Update midyear 2012

We're on the downward side of 2012, the economy sucks, hay prices are high ($14 a bale here), drought is predicting higher food prices and we have a presidential election coming up with two candidates that, well I wish there was a third.

But other than that life is good.  It could be better, but it could be a hell of a lot worse!

We've been fortunate this year, as we've exceeded our goals on reducing our herd number.  We started 2012 with 52 Minis and are currently at 30. That definitely was more leaving to new homes than I'd hoped for, so yeah!  We still have a few left on the sales list - three of the nicest colts/junior stallions we've produced as well as a couple of under 28" mares and one retiree.  There are a couple other mares I'm considering selling, but haven't made it up for sale yet!

I'm very excited to see what some of the horses that went to other breeders produce in 2013 and on, plus it's great to have new (and old) friends planning breeding and training with horses that we've raised.  Always nice to think you're going in the right direction!

So where does that leave us?

We have six or so that I class as retired or pets; three breeding stallions: Topper, Jelly and Ringo; and fifteen breeding age mares: Una, Jiji, Valentina, Sarah, Dresden, Annie, Remy, Comet, Patsy, Swan, Baybee, Savvy, Blessings and Rose.

It really is nice to be in the ballpark of what I'd planned to have as our total Mini herd back in 1999. Too bad it only took 12 1/2 years to get there!  What a roller coaster of learning it's been. You sometimes wish you could have a do-over, but I'm not sure what I'd change. I figure for each negative there have been some immense positives. Horses I wouldn't have, friends I never would have met, etc.

What's in store now?

One getting caught up on all the outstanding registration paperwork before the end of the year.

Two, as we chose to NOT breed in 2012 as we were reducing the herd numbers (although Ringo did jump the fence one day, so we have have some Ringo 'gifts' in April 2013), we are considering breeding in 2013. Which ones and how many will really be determined by the economy more than anything.  I tend to see-saw between breeding the proven mares and breeding the ones I've never bred (some are past five years old now).

Three, my never-ending search for the perfect stallion. I really don't see me getting another stallion until 2014, but I'm keeping my eye out.  I will eventually find that under 31" bay or black homozygous pinto, proven, aged 3-11, double registered, with a show record stallion one day!  Yeah, I know not sure 'exactly' what I want right? lol  That and hopefully adding another mare or two over the next year or so.

Four, rejoicing in a lower feed/farrier bill for the remainder of the year.  It does look a bit empty out here, considering in 2010 I had close to 70 Minis.  That is another consideration come Spring 63 acres of spring growth grass and less than 30 Minis - founder may be a concern for the first time. So, I'm thinking on how best to rotate horses around to avoid that.


Just because - here's a couple of photos.

Kind of hard to see, but that's Noomi and Cleo (Great Pyreness) watching the road. From this hill they can see out to our road and behind them down to house and up/down to where the horses are.  They so darn smart!

Binks - unbrushed/ungroomed waiting for his farrier trim.  Excuse the crap in the background, we were doing some down/dirty registration pics and of course he looked pretty nice.  If we'd had him 'posed' somewhere scenic, I wouldn't have got two that were decent!

Binks (Wesco Farms Best Guesstimate FF)

You can see the mare/gelding herd up on the hill watching and waiting for breakfast.

Baby Tox, being tormented by the humans.  His first trim (we missed his original appointment) and halter trauma.  He was 100% sure I was going to eat him, but what a fiesty little guy, he really thinks he's all that and a bag of chips!

Tox (Wesco Farms DN Gamebreaker) we 'thought' was black at birth but he's turning into a gorgeous dark bay.  He has the 'tude and movement to be a wonderful show prospect.  Now to get some decent photos of him.

What's with this weather?

It's been so all over the board, you really don't know what to expect. We did hit 102 last week, and now possibly rain tomorrow?  Then hot again?

I seriously believe this is what is 'screwing up' breeding this year and the oddly late foals so many of us have had this year.  Nature seems out of sorts.

Something I noticed which had me wondering is our frogs.  We have an abundance of very loud tiny frogs and this year they've been stuck in the tadpole stage for over a month.  It has to be the odd weather.  That's what I think at least.


Breeding season ended - yeah.  All the horses are back where they normally live and calm prevails again.  We did separate the stallions into two groups, so Ringo, Demon and Miramax are in one, while Jelly (Dance), Topper and the four yearlings are in another.  Everyone is much happier, especially the ones not in with Demon and Miramax.

