New Stallion heading west!

When you receive a call from a good friend to go look at a horse online.  Even early a.m., pre-coffee, you go look.  I'm so glad I did.

I wasn't 100% sold on him, but contacted the owner and his breeder.  Both have been wonderful and responded quickly with info and pics.-Big thanks to Deanna and Getitia.

I've been horridly paranoid about buying a horse sight unseen, but I think this boy is worth it.

Buckeye WCF Dance All Night

Thanks to PayPal, he's purchased and now I'm working on transport from Minnesota.  Definitely need to get him here before our warm climate shocks him.

Big thanks to Kathi Donnell for finding a Flying W Farms Little Wardance son for me this a.m. and I'm so thrilled. I love that stallion and now I'm going to get to have a son of his here! w0000000t!!!!

Kathi's only bad idea - a road trip to go get him!  HELL NO!  I'm not braving winter traversing the USA to Minnesota!  LOL!

He's had some pro photo's taken, so I'll have a couple better ones in the coming months.

Petite Equine Association

(THIS EVENT OCCURRED ALREADY BUT A GREAT GROUP IF YOU'RE IN THE SACRAMENTO AREA)

Hello one and all,

 

We are in the process of a start up of this existing club, Petite Equine Association. We would love to have you as a member.  We are planning an informational clinic on February 5th of 2011 at the Crosswoods Community Center, 6742 Auburn Blvd, Citrus Heights, CA 95621 .  It will be very interesting...AMHA Senior Judge Jim Curry will be the main speaker - "Ask The Judge" along with feeding info, foaling info and more. It will be a mid-day clinic to allow everyone home in time to feed!  - plus please visit our website when convenient. 

 

We plan on having additional events this year such as a driving clinic, grooming clinic and of course our annual "Spooktakular" in October.  We are certainly open for any suggestions you may have on topics of interest. 

 

Please join us it reviving this club.  With your participation we can make it a great learning and fun experience for all miniature horse owners.  You DO NOT have to show or have a registered horse but you must be interested in having fun and meeting other mini owners.  The sharing of ideas is a goal.

 

Please complete the membership application and/or the clinic entry and either mail it back to the address on the forms along with an email to Barbara Torgerson advising that you will be attending the clinic.  We must obtain a headcount for the clinic as soon as possible

 

SEE YOU THERE!!!

 

 

Merlene Olmstead

Director

Membership Chairperson

Driving Clinic Feb 26 & 27

PASSING THIS ALONG ...


Driving Clinic Feb 26 and 27 with Austin Van Wyck, AMHA & AMHR judge and trainer of Victory Lane Training Center, www.victorylanetrainingcenter.com, at Aranaway Farms in Grants Pass, OR.

Austin is a multi-World and National Champion in Classic, Country, Single Pleasure and Roadster Driving. 2010 World show, Austin came home with 52 Grand and Reserve Championship driving trophies.

Sat. is private 1 hour lesson at only $100.00 (full). Sunday morning will be a seminar discussing the rules and regulations of both assoc., talk about equipment, clothes, ring manners and prep for the show ring, answer questions. After a potluck lunch, Austin will have everyone hitch up and come into the ring to evaluate your horse whether it is a classic/western, country or single pleasure driving horse. Then we go into driving, with Austin evaluating, answering questions such as what judges look for, or don't want to see in competitors, and critiquing you and your horse. This group participation is only $60.00(a few spots left) and auditing is $25.00. If you had a private lesson on Sat., you may audit for free on Sunday.

Call Lisa at 541-664-4644 days, or 541-210-3403 eves, or email lisa@thehorseblanket.com to reserve an opening and mail a non-refundable deposit to hold your spot. This clinic is filling up fast just by word of mouth so don't hesitate to call, as show season is coming up real soon.

Good weather and Mini fun

We've been experiencing unseasonably warm weather - mid to high 60's for over a week now.  And I'm thoroughly enjoying the sun and lack of mud!

I do feel for the rest of the USA seeing the awful snow and ice storms passing through and the resulting damage. I can't imagine having to deal with ice to that degree - did that for a few years when I lived in Indiana - but didn't have horses!

