Con's new fence

It took us, non-professional fence makers about 2 months to put up..
About 60 posts to cement in and three 8 foot rails on each post..

He enjoys the space to run... and he does it often.

Oh Yeah.... He likes it..

fence nearly complete

Over memorial day weekend we nearly finished the fence. You can kinda see it in the photo above..
Let me add a 2nd one. I have a sore hand from the power screw driver and my bad shoulder is killing me.. Hurting unit- I am.

Con loves the fence! See him running?
we also designed a gate/walk through.. I think this is going to be the best part of the fence for us...

Fly preditors

Onto the 2nd shipment of these little flies.. So far so good. Have not had a bad fly population yet. Though the June bugs are terrible!!! They dive bomb us at night.

Tonka

I went out to look at Tonka the Percheron today.. Thought about getting Con and Sunny a friend. Not happening. This guy looks like he will need much work. Here is a photo of the horse I am passing on.

Grass is coming in nicely

We mowed the back pasture about a week or 2 ago.. The we got rain and hail and more rain. Have not been able to put the horses back there yet. I want it to get a chance to grow nicely, with no big hoof divets. Today, it is just cool and windy here at wind Ranch. I put the 2 back there. I will keep them out there for a while and then reel them in. I do not want to shock their systems with too much of a good thing. Conquistador really has enjoyed running in all of the open space. Wow, he is amazing. I could not take pictures this time, Croy has the camera with him at Xoe's soccer game.

Con keeps galloping up to Sunny and making her run with him. You can tell she would rather not- but she goes.. Jazzy used to do that with Sunny too. Are they just trying to keep Sunny active? Is it play? Is it part of their instinct to build a pecking order? Looking out the window.. They run and then get distracted by grass.. Run.. Grass.. poop.. run. grass.

The front 9 is not done yet. With this rain, muck, wind and snow we have not gotten all that much farther on the new fencing for the other front paddock. Hope to have it done by the end of the month.

Fly preditors

I just ordered a whole summer's worth of Fly Preditors..
Let's see how this goes... We already have flys and dang it, it is still getting to freezing at night.. Technically we have not hit spring yet.

https://www.spalding-labs.com/Horses/Default.aspx

From the research I have done, it appears we may not have a magically fly termination this year... But after a couple years of releasing these killer preditors- we should see some difference.

Ok, I will give it a shot. I hate fly spray.

Wasted money

So like- I thought I was being all super spiffy to the horses by ordering them some new nice feeders for their hay and grain. I want to keep them from eating off the ground, getting possible poo and pee or even a bit of sand or gravel in their mouths. Eating these things can cause them to get really sick and die.. Especially Sunny, being as old and delicate as she is...

(I hyperlinked the image to the feeder on Country Supply.)


The feeders came today and they are fantastic! They are bigger than I thought. I put them together and fed the horses in them as soon as I got them put up on the fence.



Well, Sunny- my old smart Arabian mare- knows what she wants.. She pulls her lips back and stretches her teeth out and very gently pulls the hay through the slots and the pulls back until she has a good thick strand of it and she places it on the ground. She keeps doing this until it is all on the ground- aaaaannnnd then she eats.. Damn it. She beat the system. I figure she has given up and wants to die. At least she doesn't do this to the grain..

Conquistador just goes with the flow and eats from the feeder. Good boy.

Now, what else can I waste money on... We are getting a little money from that Stimulous package (the advance on the supposed 2009 tax refund we are not getting).. Ha!

OTTB= Off the track Thoroughbred

I have been looking for a new horse for quite a while. I finally sold the super green mare I had and there was money burning a hole in my pocket. I went out and rode horses and none of them felt right. You could see it in their eyes that they were not right for us. Then one day it was suggested to me that I check out Track rescues. We live 3 miles from a major racetrack so I thought about it.
I started emailing this woman who runs a Retirement facility for thoroughbreds, only 25 miles away. She talked me into coming and checking out some of her horses that she felt would work for us.

The facility was located adjacent to a Correctional Facility and there were inmates there working with the horses. She does an equine management program with the inmates so that they can get certified and feel good about their futures once released. These guys each are assigned 1-3 horses a week and they are given tasks like, riding, lunging, desensitising the horses to plastic bags and loud noises etc.. It is a good program.. When I got there to look at this one mare that she felt was a good match for us, the mare was just picked out by someone else. bad timing. She asked if i would be into having a gelding; not knowing I was really more interested in geldings. I said YES! She told her crew to go get a bunch of horses, she rattled off names.. They all ran off with lead ropes. Moments later about 6 guys were back and 3 or 4 of them rode in bareback with a lead rope and halter. Wow. I was amazed- these horses came from racing histories and could be ridden like this. I told her I would look at the ones who were ridden in. Conquistador struck me with a look. He has such a kindness in his eyes. I knew then, without any question, that he had to come home with me. After his vet check 2 weeks later, he was transported home.

Now, 2 weeks later, he is here and it has been raining non stop! I want to do my first ride with him in the round pen. I can't because there is mud knee deep in there. Waiting for it to dry up. I hope he does not lose any of his (re)training.

In the mean time, I have been reading up on OTTBs and have become somewhat afraid to ride him. I am learning about others who have had terrible experiences with horses taking off on them.

I wish it would just dry up so that I can just go ride and get this initial fear out of me.