In northeast Oregon it has been quite springlike this past week. Had a couple of days with breezes, one day with rain in the a.m., rest of the week I spent driving a school bus, working in the garden while Kittee was in court trials for four days/ all day.
Kittee and I had quite a busy but relaxing day today. This morning before breakfast, one of our equestrian boarders, Shana came knocking at the front door. She and Kittee had talked yesterday about riding early this morning, and here she was, ready to go... 8:OO a.m. this first day of Pacific DST.
After a quick breakfast, Kittee was off to the barn to tack up Derby and go for her morning's ride. A long story short... Kittee rode Derby and Shana rode Sinwaan off around the back country, about a 10 mile ride out and back, for three hours before lunch. Kittee told me later she and Shana had a lot of fun miles cantering and galloping much of the way back to the ranch. Derby with a touch of thoroughbred in his quarter horse breeding can make a smooth ride happen in a hurry, as well as, horses always seem to know the way home, and most of the time are in a bit of a hurry to get back to their pasture life.
While the women were gone I worked on the ranch website, replied to a few emails, and then worked on the pasture spreader to get ready to start spreading fertilizer over our pastures this next week.
Upon their return Kittee and I had a little something for lunch; wasn't memorable and then we began to work on grooming horses. Since Misty and I did our back country ride Friday afternoon, and Kittee and Derby rode back country today; this mid-afternoon we saddled by Nugget and Misty and just rode in our front pasture for an hour or so. At this point Kittee was getting a bit saddle sore, as I just enjoyed working Misty at a casual jog and canter. We also spent time getting tuned up with our leg and reining cues. It was a very leisurely afternoon with horses.
After riding, I joined Rusty in his round pen keep, as I think a couple of mares had him a bit edgy, and I also began feeling a bit sorry that his world was confined to this keep, eventhough the rest of the herd was just over the fence, and always in sight.
Rusty's stallion keep seems to be a good configuration for him, as he has a 67' round pen built of 6'-6 rail Noble panels with a 12'x12' shelter attached. His shelter faces the backyard bluff, where little wind comes from over that hill. Having built this stallion keep last weekend, we moved Rusty into it last Sunday with a bale of hay, a block of salt, and about 30 gallons of fresh well water. Not a bad keep; life for a horse. Most of this week Derby has been keeping Rusty company from a 30' distance, and we feed all the other horses within the same sight and smell distance of Rusty's keep. This way we feel Rusty gets to experience the herd, without too much interaction of this our 900 pound stallion with mares and geldings.Today we turned the large herd out on the back/riverside pasture, and I took Rusty out into the pasture just behind the barn. Now, let me tell you that was quite a different experience with a horse (stallion). Rusty has been here for two weeks now and each day I try to interact with him at least three times, feeding, petting, grooming. It seems that we are making a connection of horse and master, but I am alway on my toes around him, always handling him with one hand on his head or his withers. This guy is not at all like handling a mare or gelding... he is stallion, manageable, but quite a handful on the lead, when he is wanting to be a part of the herd.
Anyway, after escorting Rusty around the pasture a couple of time, being sure he was familiar with the fence line, I turned him loose. Below are a few shots of Rusty having fun, and getting lathered up on his late afternoon romp. He was quite a thrill to watch, and came to me each time I called for him. A sharp horse, and I think our bonding is progressing well.
Is this one handsome guy or what?
Oh, how we did enjoy watching this guy just cutting loose and running through the pasture, throwing his head, flaunting his mane, and calling to the rest of the herd... two pastures away.
As the sun was sinking in the western sky, I gave Rusty a few more laps around the pasture and called him in. He was well lathered, and quite willing to drop his head into his halter and be lead back to his keep; he had a pretty good workout. He is a fine horse, and quite easy to handle, but I always have on my mind that he is a horse... a horse with balls... BE CAREFUL.
It was a beautiful day at the ranch today, Kittee and I enjoyed playing with, running, riding, romping our horses.Our thoughts now are, when Travis Webster gets back from his east coast tour with John and Josh Lyons training clinics, we are going to have him put Rusty under saddle for my ride, as Misty and Goldie are planning on getting pregnant this year with our Adrenaline Rush.
Are we having fun yet?Youbetcha!
A day in the life... at McKuster Ranch - Dale
