Photoshoots!

Monica and I (Monica Bretherton) did two photoshoots in the past week or so.  Now is the perfect time, with the horses being sleek and shiny and the light staying until reasonably late.  Monica always takes nice photos.

These are of Rocket (barn name still!) 2014 purebred colt by Salam out of Tulah.  Rocket is almost 6 weeks now and is really a nice colt.  Stallion prospect, Fakir Pelvan line.  For sale, $5000, sale pending!

This is Sabyr, aka Stanley, 2013 Salam x Aishet.  Sabyr is just over a year old, and is obviously still growing (look at that butt!).  He's a bit over 15 hands right now and should mature 15.2 or 15.3 at least.  Excellent sport prospect.  $4500

Both boys are lovely horses with bright futures ahead of them!

Off to College

I always think that when a horse heads off to a new life/owner/job, it's kind of like sending your kids to college.  You've done the best you can from child(foal) hood on up, bandaged skinned knees and hocks, taught them right from wrong, put some good ground manners on them and depending on age, sent them through elementary, middle and high school.

All those years of prep work and then one day, you're waving goodbye:

The very fancy 'bus' to Goshen's college.

 

I waved goodbye (after giving him a good lunge and lots of scritches) to Goshen on Wednesday.  He's heading to Indiana to see if he can make it as an eventer with Eron Owens of Greystone Eventing.  I think this is a great match-up, as Eron is not only a talented rider and competitor, but she competed with Goshen's sire, Goklen for many years.

 

 

While here, Gosh has gone through elementary and middle school, gone on one trail ride, done a little bit of a lot of things. This year, he's really grown up in a lot of ways (including hormones, lol), but has really come into his own.

 

He's a little bit thinner than I like ideally, those hormones have kept him moving and moving some more!

 

From what I hear, he will spend a while with the talented Kevin Wallin, getting his mind back to work.  Then we'll see what happens next!

 

Graduate school, perhaps?



More Foal Photos!

I've been slacking in the photography department, sad to say.  But, yesterday, my friend Wendy came out to visit so I took a few cellphone photos of her and Rocket.  He's in the 'I'm so curious and fingers are great for getting spots I can't get" stage. 

He continues to grow (like a weed) and is such a nice boy!  Too bad he came out the wrong sex, but as he's a colt, he is for sale.

Photos from August 10, 2014, Rocket asking Wendy for 'scritches'.

 

Ancient Technology

Yep. You read that right.  Ancient technology.  We used it this weekend and got 'er done.

What did we do?

We moved a shed.

 

Here it is in its old position.  We built this a good 20 years ago, well before we thought we'd put runs on all the stalls.  Once we started adding runs, well, it's in the way.  So, for the past 5 years or so, we've been thinking about how to accomplish this task.  Many theories were floated, many dismissed.

Finally, we decided what to do.  Dig out the entire foundation, put skids on it from front to back, brace and cross-brace, cut the posts (which were sunk 3 feet into the ground) right below the skids, and then put up on round poles and roll and pull.

Larry spent a good three weekends digging out the foundation, with occasional help from others.

Once the entire foundation was dug, we braced and put the rollers under it.

Then, Larry cut the posts off right below the skids.  Sawzalls are really cool.

 

Next, we hooked it up to the truck and the tractor.

There is a whole story about getting the truck here - what you can't see is the VERY tight space I had to navigate to get it where it is here.  I am now qualified to dock starships.

Then, we pulled, slowly and carefully, jacking up the shed to put new rollers under it.  The kids helped out and while they weren't exactly excited, they did the work. You can just see Alex, here, helping Larry.  At this point, the shed is almost in its new position.  Here we were taking out a fencepost that was in the way.

Here is a view from where the shed used to be.  It will get some fill and end up being a paddock, until we put runs where it was.

 Here it is, in its new position.  We later put up temp fencing and will end up putting in permanent fencing to make 3 paddocks.

Here is where the shed used to be.  That pile of gravel will end up being the flooring of the shed in its new home.  Maz (the horse looking at me) was very interested in what the crazy humans were doing. 

