Breaking Steel

First off to clarify, Steel is a horse. A two year old Appaloosa colt to be exact. This post is not about welding, iron works or anything like that. However I did like the play-on words.

Al recommend we break and sell Steel soon so I figured I'd better get to work. At two, it's legal to train horses to ride, especially if you're a light weight rider and don't do anything to over-stress the joints. Steel seems pretty agreeable so I didn't think I'd have much trouble.

After two times lounging him he already learned to walk-trot and stop when I ask. He doesn't get spooked easily and when I lounged him with a saddle he did not react to it, which is awesome. Sometimes you'll get a nice set of crowhops out of a greenie with  a first saddle!

After our most recent lesson yesterday of lounging I took Steel back to the barn, tied him in the tie stall and proceeded to put weight on his back. He didn't mind when I bellied him so next I swung my leg over. I sat on him for about 5-10 minutes just petting and talking to him. His biggest aggravation was stomping at flies. Didn't mind me one bit.

I really enjoy working with young stock because you never know what they'll do. It's also rewarding to ride that horse or watch someone else ride and know that he learned all that because of you. Breaking a horse not only makes them employable and easier to find homes but, I also think they like having a job to do.

More updates and Steel photos to follow as his training progresses. Next is ground driving.

Steel is a 2010 homebred colt out of Doka Doll Fleet by Plaudits Black Ace

http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/steelntheshow

Pony Hunting (not with weapons)

My last entry spoke of a desire to get the kids a pony. You know, something smaller to the ground, hundreds of pounds lighter and something less intimidating for them to learn to ride on? Well last week turned into an all out, full-scale pony hunt!

It started when Al decided to sell his mare Lady. We hadn't time to ride her and she would be of better use to someone else. That left room offically for a pony! So I started searching online for the perfect one. In my Googles I came across several prospects. A pair of mini geldings Smoky and Goliath, a pair of young Shetland mares, a pinto Welsh pony mare, and a paint Shetland gelding. But which one to get?

Al suprised me most of all when he suggested getting not one but TWO ponies. "Are you nuts?" I thought. I didn't think he'd want two of the buggars around since he'd like fewer horses around. His reasoning was simple: The kids would fight over one. True I thought. Two it was.

I had emailed and called a few people. Mainly on the two mini geldings but we concluded they'd be awful small. Golaith was 9 hands. The Shetland mares were unbroke. Breaking two would take quite a lot of time and I've already got Deuce & Steel (our appaloosa colts) to work with as priority. The Welsh mare sounded good. Has done leadline was 4, not a bad price but things turned out different.

We went to the horsesale on Saturday to sell Lady and scope out pony prospects. Al rode her in the ring and she went to an older fellow who is fans of her sire, Royal Contender. He wanted her for a broodmare. As for ponies there were about 10-12 there. Six minis, two shetlands, and one larger Morgan type.

The bidding started... We passed up one pony for $400. He was the first to come in the ring. Later on this lovely mini came in, a 4 year old grey/white paint. Said she was "broke to ride and drive" but was led in a halter... hmm....   Well I started bidding and got her for $240. Not bad!

C named her pony Dora :) 40" tall

I told Al all about my bargin and he said "Well there's a differnt story on her. I just talked to her owner and she came straight out of pasture and just had her first bath." That's pretty drastic from "Broke to ride and drive"!!!   Luckily, I'm in no hurry and can do plenty of groundwork with her. Never believe the auctioneer!

Sunday we set up an appointment to look at "Blue" a 4 year old paint Shetland who does leadline. We were to meet his owner in Crosby which was 1/2 way from her house and ours. I sent Al (to suprise the kids) and he brought him home.

Blue and R seemed to get along great! R led him in the barn up and down the aisle. At one point he tripped and dropped the lead. Blue stopped in his tracks, and dropped his head. That's a good pony right there. Turns out he's not 4 either, his teeth show 14. Guess I should remind Al to look in their mouth next time. We are still happy with what we paid for both ponies. The kids like brushing them everyday and with a lot of supervision they can become great little riders.

