Taking it easy in the heat

Right now it's 104 degrees. Gross. Yesterday it was just a couple degrees cooler. I prepared by shaving the donkeys:

I knew Pedro had a brand on his left shoulder, but I didn't know about this one on his hip. I got the phone number of the guy the brand is registered to. Busy signal so far. I guess I don't legally own him until the brand owner signs a paper saying he has no claim to him. Oh well, I'll get it straightened out, or I won't. Either way it'll be okay.

The only shade the horses have is in hot metal buildings, so I brought them into the yard.

Bella learned how to high line. I'm pretty sure I've never had her on one before, but she did great.

Luc began to learn to stand tied. I've been meaning to do this for a while. He was a lot quieter about it than I expected, but it took him a little bit to realize he didn't have to worry if I walked away. I never tied him fast until today.

In the evening I spent some more time with them with no agenda.

Luc marches to me just like Tonka used to, with the same cheerful expression. He genuinely likes people.

Bella's grazing muzzle stayed on for maybe 2 minutes. So much for that idea. Scout knew just where to pull to get it off.

My sweet,silly boys.

Being in the pasture with them is so peaceful.

Now we're in the yard again, waiting for the heat to pass. The boys are relaxing, except when a horsefly comes around. Luc is tied for real and having no problems, but I do have my knife handy just in case. He's toying with getting the rope over his ears, then seeing what happens. He had a mild panic the first couple times, but now he seems to know when to stop fussing. It's interesting to sit here and watch his thought process.

Pasture Time

I spent some time lounging around in the pasture with Luc and the donkeys yesterday, and I got a few good pictures.

This next set of pictures - you should have been there, it was funny. He found a bit of plastic blown in from the neighbor's, and he picked it up and scared himself. He did a little jig, striking and spinning, trying to get away from it, but didn't let go. He figured it out pretty quickly and dropped it. Then he kept a close eye on it. I kicked it closer and he was very skeptical. He had to check it out from a couple different angles, but he never did feel the need to touch it again. Goofball.

We also went for a short trail ride in the evening but I didn't get any good pictures. 

Catching Up

I'm procrastinating, so I guess it's a good time for a blog post. I often consider ending the blog, but I guess I'm not ready to commit to that yet. One of these days maybe I'll pick it up more regularly again.

Anyway, we've been having lots of fun hiking, riding, and recently we even went horse  camping. That was a tough one, because it was the first time since Tonka had his accident while we were camping and ended up having to be euthanized. Scout was a very good boy on the high line though, and we all made it through unscathed.

The necessary pictorial evidence:

Bella did great on a 10 mile hike up and down a mountain. It was her first time with the panniers. She's one of the good ones.

Almost to the top:

 A nice long snack break before heading back down:

Another good hike & ride. John really enjoys bringing Bella along. He's getting ready to climb Mt. Adams in a couple weeks.

Just a hike, no horses. I like my matched pair of dogs. :)

 Winston helped me put up some temporary fence. He's so cute.

Rolling in the grass in a tree cave. It was HOT that day.

Scout on the high line.

He was so good. Got worried about a bad bull and did some circling, but other than that was a quiet boy. (The bull punched a little hole in my
sister's pickup grill and kept her trapped in there for a while. Seems like a bad one to have running loose on public land.)

Too many cherries! Anyone want to help me pit them all?

Sometimes I think sunshine was created solely to shine on my horse's mane. We had a very relaxing evening ride a couple days ago.

Winston loves the donkeys. I don't know why. I worry that he wants to bite their noses, but he doesn't. They tolerate him.

I guess I don't have many Luc pictures. He's looking good! I wormed him with Quest and he has a lot of good grass to eat 24/7, and he shed out and put on a bunch of weight. He is actually slightly chubby right now. I'm loving his summer color. I should try to get some pictures today.

Down the Scary Road

Luc and I went for a walk down the road in the busy direction yesterday. Every house has horses, and one has yappy dogs. The farm implements were scary, but the cars that went by were not (which was a good thing because one of them came from behind and didn't slow down).

There were a few tense moments, but as we went along and encountered more things, his breathing became quieter. I think I'll take him again today. Maybe we'll go as far as the whirligigs and goats.

Again, with Horses!

We went out again yesterday to the area we'd explored in Sunday. There was a trail across the road from the well kept, marked trail that we hiked on. It was on the map as a road, but it wasn't really a road anymore.

John brought Bella this time. She was a much more responsive packhorse-in-training than Pedro. And a lot faster too.

We came across a gorgeous view of a big expanse of forest with no clear cut in sight. That is a rare thing in these mountains. Most of the land belongs to timber companies.

The view is always nice when you're following Bella. :) Until it gets so overgrown you can't see at all...

Not too long after that the trail was totally washed down the mountainside. A person might be able to scramble/slide to continue, but definitely not a horse. So it was only a 4 mile ride round trip, but that worked well with our limited schedule.

Pretty nice view from up here too.

Scout was very brave and forward, but he did keep his eye on any suspicious logs or rocks that came along.

Everybody was very happy when we returned home.

Later in the day Luc got a lot of attention and a hoof trim. He's such a good boy! I think he might be better behaved for trimming than any of my others.

Oh, and a fly spray review: I don't like Centaura. I bought it to get me by until my order of Flicks comes in. The aerosol spray is less annoying to the horses, but it doesn't work very well, and it doesn't last 12 hours. It does repel mosquitos though, maybe better than it does flies. I need to get Scout a fly sheet.

No Horses, Just Hiking

We were going to go rough camping, but the first place was too wet, then it rained a bunch while we went to check out a trail John hadn't been to, then we wished we had the horses with us, so we went home, and plan to take them out today.

We heard a lot of thunder, but managed to miss getting wet in the storms. Ten miles hiked, and a plan for a long horseback trip soon.

Love Luc

Luc is so different from my other horses. Everywhere he goes, he's in a hurry. It makes me smile every time I go outside and he leaves whatever he's doing and comes flying to me at a fast trot or a lope. Sometimes even a gallop. When I go into his pasture, he's not really interested in hanging out, he wants to do something. So if I just pet him, he'll usually walk a few feet away and think about grazing. He's happier with our interactions if I halter him and have an agenda. Part of that, I think, is that he still has some slight issues with being touched if it isn't his own agenda, but a lot of it is just that he just can't stand still. I am so not that personality type. This is going to be an interesting journey. I think I'm going to have to grow a bit. He'll have to make some changes too, but he is who he is.

I just sat down in his corral the other day, and that was interesting enough to hold his attention for a few minutes, but he still left and came back a few times just because he could.

Finally caught his glorious eye

Which one do you like better? I know the differences are slight. I might just have to get a canvas print. :)