9543 Has Arrived

Well first off, I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Lots has been going on so I've got a bit of catching up to do here. First off, Mustang #9543 has finally arrived at the Diamond G. Here's the tag she was wearing around before going to Mona.















And without further adu, here she is ("Hi, I'm Grace")
































She arrived on Saturday afternoon. We had a harder time getting Mona's trailer out of the snow than we did getting Grace on the trailer. After a few hems and haws, she loaded right up. When we got back to the farm, Cleo was out in the front paddock. When she saw Grace, she started prancing around the paddock and winnied in her typical tone. Once Grace got settled and found her, she winnied right back in her high pitched voice. We didn't have any problems getting Grace into the barn nor into her stall (this was the first time she was in a stall). Speaking of Mona, here she is with Grace.















Grace is settling in nicely. At this point, we're not really sure what color she'll turn out to be. At first we were thinking blue roan but now there's a chance she'll be grey. I guess we'll just have to wait to see. Whatever color she turns out to be, she's awfully cute!

Cleo had a bit of jealousy at first but that seems to have wained now. As long as she gets to eat first and gets first attention, she's fine.

Saturday it was on the warmer side and Sunday was pretty warm as well. Some of the snow started to go down (at least all the ice had melted) but then we got some rain on Sunday night and lo and behold, the ground started showing again. We literally lost 12-14" of snow overnight in some spots - without apparent flooding. So here we were all this time thinking we were going to have a white Christmas and now it's some white, some brown, and some green.

I received the following in an email from the Fr Corapi email list today and thought it was worth sharing.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS 2007

I recently read some simple, yet profound, wisdom from two excellent sources: Pope Benedict XVI and Mother Angelica. They were both speaking about Christmas and the Christ child, and when either of them speak, I listen. One is our spiritual father, our “Papa” (Papal, Pope), the other is a spiritual mother to many. Both are reliable, both are holy, and both have remained faithful through the thick and thin of the Church’s recent history. Here are a few insights and perspectives that I gleaned from them.

Isn't it interesting, even amazing, that when God came to us He came as a helpless infant. He came as a baby so that we would not fear to approach Him. He came as a little child so that we might begin to understand Him. He did not come as a majestic King, although He surely is. He did not come on a warhorse with legions of angels at His command, although He could have. He came to us as an infant--poor, rejected, cold, and helpless. He came to us little so that we might understand Him, the Holy Father has remarked. Indeed, “God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten Son that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but come to everlasting life.” He sent His Son as a baby.

If you have been far from God, or just somewhat disinterested, don’t wait any longer. Approach the manger this Christmas and make room in the “Inn” of your heart.

In the midst of the incredible and sad commercialization of the holy day of Christmas, and all of the gifts and glitter, remember whose birthday it is. It is Jesus’ birthday. That is what Christmas is. What will you give to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings on his birthday this year? Perhaps this year you will give him your heart and mind, all that you are and all that you do? Will you give him the gift of your time? Perhaps you will give him the gift of one hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament? Perhaps you will feed him, clothe him, house him, visit him in the hospital or nursing home? Perhaps you will visit him in prison? Perhaps you will love him in a thousand ways by loving the least of his brethren, as He instructed us to do?

May the infant Jesus bless you now and all the days of your life.

Not much that I can add to that, so let me close with the following reminder of the significance of this day and a prayer for peace for men of good will.

" And she brought forth her first-born Son, and
wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid
Him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds watching, and keeping the night watches
over their flock. And behold an Angel of the Lord
stood by them, and the brightness of God shone
round about them, and they feared with a great fear.
And the Angel said to them: Fear not; for behold I bring
you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people;
for this day is born to you a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord,
in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you:
You shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and laid in a manger. And suddenly there was with
the Angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising
God, and saying: Glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace to men of good will."
Luke 2:7-14

No news is ... a bummer

Well, instead of Grace today we got ... yep snow. Started out about 7:15 this morning and tapered off to rain at about 5:30. All in all, we got probably 8" on the ground. Started out as light and fluffy snow but got a heavier as the day went on.

