Shari’s Gone Country

After taking time yesterday to “recover” from a very late night, it’s now Friday… and it looks like we’ll be working on “indoor” projects most of the weekend. The weather forecast is calling for high winds today and tomorrow, with thunderstorms on Sunday. Can you tell our season is changing?

Yesterday, I took the time to modify the chicken nest boxes a bit… just like in marketing, gotta find a need and fill it. In this case… I’m asking the pullets what they want for their nest boxes. I thought a nice fluffy warm sheep’s wool lining would be comfy. Cindy says they’re using shredded paper out at the farm and those girls love it.

Well, this batch of hay we’re using to feed the sheep is really ratty… It has rye heads and alfalfa roots, as well as pretty good-sized stems. They’re really wasting a lot of it. Since straw isn’t something readily available, I’m trying this hay in one box.

Wouldn’t ya know it… so far the first and only egg to land in a nest box, has landed in the one with the hay.

Oh, we’ve also added a couple of antique glass eggs to give them the idea.

Wednesday afternoon, when we returned from the Senior Center, Bev noticed Dakota, our yearling wasn’t in her usual pen. It looked like she was in one of the new stalls.

Closer inspection revealed she was actually standing in the back walkway area where we’ll be feeding from… not a place for horses.

Now, the big question… How the hell did she get out of her securely closed pen? It’s only 16×16x12×14 feet, so she didn’t have room to run around and then leap over the standard height horse railing.

There’s no sign she went under the fence either as it’s only 15 inches distance. Also, the panels hadn’t been moved around… What a mystery!

We’re pretty sure she’ll do well with Dusty now, as she was standing nose-to-nose with him for some time. She left more than enough evidence of time spent in our walkway.

The horse stable is taking shape. This weekend, we used virtually all the lumber we had left. Got the rest of the north and east walls up, as well as a “sag beam”. That will allow the 12 foot span to have a resting point at about 8 1/2 foot.

It’ll be after the first of the month before we can buy the joists… 13 2×6x12 footers and a truck load of 8 foot 2×4s for the cross pieces. Then we’ll have our work cut out for us! We’re covering with both “obs” plywood and roof tin.

While we were working on the stable, I heard a car coming east on the road bordering our south property line. I quickly determined things didn’t sound quite right. My eyes confirmed what I heard as I saw an older Saturn approaching at a high rate of speed (close to 60 mph) and begin fish-tailing.

Within just a second, it had slid off the shoulder and rolled over sideways, then end over end three more times.

As it was airborne, I was hollering for Bev to head for the house and call 911. Cindy and I immediately jumped into our truck and headed for the accident scene about 1/2 mile away. Imagine our surprise to find the driver, a teenage girl scrambling out of the upside down car and very quickly running up onto the road.

We quickly checked her over. She was begging us to take her home… down the road about a mile to tell her folks what had happened. After a quick chat, we agreed, Cindy would run her home. I would stay at the scene.

About that time, Bev was trying to find out if we needed an ambulance… well that got canceled when the kid left the scene. Our neighbors all showed up within minutes, as did Cindy, the young girl and her parents.

Almost an hour later (told you we live in the middle of nowhere) the sheriffs got there to do their investigation. Mom took the young gal into the hospital, some 40 miles away, promising to let us know how she was when they got back home.

Poor kid, she totaled Mom’s car, is getting a citation at least for speeding (almost 60 in a 40 mph zone), and also slightly separated her shoulder. That was a seat belt injury. Thankfully she was wearing it. She’s also bruised and had a few small cuts and abrasions, and probably hurt like the dickens today.

Oh, we did get the horse stable finished as far as we can before getting chased into the house by the ever-present afternoon thunderstorms.

Today (Sunday) we re-located the chicken’s nest boxes to the outside of the coop. With a nice slanted lid, Mom can reach in to get the eggs. Also, the chickens have a lot more room to play in the pine chips.

No more eggs today, as we really upset their routine… In and out, banging on stuff, running the saws and drills.

Our girls have cushy digs… their nest boxes are lined with sheep wool that has been saved from skirting several fleeces. Our Merino/Suffolk cross sheep really do triple duty.

We gave them a special ramp to get from the roost to their boxes. While they’ve had lots of parades, we’ve yet to see anyone go into the nest boxes. I was able to pick up a couple of hens and place them into the boxes, so we know they’ll fit ok… they weren’t ready to stay, though.

Or is that Shari starts her training to train Dakota.

It’s important I get this right. With Dakota being a yearling, she needs to learn respect and grow out of her “pocket pet” attitude.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit losing 80 or so pounds would be good for me. You should see me huff and puff my way around the farm.

Actually, I’m getting better. At least I don’t completely run out of air before I get the daily chores done.

