Overdue

This post is so overdue! I wanted to keep up with this better, but I am doing good to keep my head screwed on these days!



All horses in training have left with happy owners and I am currently not accepting any new clients. The wedding is a little over two months away and I need to NOT break my leg/arm/head before our honeymoon!



I am happily, however, reconditioning Jazzy to run in possibly some winter races, and definitely everything beginning next spring! Getting on Jazz is like riding a fresh horse, no matter how out of shape or how long its been. She is always ready to go, and always remembers her training! Oh how I wish all horses were this way, but she is a true gem!



Bitsy, Jazz's 2 month old filly is shedding off to be a very dark chesnut, at least on her face and neck. I am still hoping to find some white hairs on her body somewhere! Sadly however, since we may be moving for a new job opportunity, she is being offered for sale at $500.

Foxy is coming along nicely alread at 14hh and only 16 months old! She is being offered for sale as well, tentatively, however, we will probably keep this filly. I hope to start her saddle training at 18 months! She is currently offered at $800

Haven't had the chance to get a saddle back on Hannah, as we were too busy with horses in training. Hopefully after the wedding we will have time to put in a solid 30 days on her! She is too atheletic not to ride even if its just for pleasure. We do plan to breed her in February!

Well that's about all I've got right now. If we stay where we are I've got some good broodmare prospects picked out, pending the sale of Bitsy. If we go, it will probably be with only 3 horses, but we can always buy more later! Hopefully with a better job things will progress more smoothly!

Good things are yet to come, and I hope to have good news to share in the coming months!

Happy Trails friends!

The weekend that went on forever!

Had a GREAT weekend in Bastrop for Memorial Day! Visited good friends, helped out with a sick foal, and saw a great horse show and Waco! It seems like my weekend took a while to end though! It still feels like the weekend! I guess thats what happens when you get a Monday off!

Met some great people in Waco from DR Show Horses! (www.drshowhorses.com) Great trainers and just good people! Hope to be showing with my friend Amy soon at IBHA and open shows with her buckskin and my little dun, Foxy. Should be great fun to show them in halter and lungeline!

Bebe is quite possibly the laziest little mare I've ridden in a while! She seems full of pep, but she prefers to amble where ever she roams! We trot and lope every where we go as a result! She has such nice bend and gives so easy to the bit, she almost trains herself!

We have another gelding arriving for training tomorrow afternoon. I met the owner today, she seems like a great lady! Can't wait to start riding her horse tomorrow!

I also booked a spot June 26 for a Tennessee Walker named Black Sabbath.

Other unbooked prospects include two halter stallions, and a filly.

As far as our horses go, only two more weeks until Jazzy is back in training, and I have her and Lil Bit turned out in the pasture enjoying some grass! Hannah was started on saddle training yesterday and she did all she could to buck that saddle off, but she gradually got used to it being strapped to her back! Hopefully she will come along nicely as we move forward! She is a beautiful horse and very quick and athletic. We are actually using her in our engagement photos in a few weeks!

Brandon will be putting Rowdy in spring training again as soon as he gets a break from work. We put Lucky's information into the hands of some reputable App breeders with the help of a DR Show Horses contact! Hopefully she will sell and be ridden, shown, and appreciated!

Thats all for now, things are really picking up around here though! We'll keep y'all posted!

Home at last!

Hannah is home at last! Brandon had a nice uneventful trip to Gilmer and back with the pretty Hannah in tow on the ride home! We have decided not to breed any mares this year, as we would like to breed them early in 2010 for February or January babies! Possibly breeding to running bred lines, depending on the market. May even breed Miss Hannah to a paint if thats what is selling hot!

Lil Bit (Cinnamon) is growing like a weed and doing well with her early training. She is a little pistol! We are working on accepting the halter and lifting her feet. She is so funny! Sometimes when you try to lift a hoof she stretches her leg out stiff and straight! I have never had a colt do that! Most just pin their ears and kick at first! She's a smart one! She is picking them up much better now though. She's a quick learner!

