The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE

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[CindyDawg]

True but I just switched to a heavier saddle .

[ShakeNJake]

I don't but my daughter does. I think the guy she was buying from ran out too. Yeah, the price is sky high right now. It is just about time to start cutting around here so guess I should check the classifieds.

I have been buying from my local feed store, really nice timothy from Colorado but expensive. Small square bales are $8.50 and large ones are 14.50.

My neighbor has about an acre and a half that he isn't using for anything so I have been taking mine over for "turnout and grazing" during the day. I just walk them around the end of the fence and put them in his back pasture area. The fence on his side isn't good enough to leave them over there all the time so I bring them back into their pasture at night. Saves him from having to mow and I get to save money on hay!

[Duchess47]

Some pictures I've taken over the last week or so and then today. Sonny in English saddle (Tracey's old one, not the one I bought); My boys :) growing like weeds of course. And last, today. We hauled four appaloosa mares, three of ours and a friends to a 4H judging competion. Three hours of standing in an arena (fortunately indoor as it was hot and sunny) while six different 4H groups judged our horses and four quarter horse mares. It was really interesting watching the kids - they take this very seriously.

[CindyDawg]

I love looking at baby pictures:') How did the kids score your horses>

[Duchess47]

We don't have any idea how they were scored. Apparently an actual judge decides what her placing would be and the kids are scored/graded against that. I kind of think with the number of kids there and the amount of judging they had to do (halter horses, pleasure horses, identify 30 kinds of feed, all the parts of western and english tack) that they won't have it figured out for days :) We left when our three hours was up.

I had been over hearing snatches of conversation from bystanders, etc (very catty too) about the different stables in that area, who had scratches, etc. that I told Bob, no watering the horses here - I didn't want them touching a water trough, don't want them nose to nose with any of the other horses here, so we packed them up and brought them home.

[Duchess47]

We deliberately took three mares with different confirmation, color patterns, etc., because we figured it would be more of a learning experience for the kids. We took Friday, who is a halter mare, Dusty, who is our babysitter, trail horse, broodmare, barrel horse; and Eygpt, who is Tracey's endurance mare. Then our friend brought her halter mare who is more a sport horse type confirmation than Friday. It will be interesting to see what they came up with.

[CindyDawg]

I think we as parents, had as much fun in 4H as the kids:'). That was a good thing yall did.

[CindyDawg]

Reds Mom, the dark one. Is it just the pic? Her belly still looks swollen and larger than the colored mare.

[Duchess47]

Tracey and my great niece were both in FFA so they were all for it :)

[CindyDawg]

My kids had cows, pigs, chickens and rabbits, but no horses. I should have bought them one though.

[Duchess47]

My son grew up with dogs, cats, chickens and horses but he always more or less considered them work. I don't recall a 4H group anywhere that we were stationed.

[Duchess47]

Fancy, the dark one, had a much easier foaling than Farah - the colored one. She kept on a bit of weight that she gained. Farah lost weight and we're still trying to get her built back up. Unfortunately, her colt is tending towards scours so we can't pour the feed to her that we'd like to. We are feeding alfalfa and grass hay along with her grain so that she has more bulk without the protein to give Red diarrhea.

[CindyDawg]

Mine liked taking care of their animals and the prize money but needed a lot of encouragement , keeping up with data and doing reports.

[Duchess47]

My son just viewed them as his chores although he enjoyed riding occasionally. He discovered dirt bikes and that was it :)

[CindyDawg]

So, I'm looking at it backwards then. Farah should look like Fancy?

[Duchess47]

Well, yes and no. Fancy is a long backed horse with more lean muscle where Farah is more bulky. Farah really should look heavier than Fancy because of her muscle mass and general build. I'll try to get out and get pictures of them tomorrow that show more of them than their rear ends :)

[CindyDawg]

Will you retire her?

[Duchess47]

We talked about it a lot lately. She will not be bred this year, nor will we sell her, just incase someone decides they want to breed her. A friend wanted to lease her for a year to raise a foal and we have said no to that. If she's ever bred again, we'll put her on regumate for the entire time since that seems to regulate her hormones and blood sugar throughout pregnancy and foaling. Probably though, she'll just be a pet.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

That is really interesting about the 4H group judging:). What a great idea.

The babies are beautiful:)

Becky

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Rain again today. No horse shows on the agenda. Being as I am not trapshooting anymore competitively, I am going to the gun club and see if I can sell my reloader and components.