Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Got My MoJo Back

I was really starting to wonder if I was ever going to find my motivation this spring. I was really struggling to come out of my winter hibernation and get rolling on all of the usual spring work, not to mention a regular riding schedule. I'm a little behind on the spring work still, but I am finally back to riding 4 head every day. The lucky 4 are; LJ, Shooter, Moon and Frosty.

Moon's breathing remains good and I think that I will be able to take him to a barrel race soon.

I was hoping to have Frosty ready to go to a race this weekend. He's still 'fluffy', but he doesn't seem to be as out of shape, wind wise, as I had feared. Unfortunately, Frosty has a swollen forearm, with a scrape. I suspect someone's hoof connected. He's not lame and I have continued to ride him (which has helped the swelling go down), but it is sore to the touch...So no race for him this weekend. I have since placed Frosty in a bubble-wrapped environment. Last thing I need is him getting injured before he heads to his new home.

Shooter is staying sound (knocked on wood after I typed that!! LOL) and after a couple test rides in the round pen, we are back to working in the arena. I am making it a point of keeping Shooter's time fairly short for now. On one hand I think that leg is going to do what it is going to do regardless of how careful I am with him. On the other hand...I can't help baby him a little bit. I seriously just want to be able to ride the horse this year.

LJ makes me laugh. He's gotten a little chunky and he grunts almost nonstop the whole time I am riding him. It's funny...but it's also kind of annoying. Right now we are just putting around trying to get in a little better shape. I set the barrels up, but am not really working the pattern with him. I figured right now is a good time to work on simply finding the right circle size, where LJ isn't trying to 'work' the barrel and then just work on spirals in and out of the pocket. The last time I worked LJ on barrels, it was really hard to convince him that he DOES need a pocket. Wanting to work a barrel is an extremely natural response in LJ. He needs a lot of convincing yet that going a.r.o.u.n.d. it is what is desired.

I STILL haven't gotten Ruger castrated. I was going to schedule it this week, but...Yep...It's gonna rain again, so I didn't even bother calling the vet. I have been putting the little boys out in the dry lot though. First Flashy went out with Shooter...

That went well, but Flashy was kind of wanting to play and Shooter isn't much of a player. So then I put Ruger out with them. It was going well, until Ruger decided to jump on Shooter. That did not set well with Shooter. He got his mad on and although he didn't chase Ruger willy-nilly, he did keep both boys pinned in the corner. Not that Ruger didn't deserve getting knocked down a notch (LOL), but Shooter took all the fun out of being in a big pen, so I took him out, which made the babies frantic. Oh yea, big tuff boys until they are left all alone in a big space. ;-). So I had to put them up for the day.

The next day, I put Ruger out with The Big Bay...

I will say, he was a lot more respectful when he introduced himself this time. LOL. Once I was sure that was going well, I brought Flashy out to join in the fun. Jet is a lot more playful than Shooter is and the babies enjoyed spending the day with him. Guess who the new baby-sitter is? ;-).


I want to start leaving the boys out in the dry lot full time, but have been building them up to it. Right now, they are both very glad to get back to their individual pens so they can (will) lay down and rest at night. 

Now that the kiddos are settled into a good routine, it is time to start bringing Sassy up at night. According to her breeding date, it's only 3 weeks til she is due, which means she could foal any time. I don't think she is quite ready, but as far as I can tell from everyone else's postings, the mares are foaling a week early to right on their due date. No one seems to be going over their due dates by any significant number of days, so I need to be johnny-on-the-spot this year.


4 comments:

Shirley said...

Ruger looks great.... must be a reason he isn't gelded yet! Sure you don't need a stud around?
Pretty excited to see Sassy's foal!

Crystal said...

Wow Jet doesn't look that much bigger than the boys!
Sassy's looking pretty round. A friend of mine just foaled 3 weeks late, but its an arab so not sure if that makes a difference?

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Boys will be silly wont they.I doubt it is doing him any harm leaving the "landing gear" in place a while longer, after all you cant put them back lol .Exciting about Sassy, can't wait to see what you get!

cdncowgirl said...

Oh Shooter... he's such a dream boat :)

You're not the only one finding it tough to get back in the groove. I worked Lefta on barrels the other night, lightly because she hasn't been rode a lot this winter, and the next day I woke up with my muscles reminding me so much time off wasn't good for me either lol