Training Refinements

As I continue training, I continue learning.  Gammy said I would and that I needed to feel my way through it and figure it out on my own once she showed me the basics.  And she, as usual, was right.

Preg tests are in!

And I am going to be twice as busy next year!  Literally.  I have 6 mares confirmed!

New babies and new titles!

Oh, my gosh, I always feel like I am so far behind, but life, as always, has been crazy!  Having not had any foals for almost 3 years, I forgot how much work is involved.  And right in the middle of it all, we lost one of our most valuable employees. 

Seiki is passing up April

I knew it!!!  Seiki also is getting milk in her teats and I will not be surprised at all if she foals before April.  Silly mare, just hates to be last for anything, especially dinner.

Again, let me know if you see anything on the cams that I should check out.  And don't laugh at my polka dot jammies if she foals in the middle of the night.  Lol!

First foal eases pain

Well, we had a little gathering at the creekside last week and laid Natalie to rest.  We are going to scatter a packet of wildflower seeds over the patch of bare ground when it warms up enough.  Then we had the future to look forward to and last night, our first foal arrived!

As new life arrives, an old one ends

Don't get me wrong, I put implicit trust in each and every member of my staff, but I do not sleep at night until I have done the rounds of the pregnant mares when foaling season arrives.  They all do their checks too, and I encourage that, the more watching, the better.  But I have to personally lay eyes, and hands, on them and have our private talk about how they are going to wait for me before they foal and they are not going to have any problems and they all get their favorite treats.

Foals due this year

I have a big foaling season, at least for me, this year.  3 mares due!  Lol!  One of each breed so it will be a motley crew in the pasture.

Another Futurity Winner!

I only entered Laiko in one class, Open Halter, but he won the blue ribbon and nice pile of cash, along with a pretty trophy for the display case.  His score was 77.79 and he won almost $8000! 

Laiko is AMAZING!

I am in love with my wonderful colt, Laiko, by Grecian Fire, out of our homebred Pop Music.

PS

Ruby now has all 5 majors needed to move into the upper level shows when she meets the points requirements, yay!  And Netty scored over 84 points in her Halter class last month!!! 

More new horses!

I couldn't resist trying to add some roan to my Ardennais' so I purchased a lovely imported colt that is grey but both parents carry roan. 

Quick brag!

2 of our girls are new Beginner Champions!  As I thought, as soon as her younger sister moved up a bracket, Foxy went out and showed those judges who is boss and captured the last 2 points needed to gain her championship.  And, against much greater odds (think evil Kiso's from the Valley of Unrest) ChiChi was able to grab, not one, but two majors and become a Beginner Champion!  I happened to be at the show when that happened, although I am usually found at the Western shows, so I was thrilled to be able to witness the event.  Here are the show results from the newspaper.  You'll notice she also snagged HPE.  So proud of this girl!

New Hokkaido Blood

I have been thinking for several months about adding some new blood to my Hokkaido band and finally bit the bullet and sent away to Japan for a lovely young colt. 

More good news!

This morning I was very excited to see another of my lovely young mares become a Beginner Champ!

Catching Up

It seems all my blog posts have this title, or should.  I have just been falling behind on keeping you folks informed as to the goings on of the ranch, but things are progressing.

PS

Forgot to mention, as I am learning the ropes, showing has kind of been put on hold.  We do get entered once in a while, but I am far more focused on learning how to train and run the ranch.  But I will let y'all know when we get back into it on a regular basis and will update with any big news here. 

So, here I am...

Well, Gammy says I have to start adding to this blog so I can take over when she retires.  I am not much of a writer but I am going to view it more as record keeping as I get started on this whole "boss" thing.  It is a little, ok, a lot, scary to know I will be responsible for this place, but also really exciting.  But isn't that what fear is, excitement? 

Cutting back, but moving forward

I have been working hard on getting things rearranged in my life so that I can retire in the next ten years or so.  At that time I will be turning over the "reins" to my granddaughter, Hayden, so she is moving in to the big house here while I start to show her the ropes and start backing off on training and actual work with the horses and stick more to the paperwork/office end of things.  She will eventually take that over too, but for now, she is helping take some of the strain off my old bones and muscles.  So, what changes will you see? 

Training regimen

Thought I would share a bit about my training regimen.  I like to start my new foals off with getting used to being handled immediately.  I find this to be a great advantage both for mom and baby.  On the off chance that a foal needs medical care, or even mama, it helps if they have had some handling and can be moved around or held for blood draws or meds, IV, syringe or oral.

Gorgeous sorrel colt!

I am so excited about Saffi's new colt!  He is an amazing liver sorrel with a very good temperament.  Saffi had a tough time pushing him out, he is huge!  But Doc was out and checked them both out, drew blood for IGg and everything looks great.  Poor Saff is a bit sore, but is being a great mama.  

                                

Foal Soon!

SAFFI HAS WAX!!!  Help us keep watch on the webcams.  Please call if you see imminent foaling or have other concerns.  She has been rolling a lot so I worry about her getting cast.  Still hoping for a great little colt, I have the perfect name picked out.  

UPDATE ON SAFFI

Right now she is looking like she is carrying an elephant and is eating us out of house and home!   LOL!   I have her in the paddock nearest the foaling barn, but she still gets to stay out until she starts getting a good sized bag on her.  I want her to be able to move around and get some rolling done as the foal does not look to be in position yet.  

Falling Behind

I guess it happens to all of us at one time or another.  Due to the changing of the seasons and starting up all kinds of new projects, this blog has suffered.  But never fear! the horses are doing fantastically well and I have a new Paint foal due this year.  I am quite excited as it will be the first in 3 years.  I recently
took a couple trailer loads of horses to Horsin' Around that I had tried and tried to sell or auction off myself.  I know they will eventually find them good homes and the volunteers down there love to lavish attention on them.  Mostly Hokkaidos and some older mares.  I am not breeding or showing much right now due to all the other things going on in life but I know I will get back to it as time goes by.

