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 .
Sorry folks I had to, especially in light of the fact that this kids dam is non other than "That Richie mare " Get Rich Quick, winner of among others this 1997 Appaloosa Stakes race . And that way back he carries in his pedigree "Whirlaway" the 1941 triple crown winner. No I agree when it is a ways(5 generations ) back it doesn't carry that much weight it is still kinda cool and maybe excuses the title of this post. add to that coolness we also see Northern Dancer on his 5 generation pedigree!
So who are we talking about ? well it could be Fern Valleys Phoenix,he is a full brother of his but no we are talking about our other Blue eyed wonder. FV WILD CARD
He was out for the year with a dear friend Mel, who while working at a big barn was looking for a horse to ride/ project pony. Well my brother in law who owns Wilder has a bad back,and Wilder needed a job, so we figured it was a good match. Mel did great work with him and kept him in fine form. She is on to another project for now so it was time to bring our wild card home. Marc and I headed out yesterday to pick him up. (by the way, who had the bright idea to drive all of the way across from here ,to the east side of Edmonton, on a Friday in construction season at 4 pm?? oh yeah mine! dummy!) Anyhow we got there and took a little time to visit and watch Mel take the boy for a little spin. Many have seen this video on Facebook already but here it is again.
Now wilder is not the only horse we have with "chrome "(white markings) but he does have some nice ones, and the shimmer of gold in his coat has always just added that little something special to his look .
He traveled well and spent the night in the round pen,then this morning I turned him in with Stryker and Harley.
Wandering in
Retreating! Old man Stryker was giving him a little working over
Just showing him who is boss. Stryker did a lot more posturing than actual chasing ,if Wilder would move off then he let him be
I think he will be fine
Matter of fact,when I got home this afternoon, he and Harley had buddied up and old man Stryker was hanging out under a shady tree.Probably relieved to not have that "kid " to keep up with.
Wilder is for sale , Marc is not likely to ride him much with his work and his back, and this is too good a horse to go to waste so keep an eye out for a for sale post on him.
Happy Fathers day all! It has been another busy week, cant tell exactly what I was doing during the week, but I felt pretty busy doing it!
When the weekend finally arrived ,I got busy doing what it seems most of us do every week /weekend all summer. Yard work , housework, checking critters etc.
Travelling partner Winston (still think I might need to change his name to Shotgun! seeing as he does tend to grab that seat on the gator if he can!
Checking cows? I thinks I smells them !
Then there is Skeeter , who rides in the back, but jumps out every time I get out to open a gate .Usually lies a few feet from the gator until I start to leave then hops back in .
Shuffled some horses around on Saturday to make sure all have plenty of feed.Cactus was sure a happy guy to get into this pen!
Harley and Stryker are starting to catch up to the grass they had so off to a new space for them as well
Then Johnny and the girls (these pics feature the girls ) were in the front lake pasture which was getting sparse , they tend to hang around in front of my sisters house so time to shuffle them into another space as well to let the lake pasture come back .
Another Photo bomber here
A couple of fancy fannys headed out to the green
FV Dreamboat Annie , and FV Catch a Dream
All are out on pasture full time now except Phoenix and the yearlings. Once the bull and steer are out I will have more options for Phoenix and right now its nice to have the Kids in in the evenings to work with them. That is when it's not pouring rain ! yeesh, hard to believe how much of that we have had.
Between the rain and being busy ,I have not taken the time to handle these kids enough. Helped Deb halter break Sprite and started with the boys a couple weeks ago,but did not get much done.
FV Shall We Dance (Tango)
FV Rainmakers Quest (Maks )
They are getting out and getting their excercise
As I said, hadn't gotten much time with them , so even though I was a bit tired on Saturday evening I went out to have a go. Have I mentioned that these kids are GREAT MINDED!! If I haven't I sure should! This session took about 90 min total, and that is for both colts!