So, now we need to finish the shed, including the floor and a patio outside it, take down one line of fencing, put up a few more and wah-la, done!  Then, it's on to the next project, which is finishing up the 3 runs in progress. 

All in all, the actual moving time was about 7 hours total, but that doesn't count the prep or the hours of discussion on how to do it without trashing the shed.  We all did decide that we now know how they moved the blocks of stone for the pyramids though...so, ancient technology plus a lot of modern horsepower and lots of muscle power.

After we were done with moving the shed, we went and picked up 100+ bales of hay.  Ahhh...farm life!

We don't need to go to the gym today.

 



More Foal Photos

The sport around here lately has been 'Taking Rocket Photos'.  While I'm not very talented in that department, Angela Davenport and Monica Bretherton have taken some really nice ones.

Here are a few:

Two days old in the arena, Angela Davenport photo

Whispering secrets in my ear - Monica Bretherton photo

Enjoying his first day in the pasture, Monica Bretherton photo

 

He really enjoyed the running around, Monica Bretherton photo

One of my favorite photos, Monica Bretherton photo

And, one more for good measure.  Monica Bretherton photo

 

There are a whole bunch more on my Cascade Gold Facebook page.  Rocket is for sale (He's not a filly, sadly!)

 

 

 

 

Better than Christmas!

To me, the week before a mare foals is better than Christmas.  "Why?" you might ask. 

This is Tulah, Durkkhal x Malikat, here on a foal lease from Kelsey Kempfert.  She is due July 9th, but could foal anytime in the next few weeks.

Well, after doing this for almost 30 years (which is kind of amazing in itself), I've found that the week before the mare foals is full of lovely speculation...that foal is the right sex, the right color, has perfect conformation and is as healthy as can be.

Once she's in labor, the tension heightens;  "Will it be a colt or a filly?"  "Will it be buckskin/palomino/with lots of chrome?"  "Will the delivery be easy?". 

As the hours fly by and the dead of night approaches, some of your foaling buddies give up and go home.  Some stay.

This was a few years ago, from Monica's blog, Horsebytes, http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/ during foalwatch for Cady (a boarder), I think.  Note the helpful dogs as lap warmers.

 

Then, the excitement begins!  Usually a foaling is over within minutes after the water breaks.

 



 



Annie and one of her foals from the Horsebytes blog.  Maybe in 2010?  Is it a filly?

 

 

No, a nice colt. The foal gets up and greets the world, Christmas has come and all is as it should be.

 

This photo is from 2010, from the Horsebytes story "The Foaling Moon" http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/2010/06/02/the-foaling-moon/

 This is Miras, Annie's 2010 foal by Murgab.

 

April Fools Ride

Yesterday, it was gorgeous.  So gorgeous that I couldn't stay home and do the usual (clean sheds and stalls, work with the young horses).  I loaded up Galen and off we went.  As I had a limited amount of time, we went to Lord Hill Park, which is only about a 20 minute drive away.  Lord Hill can give a really good workout in a short time, because, as the name says, it's all hills.  Even walking can leg up your horse pretty quickly.  My yardstick of his fitness is how far up a hill he will trot before he drops back to a walk.  When we trot all the way to the top, we're ready to do an LD.

When I got to the parking lot, there were two other ladies in the parking lot, both on QHs, with one extra being ponied.  Nice ladies, we all exchanged good mornings and off Galen and I went. 

The light was very beautiful and it made me think of cathedrals of trees.  I'm sure there is a poem somewhere with that, but as I'm not much of a poetry buff, none came to mind.

We continued along, greeting the occasional dog walker.  This time, none of the dogs had ever seen a horse and you could almost read their minds:  "That is the BIGGEST dog I've ever seen".  Galen ignored them.

