Category Archives: horse

goats, horse

Snowy trails

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Last night, we got another 5″ or so of fresh snow dumped on the farm.  After clearing the driveway (again), clearing paths to/from the barn (again), breaking ice (again), and finishing morning chores, we came in for coffee.  We were originally scheduled to trailer ponies to a pony club games practice, but it was cancelled. So, Anna and I decided to call the next door neighbor for some babysitting after lunch.  We saddled up King and Calli and headed out for a trail ride.  There was over a foot of snow on the trails.  Mack got to come along, but Turbo stayed home.  We did encounter fresh snow mobile tracks, but no actual machines and no people.  We got to work on Calli and crossing icy water.  We will need to continue to build this skill.  We spent an hour on the trails, and even though we only walked, I think the horses got a pretty good workout trudging through the winter wonder land.

Lucy also got to venture out into the snow with her kids, Red Maple and Oak.

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A Christmas Eve Trail Ride

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DSC_0731Instead of a stressful afternoon of cooking and worrying about special dishes, we decided to saddle up the herd and go for a trail ride.  It was a nice 35F outside and the weather was clear.  Our neighbor was nice enough to come snap a photo before we left on the short ride in the woods.  From left to right: Alex on Dakota, Vicki on Devil, Amanda on Huey, Rob on Calli, and Anna on King.

Merry Christmas everyone!

horse, kids

Riding in the snow

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As is the tradition, the girls had to do some bareback riding in the snow.  Vicki loves to ride bareback in the winter because it keeps her warmer.  Vicki decided to try out Dakota, Alex’s new pony, while Amanda rode Huey.  This was Vicki’s first bareback ride on Dakota and it went well.  Both girls had a good time and no one fell off.

Alex and I will be doing a trail ride in the snow after lunch.

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horse

Introducing Dakota

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On Friday, we took a trip to check out a couple of ponies. We have been looking for a new pony for Alex to replace Precious. We decided to bring home Dakota on a 2 week trial. He is a 6yo grade pony of uncertain breeding, but suspected Welsh/Arab cross. He is a little greener than we hoped, but we are going to try him out for a couple of weeks and then decide.
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horse, Uncategorized

Long ride of the year

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I took a few days off work this week to get some projects done around the farm and have some relaxing time too.  Since all the kids were at school/preschool on Tuesday, Anna and I planned a nice long trail ride to explore more of our access to Pachaug State Forest. I have been studying the trail maps and we had plenty of options for our ride.  So we saddled up King and Calli and went out for what was planned to be about 2 hrs.  In the end, we covered 8.5 miles in 2:40.  While galloping up a hill, King managed to overreach and lose one of his hoof boots.  Post accident analysis indicates his hooves are probably about half a size smaller than in the spring.  Good thing we have more boots in inventory.

Here are some pictures from the ride.

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Amanda hits the trails!

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When Amanda was 18 months old, she went on her first trail ride in a buddy saddle on King.  Since then, she has logged many hours in the buddy saddle.  Earlier this summer, Huey, a 12yo, 11hh Dartmoor pony joined the herd and Amanda immediately claimed him as her pony.  Since then, Alex and Vicki have been allowed to borrow Huey for some rides and to help train him, but Huey is Amanda’s pony.

At 3 years old, Amanda is more dedicated to riding than both of her siblings.  You can’t get a horse out of the barn without Amanda grabbing her helmet and following along.  And Huey is a rock star for little kids.  Amanda has gotten to the point that she can ride Huey by herself in the arena at the walk and trot.

So today, Amanda got to trail ride on HER pony instead of on the buddy saddle.  I rode Calli and had a lead line connected to Huey’s halter so Amanda didn’t have to do any steering.  A nice short 45 minute ride through the forest with the whole family and all 5 horses/ponies.  Amanda and Huey did great.  And Calli, my 6yo TB mare, did awesome with me riding western and a lead rope wrapping around her side and butt to Huey.  It was a great afternoon.

I’m sure by the spring Amanda will be insisting she can ride without the lead rope!

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horse

Training Calli – Breakthrough!

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Calli and I have been having a tough time lately.  I have been busy working on projects and just wasn’t making progress (read – wasn’t riding).  I finally broke down and hired a friend to do some training with her.  The first ride went well and the trainer agreed that Calli has potential and is willing to learn.  The second ride – Calli was lame.  This was a lameness in her back/SI joint area.  I saw the exact same lameness in her last fall after a few days of harder work.

