously looking at her to adopt. Unfortunately, none of the dogs were adopted. It makes me so sad. Each of these dogs are great! I would be happy to keep them myself, but it really isn't fair to them. With fifteen dogs the foster dogs don't get much individual attention. Turk has been taking up the majority of my dog time, not to mention the two stock dogs training is ongoing. I try to spend at least 5 minutes a day with each dog, but lately that has been very difficult. I just want to find homes for them that will love and care for the dogs. The longer they stay with me, the harder it is to let them go, but I know it is for the best. The attached photo is Otis smiling and Missy posing.

Riding Lesson Time

Yesterday was one of my riding lesson days. This is a traveling lesson. I go to the student's home and coach her on horsemanship skills. Since she had just competed in the Playday the Saturday before, we started the lesson going over her and her mare's performance. Of course, she could not think of anything that hadn't been done perfectly and the judge had no suggestions for improvement ( After all she had won every class.). I did remember a few things that needed tweaking - transitions, body alignment, rein handling, precision. Then it was time to start riding. We began with a walk/trot drill over poles. Layout: 3 walk poles (2 ft apart), right turn to a single pole where the trot transition is, continue on to 3 trot poles (3.6 ft apart), right turn to a single pole where the walk transition is, and then back to the walk poles. Benefits: helps establish horse's cadence, develops precision in cues, transitions become smoother. We worked on this for 20 minutes both directions. Then moved the pattern out to establish a trot/lope drill. Same basic pattern. Now last week, the girl had a terrible time with her lope transition. Her horse would just ignore her or finally pick up the lope after much urging. Today with this drill pattern, the horse picked up the lope beautifully. The girl and her mom were amazed. I explained that cueing the transition over a pole makes it easier for the horse to make the transition because since the horse is already lifting her shoulders to go over the pole, the lope transition just naturally rolls. Now that pattern was anything but pretty, but the girl was able to practice her cueing, the mare lightened up on her forehand and the pair really worked as a team. We ran the drill several times ( I had to make her quit, the mare was really starting to blow). While she walked the horse I then set up the poles in a circle. I explained that the goal of this drill was to trot through the poles maintaing the arc of the circle. The girl laughed saying "That will be easy." She soon found out that it was harder than she thought. She and the mare ran over the guide cones repeatedly, nicked the poles and wound up going in a diagonal straight line through the pattern. It was a real eye opener. I explained that the reason it was so hard for her is that when she approaches a pole pattern, she just lets the mare pull her through. The mare prefers straight (like most horses) . She needed to maintain control through the entire drill - keep the mare moving forward, between her legs and reins and stay with the motion. Once she understood, she tried the drill several more times. She finished a little better, but these are concepts that might take a bit to sink in. We wrapped up with a recap and question time. Her attention span had been vastly depleated so I sent her off to cool out her horse and untack. At the show last Saturday, since she had won every class she entered she was feeling a little cocky. I gave her some things to think about. Now maybe she will buckle down and get ready for the District horse show in a month.

Training Time

Finally everything is clicking. The weather, my schedule and the horses. I have officially retired from training because I don't have the time or the facilities to be a consistent trainer anymore. I also have a 7 year old horse of my own that isn't much better than green broke because I am always riding someone elses horse. But I digress - yesterday everything was clicking. The weather was fantastic and I had a cancellation of a riding lesson. I was actually able to work three horses yesterday! Now I remember why I love to train. I was able to take my time with each horse and really work on what they needed. It had been about a month since I had worked Val and she picked up right where we had left off. The layoff really helped her attitude. Shiek was a little scattered at first, but soon tuned in to the business at hand. His left stifle still troubles me though. I have worked him lightly the last three days ( suppling/cuing/tuning in 30 minutes on Monday, walk/trot ponying on Tuesday, suppling/long lineing/patience on Wednesday) with lots of hydrotherapy and linament afterwards. He still continues to be sore and refuses to take the left hind lead. I will give him the day off today and pick-up with the conditioning on Friday. The owners are impatient to proceed, but I refuse to ride a sore horse and risk permanent damage and a bad attitude.

