Sudden Road Trip

Well, we knew it was coming...but I wasn't really planning on going to Nebraska today to pick up the two geldings that a friend was riding for us. But that is what mom and I ended up doing. The guy called and said he had the horses in town, at the sale barn, because he was working there today and asked if we could come and pick them up. They've been gone for what? About 6 weeks? Anyway, he is done working on the ranch he was at for the winter and thought these two had had enough for awhile. We sure don't mind our horses having to go to work, but we aren't trying to use them up, so we were more than happy to bring them home. Here is a couple of before and after pictures, so you can see that they really did have to work for a living for at least a little while-LOL.

Blue-Before...

Blue-Today...

Damn, who knew the horse had a wither? And shoulders? or that that flabby flank really could pull up and give him a decent underline? Wow! Okay, I admit he actually looks nicer in the "before" picture...but OMG...that horse was so obese in that picture, we were afraid he was gonna grass founder. Maybe not so handsome looking in the after picture, but definitely in much better shape. His cresty neck is almost normal. This would be the first time that I have ever seen the horse when he wasn't obese. Now, we are gonna have to put a bit of bloom back on him, so he looks good, but I am bound and determined that he never goes back to being a huge hog.

So Andrea-your favorite Blue horse is home again!!

The other gelding was Sandy. Now, the main reason for sending Sandy, was to see just how fast this horse was. I started him on barrels last year and he was loping the pattern nicely. I ran barrels on his 1/2 sister(out of the same dam) and she could mortally fly. But she was much lighter made than Sandy and I wasn't just too sure that this big guy had quite enough speed to be really competitive. My fears were completely unfounded. The guy who rode him said he was never, not one single time, ever out-ran in the pasture. Now a yearling bovine can hit a pretty good lick when they have the space to line out, so I am pretty sure that Sandy is fast enough to run barrels.

Sandy-Before...

Sandy-Today...

Conformationally speaking, I could tear this horse to shreds. But it's one of those cases where people can rip him apart and I will just smile. He will take me to the pay window in the near future, I do believe. The guy who was riding him made a point to look my mother in the eye with a very stern face, and tell her "That is one nice gelding.". That compliment coming from a "shore 'nuf" cowboy means the world to mom and I. He liked Blue too, but Blue is a different kind of horse. He is great for trailing cattle. He is cowy enough that he won't let anything get by, but he has a sweet and gentle nature. He would much rather snuggle up to you for a treat than rough it as a ranch horse. That is fine by us too.

I had to post a couple of pictures of the tractors for ya...

The red one on the right is the one I usually work with. It is a nice sized tractor and handles nicely. The big boy on the left is most assuridly a "big boy" toy. But, it is good to know how to run both of them.

Roan Dog's nose is healing well...

It healed together better than I thought it would. But, I still see a bit of cosmetic surgury in his future. Poor guy! He misses me! He let me walk right up to him and pet him all over.
He really is a sweet horse. I need to get back to work on him. I don't want to lose all the ground I gained this year.

And then there is Boon...

She is gaining weight and starting to relax(a little). Finally, she is learning to fit in with her brethern. Mom has her on a supplement that helps heal ulcers-don't know if she actually had any, but it won't hurt her and it seems to be helping her relax. I was going to start saddling her and redoing her ground work. But when I went to trim her back feet, she had a fit. I went over her and she is most definitely out in at least two places in her neck and at the point of her croup. You can actually see where one hip point is higher than the other and she is very tender to any pressure applied in that region. No wonder she is fighting having her back feed picked up. It really makes you wonder what the hell those people did to her....uuuhhhhh...on the other hand I probably don't want to know, I would probably pop him in the nose for being so stupid!

Oh, here is the trio of sorrel sisters we brought in from the ranch at the same time we brought Roan Dog to town.

This is "no name"(8y/o)...she is the only horse we have that has no name. The poor thing got lost in the herd for a few years. I did some ground work on her a couple of years ago and she saddled without a hump. I am going to get her broke yet this fall(I hope the weather holds out). She is too sweet to just let stand around...
This is Electra. This mare is probably the fastest of the 6 full brother/sister brood we have. She was pretty waspy when she was younger, but has mellowed with age(7y/o). She is on the list to get broke too. I would like to run barrels on her...
And this is "G". She is actually a pretty solid heel and breakaway horse. Man, can she break out of the box!! I showed her a couple of years ago and she won the halter and showmanship classes. She is a natural little pleasure-type mover, so usually does pretty well in the slow classes too. Somewhere along the line, she lost part of the sight(only at the bottom) in her left eye. The only time it ever seems to affect her though is riding in rough country and the Trail class-sidepassing over a log to the left freaks her out...
All three of these mares mom has contemplated leasing out as broodmares. A person sure hates to sell a broodmare in this market. Too many people would get a couple of foals out of them and ship them down the pike. I think mom has pretty much figured out that that isn't going to happen and is resigned to keeping them. I think G could find a decent home, even with her eye because she is so solid, but I sure need to get her looking like she did when I was showing her. This is not a good picture of her, so here is what she looks like "all fit up"...

G and "no name" are pretty much identical twins, so Megan and I thought we should get both of them fit up for the show season next year and see how many people we could confuse-LOL.

So that was my day today. Not a lot accomplished...again! But tomorrow is another day and the ponies will still be here-LOL.

Oh, I almost forgot...Western classes are usually awarded buckles as Hi-Point Awards, but what do you give someone as a Hi-Point Award for English? Megan won the Hi-Point English Award this year in 4-H and we don't know what to award her-no one has ever won that award in our small, western-riding community.