Do not get attached, do not get attached

I have to keep telling myself this. That these guys were bought so that I could "upgrade" them, put some training on them and resell them. Not to keep. I already have horses that meet my needs and come from my own program.
But Max is such a sweetie that I have a hard time imagining having to sell him. Today after their morning oats I took Matt & Max and turned them out into a bigger field, the one Aaron is in. I figured that Matt would be happy to be back with some of his other buddies and Max would like to have more space to run and eat in. Not so.
After I led Max over to the other pasture, I let him go and he followed me around as I walked around looking for things to pick up, like broken branches and such. I walked him over to the other horses but he kept going back to the waterer. I've been going out to check on him and he still isn't really hanging out with the other horses in his pasture. Instead he's hanging out beside the waterer, staring over to where we have our ponies. We have 2 palomino pony mares and a brown pony gelding. He seems quite interested in those other yellow horses.
I might just have to put him back out with Ben & Bobby, but that paddock isn't very large and I have been wanting to move the colts as they get easy to catch and handle.

Max gets new front feet

The more I work with Max, the palomino, the more I like him. Of the 5, he's one of the ones that seems to take things in stride the best. Aaron is pretty good too, but the others are still a bit wary of what I'm doing to them. Matt of course is further along in some things due to him being here for a while, but he still has his moments. They're yearlings. Moments are expected.
Anyhow, I brought them in for their morning oats and started brushing Max. He just stands there. Loves the attention. After he was done eating I backed him out of the tie stall and tied him to a stall panel.
We did a few minutes of picking up front feet, then I went and got a hoof pick and nippers. He let me trim both front feet with no problems. They aren't a professional looking job, but they are better than what he had. Now to work on the hinds.

They sure do know what that white pail contains

They must have heard me close the door of the house because they all trotted up to the barn and met me at the side door. As soon as I carried up a 5 gallon pail from the bin the whinnies started. So they know what that pail means already. As soon as I opened the door they filed in and found themselves a stall.
While they ate I did some grooming on Max and Ben. They have nice color underneath all that hair but as the winter coats come off, the ribs are starting to show more. I do have to say that I think they have picked up a bit of weight already.
I really need to get working on Bobby. I also need some more yearling halters. Guess I'll pick some up when I go grocery shopping. I'm thinking hunter green for Bobby, Max & Aaron, but blue for Matt & Ben. Hunter green is my stable color, but the blue looks so much better on blue roans.

What the heck is this green stuff

I turned Matt, Ben, Max & Bobby out today. They had a small turn out pen and it attaches to a couple acre paddock. It just needed a gate fixed up. Got that done this afternoon and turned them out in the paddock, along with the mini mule, Mocha.
Well, other than Matt who has been out in a large field, you'd think none of them had even seen grass or a large area before. First they ran around like a bunch of idiots and then they had their heads down, gobbling the grass up like it was candy.
They still came a running when they heard me shake the grain pail though. They all came into the barn and got their oats. I thought they'd be happy to go back outside, but I had to virtually drag them out. Old habits die hard I suppose. I'd have left them in but it's a pretty warm night and the barn would get fairly humid. They're better off outside where they have totally fresh air and lots of space.

It's warm, turn on the water

Yesterday was really nice so I decided that while my son gave his fillies a bath, I'd give a couple of the colts a bath. Since Matt & Aaron are the ones with the most work, they got the baths.

Aaron was suprisingly calm about it. So calm that my son asked if I had drugged him. Which I didn't. Only thing he really did the whole time was lay down. Of course, since I don't have a wash rack and just wash them while they are tied to the hitching rail, he came up pretty dirty and I had to do that side again.

Here's Aaron, standing for his bath. Aaron has that fuzzy pony hair that mats up when it sheds. Hopefully giving him a bath will have gotten rid of some of that loose hair.

Matt wasn't quite as laid back about the whole process. He lept and kicked out for a minute before settling down. As you can see, he was still pretty tightened up.

This is how he was when I was finishing. Still not as quiet as Aaron, but a far sight better than when we started.

Washing seems to be a great way to do some sacking out. They get clean and they get used to stuff spraying them. Should they ever get hurt and need to be hosed, they have a start on it and wont be as scared by the process.

After bathing I gave Aaron a bit of a hoof trim. You know, this colt is pretty quiet and takes so much in stride. I'm hoping he'll be that way under saddle. With a dam that isn't much more than 12hh, he ought to stay a pony. Good kids ponies are a rare find. I hope Aaron becomes one of those.

Matt, Bobby, Max & Ben in the turnout pen after Matt's bath. When I went to the barn door at their supper time they all came to the side door, ready to come in and get their oats. They're not dumb.

And a picture of them with their little mule buddy, Mocha.

Matt got a trailer ride

I've been crazy busy here lately. Still doing the basics with the colts, but for the next three weeks, 4-H will basically dominate my family's life. I had 3 kids and they are in 2 different 4-H clubs. That makes for lots of driving.

Anyway, I didn't end up taking Matt with us to 4-H on Friday, but I did on Saturday. He stood tied to the trailer during lessons and drill team practice. It's a good experience for them to even just go out and stand tied in a different place.