Once we confirmed that we were gonna get weather today, Mona decided that she would try to bring Grace up on Saturday instead. However, as luck would have it she got tied up doing stuff around her barn and couldn't get out before it was gonna be dark. So sometime this week, we'll try to pick another time. It'll get harder and harder to plan long term with winter in full effect (even though technically its still fall for another week or so). Starting to see a few more trailers in Uncle Henry's so might be getting onto time to thinking about acquiring our own. I'm thinking that ideally, I'd like a 16' gooseneck combo stock trailer. That would be the best overall option to handle horses, cows, and hay.

Got some work done in the barn today. Fixed the outside door in what will be Grace's stall and started fixing a few other things that needed fixing.

Well, thats about all for today. Not much to say but thought I'd bring all y'all up to date on the continuing saga of Grace.

Receiving Grace

Finally got my paperwork back from the BLM this past Monday. I talked with Mona over the weekend and she has agreed to haul Grace up to us on this coming Sunday. Mona told me that Grace is leading better and is pretty good about picking up her feet. She's mostly over the nipping stage as well. She's also gotten a lot bigger than the last time we've seen her too.

This morning I was talking to a neighbor and she was telling me that we're supposed to get a doozy of a snowstorm on Sunday - possibly a foot or more. I've not been able to confirm that with any of the online weather places yet so stay tuned for more info as it becomes available. Hopefully we'll be able to get her but if the weather's bad, it might have to wait. She's about an hour and a half away, so its not a short trip and would be much worse in the snow.

While reading The Beginning Farmer's Blog the other day, I came across the following quote.

"As an entrepreneur I learned that you can commit yourself to a strategy if you burn the bridge behind you. Then you have to make it work." - Tim Young

Ethan, the owner of that blog was interviewing the owners of Nature's Harmony Farm. You can read the blog entry containing this quote on "Nature's Harmony Farm Q&A - Part 3" here. The owners of this farm quit Corporate America to live a simpler life closer to nature. They're setting their farm up to most closely mimic nature with grazing rotation, animal care, etc.

"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged by the size of the task, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."
1 Chronicles 28:20

Words To Live By

Was reading the December issue of Western Horseman last night when I came across an ad for Stoecklein Photography. I took a closer look at some of the pictures and came across this poster.

Code of The West
1. Live Each Day with Courage
2. Take Pride in Your Work
3. Always Finish What you Start
4. Do What Has to Be Done
5. Be Tough, But Fair
6. When You Make a Promise, Keep It
7. Ride for the Brand
8. Talk Less and Say More
9. Remember That Some Things Are Not For Sale
10. Know Where to Draw the Line

After re-reading the list a few times, I got to thinking that those sure are good rules to live by. They will become the cornerstone of our youth program. Seems to me that folks can make things far too complicated sometimes, always trying to come up with grey areas when things are mostly black and white. Seems more often than not grey areas are often just a way out of making the right/hard/unpopular decision.

So then I turn the page (back to Western Horseman magazine again) and stumble across an interview with Sheila Varian, who amongst other things has this to say "You need to take loss with graciousness, but it should eat on you a bit".

Of course Michael Martin Murphy sums it up pretty good in his song "Cowboy Logic" - if you've never heard it, give it a listen and if you have, listen to it again.

Good news on the Grace front! I called Randy at the BLM yesterday to find out about the status of my application. He wasn't in but I talked with another woman in the office. She told me that I didn't need to wait for the application to be signed and returned - even though this is what Randy indicated in his cover letter to me when he sent me the application. That being said, she told me they signed and recorded it on 11/27/07 and that I should have already received it. Since I didn't, she was going to send me a copy in the mail. So tonight I called Mona and left a message with her to arrange for delivery of Grace to the Diamond G. Here's a picture of her from the mustang rescue site.










Got some more snow tonight - wasn't supposed to accumulate but we've got over a new inch on the ground so far.

What else but Snow

Well, winter came early and hard to the Diamond G this year. Late Sunday night into Tuesday afternoon we got about 16 inches of snow. Good snowball snow, too - not too fluffy but not slushball material either.















It's the pretty snow that sticks to the trees but doesn't bring down powerlines.
















In order for us to get snow, the temperature needed to warm up some. Most of last week the average high temo was about 20 degrees. It wasn't too bad when the wind stayed down but when it kicked up boy it was cold.

