A Lesson in the Science of Physics

Well, things are really cookin' around here- 3 very fine foals on the ground and ready to wean! The first was a very refined seal brown (turning black brown) colt by my brown stallion Rocket!





"Komet" aka DropDa Reins N Go (pending) has big movement (inherited from Jess Rocky Rabbit, Buckeroo and NFCs Manipulator), and is super refined (even though the pics show him in his baby woolies!) He has a very forward and "look at me" show ring attitude! I am very pleased... he should make a stellar driving horse!






DROPDA REINS N GO----









The second boy is a real keeper- a gorgeous silver bay colt I call "Classical Jazz"... I am hopeful to put him out there on the circuit next season! Also by Rocket and out of a lovely Top Banana/ Bronco mare.



CLASSICAL JAZZ---




AND we got our very first filly! "Almost Easter" who is turning a lovely chocolate brown- she will make a wonderful amateur all round horse- very very friendly and easy, and fantastic airy movement! Another Rocket baby out of a small refined mare with heavy Komoko lines- we love those foundation bloodlines around here!

WELL NOW FOR THIS PHYSICS LESSON! Speaking of ROCKET! I had moved my elegant brown black stallion into a new paddock- after a few days I noticed he was drinking a phenomenal amount of water- I wrote it off to the fact that he was a bit more active and settling into a new area. But soon I saw he was drinking about 15 gals or more a day! HOLY Guacamole! I started to measure it daily and became very concerned... Was there a bear coming through and tanking up at night?- possible... but no paw prints when I wet the ground around the tub to pick up spore... I was just ready to call the vet...

...then I noticed something... hmmmmm

You see, I had ALSO re-arranged my water hoses ...I gave up on all the complicated PVC water pipes- got tired of breakage and freezes etc, so just string hoses and splitters and shut offs- must less hassle and cheaper to replace.

ANYWAY, I had strung about 80 ft of hose with another 25 ft or so splitting off of it down the hill, and then another hose off that down the hill... and left the end of one of those hoses in Rockets water trough

... I suppose you see where I am going here, but I am blonde so it took me longer...

So I filled his 30 gal bucket one day, then went back 30 mins later, and sure enough a good 15 gallons or more GONE! WAIT a second! Rocket is OUT IN THE PASTURE! I stood and stared, the gears clicked and churned - until smoke started coming out of the workings. OH GEEEEEZZZZZZ.... I was simply siphoning the water back out into the downhill the hose system almost as fast as I was filling his water tub!

I had a good laugh at myself and was so glad that I did not bother my vet (who likely would have picked up on it much more quickly than I did and pointed it out ot me, leaving me toeing the ground sheepishly)...

....so folks - a LESSON IN PHYSICS today!

All Jazzed up for Winter!

WOW... long time no see folks! The digital age may be golden, but my computer is sure a lump of coal!

Between semi-daily crashes and file compromise to make even the most patient pull our HAIR out, I am finally back on line for more than 15 minutes at a time! Ever have your computer sound like a WEEDwhacker???? ANYway... I hold my breath as I type and hope for the best!

Back to the events at hand.... we have bad news and good news... the bad news...
WATER WATER and WATER! Everywhere! I thought last winter was bad, but holy precipitation Batman! My front road flooded, and the creek is brimming at the banks. And I am LUCKY.... the valley has had over 2,000 people evacuated due to flooding and SoCal is bereft with flooding and mudslides, as is the Bay Area.

I do feel lucky... and SPEAKING OF LUCKY, my darling Jasmine is back. This little golden girl is THE pocket pony of pocket ponies and as darling as you can get! She will be bred to Cody (SAXON MOUNT GOLDEN DUST) for a 2012 foal that is already sold IN-UTERO!!

Jaz is small but very athletic and tons of fun!

Buckets and Buckets of Buckets

WOW...
This MUST be a Halloween trick!

Because instead of a bucket of candy we are getting a monsoon of RAIN RAIN RAIN...it be RAINY...

Okay not like my little BAY mare "Rainy", like this...



















but Rainy like... well... this...













and ... welll... this....




YUK!!!!
Water water everywhere... good thing my little fuzzy yaks have enough fat on them to float like little bay and palomino and black fishing bobs above the surface!

Why does a horse stand in a storm?

Well, after a delay due to technical difficulties (let us call it that instead of operator error!)... I would like to post my friend Susan McCarthy's response to the much asked question... why do horses often stand out in a raging storm instead of seeking shelter?

SUSAN's RESPONSE:
Aw gee, Kristi, no fair. How would I dare pronounce on a subject that baffles all those horse folk?

I will say that standing out in the open doesn't protect a horse from lightning, although it should protect it from falling trees and tree parts.

I will also speculate that when weather is bad, horses will do what their wild ancestors did in bad weather. And what that would have been (I continue to speculate) would have been to go to a pasture in the lee of a hill if possible and if not possible and in any case, to orient themselves to the wind and wait it out. Not to go looking for a warm dry well-bedded stall....