I plan to start Hannah in her undersaddle training next week so we will see how that goes. Her previous owner informed me that she was started undersaddle as a two year old with about 10 rides at the most. Hopefully she will remember some of her original training so this will flow a little easier!

Bebe has proven to be a real joy to have around! She doesn't try to run to the herd, or even get distracted by them when we are out in the pasture. She is a little lazy sometimes, and initially a bit jumpy but we are working her out of that!

I think thats about all for now! Other than I cannot wait til next month when I can start riding Jazzy again!

Happy Trails!

Training Days

Many many many of these ahead of me! I am riding for Cloud 9 Walkers again on the side, so I will be enjoying many smooth rides in the coming months! We also have a great little Dash For Cash mare in for training! Her name is Bebe.

We had our first workout last night and she is a quick learner! I rode her again this morning and she is very responsive and very quick. She learns so fast! With very little work she is getting light in the mouth and flexing a bit at the poll. I am proud to have such a nice agreeable 3 year old to work with!

Also started Little Bits training this week. We are working on taking the halter off and on. She is a little skittish of course, but pretty trusting since we have spent a lot of time with her from birth! She is doing very well and accepts our invasion of her play time in stride!

The weekend is over again!

But that's ok!

First of all little Cin is doing great! I call her little bit more than anything lol. We decided to name her Cinnamon aka Cin for her barn name and Docs Red Hot for her registered name! That is if she doesn't change color on us! I am wondering if she is going to shed off to palomino! Her sire is a dark gold palomino, her dam is a bay. She is a pistol, thats for sure!

We got a new horse in training over the weekend. A stout little mare out of Dash for Cash lines. Today will be our first ride! Wish me luck! lol. Shouldn't be a problem though, since I got lucky....she's already greenbroke with no pitch!

Wednesday Brandon will be trekking to Gilmer to pic up Hannah and bring her home. I was solid on breeding both her and Jazz this year, but now I am not so sure. I would very much like to ride them this year. At least Jazz! I have been without a horse for too long! First Jazz was injured, then bred, so I am ready to have my horse back!

In 4-6 weeks Jazzy will go back into training to slowly get her back in competitive shape. The foaling took a lot out of her so we are going to take it slow and easy. I think this is the first time I have ever seen her ribs! She's normally an easy easy keeper! So we have her on a pretty intense feeding schedule!

Morning: 2 sc 12/8 Superhorse
Noon: 2 sc 12/8 Super horse + Probiotics + ShowGlo
Night: 2 sc 12/8 Super horse + 1 half sc of Rice Meal

Several flakes of hay at each feeding.

And thus far she is cleaning it up at every feeding! She is making tons of milk though, which is great, now just to get the weight back on her. We may try adding some alfalfa cubes somewhere in that schedule.

Foxy is looking great on just pasture right now with minimal grain. She should do well when we decide to show her. Her horrible haircut has finally grown out and she looks as lovely as when we bought her. She is a beautiful shade of red dun, almost pink in the shade. Her mane and tail are heavily frosted with her light coat color.

Lucky has been doing very well, however has proven to me that she would prefer to be a pleasure/horsemanship horse, at the most a reining horse in a pinch. So we are going with that. Trying to get speed out of her is like fighting a hurricane.

Rowdy hasn't gone undersaddle since early spring, but we were watching him move around and he really moves a lot like his half sister. (Lucky) His back is extremely flat and he naturally lines his neck in that same line. His knees stay very flat as well. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. I knew he was atheletic, but I would have never placed his grouchy, bad attitude having, self as a pleasure or horsemanship prospect. I need to ride him more and get him going better. As many outside horses as I have turned out the past year and some years before, there is no excuse for him being so utterly unfinished.

Happy Trails Everyone!

Its a FILLY!

Jazzy foaled a chesnut (bay??) filly today just before 6am. We found the baby wet, still on the ground at around 5:45am, dried her off and helped her get her first nursing! She is nursing like and champ and mom and baby are just fine so far! We will have a vet out to check them tomorrow afternoon! Better safe than sorry right?

