good to be home

It was time to go out of town again. Something I dread for my horse always get out and I worry about everything while I’m away. From my flowers getting eaten, my fences broken, my sheep getting out, my horses getting hurt to my stallions getting out and breeding someone they are not supposed too. Horses are very destructive, especially if they are young and bored. The grass is gone and the ground is dry and the hot wire isn’t getting a good ground. I run a drip line on the grounding rod and that seems to help but its still not zapping hard.
I have to feed and then get on the road. As I am feeding I notice one of the mares have broke off the corner post off at the base and now the fence was sagging but still up and the hot wire was still up. I didn’t have time for this today, everyone was still in there pens and so I decide to leave and hope for the best. Ashley was coming out later and would move them if it falls all the way down, I really didn’t want them in stalls I would have to clean when I got back so I left them where they where and left.
I get back and of course I had a horse out. She was on the back side, out on my neighbors land where there is still grass. Everyone one else was still in there pens thankfully. They had eaten a lot of the morning glory’s that are up against the fence but everyone was safe.
I feed and throw the mare on the other side of the fence, her food, in hopes she would walk back through so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way around and catch her. After feeding I notice she is not coming back through the fence, she is pacing back and forth, I will have to go catch her. It’s about a quarter a mile around and when I get there she is half in and half out looking at me. Her eyes where showing the whites, I stopped and talked to her for a minute. I was making fun of her for trying to go back there in a different spot, I could see where she had went through the first time down a ways. I left her hoping she would figure things out herself to go fix the fence. The mare never moved, she just stood there looking at me, I will have to get a halter on her and lead her through. She stands quite as I halter her, I step on the lower wire and lift on the upper and ask her to come through. She steps forward and swings her ass around catching the wire on her back leg. She tucks her ass and runs by me but stops when I ask her too but she had taken the fence with her brake it. She is nervous and looking back at her leg, I ask her to step back one step but she is stiff and wont move. I wait a minute and then ask again this time she steps back and I am able to guide her out of the wire. I was impressed she did so well for this filly (Tanya) was one of the harder ones to halter brake.
I start to fix the fence when I feel a light pulse, I drop the wire. The fence is still on, I forgot to turn it off on my way around. Thankfully it was grounded some where else and didn‘t shock me, I hate getting shocked.
Normally I would go around and around in my head, the fact that my horses did get out and I can’t get away from the worry but this time I was thankful I didn’t get shocked and everyone is fine, Tanya was so good to handle, some of my morning Glory’s took a hit but the blue ones I planted bloomed. It’s good to be home.


On the first real good rain I will be doing my normal rain dance, thankful every time I see one of my horses get zapped, sending them running and snorting to the other side of their pens, but for now I will keep watch.

Sale Day I wake up to mares out again. This time they kicked over another rock pillar. I knew I shouldn’t have put them in that pen before I got the hot wire on it but I needed the mare up to the barn so viewers could see both parents. They get out frequently for the two are ganging up on the one as to make her run through the fence, and normally they are easy to catch. I wasn’t sure as to why they are always the first to get out but the mare Sandi is showing the battle wounds now from the other two.
This morning I was extra stressed as it was my sale and concert and I still had a million things to do so I was pretty much screaming profanities and waving my arms around like a crazy person when I approached and the mares took one look at me and off they ran. I stopped screaming, as they have never ran before and now they are heading down to my neighbors. I didn’t have time for this shit this morning and started heading after them. Thankfully they decided to stop and eat the green grass up at the house but as I approached they ran again. The stallions have lost their minds screaming and running there pens so I decide to feed and maybe the mares will come back for food.
As I feed they came half way and let me catch them this time, I put them in the big arena and went to work putting the pillar back up and fixing the fence. The arena’s still need watered and horses bathed, Ashley shows up in the nick of time. Kelly shows up with the good sprayer and we get to work. We had washed half the horses the day before putting them in a stall over night only to have them seem even dirtier this morning than before we bathed them yesterday. Big Boy had managed to roll yesterday ever though I had tied him high on the hot walker, grinded the dirt in both sides so he needed another bath this morning as well. We all hustled and got everything ready for sale day, tables, chairs, the food and the spotless spotted paint horses to be sold, all quietly tied in there assigned stalls. Friends arrive and it starts off nice, it’s a beautiful day, but no real buyers come and finally I have to come to the disappointment of not selling any of the horses today.
More friends arrive and it’s time to start singing. I start off with the songs my father wrote. I couldn’t remember the rhythm to Got Good Reason, my mind went blank for some reason. I was so afraid I would cry while singing his songs, it is coming up on one year since his passing and things have been harder than usual lately, I never thought about my mind going blank but it was ok and I moved on to the next song. I had a flat bead trailer in the indoor as a stage and we find out when we start playing that it’s really bouncy. It not only went up and down but back and forth every witch way, we manage to get into the groove and through the songs. At the end of the day everyone came together, helped out and had a good time. I have some great friends and I learned a lot this first time around. I will still have these nice paint horses for sale here at the ranch and I am looking forward to doing another concert in the spring.
I have to admit I slept for a few days after, feeling sorry for myself a bit. As I found myself right back where I started, laying on my bed staring at the fan worrying I know I did the right thing, I got up and fixed up my ranch, halter broke some nice horses that needed it and I shared my songs and most importantly my fathers songs with my closest friends. You can only stare at the ceiling for so long and these last few month I have work hard, pushed myself to the edge of my sanity, I have laughed, I have cried and I have remembered love, love that made me who I am and for that I am forever grateful.

