Fur and frost

We have frost right now.  It is on everything, even our horse.

 

Ziggy Zag back to the end of the line

There is a pecking order with horses

our Ziggy is always the last to have food shared with

and last to drink the water and yet he has been in this

equine herd for 16 years.

I have learned from Ziggy that we are who we

are and he is the most interesting when it comes

to socializing amongst our other horses.

He is all about fun and frolick and is the horse that

actually has blood lines.  Ziggy is very fluid, fast and

athletic and natural at being a cow horse.  He has no calming

walk on trail rides and wants to just go,  Yet....

he is always the outsider when it comes to receiving

oats, hay and going for drinks at the water trough.

 Here he is waiting for Grace to finish her drink.

I thought he would take seniority every time

a new horse comes in to the pasture.

Nope!  He gets bossed around.  

He is the most friendly horse when it comes

to play and pestering the others.  Moving up the

herd ladder is not happening.  He just probably doesn't care

too much about it.

those moments

These are horse videos and horse experiences from several years ago

bareback on Rocky first time
back at SC acreage

GNP (grasslands national park trail ride)
Brian riding Leroy!

GNP

FORT WORTH, TEXAS 2015

our paint horse Ben came back to our new acreage after being

away for 8 months.  This is my favourite video of all time.

Rocky and Ziggy remember who he is that is for sure.

Schutler is a colt that is co-owned with Brian and his  friend and
it was our turn to train.  But....he developed a couple of sarcoids
that we had to get a vet check on treatment plan for it.

I will add more once I can get them transferred from all the different cell phone

cameras and my digital cameras that I used over the years. 

Flight Risk - look him in the eye

I am fascinated by the way you can assess a horse by looking at his eye and wrinkles around the eye as well as shape.  Here is the first of my posts on this information.

flight risk

In the pasture or in the stall, this gelding has a slightly alarmed look. His outlook on the world is one of concern, even though he is a superior athlete. RIGHT: The angular shape of the horse’s eye and the excessive wrinkles above it indicate this horse is often worried and on the lookout for predators. It takes a skilled rider to overcome this horse’s mental obstacles.

Kirkville Horses (flight risks)

Tuko - sold as a "bucker"....  and new owner is thrilled with this horse

as he uses Tuko for a work horse

to train others; also the new owner is a reining cow horse trainer so Tuko gets to work

every day and owner keeps him for his own horse.  Lucky Tuko!

 He loves him!

Ziggy

Ziggy - is Mantracker's horse we purchased from Qu'Appelle many years
ago.  This horse is athletic and has great breeding lines.  He will take off
on you if you are not skilled to slow him down.  So we consider him
a flight risk but a great horse when work needs to be done.  

{click here for Western Horseman article on this)

Look Him In The Eye

KIRKVILLE horse interactions

celebrating February 1, 2018

videos on horse

I always like to get a shot or two when

horses are around.

I thought the trees turning colour

would turn out on this video

Nada.

Ben, our so so favourite horse has been

improving since his accupuncture

treatment a couple of weeks ago!

Bridge fun

evening on the acreage

It was such a beautiful calm August evening.

We have been out riding several evenings thus far

and it is a relaxing nighttime exercise sessions for

the horses and riders.

Brian is  out walking our arthritic horse Ben to keep his joints moving better.  This
is something hubby has been doing for 2 weeks and Ben is looking stronger.
I think this horse enjoys the low stamina walking jaunts as much as we do.

I am doing the same for myself!  riding and trotting to keep horse and 

me tuned up

I am so grateful I can do this.  It's wonderful to 

work with a strong gentle partner. Just like my husband!
{ooh he will like this post now}

just because it's Feb 20th

We are in the beginnings of planning our family

holiday for the end of 2017 with

our son and just got off the phone with him.

It was a longer conversation than we usually

have and I love that.

Just putting out a "pump" to watch his new you tube channel

called Tommy's Puppet Lab.

It is a youth channel for anyone

crazy about the video game series

of Five Nights at Freddies.

He makes head masks, full size puppets

with just paper mache, glue, paint, felt markers, 

glow paint and sometimes makes cloth costumes for

them too!  lots of fun and scary!

here is the link

Tommy's Puppet Lab

This is Ziggy and Mantracker 

Why is this picture here you may ask?

