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.

Another day, another farrier visit.

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.

Tox (Wesco Farms DN Gamebreaker), our only foal for the year is doing great.  We threw Rose in to keep him company (she's two) as she loves the babies, so they're fast friends and he spends more time playing with her than following his mom around.  I must say for a solid black colt he's darn nice.  I was hoping he'd go grey (I know who wishes for a grey horse - but I like them!), photo-ing a black horse is definitely an art form.  I get black featureless blob pics of him sadly.

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!

Mare Stare

and the sleepless nights continue....

Yes, it's that time of year and the Mares are doing the usual "keep them guessing" game.  Jenn Davis is here foaling out her mares, and Baroness, the first to foal, waited until I drove away the other day, sneaky wench that she is!  Less than 10 minutes after I left (we ASSUME, she though we all left), she popped out her new daughter.  Later that night her half sister Honeybun, graced Imperial Acres with a gorgeous red colt (sired by Demon).

Now we're on the wait mode as Savvy and Gemini seem to want to attain the proportions of beached whales!

Breeding dates, I know Savvy only has a matter of days left (okay a couple weeks, but it sounds better to my sleep deprived brain to think in days!).

January 9th update

So what's up with the weather?  Granted it it's gloriously warm, but it's the first time I've ever seen sprinklers and irrigation going in January or actually had to water plants.  I do hope the rain will eventually come!  Not missing the mud, but definitely missing the green!


The horses are all doing fantastic, and we're getting ready for the 2012 sell down.  It's time to get serious with meeting my goals of under 30 Minis, so this year is it!  We've reduced prices on many of the sale horses, are posting ads and are ready to make some deals.  There are a few more horses that will be added to the website, but we have 25 for sale right now.



Cricket aka Wesco Farms TC Defiantly Different, (WCR Top Cop x Wesco Farms LM Rowdys Anticipation), just left for her new home on Saturday.  Going to miss her, but she went to a great place.

Cricket - Wesco Farms TC Defiantly Different

This came across Facebook today:

To all of my horse friends you will understand........To everybody else you will now understand why us horse people are crazy. I love this......

Ten Ways To Get In Shape To Own A Horse

1. Drop a heavy steel object on your foot. Don't pick it up right away. Shout "Get off, stupid! Get off!"

2. Leap out of a moving vehicle and practice "Relaxing into the fall". Roll lithely into a ball, and spring to your feet!

3. Learn to grab your checkbook out of your purse/pocket and write out a $200 check without even looking down.

4. Jog long distances carrying a halter and holding out a carrot. Go ahead and tell the neighbors what you're doing. They might as well know now.

5. Affix a pair of reins to a moving freight train and practice pulling it to a halt. And smile as if you are really having fun.

6. Hone your fibbing skills. "See hon, moving hay bales is fun!" and "I'm glad your lucky performance and multi-million dollar horse won you first place - I'm just thankful that my hard work and actual ability won me second place".

7. Practice dialing your chiropractors number with both arms paralyzed to the shoulder, and one foot anchoring the lead rope of a frisky horse.

8. Borrow the US Army slogan; "Be all that you can be'. . . (add) bitten, thrown, kicked, slimed, trampled."

9. Lie face down in the mud in your most expensive riding clothes and repeat to yourself: "This is a learning experience, this is a learning experience . . ."

10. Marry Money!

Quick update

It's definitely feeling like winter here - the wind has died down to be replaced by near freezing temperatures. For us whimpy Northern California types that's darn cold! 

We're happy to announce, Leelee (Las Doradas Blazing Beauty), one of Little Kings Bay Ablaze daughters, will be off to her new home in the next week.  

Honeybun, (Las Doradas Buckeroos Honeybun) will be leaving this week as well to her new home as well.

Both mares are bred for 2012, Leelee to Buckeye WCF Dance All Night and Honeybun to Little Kings Dream Demon. I'll be looking forward to seeing what they produce for their new families!

Off to Oz!

What's with this wind?  OMG!

It tore the tarp off one shelter into shreds - one of those can withstand mega wind type tarps!  Apparently it never was meant for the winds of Winters! LOL!

It also destroyed a rubbermaid storage building - lost the roof and a door - what a waste, then a stand of decorative pots went flying and shattered across the deck.  Bleah!

Hopefully this will pass by tonight, I think I wore more hay then the horses got to eat sadly this morning too.


On a brighter note:

The grass is growing, horses are healthy and it's sunny if not warm!

Our newest puppy,  Pup-Pup (yea we're so creative with names at times), is doing great.  She's already wanting to be a watcher with Auntie Noomi.  Pup-pup is a 3/4 Pyrenees 1/4 Maremma sweetie.  Here she is with my daughter Anya.  She's 12+ weeks old and loves to be outside.  A bit skeptical about the horses though as she's been chased by a couple and bit by one.  But she has a nice bark on her already.

Mini News:

I hope everyone read the news on AMHR half-price for hard-shipping from AMHA in 2012!  I know I have a couple that will finally get done!

We did reprice some of the horses on our sales list, and will be working on updating our website this month and adding more.  I finally came to the conclusion if I only want 25-30, ALL the rest need to go on the sales list then!

