It's a beautiful day in Nebraska. It's a perfect day to take a nice long ride. It's also a perfect day to drag colts out and play.
My goal was to snag up my sweet yearling filly and really play with her. She had other ideas. What a brat. I never did get to her, but tomorrow's another day. Instead, I took the first horse who came to put her head in the halter. And that was my pretty palomino filly named Sage.
I brushed and combed Sage until I could get all the loose hair off her and got the tangles out of her long luxurious mane. It's down past her shoulder and it's gorgeous. I clipped her bridle path and one foot. That was about all she could stand lol. Then I worked on trailering. We'd get half-way in and that was all she wrote. I was home alone and we were at a stand-still.
Hubby pulled in and helped me for about three minutes until my best bud and her daughter pulled in. Hubby made out like he had been working for HOURS and this "mare" wouldn't listen. Deb asked if I wanted help. Well sure! if you got a few minutes!
And that was all it took... just a few minutes with two of us encouraging Sage to load and unload.
Sooooo I gave Sage a treat and turned her back out to the pen.
My next victim was the little rescue Arab we call Mike. When we picked Mike up from his foster home they told me he was "a little wild". He's ornery sometimes, but he's not wild. He had huge snarls in his long mane that took me a while to get out. He very obligingly let me trim his bridle path. Then he walked over the bridge with me with little fuss. He's such a freaking puppy that we had to have a talk about personal space a few times. But he is so eager to please and loves the attention so much that he'll do anything you ask.
He has only been in a trailer once. That was the day we brought him home a year ago. You would never know it because he jumped right in today. He's a funny goofy guy and I think he'll be a lot of fun to watch evolve.
I turned him loose and sought out my next victim. I tried to get Maggie the yearling again, but she was having nothing to do with me today... brat. But what's this? My fearful wonderfully-bred Arabian, Tres, came up to me. I clipped the lead on him and opened the gate.
Well hell (lol).... this dang colt will NOT cross the invisible gate-line to leave the pen. I hollared at hubby to come help me. No-go says Tres. Ah ha! Mr. Blueberry came seeking the halter. We tried leading Blue over the invisible line in hopes Tres would follow. Nope. We tried taking Tres sideways across the invisible line. Nope. We tried waving a halter behind Tres to get him to cross. Nope. (sigh) Ok. At least he was willing enough to follow me UP to the fence so I took advantage of him letting me pet and rub on him inside the pen.
And since Blue was then haltered for use to try to get Tres out.... we took him instead.
This colt is really really pretty. He's actually my Dad's colt, but I've always liked him. I'm told stories that he was a hellion as a yearling. I was told that he was jumping over panels, trying to breed his mamma and had a halter growing into his face. You would NEVER know that by working with this guy. Dad took an interest in him and I give all the credit to his gentling to Dad. This horse wasn't a rebel. He shows no signs of aggression. He goes along with whatever you throw at him. I think he was scared shitless and opting for fight and flight in the rumored stories.
Look at him. Somebody missed out on a really nice horse. Dad saw it and now he's here with us. Cute cute CUTE!
I brushed him all purdy and then flicked on the evil clippers. Pshaw.... now he has a nice pretty bridle path. He leads like a dream and we worked on setting up for halter and showmanship. Gosh he's sure pretty. It's too bad we don't know his lineage. I'm told he's grade... but what the hell. The horse has a good mind and that's more important to me than papers. He had only been loaded once or twice in his life and he hopped right in the trailer like nobody's business. What a good boy.
We went to catch Maggie again. UGH... what a brat! I didn't want to give up on catching her, but here stood Rojo eager for his turn.
Rojo is full brother to Sage. He's short, he's stocky, and he's smart. But he makes you work for things. I brushed and brushed and got him all purdy. Then I got the clippers out. He didn't mind until I moved them toward his bridle path. Argh... you want to argue? I'll argue. It took me the longest to do his... BUT! he is the ONLY one who let me clip his muzzle! So he earns extra points for that.
Then Hubby took him for a stroll over the bridge and he did great. We hadn't worked with trailering with him for a long time either, so in we went. His first trip in was near perfect. And he backed out nicely too. The 2nd trip in wasn't so perfect and he held tight with front legs in and back legs out. He must have stood there like that for a good 15 minutes. Finally I put a shoulder into his butt and he hopped in. We gave him a treat once in and let him stand there for a while. He backed out very well and he got big neck-hugs that he likes and he was done for the day.
I regret not going back after the brat... and I worry that I freaked Tres out trying to get him to leave his safety zone... but there will be another day for those too.
I think Wink was a little put out that I didn't play with him. But he's got a lot more ahead than I wanted to fiddle with today.
All in all, it was a very productive day with some babies I hadn't messed with in a while. I'm dirty and hairy and my fingernails are black from the good ole dirty I hand-groomed off these babies. One weekend when I came back from college I came bopping into the house all happily dirty from horseplay and my Mom said "It's like when you were a kid... coming home happy and dirty." Yay!
And, as always, I catch Hubby doing something hubby-ish. Instead of walking OUT of the trailer to retrieve his drink, he opts to squeeze his manly shoulders through the trailer window. Men... (sigh) ya gotta love 'em.
Oops... got my foot stuck. Oh well. Cool piece 'o hay, huh?
Let me eat these oats and get the hell away from me. moo, snort, grunt, stomp, head-butt.. ok fine, pull that icky hair off me... aw yes, that feels pretty good actually 
