9:15 a.m. farrier arrives, thirty minutes early, but okay I get dressed and we roll with it. First up, my new blue roan stallion Cowpoke. Went in, slid the halter right on him, led him out. He is a dream boat. He stood mostly still for the whole thing. I had to shake him only once. After love and kisses he went back into stall.
Next up we decided to tackle the four stud colts at the far end of the property. They are all an average of 6-7 months and this was their first farrier visit. We started with my husband's pride and joy Strut. He acted like a fool for a few minutes, but then he settled down and we did him pretty easily. Rodney had been working with him picking up his feet, tapping his hooves etc. That really paid off. Then were up for my three boys. Of course, I haven't done much with them because of time and forty million other excuses. They were easy to catch and we began to work on Taz. Taz is my buckskin paint colt that sometimes has an attitude, but is easily reprimanded. He tried to act up, but quickly surrendered and did fine. Next up, little Buster. He is the most docile of the three so I thought he would be a piece of cake. I was wrong! He rared and bucked and charged; we finally had to put the stud chain on this little fellow and really work with him to get him done, but he got done. Finally there is my beautiful Pepper. He is always a lover, but he is the biggest of the four and the youngest. He wasn't real crazy about somebody picking up his feet and holding on to them, but after a little light wrestling we got him done. Innocent looking aren't they.
Whew, maybe the worst is over. We then went to the two fillies Princess and Dolly. Dolly has been handled a lot because we thought about showing her. My trainer, Elizabeth worked with her about 45 days so she was pretty easy. Then there was Princess..... I hadn't spent a lot of time handling her because I love the boys. She is her mother's daughter (my favorite mare) in that she is fearless and spunky. She was some heavy duty wrestling in the mud, but eventually she got a pedicure as well. Look at those sweet little dears.
So I am thinking thank heavens the last three are easy because I am an old lady and this is killing me! We walked up to the 2 year old stud colt pen. These are my babies, my pride and joy. I went out and caught Cash and led him down to the gate, but my farrier decided to do him there in the field. So I led him back up the hill to a nice dry spot. He was happy wherever I wanted him to go. The second I handed the lead line to my farrier Cash went nuts! Literally, He rared up, almost fell over backwards and took off across the field right through the fence into the pregnant mares pen. Then my youngest in the field Moon decided if Cash was in there he should be too. He ripped through the last part of the fence that was still standing. Thankfully, my electric wire is thin and has been repaired many many times so they weren't cut or hurt.
Now we have two young colts, 5 pregnant mares and a gelding running like wild horses around in a field where there is only half a fence. Can you say chaos? I am in the field trying frantically to repair the fence when I realize that the horses are headed straight for the wire laying on the ground and I am holding on to that wire worse it is around my feet. Oh no, I am dead. I felt the wire cutting my fingers so with some grain of sanity I left it go. Then I thought about my feet so I am out there trying to stay ahead of the tightening wire that is coming fast, lifting my feet and thinking I am going to get my legs cut off when for some reason they stopped.
There are times when I know God is there and is watching over fools and blind people. I am no blind. I got Cash and got him back in his pen. Moon of course would have no part of that because he was quite happy where he was. I decided to let him stay in there for awhile. The mares would take care of his little busy butt. They did. It wasn't long before he was begging to get back in his pen. I let him stay for awhile longer so he could truly enjoy the "greener grass on that side of the fence"
In the meantime, my farrier goes and does the last two horses which are two minis who are super easy and he is ready to go. So, I stop mending the fence, pay him and away he drives leaving me with this somewhat disaster of "jerry rigged" fences. Do I really want to own a ranch?
I had just sat down to have a Pepsi because it has been two hours of hell and I am exhausted.About that time my best friend April rolls up with the new horses and the fun is about to begin again.
I had purchased a blue roan paint colt that is absolutely beautiful. But, he wasn't halter broke and hadn't been touched. Under normal circumstances I would have tamed him in no time, but my job has been incredibly hectic and between that and being sick for 5 weeks I just hadn't had any time to mess with him. So April wanted him and I knew she had time to get him broke.
So we began with him. We decided to take a round pen panel, get him hemmed up in the stall and let him know we weren't going to hurt him, get him used to being touched and possibly get a halter on him. Sounds good right. Well Lucky decided that was all good until we touched him. It scared him and he spun around in that tight hole, stood on his hind feet, climbed up the wall of the stall to the opening and crashed through the boards to freedom. "Well I didn't expect that" was all I could say.
We took round pen panels and made a semi circle, herded him back into that and he ran right back into his corral so we thought okay thats good. We proceeded to bring two more round pen panels into the corral to put him in a triangle. Once again, he was way ahead of us. He jumped the corral tearing down part of the boards and was free again. Now he was cocky about it.
We got the round pen panels back together and rounded him up and drove him back into the round pen. Well by then we are all about to drop and starving so we broke for lunch. It is always good to let your enemy rest up for round two.
We get back from lunch make the round pen smaller and smaller until we have him in a triangle. April takes the lead line and tries to desensitize him with it. Of course, this isn't working too good and the day is slipping away. Finally, we decide to get him into a smaller and smaller section until we can give him a shot of Ace and relax him some. This is a bold decision since he not only kicks like lightning he bites. Once again, April remained calm and level headed. She got him used to her touching him a little bit and rubbing his neck. We had the lasso around him so we could control him if need be. Eventually, we got the shot in him and he started to relax. April worked with him talking softly to him, scratching and rubbing him and got the halter on him with the leadline. We still had the lasso on him as well. So we decided to try leading him to the trailer.
Even with the drugs he still had a little fight in him so he kicked and bucked part of the way up the hill, but when he figured it didn't help him get away he gave up and just walked up the drive. Now we are to the trailer. He wasn't sure he wanted to get in this thing. It took about another hour of wrestling, but with April's kindness and experience we got him on there.
Time to load the next one. He had been loaded a few times so this would go smoothly, however, Moon the little troublemaker in the mare's pen saw his brother leaving and he ran through the wire once again tearing down the only part that hadn't already been broken. The pregnant mares all came running to the foreground to see what was up and miraculously decided not to get out of their pen. They looked at me, turned around and went back to their hay bale. Thank you God.
Now Moon is out running around meeting all the other horses. We decide to lead Shooter back into Moon's pen and maybe Moon would follow. He did. Finally, he was back home and I think he was relieved to be. Shooter loaded on the trailer with ease as did Domino and April was set. Well you would think the day was finished but no.
I completely forgot I had invited Rima and Billy up for dinner and due to a computer error I never got their RSVP so they drove up and I obviously wasn't expecting company. I was glad they came and they helped me repair the fences that were down and it was good to see them. I didn't really have any ideas for dinner so we went out to eat. They insisted on picking up the tab for me which was very very kind considering I was half dead by now. We picked up Rodney something from the drive through and went home. It was a nice visit and good to catch up on everyone's ranch news. Finally it was bed time. I feel like a real cow girl or no maybe a really old woman. Either way I survived!
The light at the end of this tunnel.
This is Designated Tye Dye my new APHA stallion. He is homozygous.
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