Well, the water dried up and our puddles are gone - glad I took advantage of them while they were here.
In the meantime...
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Training opportunities abound!
Two new training opportunities presented themselves to us yesterday!
The neighbor got his cows & calves! When I met him over the phone he said that he gets cows in the spring to eat down his pastures. I don't know if he just takes them on for a friend or buys and sells, but no matter. We now have a herd of mama cows and 2-week-old calves at their sides. They are so cute! I was riding Mac in the indoor yesterday as they were moving from the back pasture to the front pasture and we just watched them go by. Princess Fancy Pants and Paddy were in their paddocks and had their eyes glued to the cows, but no running around like crazy horses or anything like that. My pastures, barn, and arena are easily within sight of where the cows graze, so this will be a great opportunity for PFP to get used to the sights, sounds, and smells of the cows! Free training!
The same neighbor has some water coming from his property onto our property. I called him about it and it is a problem with the irrigation district that they need to fix. In the meantime, though, it has created some flooding into the back half of our property along the trails where I ride. Another great opportunity for introducing PFP to water and big puddles!
At first, she was like, "you want me to get my little princess feet wet in there?!"
But then she was like, "oh, grass!"
I would have gotten better pictures of her actually in the deeper water, but I didn't want to drop my phone.
So water training was easy-peasy and took all of a couple minutes and then we went splashing through it like it was nothing.
The neighbor got his cows & calves! When I met him over the phone he said that he gets cows in the spring to eat down his pastures. I don't know if he just takes them on for a friend or buys and sells, but no matter. We now have a herd of mama cows and 2-week-old calves at their sides. They are so cute! I was riding Mac in the indoor yesterday as they were moving from the back pasture to the front pasture and we just watched them go by. Princess Fancy Pants and Paddy were in their paddocks and had their eyes glued to the cows, but no running around like crazy horses or anything like that. My pastures, barn, and arena are easily within sight of where the cows graze, so this will be a great opportunity for PFP to get used to the sights, sounds, and smells of the cows! Free training!
The same neighbor has some water coming from his property onto our property. I called him about it and it is a problem with the irrigation district that they need to fix. In the meantime, though, it has created some flooding into the back half of our property along the trails where I ride. Another great opportunity for introducing PFP to water and big puddles!
At first, she was like, "you want me to get my little princess feet wet in there?!"
But then she was like, "oh, grass!"
I would have gotten better pictures of her actually in the deeper water, but I didn't want to drop my phone.
So water training was easy-peasy and took all of a couple minutes and then we went splashing through it like it was nothing.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
New pasture
While we're working on getting the irrigated pastures to have underground lines (instead of hand lines that we have to move around), we made a Horse Guard dry lot pasture for the horses to go out in so we can keep them off the grass.
It took about three weeks to get this done. I wish I had before and after pictures, but I wasn't clever enough to do that. Basically, all of the juniper trees had lower limbs on them that needed to be chainsawed off - that was Colin's job. Then I stacked them by the edge of the pasture and we had someone come pick them up. But he was sick so had to postpone and do it in a couple of trips. Then I did all the post bamming by myself (that's a technical term, of course) - t-posts in the four corners, fiberglass posts on all the sides, with t-posts then spaced after every 5-6 fiberglass posts. It is hard to get a straight line because sometimes I'd hit rock and have to move a few inches this way or that to get the post in the ground. Then we put the insulators on and ran the tape and hooked up the charger, and ta-da! A new pasture!
There were some native grasses in there that didn't last long. We hang hay nets from the tree limbs so they have something to eat while they are out there; and of course there's a water trough. Supposedly the neighbor brings in cows for the summertime, so that should be interesting (this pasture borders our shared property line)!
In other news, Princess Fancy Pants let me rub a square of tarp all over her while standing quietly so the next move is to cut off a bigger piece of tarp and play with that! I also ponied her on a short trail ride in the back. At first she was nice and quiet but heading back to the barn she had a little more energy, so we had to go back out and come back a few times as well as go back to the indoor and keep working, so she wouldn't learn that bouncing around = going home and chilling with your friends whenever you want to.
The vet came out the other day for her WNV vaccine and commented on how gorgeous Princess Fancy Pants was. She also calls her Princess Fancy Pants when she emails me her visit notes! :-D
It took about three weeks to get this done. I wish I had before and after pictures, but I wasn't clever enough to do that. Basically, all of the juniper trees had lower limbs on them that needed to be chainsawed off - that was Colin's job. Then I stacked them by the edge of the pasture and we had someone come pick them up. But he was sick so had to postpone and do it in a couple of trips. Then I did all the post bamming by myself (that's a technical term, of course) - t-posts in the four corners, fiberglass posts on all the sides, with t-posts then spaced after every 5-6 fiberglass posts. It is hard to get a straight line because sometimes I'd hit rock and have to move a few inches this way or that to get the post in the ground. Then we put the insulators on and ran the tape and hooked up the charger, and ta-da! A new pasture!
There were some native grasses in there that didn't last long. We hang hay nets from the tree limbs so they have something to eat while they are out there; and of course there's a water trough. Supposedly the neighbor brings in cows for the summertime, so that should be interesting (this pasture borders our shared property line)!
In other news, Princess Fancy Pants let me rub a square of tarp all over her while standing quietly so the next move is to cut off a bigger piece of tarp and play with that! I also ponied her on a short trail ride in the back. At first she was nice and quiet but heading back to the barn she had a little more energy, so we had to go back out and come back a few times as well as go back to the indoor and keep working, so she wouldn't learn that bouncing around = going home and chilling with your friends whenever you want to.
The vet came out the other day for her WNV vaccine and commented on how gorgeous Princess Fancy Pants was. She also calls her Princess Fancy Pants when she emails me her visit notes! :-D
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