Thursday 7 October 2010

Dosie with his huge round bale, very happy horse, all to himself!!!!!

Found this guy in the pond at the restaurant.

Wednesday 9 September 2009

On Sunday Michelle press ganged me and hauled me and Wiggle, Dosie, Kendal and herself off in the trailer to the 4H grounds about 2 miles from us to do a bit of riding in a decent arena as we are limited for space here. These first two pics were taken right before we were getting ready to come home. I had been plodding around on Wiggle bareback while they were working, you will also see their pics further on in this post. Of course it was the second time I had ridden Wiggle ever so I didnt really know what to expect. She is a bit lazy and had to be wacked on the butt with the end of the reins to get faster than a walk out of her. Michelle grabbed my camera and just shot a few frames, these are two. It had just started to rain too.

This second picture is a case of Wiggle being a rodeo horse when I wacked her to get her to canter LOL, I was whooping up there rodeo style LOL, michelle loves the way her mane and my hair were going in the same direction (click on pics to see larger views). After she had got that out of her system she cantered across the arena beautifully. (note the crooked saddle pad and the stirrups too short LOL and the hand holding the rein so I could get more than a walk out of her, in other words dont look at my form it is dreadful but it was fun and next time I will do better.

Here are two pics of Kendal on Dosie who is Wiggle's father although he is no longer a stallion. She was very nervous about cantering him but they got the job done and by the time they were finished Dosie was tired but she wanted to carry on so is over her fear.

Here she is trotting nicely along the rail on Dosie

Michelle was the first to ride her boy though, she hasnt ridden in 6 years and very little in the past 30 and they looked really good out there, he was a breeze thanks to Drew for his work and to Michelle for her work and her love for this horse. I am so glad he is back with her because she loves him dearly.

Here she is cantering with him. This was just after we had arrived and his head should have been lower but he was checking everything out but he still rode like a champ and Michelle was so happy.

Well that was Sunday, lots more happening but I will end for now. My last show of the season to shoot is this weekend, the Pinto Futurity in New Castle. I hope the almanac is right is says we are going to have snow for Thanksgiving, but after that we should have a pretty dry mild winter, we can only hope.

Hope everyone is doing well, please remember to check my Etsy site out, link is at the top of the page of this blog, some of the items would make nice gifts. I am planning on putting up some more Christmassy stuff and also a 2010 calendar in the near future. ((((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

Tuesday 25 August 2009

I am on a roll what can I say, now all I have to do is catch up on my fellow bloggers' blogs as I am seriously behind with my reading too.

A few weeks ago I got my favorite thoroughbred back to board. I dont know if any of you will remember Gee. More to come on her later but here she is eating her hay this morning out of the hay feeder in the field, she has become great buddies with Goldie and considering that she is about a foot taller than Goldie it is an odd couple indeed.
Also taken this morning is a shot of a Coopers Hawk (?) which I saw in the apple tree in the field early this morning as the sun was coming up. Not great quality on the photo as the sun was only catching the bird from the one side as it was very early and he was pretty far away, I tried to get closer but he caught on and flew away. He came back in about 15 minutes but caught me again and I didnt get a chance at another shot. He was eyeing the birds in the bush in my front yard and was perched on one foot until he saw me which is when I shot this shot and then he was gone. I have some of him on the one leg but the quality is not very good. The small birds of course were all atwitter which is what first caught my attention to the fact that something was going on outside.

I took these a few days ago, this is Dosie who we sold last year but I managed to do a trade on one of my other horses to get him back because Michelle has always loved this horse and I wanted her to have him and I knew that Drew was looking for a brood mare to breed to a particular stallion and as they have had my filly Lori there since Larry passed, they had got to like her and her bloodline a lot so we did a trade. So in a way I cut down on numbers because I gave Dosie to Michelle so although he is still here she takes care of his needs and helps me a lot around the barn and Drew and Tanya cut back on one mouth too. That is Cat in the background and as you can see we had a small rainshower and the first thing they did was roll in the mud!!!

Well we tried to bale hay last night because they were calling for rain this evening, but that appears to have been extended til tomorrow and the hay was still a bit wet last evening which would have caused it to mould, so Stan and I are going to get back to it at midday today and hopefully that will have been enough time for it to have dried enough to bale. We are looking at about 400 bales maybe a bit more so it is going to be a long day. It is also going to be in the 80s again which we need to dry the hay but makes it unpleasant to be doing physical labor in LOL (although truth be told poor Stan will be doing the loading and I will be driving the tractor and baler!). Oh well we can't win them all I suppose.