R's pony 42" tall

I want a pony...

No seriously I do, well not really for me, for the kids. Now I'm not about to trash talk our horses (Skyler or Trigger) but to be honest, they're well... Too big!  Try boosting a 4 year old up onto a nearly 15 hand high horse. Doesn't go well if you haven't got manly upper body strength let me tell ya.

Skyler is doing great leadline with R & C but I think it would be less intimidating for them to start riding on a pony. It's closer to the ground, makes sense to me. I learned to ride on a few great ponies at the lesson stable myself. I later worked my way up to horses. I think my kids should have the same experience.

Only problem: Al. Doesn't want a pony. Granted he wants to raise cattle, not horses anymore. Another mouth to feed wouldn't be good in his eyes. However: Ponies are smaller and eat less. Most are easy keepers and very hardy. I even asked R if he'd be more comfortable on a pony closer to the ground and he said "Yes". What more proof do we need? To a kid a horse must seem giant, even Skyler at 14.3.

I'm currently trying to get a lead on a good pony. We'll have to see what we can come up with here.

This guy would be perfect! 18 year old gelding broke to drive only 10hh.

Skyler at the funshow

Last Saturday was our saddle club's funshow and I decided to pull ol Skyler out of the pasture and give it a try. I hadn't had many chances to ride this spring yet and wasn't quite sure how he'd do. Getting time off when your husband farms and works when you've got 3 small kids is somewhat difficult.

So the weather was in the 50's and there was a chance of rain but mostly it was a nice day. It was great not to have to worry about the kids. My 4 legged kid stayed tied to the trailer and caused me no trouble. As for the show part: He got 2nd in English equitation and pleasure and in the gaming we won $9 in the jackpot classes for barrels, poles and jumping figure 8. Keep in mind there was a small turnout and it was only a funshow.  Even so, it was a nice time off. I bet Skyler wouldn't agree, he had to work!

An extra feather in my cap: I drove the truck & trailer myself. Loaded and unloaded my horse. Skyler was a bit stubborn about loading but I got him. I had everything packed up and was rolling out just when the rain started.

Project for next funshow: our mare Doka Doll Fleet. She's got more of the pleasure horse type build and Al and I think she'd be worth a try in the show pen. If she does well we'd try a WSCA show later in the month of June. -Skyler will be doing leadline with the kids

Next project

I appologize but there are no pictures, my cameraman was babysitting 3 kids and had his hands full. Maybe next time.

Gardening continued...

So Al has been busy preparing the garden for planting. He's been tilling and spreading it with black dirt. Just a few days ago I caught him plowing it under again with the tractor, adding grass for mulch and tilling it again. I must admit I don't have much of a green thumb but, if I were a plant, I'd suppose the ground looks nice.

We have sandy soil and plenty of rock so it seems to take a lot of conditioning. Al had modified an old tiller of his dad's with a new larger engine and is having luck with that. However, it's really large and heavy for me to use, I can't even pull start it.

So, wanting my help in such a large garden, we decided to order a Mantis tiller. We got the 2-cycle with kickstand and fired it up a couple times. The thing has plenty of power. It can really did deep and it's light enough that I can handle it (I'm very petite).

Actually, thanks to the arrival of the Mantis, I dug up a new flower bed in front of the house to try my hand with a few new flowers. The fact that it's a fast and light tiller means I am able to weed the beds and help Al keep up in our expanded garden. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Off to a good start so far.

The plants were started from seed we ordered at Farmers Seed and Nursery. Our last shipment of potatoes and flower bulbs is on the way and we're pleased that we got just about everything we needed for 1/2 the price we'd have to pay at our local greenhouses. *Note about farmers seed- the seeds were ok, but the potatoes we ordered were ROTTEN. Not happy!