foal update

We grabbed the foals the other day and took a few photos.  I didn't clip them as with our weather I refuse to remove the foals protection from the sun and bugs.  So, we barely knocked the dirt off just enough to get updated photos.

It was hot, they weren't happy and very resentful for the implements of torture placed on their heads, i.e. halters.

So of the bazillion photo's taken we have a few 'okay' head shots.  We have a number of wonky, had bad can I stand, ears back, scrunched up necks, butt high I hate life photos!  My hat is off to photographers that take good animal photos, I do NOT have that talent.

Topper (WCR Top Cop) did good though with these three. They all have pretty heads, great conformation, his long neck and wonderful movement.  I wish I had used him this year.  Oh well more Topper foals in 2013 hopefully!

Now to get video of these three moving.  I'm very tempted to keep Jitters, as he's going to make an awesome driving/all around horse (likely gelding in my current mode!).  He's naturally curious and not afraid of anything, uses his neck and is willing to give his ears, unlike his sisters.  Bailey and Cricket in some of their photos look earless - lol!  But they both have that same gorgeous movement.  

Yeah Topper. Although credit must be given to Swan (Wesco Farms Rogers Lady Swan Song), Annie (Wesco Farms LM Rowdys Anticipation) and Val (Wesco Farms AToy4Me Brazen Beauty) for their input.  It's thrilling to see what the 'homebred' mares are producing the past few years.

Wesco Farms TC Ascended Allure "Bailey"

Wesco Farms TC Defiantly Different "Cricket"

Wesco Farms TC Up All Night "Jitters"

Wet Foals

Ugly and wet weather isn't stopping the foals from getting out and goofing off.

These are our four remain foals out playing.  They of course ran to the top of the hill as far away as possible as soon as the camera was evident.  My Horses I'm fairly certain have 'cam-dar' the ability to detect a camera with their keen radar senses!.

The group:  

Wesco Farms Twisted Fate (Bruiser) 

Wesco Farms Buckerowdyroo x Las Doradas Blazing Beauty

Wesco Farms Chance Encounter (Rose) 

Wesco Farms Rohans Echo ET x Las Doradas Etoile de Mar

Wesco Farms Bamboozler FF (Bambam) 

Wesco Farms Frangelico Flashback x Wesco Farms Bens Fortune Cookie

Wesco Farms Best Guesstimate FF (Binks) 

Wesco Farms Frangelico Flashback x Wards Creek Extreme Dream 

Binks looking for which of his buddies to attack

Miscellaneous Monday 8-30-10

The weather continues mild, loving this summer as we've only had a few days in the triple digits.  It really feels like Fall weather, so I'm wondering if we're going to have an early winter.  Many of my older horses have been 'hairing up' since early August.

I did take a few photos of the foals over the weekend - not very good as usual -  lots of blurs, half horses and noses! 


Here is the boys -

Wesco Farms World Cup Chaos FF

(sired: Wesco Farms Frangelico Flashback x dam: Wesco Farms LM Buena Baybee Blues)

Wesco Farms Twist of Fate 

(sired: Wesco Farms Buckerowdyroo x dam: Las Doradas Blazing Beauty)

Chaos and Bruiser playing

I didn't get a photo of Rose, or at least not one that I would post!  

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Earlier today, I had asked on Facebook how many people weigh their hay?  I use to when I had less than 10 horses, but now that we feed in groups I don't, it doesn't make sense.  So our actual amount can vary depending on the overall weight and quality of hay.  The hay we have now is very dense, thin stemmed and just lovely versus the end of season that has been stored can be a drier and less leafy.

Most of the hay we get is really high quality alfalfa as it's locally grown and our feed store knows what I like in hay - heavy, leafy and not overly dry.  My feed distributor tends to buy the hay stored for winter a bit drier than I like, but it's easier for him to store (less risk of mold or combustion, etc).  If I had the storage, I would buy in the summer and store, but we can only store about 90 bales of hay - less than two months worth for us - so long term storage has never been a factor.

The other hay we feed is grass hay.  Generally mountain pasture, but we do vary it based on the quality available.  Again our feed store knows my questions - good quality and soft grass hay for the horses.  So we do get rye and orchard grass when mountain pasture isn't available.

I use to buy a mix alfalfa/grass, but as it was all over the board as to percentages, I prefer to buy them separately and feed the mix I want.  As we just opened up the former stallion pasture (20 acres), that's been closed off since January, to the mares, they have a quite a bit of busy feed.  At least that's what I refer to our pasture as it's pretty crappy at this time of year!