I have the Welsh Pony Show to shoot this weekend. Lisa is going to be coming with me and helping with the computer side of things and the shooting so it is just non stop. The Club put us up in a motel which is great so there is no running back and forth each day and we will leave Friday evening and come back Sunday evening. It is going to be a hot one then too so I should have a good sportsman's tan.

The photos in this post and the last few have looked a little dark after I have uploaded them to blogger, let me know how they seem your end because if this is the case then I need to do some monitor calibrating because in Photoshop they look fine.

Have a great day everyone. ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

Work, work, work - it just never ends

(Original photograph by Jeff Kirkbride and used with his permission)

It has been a very rushed few days since Sunday, so much going on and I am exhausted. LOL



We are trying to get the field down the road cut and baled so that we can take our horses out there I hope it happens soon.

One of our neighbors helped me till/lightly plough and disc the one field and plant horse pasture seed and oats, now all we need is some rain!!!! We have had very little, we always appear to be in the little pocket that the rain misses for some reason. Feast or Famine!



Well by the time we had finished that and I had fed the horses it was after 9pm! This is becoming the norm for me, I never seem to get to sit down before 9 at night.



I had some exciting news tho yesterday. I have always wanted a Palomino horse, I have just always had an attraction for the color. Well we still have two mares in Iowa with a friend that run with his band of brood mares (Quarter horses) and whatever stallion he wants to breed them to that year and it so happens that they shared the huge pasture which has a creek running through it with his Champion Palomino stud CK Sun. The picture is a trading card that Larry made of him for our friends, his details and their name and contact details are on the back of the card. I didnt take this picture, the original photograph was taken by Photographer Jeff Kirkbride who gave us permission to use the photo. Larry cut him out and put him on a new background for the card.



Elliot called yesterday evening to tell us that when he went to give the mares their grain he saw the one mare with a baby. She stayed up on the ridge but he could see it is yellow and possibly has a bald (white) face, so we could very possibly have a palomino paint horse (one with spots on it too). This mare is very protective of her babies so it is probably going to be a few days before she brings the baby down to get the grain they get each evening and Elliot can hopefully get some pics of it!!!



There is one other mare who is still expecting any day there too. I just want to jump in my truck and drive there, but with gas prices and the fact that he is in northwestern Iowa (about a 9 hour drive), puts a bit of a damper on that idea LOL.



Lots of other little things happening, I am still black and Blue from our battle with Blaze on Sunday and loading into the horse trailer. Darlene, the lady who purchased him is very very happy with him, says he has exactly the temperment that she was wanting. He would climb in your pocket if he could and is normally as quiet as a mouse and very clever.

Drew who bought Dosie is very happy with him too so maybe we will see him at some of the shows later in the year. The Indiana Pinto Assoc. has their next show in August and then one a month later in September.

Hope you all had a great weekend. ((((((Hugs)))))))

Lori
xx

Kids & Animals - They Never Act Like You Expect!

I didnt get any pictures today despite my best intentions. My wonderful quiet laid back horse did everything I put him to, he bathed, got shampooed and conditioned, brushed mane and tail, clipped with the electric clippers like he had been doing it all his life instead of for the first time, looked beautiful and I put him in a stall with straw so he couldnt get dirty again. I put him in a stall with sawdust and the first thing he did was roll!!!!! so I had to rinse him all off and make another stall with just straw in it.

Drew and his client arrived at probably around 1pm and took to Blaze immediately. Darlene, the client, looked at Blaze and said he was exactly what she was looking for, could have done with a bit more white but was great. She also fell in love with Blue LOL. Drew fell for Dosie and took him (he is the 9 year old gelding) and he has also taken Dream to fit him up for basic halter and walk trot for us so that we may get a chance to show him at the next Pinto show in June or July. So instead of being one horse down I am three horses down!!!!

That was the beginning of the fun part, Blaze decided he was not going to go into that trailer for anything in the world. Even after we got Dosie out of the field and he loaded straight into the trailer, Blaze still wouldnt go in. We eventually after lots of bashes and bruises on Darlene and my part, and fighting decided to try Dream who also wasnt so keen. Only option was a bit of sedative so we got hold of our vet who was just on his way to the race track so we were lucky to catch him.

We gave them a bit of sedative and with lots of manual manipulation got Dream in the trailer, and even with the sedative we still couldnt get Blaze in!!! Here I have been raving about how wonderful this horse is, that he does everything calmly and well and he is turning into a nightmare. Well to cut a long story short we did eventually get him in, that whole thing took us about 2 and a half hours trying to load. They had an hour and a half drive and are at their destination now and everything seems fine. They waited a while so we were sure they were comfortable and the sedative had worn off before they left.

