Horse Sense and Dog Tails

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 02:48:00 +0000

The forecast for our area is calling for possible flash floods. Wouldn't you know that just yesterday I let the heifers out into the woods pasture for some fresh grazing. That in itself wouldn't be a problem, but the momma cows and babies are in the bottom field. In order to move them out of danger I need to drive them into the woods pasture where the heifers are. Since I want to keep the two herds separate for now, I will have to find the heifers, round them up and drive them all the way back to the gate and into the pasture they were thrilled to get out of yesterday. Should be fun!

I've got two horses, a nice little quiet black gelding that never gives me a moments trouble and a spit-fire little bay mare that tries her best to unload me almost every time we ride. Guess who I picked to help me get the job done? ;)

For driving help, I'll take Tag and Shade. Tag is rock solid, but Shade could use the experience.

The heifers could have been anywhere in about a 150 acre patch, so we went hunting for them.

Finally found them exactly as far as they could possibly get from the gate I needed to send them through. Oh well, I can count on the dogs to do their part. Tag flushed them out of the brush with Shade not far behind.

Forgive me for the spotty video. I did the best I could to catch the highlights of the drive, but I was sittin on top of a both hands on the wheel kind of ride. :)

Heifers moved successfully, then a mile back to the bottom to move mommas and babies.

Safely out of the river bottom! Let it rain!

A big thanks to my three good helpers. It sure would have been a tough job without em!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my afternoon. :)

Have a good night!

Crystal

Tough old horses

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:28:00 +0000

I don't know about you all, but sometimes I am amazed at just how durable horses can be. I turned all the old-timers out to pasture for the winter. They are all fat and sassy and don't really want anything to do with being caught, even when I am shaking the feed bucket.
Finally, the snow has made them decide to come up and have some grain. Juliette was the first to come when I called with Tam as a close second.

I put feed out in four places so everyone could get their share. Tam and Pappy are never far from each other, so they both ate out of the trough.

Dan and Juliette each had their own bucket.

Notice the snow and icicles hanging off of all of them.

Look at that big one hanging from Tam's flank. These crazy old horses have access to a shed with hay 24-7, but they would rather stay out on the range and get covered with snow and ice. I guess I will leave it up to them to seek shelter when they want it. They seem to be enjoying themselves.
I am always surprised at how well most horses stand up to the elements and even choose to be out and exposed when given the choice. I guess they are made to tolerate those conditions.
Well, that's all for now.
Talk to you soon!
Crystal

Paeton and Elway moving the cows

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:47:00 +0000

For her lesson today, Paeton was riding Elway, a pony I bought this summer. Like most ponies, he can have a stubborn streak once in a while. However, Paeton has been doing great with him.

She was ready to move up to a bit more of a challenge than our old sweetheart, Juliette, was providing.
Paeton and Elway had a little fun moving the cows around .

I love the reflection in the pond.

It was such a beautiful day, I think the cows were even having a good time.
I think Paeton just might be cowgirl material. ;)
See ya!

Tuesday Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:52:00 +0000

The weather has been pretty cooperative for the last couple of weeks for our Tuesday lessons. Paeton has been riding our new horse, Juliette.

She is very gentle and willing. A perfect horse for lessons.
Katy has come for her second lesson now. She has been riding Tam and they get along very well.

Thanks, girls, for being such good students! I am having a lot of fun teaching you and hope you are having fun learning from me!
Crystal

Visiting the new baby.

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:17:00 +0000

Wow! What a beautiful day!
When Paeton arrived for her lesson, we headed out on a little trail ride across the farm.

We traveled up and down some big hills, crossed some water and headed up to Tracey's to see the new baby.

Isn't she an absolute little doll?
After I snapped a couple of shots of her, Paeton and I headed back for home to meet her mom. We took a different route and looked at the cows and calves.

It was a great afternoon for a ride. I hope Paeton enjoyed it as much as I did. :)

See ya!
Crystal

Bringing the Cows home

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:10:00 +0000

We decided this would be a good day to move our cattle up from the lower field to give the spring grass a chance to grow for a bit. I had the horses ready a little early.

Tag and Ember were ready to go too. I had to put Snowy in the kennel. He thinks he's a cow dog and wants to do his part to "help". Unfortunately, he gets in the way and I worry that he will get hurt. Sooo.... poor Snowy!

Don't worry. I let him out as soon as the cattle drive was over and he happily followed me and my horse for the rest of the day.

We headed off the hill to gather up the cows. That's Jana and Lana in front of me. Gerald is riding beside me on Pappy, trying to dodge the camera.