With all the new hills to explore, the mares are only showing up for water anyway. I'm not running water to that pasture, so they're forced to take the hike back here, which gives me the opportunity to check them a couple times a day.

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Saw this on ultimatehorsesite.com Check it out for some wonderful equine humor!

If horses were software.....
A letter to tech support

Dear Tech Support,

Recently I purchased and installed Horse 1.0. I soon noticed that this program appears to have numerous glitches. For instance, every time my computer boots up, I have to run Feed 5.3 and Water 7.1. Many times I've been in the middle of writing an important document, and a window will flash telling me to run Clean Stall 2.0. This program also contained applications I did not wish to install, such as Manure 8.5, however they auto-installed with Horse 1.0. Applications such as Vacation 2.7 and Free Time 10.1 can no longer run, crashing whenever selected. Possibly the worst is that Horse 1.0 has attached itself to programs like Finance Manager and MS Money, with folders added such as "Monthly Shoeing" and "Winter Blanket". Periodically, I'll get a reminder telling me to send a check to the manufacturer of Horse 1.0 for the aforementioned items. I have tried to uninstall Horse 1.0 numerous times, but when I try to run the uninstall program, I get warning messages telling me that a deadly virus known as "Withdrawal" will infect my system. Please Help!!!!!

THE REPLY:

Dear User,

Your complaint is not unusual. A common misconception among users is that Horse 1.0 is a mere "utilities and entertainment program." It is not - it is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its' creator to run everything! A warning will soon be imprinted on the box. Since you have already installed Horse 1.0, here are a few tips on how to make it run better. If you are annoyed by the applications Feed 5.3 and Water 7.1, you may run C: \HIRE HELP, however this will cause another folder to be added to financial applications, labeled "Staff". Failure to send payment to "Staff" will result in Feed 5.3 and Water 7.1 being run again on startup. A note of caution: NOT booting up your computer for several days isn't the solution to avoiding Feed 5.3 and Water 7.1. You will find that, when you boot up your computer again, a nasty virus called "Colic 4.2" will have attached itself to important documents and the only way to rid your computer of Colic 4.2 is by purchasing and installing "Vet 10.1", which we admit is extremely expensive, but crucial. Otherwise, Colic 4.2 will cause irreversible damage to the operating system. Finally, it is important that you run C:\Carrots and C:\Scratch Ears on a fairly regular basis to keep the application running smoothly. If you have any more questions, please call our toll free number.

Sincerely, Tech Support

Miscellaneous Monday 6-14-10

It's hot hitting into the mid-90's, and we're still waiting oh so patiently on Libbe and Maria to foal.  My preference would be tonight, but I don't think they're going to oblige me.  At least we should be cooling down back into the 80's this week.

The foals are all doing well, Kiega has completely shed out. Bruiser is not a blue roan, but a black; Rose is the prima donna with all the boys, and Fifa (we're naming him after the World Cup - big football fans here! So it looks like Wesco Farms World Cup 2010 maybe his name - lol!) is enjoying his play time with Rose and Bruiser.  Kiega does play but thinks he's the 'stallion' in the mare/foal pasture, so he'd rather follow the mares around then play with the babies!

The rest of the herd is waiting for me to start bathing/clipping/general clean up on them.  

Tomas was out last week, and we're officially all caught up on trimming - yeah!  We have visits planned out through the Fall, so we shouldn't get off schedule again until December-ish.

Sent off a huge stack of paperwork to both registries.  Late stallion reports, transfers, permanent registration and DNA/PQ tests.  A chunk of change as I've procrastinated for so long.  ** AMHA coupons are still good for horses that have RV paperwork!  Check out their site - AMHA.org registration.  These are good through the end of the year.

Other news –

Little Kings Dream Demon and Lucky Four Colorcard Miramax will be out on lease soon.  Demon will be going to Imperial Acres for a couple of years, and Miramax is off to Redbud Ranch for the season. 

Little (Grosshills Little Mans Anticipation) is off to Wee Gems Minis along with one of our mares Libbe (LGF Miss Liberty Belle on lease) and two mares that came back for re-homing, Charm and Lalique.

It’s going to be nice with less mature stallions, but I’m going to miss these guys and their individual personalities.

How "NOT" to photo a horse.

Trying to take photo's of a weanling can be oh so fun.  These are a series of Wesco Farms Count Your Blessings, Ringo's 2009 filly, out of Una (Wesco Farms Bella Luna).  They have a serious love affair, and I'm likely going to repeat this breeding in 2011.  Blessing (we call her Pretty Girl), thought the whole lead rope and set up was pure torture - we were laughing at her posture!