Ruby a two year old Fred filly

This is a two year old filly by Fancy and Fred. She is so sweet she was the first horse I wanted to bring down off the mountain. I had plans to have her under saddle and working the sheep by sale day. I didn’t have sheep when I started her Sire and Dam years ago and always wished I had. I did work Fred on cows a few times, he was afraid of the them at first but then I could see he was a gem, a cowy little sucker. Both parents where smart and as athletic as they get.
The first horses I brought home where the mares I had started in the past and this little filly was so sweet she followed me around and as I loaded her mother in the trailer I told her I would come get her next. The next trip I took she was the first horse I caught. I walked right up to her and put the halter on, she seemed to even put her head in the halter for me, what a sweet heart but when I asked her to follow she did at first… with each step she started to toss her head up and down and then side to side, opened her mouth, you could see the wheels turning in her head and then she planted all four feet firmly in the ground. Mmmm I don’t think she is halter broke? I didn’t have anyone there to help me so I left her and went to get a longer line and maybe if I put it around her hind end to help me get her feet moving. She was still standing in the same spot when I returned with the lunge line, I put it around her and ask her to move forward. She didn’t like this but came with me for a few steps and then she took off like a rocket by me. She was off and running with the lunge line flying behind her just add fuel to the fire. She ran all over that hill side just as fast as she could go, through the tree and down the hill and back around until she came to a stop again. Eyes wide and snorting, she would let me back up to her but if that lunge line moved she was off again. I managed to rap the line around a tree but she was scared now and was going to fight it out. As I’m wondering how to get this filly from this tree to the trailer, her full sister walks right into the trailer. I had put some grain in the trailer to coax the horses in earlier. She is a six year old breeding stock mare that doesn’t have papers so I really didn’t want this one now but she was in my trailer, no need making her get out. I decided to take the lunge line off the two year old and leave her with a shorter lead rope on to live with for awhile. I will have to pick her up another time.
I back my trailer up to an out side pen with hot wire around the top and let the horse out. I will let them settle a few day to get used to the hot wire, these horses are bad about pushing on fences for they have never been around hot wire.
Each day as I walk around the pen to catch other horses, I notice the six year old following me. She is curious and I decide to work her first. I stay in the pen with the other two horse and put the haler on her. I ask her to follow me by stepping to one side and then the other witch she does without resistance. I teach her to lunge around me both direction and leave her in the pen with the other two fillies.
The next day I recap the day before and she is great so I try to get her out of the pen and into the barn. About halfway she decided she wanted the comfort of her buddies and refused to go forward. She was getting upset starting to drag me now. With the reaction of her younger sister I didn’t want to push it so I put her in the big arena next to the others. She was friendly so this shouldn't be a problem.
The next day when I went to catch her she thought twice about it and took off running. She ran to one side then the other a few times and then I noticed she was trotting a perfect circle around me, like I was lunging her but she was free. She had learned her lesson from the day before well and now this is what she thinks I want from her is to trot circle around me. I had to laugh for she is a smart one. I stand still and she stands still. I move she moves. I have to block her now so she will understand I want her to stop not go when I approach. When I finally can get up to her again I pet her, put the halter on and then take it off again, I leave her in the big arena to work again tomorrow.

