Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Morning Greetings

I am greeted every morning by four hungry beasts, and they each show me theirdispleasure at being late with their food (even if I'm not late) in different ways.

Sassy and Killian are in one pasture together.  They stand at the shed door and the minute any one walks out the front door, it is a full blown demanding whinny from Killian.  Then Sassy follows with her own little whinny.  If I walk over to the jeep to start it first, he whinnies even louder. 
When I come to the shed they back up to let me in, then both stick their heads in the door to try and snatch a bite.


Danny and Trax are in the other pasture.  This pasture has a shed with Two stalls attached, so they are separated at night.  There used to be walls between the feed shed and the stall, but Sassy and Killian chewed them down.  So now it is just open on two sides.  I have to stack the food up on the far side, or they will grab a bag of cubes and rip it open and help themselves!   Danny has a nice soft nicker when it is feeding time.  Then he stands and paws at the ground.  Here he is sticking his head in to watch me scoop his food. He can actually get quite pushy, so I have to make him wait just to remind him who is in charge. 

 
Trax paces when he is hungry.  I tried to get a pic of him in the shed but this was all I could get.  Nice butt though!

 
Yep still pacing!!!  He still looks funny after I butchered his mane to get the bot eggs out.

 
 
He looks chubby to me, but I really think it is because of his winter coat.  It comes in so thick.  Doesn't he look like his mouth is stitched together? 
 

 

A close up of his "stitches"
 
 
See how thick his coat is?  It is thicker than any of the others.  Not like Cushings thick, just Wyoming Cow pony thick. It is soft too.  I love his hair.  I love my horse.  I actually got to work with him for a few minutes on Sunday.  We did very little, just some moving of body parts, gait transitions and moving him sideways in both directions.  Ground work, didn't have time to ride. But I was very pleased with how well he moved sideways away from me, crossing his legs, and moving softly, not running from me, just doing as I asked.  I think the next time I ride, it will be good.  I just hope it isn't a month from now. 

Trax was becoming very standoffish again in the big pasture.  Moving him back to the stalls has turned that around in just a week.  When left to his own demise he becomes a solitary soul.  But when forced to interact, he seems to enjoy it. 

Yesterday when Simon and I went out to feed, the Arabians next door were running around like crazy. Danny and Trax followed suit and it was fun to watch them, even Danny, race around the pasture.  Danny really seemed to be enjoying himself.  He doesn't run much anymore.  I really think the stretching exercises help him.

With any luck I will have some time on Sunday to take the two of them down to the arena.  I would like to put a short ride on Danny and work with Trax on his Ranch Horse Skills.  Keeping my fingers crossed!


This was the sunrise this morning.  I took this with my Iphone and have not edited it.
I am amazed at the sky lately!  
It actually was cooler through the lens than in person.  My phone usually doesn't do well with low light but this turned out wonderful!

3 comments:

  1. Trax really has a lot of cool markings. I like them!

    Why do you feed hay cubes instead of hay? How does that compare in cost? Do you get a discount since you buy it by the pallet?

    Love the sunrise photo!

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  2. Hi Andrea, Yes Trax does have some cool markings, which is how he got his name. He has spots that look like paw prints on his back.
    I feed haycubes for a few different reasons. First off, in Wyoming with the wind, hay often ends up in the neighbors yard. So although it is cheaper you waste an awful lot of it, and end up losing any money you save. Second, with the cubes I have much better control on how much my horses eat. I know that every thing I give them will get eaten, and that is a plus too. Zero waste is always good. I just feel it is an all around better food. No I don't really get a discount, I was buying direct from the actual cuber in Riverton,(which was cheaper) but he quit selling to anyone but contracted distributors when the drought hit. He had to fill his contracts with them first and barely had enough to do that. So I found a new supplier in Utah, and am going down to buy a semi load this weekend.(One of those times when it helps to have a boyfriend in the trucking business) I prefer the cubes from Riverton as they are certified weed free and very high quality hay, but the Utah cubes are decent. I had the supplier mail me a sample. We are actually buying extra this year and will sell off a few pallets for a small profit to help cover some the fuel costs. Hopefully next summer will yield better crops and we can go back to buying from Riverton. In fact, I would love to become a contracted supplier.
    Hopefully you are ok with the long answer! LOL

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  3. That makes a lot of sense! I'm sure we don't get near as much wind as you do, but there are lots of days where I end up feeding several times just to make sure they get something to eat before it blows away.

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