Anyway, until then I will try to at least update on any new champions and the new baby this year.  Actually hoping for a colt this time.  It will be out of Saffi by Operation Moonspots so should be very special.  And just a couple more months to go.  She is looking pretty fat and sassy right now.  I think she is thoroughly enjoying her retirement.

More about the PRS staff

Just wanted to update on the staff from PRS.  I already mentioned that Cate and Cory will be living in the house there, in fact, they are planning to be married in the old barn when it is all cleaned out and painted.  Little Jacob, now in second grade, is so excited because he will be getting his first "big boy" horse.  I may let him take my older gelding, Doc.  They already have a great rapport.

Wow, crazy month!

Where to begin?  The highlights, then a more in depth explanation, I guess.  So, Memzie was fabulous in her first show, Brownie is now a beginner champion and, oh, yeah, I have closed Prairie Rose Stables.  

Breeding for year 196

I did not breed any foals last year and it has been a little sad with no new babies to play with this spring, but I decided to breed 2 for the upcoming year.  I am very excited as one is a proven fabulous cross and the other is my very first Ardennais foal by my lovely custom boy.

Memzie's first show...

I have been working a lot with Memzie, one of Panama's last foals, and she is finally ready for her entry into the show world.  Andrea is very excited, as she is going to be showing her in her very first halter class.  She hasn't had much training, but these first couple of shows will let us know where she stands.

Back in the swing...

So, I have been gone for a few days visiting my adorable baby granddaughter.  I came back to find things running smoothly, as usual, but it appears we have a new romance brewing between our two ranches.  Cory seems to be spending an awful lot of time over at PRS, taking private meetings with Cate!

Precocious filly!

I have been very eagerly awaiting the birth of my first Saffi foal, and early this month she had this wonderful filly!  But, as if beauty and fabulous sweet temper weren't enough, she blew me away in her first month of training!

It's A Filly!

First foal of the year and she's a beautiful little bay filly!  Very exciting to have the first one on the ground.  I have had the vet out, she is doing great, although she did not like the blood draw and the vet's assistant is going to

Foaling Cams

Finally got the rewiring done and the new cams in and just in time!  The mice played havoc with our system over the winter, but we have added two amazing little barn cats, Lucy and Yeti, and we should not have a repeat of that issue.

Lots of Good News!

Sachio had a fabulous showing in the open plowing class at Southlake today and snagged his final point in Intermediate and has now moved up to Advanced level classes!  We are all jumping for joy around here.  Absolutely amazing to have a first generation rare breed doing so well.  So next month I will be training him myself to see where he stands and to get him whipped into shape to move on.  I am really excited about working with him.

Handsome Hokkaido

I just had to share this lovely Japanese Hokkaido with y'all.  His name is Sachio and he is performing in Draft in-hand and plowing and pulling classes.  He continues to bring home points every day and is a sweet boy to work with and show.  I will be gearing my Hokkaidos toward steeplechase from here

BIG WINNER TODAY!!!

We had our first futurity winner today since I started training myself.  Lotti was entered in mares and fillies trail and in- hand and she took home the blue in trail, with a score of 50.76, and the yellow in in-hand, with a score of 57.23.  We are so proud of her!  She now has over $13,000 in earnings and a nice little title to follow her name.  I really like saying Futurity Winner Lotti.  :-)

Training Woes

I am still struggling with figuring out a training schedule that blends what my horses need and the time and energy available to fulfill those needs. I will have my first futurity entry in English in-hand and trail tomorrow and hopefully that will give me some idea on how my training is working out.

Poor Zorro!

I have some sad news. I was working with Zorro this month and that is when I noticed again this issue with ground driving. I was trying to teach him to rein and he was flipping out when the reins touched him. How he made it to intermediate champion I will never know! Anyway, I didn't feel safe on his

Staff Meeting

I really like to know what the staff is doing and thinking, and I like to keep them apprised of what I am doing and thinking, so we hold a staff meeting on the last Friday of the month. Religiously. Well, this month, I had to get to the bottom of the ground driving issue. I have noticed

FIRST PLACE!

Anni placed first in the open in-hand class on Haal 15th!  Even better she was the high point earner for the whole event!!!  So many blue ribbons she already has.  Love my Anniken!

The Future

So, a little about my future plans.  I am in the process of a coming up with a 10 year plan toward early retirement.  At the end of that time, I do not want to have an outside job at all.  I would like to be training my show horses with the help of hired exercise attendants and a few groomers.  I will keep Jack on, until

Training Day

I was visiting my other ranch, Prairie Training Stables, this month and decided to do some training myself to see how the horses were doing. I chose to train Edi, Lotti, and Blue. Edi was just recently purchased and I was not sure how much training she had when I got her as a rising 3 year old,

A bet with my foreman!

I made a bet with my foreman that I could get one or both of my 2 year old fillies saddle broke enough for a trail ride in one month. I don't know what I was thinking, as I have not actually trained a horse in quite some time! But, today, on the 30th of Eyz, I was able to get Rouge all tacked up and ride her around the paddocks and through the show barn. So, now, what to do with this extra $100 burning a hole in my pocket?

Our new Blog is up!

This is going to be the place to find out what is happening at Prairie Rose Farms. I am hoping to be fairly regular at posting here and keeping y'all up to date with all the goings on of our ranch and our horses. I will also be posting little tidbits about my hired hands and their lives, on and off the ranch. For instance, we have a wedding