Still waiting ;-)

Well, the foaling calendar says we are close...but..the mares say otherwise I am afraid. 11 months is a very long wait for breeders...it seems SO long ago, that we had mares preg checked. But..I suppose in the scheme of things it is really not that long of a wait. Emmy and Ally are our first mares due here. I would suspect, we should be seeing some new faces here by the first of April...if not a bit sooner. As always, a surprise will await us, we have so many things to be surprised about...colt or filly? curl or minimal? color or not? ahhh, so many choices the parents had to make...and soon, we shall know...keep holding ;-)

A moment of Legacy

Well, I have just completed my very first online class.....Denise Conroy steered a bunch of us, to a website that has online photography classes...always wanting to learn and practice, it was a perfect fit for me. In the past, all my pics have been shot using the automatic functions of my camera..head shots were done in Portrait Mode, Actions shots were done in Action/Sports Mode, and I used little else....but in this class, it was mandatory that we go to the "other" side of the camera and learn how to use ISO settings, Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority....so, off I went, outside to practice those functions...In order to practice though ( and at least try and be successful ) I had to LEARN what each and every function does, and how if effects the other functions. I have been trying to learn this since I bought my camera, but until I totally immersed myself, the words on the pages of books/websites and other places just did not sink in.....

I have to say though, I think those words are starting to sink in, and I am finding some success shooting pics while adjusting those settings....YEAH !!!

I headed out the other day, to do some head shots, and found our herd of mares lounging by our seasonal pond. Legacy was off to the side, not in the big bunch of legs/noses and ears that make it impossible to pick out just one subject, so I concentrated on practicing on her. I was mighty pleased when I returned to the house and found this shot among my accomplishments for the day...I have to say..the soft feel of this photo just really strikes me...and.......I just LOVE digital...!

Great Day for a bath!

Great day for a bath, at least the weather report had predicted it so...but, alas, the weatherman was wrong again, and my chosen day to bath "Hunter" in prep for his trip east, was a little cooler than I would have preferred....

But...In one of my horse related magazines, I had read a section about winter bathing, and this was the prime time to put this plan of action to the test....the article has told about washing your horse in sections/vs washing your horse by sides, as we do in the summer...once you wash, you cover the section with a nice cooler, and then work on another section. We scrubbed mud balls off, shampooed his tail, and completely scrubbed him..This plan went quite well, Hunter seemed pretty unfazed about the whole thing, and really seemed to like having the cooler over his neck and withers, while we worked on the hind end....pretty soon, he was all clean ( well, as clean as you can be this time of year, in Idaho ) and covered with that nice warm cooler while he dried.

I deeply bedded our stall in the big barn ( hay barn ) where he was away from a draft, gave him lots of good groceries, and the next morning he was bright and shiny , and CLEAN !!!

I will not be afraid to use this method again in the future....Hunter seemed to be quite comfortable the whole time, and he sure looks nice now ;-)

Vaccination day

My oh My! I am gonna hate to see that vet bill...on 2-10-09 we had vaccination day here....All our horses are vaccinated based on need/circumstances. We did vaccinations of 5 way ( Flu, sleeping sickness, tetanus, rhino ) West Nile Virus, and strangles, and Seleinum. Each horse has its own schedule, but in the spring, we can do the majority of our vaccinations at one time. We also did a couple teeth floats, some general question and answer sessions on a couple current subjects ( EVA, CEM ) all pertinate information a thriving business must keep track of. Legacy, a Skookum Buck daughter, has inherited several traits from her sire. The most unusual trait though, is her capability to snore....We had Legacy's teeth floated, and her wolf teeth removed, and a couple of caps pulled off as a precusor to her going into training soon. Legacy amused us all, by snoring through the whole process! It was not a "quiet little snore" either..but rather one of those snores where you wonder just what is making that racket! After an afternooon of work, we were all done, our horses safely vaccinated and properly cared for and out again enjoying the hills of Idaho.

Thank you Horses Incorporated!

First of all, I must say....THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Thank you to "Horses Incorporated" for the article on the Curly Sport Horse, and our farm!

Get your copy of the February issue of Horses Incorporated, "The Northwest's Premier Sport Horse Magazine" to see an article about the Curly Sport Horse that also featured our farm...Creekside Curlies! Get your copy now!