The Thief

Sadie is a carrot lover. It could be her one true weakness. Yesterday afternoon, while I was grooming horses, I noticed Sadie very slowly easing her way to the grooming box. I watched out of the corner of my eye to see what she was up to. Finally after several minutes of stealthy creeping, Sadie grabbed her prize - the bag of carrots in the box. Just like a purse snatcher, she scooped the bag up into her mouth and gleefully took off. Unfortunately, she had picked the bag up by the bottom and had spilled all the carrots in her escape. Once she realized this and saw all of the horses eating her booty, she sheepishly returned to the scene of the crime. I retrieved the bag from her mouth, salvaged a couple of carrots and rubbed her belly. Crime really doesn't pay.

The Playday Results

Whew, the first playday is in the bag. I had micromanaged everything and driven myself into a worried mess - Did I forget something? (of course) Did I make enough copies? (of course) Will anyone showup? (of course). Well luckily, it wasn't a steller turnout. We had 7 kids show up to compete in the classes. Most of them were from the horse club, but one boy was plucky enough to enter even though he had never ridden a horse before. With the small turn-out, the kids were able to relax and have fun. The judge took the time to critique the kids in private and give them suggestions. There were no wrecks or scares, just fun and learning. Exactly what we (the parents) were hoping for. Four more weeks to go!

Those Rascally Dogs

As I have stated before, I have several dogs, some of them our and some are fosters. I love them all dearly, but lately two of them have been driving me crazy. Somthin' and Turk have figured out how to escape from their yard and go on merry chases anround the place. First they head to the bull pasture to bark at the bulls, then they make a big circle and go bark at the horses and finally they find chickens to chase. This has become a daily occurance. Last night, I watched how they were getting out. They actually climb (paw over paw) the fence. It looks like they are climbing a ladder. So I had no choice but to put them in doggy jail - the kennel. This is only a stop gap measure. I think I will try running hot wire across the top of the fence. That usually works, but for now they are in doggy jail.
Brat update - She is doing much better, one of the bite marks had become infected and had caused her leg to swell. The poor baby could not bend her knee and getting up and down was difficult. A trip to the vet for a shot of Naxcel and a tube of Banamine later, the swelling has subsided, the heat has disapated and the mobility is returning. She is still in a very cuddly mood and just likes to hang out in her barn. Last night, she didn't want me to leave after her evening bottle. She just kept nudging me, so I spent the next hour scratching all of her itchy spots, teaching her to eat grain, and getting lots of scratchy kisses. The poor girl is lonely. Hopefully soon, she will be well enough to turn out with an older weaned calf. Then she can learn how to be a cow.

