Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Might have to change her name

So after the "nobody"debacle on Monday , I  took a day off of working horses and went to my paying job yesterday (equally as frustrating as we had an admin meeting , but no skinned knuckles!)
Picked up hubby at the airport last night . This trip home he has less planned, so I am able to stick to my schedule a bit better.
Did a little more, patience work and foot handling with Dandy , just snuggled with Annie , cause I can .
The caught up the all star team of Cat and Andee!Time for these girls to see some work!
Started with Cat ...

Also known as "FV Catch a Dream"

"The Fat Baby "

And frankly now, until she gets a better handle on this longing thing , I think I will be changing her name to "Whoa Dammit"!
Yeesh! that is one solid , strong little mare!!!!!
Teaching her to longe was interesting . She seems to have been practicing! lol. "You want me to run in circles?? Hail yeah! I can do that! The question is boss lady , can you hang on?"
She put a few corners in the round pen today and , easy, and whoa are words she seems to have chosen to ignore . But all in all a good start , she eventually settled in to a nice job , then on an "easy transitioned into a steady walk, and we called it a day . Bout then I was sure my knuckles on my left hand were dragging in the dirt! Not too worried about it , it was her first time, and Johnnie , Sunshine Chili, even the perfect Catana , were a little like out of control tether balls on their first time longeing. And look how well they turned out! Training Appy's is exactly the same as training any other breed , only different! LOL.They do make you work for it !

Then went and got Andee. What do I say about that sweet girl. For those of you who don't know this I bought Andee from Shirley ,of Ride a good Horse when she was a weanling . I bought her simply to have a pen mate for Cat . And the plan was to resell her in the next year. As you can see plans changed . I bought her sight unseen only having seen photos on the blog. I knew I liked the look of her and she was well put up and well bred ,but was not too focused as I raise Appys and not QH's. I paid what seemed like a fair price for her and life went on.
To tell you the truth  now, though . After getting to know this little darling over the last couple years, seeing what she grew into as far as looks , conformation etc and seeing her amazing sweet gentle nature . Fair price? nope, I stole this filly!!!!! And she ain't going anywhere. Martin has claimed her as his , and it is a true love match!


She was a little more reactive today , seemed to have some confusion with me asking her to move off of me, but overall did very well for her first try.. fewer pics of her , as I couldn't hold the whip , the line and my camera after wrestling with Whoa Dammit! (arms were way tired! )
A few more days of this ,and I will be limbered and strengthened up, and  They will very quickly get the hang of things. And ready for the next steps !Still have an hour or so before I have to head to town so I guess I should get off where I sit and head out to get in Comet and Quinn's faces for a bit!
Stay safe everyone!

14 comments:

GoLightly said...

Attagirl, sounds like a very productive day, and how well those girls are lookin'!
Glad the Fat Baby has some enthusiasm;)

GoLightly said...

Hah, First!!
Sorry, couldn't help myself..

Country Gal said...

Lovely looking horses . they will catch on they always do lol great photos. Have a wonderful eve.

Crystal said...

Has been a long time since I lunged a horse, but I still remember well that feeling of your arm being pulled out of the socket!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Sounds like you are hitting your stride.

So does the 'fat baby' have any run or is she just showing out? ;-)

Been meaning to tell you that one of the girls at the EW clinic was on an Appy mare. Her and her dad was there and they are big time into breeding and showing. I'm sorry, for the life of me, I cannot remember their last name, but I did give him your web address so they could check out your ponies.

The mare the girl was riding in the clinic was qualified at the Appy World in NINE events. Nice, nice mare. They had also bred/trained the Reserve World Jr. Reined Cowhorse this last year. They were really nice people, so hopefully he remembers to contact you and something comes of that. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you're really getting in the groove - nice looking horses!

Linda said...

Sounds like a productive day to me. There is something about a bay with spots that appeals to me;)

Shirley said...

Love the hip on Cat, man that mare looks powerful. I'm so glad you're happy with Andee; and it doesn't surprise me that Martin fell for her; when I bought her, it was because Ted approved of her. Love that last photo of her, all level headed.

Reddunappy said...

Pretty girls they are!!!

Cut-N-Jump said...

I bet you might be changing the order of go for a bit there... Loosen the arms up before working them off?

They'll get the hang of it. Before long you will have them lunging without pulling on you. If nothing else is getting Cat's attention, just put the rop over her nose and tug it once or twice. She will get the idea of how to do it without yanking your arms off. Works wonders on my OTTB mare.

aurora said...

All that, and you got pictures too. They are looking good, and good looking!

Nicole said...

I'm impressed with the pictures! and I love the Whoa Dammit! :)

Janice said...

How do you do that. I can do the longing....but a good pic at the same time....not.....not even a bad one, you are good. Horses look great.Rest those arms some. I had to laugh when you said they are like training anything else but different....the Morgans are like that as well, different is one word...there are so many others.

Ami said...

Do you think it would be easier or more difficult to sell a horse named 'Whoa Dammit'?

:)

you're gonna have gorilla muscles if you keep this up.
:)