Maxim steps in to assist.

Finally - a decent shot!

We haven't had a photo-op session with her this year, but she's one of our favorites - 

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Glossary of Horse Terms

• Veterinarian: That career you wish you had pursued whenever you open your monthly vet bill.
• Horse Shoes: Simply-styled flats which come without a designer label, only last 5-6 weeks, but cost the same as Ferragamo's.
• Horse Show: The ultimate goal and destination of all training, feeding, shoeing, medicating, equipment purchases, and  free-time hours whereby for approximately 6 minutes your horse shows you just how badly behaved he can be (see also: Show Horse)
• Hock: Financial condition of all horse owners.
• Stall: What your rig does at rush hour in an unfamiliar city on the way to a big horse show.
• A Bit: What you have left in your pocket after you've been to your favorite tack shop.
• Fence: Decorative structure built to provide your horse with something to chew on.
• Horse Auction: What you think of having after your horse bucks you off.
• Pinto: Green coat pattern found on freshly washed light colored horses left unattended for 2 minutes.
• Well Mannered: Hasn't stepped on, bitten, or kicked anyone for a week.
• Rasp: Abrasive metal tool used to remove excess skin from ones knuckles.
• Lunging: Popular training method in which a horse exercises their owner by spinning them in circles until dizzy.
• Gallop: Customary gait a horse chooses when returning back to the barn.
• Nicely Started: Lunges, but not enough health insurance to even think about riding him.
• Colic: Gastro-intestinal result of eating at horse fair food stands.
• Colt: What your mare gives you when you want a filly.
• Easy to Load: Only takes 3 hours, 4 men, a 50lb bag of oats, and a tractor with loader.
• Easy to Catch: In a 10x10 stall.
• Easy Rider: Rides good in a trailer; not to be confused with "ride-able".
• Endurance Ride: End result when your horse spooks and runs away with you.
• Hives: What you get when receive the vet bill for your 6 horses, 3 dogs, 4 cats, and 1 donkey.
• Hobbles: Walking gait of a horse owner after their foot has been stepped on by their horse.
• Feed: Expensive substance used to manufacture manure.
• Dog House: What you are in when you spend too much money on grooming supplies and pretty halters.
• Light Cribber: We can't afford to build anymore fencing or box stalls for this buzz saw on four legs.
• Three-Gaited Horse: A horse that. 1) trips, 2) stumbles, 3) falls.

Miscellaneous Monday 5-10-10

**** OUR WEBSITE IS DOWN AS OF TODAY****

Please contact us through wescofarms @ gmail.com (remove spaces) for the next week while it is transferred to the new domain server.

What's with the weather? Wet, windy and hmm this is May, right?  Feels like January.  I'm glad for the green as it prolongs our hills being green and the flies aren't out yet - two big yeahs! 

Foaling is still the waiting game.  Waiting on Chiclet and now Libbe to see if they're going to foal in the worst of this new storm or hold out for better weather.  Baybee is also being carefully watched.

Took the camera out last night and took a few photos of the gang and ended up with the roan edition.  Bruiser  has that normal chinchilla color I associate with blue roans at birth.  He could surprise us and go black but I doubt it.  I think he'll like his two siblings and be a blue roan under the baby fuzz.

Bruiser aka Wesco Farms please give me a name!

Kiega aka Wesco Farms ETs Secret Affair showing off his blue roan-ness!

This was a bad angle, but I was trying to get his back, shooting down at minis a big no-no.

Ringo, Wesco Farms Buckerowdyroo, sire of the two boys above

standing downhill - taking decent photos of minis is my curse.

Random photo's today

Took the camera out to "try" to take photos with the results most are of nostrils, noses, horses chewing or butts! A few not headed directly for delete follow.

View from one of the pastures.  It would make a wonderful backdrop to the posed photos if we ever get those taken.  Las Doradas Calypso Queen (left) and her daughter Wesco Farms Jamaica Me Crazy (right).  Two of the under 28" Minis here.

West Coast Buena Callita, 22 years young.  We retired her, but she's still cycling and in good body condition so .... maybe a date with WCR Top Cop this year. If she's guarantee a filly I'd happily breed her!  She's always been fairly heavy producing colts, though.  I only have Baybee here, who is expecting in the next few weeks.