We went down the Quarry trail to the river and were trotting through the trees down by the river when a dog rushed up behind us, either nipped Galen's legs or just crashed into him and then took off at a dead run.  We were both a bit startled, although I think I was more than Galen.  As I had no idea where the dog was, I headed back to the road.  I met the person who had the dog - now, Lord Hill is pet friendly, but all dogs are supposed to be on leash.  Not everyone does this, although most people catch their dogs and at least hold them when they see a horse.  I told him (I did say please) to keep his dog contained and what the dog had just done.  He didn't believe me, saying "THIS dog did that?".  Like, the dog is gone for 5 minutes and he couldn't imagine it was doing anything remotely naughty.  I told him "Yes, YOUR dog did that".  Then, I continued on.  We went up the first loop of the Competitive Trail ride we did back in January - no idea what the trail is called.  It has some very steep climbs, some rather iffy trail (sides are falling away), but it's sure challenging.  There was a log down across the trail, no biggie.  Galen went to step over it, saw that it was much too wide and so hopped it.  I heard a crack, but figured it was him hitting the log with a hoof.  We continued on, meeting some more well behaved dogs and their excellent owners, until we got back to the parking lot, where there was...a flock of sheep.  Galen was looking at them, indicating to me that this was NOT where sheep belonged.  I agreed, but couldn't do anything about it.  I untacked him and put him in the trailer and then went to see if I could find the break in the fence to shoo them back.  Didn't find the break and I'm obviously not a sheep whisperer, as they all headed away from me.  I also looked at my saddle as I was taking it off Galen - the pommel was cracked in two!  That crack I heard on the trail was my saddle tree breaking!  Now we'll see how to fix THAT!  I gave up on the sheep and headed home.

The big thing (besides all the adventures) is that I rode for over 2 hours and had forgotten to take any pain meds.  I finished reasonably sound, although I walked in the last 1/4 mile.  Met a very concerned dog walker who asked me if I was ok, as I was walking my horse.  I assured her I was just walking in for my benefit and all was well.  Good people!  My ankle was sore, but not screaming, so maybe, just maybe, there is a possibility that I'll be able to ride longer and longer.

So I got home and posted a short version of this on Facebook and had someone ask "This is an April Fool's joke, isn't it?".  I reread it and could see why they though that, but nope, all true.  Wish the saddle tree breaking wasn't!  Galen took everything in stride, I assume he just figures that humans are weird and whatever I say, goes.  Yeah!

Clipping time

Today I cleaned my clipper blades (long overdue), oiled the clippers and took them out to the barn. Galen has been working fairly hard and it's been warm enough that he's sweating quite a bit. I figured that a very small clip job on the bottom of his neck might help him with cooling out a bit faster. He's got a pretty good winter coat for a Teke, even though he does wear a rainsheet in the winter and sometimes a blanket if it's really nasty out.

I did forget that he's never seen clippers before - I don't worry about nose or ear whiskers and one of the great things about endurance is that no one expects you to have a 'show-ready' horse, polished and clipped. So, we spent some time just getting used to those noisy things. He was very good, all in all, although I wish I had a photo of how far back he was leaning, without moving his feet. I just went slowly, kept telling him what a good boy he was, gave him treats when he relaxed, and we got that neck shaved a bit without much trouble. So, tomorrow we'll see if that helps with the cooling, as we're hauling out to the Redmond Watershed, for a nice, long ride, as long as the weather cooperates.

Monica commented that it 'took pounds off him'. Hmmm, maybe that is an option for humans also..

Youngsters!

Monica and I have been doing some conditioning to get ready for our first endurance ride of the year, which is on March 31st. This will be Danny's (Madgan) first ride, although he did spend the night at a ride last year. We'll be doing the 25 mile limited distance ride and expect to finish towards the back of the pack - no racing for us! Danny is getting the lion's share of the work these days, as he is coming six and really blossoming. Andre is the distant second, although he's showing improvement with every ride. The other youngsters would like to be on the roster, but there is only so much time during the day. Scooter (Miras) and Reggie (Sazanda) get their 5 minutes a day of grooming and ground manners, which is really all they need right now. Mahri would LOVE to get even 5 minutes - she and Slari get a few minutes and a good scratch every now and again. Once our competition year starts, we'll cut back on our conditioning rides, so we can work more with the younger horses. Goshen is getting some arena time with Monica - he's lunging with the saddle and bridle on, has been long-lined and is generally learning how things go. We'll probably back him sometime this summer and let him get the idea that people sit on him.