The next day I have to recap the lesson again but this time it only take a few minute. I lead her out and take her to the barn. She gets worries halfway again but this time I push on. She needs to get in the barn and out of my outdoor arena.
These horses are used to running in a herd and are nervous about getting cornered as not to get kicked by the dominate horses, getting them into a dark barn is tricky but I manage to get her into a stall. I take the halter off and close the gate. As I walk away she starts to circle and climb the walls. She is nervous now and a screaming fool, she will have to settle before I can do anything more with her.
The next day she is still mad about being confined but she mellows when I clean her stall, she is happy to have some company. I bring her classmate in the barn next to her and let them chill for a few days.
The first time I tie her she fights like there is no tomorrow. She throws herself down and around, and throws an out and out tantrum. I decide to call her nick name her Trouble.

What have I got myself into here? She is going to tare down my barn or hurt herself trying. After about a week she is settled to a pawing fool when tied. OH dear. I hope they are not all going to be little spit fires like this first one?
Back up to the ranch for the next three and that little two year old I wanted first. She still has the halter on but I had her owner take off the lead and now she wont have no part of this trailing business and stays out of reach. Grain she doesn’t care! She stays out of reach. I will have to get her next time.
Trouble has settle thankfully and will stand tied, she still will paw but not with such intent, it’s down to annoyance now, she is a very sweet mare, a little herd bound but seeming to get over that as well.
I remember Fred was just the same, for these horses have a lot of try. That energy focused is an amazing thing but a little harder to get started. Big Boys babies are just like him easy going and no trouble at all but Fred is a higher level performance horse, bred to be expressive.
Back up to the Ranch I go, this time I will get the two year old filly I wanted first. Enough time had past, she had settled down and with some help this time I was able to get her into the trailer with panels.
Seeing it was so hard to get these horses into my barn unloading them from the trailer into the barn seemed to worked well with the last group. Tanya make a break for it but the other two unload and wander into a stall without a problem.
I work with the two year old in the stall asking her to follow me around with a light pull. She is great I lead her to a new stall without any resistance. I tie her in the new stall and she stood tied for hours. I guess she was done with the tantrum throwing. She bathed and stood for her photo shoot like a dream for I had no help that day. What a sweet little ball of fire she is. I nick name her Ruby

Tanya

I was happy that Tanya started off today where she ended yesterday and I could walk into the stall and pet her face and put the halter on her. She still would startle when I was in her blind spot but wouldn’t leave. She led out of the stall and out to the round pen without any resistance. I was going to put her and the other two year old together in the round pen to hang out for a while, but when I went into the pen the other filly took off running so I kept Tanya with me in the middle and worked this other filly. This worked well as Tanya stayed with me even when I had to change the direction of the other filly. I think she liked being on the other end of this game for a change and never resisted coming with me and so I kept it short running the other filly only for as long as she would face up and let us approach and pet her. I leave the two girls to hang out for the rest of the day. Both girls let me catch them and put them in there stalls without and trouble later that evening.

