Horse fun and Merry Christmas!

About a week ago we noticed that Sundance had some marks on his face near his muzzle. We were finally able to see it in the sunlight and noticed more spots so we called our vet to ask what he thought the spots were. He thinks that it is ring worm. He suggested getting some tenactin (for athletes foot) and putting that on the spots. It doesn't look like it is helping much but it is not spreading so that is a good sign! It also does not appear to be bothering Sundance so I might just call the vet and see what he thinks.

Above: Spots on Sundance's muzzle

Above: Sundance, Tabasco, and Shoni

The weather was really nice yesterday so when I got off of work I ran outside to spend some time brushing on the horses and taking some pictures. Tabasco was being super ornery so I was not able to brush him or Shoni very long. He comes by his name rightly lol what a pill! He also knocked over his trough from splashing in it so we got to clean that out! Our farrier was supposed to be coming out today but he cancelled and we are rescheduling for Saturday (hopefully). It will probably be colder and snowing by then. Today would have been a nice day for it but you know Colorado weather. It's always changing so Saturday could be 50 degrees again lol.

Above: Tabasco thinks he's cute since hecan have his head over the panel instead of through it! : )

Above: Shoni looking to see what I am up to

I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Holiday) and soon the new year will be upon us! 2007 flew by for us and hopefully 2008 will be a little more relaxing!!! :)

Above: Tabasco coming over for a visit

Above: Shoni heading over for her close up

Dogs like snow too!!!

The other night it snowed again and while I was doing chores I decided to let my dads crazy year old german shepherd Ruby outside to run around. My dad picked her up from an animal shelter in July when she was 7 months old. She is a huge shepherd (when she jumps up she is eye level with me and I am 5'9!). Ruby is an indoor dog with no clue how big she is! She thinks that she is about the size of a chihuahua and that she is a lap dog. That by the way is a dangerous combination! Lol

Anyway, she was sooo excited that it was snowing and was going crazy eating snow and running around. It was entertaining to watch and I just thought that I would share a few pictures! ; )

Above: Ruby with snow on her nose.

Above: Ruby trying to catch snowflaskes on her tongue!

Above: Ruby with LOTS of snow on her nose from eating it!

Above: Ruby giving me kisses with her paw on my shoulder saying thanks for playing in the white stuff!

Cold Weather = Crazy Horse

I woke up this morning to snow. Not a lot, just enough to cover the ground in white stuff and make it really REALLY cold outside.

I went out to do chores this morning and I felt so bad for the horses. They had snow on their backs and icicles hanging on their whiskers and manes. I don't know why they prefer to stand outside instead of going into their shelters to get out of the weather...

Above: Shoni with icicles in her mane

Above: Tabasco with icicles in his mane & whiskers

I went into the haybarn and got the hay and started toting it out to the horses... Got some nice shots of Sundance in the process.

Above: Sundance

Above: Sundance

Fed Tabasco, Shoni, and Sundance then it was off to feed the girls. Cold weather really makes the horses crazy sometimes. They love to run and buck in it. I got to see my share of it. By the time that I made it to their gate Pebbles was full of kiss and viniger just runing around. I was so happy though to get some really good action shots of her. Must be a good fun day! : )

Above: Pebbles

Above: Sweetie and Pebbles

Above: Sweetie and Pebbles

Above: Sweetie and Pebbles

Above: Pebbles

Houdini Horses

Above: Sundance

Oiy! That is all I can say about living with Houdini Horses! First my dad gets a grey mare (who we named Pebbles) who after we get her home and she settles in AND we all go to work/school... we find out that she can open the gates and let ALL of the horses out! Not only does she open them and let them out in the big field BUT she opens the main gates and lets the horses out by the road! WHEW! That can get pretty scary!

Above: Pebbles the Houdini horse

Luckily when this happened they were more concerned with grazing then running amuck in the neighborhood. Then our wonderful neighbors would catch them and put them back in their pens and let us know that the horses were out. So, what is the solution to this dilemma? By claps for ALL of the gates! Then what happens? She figures out how to climb THROUGH the fence! I'll say it again OIY!!!

THEN we end up with not one but TWO Houdini horses when we brought Sundance along. Who knew Missouri Fox Trotters liked to jump? Then when he doesn't jump he climbs through the fence! He did not learn this one from Pebbles... He is so difficult! We have yet to figure out a way to keep him in his pen and off of the field (so it grows). We are thinking about setting up some pannels as his pen to see if that helps... knowing him though he'll figure a way out!