First Maks.A little move the feet, and learn the whoa and we have a caught colt! I grabbed the wrong halter so I had to fake it for a bit. I know folks laughed at Harley's pink halter but it is the only one I have in pink so if I grab it I know I have the small one . Shirley from Ride a Good Horse made me some last year, and I honestly thought one was green so I grabbed the green one and oops! not the right one .
Made it work for Maks after all and he was a good boy, a little bracing but as I stated in a post a while back, Resistance is Futile I did not brace against him, I just waited and let him put the energy in and soon I had him walking along steady and calm .
Forgive the shaky video, its short as I am exceedingly bad at selfies, and worse at video over my shoulder !
Tango was much the same , a little longer to get him to find his whoa and calm but once we had it he was a great boy. Followed so quickly and easily I had a hard time getting a photo!
While he doesn't look particularly amused here it is a trick of the photo as well , what I see and am pleased about is he is looking at me and nice and soft , not fighting with his head flung up, or set back and bracing against me . A really good session. I did not get to Casey, but she is on my radar too!
BTW both boys picked up all four feet for me as well in this session (but to be honest they have done that for some time weird I know picking up the feet before halter breaking ,but I take the opportunities that present to handle them in any way they come )
Other than that , had a nice lunch BBQ with my dad,mom, sister Heather and brother in law Marc along with my nephew Brendan to celebrate fathers day . I had intended to go out again this evening to work some more with the boys ,but an old friend stopped for coffee and a long overdue visit . And the "kids" will be there tomorrow.
Yup, more rain, we have had a bunch of rain the last few weeks. It is sure green around here though so no complaining (well not much ) after the walk last week, we were back into rainy days again for much of last week. I did get out for a day trip last Monday down the "Cowboy trail" to Markerville Alberta ,for a meeting. And yes while they say there are cowboys out there you just cant see them from the road, I did in fact see several on my drive .Seems it was a good day for moving stock.Sadly I missed some great shots as I didn't have my camera. One in particular was a fellow in a corner of a field with a group bunched, must have been waiting for another group, and he was just sitting there leaned over the horn , hat tipped back a bit ,looking pretty wilted .It was a hot day and with all the humidity ,I really felt for him. Hope there was a cold one waiting when he got done!
Got home in time for our pasture renter's cattle to arrive and dad and I trailed them out to the first pasture in the gator. Would have been nice on horseback, but besides the fact it was after 8 at night , and the calves are not used to being worked with horses. We needed to take salt , and I cannot take 1, far less 5 blocks of salt on a horse ! Got some nice views all the same
A fun little animation of what I thought was a Loon but not so sure(and it is a cell phone pic so hard to get good detail ) I have heard them here so ....
Happy critters hitting the biog field !
Then the rains came again , on and off all week. And also for me ,back to work and the regular day to day shuffling paper at work and critters at home. The grass is coming on nicely and I try to get as many as I can out on pasture . The young ones and the stallions are still in on feed but for the most part even they are getting grass part of each day .
A sunny day most of Saturday, and a quick trip out west to take my cousins horses to my honorary niece Katie for training. Lucky I took my own vehicle ,or Kirk would have been stuck all day waiting for Katie and I to stop chatting! Then a nice little get together for supper with Kirk and Amber, and Heather and Marc joined us after dinner for a visit.It is so nice to have time to visit in the evenings outside and enjoy just a peaceful warm evening .
Sunday was my mom's birthday and we all gathered at the lodge for a picnic style lunch. Heather's fried chicken, home made buns and cake , I made Potato salad . It was a great time . As I said before , there really is no hat my mother looks bad in LOL
The birthday girl
Below is mom and her sister my Auntie Elsie. We tease one another after she called me once on my birthday or a day later and introduced herself as my demented Aunt for getting the day wrong. Well I missed her birthday this year so we are a pair. Demented Niece too!
It was a nice day, but mom has always said it rains on her birthday , she wasn't wrong. We got home around 6 and Martin and I scrambled to get the lawn cut before the storm hit, and hit it did !
