April 11, 2020, Volume 15, Issue 15
The stunning ranch roans
Anyone that knows me knows how much fun I have when I get to work with the young’uns! This past week has been full of colts!
One is a coming 3 year old named Lefty. I’ve been getting him good with groundwork for the last couple weeks and finally put my first few rides on him. So much fun!
Another is a coming 2 year old named Nicz. He had to get a quick course in good groundwork because he got a cut on his leg that needed doctoring and he was in desperate need of a foot trim! Nicz didn’t know much about groundwork and he was not too keen on holding up his feet at all. So, I started with basic groundwork with the lead rope, moved onto flag and tarp and rope, all in good time. He’s pretty touchy so we went slow. He got better and better to doctor each day and by mid-week, he had a perfect trim session with Anna!
Little Hadlee!
We have two yearlings on the ranch now, Rip and Hadlee. These two are pure and I am enjoying being able to do everything from “scratch” so to speak! These two colts are brothers (their daddy is Metallic Rebel) but they are like night and day!
Rip is quite sensitive, like most of the colts I’m used to working. He’s gotten more accepting of brushes, throwing the lead rope on his back, the flag, seeing the tarp and learning to lead up nicely. But we go slow and he’s going to have to see these things lots of times before they become “old hat” to him!
Hadlee is a little different from any colt I’ve worked with thus far. It seems like I only have to show him something once and he’s got a handle on it. He’s quite bold and is becoming very independent!
Anna has been busy keeping up with the care of our horses feet each day
The “kids” (lovingly referred to as Kevin, Maddie, Scott and Ahna) have been riding with us each day, and have been camping on the new Lazy U horses. Each day they run through the basic moves that you might do in a Buck clinic—hind 180/front 180, soft feel, leg yield, stops—and then they progress to roping, riding with flags and working on the cutting flag. Some of these horses are getting VERY hooked onto that cutting flag! Be ready to hang on!
Big King loving the opportunity to bask in the warmth!
Temps bumped up into the 60s by mid-week and all of the snow from the winter officially went away! Of course, that makes both horses and humans quite happy! But it also made clear that we needed a second deep clean on our new arena winter pasture, as some sticks had come up to the surface from the pasture being used all winter. So each day, a crew would assemble to deep clean the pasture from top to bottom. I think they took out something like 10 loads of sticks!
Janice has been personally working with our English intern Bonnie on the refinement of groundwork. Bonnie has a big interest in it, and Janice will teach her the intricacies of flags, tarps, ropes, work from the fence…you name it!
Easter goodies
Hard to believe that Easter is upon us already. We wish everyone a safe and peaceful time, and we will catch up with you again next week.
Des