But, working a horse in our round pen, is a lot more work. The ground is very soft sand, and is quite uneven as the horses sink halfway up their hooves. That leaves big divots to navigate… that and the road apples they drop.

Dakota’s first lesson yesterday was to accept the “stick and string”. She’d been trained to voice and whistle. However, I prefer to point, “cluck”, and then hit the ground with the stick and string. That’s the method taught by Clinton Anderson of Downunder Horsemanship.

She did very well, letting me rub her all over with the stick and string. Also, the stick and string extend my reach, effectively moving her out of my face… can you spell “pushy filly”?

Her response to “get going” in that direction was satisfactory, even if I couldn’t keep up with her. She had been used to a smaller round pen, so she kept tightening her circles around me. That’s not acceptable, even though I was glad not to have to jog around a larger circle.

When it came to changing directions, coming to me… let’s just say “operator error”. I’ve got some serious work to do. I’m supposed to step in front of her “drive line”, get her eye, move the stick to my outside (towards the pen rail) hand, point with me free hand (the direction I want her to go) and cluck.

I keep visualizing it… but the body has yet to clearly internalize the entire process.

Time out to watch more video… this time on “gaining respect”.

Whew! Now things can get back to a more leisurely pace. You see, this last holiday weekend, was really one big “work party”.

Thursday afternoon, Bev, Mom and I made a trip into Cedar City for lumber, chicken feed, and a few groceries. By the time we were done… the first paycheck was history. The lumber we bought cost just over $400 and that is about half what we need.

A couple weeks ago, Clyde, another neighbor of ours had come over and spent some “tractor time”. The first day, he leveled the new corral area and we removed the east wall from Dusty’s stable/stall area.

A few days later, he returned with a great big auger (12 inches). So much for Bev and I continuing to dig post holes by hand. The only trick with his big auger on the tractor was that we had to really lean hard on it to get it to dig a hole straight down. Ya’ don’t want no crooked posts when you’re building stuff, ya’ know.

So, now we have all the posts we need, and enough lumber to frame in the roof line (we think).

Michael, the guy Cindy works with at the farm has a lot of construction experience and offered his help for the weekend. Mom offered to feed him, and that sealed the deal.

Bev and Cindy both had to work Friday, and I took time to get as much writing done as possible, as well as install some additional software. Aside from chores, we really didn’t do much outside.

Saturday morning, we did chores at Clyde’s (they had gone out of town and asked if we’d feed). I took care of all the chores here… that’s about an hour’s work now, with the three horses, sheep, and chickens.

We set about backfilling posts. With nearly 20 posts, that was a lot of shovel work, and leveling and plumb bobbing. We had to pull and swap one set of posts for more height, and move a couple other posts so they’d line up straight.

Once Michael was here, we were able to frame most of the roof line. Bev headed for town to get still more lumber… an additional 10 2×6x12 footers. The rest of us worked until we got chased to the house by a thunderstorm/windstorm.

Sunday afternoon was more of the same. Bev and Cindy had things to do in Enterprise in the morning, so I “chored” at Clyde’s as well as here before Michael got here.

We finished the side boards and part of the back wall before once again getting chased in by thunderstorms. It was just one of those weekends for weather.

Monday was a bit more relaxed with chores, and only a little outside work before enjoying dinner with neighbors.

Imagine our surprise when Dixie, our neighbor asked if we’d take Dakota, her yearling paint filly.

We’d known since she put her place up for sale there was an “outside chance” we’d get one of the horses… but we never, ever thought it would be Dakota. This is her very favorite little filly.

I hadn’t gotten here yet when Dakota was born, but Bev and Cindy were at Dixie’s within a few days of her birth.

Her daddy, “Sailor” is a full Quarter Horse paint, and her momma is 1/2 Quarter Horse, 1/4 Saddle Bred, and 1/4 Appaloosa. So that makes Dakota a whole lot more Quarter Horse.

The pictures below start with daddy, and then momma and baby, taken last year in late May.

Yesterday afternoon, Dixie stopped by and asked us to come over later. We hadn’t told Mom, yet, that we’re getting another horse.

At dinner, Mom inquired as to what Dixie wanted with us at her place… Well, let’s just say Mom thinks we’re “babysitting” for a while, a long while.

The plan was to “pony” Dakota off the back of the Avalanche. Cindy would sit on the tailgate and “hold” the lead line. In reality, the lead line would be securely attached to the trailer hitch. The idea was that Dakota would simply walk along behind the truck, all the way to our house.

Yeah, right!

The other horses (all 6 of them, including her momma) made darn sure they let us know what they thought. If I could understand horse… I’ll bet they were giving us the dickens for taking her away.