Hollywood is still visiting for awhile.  The poor guy though is in solitary confinement as he's so thin.  We have him on free choice alfalfa and grain, but it's going to take a bit of time for him to put back on the weight he dropped.  He's not a happy camper, so we're hoping he'll be bored and eat!

We did 'lose' a few horses last week, as Dazzle, Gemini, Baroness and Bre went off to their new homes.  I'm very happy with the places they've gone to, and hope they'll be 'lifers'!  Here's a photo fo Gemini, Baroness and Bre meeting their new herd mates.

I am in the process of moving this Blog to WordPress.  It will be associated directly with our website, and allow more flexibility in the design and maintenance.  I will be copying all the old archived posts, but will leave this one up as well.  Just an FYI!  If you're new to blogging though, I would highly recommend blogger (from Google) as it is very easy to use and set up.


As a warning - the next blog post will be a rant!  The past couple month's I've had to deal with a 'friend' as a buyer.  The 'deal' with this person went south really quickly, of course, of no fault of her own.  I won't mention names, but what a pain this has been.  This woman lost two friends over this (she didn't just screw with me), so I will be posting what I did learn from it and why I won't make the mistake again - I hope!

Stay cool and dry?  Rain in July - wow!!!

So what about this weather?

Here in Northern California its raining with highs of 50-60 during the day and expected tonight into the 40's.  Sorry that is WINTER weather here, not May!!!  Again, glad it's not 105, but What the ???

Fortunately it's not that cold nor raining that consistently, so the horses seem to be bearing it well.  I'm just very surprised at this unseasonable winter-like weather we're having.


On a bright note, some of the extra horse paraphernalia we've had around is selling - yea!  There's still alot left and I haven't even gone through blankets, magazines and a few other boxes in the garage of stuff.  The trickle of $$ is great as the transmission went out on the Mercedes over the weekend.  That's a chunk of change, but cheaper than new!  So, highly motivated right now to get things moving along.


We did start breeding last week, or should say put mares with stallions.  I'm not sure if it's the weather, inexperienced stallions (one his first time the other first time pasture breeding) bitchy mares or a combination, but not much happening out there!  Dance and Hollywood seem to 'prefer' the older cooperative mares, so we've seen them get covered but the younger mares seem to intimidate them a tad.  But we also have Demon in with two experienced broodmares (Dipper and Honeybun) and they're totally not interested in him.  Most of my mares are more of the 'bar fly' easy in general so I'm not sure what is up with all this attitude.  Then again, only a few foals next year is fine with me too!


I went to the feed store today to buy hay, and we're at $17.95 for a bale of alfalfa...bleah on that.  I of course was in such sticker shock forgot to pick up the 50lb salt blocks I meant to buy as well.  Oh well another trip this week.  I can see many trips in the next few weeks until the transmission is completed.

Escaping Stallions

Nothing like waking up to Litte, Topper, McLuvin and Zydeco cruising the backyard.  I'd let them in next to the pool yesterday to do a bit of 'mowing', well apparently the new gate was not Demon worthy.  So, found the four of them in the yard; the gate to the front yard is open; no sign of Demon or Ringo.

Weirdly no screaming, "I'm a stallion and the mares are right here either"!  Hmmm.

Ringo finally pops his head out of the shelter, apparently he'd missed out on the breakout.  I close the gate on him and he's completely put out, once he sees they're in the yard within feet of the mares.  Oh well.

Now to get the gang out of the backyard. I spent 25 minutes trying to dislodge the quartet to no avail.  The clever use of landscaping, they managed to run circles around me - literally!  I finally turned the sprinklers on hoping to corner them close to their exit.  No joy.  McLuvin cracked a sprinkler head on one of the gallops around the yard, so now I have a geyser in the backyard, and we're all soaking wet while still playing the circle game.  Not a good idea the sprinklers.

McLuvin (sire Little behind him covered in mud)

Enough is enough.  I dump the water bucket in the backyard, if they get thirsty they'll have to go back to their pen to drink.  Hopefully what little landscaping I have will survive them, but they're enjoying seeing my feeble attempts to catch them way to much!  Maybe putting their feed out will entice them.  Not!!!  Fresh grass versus dried alfalfa, no contest with my horses.

