Tomas was out early today, but it was a 'mare' day which for some reason takes a lot longer than the days we have the boys trimmed. I tell people when they come to buy their first Mini, get a gelding and take the hormones out of the equation. I mean seriously mares have so much more good/bad/okay days - I'd take a gelding as a pet/companion/only Mini any day.
Most were fairly cooperative though, I was glad it wasn't windy that seems to make them more 'in a mood'. We finally caught Comet, who was very overdue, and she got trimmed - big yeah! She's easy to handle once you catch her, it's the catching part. Celena one of our rescues from 2010, was showing she's fit as a fiddle, by making sure we got a workout catching her. Twenty years young and she did quite a few laps around the paddock before she decided (I do say she!), had ran enough and allowed herself to be caught.
Bad news, well not horrid, but not great - Woody's still in a very sore recovering from founder state. This is the second year he's having issues. UCD isn't really sure what's going on, and just call him a management issue. He's not overweight, gets plenty of exercise, but has a bad metabolic reaction to spring grass. Just weird, as he's been on pasture his whole life, but at the glorious age of 13, he's decided to have hoof issues. So next year he's definitely on dry lot starting in April to avoid this. We put him back out with the main herd, as the exercise should do him good, and everything is bone dry out there, so grass to eat but it's not fresh and pretty like it was two months ago.
That cross was definitely one I would repeat (Buckeye WCF Dance All Night x WCR Sheza Savoire Affaire) awesome bloodlines and it shows!
We decided to NOT breed in 2012 as I'm trying to reduce the herd number and I'd like to see the Mini Horse prices bump up a bit. I shouldn't have said that in Ringo's hearing. The brat decided to jump the fence and was out all night with the mares. A long stallion report will be sent to AMHA/AMHR and we're crossing fingers/toes that he didn't get much action in the 10 hours he was out. So he's in a well fenced (high an strong) pen for the summer. Love his babies, but I'd like to pick the when, where and who for his little 'blessings'. So, we may have a couple of foals next year - late April/early May. He's sired 50% blue roan/ 50% black so, we'll see!
Horse sales have been good, not great, but steady. We've placed twelve Minis this year in some really nice homes and they all seem to be well loved - so yeah there! There are still 16+ on the sales list, a few that are going to be extremely tough to see leave. But I need to have less to manage by next year, so sticking to the list as painful as it may be!
