Upcoming events

Sorry I haven't been posting, I see everyone has been checking in. We had a bad tradedy here in the valley 2 weeks ago and have been helping everyone through it so we haven't been doing anything with the horses. This weekend Jarrett and Jason are headed to Oregon for the Small Farmers Journal Auction, they have some stuff to buy. Unfortunately I have to head south for training for work, but we are going to try and meet up and head over to the Draft club meeting on Saturday, it was postponed a week. It is a day long wagon train out in Paskenta again so we are really hoping to make that all work. So look for pics next week!

Wagon train

We had a wonderful trip last Saturday on the wagon train with the Draft horse club. The weather cooperated and didn't rain, and I think we even saw the sun and some blue sky for about a minute! So it was a bit chilly but well worth it. We brought our wagon, and our Friends brought the Boys to pull it. We went in for lunch to a huge ranch that was kind enough to host us and had a big fire ready for us to warm up at. Our wagon worked perfect, and the wonderful gentleman we bought it from even rode with us on the way in. He and his wife (he's 89 and she is 91) used it for 4-5 wagon trains a year until last year when they decided that they just couldn't do that many anymore and wanted the wagon to go to someone who would make use of it, and we definately plan to! We have all kinds of trips planned for it this summer, from camping to bear hunting and some more wagon trains too hopefully!


Heading out...
Almost a group pic.
Trying to look like some steep ground.

Another group pic, we had to take a time out, an evener broke on the 4 up so we got some good group pics while they fixed it.
A 4 up of Shires pulling a stagecoach
Group pic at lunch
Unpacking at lunch
A clue to the suprise that we are about 95% sure of...

Checking in!

Winter came back for awhile, we have been having snow off and on so have just been working with Heidi, and are making a new harness for her so we can begin driving the girls as a team. This weekend we are heading over for a day long wagon train with the Draft Horse club, so I'll put up pictures of that next week! Otherwise, there should be another big suprise that I am predicting around the end of April, (I'm about 98% sure on it) so keep checking in on that too... Anyone want to guess what it is??

Snow

Winter came back and it stormed on us all week. We ended up with about 3 feet of snow standing in the yard and pastures. Power was out for 2 days, but we didn't have any water lines freeze or break this time around, yay! We finally had some good weather the last two days so got some pics...

CJ has wanted to make a snowman all winter...
It was a midget snowman!
Hannah pulled the sled out, it was pretty buried. We have had about 6 inches of snow melt off but there is still a ton left. And the road finally got plowed so there was a big burm to pull it over too.
Then she took the boys for a ride. They have been asking for days about going sledding behind Hannah, they love it!

Then we worked with Heidi, we tried the collar on her and it fit, so we decided to see how she would take to the Harness for the first time.
She didn't even flinch putting it up.


So we drove her around...

She wanted to test the deep snow!
So she was doing so well again that I took the traces down and put resistance on them while Jarrett drove, she didn't mind.
So we hitched her to the sled...
Other than being a bit hesitant to start pulling the weight she acts like she has been hitched before.
They drove out over the bridge, on the main road.



Heading back...

By the end of the session she was pulling both of us together on the sled with no problems. We are incredibly happy with her progress and have got to get another collar ordered and harness made so that we can hitch the two girls together soon!

E-mail is fixed!

It was just brought to my attention that my e-mail @pacificarabian.com was not working, I have fixed the problem and we are back up and running, so those of you who tried to e-mail can now resend and I will get it!! Sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meet Heidi!

I am trying this from slow dial-up, I think we might actually be able to do it, which means I can post a bit more frequently again!
We have had another stellar few weeks since the last post, got a bit of riding in, Hannah has been getting a ton of time in on her sled, and we have a beautiful new girl to introduce (she will be with us until June), Heidi!
(Hannah & Heidi Meeting)

Heidi is a 17 year old Belgian mare. She used to be a vaulting horse, but retired from that about 2 years ago and was trying to be a Mom (and doing some occasional Dressage) for those last two years with no success, so she was looking for a new home. We talked to Heidi's mom and offered too take her on a training lease until we find a replacement for Holly. We are looking for something closer to Hannah's age, but need another horse to work with her until then & Heidi's mom thought that it would be great for Heidi to learn how to be a plow horse, so the arrangements were made for her to come here. The day before we picked her up the vet came to see her, and found that she actually took on her last breeding and is going to have a foal!
So we are putting her in training and will work with her until June, and then she will go back to have her baby in July. (It is actually very benificial to work pregnant mares as long as they can before they foal, most old farmers work thier draft mares up until the day they foal, then they are right back to work with babies alongside a few days later. An in-shape mare will foal much easier than one who has just been standing in the pasture doing nothing.) This will be Heidi's first baby.

Big butts! Hard to believe Hannah's is going to get that big too... This was Heidi's first introduction to the sled, she got to walk beside while Hannah pulled it.

We are starting by just ground driving her, getting her used to us working behind her and to her new commands that she needs to learn (Gee, Haw, etc.) She did well other than being a little leary about stepping down into the creek bed the first time, but once she learned it was ok she went everywhere without a problem.

Up out of the creek bed, over a log and through the trees... easy!

Through more trees, except she actually had to duck under these, slight hesitation, then on like a champ!


I can't resist going for a ride on the big horses! They are a whole different feel from a light horse. Hannah is going to be easy to break to ride, Jarrett just jumped up and layed across her while she was loose in the pasture last fall. She just stood there.

Our other fun... We have been getting hay out of Anderson, absoluletly beautiful sweet hay! The only thing is the bales are a little larger than we are used to...
There are 4 bales on that trailer... 3 grass hay and 1 alfalfa. The grass bales weigh 1200 lbs and the alfalfa weighs 1380 lbs. Jarrett just tosses them up into the barn, no prob!

Yeah right!
We actually try to get a little help (though we have done it by ourselves too), hook up a 4 way block and tackle to them, the other end to the truck and drag them into the barn. It's still easier than stacking the equivalent in small bales though!

Lots of time with the BIG horses!

(Mayah getting her Butt scratched, her most favorite thing in the world!!)

Ok, finally made it to high-speed with a few minutes to spare!! We have been busy with a burst of beautiful weather, almost all of our snow has melted and it has been warm and pretty! Not a cloud in the sky most days. We started the vacation by heading over to Corning for the draft horse meeting. It was excellent, we learned a lot and all of the members are incredibly friendly and do everything to make us feel like we have been long time members & friends. I didn't get many pics we were so busy, nothing really to even put up. There were about 8 teams that people brought all hitched & driving, quite a sight to see. I got to take a ride with Prince & Max again too.

Then our other highlight has been Hannah, we have been hitching her to the sled a lot and working her. We have been using her to feed the other horses almost every night, we modified the sled with sides so we can pile hay in it (we are feeding 1200 lb bales so we just flake some off the bale into the sled instead of moving the whole bale) and then we fork it out through the field as she pulls it. We are looking for another horse to start teaming her with (I get to meet a pretty girl tomorrow morning that may come stay with us for awhile). Mayah may be HUGE but she is still to young to really start working hard. She will be ground driving and pulling light stuff this year. We hope to put up some hay (from tilling and planting all the way through mowing, raking and baling) using the horses this year and that would be way too much work for her as a 2 year old. (For those who don't know we sadly lost Holly the day after Christmas. We both took it very hard and are still quite upset. Losing one is definitely the worst part of having horses.) Anyhow, Hannah has been doing beautifully, we need to finish the cart so we can put her on wheels, she is definitely ready. Ok, I just put all the pics from this week on my flickr account, it is easier that way... They can be found here.