Birds in Strange Places

V helped us work cattle on Saturday.  E was in Lexington at a weekend State Horse Judging Team practice so it was just the three of us.  

 J has to set up some panels as a temporary fence to get the cattle into the pens.

 He already had them up in a small nearby field so it's never too much running for us to get them in.

 We weren't doing anything to the cows so we sorted them out first.

 And the calf work went fairly quickly, deworm, vaccinate, implant and about 6 to dehorn.

 Then we turned them back out with their moms.  Now for the bird part.  We were almost done when J said a baby bird fell out of the chute.

 There was a nest in the head gate that we had been opening and slamming shut all morning.  I tried to put the baby bird back but there was just no room.  I have no idea how they got a nest in there.  While I was trying to get the first one back two more fell out.

 Now what do you do with 3 baby birds that won't fit back where they came from?  I took J's LA200 box and cut the bottom off.

When I put it back on the chute (the nest was in the square hole on the bottom left) they just crawled out and fell back to the ground.  I know the parents can still take care of them like that but they really were so tiny and I didn't think they had much of a chance so I brought them home.  Well, I tried but lost them all.  Very hard to know what to do sometimes.

Just Kit Sunday #53

Kit was in a playful mood the other day.  He wanted to play a little game.  

Peek-a-boo. 

  I see you.

 Peek-a-boo. 

 I see you again. 

OK, I'm done. 

In Bloom at the 4R's

Spot Spraying

We got a different spray to spot spray the thistles with this year.  I had been using Cimarron which we had originally gotten to spray rose bushes.  It works well but takes 3 weeks before you really see anything happening.   So if I sprayed in a field I wouldn't be able to see what I had missed for 3 weeks.   

 The new one we are trying is Forefront.

So far it looks like it is working pretty good.  The thistles start to wilt in 24 hours and and dying in just a few days.  It is a much better use of time.  I go into a field and spray after J has rotated the cattle out and I can go back several times before the grass gets too tall to spray effectively.  Maybe we'll get control of all of these noxious weeds one of these days.

Raven's Cliff

J and I ventured out on a different trail area by ourselves Sunday.  This one is about 20 minutes from the house. 

 We have ridden this area with a group before but this was our first time solo.

 Raven's Cliff is a big rock formation on the river.  This rock canyon area is the back side of the cliff.    

Then it was two trips though the river.  Brother did really well.  He was much more comfortable without all of the other riders and dogs that we were with the last time.

I even had him take the lead for awhile, trying to let him be brave.  It's always easy to follow another horse but getting out in front is a different story.  But Bother took the challenge and did great.

We finished off by going past the caves.  A very pleasant 2 hour ride.

Show Results

 Saturday we went to a show that was a fund raiser for a local therapeutic riding stable.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a very large turnout.   J once again was number one driver and groom although he is getting a little competition in the groom department.

 V's boyfriend Alex came to help out and cheer on V and Hank.

  Hank looked great for not having been ridden much lately.  V did his mane herself this time because I was busy banding Wrangler's.

V ended up with 2nd in English Pleasure, 2nd in Open Go As You Please, and 3rd in Adult Go As You Please.

 E showed Brother because the arena here is course gravel.  Two steps and Pep would have been lame.

 I think E's pink outfit was stunning on Brother.  She ended up 2nd in all of her classes.  I messed her up in Western Pleasure at the lope.  Everyone was behind Wrangler and when he realized that there was something coming up behind him at the lope he stopped which caused the horse behind him to stop which caused Brother, who was behind that one to stop.  It was like a multi horse pile up.   It was only the three of us in the class so you would think the others could have gotten away from me but as it was the other horse ended up on the wrong lead which left it open for me to win and E to get second.

She was also 2nd in Youth Go As You Please.  The winner was a real surprise, a hunter that was very buddy sour and stayed glued to it's barn mate.  The little girl was thrilled to death about it so it's all good. 

 When Wrangler was actually loping and not stopping he didn't look half bad.  I think the purple worked out good for him too.

 We did have another issue in the Open Go As You Please.  Apparently, he isn't sure what to do about gaited horses passing him so he stopped.  But when the hunter passed he tried to catch up.  Needless to say we didn't do so well in that one, 5th out of 6.

But it was all good experience and we won back $70 of the $90 we spent on entry fees so it was a pretty cheap day.  

Just Kit Sunday #52

Today is a year's worth of Sundays of Kit Kat. 

 He wanted to show you that there are more that peonies blooming in our yard.  He also likes the purple spider wort.

Like his "come hither" look?