Vacation

Well, I had a mini vacation the last couple days, which I was sorely in need of, and now I am back and eager to start posting more often again! Life is good, although things have been extremely hectic lately. We have had lots of rain, (which I hope continues!) and I am already seeing some new grass coming up :-)

We have a new kitten - she showed up a couple weeks ago. When I can get a photo to post here, I will formally introduce her by name! She is VERY friendly and confident, and has definitely succeeded in her determination to make slaves of us...

Mira seems to really like rain and colder weather. Her coat is growing super fast, also. Even though it is much harder to keep clean (due to length), I love how shiny and brilliant her winter coat is.

Well, that's it for random news tonight. Over and out.


L

It wants to get you

This post is about a monster. The monster is lurking somewhere nearby, and it's waiting to get you. It will hypnotize you and suck the life from you, until you are a zombie and cannot think clearly...

Forewarned is forearmed! Beware of the monster, and click here to find out what it is!







(Yes, this is a very tongue-in-cheek post, but I honestly do hate how much human potential goes down the drain every day due to "the monster." I keep thinking about it today, so here are my thoughts...)


L

William Tell Overture "Mom Song!"

This is hysterically funny - and it is more understandable to the "non-horse savvy people" here, (N!) so enjoy!

Click to watch the "Mom Song." :-D


L

Dreaming about mares...

The last few days I did something I don't get to do often enough! I window-shopped on equine.com & dreamhorse.com for a while. I always love looking for horses, pretending I have a nice big fat budget. It is funny how the horses I really like almost always seem to have a 20, 30, or $40,000 price tag when I look at the details! :-D I was focussing especially on reining mares during this "binge of imagination," and found a list of quite a few good ones. (The palomino in the picture actually isn't for sale, but I liked her too.) Some of my favorite modern cutting/reining sires are Colonels Smoking Gun, Powder River Playboy, Like A Diamond, and I really liked the gelding by Reminic that I once had the privilege of riding!

If I could pick any mare to start with it would probably be a bay tobiano daughter of Colonels Smoking Gun that I really, really liked - I don't know where she is now, but I still remember her photo & ad. That is just to start with, of course!

My reason for buying her would be that not only did she look like a great producer (and had the pedigree to back it up) but I knew I would have fun riding her. And you know how some horses just fit your mental image in your head, and you go "aaahhhh," ? Well, she was that for me.


1. What about you? If you could pick any living mare, who would it be? Or if you know she's probably out there, but haven't actually seen her, what bloodlines etc. would she have?

2. What is ONE point of conformation that you always look for in a horse? For me it is the hocks and knees - I don't just want them to be level, I want them to be low! The level of the hocks has such a big influence on how well the horse can collect itself, yet in performance Paints & AQHA's that seems to be one of the most overlooked aspects.

3. What purpose(s) would you be buying this mare for, and why does she make you go "aaahhhh," ?


Please let me know your wishlists and feel free to post pictures/links of the ideal mare you would love to own! Have a little fun window-shopping!


L

That's Bologna! Or wait, it's Turkey!

Look what went on a picnic through our yard yesterday! Turkeys are quite common higher up in the mountains, but this is the first time I have ever seen them in my own neighborhood. There must have been 30 or 40 all told, and they were not shy at all. We were outside watching them and talking pretty loudly, and the group just kept pecking their way steadily along. I like wildlife, as long as they don't damage anything, so it was fun.

I have now seen foxes, bears, turkeys, raccoons, deer, 'possums, coyotes, herons, and various birds and "varmints" in my backyard. Now if I can just catch a glimpse of the cougar - safely, of course!
I will try to stick to regular photos of Mira for now. She seems to be quite grumpy whenever I try to train and have someone take photos, (plus I cannot focus on her totally when doing that) so for now I am not going to try. She is learning to hold her foot up for a second or two at a time, but this part is definitely slower going than simply picking her foot up briefly. Now she actually has to work! *gasp* Thus, it takes more attention from me.

It rained recently, so the grass is starting to sprout! Yay! This means it is time for me to do some more work on my projects now. Ciao for today... :-)



L

Excuses, excuses

Many apologies for the long and unplanned blogging absence! My grandmother, who is over 80, had a stroke last week, and has had several episodes since, leading to her being in and out of the hospital. With helping my mother (who also got the flu for several days) and work and helping my friends pack to move, life has been... interesting. Just one of those periods we all have when things get rather overwhelming!