Even Pebbles was not THAT difficult... lol We love 'em though! : )

Above: Sundance (in the big field!)

BLM Mustangs - November 2006

So for a long time now I have loooooved blue roans! I never had the opportunity of seeing one in person though, until...

One day at work I decided to google on my lunch break. In the search engine I typed in Blue Roan and came across a rescue in my state that had a BLM blue roan mustang filly for adoption. I printed off the contact information and brought it home. I harassed my mom to call on Saturday to see if we could go up there to see the filly since they had open house Saturdays. She called and asked the gal specifically if the blue roan was still available and she was.

My mom and I drove the 1 1/2 hour drive "just to look" and got to the rescue while another group of people were scoping out the horses. They decided that they wanted to look at the trained horses at the prison and left. Then it ended up being just my mom and me. The gal, Gloria, showed us the horses that were still available for adoption then suggested us sitting on the overturned horse trough and feeding them hay. My mom and I grabbed a couple of flakes and took a seat.

The little blue roan was first to come over and was stretching to reach the hay without getting too close. Eventually we had all of the horses by us. Instead of them standing in front of us they all went behind us and were eating that way. Gloria kept laughing at us because my mom and I were covered in hay and had a swarm of horses around us. We asked Gloria a couple of questions about some of the horses.

We grabbed the application and wrote down the tag numbers on the horses that we were interested in adopting. The entire drive home we talked about the two horses that caught our attention the most. One was the blue roan filly who was named Bonnie. The other was a sorrel colt named Tabasco (who looked a lot like my moms mare Sweetie and was also one of the more outgoing horses).

Above: The "Available for Adoption" picture

from the rescue website.

Above: The "Available for Adoption" picture
from the rescue website.

When we got home we talked to my dad (who was not thrilled that I was looking at getting TWO more horses). He wasn't very happy but it was my money and my decision so I filled out and faxed the paper work for adopting them both that night. The following Saturday we went back up to the rescue so that my dad could meet the new horses. When we drove up they had a lady who was working with "Bonnie" and my dad and I got to pet her for the first time. It was really exciting!!! My dad was hooked and understood why I could not choose which one to bring home. He was in love too.

So later THAT night we had to come up with a new name for "Bonnie" it just didn't suit her at all. Tabasco's name was perfect because of his color and personality but we had to figure out something for her. We thought and thought and nothing still fit. We were leaning towards Sage but that still wasn't quite right. I ended up grabbing a map encyclopedia and looking at the Wyoming map (since that is where their herd is) and I started looking at city names. Cheyenne that is pretty but very common. Ooooh! Here is a good one! Shoshoni! It fit and was pretty unique and Shoshoni aka Shoni was her new name!

The following week we got to bring Tabasco and Shoshoni home and the real work began!!! I spent a lot of time by them while they were eating or trying to hand feed them. We picked a great time to get them when it was COLD!!! Lol The rewards were many though. There was a little bit of progress here and a little bit there. Then five steps back and then one step forward. It definitely has taught me lots of patience.

We worked with them for the next couple of months and were really getting in a bind since "the babies" were growing and they still had the halters that the BLM put on them. They were starting to get tight and they were not yet approachable other than when they're eating. Shoni's was more concerning.

So I started calling up wild horse mentors. There were two in my area and I called the one that I thought would be closer. He suggested the bamboo pole method or putting them in a squeeze shoot and cutting the halter off. He took down my number and was going to call me back and arrange for a time to come out and help me. He never called...

Above: Tabasco and Shoshoni not long after getting them home

So off to the store I go and I buy a 10 foot white PVC pipe and some duct tape. I bring it home and duct tape a couple of socks to the end (so I don't poke 'em with the pole).

On New Years day outside I go with my "bamboo pole". I put Shoni in a smaller pen so that it would be easier to work with her and I wouldn't end up chasing her with the pole. At first she ran around me and I let the pole ride on her back. Once she realized it wasn't going to hurt her she stopped and let me rub it back and forth by her withers. I concentrated on that area since that is usually where horses groom each other. As she got more comfortable I worked my way up the pole until I could scratch her withers with my hand.

