Down to the wire

The other night I brought Kat out to trim his feet. I was able to get him done and was petting him afterwards when I realized- he needs to be clipped. His bridle path consists of a short mohawk. Yeah it has been a while.

Looking at the photos from the last show, a lot of the horses there had their ears done as well. Thankfully if I do go that route, he enjoys it and there is no sedation necessary. The only way he makes it tough to do- he likes it so much he leans into the clippers and puts his head down. He is a pony so for him to put his head down, well, it makes it hard to see inside the ear and what you are doing. Sorta like a tall horse sticking their head up in the air like a giraffe.

Thankfully I can get him done tonight or tomorrow night. A quick buzz over his head, muzzle, bridle path, eye whiskers, ears and he will be good to go. I will try to get pic's and put them up of at least the before and after. Hopefully I can get some of him 'in the process'. He may be willing to go that route since the little clown does like the attention.

I have worked on horses who were difficult when it comes to having their ears clipped. Sedation in many cases is all it takes, but some of them still fight it for all they are worth. Standing on a bucket trying to reach and clip the ears of an uncooperative, sedated horse can be quite the experience. You learn to work fast and rely on feeling for when the horse has about had enough. You learn how to 'read' the horse without looking at them. A good ground person is a blessing. Having an unspoken, all knowing connection with them- priceless. For those who have been there, you know what I mean.

I also need to get our entry forms filled out. The online file wasn't working for me, but I did print them out. I like to have the forms filled out so that when I get there, I can head up to the window, hand them everything, write the check and walk away. It speeds everything up, allowing me more time to get the horse unloaded, get him lunged to take the edge off, change clothes if needed, pin my number on and be waiting at the gate when the class is called.

Since we are only showing in hand this time, I haven't had to do much with my pony as far as schooling him for it. He has been to shows before and knows the routine, which is kind of nice and makes things easy on me. For anyone who is just getting into the swing of things though, working with your horse is the only way you will get there. Don't expect your horse to just know it and don't expect them to learn it in one lesson.

Holly Cow!

That's right, Holly is a Cow. Holly for Holly the Holstein, not like Holy Cow, but the other morning when I said "Say hi to Holly cow." I figured it out and started to snicker.

She is incredibly sweet though and has settled in enough to stop charging the fence at people. Maybe it's because they bring food and treats. Like apples, carrots and handfuls of grass.

The other night as I walked away she had her head through the fence and was Mooing at me. "Come back and bring more goodies, Okay?"

She had let out one single Moo when they dropped her off. The guy said that was the first and only time he had ever heard her do that. She does it a lot here and talks to us at feeding time every morning and night.

Her suitor next door is an Angus. The neighbors have a few steers, the bull and a couple of heifers. She will stand out since she will be the only one with spots. One of their heifers is a Jersey or Guernsey cow, the brown ones for those not familiar with cattle breeds. I wanted a Jersey or Guernsey, but for now I have a Holstein and she's perfect. Things don't always work out like you plan and sometimes it is for the best.

Links with more information from Holstein Association USA and Oklahoma State University

What have we become?

I am proud to say our herd has recently grown again. Wednesday night we received in our newest member. She is young and beautiful with a bright and productive future ahead of her. We plan to go the route of the Krazy Kolor breeders with this one! Ran and jumped off the cliff head first if you will.

I found an ad on Craigslist, went and had a look and bought her on the spot for the most part. The price was right and this is one that sure won't be headed down the wrong road on the ill fated truck. Her owners had been thinking to take her to the auction, just never got around to it. A bit too soft hearted to follow through on that idea. Momma is expecting so what more reason is there? At least for some people... but her owners are just not those kind of people. The ad actually wasn't even about her. Some of her younger herd mates actually. A bunch that had recently been weaned.

I was the one that went to look at her and although I couldn't get very close to the girl or get a good look at her conformation, I could tell she is nicely built and has some promise. Her byoootiful, loud, black and white tobiano markings must have been what did it. She may not have papers, but one look told me she comes from a long line of black and white tobianos, so she's sure to produce more... Researching her breed a little, they originated in Europe and major development of the breed came from an area which has become the Netherlands. More specifically the two areas of North Holland and Friesland. She should mature to around 15.1 in height.

We have already found her a nice, solid black stud to breed her too. He is, quite literally- 'the boy next door'. We are sure to get a nice cross from these two.

She loaded up just fine. Hopped right in the trailer. Surprisingly for being such a 'wild one'. Traveled nice and quiet for her second trailer ride ever. Unloading was a bit of an interesting thing though. She had traveled loose and there were straps across the top of the back of the two horse trailer (where the storm doors would go) to keep her from jumping out. Which she tried to do when the trailer was backed up to the stall gate. Did I mention she was a bit wild? Not exactly 'halter broke', this one.

She was SCRAMBLING! around inside as the trailer backed up and when it stopped- she really went berserk in there. She tried to literally climb over the back doors to get out. Almost made it a couple of times too. Had the front half of her body under the straps and over the door. She was determined to get out! The right side door was opened and she got herself back inside the trailer. When she figured out the door was open, she came charging out of there! Shot into the stall and tried a few times to go through the bars. Once she figured out she couldn't do that, she looked at us and charged the fence where we were standing. Yeah, that was fun... Not! Everyone took a step or two back and we all decided if she wanted to ram the 3" schedule 40 steel fence- that was her idea and she probably wouldn't do that too many times.

The seller said he had never seen her try to pull anything like that before. Almost sorry he agreed to have sold us such a wild two year old. I assured him it was no problem and if we felt we couldn't have handled it, we wouldn't have bought her to begin with. We got to talking about things and it turns out, we know a lot of the same people in town. It truly is a small world.

As we talked she settled in and started to relax. The rest of our horses were a bit excited to see the new face and soon they settled down and went back to eating too. A fresh tub of water, a nice pile of hay for dinner and she was good to go. Still leery of being touched, but no longer panicked and frantic. She even laid down to sleep last night. Poor girl was tuckered out.

I did manage to get a couple of pics of her though... and I will get more to post since my cell phone and the computer don't seem to be cooperating. Seems they don't want to speak to each other in the same language. Gotta love technology.