At least training is still going well. I am now working on training her to hold her foot up for a couple seconds at a time, and putting it down after I say "Drop." I am doing this by using a soft rope looped around her fetlock and holding her foot up for a second while I praise her. We have not had time to get all the pictures for the series yet, and we also have run into a slight impedance. It was pretty funny actually - the twig I have been using to cue her did not show up in pics, so I decided to go ahead and buy an all-purpose whip (carrot stick style). I got a cute purple one, and went to pet Mira with it.

What a surprise! Mira's eyes bugged out, and she started dancing on the end of her lead! I was not expecting that, as she has always been on the lazy side when I flip the lead rope at her rear to move over. And she has never blinked when I carried sticks/rakes near her. So I am pretty sure she was never beaten or anything. However, I believe she was in gymkhana at some point in her life, (that is what the vet guessed, and I agree) and I guess she associates whips with getting serious about moving or something. She really was nervous for awhile! Within a few minutes, though, she was letting me stroke her back with it while I rubbed her belly with the other hand. So hopefully she will get totally comfortable with it soon, so we can get some good pictures of cueing her for the Salute. :-D

Now, I'd better go get caught up on reading other blogs. Later!


L

Waiting for supper...

Here is The Spoiled One, waiting patiently for her evening meal. She's rather dirty right now, as I have not been able to groom her properly since injuring my thumb. Being so light in color, naturally she enjoys rolling in dirt as much as possible - mud is even better! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to bribe, er hire, some help so as to be able to get better pictures. I am still working on the photos series on training the Salute. She is really enjoying it, and I am starting to think what trick I should teach her next - Mira does not like being bored!

Well, that's it for tonight. I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

L

Ouch!

I'm afraid the next batch of photos will have to wait until tomorrow, as I managed to give myself a deep cut on my thumb today. It is well bandaged and should recover fine, but typing will be difficult for a while, so please excuse the short break. Talk to you soon!


L

Field #3

Introducing... Field #3! I know, such a poetic name to give it :-) This is the smallest spot I plan on using this winter, approximately 20'x40'. It is located right below our pond dam, so it is also wetter than some other areas. Right now I am actually not sure whether I will use it for grass hay like Field #2, or if I might decide to plant it to grain. Either way, it is a very fertile (for our area) piece of land.

Below is a picture of the pond grass that we made hay from earlier in the summer. The poor pond is so low! I really, really hope we have a wet winter this year. Last year I think we got about half of the normal precipitation and the pond never filled up all the way. I hope to have more Mira pictures ready tomorrow, so stay tuned!

L

Field #2

And this is Field #2! (Also called the quackmire due to its proximity to the pond!) This is the wettest, shadiest spot on our property, and is roughly one quarter acre in size, irregularly shaped. It is fabulous for late spring grass, and we must have a spring in one spot, because there is one small area that always has green on it (third pic). I will not be planting anything new on it this year - I simply want to manage it better than it has been so far, i.e. graze it regularly and evenly at the right intervals in order to encourage good growth and to naturally fertilize it. I may or may not put top-dressings on it. If I do, gypsum would be my first choice, again.

My ideal plan for this field would be to graze it quite a bit early in the spring, and then allow the grass to mature enough to cut for hay. We shall see whether it works out, and how much hay it produces!

Field #3 pictures coming tomorrow...

L

Field #1

OK, here is what I will call Field #1. This is where I plan to plant wheat. As far as I know, this field has never had anything other than brush clearing and weed-whacking done to it. No fertilizing, watering, or anything else. It is basically virgin land. I plan to wait until after we get a couple more good rains, and then rent a rototiller and work the ground thoroughly. Then I want to scatter manure lightly over the area - lightly, because wheat does not like too much fertilizer. The main thing the ground needs is gypsum to loosen the dirt (or cement as we call it!). I would estimate I'll be planting roughly 80'x100' to wheat.

I have no idea what the diamonds in the picture are from! I could not find any dust on my lens... Weird.

More photos tomorrow!

L