Personality

Fallon's personality is finally starting to come out more. She is a very vocal and playful filly. Every time I go the barn Fallon will run to the fence and shaker her head and nicker. But if I go to pet her she flicks her head and goes running off spinning and bucking. She is such a little goof. However, if I go in the pen and draw her eyes to me, I can walk right up to her.

I will work with her tonight on loading and leading (still sticky with this). I will also work on teaching her to hobble. I am going to make a trail course out of her pen. Logs, mailbox, bridge etc...

I am also going to work on having her carry a flag and get her ready to saddle. Hopefully I can have her saddling and bridling for the competition. I try to get my yearlings fully ready to ride without actually riding them. Flexing, bridling, saddling, desensitizing them, taking them places so that when I am wanting to ride them out and about they aren't a scaredy cat about it. I'll get pics of all of this tonight

Adoption

Ok the BLM has asked me to help them find Maverik a home in a few weeks once he's 100% healthy. So If you or someone you know would be interested in adopting Mav, please contact me via e-mail or phone (victoryacres@hotmail.com; (541) 786-3218)

Here's his stats:

Jackson Ridge Maverik
13hh
550lbs
Good strong legs, long legs, nice proportions.
Easily will make a great english, dressage, eventing, hunter or jumper.
Mav leads, loads, ties, bathes, has had his feet trimmed, and is current on EVERYTHING.

Adoption Fee: $125 (Must fill out BLM Application)

Good homes only please!

Fallon, Nevada

The BLM contacted me from Palomino Valley, NV and gave me a really good deal considering I don't actually own Maverik. They will reimburse me for mileage, and vet bills for Maverik.

I don't want to, but I may take Fallon back too because of diesel prices. I can't afford to go when it'll be around $5 per gallon by August I'm sure. I really like Fallon, and REALLY wanted the chance to perform with her but I have to think about finances. I also don't know if she's healthy or at risk for strangles. If that is the case I don't want to keep her here for the same reasons I won't be keeping Mav here.

I will be taking them to Fallon, NV, the place Fallon was named after. I will miss them.

Maverik

Well, Maverik has Strangles OR Streptococcus. Either way it isn't good. Now I have to make a decision about whether to take him to Burns, OR to the BLM center there, or keep him quarantined here at my ranch. So here's to calculating costs of both.

Fallon is doing good. Life has finally slowed down just enough that I should be able to work with her daily sometimes twice daily now and reach some good goals with her. She isn't jumpy and is just real laid back about everything. Clippers, Farrier tools, Tractors, ATV's, Bikes. She is in with my yearling and she is definitely herd boss but my yearling will deal. I will clean her up some more, she gained a bit too much weight being with Auzzie because he's on a weight gain program so she needs some extra work under her feet. I am going to continue working on her leading so I can start ponying her on my mare around the ranch to get her lean and muscled. I will also start ponying her on some trails soon to get her out and about so that her new home in August will have an easy go of it.

Farrier Part 2

Well today was Maveriks turn. He got shiny new feet too. My farrier works a lot with mustangs so he just had him in a pen and did it by himself. He did fairly well. It was a bigger ordeal then Fallons, but thats ok.

Mav also got a sudsy bath today too. He had SO MUCH dirt so deep that I am glad my EZall works so well. No scrubbing necessary. He's shed out some more hair too during his bath.

Farrier!

Well Mav is still being grumpy about being caught and I had stupidly put him in the round pen with no lead rope. My bad! So he stayed there for a few days. I ended up having to rope him in 6" standing water while getting covered in mud flung up from his hooves as he splashed through. He needless to say after that ordeal didn't get his new feet today. My farrier and I both agree'd that he wasn't in a good state of mind to have his feet handled which is too bad because his hooves, although not extremely long, are curling a little like elf feet, so he gave me a time line so he's coming out in a week to do them then and my homework is to get him less nervous. I do good with deadlines so lets hope this helps me get him calmer about people.

Fallon got pretty new feet today though. She just needed a couple centimeters off and the rasp to smooth them out but besides pulling her hind foot away a couple times she did really well my farrier was impressed. She warmed up to him and his wife fairly quickly. She's about ready for some major socialization skills so from now on she gets loaded up wherever I go to learn to stand patiently, and accept a buzz going on around her.

I have completely restarted with Mav. He is such an odd horse to work with but my goal is to have him as far if not further then Fallon in a few weeks. Tomorrow are my finals so after that I will have no on campus classes, just distance education classes which will give me an abundance of time...

It snowed here yesterday and it's the 2nd week of JUNE! What the Heck! It's supposed to be warming into summer, it's ALMOST the first day of summer and yet we're still getting snow flurries, 30° weather and non-stop rain. I tell ya what... the weather here has been off it's rocker all year. Winter was harsh and cold, Spring is non-stop rain AND snow and who knows what summer will be. Im used to Cold winters with on/off snow, rainy springs that start mellowing out (but it ALWAYS rains the 1st week of June) and then tapers off to desert weather for 3 1/2 months in the summer! Rant over with! Once this weather clears up I'll clip up Mav the best I can and wash them both and "show prep" them and get good cleaned up photos!

Videos

Promised Pictures

Ok, I had a REALLY good session with Fallon today. I groomed her all up, took 40 minutes to get through her ratty tail. It was SO thick and it looked like a puff ball when I was done hehe. She stood tied and slept the ENTIRE time like an old broke kids horse. I then had my mom come and take pics and videos, your lucky day :) . I picked up all 4 feet, and besides wiggling her back leg a little she never tried to kick. She longed nicely both directions, and remembered her yielding of both haunches and forehand. She has warmed up a lot to my mom and other people. She really is a sweet horse and I hope she find a really nice home in August with someone who will bond with her because she is a puppy dog with respect of space.

She learned all about Apple Forks this morning, and besides looking at it funny and standing in the corner pouting cus she didn't want to eat near the red "monster" but pretty soon she started following it as I was raking... dang girl lol definitely like a cat chasing a laser light. hehe



I attempted to groom Mav tonight but he is still jumpy and not wanting anything to do with me. I will continue to just try and get through to him, I will be getting pictures of him tomorrow. He is bigger then when he came, no ribs showing and he has a healthy sheen. His warts are hard and hopefully will fall off now that I have him on Exterra (spelling?). I feel bad because I have more pictures of Fallon, but she is so much further along that the pics can portray that, his will still be similar to his first few. More updates as always later :)

All Moved Around

Well I have had so many horses coming and going lately, and I have been moving and updating my facilities for a few months now (still ongoing). Finals are next week for school (can't believe I'll be a Junior in College) and after that I will be really cracking down and working with these 2 daily. It has been raining for 2 1/2 weeks with only 1 day here and there of sprinkles or just overcast.

Fallon is in a new pen and has really come around. She is a HUGE lovebug, she even let my grandparents who visited yesterday rub and love on her. She let my mom hand feed her grain, and scratch her ALL over.

Mav is finally starting to heal wart wise, and he doesn't have a runny or snotty nose anymore. I will leave him isolated a bit longer and then move him closer to Fallon. He is still real jumpy and untrusting, I have to leave a halter on him as it's a bit harder to catch him then Fallon and he is more pushy and will try to shove me over when I am tying the halter. I am hoping that as soon as the weather clears up I can get through to him some more. I found some of his itchy spots which was part of Fallons turn around so I hope that helps. I will take some more pictures tonight when I get home and post them up tonight.