Late last year, Maya, the editor of "Horses Incorporated" contacted me about writing an article about the Curly Sport Horse, and our farm...and I willingly obliged. I knew the article was to be published in February's issue, and when I saw the issue in my mailbox, I could hardly contain myself. Imagine my delight, to see "Sport Horses with a Twist" right there on the cover, as a lead in for the article...See our lead in line, right there at the riders knee? Besides the cover, there was a head shot beside the article listing, a mention of the article in the Editors remarks, and then the article itself...in addition, I bought a stallion listing and one classified ad to help with promotion also.

"Horses Incorporated" has done a wonderful job with the article, layout and presentation. It is another great representation of the Curly Sport Horse, to a target audience.....sport horse enthusiast. Maya also told me that the gals in the office, just LOVE the pics I send in of my foals... HI offers each year, a chance to send in your foal pics , for a free publishing. That is a really great service, and we are always ready and armed with cute foal pics for that issue.

All I can say is...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...... and please pick up a copy for yourself ;-) HI is available at finer tack stores everywhere, in the great Northwest!

Everything + the kitchen sink

This time of year our ranch chores consume most of the day....by the time I feed in the am...take a ride in the afternoon, work with babies, young horses ( older than babies ) do some barn chores in prep for springtime and foaling/breeding season, then do feeding again, there is not much time left in the day....

So on occasion, I will get a chance to sit at the barn, listen to my horses eat their breakfast, give the barn cats a little attention and plan my next project. Yesterday, while "on break" I noticed an area of the barn that had been untouched for awhile...it was behind a couple of round bales, and needed some tidying up now that the bales are gone. I also came across my "sink" ...years ago, probably close to 10 years ago, I bought one of those sinks designed to be used in a garage or shop...but....only after I bought it, did I realize, where I wanted to put it, there was no water source, and most likely no chance of getting a water source any time soon...so, it kind of went into storage. Well, yesterday, when I came across the sink, and all the supplies to complete the project ( sans the water source ) I got to thinking.....could it go somewhere near my arena now?

My first thought was to put it near my horse bathing area at the front of our arena...We have a wash rack, I keep one of those deck benches there also,to store bathing supplies.....but, as I thought on it, I decided to put it in back of the arena, where I more frequently work ( it tends to be cooler in the summer, than the front, which can be blistering hot ) . Every summer, I wash all my supplies in that area, brushes, halter and lead ropes, rags, tools, I like to keep things clean. I don't drag them up to the house anymore like I used too, and what a great spot for my outdoor kitchen sink! So, with a few tools in hand, an idea of how I wanted to set things up, and in a few minutes waaaa laaaaa, my very own kitchen sink, in a highly usable area that will make my summer chores a little handier. I did have to modify my location a bit, to make it unreachable by the horses in the arena, basically I moved it from flush against the corral panels to the outside of the main post....now it is bolted down, has its own hose to the all weather waterfaucet, and will be a real helpful addition to my arena.....esp.. compared to taking up storage space in the barn...now...if I can just do something with all those model car kits Matthew still has stored there!

Dermal day

Today is "Dermal Day"...I use the product "Dermal Aid" to help and enhance the growth of the curly manes and tails of our horses. In 2005, my friend and fellow curly owner, Denise Conroy, started research into how to help keep our horses lovely manes and tails. Many curlies go through a very itchy stage, and frequently rub out all or part of their mane. Denise's research found that the use of "Dermal Aid" on a regular basis, would not only enhance the mane's health, but keep our horses from rubbing out all the lovely curls!

So, today, I gathered my herd, and applied Dermal Aid to all of them! Reactions were varied, my worst offenders ( itchiest manes )found the Dermal Aid to sting a bit. It of course felt cold to them, and wet..but the treatments really went quite smoothly :-)

In another 3 weeks, I will treat again, see if I can keep up the regiment this year...I treated one mare last year, "Ally" and was pleasantly surprised how well the single treatment did...can not wait to see how doing it as advised will work this year!

Last summer I purchased several bottles of Dermal Aid from Smart Pak, when I ordered supplements for HeartBreaker...it is always easier to do the treatments when you have supplies on hand ahead of time....we shall see the results soon!

Oh, LOL....I also had to do the treatment on Legacy. She never has had any mane shedding, but she kept following me around, not happy at all, that other herd members were getting attention instead of her!