Time for a haircut

Yesterday, it was time to clip the horses. Now usually this is no big deal. Sadie's clipping manners are ideal - never moves a muscle, drops head, can clip without halter, etc. Cash isn't as good, but has made huge strides in his manners. Still have to stand on a bucket to clip his bridle path. Then we have Brandy. Everytime the clippers touch her she acts like she has been shocked. I have been working with her (running the clippers around her but not touching, laying the running clippers along her side without clipping anything, starting on her jaw and working my way up toward her muzzle, etc.) but have been making little headway. So yesterday was the day for her to be clipped for the show Saturday. I started with the easy horses first - Sadie then Cash. Soon it was Brandy's turn. I almost reached for the Ace, but I really only use that as a very last resort. We began and Brandy began her running backwards, popping up, and head jerking. Soon she was acting like an unbroke mustang (exaggeration). My patience was running out because I know that she used to behave well before. I was pretty sure that the behaviour was a learned thing and she had gotten away with the bad behaviour before and the people clipping her would give up (she was leased for about a year). I don't believe in ear twitching and use lip twitching on a very rare occasion, but her behaviour had to be reprimanded. I went and grabbed the show chain and lead (thats how often I use a chain, the only one I own goes on Cash's show halter). I attached the chain to the halter and tried again. Brandy set back against the chain and I let her sit. She moved forward and the pressure released. She chewed for a minute and walked forward. Patted her and started the clippers again. Brandy set back again, I let her set, she jumped forward, pressure released, chewing, pat, clippers. This happened about four more times. Finally on the sixth time she shook her head when she came forward and reached her nose to the clippers. I let her sniff and began clipping. Clipped her entire head without much trouble (I just clipped the edges of her ears) and never had to use the chain again. Moved on to her legs which she didn't like but stood for. Much patting and "Good Girls" later we had a clipped horse! Not the best job, but a presentable one. Brandy's reward for her improved behaviour was hand grazing on a covented grassy spot in the front yard. It is amazing how much better a horse behaves when you firmly tell them what is the expected behaviour. I know that the next time she will test me again, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt. Give her a chance to behave the first time before resorting to a chain. I am a big fan of "less is more" and "time and patience can achieve all". Her behaviour however, bordered on the dangerous to herself and me and that will not be tolerated.

Playday Count Down - 4 days

The 4H Horse Club that I am a volunteer leader in, is hosting a Combined Playday this weekend. This is the first big event that the club has hosted and I am getting a little stressed. My husband and I have produced bull ridings for years, but horse shows/playdays are totally new to me. There is so much to remember - judges, obstacles, barrels, timer, flags, etc. I really think that it will be worth it though. The concept for the playday is unique - three speed events (barrels, poles & flag race) and three show events (showmanship at halter, western pleasure & trail). This is a five week series and to be eligible for the buckles, a kid must compete in 5 of the 6 events. I know that this will stretch my groups skills. They are kinda stuck in the rail class mentality and can sure us the opportunity to hone some different horsemanship skills. As of today, I am still looking for judges. The parent that was going to take care of that backed out and I really don't have any judging contacts. I have contacted some of the local colleges, but haven't had any success yet. Wish me luck - must get back to judge hunting.

The Escapee!

Last night, my blissful sleep was rudely disrupted by a rouge bull. Around 4:45 am, the dogs began barking loudly (and 15 dogs can make quite a racket). I got up to investigate, opened the front door and was face to face with "Calvin". Calvin is one of our bucking bulls that had apparently decided that he missed us and came for a visit. Now I do care about our bulls, but I wish he had picked a better time. Really, at 4:45 am I am not at my best. ;) Also, Calvin is not the most warm and fuzzy bull. Actually, he is probably the most dangerous and unpredictable one we have. So I quietly shut the door and ran back to the bedroom, grabbed Daryl and calmly told him that Calvin was out. Now his version says I shrieked, but he over dramatizes. Daryl roles out of bed and we get dressed, grab flashlights and emerge out of the house ready to do some bull wrangling. Once on the porch, we attempt to find Calvin with the flashlights. No sign of him. Daryl looks at me - I know he thinks I was dreaming. Soon the dogs begin barking again and we follow the sound. Ahaa! A Calvin sighting! A black and white blur races past and heads down the road towards his pasture. We are in hot pursuit (well as hot as you can in the dark). My husband runs to get the farm truck and I follow on foot to try to direct Calvin towards the pasture. Calvin has other ideas however and turns back toward the house. We go back and forth a couple of times, but thankfully, the rest of the bulls come up to investigate the ruckus. Wings starts to beller and Calvin throws up his head and runs to the pasture fence. After several runs up and down the fence, Calvin finds a spot and jumps with all his might. Any eventer would have been very appreciative of his form, although he over jumped the fence a bit. Home free he stops to glance over his shoulder and I swear he stuck out his tongue! Finally my husband pulls up with the truck and gives me a ride back to the house. We slowly make our way back to bed, lay our heads down on the pillows and close our eyes. WAWAWAWA!!! The alarm - Oh well, time to start a new day. Thanks Calvin.