I would make an analogy with llamas, who live in open alpine areas, and who apparently do not understand the concept of shade. Where they are from there is no shade and perhaps they never need shade. So when some llamas were being held in quarantine in Antigua and were suffering horribly from the heat and sun, it never occurred to them to get into shade. People had to chase them into the shade.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/23/world/failed-plan-leaves-llamas-dying-in-tropics.html?pagewanted=all

So that's the best I can do: maybe the horse instruction manual simply doesn't include the warm dry stall option....
Failed Plan Leaves Llamas Dying in Tropics - NYTimes.com
www.nytimes.com
LEAD: Thousands of miles from their home in the cool mountains of South America, a herd of woolly llamas and alpacas have been stranded on a Caribbean island and are slowly dying from heat and stress in the broiling sun.

Thunderstorms and Icey Foals

A wild and wet and icy storm blasted through the area the other day... the gods tossed lightening bolts and clashed thunder... and beset a heavy and unrelenting peppering of stinging, pea-sized hail upon the landscape..... and through it all, there the ponies stood out in the open, backs to the wind and a 1/2 inch of hail covering their backs.... some shivering with wet and cold and others standing with heads low, and half closed eyes mumbling to themselves "this too shall pass".

Okay, so why is it that horses choose to stand out in the worst storms when they have a warm dry well-bedded stall 6 ft away!? All of us horse owners are familiar with this behavior....

It has baffled me for 35 yrs... I have guesses as to the reason for this instinctual behavior. The most commonly held opinion among horse folk is that the animal wants to remove his or her self from the danger of potential falling limbs and / or lightening strikes that would perhaps be involved with a more natural shelter like a tree! That is what I have believed for quite a while. And so I am inviting my friend and animal behaviorist Susan McCarthy to please put her two cents in on the subject!
Okay Susan...

HAIL yes! The mares are here!

The hail is still melting in my hair as I write this... what CRAZY weather we have been having! The last 10 days have been beautiful, in the 70's and high 60's and it has really been feeling like spring. The ponies are shedding in bushels... the stallions are flirting, the mares are flaunting and the foals are four on floor spunky monkeys!

Then the rain started again... and this afternoon, right in the middle of feeding, the sky ripped open and hail poured down my neck and my boots... so here I am shaking ice from my clothes and hair, glad to be back inside the warmth of the house.

But the GOOD news is that not only did the rain come, but last weekend RAIN came! My newest addition. Daysprings Raindrops on Roses arrived and she is a stunner! She is my final foundation mare and has BIG single movement, a great disposition, bloodlines to die for and a lovely refined type.

And that ain't all folks! Because the week before we got DAZZLED!!! Yep my other new addition is home too, and she is adorable! Only about 30" tall, Dazzle is a super araby type with nice forward movement, a flashy blazed face and a pocket pony personality!



I couldn't be happier.... go see them at http://vikingwindfarm.com/mares

...and don't forget that we have some very nice horses available too including a stunning perlino colt! With show season upon us I hope to have this colt out and about very soon!

Rockets and Red Shouldered Hawks

There is a real nip in the air today, and the clouds are dark and wet with blue patches jigsawing in between. After feeding tonight I was looking out the front window and saw Rocket (my black bay Jr Stallion) charging around the front pasture like a demon was on his tail.

He would run full tilt a couple laps and then trot into his feeding area snorting and prancing only to spook and bolt away again for a couple more rounds. I was puzzled at first until I caught a flash of brown and black over near his feed bucket. I then heard that familiar piercing complaint that I have learned to know well... a red shouldered hawk! The sound was punctuated by a Raven's irritated caw. I realized that 2 Ravens were busy harassing a hawk that they felt had settled too close into their chosen spot... which was feeding on the grain scraps which Rocket had spilled onto the ground during dinner.

The hawk would move about 2 tree limbs away as the indigo winged pursuers swooped down hoping to intimidate without becoming lunch (although this is unlikely as the Red Shoulder is not much bigger than a large Raven itself). The Hawk remained annoyed but unimpressed and suddenly I saw another brown flash come in fast from my peripheral vision. It slammed into the roosting hawk with a flurry of feathers and screams... ANOTHER red shouldered hawk! The second hawk was apparently taking advantage of his distracted rival in order to make a point... talons and beaks agape, the first hawk hung by a talon for a moment before letting go of the interloper (who clearly had the upper hand - or talon-) and half fell, half flew away...

The Ravens wisely kept back during the weapon play and the victor proudly stood upon the limb he had won. The other hawk gone, the ravens now quickly went about harassing the NEW hawk until he had moved far enough away to their liking! Rocket was quite upset about the entire thing... being a rather faint of heart stallion! So I brought him into his paddock early and reassured him that Mommy would not let Raven nor Hawk feed upon him...

I never tire of the variety of wildlife here and have a very special bond with my lovely and acrobatic Red Shouldered friends as well as my Hitchcock-esque black winged Ravens. As for Rocket, he was simply very glad that Mommy is around to rescue him from all the drama around here that he wishes to NOT have any part of!