Aya (Aishet) is due to foal within the next few weeks, so we'll have a new baby to play with also.

They are all keeping us busy, but that is ok - it's a lot of fun.

Spring?

Probably not, but it sure has felt like it the last few days. We've had sunshine, which is always appreciated, and temps up into the 50's. I even saw a fly today! Of course, we're taking advantage of the nice weather and RIDING. Monica and I went out Friday to Lord Hill and then on Sunday, we took Monica's husband Bill along on their TB Willie up to the Pilchuck Tree Farm. As it was Superbowl Sunday, we thought the parking area would be empty. Wrong. It seems that everyone else had the same idea as us, or was getting a quick ride in before the game. But, we squeezed the rig in, saddled up and headed out. Surprisingly, we didn't see many other riders on the trail, which shows how many miles of trails there are up there. We went out from the parking lot a different way than usual and ended up going down a very steep bank into a semi-impressive river. Galen and Danny both did it with minimum fuss, but poor Willie just wasn't sure that the footing was a good idea. Bill ended up leading him across the river and was an excellent sport about wet feet. We did get to gallop up a big hill and let Willie set the pace (as an ex-racehorse he thought he should be first). Galen really, REALLY thought that he could beat that silly TB and I had to work to keep him from taking off and doing just that. We're going to head out again tomorrow, probably back to Lord Hill, as I have committements in the afternoon. I really do need to take my camera with me and quite depending on Monica to take all the photos.

Social Director

Now that fall is here, I have to start thinking about where to put everyone when it's raining. Now, here in the Seattle area, we don't just get a little rain every now and then during the winter. We get lots of rain for many, many, many days. That means that horses outside need some sort of shelter where they can get dry, especially on days it's wet and cold. Almost all my horses go out of their stalls for at least 8 hours a day. Two have runs off of their stalls and quite a few of mine live outdoors all the time. This means that they have shelters that get cleaned regularily, but we still have to deal with mud.

So, what is the problem? The problem is space - I have 7 1/2 acres, of which most is in paddocks with shelters. That is all well and good, but right now we have about the maximum amount of horses here (17). The plan (!) had been to sell several over the last year, but that hasn't happened yet, so now I'm playing social director. I have to figure out who gets along with who, who is ok next to someone else and make sure everyone gets their share of food, water and shelter. Sounds easy, right? Well....some get along with just about anyone, they're pretty easy. I have a few others that have demonstrated, shall we say, less than stellar friendliness, over the past years. They get a paddock all to themselves. Then, there is the mare and foal and the stallion and ...you get the picture. It's a big jigsaw puzzle of opinions and personalities. Kind of fun really.

Just one more thing about having horses!

Home from Tevis!

Jas and Patrick and Steve Hallmark and Tug (in front) finishing Tevis. Monica Bretherton photo.

This year's Tevis was historic for several reasons; first, it was run in October instead of July because of record snowfall. Second, it had to be rerouted 24 hours before start time because of more snow making the high country too dangerous for riding. And third, one purebred Teke and one partbred Teke finished! Yes, Jas and Patrick came through with flying colors, excellent vet scores and a great attitude.

