Horse Shoer And Brandy's Day

My horse shoer was out the other day. I brought my horses out over an hour early to give them a good brushing, mane and tail detangling and a much needed clipping. My shoer was supposed to be here at 1:00 p.m. He called me at 1:15 to tell me he was running a little behind and would be here in approximately 10 minutes. I have to tell you, my shoer has only been late one other time in the 5 years I have used him. And the other time he was late, he also called me to let me know. I don't care if my shoer is late. I understand all sorts of circumstances can cause him to be late. One thing I always do, is make sure both my horses are out, groomed, and hooves picked out by the time he arrives. I know they are on a tight schedule, and owners that don't have their horses ready can put them behind. My shoer always thanks me for having my horses ready for him. I think there were 2 times I didn't have them ready. One time, back when my horses could be a pain to catch, my shoer arrived and I was still trying to get the girls caught. The other time was right after I had knee surgery, and I just met him outside and asked if he could trim Brandy out in the pasture.

Here is Brandy, with Fritzy in the background, waiting as patiently as I am, for our horse shoer. She says "Come on! Why do I have to stand tied here for so darn long?"



Here is a sign I got for Christmas last year. My OH just installed it above our horse grooming/tacking area. My shoer noticed it and loved it!



This bird was brought into my garage by the Painted Creek Killer. I spent over an hour trying to get it out. I opened both garage doors, grabbed a broom, 6 foot ladder and wore myself out. I think I was more exhausted chasing a bird around than chasing my Aussie's! And that is tiring, believe me! Did I ever get the bird out, you ask? No. I had to leave to run horse errands with Pony Girl. But when I got home, I left the back garage door open, and haven't seen or heard it since. So hopefully, the bird escaped from the fangs of the PCK.



After running errands, Pony Girl and I brought our horses out to longe. After longing, I did some ground work with Brandy. Brandy is very responsive to me and I have been working on her ground manners since she was given to me 5 years ago. She has never had bad ground manners. But I just wanted to see how she'd react to the Clinton Anderson methods I have been using on Fritzy.



Here I am trying to get her to move away from pressure. She did really good going to the right, like Fritzy, but going to the left, I hit a brick wall. Uh Oh, Fritzy flashbacks. These pictures were taken with Brandy sidepassing to the right, her good side.



Here you will see her front left leg taking a step. This is when I release the pressure and reward her. Oh, and did you notice, I cut a few inches off my hair? It might not look much different, but it feels so much better! Especially in this hot, dry spell we have been in.



This is the first time I have tried doing training this way with Brandy. She definately moves her feet when you ask her too, for the most part. She is more responsive to it than Fritzy.



You will notice that Brandy has her fly sheet on. It isn't because of flies, the fly predators are really working. I haven't even had to use their flymasks. I was really hoping to be able to use that coupon on new flymasks this year! Well, not really, no flies are a blessing, so I am not going to complain. I put the horses flysheets on to prevent manure stains. They really keep the dust, ground in dirt and poo stains off my girls!



After the arena work, we brought the horses out to graze in chest deep grass. Horse heaven, no doubt! What I would really like to do some day, is put up a portable electric fence so I can turn the horses out to graze when I am home. My grass paddock that I have is really getting grazed down. With the unusually warm weather we have had around here, I might have to put the sprinkler out!



Sadie was enjoying making crop circles in the tall grass. I won't tell my OH, so next time he goes out there, he'll wonder who did it. It was the aliens! Seriously!



Sadie is the farm protector. She is always on the lookout for something that might come to harm us. I know if anyone ever tried to attack me, she would definately protect me! She is not one you want to mess with! Bailey, on the other hand, would lick the attacker to death! Which might not be a bad thing!



I took this picture of Pony Girl, uh, sis, what are you doing to my dogs mouth? I mean, I know they are very mouthy, but you just stuck your fingers right on in there!



This is better! Keep your fingers on top of her head! Aussie's are very mouthy, and they have a tendency to try to make you fall and break your neck. Since I am not working and am outside everyday with them, I don't know how many times I have saved myself from falling face first into the dirt. They like to cut right in front of me, as I am walking and nearly take me out. There is a funny story about my OH and Bailey taking him out. He was walking out to feed the horses one morning, and he heard Bailey coming full speed behind him. My OH was carrying my sister's boys hay out to his pasture. He didn't think anything of it, until Bailey decided to run headfirst right into the back of my OH's knees. Guess what happened? My OH's legs came flying out from under him, he landed on his back, with my sis's boys hay on top of his head and all over his body. I was not there to witness this. I was at work. This happened over a year ago, but I will never forget the story. Eventually I will need to do a post about my OH's mishaps. He has had a lot of these lately.



This should make my girl happy!



I have been experimenting with my camera at night. I am trying to figure out the settings. So I went outside to take a picture of the moon. I think it turned out pretty well!



It's not perfect, I mean, it was taken by my point and shoot. Hopefully one day, I can get a really nice camera like my sis's!