sun sun sun..

Today was another nice sunny day which started without wind. During the day the wind picked up some speed again. That sucks ! A nasty cough joined my stuffed nose and this makes a bit work even harder. I hope it's gone so fast like it came. After feeding in the morning I asked Linda if I could fix the electric fence in the left stud pen. I was in the mood for a bit work but not too stressful. It took me around 2 1/2 hours. No problem I enjoyed the sunny weather and the geldings which came for a visit. They were sure surprised when they got zapped when they touched the wire. :) Poor guy, but now they stay away from the fence especially Little Spot. He used to put his head right on the fence to stare at the girls on the other side of the fence. Oh, he sure can move, holy smokes ! I watched him a few times when he played with Spirit. After lunch we wanted to go for a trail ride. I told Linda I won't join them 'cause I was so tired and I still didn't eat lunch yet. Linda also didn't feel to go on a trail ride so we postponed it. Instead we cleaned out the round pen 'cause Oreo, the newest addition, moved in another pen. Oh by the way Oreo is an Appaloosa mare, Linda's birthday present. It was already feeding time again.. so off to feed the hungry guys....

first trail ride

The day started early for me when Cruiser came into my room around 5 am. He wanted to cuddle. After a while he left, and I tried to sleep some more. Soon, there were the sound of cat paws on a wooden floor... Oh Cruiser comes back... I opend my eyes to look where he is but there wasn't a black and white cat, there were two small paws with claws which reached up to my face. Oh god ! There were two blue eyes which looked at me : Bambam, the brat. He turned around and walked out of my room... The next visitor was Scraty. So much for sleeping... In the afternoon we went for a trail ride. I rode Dan, Krissie's horse. He is out of shape and so he was sweaty when we came home. Kidd has not a pulled tendon, it's a sole abscess. Poor guy ! I have a cold now, which sucks !

visitors

The day started grey and chilly. The wind wasn't too strong. We took it easy today 'cause of the weather. All we did in the morning was cleaning tack. Linda went to town 'cause she forgot to pick up the blinders yesterday. I was in the mood to go for a walk in the bush, so I suggested a walk to the lake. While Svenja, the farm stay girl from Germany, was talking on the phone with her mother I filled up the water troughs. Then we put the ponies out in the outdoor arena. Linda kept an eye on them so we could go for our walk. There were a lot of tracks : moose, dogs and WOLF ! We also saw a lot of poop: moose, porcupine, deer and one I don't know. Soon I will go for another walk, this time in the other direction. Maybe I will find some more tracks there ;D

cowgirl..

It's pretty windy today and chilly which is not much fun to work with the horses. So we decited to go to town. I had to apply for my social insurence number. Aaaand... I bought a cowboy hat :) it also has a string (real horse hair) attached to it so I won't loose it when I ride fast ;) I am so excited ! There is only one thing I still need : wrangler jeans. Then my outfit will be complete. Dudes, watch out here comes the cowgirl :D
I will check on Kidd later and see how his leg is. Maybe I will do the bloody acupuncture...

CANADA !

I am back in Canada ! It is great to be here again. I missed it more then I thought I do... There were no problems at the border. Immigration didn't give me any problems with the work permit. I got it even longer then I thought I would. Could be useful maybe :) Currently I am in Edson at Linda's place. We have a good time visiting all the animals, see old friends like Cruiser, Kidd... again. Unfortunatly Kidd injured himself. Poor guy, he is limping :( I suggested to do lymphatic drainage to support the healing which I will do soon. In the afternoon we will vaccinate the pregnant mares and will do some more stuff I guess. The chicken mafia is still pretty active. They went up a tree yesterday, must be more comfortable then be in the coop. Funny birds....

travel day

Tomorrow is the big day ! My journey begins at 7 am at Zurich Airport. The first flight goes to Frankfurt, from there to Toronto and finally to Edmonton. It will be a loooong day. 15 hours in total on the road ! Oh well, I could sleep in the plane if I am tired :) I hope there are good movies on the plane. I also have music with me and several books to read.
Today in the evening I will check in my two suitcases. Talk to you as soon as I am there and settled in...

Lesson with Birgit

I met Birgit yesterday at Geronimo's barn where she gave me a lesson in ground work (leading and lunging).
Everytime when I started to lunge Geronimo after a longer break he starts to act stupid and does all kind of things so he doesn't have to work on the lunge line. This time as well. So we got the full version of his avoid work-behavier which was good so Birgit got a good picture where our problem is. He already started acting stupid when I wanted to lead him around the arena on the right side. We ended up leading one person left and right. Still, he tried to kick, blow through the shoulder, run away or once the thought about rearing. So we were pretty busy ! Same deal, when I wanted to lunge him. Brat !! Well, we did the same here, two persons work with him, me on the outside leading him and Birgit in the lunging position. Geronimo tried his things to do, a few times he won but we won most of the time :) When he finally understood it didn't work anymore he gave in, chewed and stretched down. At this point we stopped and awarded him.
It was hard work but we could show him it's easier when he works with us not against us.
This was my last ground work session with Geronimo. We will go for our last trail ride today :(