Time for a change

As a family, we have worked long and hard to have horses in our lives. Through good times and bad, horrible weather and the loss of family members and animals, we have tried to give all of our critters the best home that we could. We have made the difficult decision to find new homes for our minis, Pumpkin and Raider. They came to live with us through different circumstances but we know that their lives are better for being with us. We consider both rescues (Pumpkin more than Raider) and knew that at some point we should probably find them forever homes. We wish them both luck at their new farms.


Our focus is now on Jet and Montero. Montero has steadily gained weight (over a hundred pounds!) and has buddied up with Jet. His cribbing seems to be controlled with the Dare cribbing collar that we bought him and he was treated for ulcers. Jet is still his easy going self and has done very well with T in gymkhanas. He is 18 this year. Jet and Montero make great pasture buddies. We have moved them to another farm with their own grass pasture and shed. They moved into their new home yesterday and seem to be settling in well. I am hoping that it will be a peaceful weekend.

Sunday Still Challenge - In Motion

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge - in motion. This one was an easy one for me as the horses are a favorite subject (lots of pics in motion on the blog). I have a ton of photos in my archives but I also wanted to take some new ones.


Raider (registered name Rader's Sir Paul Buckingham), jumping over a log. Raider moved around quite a bit in his 10 years and some of that time he was used for showing (we've had him almost 2 years). He works very well on the leadline and T has taught him quite a bit. He will talk, trot, and canter plus he can jump! It's hard to get a shot of him jumping as the minis move really fast.




My beloved Quarter Horse gelding Diego cantering in the riding ring in February of last year. Diego was my first horse and taught both me and T how to ride. Diego's health started to deteriorate very slowly last year and he had a major episode of colic caused by a blockage in July. The blockage didn't resolve and he was euthanized on July 8, 2008. He was about 28 years old.

Jet and Charm running around the ring yesterday. We like to let them burn some energy off before we ride them.

The windmill that pumps water into the cistern for the horse pasture. We had enough wind to keep it moving on Saturday. The sky was a light gray without much color so I chose black and white for this one.

A Close Call

We had a bit of a scare Tuesday night. Pumpkin was being his usual silly self but was laying on his back with his feet in the air (not surprising with him) when Craig was doing the water tubs in the afternoon. Eleanor's neighbor Leon (who works for a commercial horse hauler) told one of the other boarders that Pumpkin had been up and down more than usual during the day. I went up to check on him and Raider. His personality was just fine and he was eating but he was stretching out like he had to pee and was trying to roll a lot. T and I brought him into the riding ring and he was still playing with Raider but seemed to have a belly ache. He would run around like an idiot and then stop and try to roll. I checked his feet in case he was having a founder issue (never happened before but I wanted to make sure), no hot feet, no digital pulse. He was not dehydrated. Gave him a shot of banamine, gave him a small bran mash since he wanted to eat. His temperature was normal and his energy level was still good. He didn't show any more signs of a belly ache. He nibbled hay and drank water. Craig was prepared to spend the night with him but came home around midnight. Pumpkin pooped a chocolate chip cookie wrapper (!) and then regular poop. Not sure if someone has been feeding him (paddock is along the road) or he got a hold of a piece of trash. He seems none worse for the wear and has been his usual self. I am very glad that we pay close attention to the horses and know them well or the outcome may have been very different.

Cowgirl

I grew up in a very suburban area in New Jersey, about 15 miles outside of New York City. I was not surrounded by farm animals and my only time horseback riding was on a couple of hack rides as a kid. When we moved here, Craig gave me a group of riding lessons as a Christmas gift. Little did he know that it would be a lifestyle change :)

We bought Diego when T was 4 years old. She spend many hours at the barn and doing little pony rides and leadline stuff. She doesn't remember life without horses. Even at 12, she has become quite the horsewoman. We are very fortunate in that we have very quiet and patient horses in our lives (by design - I'm getting too old to hit the ground too much).

After we let the minis run around in the slowly defrosting ring, it was time for Jet and Charm. T called them up from the big pasture, haltered them both, got them through the gate, got the gate closed and walked them both up to the ring. I'm very proud of her horsemanship skills - and having good horses helps too.

Pumpkin is so patient! No pics of Raider since he decided he didn't want to be caught and I spent all of my energy following him around. It took about 20 minutes to catch him but I wasn't going to give up.

Minis, minis and more minis

After several days of freezing temps, snow and ice, it finally warmed up enough for stuff to melt and the footing was halfway decent. The minis had a very good time playing in the ring and I remembered to bring the camera with me. They look like they are being really mean in a couple of the pics but I assure you that no minis were harmed ;)

Peering around a tree

Videos of the Minis

Since it's been so icy and snowy, we haven't been able to do much with the horses. T decided to play around with Raider a bit today while we had a snow flurry.

Pumpkin and Raider were a little frisky.