By the way, the filly is absolutely spotless at this point! She has a white star on her forehead, and may have some socks. But no app coat as of now. Perhaps that will change though as she sheds her baby coat! Looks to have sclera, mottling and possibly striped hooves though! So hopefully she will be a charecteristic appaloosa!

No name just yet, we are thinking on it though!

Happy Trails!

Happy Monday!

Its Monday again, definitely not my favorite day of the week! I drug myself out Saturday afternoon and finally started Lucky's retraining. My goal for the week is to get at least one long sprint out of her everytime I ride her! So far so good! She did very well on the first try, shifting up at least 2 gears as far as speed goes! The speed is in there, we just have to bring it out! She turns great and is trotting the barrel pattern with little to no effort. So I am optimistic. At the least she will be a nice mount for my niece to run drills and playdays on!

Jazzy has shown some progress in her milk today! I went and found her in the pasture this morning, thinking I might find a foal [she was hard to find]. When I brought her in I was checking her milk and found that there are finally some color changes happening! Her milk was a yellowish color today rather than the clear it has been. We have decided her due date is the 13th of May, according to our breeders date. [we had three different dates written down] There is a full moon this Saturday, the 9th, so we look to be counting down to foaling pretty quickly! I am ready to see this one, and though I don't really care what it is or looks like, just that it is healthy, I have to say, I am hoping for a filly out of my favorite mare! Her last colt was so sweet and trainable! We didn't geld him, and when I delivered him to the buyer, keep in mind it was a brand new place for him, I rode him bareback with a halter, all over his yard and down his driveway! He was a good boy! And mares in the bordering pastures! I hope this one is as easy to work with!

Happy Trails friends!

Nervous...

I am getting more nervous about Jazz foaling everyday. I've had mares to foal out in the past and I know that most foalings go off without a hitch, but there have been some serious horror stories going on this year. I am worried a bit about losing my favorite mare! After all we have been together for nearly a decade! She's more of a friend than a horse at times! Horse people will understand what I am mean by that ! =) I'm sure she will be fine though!

Her belly is getting very flat sided and pointing more down at the ground. Her bag gets very big every morning and night and fluctuates some during the day. We are checking her about three times a day, sometimes more if I have those "funny feelings". Haha. She is pacing circles in her stall a lot of the time. Her under tail area [I will keep in PG for those squeemish folks] is lengthening a lot and hangs open a bit most of the time. I have been checking her milk for color changes and it remains stubbornly clear =) She is not your average mare! I am thinking she is due the first half of this month so we should see something soon.

We are hoping for a filly no matter the color, but a buckskin would be nice :) She is bred to a dark palomino stallion. Wish us luck!

Breeding Season 2010

I know its early, but I like to plan ahead! [And pay ahead for that matter!] So here are some of the stallions I am looking at for next breeding season

For running bred stallions:
Zippy Zevi Dasher
http://www.synergystables.com/zippy_zevi_dasher.html

Infamous Fire
http://www.synergystables.com/infamous_fire.html

Time for A God
http://c3speedhorses.com/stallion

For foundation:
Docs Illumination
http://www.caneycreekquarterhorses.com/docsillumination.htm

Sanjos Top Gun
http://www.lazyjcc.com/stallions.htm

Little Freckles Cat
http://www.simpsonqtrhorses.com/littlefrecklescat.htm

For halter/ show:
Caspers Advantage
http://www.bcr.julou.us/studservices%20.htm

Invest in Rodeo
http://www.equinecolorspecialties.com/

CD Of A Playboy
http://www.simpsonqtrhorses.com/cdofaplayboy.htmAgain comments are welcome!

Updates!

First and foremost, after much discussion we have decided not to show Foxy until late summer and fall. There are a couple local futurities we will point her at then. Truthfully? With no help...we botched her little "haircut" and she hasn't shed it off yet! Not funny, but it is...you know?

Next, our only foal this season is soon to arrive! Jazz is getting bigger by the day and she is bagging up! She stays off by herself, and wants to be in the barn all the time! We are simply putting her in the roundpen on nice nights, if it rains we bring her into a stall. She is eating 3X a day currently. As she starts to show more progress we will put her in the barn on watch! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival! The suspense is killing us!