About 200 yards passed the last fence (where two of the girls were still calling to her), Dakota said “That’s it! I’m not going to follow this stupid truck… I want my momma!”

Well, Cindy and I ended up walking her all the way back to our place. I’m not sure how far that is, maybe 1/2 a mile, since we had to go by way of the road. I know it took us the better part of half an hour, with all the circling around we did.

Once home, we’d already assembled a small corral for her until she can share the round pen with Neche.

Thankfully, once we were on the home stretch, our horses began calling to her, letting her know she’s very welcome and shouldn’t feel lonely here.

If everything goes right, Dakota is my project. I will be the one who continues her ground training and gets her ready to ride. As she’s a yearling, I won’t be riding her for another couple of years. In the mean time, I’ll teach her all she needs to know about respect, manners, and movement. When she’s bigger and stronger, she’ll also learn about weight on her back.

Say hello to Neche, which means “friend” in Objiway.

She arrived yesterday in the late afternoon without any real fanfare. In fact, because we were still working on the sheep pen, we didn’t even have the camera handy.

When asked, she backed and then easily turned around in the horse trailer and walked out just as pretty as could be. They guys who delivered her had been riding her off and on the last couple of days, so she’s getting over her “shyness”.

Since her stall isn’t completed yet, she’ll be spending a few nights in our round pen. Pretty much the same accommodations she’s had for the past 6 weeks or so.

Dusty just knew his “true friend” had arrived. I’ve got to say though, he was quite disappointed that she’s some 40 feet away from him. In a few days, he’ll get closer. Just as soon as we’re sure they’ll get along, we’ll put them together in the round pen, as well as side-by-side in their stalls.

After we all joined her for a “group love” and quick rubbing, it was time to settle in and let each get acquainted.

Since this is really Bev’s horse, she was the first to play the “Parelli game” of let’s get acquainted. To do that, the human approaches to a point where the horse is comfortable (that means doesn’t back up). Then the wait begins.

With your back turned, you wait for the horse to relax by cocking an hind foot. When that occurs, you back closer to the horse, just a little at a time. At any time the horse moves back, then you move away and start over.

After about 20 minutes, Bev was able to turn and approach Neche, and within just a few minutes she was able to take control, holding the halter and petting all over.

Cindy repeated the process and took things one step further by attaching a lead rope and asking Neche to follow… no real problems, and it took much less time.

I was last to go, and as you can see, I too, had to start a way’s away with her.

I added her lead rope and walked her around the pen, even asking her to change directions.

Once she gets to know us all a little better, we’ll begin working on her “ground training”. We all agree that while she’s saddle broke, and quite ridable, she will benefit from us taking her through the ground training series by Clinton Anderson.

Remember the horse we bought? Well, she has to have shelter, so… we’re adding to the stable!

Yesterday, Clyde, our neighbor brought the big tractor over to clear the land for us. He and I worked for nearly 2 hours removing about 32 feet of fence that was buried in a big sand drift and covered with tumbleweed.

Then we began working to remove the sand drift from the east side of the stable… that and a “big pile” of horse manure. Once we got down to grade, Bev got home from work, and we settled in to removing the east wall.

Now picture this…

We have a small stable with a tack room. It’s a single (12×16) stall for just Dusty. When we took the wall down… he suddenly had the whole farm, if he wanted. We coaxed him into his corral long enough to get three boards across the wall area.

All afternoon, as we replace boards, and fixed a broken span, he was trying to get into our back pockets, wanting attention. If he wasn’t knocking my hat off, he was nudging my boots. What a guy!

I’ll get pics up this weekend. Cindy took the camera to work (at a local farm) so she can get pictures of a baby red-tailed hawk before it leaves the nest.

Today, Bev and I have been hand-digging post holes, and no a post-hole-digger is of no use in the sand. We got four done, and got the post set before the wind came up and made it just too miserable. Tonight we’ll get more holes dug and posts set, ready to frame in two new corrals.

Goal here is to bring our new filly home this weekend.

As you may remember, one of my roomies, Cindy, has a horse… a project horse.

Dusty came to our farm as a yearling. He’s a Thoroughbred, who was rejected from any possible racing due to a slightly crooked front leg. It’s not enough of a problem that he can’t be ridden in due time… he just can’t stand the constant pressure of racing, even it he wanted to.

So Cindy got Dusty by way of a rescue service.

He stood about 15.2 hands and was just plain “full of it” all the time. Within a couple of months, it was time to take him from all boy, to wannabe… a gelding. So, off he went for a ride in the trailer. Smart vet… let’s just sedate him here in the trailer. Well, he was gelded, got his feet trimmed, and an overall health check as well as vaccinations. Wanna bet he remembers that trailer ride?