Still no sighting of Demon.

I'm fairly certain he wouldn't take off - not with all the mares around.  So put hay out for the boys.  Feed the hobbler crowd (Woody and Charm), and spy Demon flirting with the mares by the hay barn.  I go grab a halter and by the time I get back he's standing at the hay cart, apparently bored with his escapade.  Halter him, taking him back in with Ringo when he now notices Topper and Little in the backyard.  They're a fenceline CLOSER to the mares! Oh NOES!

Ringo and Demon

Peace is restored, no OMG foals were created, and the boys have drifted back towards their pen.

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.

Lessons from the Wild (Social Classes and testosterone levels)

I've read or sent this article out many times over the years... It's always worth a re-read and great for those new to stallion care and herd dynamics!


Social classes and testosterone levels...
LESSONS FROM THE WILD
At the International Symposium on Equine Reproduction in Lexington, Kentucky a paper was presented on the social interactions of the free roaming horses. I would like to share with you my notes from that meeting. I think you will find the information interesting. The information was presented to us so we could help breeding farms with sexual problems that might arise. If we look at how the horse has spent the last several thousand years interacting with other horses, we might be able to detect problems that have arisen since man took over a few hundred years ago . Some of this information is a little explicit, which I suppose is the way veterinarians and their sexually active horses are.

The studies for this report were conducted by graduate students using binoculars over a very long period of time. They studied horses in the wild as well as a free roaming group put together by the University of Florida. The advantages of the University’s group is that they could be brought in for blood, semen, and physical examinations.

The free roaming horse herd basically has two groups. The harem with the one harem stallion, and the bachelor herd. The first consists of a band of mares and its one stallion. The bachelor herd is where all the boys who do not have harems hang out.

Manic Monday, but its Friday!

Nothing like waking up at 5:35 a.m. to the sounds of stallions screaming. I assumed it was Flash having a shouting match with either Ringo or Bonus Bucks, as we had just moved him in the runway to prep him for his upcoming departure.

Let the dogs out, I peek out the bedroom window - hmm! An extra horse in with the mares. Nice Rohan, how did you get here?

Wake up Anya to come help and off we go to catch an untried stallion that things he's gone to heaven! All these mares and no competition.

Fortunately (most of the time that is!) my horses see an open gate as an opportunity. We all know the 'herd' mentality too, so get one going through the rest are bound to follow! Well Rohan had selected, Patsy, her sister Holly and their dam Maria as his targets to be herded, so they were a bit slow to get moving. We had everyone else penned up, and finally separated Rohan.

No one looked the worse for wear, the geldings - Ray, Token, Ivan and Dash - did look like he'd been after them but no blood!

So no serious damage, other than needing to file another stallion report. I don't know that anyway was bred, but I always assume!

We grab Rohan and take him back down to the stallion pasture (this is about 1/4 mile away), I'd fed the rest of the boys far from the gate, in hopes we'd be able to get Rohan back inside with little fuss. I'm holding the gate, Anya on her way in loses a shoe, she lets him go hopping on one foot, I'm trying to close the gate, Demon slips past us on a mission.

All we see is a red roan blur in a full out gallop heading towards the house. At least he's on the outside of the fences!

Okay time to catch loose stallion number two. (I know I'm seriously gelding a whole bunch of guys this winter!)

We hop back in the van race to the house - no Demon! We cruise by the mares they're all eating peacefully - where'd he go. I see my husband emerge from the house pointing towards Bonus Bucks pasture. We notice he's half through the fence - oh joy. Heading directly for him like Jaws in the movie is Demon. We jump out of the van race over to stop any pending fight. Demon takes off with Anya in quick pursuit. In the meantime I'm trying to untangle Bonus Bucks from the fence. He's managed to plant both front legs through different parts and stick his head through another opening.


Anya catches Demon and ties him up while my husband and I are trying to stick Bonus Bucks back through the fence. My DH, finally lifts him back though and Bonus Bucks takes off. I feel bad for hubby - he was just at the chiropractor yesterday - lifting a 200 lb horse is not highly recommended I'm sure.

We run Demon back down to the stallion pasture and all is at peace again.

It feels so very much like a Monday. /sigh Hopefully that is all the excitement we're having for the day!

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!!!