He's growing up QUICKLY!

Which could be because he almost always has SOMETHING in his mouth!

We took a few pictures of Zira's Colt in August before we left Missouri, and I wanted to share them so you could see how much he's grown! He's going to be a BIG boy, and he has a very curious nature, so should be a lot of fun to work with. So here he is at 3 months old...

We also took pictures of Cattle Kate, our 2 yr old Miniature Australian Shepherd - we were trying to get pictures for her registration information, but it's a challenge to get a picture of a dog that doesn't want to stand still! This is what she thought of the whole process...

But we still got a few decent ones to send eventually. I have a newfound respect for those that photograph animals as a job!

Building 22

So we had an adventure today, went to Hollywood and applied as possible contestants of 1 vs 100. It was interesting, and will give some fun stories to tell in Missouri! They had a representative come to the LA County fair looking for 'cowboys' (not QUITE sure why they thought the fair would be the place to find such things....but...) so there was a group of us they'd asked to audition. I would guess it's not EVERY day that they get to audition pirates, a medicine man, heritage skills teachers (they make delicious ice cream and butter at the fair), and pig racers in the same group! For me the fun thing was just to get to be there in the Sunset/Gower St Studio, especially since we were in Building 22 (my favorite number :) ) I don't think anything will come of it, but it was still a neat experience. Except for the traffic. We're not fond of LA Traffic!

Now on to 'real' life - here are some pictures I took last night...Goat kids make me smile! This little guy's mom was being so tolerant about being a kid jungle gym...

Another thing that makes me smile is the fact that I get to work with all kinds of neat livestock at the LA County Fair. I shall have to post a few pictures soon of my little LaMancha Goat bottle baby buddy, and the two calves that I get to help feed on Mondays and Tuesdays when the fair is closed to the public.

Even our critters are making new friends - Quarter got to say 'hello' the the Budweiser Clydesdales! I have the feeling that if he was turned out with them to exercise, he'd think he was hot stuff...and might get told differently!

Must Be Spring!

So, it's been a while since I've updated, things have been busy. But some very GOOD busy happened today!

A quick recap - Zira (Registered name = Sinabar Dixie Lady), was bred at the end of May in 2009, and as of last week was huge and miserably uncomfortable.

Here's the Daddy, Bo (Bee A Chief), one of the handsome guys out at Riley's Painted Acres

Zira, who has been giving us quite the weary nights of getting up many times to check and see if she's FINALLY foaled, decided to bless us with a little colt this morning around 5am. Joe went out to check on her at 5:30, and the little guy had made it to his feet, but momma was still resting.

Still a little soggy...

Wondering "what is THIS? Something new?!?"Showing off the flashy 'trousers'/'tux'/'skunk tail' - (some of the things his markings have been called thus far)

And then feeling good this evening, a little more steady on his long legs - he's about 38" high, much taller than Scamp was when he was born, I can't straddle this one! (Scamp was small enough I could 'ride' him without putting weight on his back) I'd guess when his legs stretch out, he'll be a bit taller even, as he's still getting over being crunched inside Mom. He was tuckered out from playing so needed a nap...

And was getting his nose into everything and had a haybeard!

Our other fun new critters of the day are our baby chicks, which began hatching last night - we're at a count of 9 right now, but the 9th is still in the incubator, so didn't make the pictures

this picture makes me laugh because the chick looks so perturbed at me!

Wondering if this one might end up with a topknot, most of these chicks are from a mixed bunch of hens, many of them Astrolorp hens, with a Polish rooster.

I just have learned how to use the close-up feature on my camera, so I'm excited about that! It's amazing how much clearer the shots are (I was always somewhat bothered that close shots tended to be blurry...guess I should have read my manual earlier!)

That's all I have the energy for tonight, I need to do an update on the Baker Critter online inventory list- as some of our numbers have changed, but until I catch up on some sleep...farewell!

Sunny Saturday!!!

It's been rainy and cloudy a LOT this week, so utterly delightful to have a sunshiney Saturday morning! The arena is still soggy, so we'll probably not get to ride today, but at least we might have the chance to get things dried out a little bit around here.

Procrastination abounds...

As I'm so very lax in updating my Blog, a lot has happened since the last post. Thanks to much encouragement from husband, family, and friends (Barry and Thomas especially!) I'm immersed in a new adventure. It's great to be pushed in the direction of doing what you love by folks that appreciate you! As I type, I'm sitting at Aaron England's International Learning Center (ILC) here in the middle of Texas, getting ready for the day of learning more about horse training. England's Versatile Horsemanship (EVH) is a method of training that follows the Natural Horsemanship techniques. These techniques use communication with the horse in the language it understands, using mainly body language and positioning to ask the animal what we want them to do. There is also the goal of becoming the leader for the horse, a leader that the animal wants to follow, not has to follow by force.

I've been here two and a half weeks, and as my main goal at this point is to become a more confident and knowledgeable colt starter, we've been going over the basics to starting a horse. My 'student' (actually, I'm more HIS student) is a quarter horse named Johnny, who has been started before, so I can learn the techniques without having to teach him the steps at the same time. Johnny has quite the personality, and is a rather dominant individual, so the first day I worked with him, he tried very much to find out if he could dominate me...not by being aggressive or anything that extreme, but by saying 'do I HAVE to?' to everything I asked, and then acting as though he wasn't sure what I was asking. Once we clarified the fact that yes, he HAD to, and Yes, I was doing it right, he decided it was less work to do what I asked.

I'll do more updates on training with Johnny, but wanted to get this posted, as folks are asking how things are going out here! I'm very much enjoying all the lessons and the people that I get to work with/around, and I have the opportunity to live in a mobile home with a very knowledgeable horse person. There's almost always someone around to talk horses with, and pretty much neverending work to do if I want to be doing something. We have 10 horses in the barn right now that I get to take care of, since the weather has been rainy and cool, and they're doing ok with being in, but they're getting a bit of 'barn fever' and wanting to run around and play. They get to be out for a little bit in the mornings when I clean stalls, but they're used to having most of the day out moving around. The church that Aaron and Riva (his wife) go to is a cowboy church, and I've been able to go two sundays so far. The folks are very welcoming, and it's wonderful to have a church so close that makes me feel so much at home! I was worried that I'd have a challenge finding anything for a while that fit what I like in a church, it's pretty hard to replace Harvest, and this one doesn't even do that, because it's so very different, but I like it! It's not every church that has a stock tank for a baptismal, and holds roping practice every saturday night in their arena! :)

I miss Joe dreadfully, but he gets to come visit in a few weeks, so that makes things a LITTLE easier. And I got to bring a little bit of home along with me, because Aaron said I could bring a horse, so Twisty was able to tag along. She will hopefully be one of the horses that I start while I'm here, I'm trying to get her over the last little bit of rain rot she had from home before we work too much with her.

Well, there are 10 horses that have finished their breakfasts and are waiting in dirty stalls for the manure mover (aka ME) to come clean and give them morning turnout, so I shall have to update more some other time!