Tanya

Now that I have her in the round pen I can get her tired enough so she will start to change her way of thinking. She is not afraid of me she just doesn't understand why I'm chasing her. People up to this point in her life only come with food. She will let you pet her but it's on her term. Grain only works so far and I don't use it at all in my training for I feel it make a horse constantly push the boundaries of my space. Horse are all about space, it is how they speak to each other in their world of dominate or not. If a horse moves into your space and you move away the horse is dominate in it mind. I wont stand there and let a horse step on me but if it makes me move I will move that horse farther away than it made me move. It is important to stand your ground with a horse. With Tanya here she is not use to a person acting this way and it freaks her out. I have found this one simple thing is at the rout of most of people and horses communication problems. People are unaware they are letting there horse think it's dominate in it world of space. I enter the round pen and Tanya stand looking at me, I can walk up to her but she doesn't want me to touch her face. I can pet her neck but I need to be able to touch her face if I am going to get a halter on her. I spend the time here for she will need to learn this one thing before I move on. I let her leave if she wants and push her around the pen. She is used to this game and take off at a trot. She trot around the pen looking for a way out, I keep her moving and push her to the lope only letting her stand when I am in her space where she has to decide to stay or go. She is head strong and it take about thirty minutes before she will stand and let me pet her face. She still didn't want the halter on and would become wild eyed and bolt when I tried so I throw the rope at her letting it reach out and touch her while she ran and even while she faced up. I do this until she is not trying to bolt and will stand and let me throw this soft rope at her. She is funny, once she decided to let me pet her between the eyes she was over it. She is really one eye dominate and doesn't like me face on in her blind spot, always moving to her strong eye. I work both eyes until I can approach from both side and pet her face.
I need to get her out of my round pen and into a stall today. I put the halter on and ask her to step to one side and she did, then the other side and she did that too but I still can't get her to step forward. She stand her ground with her feet stretched out. she really doesn't like this pressure on her head and opens her mouth and stuck her tongue out, I try to get her feet to move by clucking and whacking her with the rope, she understands me pushing her but she is mad now. I wait a bit and she starts to think and plink again. Now when I ask her to move she leaves in a hurry and instead of me letting her go I pull back instead. I don't know what I was afraid of, she was in a round pen and couldn't go far and I was the one hitting her but I didn't think of that at the time and pull back harder. Well Tanya has had enough and takes off pulling me, the one thing I didn't want with this horse, was a tug a war and now I'm being pulled around the pen like a skier.
When a horse is in its fear mode they don't learn as well as in there more lay ed back mode but this filly is in fear mode. With horses you have to get to the heart of the matter she needs to learn this in fear mode and brought back to chill with me. I feel this is important in setting dominates, the reason for pushing her in the first place. Oh ya back to me being a dumb ass, there is no real hurry here, she can only go around in a circle so no need to get rope burned. I let her go out to the end of the line and let the panel hold her and let her run for a bit. when I see her starting to think about slowing I add pressure and pull her to me. With a few more drags across the pen and I have her stoping and facing me when I pull. I get up to her and pat her between the eyes she startles and leaves in a hurry but doesn't go far and turn and faces me. I walk up to her and pat her between the eyes again she plinks but stays with me. I wait until she relaxes but I still have to teach this mare to walk forward with a pull of the line to get her to the barn. I send her away then ask her to turn into me. If she gets nervous and leave I pull her around and make her go in the other direction. My focus here is to teach her about the pull and what I want from her so I will pull hard and make her go in the other direction. I want her to fight if shes going to so I can work her through it before tieing her for the first time. I lunge her until she will except me pushing her and leave at a walk, face up when I ask and let me pet her between the eyes. push up to the fear mode and back down to chill
Out of the round pen and into the barn. Well we got half way in and the shadow got her thinking that was as far as she was going today. I wait a bit but she was just fine where she was and wouldn't step forward, we still had side to side and back but no forward. I tied her to the stall door and go around back to help and yes she pull back. Now she is mad again and won't do anything but lean. I whack her a few times but it wasn't working. I walked away and got another horse out of it's stall to show her, horse do live in this black hole. When I got back she still look like she was leaning but there was slack in the rope now. When I asked her to step forward she did and went into the stall, I took off her halter and pet her between the eyes.

Glory glory my morning glory's have bloomed. My fences are hot wire and my horses get out all the time. Half the time I feel like I am a guard standing watch and these horses are my prisoners. It is a full time job and one that makes things harder. You have to have a trained ear to hear that sound my stallion makes when someone is out in the nigh, I get out of bed,go catch who ever is out, causing havoc and then try to go back to sleep. I have some trouble makers who are always on the watch for the hot wire not working well. Summertime is always my problem months cause the ground is so dry it doesn't ground well. After years of this nonsense I finally solved my problems. First I put up some chicken wire on the outside of the rock pillor as a visual to keep the horses from running under the fence. I planted morning glory along the wire and then I put in the drip line witch keeps the ground wet and the hot wire hot. So simple I'm kinda embarrassed it took me this many years to think of it, but now with my fathers plants to keep alive, they have given me back my love for plants and flowers that I had lost so many years ago. Training horses is hard work and I felt I couldn't keep up with it all when I divorce and so I let my flower die.
After 8 year of saying to myself "I can't do this by myself" I realized I have been running this ranch by myself and now it's time to solve some of the things that make me feel like a slave to my job and to this ranch.

I have two mares who are young and up to no good. Both mares I didn't keep going with there training cause of all the crap that just kept on happening and they both wants my attention and are always in trouble. I bred them both this year hoping they would settle down and stay in the big pasture with the other mares. But no they get out and kick at the stallions leaving holes in my barn and knocking down rock pillors so I have to keep my own horses in the stalls just to get some sleep. The new morning glory's are working (Blessings)and my horse are staying in their pasture and glory glory my mornings are brighter.

This is Tanya a two year old paint filly out of a mare we call Sandi and sire Big Boy she is one of the last colored paints to be halter broke, She is real big for a two year old and I dreaded doing the job only cause she is so big. I had already worked with her sister and thought she might get a little bratty and throw her weight around. When picking her up I put her in the trailer last and so she would be the first to unload at home. When dealing with a herd of not halter broke horses panels are needed to get them in and out of the trailer. Now I had such panels when I pick up the first few trailer loads but sense then I have made more pens and used the panels I now need to unload these horses into the barn. I find and one half piece of plywood on one side and I stand on the other and open the ramp…
She just stands there looking straight ahead. I wait hoping she will turn around and come on out on her own for I’m blocking the other hole and can’t move. She wont move so I have to step in the trailer and urge her out, this works and she turns and heads for the hole I don’t want her to go, I jump in front of her causing her to whirl and take out the plywood I put up and get out. She is fee running all over the ranch with her tail in the air. Stallions screaming she strutted her stuff until she hit the hot wire and got nervous about her new surroundings. I couldn’t get her to herd into a pen, she would roll back and run over the top of me. I had to hit her with the lead I had in my hand to get her to respect my space but that just made her run harder. I finally managed to get her into the big arena and there she will stay for now.
A few days go by and we are getting to know each other a little but she still won’t let me put anything on her face. I need to get her in a smaller pen so I herd her into a pen that is the only pen connected to the arena but it only has hot wire and so I try not to push her to hard. This way I don’t have to walk so far and I am able to get up to her but she still won’t let me put anything on her.
She started thinking about taking out the hot wire fence and got shocked again so getting her back to just letting me pet her took a while. I let her go back in the indoor fearing she would take out my fences not understanding about it yet.

I have gotten busy halter braking the two in the barn and getting them ready for there Photo Shoot. I was by myself so I tied them to a tree to photograph. The two year old is a Fred baby is just like her mother who I had started years ago. Sweet but has her own mind and want to do things her way. She is smart and has some fire witch is frustrating when getting started but once she gets used to the new order she will settle down and work great. It is a real advantage to having trained both parents in the past with the majority of these horses, I know them already and it’s fun to see how they crossed with each other. Some horse stay in your mind through the years and these horses I remember well. I remember because I liked them and wished they would have stayed in training. I didn’t have sheep back then but I knew they would be great on a cow and wanted the opportunity to see. Funny how life works isn’t it? I still have not work any on my sheep cause just halter braking the lot is enough work right for now.
Realizing I really need to get this last colored paint haltered and out of my big arena. I decide today is the day. I will work her first as to have the energy for her. It is going to take some walking for this arena is big. These horses are funny they are tame when walking around them but when push comes to shove they are wild and can fight for their freedom with everything they have. They have been raised in a herd, so their social skills are great and easy to train but they don‘t like to be confined. Knowing how harsh life is in a herd and how if you can’t run from a dominate horse you are going to get kicked hard. I understand this and try to let her leave if she wants and keep her going and let her decide that what I want from her is not so bad after all. This pen is to big and after an hour I have just taught her to run for one end to the other. It’s a game now and she is have great fun cutting me and then taking off like a bat out of hell. She is quite the mover, flat kneed and up under herself, I think she could show pleasure and I’m excited about that, but right now My feet hurt! I decide to try this on horse back and go get a filly I have in training. I remember all to well working horses in the past, how easy they can kick you in the knee and so I keep my distance.
Tanya has not see anyone ride a horse before and is not sure if she should run or come say hi. She decides to run. I stand still and wait for her to settle and then start to track her. This works well for both horses but I’m still following her. I try to take control and herd her where I want her, she doesn’t like this and tries to take control back and pins her ears and comes at me. Yelling at her and swinging a rope at her reminds her this is not just another horse and she changes her mind and I am able to drive her. She still will not stand still so I drive her into a corner and block her. This takes about another hour to get her to stand still where I want her and relax. Because I had to yell at her and throw the rope at her she gets nervous and tries to leave every time I talk to her now. I have to block and talk, block and talk. Funny mare.
I still can’t get a halter on her and thought about roping her but the filly I’m on isn’t ready for that. She did great today tracking this horse so I decide to try and herd her through a few pens and into the round pen. This take another 30 minute but finally she is in the round pen. I put the filly I’m riding away and enter the round pen, I push her around the pen and within about fifteen minute she is ready to let me walk up to her again and pet her. I could have put the halter on but I’m tired so I leave her in the round pen and get to cleaning my stalls. I will work her first thing tomorrow.