My next step was to scratch up her neck as far as she would let me comfortable then go back down and scratch her withers when she became nervous. After about an hour of working with her I was able to unhook the clasp and get her halter off. As it was sliding off her nose she panicked and took off but then calmed down again. She was a completely different horse when we got that off of her. At least now we wouldn't have to rush her and we could work on trust.

Above: Shoni a week or so after her halter was removed. Tabasco sill has his on....

Tabasco was another story. I tried to work with him with the bamboo pole and he would let me get so close and then he would take off like a shot. It took me until the middle of February to come up with a scheme to get his halter off. I decided to get a bucket of grain and hook it on a pannel that is part of their shelter. I made it so he had to put his brand and the clasp side facing me. He got brave and hungry for the oats so he came over. It took a couple of tries but I finally got it unhooked... and nothing happened. The halter stayed right where it was. Huh? What's going on with it? Oh! It was hung up on the indent, so I took my hand and swiped the hook down. Tabasco panicked and took off and off came his halter. He stopped and looked around like Oh that was it? He also became a different horse after that. He was more out going and knew that nothing bad was going to happen to him.

Above: Tabasco within a week or so of having his halter off.

The horses were doing great but I needed some help and pointers on halter training them. I ended up getting in contact with a different wild horse mentor (Rhonda my lifesaver!) and she and her daughter came out to the house and showed us some ideas for halter training. She let me borrow a rope halter and a Monty Roberts training video. I was able to make some progress with Tabasco and Shoni and was able to walk up and put halters on them and somewhat lead them, but I ran out of time.

I was getting in a crunch since the vet would be coming out soon for their shots so I sent them to a horse trainer that we used before. I will NEVER do that again! This guy changed so much between when he trained a horse a while ago and now. If I knew now I would never have left my babies there!

First of all he had a thing against mustangs being bad breeds and hard to train (which I wish he would have mentioned when I spoke to him on the phone about taking them in). Then in order to get them haltered he was lassoing them (which freaked them out and made them head shy and also taught them to turn their butts toward you when you approached with a halter). It did not help that he was a bad lassoer and he missed about 20 times before he managed to get a loop on them and was pretty much chasing them. Go figure that when I would go in the pen they would let me get the halter on them... hmm... He was also "patting" them hard to pet them and made them very jumpy that way (I had a lot of work to do or undo when I got them back home). My horses also lost weight while in his care and I will never use him again (or probably any trainer for that matter) and if anyone asks me about horse training I just tell them not to use Mike from Ft. Lupton, Colorado.

Sorry I had to vent about my bad trainer experience... now onto greener pastures! lol

So now I get to watch them grow and everyday is a new experience. They are so trusting and gentle. One time I went out while Tabasco was laying down soaking up some sunshine and he let me approach him and sit down next to him (to his right). He didn't move a muscle. Shoni was finishing her breakfast but came over when I sat down to see what was going on. She started to harass Tabasco and paw at him so I shooed her away. She thought about it a moment then went in front of Tabasco and I and just lay down. I have never had a horse lay down by me! They let me approach them while they are laying down and sit with them sure, but I've never had one lay down next to me like that. It just blew me away! I sat out there with them at least an hour just watching them and listening to them sleep.

They are so out going and will come up to the gate and bug you. Or they just poke their noses through the pannels at you to try and give you the cute face so you spend all of your time with them lol. What would we do without our four legged friends?

Above: Shoni and Tabasco lookin for some love or maybe a little food... : )

* Sundance *

After I lost Spider in July I decided that I never wanted to go through that loss again. I NEVER wanted to have another horse EVER....

At the end of September I saw an ad about the local horse auction at the end of the month. I asked my parents if they wanted to go and look so we did. It was so hard walking through and looking at all of the horses especially the older ones that should be retired with their families. Not sold through auction. Every horse I saw made me think of Spider and I was about to bawl my eyes out.

As I was walking past one pen a black muzzle poked out through the pannels and brushed my jacket. I stopped dead in my tracks and was captivated by a black BLM mustang mare. This girl was so sweet and I stood and pet on her and loved her the whole time. Other people would stop by her pen and she just stood there with her nose resting on my hand while I scratched her with my other one. I knew this was the girl for me.