Just 'cause.  This horse is very friendly, super athletic (good blood-lines)

and all-round easy to ride EXCEPT once he is on a canter or lope

you will require skilled riding to slow him down!

8 days left in February

4 weeks until SPRING!

the Z's

Hello Mr. Z

Hello Ziggy

stuff +

the weave that I had no idea where it was going ended up like this

I used some left over orange and brown wide ribbon to weave through

as it gets tedious weaving all the way up to the top

I like it;

now to take it off this loom,

tricky part

I much prefer it if my weaves stay attached to a frame

or a border  (not like below)

"Artistry rarely compromises, it just looks for a new place to express itself." (Danielle Laporte)

I am bored with the loom weaving and attempting a wreath weave

if it turns out, I will post the result.

{fun}

here are my

flowers on the deck

 and deck steps

 changing feeding pastures is always exciting for these guys

Ben, he can't really lope or canter much, so he does fast short trotting steps {sigh}

so that is my stuff for today!

time flies..

my hands are way way better and only because I went to the medical doctor and not the naturopath to get some serious action on my hands.  The Naturopath I believe was really way off and I may have killed a parasite (was their an actual parasite?) I dont know but with this move the stress is high and my hands flared up and I need them for packing and well everything.  So steroid creme and glaxal base lotion for my hands and 3 days of prednezone has really improved the situation.  I am booked in to see a skin specialist in Regina aka dermatologist!

okay the move, so many family emotions and nothing has been bigger than my husband leaving this acreage he has had to work through alot of emotions and I was not the most patient wife....

my son is anxious about Summer and we have gone back and forth as to what is the best to do for him (I even phoned the vet to discuss if Summer could handle this move being 13 years old and severe hip soreness)

the small but yet big gifts I have received during this stressful time with animal placement decisions and not being able to find a new acreage/property to move to right away and looking for RTM or modular home to be ready to move to a property if that is the way we go?   well our friends for one thing and Morley and Shirley and Wendy and Gerald have been big supporters of this move and helpful to me and hubby both, physically (packing) and mentally talking about it (also storing our acreage equipment) - yahoo for great friends!!!!

 Ben is staying on this acreage and he has a little girl who would like to ride him.  We have leased him out to the new owners and will check on him a year from now or sooner to see how things are going.

 Tom is not moving with us as he is staying in Swift Current for now, who knows he may change

jobs as he is young.

right now Summer will move with us and stay at our friends acreage

at Qu'Appelle - hope he can adjust (I am fearful of him not)

this is a good shot of me praying for my family and all the separations (spouse is still by my side though ha!)

Ziggy here with Mantracker - well .."you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy"  

time does fly by and I am hanging onto my seat belt (but excited for the new adventure)

sweet riding

Jaida and Kaitlyn on here right now with Brian and I.  No mom and dad, the girls are now 9 1/2 and 11 1/2 years.  We had them over a couple of years ago when they were 6 and 8 and it was more work and hard to keep up to their demands; they are now more fun and easier to be around and so interesting to have all to ourselves.  They are beautiful girls!

high speed and photo review

just for fun and to celebrate the end of my hiatus at home AND ALSO THAT I HAVE HIGH SPEED INTERNET as of last night and I can actually post these pictures without taking a week off work to do it.. (was frustrating) .. I have some chosen photos that never got posted to this blog since I started Kirkville 2 1/2 years ago. I have picked out very randomly photos that have caught my eye now. 

skii lodge at Castle Mountain (father and son)

bird banding project science fair

me, mom and my sister

not a great photo but it was my first year riding in the equestrian clinics

oh my gosh look at "Summer" on the left...

Tom was a pirate at the Swift Current Library when he did his magic show for story time

some of my family in the kitchen

Tom packing up dorm to come home for the summer (2008)

Brian visiting Morley at their acreage by Spy Hill

Brian visitng Holland with his dad a few years ago and was comparing the size of the policeman's horses to himself.

ahh..miss my Snowball..

coworkers Hallowe'en costumes at work

Eastside Marios in Lethbridge

Rocky's famous roll when he gets an itchy back (kind of gross looking)

Tom with fellow Saskatchewan winners of the Future Leadership Conservation Award in 2007 at the Delta Inn in Regina