I was so embarassed that this little horse was such a butt head LOL, he showed a bit of his grandma's stubborn streak (Girl Sonny, Taxes' momma).

So that was the full day because by now it was 5.30 and I needed to start the feeding all over again I am exhausted. The horses are safely installed in their new homes which makes me so happy, and now I just hope that they perform like all their siblings have in the past, like stars LOL.

I have just picked a picture out of the archives to post today. If I had caught our battle on film it would have been quite a series of shots!!!!

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend. (((((Hugs))))))

Lori

xx

4 January 2008

A few more pictures from yesterday. This is Girl Sonny (Taxes' momma). She is 18 years old now and this is one of the first times I have seen her have such fun. She was bucking and ran around the whole field harassing all the other mares as she went.
This is Eb's (the B&W colt) momma, Cat, she is one of the mischievious ones and does very good rearing and cow hopping (jumping with all four feet off the ground at the same time) when she is fresh and happy. I believe she rides but have never ridden her, seeing some of her antics makes me a bit wary LOL, she is also quite a bix buxom mare.
Cat doing another Hi Ho Silver with Piglette in the background and the three fillies in the foreground. I wish I could have survived the cold a bit longer because they still had a bit of life in them but my fingers were freezing off by this stage LOL.
And last but not least, this is BB (Eb's sister and Cat's daughter) doing the all fours up thing like her momma does. Not the most attractive angle LOL but she was having such fun. That is Dosie (the gelding - Eb, Cayenne, Lori and Wiggles daddy) behind her. I love the shadow on this one LOL.
The contrast of the mud on their coats still and snow is quite strange. The day before these were taken it was just a muddy mess and they love to roll in the mud as much as they love to roll in the snow.

Still cold today but not as bad, around freezing and tomorrow it starts to warm up with 50s by Sunday. I am hoping for some friends to bring a few of their horses over (ones we sold to them, Dosie's babies) to give me some moral support so that I can start enjoying my horses and getting miles on them so I can go out on the trails safely.

Well that is about it for today. Hope everyone is staying warm, have a great weekend (((Hugs))))

Lori
xx

15 December 2007

Missed another couple of days. I have been battling the mud and had horses in for nearly a week but decided to put them out yesterday for a run despite the mud. They had a ball, Piglette (the black mare) went straight down to the pond that has formed in the bottom of our field as it always does when we have too much rain, lay down in the water and rolled in it!!!! Bear in mind that it was about 30F (just below freezing yesterday). She loves to do that and I have posted pics of her doing it earlier this year. I took a few shots of them all muddy and happy, that is one of the things they like to do, roll in the mud, it makes them happy so it makes me happy LOL. This first shot has all 11 of them, 10 mares and Dosie the gelding who is on the extreme left.

Stan finished my barn doors right on schedule and just in time. We are expecting up to 12 inches of snow between now and tomorrow!!! We have a few inches on the ground already, it started snowing mid morning here. This is a dreadful shot, you can see how the mares have chewed the barn to pieces, that is one of the next projects, to get siding onto the side of the barn that they have access to which will make it look a whole bunch better. So this isnt a very pretty picture but it shows my new doors, the wire mesh is what I have pulled off stalls to replace with bars, just need to find a home for it where it isnt in the way. It sure beats the tarp I have had to do battle with every year to keep the snow out. Oh yes, I wanted to add that that is a train passing behind the barn, shows how close it is. I didnt even notice it until I looked at the pics, we are so used to them, it is one of the busiest lines in this part of the world and we can sometimes see a train every 30 minutes.
This last shot is of Eb and Blaze playing yesterday. They do get pretty rough LOL. Learning to be young stallions is a difficult thing!!!

Well that is about it, not much going to happen until all this snow stops but I will keep you all posted. Keep safe everyone who is in the midst of these storms. I should be able to get some lovely horses in snow photos tomorrow if it turns out they way they predict. Stay warm.

(((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

27September 2007

This is going to be a quickie again. I have my last horse show this weekend which is a relief because it has been such a dreadful year in general. I thought I would post a copy of the business card that I created using the Brat's photo. An artist in Canada named Lesley White bought the rights to paint an original 24" x 18" oil of this picture which you can see here on her website http://www.oilsbylesley.com/westernoils3.htm names First Taste of Spring just click on the picture to see a bigger version. She has also used two other photos of mine as references, they are on http://www.oilsbylesley.com/westernoils2.htm and are called Lookin' Back and Unbridled Spirit. She does a beautiful job. The Lookin' Back one sold at the exhibition she had it at a few days after completing it and she had 3 people fighting over who would buy it!!! She said she has never had that happen to her before, made me feel good I have to say.