Happy Holidays

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, it's been a rough 2011 for many, but I remind myself - we that live in the USA are still better off than a high percentage of the rest of the world.

I'm thankful for all I have, even though I may whine a blue streak and have some random pity parties, I'm sincerely thankful for what I have in my life.

Heading towards the New Year, we're still working on reducing the herd, but in this economy I'm not pushing the sales very hard.  Too many people are in financial predicaments, and I hate to see someone take on payments that can easily get away from them.  That and its hard to compete with the number of low quality horses for sale on Craigs List for $200, makes selling registered good quality horses hard.

But considering my life circumstances and the changes coming in the next year. I don't have options but to keep working to find good homes for the ones that need to move along.  My goal is to get under 30, which means half the herd has to leave in the next two years.

It's going to be hard, but that's the goal!  So, I need to get all the horses that are for sale on the sales list - bleah! Not a fun project, but its time.

I've also decided as I want to get to a certain number, I'm not breeding in 2012 and may not in 2013 depending on how life works out.

Fortunately it's been raining so our hills are green - got to love Northern California winters - and the horses are loving the extra pasture.

A couple of the sale colts:

Wesco Farms Bamboozler

Wesco Farms Best Guesstimate

 Wesco Farms Twist of Fate

Finally weaning the babies

We're finally weaning the 2011 foals - Baily (Wesco Farms TC Ascended Allure), Cricket (Wesco Farms TC Defiantly Different) and Jitters (Wesco Farms TC Up All Night) - much to their annoyance.  

Cricket is pretty much self-weaned, as her dam.  Chiclet (Cricket's grand-dam) has always had very independent babies, and apparently Annie is following suit.

Bailey is still very much a momma's girl, so I think she'll take it the hardest.  But considering she's the oldest at seven months I think it's time.

Jitters falls somewhere in the middle.  He's not dependent on his dam, Val, but does like to go to her when he feels the need.

Callita, and Rose are in their as support - they've been with the foals since birth and Sarah and April are there as well - until I'm sure April is not going to relapse with her colic.

Colic time

It's heading into winter and with the weather change, I always anticipate some mild colic as the horses get upset stomachs.  We have something on our property (we've yet to locate it in 11 years), but something that the horses get into in the Fall that guaranteed a few will come down with a belly ache.

This year it was April, one of our two year olds that I do have to watch at this time of year - she's an acorn 'ho, so we keep her locked up in the Fall.  Being one of our smallest Minis at 26.50" we do keep a careful eye on her.
.

Wesco Farms April Sunshine BB

I saw her up on the hill above the house laying down (wrong time of day - late afternoon/early evening -  for my horses to be napping).  As her and her dam are good buddies and never far from each other, I dragged her and Sarah down the hill and into the backyard.

Sarah - Wesco Farms Tricked Me Tina

Checked April and I could tell she wasn't feeling great so started treating her. She was insistent she was going to 'die' so we kept an eye on her and treated her throughout the day.  She was still not a happy camper when I gave her, her last treatment at midnight, but calm and hanging with her dam.

The next morning at 5:30 a.m. in the dark, I go out to check her.  She's of course missing. I  began the search - all the gates are closed, no holes in the fences for her to squeeze through, I even looked in the swimming pool, thought maybe she'd jumped in! No April, so I'm wondering where in the @%@% did you she go?

Finally I look under our deck and see her.  She had rolled/crawled or I don't know what but got herself about 6' under the deck.  Mind you this is not that high of deck, she couldn't stand up straight without bumping her head and I'm not a small person (besides having just the day before been given the okay from hernia surgery to resume life), so my the thought is this should be fun!

So, I crawl under the deck to check her and she's acting miserable.  I can't get her up to walk out, and she to far away to roll like a barrel (yes this occurred to me!), so I grab her by her back legs and start backing out dragging her on her back.  She's really not thrilled, but the options were few.  Move, drag, get kicked in the shins, move, drag, kick... rinse and repeat.

As soon as she was out, she called for her dam and runs off. I'm thinking how sore I'm going to be the following day (and I was!), but I still need to deal with her as she's not 100% yet.

Apparently it did the trick though, as I gave her another colic treatment and she began farting and pooping and was grazing with her dam within 20 minutes.  She's been fine since then for the past two days - the little stinker.

Minis they don't make life boring and OMG can they find the most interesting things to get into.

Week in review

Fairly slow week.  The horses are hairy and settling in for winter.  Tomas (farrier) surprised me this week  - yes I write down our appointments - but look at the calendar ... NO!

So, we got the boys all trimmed and de-wormed.  Stallions are so much easier to trim than the mares.  I was hoping to geld a couple more of the boys, but I don't think the funds are there at the moment sadly.

A recent addition to our family - Noomi's niece (out of her sister Jaz) joined us.  So we're going through puppy-hood again!  We're still trying names on her and haven't settled on one.  She's 3/4 Pyreness and 1/4 Maremma.  She's already bigger than our Mini Aussies.

The other exciting news - Anya passed her DMV test, so I'm officially off taxi duty!  Now I don't have to worry about her driving me, just her driving solo!  She's having a great time and is off on daily runs.  Nice to have someone that can run to the store for milk now - lol!