The ride started at 6:30 am on October 8th, in a huge, milling rush. From our vantage point (that of crew), it appeared quite civilized and orderly. We later heard that was a bit deceiving. Horses were very amped up, some riders made unplanned dismounts, and several people ended up riding a much different race than they had planned. After the start, Monica, Alice and I walked back up to the Auburn fairgrounds (and up and up and up) where we were camped. We then broke camp and headed to Forest Hill where the 2 out vet checks were located. We were in convoy with the crew of Linda Fisher's Kenlyn group, who had brought Jas and Patrick with them from Colorado. This was great for us too, as they were a lovely group that most importantly, knew what they were doing. We just helped out as we could and watched and learned.
We watched the front runners come into the ForestHill vet check (Dennis Summers, Rachel Shackelford and Jeremy Reynolds, but don't quote me on that) and watched what their crews did. We had a bit of a wait until our first riders came in. The group of 7 horses and riders had split into two, which made it a bit easier for us to take care of them. The horses all looked good and the riders were very happy (mostly, a few 'bobbles' in there). After they vetted through they had an hour hold. Then, it was onto the 20 mile loop that we later heard was down and up (or vice versa) a canyon. This loop took a toll on quite a few horses and riders. Inde and Monica Bennett were pulled at Forest Hill, although I don't remember if she did the loop or not. Inde wasn't recovering as he should, so they made the correct decision and pulled. He looked great later, so maybe next year!
Our horses and riders came back in, once again in two groups. This time we had it down - tack was pulled at the water troughs before the in-timer, any sponging necessary was done there and then they walked up the hill to the in-timers, pulsers and vet checks. Once again, all our horses vetted through. Another hour hold and horses and riders rested and ate. They left for the ride home in two groups, and Steve Hallmark, on his big arab Tug went out about a minute after the group Jas was with. Once they were gone, we broke camp and drove back to the fairgrounds. We missed the first finishers, but once we were set back up, we watched some happy riders come in. Then, we took a few hours to rest and were back at the finish for our riders to come in. The first group came in somewhere around 2:15 am (not sure exactly) and Jas and Steve came in right around 3 am. The last two came in a little bit later. All the horses vetted through and were fine at their hour check (they did a post-ride check at about an hour after the completion vetting to catch any problems). We then poulticed legs, wrapped those that needed it, made sure everyone had full hay bags and tubs of beet pulp and went to bed. When we got up a few hours later, the riders were tired but looked great and the horses were the same. Amazing after 100 miles!
We went to the awards banquet, watched each rider get their completion awards and heard a bit more about the amazing reroute that had to be done to make this year's Tevis happen. The organizers should be immensely proud that they could reroute a 100 mile ride and get all the vet checks and volunteers organized in such a short time. I heard that their were 4 volunteers for each rider; at 170 riders, that is 680 people to re-organize within 24 hours. That everything worked smoothly was a real testament to organization and hard work. Sunday afternoon, we all packed up and left the fairgrounds, Jas and her group towards Colorado, Monica, Alice and I to Steve Hallmark's driveway for the night. We arrived back in Seattle Tuesday and now have to catch up a weeks' worth of work.
This was a wonderful trip and really made me appreciate the time, dedication and hard work that goes into making a hundred mile horse. I won't say I'll never ride a hundred (never say never), but both Monica and I agreed that we'd like to ride the Tevis trail in much smaller chunks, preferably in good weather, at a leisurely pace. But, who knows what the future will bring?
We also need to thank everyone that donated money and items to Jas to make this trip possible. Without the support of the Teke community and her friends and family, she wouldn't have been able to go and be the first purebred Akhal-Teke to finish Tevis! Thank yous will go out soon.

This and That

As usual, it's been a busy week or so since my last post. Danny has gotten out on his second trail ride and is now trying to load himself in the trailer every time he goes past it. As expected, he was a champ and Monica detailed that ride in her blog at http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/ Danny wasn't the only one that got to go out, as we took Khan (also in Monica's blog posts) and our new friend Julie. Khan was a champ, which isn't a surprise as he has many, many endurance miles under his girth. We've been slowly conditioning him, as he's been a pasture puff for the last 6 years. It has been fairly recently that I decided he needed a little more work than just standing around and supervising (when I lunged him and his entire body jiggled like jello, I decided he needed someone else to dictate his workouts). So, it's been very slow and careful, as his left hind suspensory is suspect from an injury when he wasn't even weaned. He's done very well over the years in spite of that, but when he was retired from competition in 2005, after a pretty successful year, that leg was iffy. So, a few years of breeding, until his fertility went down to zero - probably from a virus picked up during his competition days, the vets said- then not much until this year. He's so non-enthusiastic about arena work that we thought maybe a little time on the trail would be the ticket. So far, it sure seems to be. Julie reported that he 'was a different horse' out on the trail.

