March 2022 Horses

Black Orchid Ambleside

9 months old today

Withers: 51” or 12.3hh, same as previous 3 months

Butt: 54” or 13.2hh, 1” taller than last month

Heart Girth: 58.75”, 1/4” bigger than last month

Body Length: 65”, a full 2 inches longer

Weight: 679lbs, 48lbs heavier than last month and about 200 lbs heavier than when I got her.

Wifi is now 14 years old, shes 14.1hh

Such a lover

Joey will be 26 in a month

16hh

And in other news:

We've started a raised bed garden in the side yard. I had thought it would be good out front but there's too much shade. In the side yard it's going to have 12-14 hours of sunshine each day.

Lan made 5 beds this size 6.5'x3'x18" & 1 that's 13'x3'x18"

They're leftover roofing metal & the 4x4 corner posts are old posts from highway signs

I got a bunch of large boxes to put under them 

We put in a bunch of small branches and sticks, this will decompose over time

Then a layer of last years composted lawn grass, this stuff was black & packed with worms

Next came two year old horse poop, shavings, hay & sand mix from our compost pile. 

This stuff was so nice and had huge worms growing in it.

This garden should do great just from the worms.

Went to Purdy Topsoil & bought 1.5 tons of garden soil

Filled the beds, tamped it down & topped them off

Worms in the composted grass

A worm from the manure compost

Here are some of the seeds left over from last year, a few from this year. I'm so glad I didn't waste them last year in that failure we called a garden.

Today I'm taking my seeds and a planning book to work where I will plan out each bed. Going to do companion planting so each bed will have others that compliment them. There will be Marigolds to help keep Aphids away, Three Sisters where there's corn, squash & beans. 

The Three Sisters method is companion planting at its best, with three plants growing symbiotically to deter weeds and pests, enrich the soil, and support each other. 

I just hope it grows

2/22/22

 Two-day is a big numbers day.

Yesterday was a big numbers day as well, Amble turned 8 months old & she gained about 50 lbs in the last month. Shes not taller but she is longer, probably fatter. I've been making sure she gets her full servings of grains and alfalfa and its working.

When she first got here I made the mistake of cutting a bridle path in her mane, as seen here.

I'm going to let it all grow back & when its long enough, I'll braid it to keep it out of her way.

When I walk the horses back to the barn from the front pasture, she likes to hang in back with me. 

And her feathers!!

I am in love with them.

Ambleside & the Boys

Ambleside is 7.5 months old now

Her mane has grown 2 inches in length

Her tail is about 4 inches longer

Shes still butt high

Still has beautiful blue eyes

Joey will be 26 in April. He's been wearing a medium weight blanket all winter because he kept rolling in mud and I couldn't keep him clean, then on the coldest nights his hair was unable to fluff up & keep him warm. He's not happy with it on but hes not skinny without it.

He is definitely aging, you can see that hes lost muscle and mass but he doesn't look bad at all. 

Mack is 22 this year, Hes lost a little but not nearly as noticeable as Joeys changes this year. 

The chickens have finally started laying eggs again and this is a gray one. I've never had a gray egg before and its appaloosa spotty. 

For the last 2 months I've been feeding Amble more grain and she's getting alfalfa in with her grass hay, enough hay that she never runs out. 

Beet pulp = 1 lb

Alfalfa pellets = 2 lbs

Mare & Foal / Senior grain = 2 lbs

Probiotic = 1 tiny scoop

NW Horse Supplement 1/2 a normal 'serving'

I soak all my horses grains so there i s less chance of them choaking

This is Gussy gobbling up her dinner while she stands in the back ground. 

She is the only one he can push around 

 

Its been two months

 Its been two months since Amble came home. 

Photos loaded backwards, so I'll tell this story backwards.

Last week, 6 months 3 weeks old, she went to her first show 

at Tacoma Horsemens Unit #1.

She got:

5th in class #13 Halter, Senior 19+ out of 12 horses

5th in class #14 Halter, Color, out of 12 horses

Didn't place class #19 Halter, Open, out of 13 horses

This photos is the only one of us in our 1st class, taken by a gal that shared it online in an FB group

This photo was taken right before a girl ran past us, Amble reared up and came down on my foot. We're waiting for Erin & Mack in class #16.

Amble sure is a pretty girl.

I borrowed this halter from Lans mom; its got a few jewels on it. The silver was badly tarnished and it took me HOURS to get it all off & cleaned up but it ended up very nice.

Erin and I had washed her feathers the day before and they were beautiful

Here she is at 6 months

Withers 51" tall (12.3hh)

 Butt 52.5" (13.1hh)

Girth 56.5"

Body/blanket length 56"

Girth x girth x body= 17,8766

divided by 330 = 541.71# weight

Measured mid knee to coronet band = predicted 14 hh at maturity

1" taller at withers

2.5" larger girth

2" longer body

64.6# heavier in 1 month

In mid December we had snow so I turned her out with all the other horses for the first time. Mack had slipped and fallen and was limping so I knew he couldn't chase her as much.

They all got along well. She'd been across the fence from the big boys for 6 weeks so they weren't strangers.

Those eyes

6 month feathers

Wearing Wifi's cooler for the first time in early December

On to January 2022

I got her this lime green rain sheet to help keep her clean but it does nothing for her legs and we have one muddy area that the other horses make her stand in when waiting to come in at night.

January 10th

On Friday, January 14th,

Erin & I bathed her legs and put her into her stall to dry

This was a couple hours later, they were getting dry

And morning of the show

These are photos from our second class,

where she got 5th out of 12 horses in Color Halter

Oh yeah, you should have seen those AMAZING feathers when she trotted beside 

me for the first time with her beautiful floaty trot and they were flowing.

I paid $61 at the show:

$12 per class x 3 = $36

$15 haul in fee

$10 office fee

$40 gas for the truck

Plus I had paid hundreds for:

 my hat

black pants (2)

cowboy boots

shirts (3)

boot socks (4) 

and other miscellaneous stuff, like makeup and coffee. 

My goal showing her was just to get there and give her the experience. I did all that and I had fun, I was smiling the whole time. As Lan pointed out, I also paid $6,500 for the horse and $1,000 to get her here but over time each thing I do with her will be more economical. I won't HAVE to purchase more boots and hats (but I will).

There is another show at the Unit on February 12th but due to the cost of the classes, we have decided to skip that one. We are looking for more local shows to attend, so we're not paying $12 for a 6 minute halter class. The Kitsap Saddle Club and Silver Spurs have local shows we can attend. I just want Amble to see and experience other places and things.

What I learned at this show:

Amble needs to have people run past her, she needs to hear loud scratchy loud speakers, she needs to have strange horses lay their ears back at her, she needs to travel in the trailer more. All of this will happen over time and I'm doing more here to get her used to it.

On FB someone asked what everyone feeds their horses & if they give them alfalfa and many do. I've been giving her a minimal amount of alfalfa but I'm going to start giving her more. I hope it helps with her soft poop (sometimes like cow patties) that I'm giving her Probiotics for.

Shes currently on 2 flakes of orchard grass in the morning, which lasts all day.

For dinner, 2 more flakes of orchard grass plus 1.5# Mare & Foal grain, 1 lb alfalfa pellets and the probiotics, all soaked. I'll up the Mare & Foal to 3# and give her 3# of the alfalfa pellets and add alfalfa into her hay net.

She will be 7 months old in 2 days and I'll measure her again at that time.