Pony Time

One of the horses I have in for training right now is a 3 yr old paint gelding. His owners had begun his training as a 2 yr old, but soon felt that they needed professional help. They brought the horse for training and everything was progressing nicely. Unfortunatly, once serious training began (mounted work), the colt began to show stifle problems. After the initial lameness began, I laid him off for 3 days and then began hand walking. The stifles soon showed no signs of lameness and training began again. In hand ground work for a week in conjunction with 15-20 minutes hand walking. I then began under saddle work, again stifle soreness. The colt is fairly light muscled and tall (15.3 hds), and to look at him he looks like a two year old. With layoff, he is sound until training escalates. So now I am going to concentrate on improving his conditioning. I have been handwalking him daily for two weeks now and I began ponying him this weekend for 30 minutes at a walk. I will continue this for a couple more weeks until he can comfortably walk/trot for an hour. His lameness strongly suggests weak stifles instead of injured stifles and hopefully better conditioning will take care of the problem. Either way, 4 weeks of in hand work will surely make him a supple and light mouthed ride. A win - win situation.

Oklahoma Burning

Oklahoma is literally burning down! High winds, low humidity and dead vegatation have combined to make a perfect fire storm. Several towns had to be evacuated and people lost homes, businesses and other personal items. Thank GOD that so far no human lives have been lost! This does bring to light another important thing. My sister-in-law called frantic last night. She and her husband had to evacuate their home. They were not able to get their horse, Rusty, to load in the trailer. They ended up leaving him there. Now I know that we all believe that no emergency will ever happen to us, but things happen. Teach your horses to load! I don't mean, "Well we eventually get her to load". That doesn't work when anxiety is high. The horses will sense it and become agitated themselves. Don't blame the horse. It is your responsibility as a horse owner to train your horse in basic handling. I don't care if you don't ride them or well we never haul them anywhere. Again - things happen. If it's not a fire, flood, hurricane or some other disaster; it could be an emergency trip to the vet. Please, please, please for the health and well-being of your horse - teach them to load and load well.
Okay, now I will step down off of my soapbox. Have a great weekend!

Soft Hands

Yesterday, I taught a riding lesson to a cute 6 year old girl. She has been taking lessons off and on for the last couple of months. When I begin giving a student lessons, I have the students ride with a sidepull. They are working on gaining an independent seat and sometimes have a tendency to hang on the reins for balance or bump a horse's mouth. A sidepull is a bit more forgiving on the horse. Well, I told my student that she had graduated to the bridle and explained to her how the bit works and did the old wooden spoon in the mouth trick and we began the lesson. Wow! She had the softest and most giving hands of any beginner I have ever taught. Especially for such a young child. We progressed through the lesson and not once did she bang Sadie's mouth or hang on the reins. I was so proud of her! Now on to more leg cues and body cues! Before long she is going to graduate from Sadie to Brandy.
The Brat is doing great. She has some swelling under her neck at a puncture wound and her hind leg is still an issue, but her appetite is back and the michevious twinkle is back in her eye.

Trouble at the Ranch

Yesterday, we had to move The Brat (bottle calf) from her current housing to a new pen. It is a larger area and constant turn-out. We thought we did a masterful job making it as comfortable for her as possible (lots of hay in the stall, fresh buckets of water and feed, jolly ball, etc.). The Brat, however, had other ideas. Sometime during the evening she decided to jump the fence and escape. We came home from meetings & ball practice to an empty pen and no Brat to be seen. The family all ran and retrieved flashlights and spread out to look for her. After a frantic 5 minutes (seemed like an hour), we found her in the pen with Sheik, her old neighbor. She was shaken up and very cut up. We carried her back to her original pen and assessed her in the light. She gashed her hind leg pretty badly (I guess when she jumped out of her pen made with panels) and very scratched up from going through the wire into the pasture. Most everything is superficial, but the hind leg has me concerned. She won't leave a wrap on it and the gash is located on the inside just above her hock. It is not deep just an avulsion of the skin, but it looks bad. I didn't think sutures would hold last night and now it is too late to suture. She was getting around well this morning and was very hungry for her morning bottle, both great news. I am going to start her on antibiotics as a precaution. She will be fine, but this kind of drama I can live without!