Memorial Day, I took my husband out for a trail ride with him on Khan. They both had a great time and Larry said he now realizes why I make him do those boring seat exercises, as there was a lot of mud and he had to really work to stay in the middle of Khan, as he lunged through it. We cut the ride a little shorter than I had planned, as the footing was much worse than expected and I didn't want to competely poop out either Khan or Larry. I think they both had a great time and they both slept well that night. Galen was wonderful, as usual, stopping and waiting when Khan started to slow down. I always get a kick out of how well Galen watches out for less conditioned and green horses on the trail...until it's time for an endurance race. Then, he's all about beating the socks off them. It makes me smile just to think about it.

Our broodmare, Anastasia, is getting close to her due date. I'm very excited about this foal, as we've had to keep her on regumate most of the pregnancy to keep her pregnant. I don't know how this bodes for any further foals (this baby is #10 for her), as she is 20 this year. So, I'm really hoping for a spectacular FILLY, as it will quite possibly be her last. Maybe if I say it enough, it will come true. We're weaning her off the regumate now, so I think it could come anytime after this weekend. I so love the foaling and those foals. It makes all the work worthwhile.

One of these days, I'll figure out how to download photos from our camera (one of the kids lost the cable and we have never replaced it), and then we'll have a bunch of Danny on the trail, so proud of himself.

Trail ride with my Husband

Yes! Larry has been taking lessons for about a year now (thank you Kay!) and this is our second trail ride in the last few weeks. He has gone out before on Maz, but Maz is only up to a fairly short ride, so now he's riding Taz, Wendy's QH x Teke cross. Taz is pretty well conditioned now, as Monica has been riding him and has done a few rides at our Endurance rides on him. He's also a really good boy!

So, Friday morning, we hooked up the trailer and hauled up to Mann Road. Last time we went to Lord Hill, which is a lovely park, but Larry wanted something a bit wilder. So, Mann Road it was! We got there around 11 and were the only vehicle in the parking area. Got all saddled up and headed out. Lar and I had agreed we'd do around 1 - 1 1/2 hours, as his longest ride has been a hour. No problem, I don't want to scare him off!

Mann Road has a variety of trails, from pretty easy ones to pretty tough ones, but I picked some nice, reasonable ones for us. We went down to the Snohomish River and I got a bunch of photos of them there. We then came back and went over a few bridges, up and down some creek sides, through some creeks and down a steep hill. Taz and Lar did great. We got back to the trailer at right about 1 1/2 hours ride time, which was just enough for Larry. Nice weather, not to hot or cold, no bugs, no other people. Not bad. Then, we headed out for lunch at a lovely little restaurant in Sultan we had never tried before. Wendy had recommended the Sultan Bakery and it sure was great. Really good sandwiches and the baked goods looked fantastic (but we declined). Taz went home with Wendy for the weekend, as she's hoping her honey goes riding with her.

I'll have photos when we find our camera cable to download them!

Klickitat Trek, 2010

It's hard to believe it's already been over a week since Klickitat! As usual, we had a fabulous time, although there were a few little blips in the general bliss.

We got there on Thursday, as on Friday we had a date to go see two youngsters that were bred here at Cascade Gold. Suyji was now 2 and Mazaly now 3. We drove down to Glenwood through pouring rain, hoping the weather was going to cooperate for our weekend. We've had so much rain in Western Washington this spring, I think I'm developing webs between my toes. We arrived at camp around 8 pm (had to wait until Wendy was off from work to leave home) and were all set up and in the camper by 9. It was still pouring and we were very, very grateful for the camper. I think tent camping would have been pretty miserable! All night long we listened to drumming rain and the heater coming on. Our horses were out under trees, all with their blankets on. (This is June 3rd!). The next morning, the skies were starting to clear and we got ourselves all ready for our trip to Catrina's place. She and her mother, Mary, came and picked us up, as my truck as pretty tied down with the camper and trailer. We got a tour of gorgeous canyons, rolling plains and windmills on our way to their place. They're in Centerville, WA, which is around 40 minutes from Glenwood. Probably not that far milewise, but the twisty roads make it take a bit longer than you'd think. We admired Suyji, now a strapping young lad and Mazaly, who was telling him where to go and how to get there. All their horses looked as if they were enjoying the huge pastures and after some photo taking, we met a bunch of their goats and learned all sorts of neat things about CSAs and windmills. I expect to see Catrina and her horses out eventing within a few years - they just need to grow up a bit first. We then headed back to the camp, where we vetted in and went for a nice, late afternoon ride.