I'm taking my son to his 4-H instructor's place tomorrow and might take Matt and possibly Aaron and borrow her round pen while she is getting her horse's hooves done by the farrier.

Here's Matt standing tied to the horse trailer.

Hey, it's the oat lady!

Pretty sure that's the first thing they thought when I came into the barn this morning. I was greeted with nickers. I was also carrying a white pail full of oats. They know what that is.
Fed and watered everybody, did some mucking out and groomed Max, Ben & Matt for a bit.
Max likes to sniff at me and is a little hesitant when I first put my hands on him, then he gives in and enjoys the curry.
Ben looked at me sideways for a minute and then moved his head so I could scratch his favorite spots.
Matt seemed a little miffed that he was in the barn rather than outside in the pasture with Aaron. Oh well, he needs to learn that he can be away from his best buddies.
Bobby came up to the stall panel and looked at me, but not real sure of me yet. I maybe need to get a halter on him and put him in a tie stall. They really get used to being handled that way. I know some people don't agree with using tie stalls and that's ok, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I like the results I get. I don't use them long term. By tomorrow I should be able to turn the colts out in the pen and have them come back in at feeding time without any problems.
Now I'm off to have lunch and back to the barn. Long day ahead of me as my kids have both swimming and riding lessons tonight. If we get home before midnight, we're lucky.

Matt, meet clippers

Went back out and played with Ben & Max in their stalls. Trying to get them really used to me being along side them. As I was refilling Max's water bucket, he reached out and snuffled me. I was petting his face when I noticed that he has warts coming in. Oh great, warts. Those things'll spread to every young horse on my place.

After I was done giving the colts in the barn their hay and water I went out to the pasture where Matt & Aaron are. Caught Matt and brought him to the barn. Tied him up and gave him a session with the clippers. Just started off rubbing them on his neck, gradually moving up to his mane. Once he was standing nice and quiet with that I did his bridle path. Not a professional job, but it's a good start for his first time. I left it at that, don't want to worry him too much with them.
When I was done clipping I put Matt in a box stall in the barn. My kids have 4-H lessons tomorrow evening and I might just bring Matt with me. He loads not too bad.
Here's Matt. That one corner is always wet because my mini mule, Mocha, likes to spill her water pails. Like the clip job?

Today has gone well so far. Needed to muck out the tie stalls, so I went into Ben's stall, put another lead rope on him and unsnapped the stall tie. Slowly led him step by step to the other end of the barn, where I tied him to a stall panel. Mucked his stall then spent some time with the shedding blade and curry comb. Also combed out his mane. He's really got a lot of scurf at his mane bed. Trimmed a bridle path with scissors. It all went really well. He's the kind of horse that seems to want to be your buddy. Ben discovered that being scratched near the jaw was wonderful. I'm really liking this colt.

The scurfy mane.

Cleaning up well.

Once I put Ben away I needed to get Max out of his stall. He did a little pulling back when I went to put my hand near his face, but gave when I pulled on his halter. I really need to get some different halters for them. I looked locally, but neither place had any yearling halters. I guess a trip to the city is in order.

Anyhow, got Max to the stall panel and tied him. Mucked his stall and came back to work on him, thinking that it might take a while for him to let me brush him. Not so. He too loves to be groomed. I spent a while removing hair mats from his sides and belly. I was wishing that he hadn't laid down on manure and stained his palomino coat, but that's what happens with yellow horses in tie stalls. His back legs are still swollen. I am going to work on a turn out pen this afternoon. Right now the one close to the barn has a stallion in it. So I'll need to fix something up and move him.

Anyway, got him brushed, trimmed a bit of a bridle path. He didn't like the scissors snipping near his ears and not wanting to push him too much I quit while I was ahead.

I also worked on touching his legs. I can now pick up both fronts for a few seconds. He doesn't pull them away, so I only held them up for a few seconds. Once again, not wanting to push. With his hind legs I brushed down to his hocks and left it at that for now.

I think I might be figuring this picture posting thing out.

Introduction

I was given a suggestion of starting a photo log of my colt's progess, so I decided to start a blog where I could also keep track of the work I was doing with them. To start off, I will introduce the 5 yearling colts.
Aaron is a sorrel pony cross colt I got back in early February. His blind in one eye dam was at an auction. I outbid the meat buyer and afterwards her seller asked if I wanted to come get her colt. We think we was born in September or October 2008. He came to us unhandled and a little timid around humans. Aaron, shortly after we got him.

Second colt to come to our farm was Matt, a blue roan Quarter Horse. He came from a neighbors. I had no intention of getting another colt, but my neighbor needed hay, so I made a trade. He arrived mid March.
Here's Matt when he arrived. He had had a halter on and I believe he had been tied in a stall, but hadn't been handled otherwise.

And Matt more recently

A few days ago I went back to the place I got Matt from. And picked up three more yearlings as resale projects. Two of them had halters on. I think they may have been tied at some point, but not handled.
Here's Ben, the other blue roan at his former home.

Here he is after a good session with a shedding blade and curry comb.

Bobby is the bay we got there

And finally, Max is the palomino

For those who notice, yes, there is no bedding where they are standing. Because they were just unloaded and are standing in the aisle of the quonset barn.

Edited because I tried to fix the pictures, but I obviously haven't figured that one out yet.