I dont know if I will get a post in tomorrow before I pack everything up because we are going to try to leave early afternoon as we have to drive around Indianapolis and dont want to hit the rush hour traffic. It is about a two and a half hour drive. The show is in Edinburgh. We will come home on Sunday night after the show finishes.

I rode Dosie again today and he did a fabulous job, he really is nice to ride and I think is warming up to me a bit more. I also taught Blaze a little more about lunging. Not too much because he is still young but enough to give him a bit of exercise, he has a bit of a gut on him, has always had one (that can usually be caused by worms but he has been regularly wormed and has been potbellied since he was little LOL).

Well guys, thanks all for your regular visits, hopefully after this show I can get some stuff done that has been neglected, mainly my regular blogging buddies who I have been grateful for. ((((Hugs)))) and if I dont check in until Sunday, see y'all Sunday and have a great weekend.

Lori
xx

23 September 2007

Well I am slowly slogging through the list of TO DOs and it is still getting longer rather than shorter. Got some more print orders done today. I rode Dosie (the stud that we gelded a few months back) because Larry had mentioned him as part of the deal to the lady who is interested in the filly. He and I have never really gelled. He is good with me and listens and obedient but there is an underlying resentment there. You get that sometimes, where you just dont click and unfortunately he is one of those. He is a very nice horse, rides beautifully considering the lack of riding he has had and a pretty boy to boot. He is the father of Blue, Wiggle, Lori, Cayenne, Cookie and Eb (the B&W yearling) among others who we have sold. I think he has one of the nicest heads I have seen on a horse. Considering he has had nothing done with him since we got him back from that "trainer" in April, and we are in serious doubt that he even did anything with him, I lunged him for about ten minutes then got up and rode him with no problem, good boy. He just needs someone who will love him who he can love back. I suppose we will find out tomorrow if they were seriously interested or not. Fingers and toes crossed.

I walked around the pasture this morning to check fences and see what flowers were sprouting. Todays pics are three that I took. It has been very dry again but we are expecting a chance of rain on Tuesday so I hope we get it.

Abraham the people who print the calendars for me are actually not general printers, they publish the Code of Federal Regulations and the owner of the firm is Larry's cousin so I will have to get hold of them and ask if they would be prepared to print up some for you and get a quote for you. Would you be looking at a certain number to print or small numbers as ordered? I am hoping that I can get them to print them up as they are ordered and mail them out for me and bill me for the printing and postage but I am not sure if they would be willing to do that for anyone else. If you are just going to have a bunch made up I am sure they will agree to do them and ship them to you.

MiKael send me a few of the pictures you would like to use, full resolution straight out of the camera and I will have a look at them and see if they will print nicely or not. The pictures on the calendars I do normally are about 6"x4" so you may very well get away with it if you do them similar to mine.

Well that is it for another day. I have to say I started the day out badly but after riding I felt a lot better, but then lapsed into depression again until this evening. I just need something really positive to come out of something soon.

(((((Hugs)))))

Lori

xx

27 July 2007

I started the day off very badly this morning. Taxes got through the fence to go and play with the mares, I managed to turn the electricity off and lift the wires enough for him to go under and back to his side but he promptly walked back through, I didnt see him do it as I had my back turned to him putting the fence back in its holders, so can only assume that he stepped over the wires and because the electric was off they didnt zap him. He and the two fillies raced up and down and the next moment he veered off towards the fence at full speed and tried to jump it. He got his back leg caught in the wire and now has a really bad wound, the whole front of his lower leg has almost been skinned, about six inches long and three inches wide. I got the vet over and he said it would be pointless to stitch it as he already had sawdust in the wound when he ran back into his stable and it is in a really bad place to stitch. I have managed to dress it temporarily and the neighbor who is feeding them for me this weekend (who has had to tend a similar wound to one of the horses before I met Larry) is going to be keeping up with the cleaning and dressing of it until I get back on Sunday. I am praying that he is going to be one of those horses that doesnt chew bandages. He hasnt touched it yet. So these pictures of him from yesterday will be the last for a while as he has to be confined to his stable until it heals and that could take months.

This is a picture of my filly Lori yesterday when I let Dosie (her daddy) out with them......
..... and this is Dosie enjoying his first taste of freedom!!
I am making this short as I am packing to go to the show and wanted to post before packing the computer up to take it with. If I am unable to post tomorrow from the motel with my laptop it will be the first day that I have missed since starting this blog on 1st January this year.

I just hope the weekend goes better, I feel sick knowing that I have to leave Taxes for two days but the neighbor is very good with the horses and loves them just about as much as I do I think, so they are in good hands. My poor little boy.

I will be back on Sunday evening, take care everyone ((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx