All of our 2013 foals are here and healthy. It took a while for the last one to finally arrive but i am so thankful that i am done with foaling season. At least the planned foaling season, if we get some un-expected surprises into the rescue i will gladly and openly accept them. We have two palominos, one bay, and one chestnut on the ground this spring. Three of them by my stud Gunner, he is two for three on boys and two for three on palominos. I am so pleased with the quality in Gunner's first foals, they are all big, healthy and smart. Already have the moves to be great in the pen and out on the trail. Gunner will be covering 6 mares for me this summer and standing to a limited number of outside mares. He is already nearly booked so get your bookings in early!
Our colts are happy, the grass is really starting to flourish up here. Which takes a bit longer at this altitude anyhow, and the rains are coming. There is very little that could make it any better. I had my mares on a good summer lease, but lost it due to a silly paperwork issue, so i am still on the hunt for somewhere to stick some of them until fall.
The rest of the herd is doing well, i have a few prospects that i have been working on and will be posting for sale shortly. I am really excited about one of the coming three year old fillies. She has shown so much promise and will make someone a terrific saddle horse. Starting young horses is a special talent and i have known very few "trainers" that can come out the other side with a nice, gentle and handy colt. Alot of people think that they have what it takes to gentle and ride a colt when in fact all they are doing is teaching what not to do and how to get people away from them. We need to make horses our friends and companions, would you beat your friend over the head with a rope?
Our colts are happy, the grass is really starting to flourish up here. Which takes a bit longer at this altitude anyhow, and the rains are coming. There is very little that could make it any better. I had my mares on a good summer lease, but lost it due to a silly paperwork issue, so i am still on the hunt for somewhere to stick some of them until fall.
The rest of the herd is doing well, i have a few prospects that i have been working on and will be posting for sale shortly. I am really excited about one of the coming three year old fillies. She has shown so much promise and will make someone a terrific saddle horse. Starting young horses is a special talent and i have known very few "trainers" that can come out the other side with a nice, gentle and handy colt. Alot of people think that they have what it takes to gentle and ride a colt when in fact all they are doing is teaching what not to do and how to get people away from them. We need to make horses our friends and companions, would you beat your friend over the head with a rope?
How you treat them, especially when they are young, reflects in how they will treat you and other people for the rest of their lives. It is much harder to re-teach a horse that is older and knows how to scare people off, than it is to teach a young colt the right ways to go about the world. I in fact enjoy teaching both the young ones and the older more seasoned horses. Breaking in an older horse is a chore, but again you have to make friends with the beast in order for you to have a successful partnership with him. You cannot tame anger with fear, likewise you cannot tame fear with anger. I believe that if you can develop trust both ways with a horse of any age, then you are able to get alot further much quicker than if you run up there and start yanking on the poor thing trying to get it to go any which direction. Trust can be gained in an instant, doesn't have to take tons of time, it's more in how you approach them and speak with them than anything else in my mind.
I try to instill trust in all of my foals as soon as i can get hands on them, it does wonders for when you go to start working with them and eventually ride them. If the horse has know good people since birth, then they will think nothing less of people unless they are shown otherwise. Same can be said really about any age horse. If you show them only the good in you, then they will only know that. At the same time i think that they should know that this is on me to gain trust, it must go two ways and is a give an take kind of thing.
At any rate, the foals that i raise are all raised with the beginnings of that partnership that they will learn as they grow. No matter if they were born here or brought here, every horse here has an understanding that they are safe, loved and trusted. To me that is the most important thing that you can give horses.
I try to instill trust in all of my foals as soon as i can get hands on them, it does wonders for when you go to start working with them and eventually ride them. If the horse has know good people since birth, then they will think nothing less of people unless they are shown otherwise. Same can be said really about any age horse. If you show them only the good in you, then they will only know that. At the same time i think that they should know that this is on me to gain trust, it must go two ways and is a give an take kind of thing.
At any rate, the foals that i raise are all raised with the beginnings of that partnership that they will learn as they grow. No matter if they were born here or brought here, every horse here has an understanding that they are safe, loved and trusted. To me that is the most important thing that you can give horses.