Sunday, May 10, 2015

A Taste Of Freedom

I'm getting a handle in the irrigating. It's a painfully slow process to get water moving across a new field...but it's coming.

Now that my days aren't e.n.t.i.r.e.l.y. taken up with farming duties, I can spend some quality time with my ponies and start getting them situated. I don't have enough small pens for every horse and I can't put just anyone in a pen beside Beretta and Ruger and it's going to be another couple of days before I have their dry-lot pen foal worthy, so for now they have to go to a different pen.

Beretta as thrilled to get to graze for a little while. She was more interested in grazing than she was worried about what Ruger was doing. But boy, did the mares surrounding them go bonkers when he left. They were all screaming, 'My baby! My baby! Where are you taking my baby'.

Ruger was a little unsure about stepping out into the tall grass...

He walked around very carefully for quite awhile. It's always interesting to me to observe how babies handle new situations. I think it speaks a lot about how they will handle new situations throughout their life (barring handling that would change their natural inclination, of course). Ruger handled it about as well as you could ever hope a youngster would. He was quiet and observant. He didn't start ripping and tearing around until he had taken in the entire situation.

Once he was comfortable though, he let loose...


After a quite a few laps around, he decided to settle in next to momma and check out this green stuff she was so interested in...

That wasn't all that interesting to him yet. A few nibbles and he decided it would be more fun to track The Red Dog...

Red Dog didn't think the game was nearly as fun as Ruger did, so he vacated the vicinity. That left Ruger no one to play with, but me. LOL.

I love how people-oriented he is. He came by it genetically of course. It's not from 'handling'. Handling only makes a foal gentle. It doesn't necessarily make them 'like' people. But Ruger...He loves peoples. LOL


On a random note...I have been wanting to do a rock wall -type planter around this cottonwood in our yard for a couple of years now, I sorted through the pile of rocks I have gathered and brought a bucket of them down to get started on it...

If nothing else, I have certainly gathered enough rocks to build plenty of rock flower beds. LOL.

3 comments:

Shirley said...

Beretta looks like she is quite content to graze and let baby rip around. It's going to be fun to watch this little one and Flashy grow up- are you keeping both of them?

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Ruger will be offered for sale this fall. I've had some interest in him (and in Flashy), but turns out they were people looking for 'cheap' futurity prospects. They wanted the bloodlines, didn't want to have to pay for them. LOL. I don't know if I will sell Flashy or not. If I do, it won't be until he's 2 or 3 and he will go through the Fulton sale, where he's guaranteed to bring a respectable price.

Crystal said...

Hes such a nice foal, people friendly is nice...makes life easier later.