The horses have been keeping me on my toes though, and I am looking for work for them as fence stress testers!  I swear the little @%%^ angels can make holes and gates in about anything!  Last week I had six horses in with the mares/foals pasture, and apparently the hog panel clips that hold cattle/hog panels together hadn't been tested on Mini determination!  So, I let them all out on the hill.  The mares that have been locked up for months (they think they're suffering on an acre or so of pasture) took the babies on a tour.  They're all safely locked up again after a few days of romping on the hills.


Unfortunately two of the rescues we got back a couple of months ago are NOT interested in being locked up!  I had to go find Celena and Baroness, I guess a few years of small pens at the previous owners was enough for them.  I can't entice those two down off the hill even for hay.  Fortunately we do have a season creek that runs through the property, and they seem perfectly content to wander around out there.  I would just like more groceries in Celena, she's still very very thin, although her belly is getting her normal layer of fat on it!


We finally have Leelee separated from Bruiser, much to her dismay. Her almost yearling son, is finally getting weaned - yeah!  She's not happy about it at all, but it's time. At the beginning of March he and Bambam will be moved into a separate pasture waiting for Binks to get old enough to wean. (Did I say NO MORE Fall foals?  I really really mean it!!!)


Ray, one of our first foals and pet gelding, coliced last week. No idea why, but it was two days to get him to pass poop and get the gas out.  You could here the gurgling in his gut of air moving around.  He's still confined in the backyard, but he's deflated and has been fine for a week, so time to go back out!

McLuvin, escape artist extraordinaire, was out in the orchard yesterday grazing away on knee high grass.  He'd made a McLuvin size hole in the fence and was having a private party.  Fence being refabriced this week, to McLuvin proof it.  He's on my short list to get into UCD for gelding.  Fortunately he's easy to catch as he's so people oriented.  You call him and he'll come, plus like his mom, grab a handful of mane and he'll walk along like a perfect gentleman.


The farrier is out Wednesday, so hopefully I can finally get registration photos done of Topper.  We're mud free, he's wooly but at least we can see his markings without the mud color adding to the fun.


That was last weeks fun - lol!  It's never dull....

More Inbreeding & Linebreeding

This is a bit more math involved and about breeding Aussie's, but the same principles/rules apply to breeding Minis.

Playing COI: Using inbreeding Coefficients by C.A. Sharp

Breeding dogs is a numbers game. Even though math problems are the last thing on your mind, what you are doing when you breed is calculating the best odds for getting a desired result. But a little applied mathematics, in the form of a coefficient of inbreeding (COI) can be helpful and even enlightening. Now that technology allows even the mathematically challenged to put them to use, they are a tool that should be applied by every breeder. 

Research in the fields of genetics, immunology, and veterinary medicine, is turning up more and more information indicating that high levels of inbreeding can have deleterious effects on health. Inbreeding depression, a complex of behavioral and physical reproductive problems, have long been recognized. Inbreeding can increase the frequency of a disease in a population, sometimes quite rapidly. Inbreeding leads to increased incidence of immune-mediated disease and cancer. 

But, all pure breeds of domestic animals are inbred. (Keep in mind that to a scientist "inbreeding" means the breeding of related animals, which would include what we call "linebreeding"). But how much is too much? Without it, the breeds could never have been developed and would not breed true to type. 

However, almost all breeds of purebred dog already have well-established type. There is no mistaking a Chihuahua for a St. Bernard. Or even a Greyhound from a Whippet. Given this, breeders would be well advised to retain as much genetic diversity as possible within the existing breed population in order to avoid or reduce such unwanted health problems as those mentioned above. Along with screening and maintaining detailed health records, another tool available to you is the Coefficient of Inbreeding. Track COIs on your breeding stock. Calculate them on proposed matings, with an eye to keeping the numbers low if they already are or lowering them where possible.

Read the rest of the article here (highly recommend if you breed!)

Playing COI: Using inbreeding Coefficients cont.

It's cold!

