New Foal!

Well, a lot has happened since the last post. Pepper had her foal April 21st at 1:30am. A solid noncharacteristic bay filly named "Peppy." The registration name I'm requesting for her is Peppy Zach O'lena. She is a cutie. I was not in attendance for her birth as Ransom and I were in Maine. We flew out early Monday morning, the 19th, as good friend, Jeff, was killed in a car accident. Ransom's brother, Zach, survived. Very sad circumstances but I won't blog about the ordeal. I always told Zach I would name a foal after him so I figured now is the time, especially since she won't be for sale.

I did okay at the Supreme Cowboy Race. I had received the bad news late the night before I rode so my mind and heart were not on the course. Smarty was really pushy but Cayenne did very well for her level of experience. She did all the obstacles including a drop into a big pool of water that looked a couple inches deep but was actually a couple feet deep. It was a good course with lots of variety and fun obstacles. I'm not sure how many horses competed but I think there were 18-20 in the open class. Cayenne placed 6th and Smarty 7th. There were a lot of very good horses and riders there so it was a treat to watch what I did catch. The trip was a little over 900 miles round trip and I pushed steady for home, stopping only once in Ritzville for fuel and to let my dog go potty. Wonderful friends already had my horses fed and watered and the barn lights on to welcome me home! I pretty much put my horses away, completed some college homework assignments that were due online, slept for a couple hours and headed for the airport.

There was quite a crew caring for my horses. Twelve in all including customer horses. They didn't just feed and water, they cleaned stalls and paddocks, exercised the dogs, monitored Pepper's progress and then made sure she and the new foal were doing well. It was really nice having so many caring people to watch over everything while we were gone! My dad even slept in Pepper's stall and video taped Peppy's birth so I could see it when I got home! What a crew!

Quincy, my friend Tammy's mare, also foaled while we were gone. She had an exceptional filly by Smarty that is probably the best looking one I've seen by him! The filly is black with some white spots on the top of her hips. She has a deep heart girth, great shoulder and hip, and is just really nicely built all the way around.

Waiting on Mama

My mare, Pepper, waxed yesterday so I'm jumping with excitement waiting for her to have her foal. This is my only foal this year and my first by Smarty since Blaze in 2007! This foal will be a full sibling to my favorite, Smart Little Cayenne, so there's a lot of added excitement here! Pepper is only at 11 months and 1 day now so I wasn't expecting her to foal until after the Pat Wyse clinic, towards the end of the month. So much for planning on my part! She may hold on until then as she has waxed for weeks before without foaling. I'm probably leaving early Saturday to haul down to the Supreme Cowboy Race in Nampa, ID, returning Sunday night/Monday morning, leaving for the clinic on Wednesday, and not coming home until that Sunday night. That's a lot of being gone with a mare ready to foal. I plan to put her in a spot where my husband can see her from the house so it will be easy for him to keep an eye on her. I'm going to tempt her shortly and leave to go ride at the local outdoor arena for a couple hours. Hopefully that will motivate her to sneak a foal in!

I rode Cayenne and Smarty up on the hill across from my Dad's yesterday. It was nice to get out and the horses loved the long runs on the logging roads. Smarty was like the energizer bunny. I rated him back to a medium gallop for some corners, rutted road, big puddles and the like but other than that, he poured on the speed. I should say, "His legs went really fast!" He hardly broke a sweat and we went probably 1 1/2 - 2 miles uphill at a good clip! I haven't hardly ridden him so I don't know how he can be in that good of shape. He wasn't done when we reached the top but I had to get back and go to Spokane so didn't have all day to run. Plus I didn't want to kill him even though it was self-inflicted!

I'm getting the trailer and horses ready to head for the Cowboy Race. It'll be a pretty good haul at about 9-11 hours. I had wanted to leave Friday in case I had any trouble but unless Pepper pops, I'll hang out as long as I can. The weather is beautiful and supposed to hold for the rest of the week. That means I can get Smarty and Cayenne washed without them freezing. The race starts at 10:30 Sunday morning and the results are supposed to be announced at 4:30 that evening. That's a long time to hang out with a drive ahead. Hopefully I will know or find out if I placed in the top 3 and if not, head out as soon as possible. Of course, I want to be in that top 3 though! The Expo looks like it has a good lineup of clinicians, demos, etc. It'll be fun to peruse and watch some of the big boys. I'm excited!

Opportunity in Disguise

Blaze's wound is healing very well. He quickly learned to let me hot pack it AND continually kick a pinecone for my ball-crazy dog, Ziva. As much as I miss riding Blaze, I now have the opportunity to "save" him for the Trainer's Challenge at the Horsin' Around Expo in July. We can have up to 40 rides so I can just keep him laid off for the spring. I wasn't going to use him because I wanted to have many more rides on him than that by the time summer rolled around. He's a good candidate and will be a good example of Smarty babies.

I've been keeping up on riding Cayenne. I will be sending in my entry forms for the Supreme Cowboy Race in Nampa, Idaho on April 18th. I plan to compete on Smarty and Cayenne. It may be a bit much for her level but I'm confident it'll at least be good experience. She has more riding than Smarty did when I took him to the Craig Cameron Extreme Cowboy Race! He had a scattered 120 days or so and very little arena work and we tied for 11th out of 36. The building blocks I've been working on with Cayenne's spin are starting to pay off. I've not asked her to really spin yet but am speeding up her turnaround. She stays correct, is very soft and supple, and doesn't fall apart when I push her. I really hope that Pat Wyse will be happy with the progress I've made on her when we go to the clinic in Sandpoint in a few weeks! We'll go from the Cowboy Race to the clinic with only three days in between. She'll be tired by the time that whole week is over!