Good news! We are getting a new mare! Thank you Jennifer Wiggins for the opportunity to own this beautiful mare! Miss Smokeys Star is a well bred, big bodied mare that puts her big build on her foals. She is a great color producer as well, foaling out duns, palominos, etc. We are going to wait and breed both her and Jazz in February 2010.

That's pretty much all the news around here currently! We are accepting clients currently and look forward to making new connections in the horse world! Please feel free to leave comments!

Thanks!

Ginny

Rethinking this...

Foxy's New Ration:

2 scoops 12/8 Super Horse - 2oz Sho-Glo - 1/2 scoop Rice Meal

2x daily

We are looking at adding alfalfa cubes to her ration at night.

Outside horses:

1 scoop each 12/8 Super Horse

And Jazzy's foal is due this time next month so she will be moving indoors to wait for foaling! Her new ration will be:

1 scoop 12/8 Super Horse - 1/4 scoop Rice Meal - 1 oz Sho-Glo

This foal is going to be born in a stall darn it! I say that because her last foal was born under the fence and into the neighbors pasture! We ended up spending $800 at the vet b/c the mare panicked and stood up too soon. Long story short she did not pass all the after birth and retained some. Not good stuff. We almost lost her!

Wish us luck!

Foxy

Finally got the filly clipped....well....mostly! All I lack is the second pass with a finer blade, her legs, and her head! And we will be fully clipped and ready to go! She is looking really good though. Our show is March 28, so we have a little over a month to get ready! She is working good and we are increasing her ration as follows:


7am - 2 scoops 12/8 Superhorse + half scoop of rice bran
12pm - 1 scoop 12/8 Superhorse
5pm - 2 scoops 12/8 Superhorse + half scoop of rice bran

We are adding one half-meal to her feedings to build some more weight.

Her work out currently consists of:

1st day:
Roundpen
5 minutes of trotting in each direction.
2 minutes of loping in each direction.
5-10 minutes of work on stance and showmanship.


2nd day:
Lungeline
5 minutes of longwalking.
5 minutes of jogging each direction.
5 minutes of work on stance and showmanship.


We alternate day one and day two throughout the week so that she works really hard one day, and has the chance to recoup the second day.

As far as grooming goes and care, we are using the following routine:

Before work:
Curry head to tail.
Hard brush, soft brush.
Wrap legs.
Apply neck sweat.


After work:
Unwrap legs.
Rub dry. (if necessary)
Curry head to tail.
Soft brush.
Cowboy Magic on mane and tail.
Comb out mane and tail.
Condition tail and bag.
Remove neck sweat and rub dry.
Soft brush over body once more.
Spray with coat polish.
Blanket or sheets as needed.

I will post pictures as we go so you can see how she is progressing! She is looking good now, but needs to pick up a few pounds I think! Wish us luck !

Happy Trails!

Just a quickie...

Well it is amazing the difference it will make in clipping a horse if you are using the wrong blade! Well now that we have the correct blade on the shears...they cut through her coat like butter! She is going to look fantastic! Our first show is March 28th! Wish us luck!

Waiting for spring....

I am so tired of this dreary, nasty weather! We are all just wishing for spring! New year's resolution:
1. Worry a little less!
2. Update the website and blog regularly!
3. Keep in touch with contacts!



Should be clipping the filly sometime the end of this month! We'll see how that goes...We are going to clip one of the other horses first to see how it goes! Hilarious right? We've never body clipped before though, so it will be an adventure! We are pouring the feed to her now and she is getting worked regular again. ( gave her a bit of time off here lately) She is such a dream to work with anyway.

We are also looking to lease some mares possibly. Free lease that is, if we can find it. Putting out money other than on feed right now is just not an option. I am looking for mares with foundation type breeding and a good solid build.

And last but not least I have opened the books for spring! We had to take some time off lately because it has just been too wet to really do anything. Nothing wrong with that! Gave us some time to spend with family and friends during the holidays! Now its back to work! We are going to bust our tails this year to beat last year!