We got it done and only moments before the deluge came. Today was a wet day with the rain falling steady most of it I went into town to take Martin back to the bus , and because we had extra time we stopped at the Enjoy Centre (Holes family garden centre ) it is truly the most wonderful place ! And well I "enjoyed myself thoroughly , coming home with an herb garden, some heirloom tomato plants and of course I fell for a Begonia hanging basket again !
And from a past post the Ogo Pogo(Sea Serpent) and fountain I got form mom and dad's yard set up in mine. The serpent is actually going to my niece Tara some day when she has a place to put it,but for now its is nicely placed in view of the redneck dipping pool!
So its just me , the dogs , Delilah and the ponies for another 2 weeks. They aren't Martin but they are pretty good company , and I do love taking pics of my gang!
Johnny and company were providing the photo opp today.
Yeehaw ,or as I captioned it on FB
"That's when I fell for , the leader of the pack!"
Well finally we had some beautiful weather (not complaining too much about the rain,it makes things grow ) but for the weekend at least sunshine was definitely in order.
Saturday was a special day for myself and a few family members, we participated in the "Spring Sprint" which was a walk/run in Edmonton and many other cities across Canada to raise money for Brain Tumour research.
Now anyone who knows me well,knows I don't run, or not often . I have been known to say "I wont even run from a fight" But I do walk, and walk I did. Along with and in honor of my cousin Kirk, who has lived with an inoperable brain tumour for several years now.Kirk is well right now and I pray he remains so but I was proud to be a part of the team that raised money for this important research and hope one day we can look back say Kirk had a brain tumour but he beat it . Team Horricks ,is pictured below Kirk in blue, his wife,Amber, his 2 sisters Wendy and Kim, and nieces Kandace and Alie, and I in my snazzy new rainbow shoes with memory foam soles!On each shirt there was a place to put who or what you were running for. I tease Kirk a lot that I only sort of like him sometimes ,when the truth is I adore my cousin so I simply had printed on my shirt I was walking for love.
rainbow memory foam Sketchers (they kept this arthritic old girls stepping out just fine)
Home after lunch and I had some yard work to do, mowing the hayfield that my lawn had become and doing the edging before heading over to Kirk and Amber's for a BBQ . Mom and Dad joined us for supper, and with the bright sun mom had to borrow a hat. I swear there is not a hat made this lady does not look good in!
Rockin' the cowgirl hat! I cant figure it out she can wear a floppy sun hat,ball cap,all the fancy ladies hats, and a cowboy hat and make it work.Me? a ball cap, or my granddads old tweed cap, that is about it.A cowboy hat and I look like a female version of Hoss Cartwright!
Today was a quieter day made up of housework, and a little more yard work, I put my new gazebo topper on (the old one was ripped by the wind) Its is a really pretty reddish rust color, I will have to take some pics of it soon. Then out to the pasture to show the renters where their cattle will be going tomorrow.
A little excitement on the trip out, Skeeter and Winston were riding in the gator as always when a deer ran out .I guess Skeeter takes his deer patrol duties as seriously in summer as he does in winter ,and before I could stop him he jumped over the seat back and out of the gator ! I had slowed some because I thought he was looking pretty excited but he hesitated and I thought he was staying. Nope hit the ground rolling (literally) then on his feet and in hot pursuit of the deer! Winston was lying in the back and didn't even react other than to sit up and look. I was worried but Skeet seems fine , hopped back into the gator like it was nothing and was running around all afternoon with no signs of trouble.
Back home to putter around weeding flower beds and cleaned out the "dipping pool " ready to fill for the summer . Meant to work with the yearlings but the rain did come after all for a short time and either it cooled down an awful lot ,or I got too much sun earlier because I was just plain cold! And a little worn out . Tomorrow is another day .
I will leave you for now with a few pics from around here this week
they are back! let the reign or terror begin! demanding little birds!
FV Casino Quest, Casey (reminds me a lot of Classy FV Canadian Classic her half sister)
