The end of and era and the beginning of a dream

"Izzy"



*C-C Hattie


On Sunday Jan 24 th an era ended for us...Our curly mare "Izzy" was delivered to her new home, a wonderful home where she can be enjoyed as a riding horse. The "era" I speak of, was the attempt and failure to make this mare one of our treasured broodmares...Her 2009 foal *C-C Hattie, who she orphaned and I raised, had left our place to her new home in December, and now Izzy has also left. Did you know that a mere 68% of mares make successful broodmares? this ratio is considerably lower than cattle. The benefit over cattle, however, is...mares have a much higher rate of successful live births...a trade off I guess.

So, both of these wonderful gals have left our place, but they left with a piece of our hearts too. Congrats to Jill, and may you have many, many happy miles with Izzy...and Hattie.....we will be watching to see how you grow up and mature....

The begginning of the dream is for Jill, and her hypoallergenic mount Izzy, and the wonderful years they can spend together. Raising horses can be the highest high, and the lowest low..but, we are totally happy for Jill and her chance to own her very own dream horse.

a Saturday drive

When Mike mentioned we should go for a Saturday drive...to check on fishing on the Grand Rhonde, I jumped at the chance! Grabbing my camera we headed out..the Grand Rhonde fishing spot he wanted to investigate is about 2 hours here from the house, near Troy, Oregon.

We headed out and my first stop was above Asotin, WA on the prairie..the windmill and scenery just seemed to make such a quiet, scenic picture.


As we traveled, I remembered seeing Big Horn Sheep in the area, I hoped I could find some sheep and perhaps even get a long shot...maybe a nice shot with my long camera lenses.
We first happened across some mule deer. Some were grazing on the hillside, this doe was resting in tall grass..she thought she was hid. As I approached for a better shot, she got nervous and stood up, and gave me this amazing shot.


We talked again as we went down the road, about possibly seeing Big Horn Sheep...and THEN...there they were....and hardly off the road! I got out and manuevered for a shot..they seemed totally uninterested in us....and since there is very limited hunting on these grand critters, they were unfazed by human companionship. We watched the sheep as they fed on the hillside...the "big guy" kept his herd under check, pushing and shoving to keep them together and with him. amazing! He gave me a couple shots of looking directly at me....it was an incredible moment!


We also saw a herd of elk, but they were bedded down a long ways from the road, with no way to reach them..I took a shot, but it was a long ways away, and I was not impressed with how it turned out.

and..as we left the area, I asked Mike if he thought there were bald eagles in the area....and...just like he was on cue...an eagle flew in, landed on an old snag across the river, and sat there.....this was the only eagle we saw all day, and he stayed on his perch, watching the river for fish...I did not have a very close shot, but the shot I got has lots of interest, as it has a lovely background...thank you Mr/Mrs Eagle...that could not have been better!

I do not know if I will ever have another day filled with so much wildlife...even the grey skies could not lessen the impact of these pics..we, as photographers , always hope for a bit of sun, but the grey skies just imitated the quiet, peaceful mood of the critters and the day.....

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year from Creekside ! 2009 was a challenging year, some really great moments and some really challenging ones. 2010 has arrived and it is an exciting time for us. We have 3 foals due in mid March. One of those due to foal, is our first homebred filly that we have had the luxury of keeping and raising, "Legacy"......talk about exciting...we have watched this filly grow and mature and can only be curious about what kind of a Momma she will be ;-) My son Matthew, got me a wireless camera set up for our barn, so I should be able to watch this foal born from the luxury of my living room...LOL...

We all wish you a Happy New Year and hope you have a healthy, properous, stressless 2010!

Hattie heads out

Last evening a bit after dark, Hattie hopped into a large gooseneck horse trailer headed east...she is off to her new home. I know for a fact, that her new owner will love her, and care for her with the highest standards, but I have to say, a piece of my heart goes with that filly. Hattie taught me a whole lot about myself this summer, how much grit and determination I have buried inside and how rewarding caring for these creatures that God put on this earth for us can be. I have SO many great memories of raising this filly. It was certainly tough on my nerves, but all my worries were pushed aside one by one.....her horse social skills soared as she first shared spaces with her sister "Heather" then the rest of her 2009 siblings, and finally the rest of the herd. This is one very special filly, in many, many ways. I truly appreciate that her new owner will cherish her as much as I have.

Merry Christmas everyone !

This is the week of Christmas! My, how fast this year has gone....here is our Christmas greeting for you, our family, our friends. I imagine this week will be a little hectic around here, so I am sending greetings off to you for you to enjoy all week! Merry Christmas from Creekside, the humans who handle the ops and the herd members who bless our lives ;-) and very Happy New Year to all of you too!

that lovely snowfall

What a week we have had for weather....we got about 6" of snow...then the next two days a good steady rain...lucky my horse work involves using our arena....as they say the outside footing is "not fit for man nor beast" !

While we still had some snow on the ground, I was able to catch a couple of really cute shots of Hattie and Mike. We needed some updated pics, now that Hattie has grown up a bit...and she always is in the mood for attention.

Loving my job

I sometimes forget HOW much I enjoy working with horses...sure it is always there, in my mind..but when I really get concentrating on what I am doing, using newly learned methods, I realize how rewarding it is for me.

I have been working with our mare "Izzy" she has been gently started under saddle, and ridden a few times after her initial training. BUT...in order to progress her through my 5 star Trail Horse Deluxe program...I must fill in the holes in her training that may have been skipped...One of those holes was clipper training. I also wanted to take her through the progressive training of the "101 Lunge and Long linning lessons" from the book by Cherry Hill.

In a segment of Julie Goodnight's training session, viewed on RFDTV I learned some very advanced lunging methods...this session was a young lady with an unruly and unattentive horse.....often I have a bit of "I am not paying attention" in several of my horses, esp just after being taken away from their buddies..so, I put the learned info to task..and it worked SO well.....

Izzy continued her crosstie training, I added clipper training, and we did some very successful lunge work, with her learning voice commands and also learning to read my body language. I can only imagine how far I can take this mare.....and I will soon start the same training regiment on my own keeper filly..."Kallie"...my first keeper foal from our ranch stallion....

More often than not I have limited time training on a particular horse...breeding season interupts HeartBreaker's training ( mostly due to my time limits and duties ) preg mares need time off for foaling and raising a foal, so...this is a Luxury for me....and I am excited about how well this is working.