And The Countdown Begins

Howdy friends! Sorry I haven't posted.....I've been very busy making jewelry for my upcoming events. After next week things will slow down and I can attack Christmas shopping!

{Necklace in my Etsy shop.}

Thank you for the nice comments on the turkey photos! I have a funny story to tell you. The other morning as I was putting on my face, I swear I heard the crunch of footsteps on our back deck in the snow. It went away, then came back. Then the dog barked. I peeked out the window and saw two turkeys in our yard. Then I heard the footsteps again~ only I realized it was on our roof not the deck!!!! There was a turkey up there!  And I thought Santa had showed up a little early.......

Lately I've seen many turkeys and deer in our yard. They are after those apples from the apple tree!

 I haven't done much with my ponies this past week other than feed them. I love to pet them while they are eating. They are enjoying the lazy winter days of being horses. The pasture is holding up well through the mix of weather which has been a little bit of everything! It's icy in spots but they still have plenty of snowy places that aren't slippery and so far not much mud! I can't say so much for us humans. I took a fall in our driveway. The snow's daily thaw and refreeze has formed a nice pack of solid ice. Down I went! Luckily I managed to escape with nothing but a bruised palm, although the foot that My Boy stepped on last summer is aching again so I might have done something to that.

Miss Lizzy wanted to say good morning! She has a pink nose. But it started out black when she was a pup. Does anyone know why dog noses change colors?

Ms. Scooter does not like to be left out! You can not pet Lizzy without Scooter coming up and sticking her head under your arm and wiggling her way in. She's a bit jealous at times. I just love her amber eyes, sometimes it's eerie I think she is reading my mind!!

Here is fuzzy Howdy pony pants. I need to pick out his eye goobers! He has outgrown his foal halter. He is turning into such a little man. I do worry he isn't going to be very big. But I guess that is okay, there are plenty of uses for smaller horses on the ranch, they are perfect for kids. His momma is only about 14 hands.

Have a great week everyone!!

Ranch Girl

Happy Thanksgiving!

The snow has continued to show it's frosty white face around here!

My ponies don't seem to mind the snow too much, as long as they've got yummy hay to eat and keep them warm! They've been napping every day together after breakfast.


I love to go out and visit with Loretta. She is so sweet, she follows me around and she gives me kisses with her velvety black nose. It smells like grain and hay. I know they say muzzles are the germiest part of a horse but I can't resist such sweetness.

 What about my kisses??

 
Yea, My Boy has never been the affectionate type.

 I love him to death anyway, but it is sure nice to have a horse be sweet to you back! She even likes to give My Boy kisses. He is sweet to her, but once in a blue moon I catch him being a cranky pants to her.




Do you have more cookies for us??

 

The apple tree in our yard has refused to drop it's apples this winter!!

I picked a bucket to feed the ponies when I grain them. And I made applesauce the other day. Never again. The apples are tiny (would fit in your fist) and it took me ages to peel and cut each one~ it took about 18 apples for me to get enough applesauce to make about 1 and a half cups of applesauce! But it did get rave reviews from my taste-testers, so that made it worth it.

 Well now it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without pictures of a turkey, right? We have a large flock of wild turkeys around here!  While driving Ranch Boy to pick up the tractor from the field he'd done some discing on a couple weeks ago, we saw the flock roosting in a tree and luckily I had my camera ready to aim and point out the car window!!

I even caught one in flight. Look at those feathers~ amazing!! The turkey's we eat can't even fly, as far as I know.

Aren't they beautiful? On that note, I am wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday! I know I am very thankful for everyone and everything in my life!!

xoxo~ Ranch Girl~

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Winter

I can't deny it anymore, winter is here! It rained all afternoon last Friday. Then around 5:00 pm it started freezing, and a few hours later it started snowing! We ended up with about an inch or so when all was done. The corral was white. I have to admit, I was a little excited about the snow!

Then, it melted and rained on top of the snow. Rained hard. This turned the corrals my horses were in, which were completely dry before the snow, into lakes of what I like to call "poop soup." They had a shelter with a tiny islands of dry land here and there.  But worse off was mama and baby Howdy, their smaller corral was completely flooded. I needed to get my horses out of there and open the whole corral to them.  So I made the decision to move them from the ranch back to our place. (These corrals are designed for summer use by horses, not permanent residences or winter usage. Mama and baby have to be separated from the herd until weaning/gelding which is why they are housed there. And my ponies were housed there out of convenience of the riding season since the barn and my tack were there.)

My Boy's spring pasture is about half an acre in size. There is no shelter yet, we will be working on that soon! He hadn't been there since July. What he'd chomped down to nearly dirt last summer had nicely grown in with short grass and weeds and held the snow melt and rain well. Ranch Boy and I walked Loretta and My Boy to their new (old) pasture. After walking Lo around the fence line of hot wire, we set them free. I thought they'd take off running......nope. Heads down to chomp on the little grass that was there.

Ponies with happy dry feet!

We are going to expand this pasture in the next week or so, as we have difficulty getting trough heaters out that far without running too many extension cords. The new section will come up further into our backyard. So while my horses are now in my "backyard", in a few weeks they will REALLY be in my backyard! Soon this wet transitional weather will be over and we'll have colder, more frozen and snowy ground most of the winter. I'm sure that "poop soup" will be back in the spring!