In frustration, I actually listed her for sale on a Facebook group.  Of course, when I read my own ad, there is no way I would buy her.  I guess that’s why no one was interested.

So, I had some massage work done on her, which helped some.  Then a Chiropractor came to visit.   I hope she appreciates her spa treatments…

Tonight, I took her out for a ride.  My instructions from the Chiropractor were to take it VERY easy.  That was my plan.

About 7, I left for a trail ride.  Alone.  Just before dark.  Without my trail pack/saddle bags.  Without a trail map.  Calli. Ok, it doesn’t sound so smart when I write it down.  I did wear my helmet, protective vest, and did let some friends know I was going with a return by time.

So, with Calli’s Easy Boot Gloves on front and back, we headed out and decided to scout a different trail that we hadn’t ridden before.  Did I mention this was the first time I had ever ridden Calli on the trail by herself?  It turns out, turning right, instead of left is not a good plan.  We ended up on what is probably the most technical trail I have ever ridden on.  I know it was the hardest trail Calli had ever been on.  We definitely couldn’t go faster than a walk, because it was extremely rocky.

Calli was AWESOME.  She got nervous a couple of times, but trusted me and kept going.  There was one point we when she was clearly too nervous about crossing some large rocks, so I hopped off and she followed right behind me.  Then we started climbing a hill.  This is when it got interesting.  We had been riding for about 30 minutes.  I was pretty sure I knew that we could keep going and connect to trails that would bring us home.  Or go back through all the rocks.  The problem was, if I was wrong, we were going to be out in Pachaug after dark without all the things I mentioned earlier.  So, on we went.

Once we got to the peak, the trail became more open and only average rocky instead of crazy rocky.  I gave Calli some rein and she picked up a trot!  That was a very good sign because I was worried the rock work might have been too much for her to handle.  As it was starting to get dark, I discovered Calli was unsure about going down rocky hills in the shadows of dusk.  Not wanting to push things too far, I just jumped down and we jogged down the trail.  It was actually good for me to stretch my legs.  Eventually, I recognized the trails and we connected back to the gravel road leading towards home.  Based on Calli’s nervousness in the quickly fading light, I decided to just ride the road home.  We had enough success for the day.  Calli was feeling very good and kept trotting down the road.

Overall, I was thrilled with the ride.  First, Calli was completely sound.  I guess the chiropractor visit did some good.  Additionally, she was a champ on some very challenging conditions.  I did learn a few lessons and I don’t think I will be trail riding without my pack again. I also plan to add a few things to the pack just in case something happens and I get stuck out after dark – headlamp, reflective vest, snack food, etc.  I’m looking forward to another ride this weekend!

chicken, goats, horse, rabbit

Countryside Organics feed

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Imagine you walk out to feed your chickens and spill some of the chicken feed on the ground in an area where the chickens can’t get to it.  If you came back a few weeks later, what would you expect to find?  Well, if it was commercial feed, you would probably find a pile of moldy feed.  What you wouldn’t find, is sprouts.  Just like the potatoes you bought in the grocery store – when was the last time you had to remove a sprout?  More and more chemicals are being used on the foods we eat, and on the foods we feed our animals.  Soy is cheap and has become a MAJOR component in animal feeds.  One REALLY big problem with that is almost all of the soy grown in the US today is GMO soy.

For quite a while, this topic has concerned us.  The problem is, commercial feed is cheap, and organic, GMO free, soy free feed is NOT cheap.   However, we have decided the time has come to shift our farm to a product line that is GMO free, Soy free, and organic.  We have chosen Countryside Organics because they offer feed varieties for all the animal types we currently have on the farm (and are considering in the future).  The down side is cost.  Our rabbit feed will be more than 2x as expensive.  The chicken and goat feed will be about 80% more.  However, in gathering info, another farm told us that their goats consumed about 3o% less feed and produced more milk on the Countryside product.

Since we know others in the area may also be interested in some of the products, we are starting a co-op.   There are no resellers nearby, so we will be buying a full pallet at a time and having it shipped from VA (that’s not cheap).  By coordinating a co-op, we won’t really save any money, but it allows us to order more frequently and not have to worry about exactly figuring out the next 3 months of feed needs.

If you are interested in joining our farm in the co-op, let us know.  The first order will be going on Monday, 8/12.