 

Wesco Farms ET's Secret Affair aka Keiga (top).  His blue roan is showing through his rubbed spots. Two months old and thinks he owns the world. Bruiser's roan isn't showing yet but he's not into using everything including humans as scratching posts. I'm leaning towards Bruiser's registered name Wesco Farms Twist of Fate, as if Ringo wasn't a jumper he wouldn't be here!

Wesco Farms April Sunshine BB (Bonus Bucks x Sarah) and Wesco Farms While You Were Sleeping FF aka Surprise (Frenchie x Twila).  Both are yearlings with close to 7" height difference. April is under 27" while Surpise is taller than her dam Twila and I'm going to hold my breathe she stays under 34".  Surprise's color? Silver buckskin?  We're still not sure. April will be off to Colorado in June.  We're going to miss her. One of those if the deal falls through - it would be a win - ROFL!

Foal photos

Vanna is doing better, and we're hoping to salvage her right eye. So many times a day we chase Miss Backbreaker around and medicate her eye, apply more fly spray and pray/cross finger & toes for her recovery. She did well for her trim last Friday as did the rest, practicing leading and tying torture by humans.

I haven't taken any photo of Miss Vanna's eye - I guess I should to explain the stapling of her right eyelid, but it's not pretty. She looks like a pirate with a squint with one eye partially open. A fiesty pirate with a squint I should say!

As for the rest - which I just had a sudden ephiphany about! All the foals are somehow downline from Callita except for April. Frenchie is her son while Calypso is her grand-daughter and Jamaica her great-grand-daughter! Good going Callita!

Frenchie's foals are really nice but going to be pushing the stick or B size I believe at least Surprise and Corona are almost too leggy! Here are Jai Ho and the twins - Surprise and Corona.
Surprise is the mystery colored foal this year. Bay roan dam and black white pinto sire so we get - The Bonus Bucks munchkins are all in the 24-26" range right now. April is a dink, although she eats like a pig and resembles a keg on legs, she's definitely precious.
Zydeco - the seeker of shade - hard to get a good photo of him in the sun.

And last but definitely not least - Count Your Blessings, that doesn't have a farm name that sticks other than Pretty Girl (isn't that awful!). She's going to be very B size like her mom.

Foal heads

I was out feeding this a.m. and actually took the camera. How do they actually know I'm trying to take photos? If I don't have a camera they run and jump and play. Camera they clump up and hide or are two inches from the camera lens.

So, many bad photos later, pulled these few of the foals. Practicing with Picasa's collage feature -

1. On left - Corona, double dilute colt (Frenchie x Java)
2. Center - Pretty Girl, blue roan filly (Ringo x Una) <3>
3. Below PG - Jai Ho, buckskin pinto colt (Frenchie x Val)
4. Right - Surprise, buckskin maybe roan? (Frenchie x Twila) Surprise has four socks, darker leg, then lighter, then light body, blue eyes and is truly a surprise! She's very shy, not outgoing and bossy like her mom!

Over all very happy with Frenchie's foals and Ringo's fence jumping pretty daughter!

These are the 'tall' foals, the three munchins (April, Vanna and Zydeco) the photos were truly awful. April being the character she is was in visiting Woody today - she is about the size of our Australian Shepard, Sabrina, so finds her way into most anything. Vanna is even smaller, but not always as adventurous!

Thursday prep work

Moved the boys down from their pasture to the two adjacent to the house - tomorrow is trim/deworm/clean up day!  It's suppose to be in the high 90s to 100 so we'll see how motivated we are in the clean up department! 

I'm hoping to at least put bridle paths and clean up heads a bit as we need new photos for registration and the sales page.  

The yearling boys are a wild bunch, fortunately they travel in a pack so get one moving they'll all go!  McLuvin is still very friendly and always looking at them like 'What's your problem?'  Rohan has adopted the boys as his herd and he moves them around like a stallion with mares.  Herd dynamics are so interesting to watch ... the Jan Goudall in me!

Ringo could see them on the other side of the house, so his knickers are in a knot!  He actually is very social and enjoys being with the boys, but Mr. Fence Jumper, it borders on pointless to put him out with them at all.

Missy and Val still have not foaled - probably waiting for the extreme heat wave we're having this weekend.  We're getting fans set up tomorrow just in case and the swimming pools will be out by Saturday too.

The foals are all doing well.  I'm very please with the overall look quality that Bonus Bucks, Frenchie and Ringo have sired - wish Frenchie and Ringo's were a few inches shorter, but they're foals are nice!