Saturday morning dawned...sunny! Although we had our rain gear along, I'll take sunshine anyday. I get enough rain at home! Wendy went off for the 50 with our camp neighbor David LeBlanc, and I headed out two hours later for the 30. Until I figure out my problems, I'm going to stick with the shorter distances. We made it about 200 ft and I heard, clink, clink, clink. So, back to camp to change out an Easyboot - the cable had broken. We left again and started our ride. Klickitat is mainly on nice, sandy trails, with some logging roads, very scenic. Quite quickly, I linked up with a lovely lady named Chloe (never did get her last name) and her horse, Monty. We were chatting so much, that we missed a pie plate and probably did an extra 6 miles or so...woops. We weren't the only ones though. No matter how well those trails are marked, I seem to get lost there! At least I didn't do a whole extra loop this time. So, we backtracked and had a very lovely ride, with Monty and Galen moving out very well. We came into the first vet check at 17 miles in a bit less than 2 1/2 hours, so if we did an extra 6 miles or so, we were flying. We pulsed down right away and did our hold. I didn't see my bag there, so Chloe shared her stash and Galen just helped himself to everyone's food. We headed out of the hold and worked on rating Monty a bit, which he accepted. He and Chloe are still pretty new to endurance, so are still learning lots. I had fun being the 'mentor' this ride. We ended up back at camp around 1ish and unfortunately, Galen must have stepped on a rock in the last little bit of trail, as he was just the tiniest bit off. The vet gave us the chance to do the trot out again in an hour, but he had rubs from his Easyboots on both fronts, even with my wrapping and was still just the smallest bit off, so I didn't go back. I felt very badly, as he had done a fantastic job - we found out later that we were about 17th out of 55 or so, so if we hadn't made that detour, (and vetted through!) we might have top tenned.

Wendy came in a bit after 2 pm and while Allie was fine, she was hurting. Monica and Taz had a wonderful time on the trail ride, but we decided that with Galen's soreness and Wendy's knee, we'd forget riding Sunday. We didn't feel too badly though, as the rain started up again.

All in all, a very good weekend, although I wish we hadn't met that rock, but that is endurance! Our next planned ride is Renegade, over the 4th of July weekend.

Scooter Picture

Busy Week!

Last week was quite busy here at CGAT. Annie was getting ready to foal and we were really hoping she'd do it in time for us to get to the Klickitat Trek endurance ride. My cut off foaling date was Tuesday, as we were planning to leave Thursday. So, on Monday, I checked her and things were very promising. Her milk was starting to become white and sticky, the foal was in the proper position and she was cranky. I turned her out in the grass field and within the hour she wanted back in. So, we did 2 hour checks all day and by around 4 pm, she had waxed up. Whoo-hoo! We're having a baby! Monica made plans to stay the night (her first foaling!) and we told Annie we'd like to be all done by 10 pm at the latest. Monica and I hung out in the barn until around 11ish, watching Annie have contractions, timing them, getting everything ready. At that point, I headed into the house and just peeked out the window every half hour or so. Around 2 or so (I think - I was pretty tired by then) Monica came in the house and I just kept looking out the window. At about 6 am, my husband was out in the front yard throwing a ball for the dog, when he yelled "I see feet!". Annie had tried to sneak it past us. There was a mad scramble out to the barn and Alex and I caught the foal, as Annie decided to foal standing up. While I'd been hoping for a buckskin filly, we got a bay or smokey black colt, with lots of chrome and a definite urge to get up. He scooted around the arena for a bit, until he figured out his legs and then we moved mom and baby into the foaling stall. Scooter has stuck as his barn name and I suppose I'll need to get moving on a real name soon. He's a nice little guy, very friendly, well put together and FOR SALE.

