Mowing Pastures

I have always enjoyed mowing the pastures but since we got the new tractor, my DH hogs it all of the time. He tells me that my back couldn't take it but I think he just wants to do it until the new wears off.

He is aways mowing, he no sooner gets one field done and it is time to start on the next one. He is spending all of his days off on that tractor. The thing that worries me is that he goes to sleep while mowing. He dozes off anytime he sits still for very long.

He has also discovered the one thing that he doesn't like about the new tractor and that is that the exhaust comes out the side, so that you get all of the heat blowing right back on you. The side exhaust was my idea, I wanted it because he always likes to mow under low hanging limbs and that tends to knock off top mounted exhaust pipes. I guess I was wrong on this one.

He did get one horse rode this morning. I had someone here on Saturday that is interested in Lulu, she is one of our young AQHA mares. We bought her as a green broke horse a year ago and have never been on her. He didn't have any trouble with her, she saddled nicely and accepted him on her back. He rode her around in circles with just a halter and lead rope for awhile but it was hot and dusty, so he didn't ride her for very long. They ended on a good note, she did very well.

Perfect Horses

We currently have a large herd of horses, and have had many horses pass through our gates in the last several years. We have not had very many perfect horses, some have gotten close but just didn't reach the level of what I would consider a perfect horse.

Several years ago we purchased an appaloosa mare and an ugly sorrel gelding along with everything that went with them, even the trailer. The family just didn't have time to mess with them anymore and had lost interest. They did a lot of trail riding and camping with friends but they weren't really horse people.

They told us that the mare was wonderful and that the gelding was good too as long as you didn't separate him from the mare. He would follow her on the trail but that was about all he was capable of. Well, the gelding was just impossible and we were lucky to find him a home but the mare was nice, she just didn't seem to have any flaws. We advertised her as a great trail horse because that is all that these people did with her.

We only had her for about one month. A lady contacted us from a therapy riding facility and we talked about her a few times by phone but she was being careful and we ended up selling her to a young local girl to show in 4-H, just in time for the season to begin. Her 4-H leader was just overwhelmed by this mare and called to tell us so.

The lady from the therapy place called me back when she seen that the mare had been sold to ask me is she was as good as we had said that she was. I told her, "No, she is much better than we thought she was." She asked me how much we sold her for and I told her $1200, which was fairly good at the time for an unregistered horse. She wanted us to call the girl who had purchased her and offer her $2400 for her. We did and she refused.

This girl went on to win every class that the mare was entered in that year and every year after. She was passed down to other girls after her owner was too old for 4-H and got interested in cars and boys. She is an old mare now and is owned by the 4-H leader's timid daughter.

I am going to talk some more about perfect horses that have passed through my life in coming blogs, so stay tuned...

Indian Shuffler

This is my horse Ranger, he is registered with the ApHC or Appaloosa Horse Club, he has a 90+% foundation designation and is eligible for registration with the Colorado Ranger Horse Association or CRHA. Ranger is a gaited appaloosa called an Indian Shuffler, he does the Indian Shuffle, this is a very smooth gait but I have still not been able to ride him, maybe someday.

He is a palomino few spot although the Appaloosa Horse Club registered him as a red roan, we argued this point with them on his full brother who was a palomino leopard, he had large palomino spots and they wouldn't take our word for it because they are so much smarter than the rest of us. After many phone calls and extra pictures we finally got them to change him to a palomino, the only reason that we bothered was because he was so obviously a palomino that his papers just didn't match him saying that he was a red roan.

When Ranger came along and we sent his paperwork in, we marked his color as a palomino and again those superior, intelligent people at the ApHC sent his papers back as a red roan. Since Ranger is mostly white and we were planning on keeping him anyway, we didn't bother to argue.

This past year we had a chestnut leopard filly born, her spots are dark chestnut with no white hair in them, she is out of a chestnut AQHA mare. The ApHC sent her papers back as red roan, we called and argued, they let us know how color blind we are. They have never seen this filly but it is us who do not understand horse colors. Even our Vet agreed that she was a chestnut with no roaning in her spots.

We had a similar problem with the AQHA or American Quarter Horse Association two years ago with a line backed, red dun colt. They sent his papers back to us as a chestnut because it was impossible for a chestnut stallion and a gray mare to produce a red dun foal. We called and talked to the man who takes care of this sort of thing and he looked at the pictures and the bloodlines and said that those bloodlines did produce red duns, so he changed his papers to match the colt. This colt's dam was born a grulla and turned gray as a two year old, so to say that a grullo and a chestnut could not produce a red dun was ridiculous. The AQHA treated us with respect and was reasonable.

You would think that since Ranger's dam has produced many palominos and our leopard filly is out of a chestnut mare that the ApHC would be reasonable too. But the end result is that we have two registered ApHC horses whose papers do not match them.

Let Down

I am sorry to report that I did not get to ride my horse, not even for 5 minutes. We didn't get the tomatoes planted or the disbudding done today either.

It rained for one thing, but it didn't rain all day. We did catch Ranger and since he is white we had to give him a bath to get all of the caked on mud off of him. Then I brushed him and combed out his mane and foretop. Then we washed his tail in a five gallon bucket and put Rio Vista Detangler on it to comb it out, I gave my DH that privilege.

Then we saddled him and my DH longed him for awhile, then got on and rode him off. I had the camera ready in case he did any bucking but he didn't. He was a little impatient about the whole thing and the DH wouldn't let me ride him. But we did put him in a pen close to the barn/house so that I can start handling him some.

My DH also trimmed his hooves and he was a really bad boy for that and broke my husband's best and favorite lead rope, that is something that no horse should ever do, break his best rope.

Then we went to a friend's house for hot dogs, potato salad and watermelon. Copper and Zinc enjoyed another day of not having that hot iron applied to their heads.

Tomorrow is weaning day for Jasper and Onyx, we wean in the sign. This means that we will have to start milking twice per day now, that will really tie us down.

Long Weekend

My dear Husband finally gets a day off tomorrow. I have his day completely planned out for him, but he doesn't know it yet. I have some tomato plants and a pepper plant that need to be planted and since he doesn't want me to put them in the same place they were last year, he will have to remove the sod and break up the soil in another place of his choosing. We will also need to put some type of protection around them because of my scratch happy chickens.

I am going to separate Jasper and Onyx from their mother over night tonight, so we will have to milk Cinder the first thing in the morning. Tuesday will be their official weaning date.

I also have disbudding planned for Copper and Zinc tomorrow, oh joy! My least favorite thing to do on a Holiday or any day.

Then last but not least, I want to ride my horse tomorrow. Ranger was born in 2002, he is an ApHC Few Spot gelding. I knew I wanted to keep him for myself when he was born, he is a naturally gaited Indian Shuffler. He looks to be smooth as silk but I wouldn't know because I have never been on him.

We had him broke almost two years ago and my DH has only been on him twice since we got him back. So he is just green broke at best. The man who broke him for us actually broke him using old traditional methods, he just got on him and rode him, he said that he bucked and bucked but when he stopped bucking, he never bucked again. He told me that he starts out like a ball of fire and that I would think that he is very spirited but he burns out quickly and rides slowly and quietly. Both times that my DH has been on him we have found this to be true.

I have only been on a horse a couple of times since I injured my back and each time was just for a few minutes. If I can ride Ranger for five minutes tomorrow, I will be proud of myself. My DH will ride him first, of course, and hopefully he will be able to stay on him for more than 8 seconds. Keep it tuned to this station for a full report tomorrow evening.