The Scratching Post

Spring is here and with it comes itchy horses. No matter how much we curry and brush, the hair seems neverending. My Daughter's horse, Cash, has come up with a unique way to get scratched. When I turn him back out after feeding, he makes a point of putting himself (16.3 hands and 1250 lbs) between me and where ever I am going. He will do this until I stop and scratch his belly. If I send him on, he gives me such a wounded look. It has been great practice for his Showmanship patterns. In his attempt to get a belly scratch, he will perform all of the manuvers perfectly without any halter. I only wish he would pivot as well on a leadrope!

Let me introduce you to the cast

Husband - my wonderful loving husband of 18 years
Daughter - 14 years old and a GREAT kid!
Son - 10 years old and my greatest joy and trial

Colty - 7 year old paint gelding, namesake for this Blog. He is my baby. I rescued him as a yearling and couldn't ever see parting with him.

Sadie - 10 year old pinto mare. The best kid horse in the world. She is game for anything and extremely patient.

Cash - 6 year old Paint gelding. The leading man type (I am beautiful and I know it!) My daughter's show horse.

Brandy - 17 year old Paint mare. A sweet old soul. Great for beginners and people needing some confidence.

Doc - 4 year old Shetland gelding. The prankster!

Stormy - ?? year old Mustang/Appaloosa. A real softy on the inside, but doesn't let many people close.

Val & Sheik - horses in training

9 dogs (Emmy, Hammer, Johnny, Chubs, Dolly, Pup, Bee, Somethin', Lil Bit)
6 foster dogs (Otis, Layla, Turk, Baby, Sally & Missy)

Sara the cat

Duckster the duck

Cows (Cat Ballou, Jelly, Mama, Mighty Mama, Phantom, Tammy Faye, PJ, 53, 45, 30, Sweet Pea, Baby I, Tiny I, Knees, Thumb Spot, Buckaroo Spot, Fast Forward, Pinky, DewRag, P Jo)

Bulls (Charlie, Wings, All Mighty, Romeo, Rewind, Ugly Bucks, Two Spot, Slapout, Brownstone, No Beef, Crazy Brindle, Lil Al, War Paint )

The Brat - 1 month old bottle calf (her mom, Creme, prolapsed and died)

The Chickens

Howdy! Well this is me....

Hey ya'll, I am a 40 year old mother of two and wife of one. I am sure that many of you will be able to understand the trials and tribulations of my wonderful life. Not enough me to go around, not enough time in the day, not enough days in the week! While my life is not exactly noteworthy, some people might just get a chuckle out of my days. Where to begin - here is a my To Do List for my upcoming week.

1. Work horse in training
2. Help my daughter get her horse ready for a show in the 18th
3. Plan the show for the 18th
4. Help plan a golf fundraiser for the local Booster club
5. Give two riding lessons
6. Get my kid's to baseball/softball practice
7. Go to a Booster Club meeting
8. Go to a School Board meeting
9. Work my own horses
10. Work with the 5 "foster dogs"
11. Feed horses & cattle
12. Paint the trail obstacles for the show on the 18th
13. Get sponsors for the County Fair Bull Riding
14. Help my 4H Horse Club kids get ready for the show on the 18th
15. Get my horses that the 4H kids are using ready for the show on the 18th
16. Be a loving mom and wife
17. Clean the house
18. Mow/weed eat the yard.

Oh and by the way work a 40+ hour work week.

One thing about it - my life is never boring! God blesses me and we get it all done!