Over the past year, Cindy has had plenty of ups and downs with him. He has a very high “play drive”, and hasn’t realized he can really hurt when he gets too frisky. Unfortunately, Cindy has been his target more than once. Like the time she was in the wrong place at the wrong time… couldn’t get a gate open fast enough to avoid his hind hoof in back, just rib high.

We’ve all been nipped more than once, until finally we said, “enough is enough” and began to discipline him.

This last May things were like this from Cindy’s point of view. “I have way too much respect for him, and he has little to no respect for me.”

The turning point was the weekend we spent at Clinton Anderson’s “Walh Walkabout Tour”. Two days of highly detailed instruction changed Cindy’s approach to how to get Dusty’s attention, and his respect.

In just a short 2 1/2 months, Dusty no longer insists on biting us. Oh sure, he still tries when he senses an opportunity, but those are far and few between.

He spends quality time in his workouts. He’s really learning to be a gentleman.

Cindy doesn’t have a lot of time to work with him, and she’s his only true trainer. Bev and I don’t get into the round pen with him, as he’s not a real candidate for “team training”.

One of the most important things we did, was to decrease the diameter of our round pen from 60 feet to 50 feet. Now Cindy doesn’t get tired chasing him around the pen. She’s able to reach her “positions of authority”, and that makes a ton of difference.

Just this month, Dusty has learned the “bareback pad” isn’t something he can get off his back by bucking. This was just a run up to actually saddling him.

This past Saturday was his real breakthrough. Cindy saddled him, then bridled him, and even put a little leaning weight on him.

After working with him for about 20 minutes or so, she said… ok, now go see how you really feel about all this tack on you.

Oh boy… the “monsoonal flow” has arrived.

What’s that mean?

Well, it means higher humidity. Mornings now start out at over 50% and only drop to the mid twenties. That makes the heat index a few degrees higher. It also means afternoon and evening thunderstorms, mostly the “dry kind”.

You see, we have a lot of what is termed “virga”. That’s rain that never hits the ground because the air close to the ground is too hot and dry… it makes the rain evaporate in mid-air.

Lightening, is almost always the “to the ground” kind… and that’s really dangerous, not just because it hit’s things like buildings, animal, and even people… but because it starts fires in our tinder-dry area.

That means we spend even more time watching the horizon, looking for tell-tale wisps of smoke.

I’ve added a “weather underground” widget, so you can follow along with us… look in the left side-bar. Of course, you can all get more weather detail at my Weather “Wunder Blog”

So, what’s with the sheep these days?

We think “Merino” is pregnant. I’ve been giving her a handful of “sweet feed” each morning. That supplements her normal alfalfa ration. If she’s preggie… she should be due by the first of August, as she left the neighboring farm (and ram) in early March.

The rest of the girls “could” be pregnant and deliver as late as mid-October. That would be sweet as we’d finally have a crop of lambs for the spring market.

Algernon, our ram is getting lonesome…

Each time I go out to the sheep pens, he puts his front hooves up on the fence panels wanting attention. He just loves to have his chin scratched, his ears rubbed, and his name called. How do I know? He tells me so with contented (although stinky) burps.

The chickens are nearly grown… I’m having visions of chicken dinners. At least three of our young boys have learned to crow. That means they’re about ready to butcher. I’ve got several years experience, but still find it a somewhat messy job.

All the chickens have learned to beg. “Mom” generally has treats twice a day, so whenever any of us approach the run… they all come “a running”… it’s so cute!

Dusty is growing up so fast.

It’s been some time since he’s made serious attempts at biting any of us. Also, he’s learned that water is “good”, especially when Cindy holds the sponge to his face.

He’s learned that tying means he has to stand still. Fortunately, we’ve not done anything to him to cause him not to stand still… Even placing his saddle blanket and saddle on him was ok with him.

This last weekend, Cindy borrowed a bareback pad and cinched it to him.

Sure, he did a little bucking… and cow-kicking (those are the **** you kicks)… and even got too frisky and flipped over backwards… but soon discovered it was too much effort. That pad wasn’t coming off!

Tuesday mid-morning, we finally got the call we’ve been waiting for… Lola had her colt!

Bev and I raced over for pictures and to assist with moving both Mom and baby to a clean paddock. In the process, I even got to name him… “Cool Hand Luke”.

Since then, we’ve been helping her daily with the “imprinting”. I hold Lola, the mare while Dixie works with Luke. He’s used to his halter and can be rubbed all over. At first, his butt was real ticklish, but with work… he now stands still.

We’re laying him down, checking his feet, rubbing his belly and down between his legs… he’s so cute… just closes his eyes and enjoys the pampering.

Mom (Lola) is just fine as long as she can see what’s going on.