Annie retained her placenta (probably from foaling standing up!), so we had a vet visit that morning. That turned out ok, except for the bill and they're both doing very well. Annie has a date with Salam fairly soon and I'll do my filly dance again, as I'd sure like a buckskin filly!

Baby Thoughts

Any mare can foal at any time...those immortal words from (I think!) "Blessed are the Broodmares". As the post title suggests, I've been thinking about babies...horse ones, that is! My lovely Teke mare, Annie (Anastasia) is due to foal pretty soon and so we've been getting the foaling stall ready, dreaming big dreams and trying to figure out when she'll pop. From past experience, she'll pick the most inconvenient time (for me), which means next weekend, when I'm supposed to be at Klickitat Trek. The timing works out too, as she'll be within 2 weeks of her due date, so the baby will be ready to be born. We'll end up making the decision whether to go or not based on what she looks like this week. Right now, I'd say I have between 1 day and 2 weeks, depending on many factors. Mares foal when they foal. I know some lucky people whose mares would foal on exactly the same day of pregnancy year after year. Not so for me. I've had them foal at 318 days, I've had them go past the magical 340 days. In the end though, as long as mama and baby are ok, the rest is just horses.



Why the worry, you ask? Why not just let nature take it's course and wake up to a happy, bouncy foal one morning? Well, most of the foalings here at Cascade Gold have gone without a hitch, but there have been several that if I hadn't been there, the outcome would have been grim, including 2 of Annie's. Most likely, fescue toxicity has been the culprit in most of my troublesome foalings, but at a certain point, you can't do much more. One year, all three mares that foaled were red bag deliveries (most likely the fescue) and one foal ended up not surviving. I won't even go into the vet costs! The mares had been off any sort of pasture for months, on forage that couldn't have fescue, but it didn't matter.



So, why go to all the trouble of breeding and foaling out horses? Well, being a breeder is kind of a calling. I try to produce foals that are better than their sire or dam or both. I very carefully match up horses to (hopefully) minimize faults and maximize excellent traits. It's worked pretty well so far, and in general, I think I've produced horses that improve on at least one parent. There have been some heartbreakers, but over the years, we've done pretty well. There are so many variables that seeing a horse you bred and raised doing well under saddle is a major achievement.



My absolutely favorite part of the whole process is the week before the mare foals. In that week, you can see the end of all your years of hard work culminating in the perfect foal ; perfect conformation, perfect sex, perfect color, perfect temperament. Once the mare foals, you have what you have. But that week before...better than Christmas any day! Running out to the barn to check on 'weird noises' and 'she was restless'. Even sleeping in the barn when you're pretty sure the time is close. It really is a time of wonder. I never get tired of it. Once the baby is born, that is amazing also. This young life, ready to be gently guided into being a partner for some lucky person. Foals know nothing about what we expect of them, so every interaction is so important.

I'll post photos and blog when the baby comes. Right now, it's a buckskin filly.

Grizzly Mountain Ride, April 19th, 2008

I'm here in front of the computer with a dog on my lap. I'm pretty sore from the ride this weekend, so am catching up on emails, blogs, etc. I wrote a complete report on the ride on another blog atsablog@blogspot.com, so I won't go into a long-winded recount here. I was lucky that my husband and kids took over the farm for the weekend and did a lovely job taking care of things. My 10 year old son, Zach, even did the grains on Saturday night, as his big sister Callie, was at a sleepover. She usually does the grains, but Zach stepped up and helped out. I'm still unloading the trailer and camper, although as we're planning on heading out again on Friday, I'm not doing a complete unpacking. After this next weekend, it will be several weekends before our next ride. I don't remember which one is next, off the top of my head. It was a very fun weekend, and our friends David and Jennifer LeBlanc camped next to us. We didn't coordinate very well for meals, so will have to do better this coming weekend!

Cathy