I am visiting some family this week!! See if this photo helps you guess who..... sorry about the blur.

Yes, this is Paint Girl's wild Mustang pony! Chance came running down to the fence when I took my dad's dog out for a potty walk. She was snorting and wild, thinking this strange dog might possibly be a coyote!! You see, around 10:30 the night before Paint Girl's dogs were wildly barking in the garage. Paint Girl heard coyotes yelping nearby and a horse running in it's pasture. Armed with a lantern and pellet gun, we strolled out into the dark night to check on the horses. They were fine, but Chance was trotting the fence line nervously (she was closest to the howlers.) The coyotes stopped once we ventured out there. It is an eerie sound, listening to those pesky canines do their thing!

Her other ponies were happily eating their breakfast this morning. Keep an eye on Paint Girl's blog next weekend or the early part of next week, she has a vet appointment for Fritzy on Friday as the mysterious hard lump has returned on the side of her neck (under the mane.) I am interested to hear what this is as I felt it myself and can't imagine what could be causing this condition. Keep your fingers crossed she will be okay!!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Ranch Girl

He Was the Worst

The other day we de-wormed Ranch Boy's 31 horses. Most of them had to be haltered, others allowed you to approach them in the corral and hold their muzzle and get 'er done.

Afterward, it was time to de-worm Loretta and Riley. We haltered Loretta. She was a little curious about the tube but didn't fight. Even though Ranch Boy and I did it together, I think I could probably worm her myself next time.

Then it was My Boy's turn. I told Ranch Boy how bad he was. Well, nobody believed me until they saw him. Out of the 32 horses, he was by far the WORST of the bunch! He kept rearing up a little, backing up, tossing his head~ basically being awful. Finally Ranch Boy got a good grip on his nose and My Boy froze. I got the tube in no problem.  I hate having him strong-armed although this is the most successful way. The only other method that worked once was a piece of baling twine in his mouth like a bit, which distracted him and had him opening his mouth and making faces while I put the tube in.

After all the ranch horses were de-wormed, they were turned out into the big hay pasture for a week. My Boy and Loretta were very interested in watching them run into a field they hadn't seen horses in before!! Although my spotted handsome one had to turn and pose for the camera.


It hasn't rained in a week or more and things are nicely dried out, so I did some work cleaning the corral. Loretta follows me around and tries to be helpful. She is still such a baby this way, so curious. My Boy will sometimes approach the wheelbarrow then leave once he realizes there is nothing edible in it. As you can see him in the background, he's gazing longingly at the hay barn.


Loretta thinks if she keeps trying, the piles of poo will eventually turn into hay!


Well I don't blame her, since I deliver the hay in a cart with wheels. She follows me while I feed too, taking bites along the way.  She has a fun personality!









See mom, you do eventually have goodies for me!!

Have you ever wondered what happens to an onion in the veggie basket when you don't eat it? Well, we're growing an indoor onion plant!

 

That was the healthiest veggie we've grown yet! Hee!

Hope you are all having a great week~ the weekend is around the corner!!

Ranch Girl

First Snow

Yep, hard to believe! But this morning when I fed the horses I saw little spits of snowflakes. Just a few. But it was enough to get me excited about snow this winter! We've already had temps in the 20's and frozen troughs. Time to get out those heaters!  Besides snowflakes this a.m. I also found LITTLE Mr. Howdy colt in with my horses!!! He and his mama's corral gate was half off and I have no idea how he got through or under it. Something happened but nobody was injured. My horses really cared less about him. Actually, once he's gelded and weaned come January-Feb. he will be moving in with them and learn some big boy manners.

I had to share the above photo, sorry it's not a great shot (from my cell phone.) Loretta always rests her head over My Boy's back. It's very cute! They get a long great, although he is "boss" she is also not afraid to make a move on his grain.

I had My Boy and Loretta's farrier appointments today. I got both all shoes pulled for the winter. You can't do shoes on outdoor horses around here with all the snow.

I got Lo out first for a longe. She was CRAZY! Rearing, hopping, and bucking on the longe line. In retrospect I should have just free longed her in the arena but it's a bit large and I didn't want to run. Not that I didn't get a workout anyway. She isn't the best at longing yet and pulls on me quite a bit. She also comes in too close on a small circle. It makes juggling the bulky leadline and my longe stick challenging! She worked herself up to a nice steam.

When I took her back to the hitch rail she got excited to see My Boy--- the kind of excited that tells me she's in heat. Well no wonder! I longed my old spotted pokey pants then took Lo over to the farrier. She was nearly perfect! She only pulled her leg a little on one hind. I think if she'd had to stand and hold them for shoes, she wouldn't have been so good. But I was proud of her! I've been working hard on cleaning her hooves before and after every ride and workout.

I have been a busy bee making a fun line of vintage jewelry for the holidays! You can check out my Etsy site or Facebook page for more information (see the right sidebar of this blog.) Just wait until I show you the cool display items Ranch Boy is helping me make for my two upcoming bazaars!! I'm heading down to the shop now to help him out.

Have a great week!!

Ranch Girl