We only had one bit of diarrhea with Surprise at foal heat.  We'll see if Una's filly has it (she didn't get Foal Response or mom dewormed the first 12 hours).  I'm doing an non-scientific test if Foal Response and deworming with Ivermectin on the mares helps prevent foal heat or not.  Twila/Surprise was the one foal we found dried and although we gave them the combo, we're not sure how old she was, so . . .

I really need to carve out time to get caught up on paperwork, it keeps falling further behind.  Nine years I was always on time or early, year ten I've fallen apart in that department!  Oh well, nothing that's not fixable - just extra fees to get it all in order!  I have a three week break from being a taxi coming up, so hopefully will get caught up on the outstanding backlog of papers!

I'm going to be very glad when the boys are all done tomorrow, right now I'm dreading it though - lol!!!

The past weekend . . .

Fun weekend - no babies of course - but a fun weekend anyway.

My DH's family came up for an Easter visit on Saturday (including friends and family from Germany), so it was a full house.  It was really great seeing everyone - especially my husband's aunt as it's about every five years we actually see her. My MiL cooked German food  - roladin, potatoes, red cabbage, salad and two types of dessert - a wonderful feast.   All I had to do was hors'deouvers - spinach dip, crudite, cheeses/meats/breads/crackers and everyone was happy!

While all this was going on, I'm of course semi-awake from watching Calypso.  She's been bagged, slab sided and looks ready since FRIDAY night!  So of course nothing.  I turned her out with Sarah during the day the past two days - still nothing!  It's cold and windy tonight so perfect weather to foal - NOT1

The rest of the mares are looking larger - I'm not sure Java can get much bigger, she's bagged, edema, waddling, so soon.  

Whenever one lays down, I'm sure this is it, but alas no.  Every year around February I think the mares can't get any bigger and they do.  Then March the same thing - by the time they foal I'm sure they're going to explode!

Kathi Donnell had came down on her way to deliver Mic to his new home, so spent a couple days with us giving us a chance to catch up on all things mini!  

I went with her to deliver Mic to his new family (Brooke Adams in Bakersfield - I didn't catch the ranch name).  They have a nice set up for their growing herd and their horses look so well cared for!  The hit for us though was the new twin baby goats!  OMG!!! They're so cute.  If someone bred 10 lbs goats wouldn't that be a hoot?  Adorable. 

It's always fun to meet new mini people and I love looking at other people's herds, set ups.  I always take away something new to try, etc., or one of those - duh why haven't I tried that!

We stopped at Harris Ranch off I5 for dinner for melt-in-your-mouth steak dinner.  It was excellent and we were stuffed.  I was glad Kathi drove as I was so sleep from the meal we'd have been in a ditch!  A long trip Winters to Bakersfield, 13 hours round trip.  We both slept well that night.  I didn't make it to bed until after 2, this running on 3-5 hours a night sleep is going to catch up to me one of these days!

Other news, Bonus Bucks has another foal on the ground, this one over at Imperial Acres.  A fine healthy black colt out of Jenn Davis' mare, Lady.  Unfortunately there goes the hope of Bonus Bucks being homozygous with a solid black son!  Oh well.  I was hoping he was homozyous as the rest of my mares he's bred to are not color producers!

I had to reschedule our farrier visit this week (educational opportunity presented itself so we needed to jump on that), so Tomas won't be here until the 30th.  I hate getting off track with trimming as it seems months to catch up.  But some things can't be helped.

No more babies yet

Feeding this a.m. noticed we're down to a few bales of alfalfa (lots of grass hay), so called Higbys to get a delivery.  Scott said tomorrow.  Yes!!

Went down to feed the boys and noticed they'd knocked over both water buckets and they're 'drinking spot was a lovely 5" deep mud hole.  The brats.  So waded into the well over ankle deep mud to move the hose and reset up buckets.  Now they won't play with horse toys but give them something they need such as a water bucket they're all over it!

Opening the gate to get in Demon, Miramax and Bonus Bucks raced to meet me.  The gate to get to the house and closer to mares.  Poor boys - they have another year to wait.

It rained today, so hoped it would encourage one of the hold outs to foal, but so far no dice!  

We were gone for a few hours for important stuff (hair cut/color and family visit), so came home to wonderful rainy wet hills - yeah!  Doing a mental raindance for = rain, dryout, rain, dryout for another month or so!

Had to grab Miss April that had somehow in the hour between my son getting home and my arrival managed to pull the velcro off her blanket (likely Sarah did that), and flip the blanket under her belly to drag through the wet mud.  She's such a goof.  Tiny, cute and goofy fun!

Long day, I'm tired and much today before Easter weekend.