Haha! There he is. Can't hide from the camera forever.
The cows were scattered all over the bottom field, so we spread out and began to gather them up.

Got em' rounded up and out of the bottom field. Now we have 'em headed up the valley with Tag and Ember bringing up the rear.

Now they are headed up the ridge. When we get to the pond, we have to turn 'em left and down a little gully, then up another hill and through the gate.

A couple of cows tried to go around the right side of the pond. I sent Ember to turn them back. See her heading that way? She did a great job.
Finally, got 'em where we want 'em.

Here's Papaw on the only horse he'll ride. Can't get him on a hay burner. :)
The cattle drive went smooth. I released Snowy from jail and spent the rest of the day on horseback, with all the dogs following. This is where I found little Snowy after I unsaddled the last horse. I do believe he was all tuckered out!

All in all, a fantastic day. Hope you enjoyed yours as much!
See ya!
Crystal

Natural Balance Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:41:00 +0000

The farrier came over last week to get all the horses shod in anticipation of some good riding weather. All my horses are easy to shoe and just get regular old horse shoes, except Razzle. I always had trouble with him being a terrible clutz. I mean, it was a little spooky riding him down hill. He would stumble often and was not at all good at catching himself. This can make for a very tense trail ride.

My farrier, Blake, suggested using Natural Balance shoes. They are made differently than other shoes. The toe area is blunted in front and more rounded on the bottom.

It made Razzle's hoof look a little squared off, but the difference in the way he moved and traveled over the countryside was well worth it. Blake said it helps the horse to break over correctly.
So, if you have a clumsy horse like Razzle, you might want to ask your farrier about Natural Balance shoes.
They definitely did the trick for us. I now use Razzle as my head horse when I team rope with no problems at all.
See Ya!
Crystal.

Tam's Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:56:00 +0000

Well, I was down at the barn on Monday, waiting on Paeton to arrive for her lesson when I noticed that Tam was starting to look a little unkempt.
My Gramp used to say that if a horses mane was often tangled, it was because the witches were riding them at night. By the look of her, I think Tam might just be their favorite steed.

Ugh, this is going to take a while. Look at that mess!

And check out the beard!
It would do a billy goat proud. I should be ashamed of myself for letting her get so messy, but in my defense, it has been really COLD.So I grabbed a bottle of ShowSheen and started untangling her mane. Then I took break from that to start trimming her tremendously hairy legs.

Paeton showed up for her lesson and gave me a hand with the brushing.

Much better!
No more beard!

And check out those nice, clean legs.
She cleaned up pretty good for a 24 year old horse still wearing her winter coat.

Thanks to Paeton for her help! :) When she sheds out all that winter hair we will have to give her a bath and really get her looking good. Tam, not Paeton. ;)

Bareback Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:39:00 +0000

Well, it wasn't exactly a perfect day for a lesson yesterday, but neither Paeton nor Tam seemed to mind the mud too much. We decided to do a little bareback work this time.

We practiced going over a simple obstacle at a walk and trot.

I have had Tam since she was 2 weeks old and she turns 24 this year. She knows some stuff. She is an old hand at bridleless riding, so I gave Paeton some pointers on how to cue her without using her reins and she gave it a try.

Here she is beginning a turn to the left.

Look, Mom! No reins! :)

Paeton did a good job of guiding Tam across the obstacle without reins.

Before we had finished, she was able to turn either direction, guide her over the obstacle, stop and back up-all without using her reins. Congratulations, Paeton! You did great!

As we go, I will show Paeton how to teach a horse to respond to bridleless cues. She is pretty excited about that.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

See ya,

Crystal

Winter Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:38:00 +0000

Winter can be a tough time for horse lovers. Not too many of us want to brave riding in the fierce cold and slippery footing conditions.
However, once in a while, winter brings a chance to have a little fun with your horse that you can't have in the warmer months.
If the snow is a dry one, you can ride and enjoy the pristine white beauty of the country side without forming snow clumps the size of softballs in your horses hooves.

Also, IF you happen to have a horse that you can trust not to kill you when you are pulling stunts like this, you can steal your kids sled, tie it to your horse with a couple of old lariat ropes and have the time of your life being dragged all over the farm!

Mac was a real trooper. He pulled me around for about 3 hours and was a perfect gentleman the entire time. He had been ground driven often, but this was his first time to actually pull anything. He made me very proud.

If you decide to try this, just watch out for frozen cow pies. They will turn your sled over if you hit them too hard. :)