It's been cold here, okay not as cold as other areas in the country/world, but for the valley in Northern California it seems colder than normal!  I'm wrapped up like I'm in Siberia most of the time.  I think I'm starting to get the 'snow-birds' idea of heading to warmer climates in the winter - lol!

Monday was extremely bitter cold hovering right at freezing, so had to snap a few pics.  The first is a saw I'd left out overnight (sawing down some very aggressive vines) the other is Fraiser one of our Aussies.  I tried to catch the sun coming up against all the frosted everything, and one of our dogs Sabrina, she actually had frost on her back (she was on coyote duty), but nothing came out well, so delete!

The horses seem to be bearing up well in the cold, and fortunately the buckets aren't freezing solid every day. Today I caught Binks and Bambam right after they were done playing having a nap - they're so darn cute, although I'd gladly pass on every having Fall foals again.  Now to get my mares and stallions to read this little FYI!!!

Over the weekend I did have a surprise.  I was out feeding and as I'm walking along talking to the mares and giving the visual once over as I head towards the hay barn, I notice Cookie has developed a white star.  Surpise!  Not Cookie.  Somehow Una managed to get into another pasture and we still don't know how.  No holes in the fences or gates and Una is a good 37", so how she managed is beyond me.  Since she hasn't weaned her now two year old daughter, Blessings,  so I think good idea a bit of separation.  Apparently that's what I thought...

Surprise! Guess who's in with mom Monday morning?  However they achieved this, it was a one way deal as they haven't left yet and we really can't figure out how.

IMHO, I think Una is trying for a repeat with her true love Ringo.  She's staring at him in this photo.  Tomorrow is eviction day.  I've explained to Una that all the 'plan' is to re-breed her to Ringo in May and we don't want anymore winter foals. I hope she was listening.

2011 and onward >>>

I've been putting thinking a lot about my Miniature Horse business, and how far it's derailed from my original "plan".

Back in 2000 after I realized I was hooked and wanted this to be a business, not just a hobby, I had a written plan for Wesco Farms as well as the horses I owned and what I wanted in any additional herd members.  Did I follow that, sadly no, well sometimes, but I got myself in way over my head and did things half-ass backwards.  I tease a couple of friends about my 'horse experience' being in the trenches, versus the ivy league school learning.  What has come from all of that is I do know what I do and do not want to be!

Another issue I've had being a 'business' is, unfortunately when your 'business' isn't your sole income, I don't treat it as seriously as if I was going to work and being paid a wage.  That has to change.  Mentally more than anything. I use to hold the bar a bit higher than it has been the past few years. Time for a change!!!  

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

Catching up

Still soggy.  I think we had about 15 minutes of sunshine over the weekend. Not really but it felt damp all weekend.  It's not been very cold, but then this is Northern California and we only get so cold in the valley.  Heck my grass, roses and weeds are still growing - and THE FLIES HAVE NOT ALL DIED!!!  Had to get that out, but a break from flying bugs would be a treat about now.


I was going to take some photos of how much grass we have, it's well past ankle deep (as can be seen when I come in from feeding soaked to the knees).  I'm glad for the grass, it keeps the horses busy in this blucky weather.  All of them seem to be doing fine.  I keep looking at the potential pregnant ones, and either they're all carrying tiny foals, hiding it well or aren't pregnant.  You know what, I'm fine with any three of those options!

Another Soggy Monday

I keep saying I know we need the rain, but we're so soggy.  Everywhere. The horses don't seem to mind, although I'm sure they'd love a break in all this wet too.

I can't keep the dogs dry or all their bedding. Get it washed/dried and it's wet/dirty again.  But, enough of my whining!

I've been busy yesterday and today cleaning up all the files on two PC's that I have for the horses. I think (crossing fingers) that when it's all said and done I don't delete anything I was wanting to keep!  Manually going through each document and saving or deleting - amazing how much I can accumulate, but then I always think I just may need it one day!  Plus the endless photos.  Digital is great, but then it's actually making the decision to hit delete on alot of them!  But one PC is cleaned up, now to go through all the camera disks and sort/delete/file those.  I'm not going to tackle all the CD's, but still have two backup external HD's to cleanup too.