My dad had written down some numbers on a couple of other horses that he liked then we went and listened to the auction start. A palomino Missouri Fox Trotter came in calm as can be following his owner and no one was bidding on him except for a meat buyer. My dad raised his bidding number a couple of times and we hear sold for $425. He was ours! My mom and I were not expecting that! We sat there in shock for a moment or two. I then went with my dad to meet our new horse and his previous owner. They guy told us his name and some basic info about him. He said that if we had questions that we could call him and that his number was on the paperwork. We said goodbye and went back to the arena to wait for the little mare.

The black mustang mare came in and it was time to bid on her. We raise our bidding number then someone else raised theirs. It went back and forth and needless to say it ended up as a bidding war. I wanted her so bad! I looked over to see who was trying to get her and it was a family with kids. The price was up to about $900 and they looked like a good family so I told my dad, "Let her go." At least she would have a good home and wouldn't be sold to a meat buyer. Besides we already had another horse that we just bought and we weren't planning on getting any let alone two!

We paid for everything and made arrangements to pick up Sundance the next morning.

On October 1, 2006 we got up bright and early and grabbed the trailer to go pick up Sundance. We parked in the lot by the "barn" and while dad was getting everything ready I decided to see if that little mare was still inside and try to talk to her new owners. She was already gone. I walked back to Sundance. He was very aloof and standoffish. We gave him some water then put his halter on. I got to lead him towards the truck and waited in the aisle for my dad. Sundance was intimidating because he was huge! He was high headed and acted kind of excited but not like he was going to take off... just alert. The cowboy who was going to be feeding the horses walked by and Sundance tried to kick him so I was a little worried.

We got him on the trailer and headed home. He did great in the trailer and just looked around a lot. When we got Sundance home and unloaded him, my dad just walked him off the trailer. Sundance was quiet and unconcerned about the whole event. We put him in the roundpen and let him graze. I ran and got my camera and took some shots of the new horse. The next thing I noticed (besides that he was so tall!) was that he was VERY skinny. His hip bones were very prominent and you could count his ribs. It's amazing what you can see in daylight... We saddled him up and took him for a ride and he did great. I had a hard time because I hadn't ridden since Spider got sick and I felt like I was betraying him in some way.

Above: Sundance October 1st 2006 first day home. Note

how skinny he is.

Above: Sundance October 1st 2006 first day
home. Note his ribs and hip bone.

We had the vet out to the house a couple of days later and he informed us that our new horse is Lame in his back leg. I was crushed. Not only had I said I never wanted another horse, but when I change my mind I get one that has issues that he could have to be put down for? I didn't know how to react and decided that we should find him a new home because I did NOT want to go through that again! We called the man that we had bought him from and spoke with at the auction and he played dumb about the lameness issue. He wanted to come out and see him so we gave him directions and he never showed up... Our farrier came out and when he took the shoes off Sundance he pointed out how they had built that shoe up on one side for his lame foot.

I talked to a few people that I knew that could have horses and none were interested at that time. I guess we were stuck with him until we found someone to take him... I started spending time with him and trying to work with him a little and he started to grow on me. I decided to keep him. : )

I have had this horse for a little over a year now and am glad I kept him. He and I still have lots of work to do to over come some spookiness issues but he has come a long way. He has gone from aloof to a shadow. He will come up to you and he loves to be scratched and rubbed on. He is always doing something silly like splashing in the water trough or playing with the jolly balls and is a character!!! He is like a big brother to the younger horses and is always teaching them to get into stuff! Lol



Above: Sundance less then a year after having him. A little groceries
filled him out nicely! He is such a ham! : )

If anyone has any suggestions about despooking a horse and teaching him to think instead of react please leave me a comment! I love to hear other perspectives and ideas... : )

Above: Sundance enjoying a nice run.

Reflection

Reflection

They say it's best to love and lose than never love at all,
But loving only builds you up. It doesn't break the fall.
And often when it's late at night I sit and wonder why
It came to be that wonderful just couldn't pass me by.

And as the moonlight, creeping in, send shadows to their grave,
I'm left in mourning for my friends- the beautiful. The brave.
The angels without need for wings, inherent of the sky,
While, lending us their gracefulness, they teach us how to fly.

In wishing for the days long passed, I often reminisce
Of how it felt to stroke his face. The shoulder that I miss.
The graceful soul too kind for words whose love would never end.
The one I'd hoped would pass me by, but then became my friend.

I know some angel rides him now. I pray she treats him kind
For he is only hers for now, while I stay here behind,
As up above the cloud-filled skies I know he waits for me
To join him in his Paradise for all eternity.

-Unknown