Soaking up the sun and Whiskercicles

Raider has whiskercicles this morning.

Enjoying the morning sunshine at the hay feeder

(Pumpkin is in the background hoping someone in the barn will give him a snack)

Jet was waiting up at the barn this morning. Charm placed her self on a hill where she could soak up the strong morning sun. She was listening to me talking to her but was quite content to wait for me to come to her.

Wordless Wednesday

Today's snow and Frosted minis

Today was our first real accumulation of snow all season. Before today, we have had 14 days of snow in our area but only 1.4 inches - the rest has been ice, sleet, and freezing rain. The snow was a nice change of pace (and I can't believe I'm saying that because I am so not a fan of winter and I really hate snow). Jet and Charm got quick blanket changes (one or more of the other horses keep biting the butts out of the blankets) and then back to the hay for them. The minis have blankets too but they don't really get cold, they don't shiver, and they really don't like to have them on as evidenced by the grumpy faces and attitudes when they do have them on. All of the horses have free choice hay to keep them warm.

The view from the barn

Jet & Charm

Frosted Minis

Raider

Pumpkin

(He's short but not as short as he appears - it's a step down into the barn where their run-in is).

Pumpkin's Journey

I decided to take all of the photos that we have of Pumpkin's first year with us and make a video of it. I'm still learning the software but here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

Hairy Beasties

The minis are the hairiest little critters in the winter! It's hard to capture on camera but their coats are so long and thick. Raider's ears disappear into this mane and forelock.

We joke that they have snow pants on their legs since the hair is about 4 inches long. Pumpkin's fetlocks actually come down past his hoof to the ground. We try not to do anything but clip a bridle path for their halters and keep their tails from dragging in the mud since they grow such a good defense against the cold.

Raider actually stood still for me so I got a good picture of him. He's awfully cute!

A Quiet Christmas

Christmas Eve found me working on a scheduled day off but we are frantically trying to meet our year end goals (gotta pay for these horses somehow). The rest of the year will be very busy.

Christmas morning dawned bright and sunny - finally!!! After watching T open gifts and having a leisurely breakfast I headed over to the farm to feed the other furry critters. All was quiet and it was very nice to see the sunlight for a change. The ice had finally melted and blankets could be taken off.

We headed over in the afternoon to do some clean up and fill up the water tub now that the hose had defrosted. T rode Jet bareback for a little bit. He was definitely "feeling his oats" now that it was warmer and the footing had been so treacherous for days. We had let him and Charm run around the ring for a good half hour before T rode him but he was still full of pep.

We decided that it would be best for both Charm and Jet to be out in the pasture with the big herd (11 horses counting Jet & Charm) - more space for them to move around including hills and less clean up for us. The first sunny day in a what felt like forever seemed like the perfect time so out they went. We turned them out by the cistern so they would know where the water was and they took off together to explore.

Saying hello to the rest of the herd

Jet pushed his way into the hay first thing and Charm stuck by his side. They are definitely buddies and stick up for each other. I went back in the afternoon to check on them and they were both close to the overhang so I lead Jet in and Charm followed. I figured I would give them a little bit of grain so they would get used to eating by the barn. Charm is obviously used to being in a barn because she literally ran into a stall as soon as she heard the grain going in to the feed tub. Gave me a good chuckle.
Now that the big horses are out with the rest of the herd, the minis get the big paddock again. They were very happy to be running around and wallowing in the mud that is a result of the ice melting.

I hope all the critters will be happy with their "new" digs.

Pumpkin says, "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!"

Happy Feet

After 3 storms in 1 week, we finally got a break today and saw some sunshine. Even though it was cold, there was a bit of a thaw from the sun so everyone got to run around the ring for a bit.

Jet and Charm had a good time bucking and chasing each other - well, Jet chased Charm and Charm threw some feet at him. At least he didn't get the chance to pull her tail this time.

The minis were crazy and spent about 15 minutes chasing each other around and around the ring.

Ponies in Pajamas

We spent part of this morning making sure that everyone had enough hay to keep warm, blankets were on the way that they should be, and getting rid of the muddy ice balls that had built up on fetlocks. Charm seemed to enjoy the attention and was very well behaved even though she wasn't tied. Jet was also a good sport about it and seemed happier once the ice chunks were pulled off.




Pumpkin wasn't too bad - just mud on his legs. Raider was a whole other story - he had rolled in the mud and then the mud froze. It took us about 20 minutes just to catch him and another 20 minutes or so to scrape all the frozen mud off.




Since another storm is coming with sleet/freezing rain/snow, I wanted to make sure that everyone had blankets on to at least stay dry. Lots of hay will help to stay warm.

Zoom!

Minis!

The minis have become very fuzzy in anticipation of winter. They are like little tanks - not much bothers them including bad weather. Gotta love 'em!

Minis playing in the pasture

Pumpkin in the Morning Sun