This year, due to reasons outside of our control (thanks Chip) we needed to get a new Christmas tree. We decided that we would like to get a live tree this year. This is the first real tree for any of us.

The snow came as kind of a suprise. I was checking out the weather for the week and saw they were predicting about a foot of snow. Nothing like the prediction of a foot of snow later on that day to kick yer butt into high gear. On the way into church we were a bit early so I stopped by the side of the road to take some pictures of one of the tidal rivers that had started to freeze. Tidal rivers are real amazing to me - the amount of water that comes and goes with them every day is huge.































Church was really good this week. Stacy and I got to light the advent candle during the mass. We had a substitute priest this week who gave a really great homily on the need to listen. His hard nosed preaching style reminded me of Father Corapi. After church, we went to Morse farmstand to pick out our tree and then we had to stop and buy a snow shovel - our old one wore itself out. Before the snow would start falling, I needed to hang a window in the barn that needed most of its panes repaired (fortunately I got the glass on Friday and had fixed the window on Saturday), bring in about a dozen stall mats that I had out to get cleaned off, bring in several buckets from the paddocks and fields, etc. By the time I had everything about done, dark set in. (Dark sure does set in early and hard these days - kinda like God throwing the light switch)

In the middle of all this Sunday activity, we had some friends from Oxford stop by for a visit. It sure was nice to see them and sit and visit awhile.

Then early Monday morning (about 2:00AM) the snow started but unfortunately during the afternoon, the snow blower didn't. Good thing I had a nice new shovel to break in. First time I got to move snow with the tractor, too. It's a little tricky to get the hang of but fortunately for me (and the farm) the ground was already frozen so it's less likely to tear up. Moving snow is a balancing act of angle and downward pressure on the bucket. Too much pressure and angle and you tear things up (and can't steer as the front end comes off the ground) and too little and you get a hard packed layer under the bucket. Unless of course you're back blading which has its own set of issues. :-)

Cleo doesn't seem to mind the snow much, except for the fact that it is covering all the grass. She kind of just mills about and occasionally paws the snow off the ground and tries to get a mouthful of grass. Laredo likes the snow, he jumps around in it.

Speaking of Laredo, he has learned a new trick, he's figured out how to open the sliding door. This afternoon I was parking the tractor (more snow cleanup) when I noticed Laredo was out in the paddock with Cleo. I figured someone had taken him out but nope, he just let himself out. First the fridge and now the door.

No paperwork back from the BLM yet, guess I'll have to call them and see what's going on.

We've got a new visitor on the farm, a snowy owl has been hanging around pretty close to the house and barn. I've seen him a few times but haven't been able to get a picture yet. The first time I saw him, he was sitting on top of the gate for the round pen. I was a bit suprised to see him in mid-morning so out in the open.

Well, thats about all for now. Hopefully I'll have some good news on Grace this week. If you happen to be local, check out our ads running in the Wiscasset, BoothBay, and Lincoln County newspapers as well as The Coastal Journal and Uncle Andy's. We're running a Christmas sale where we're offering 1/2 off your first two months of boarding if you contact us before Januray 7th.

Gifts received

We went down to visit family during this Thanksgiving weekend.

First off, a big thanks to Phil for helping out and keeping track of the farm while we were gone - Cleo sure did appreciate it.

While we were down there, we visited our extended family at St. Roch's church for mass. It's interesting, we've only been gone about 6 months but darn, all the kids are growing up and looked different. Just before we were moving to the farm, one of the members of the folk choir had heard that we were going to have a horse farm and she shared with me the fact that she recently had to have her horse put down. This was a very tramatic event for her as he was a close friend and companion. Earlier that day before mass, she had decided that she needed to start getting rid of her John Lyons training books and some of his magazines that she had and wasn't sure what to do with them. Then she saw us in Church that morning and felt that God wanted her to give the stuff to us and that we'd be able to put it to good use. Since she didn't have them with her at that time and her and her family were coming up to Maine to visit family the next week, she thought she might stop by and drop them off. Well as things often happen, she was not able to. So this weekend we saw her at Mass and lo-and-behold, she had them in her car. She's actually had them in her car all summer waiting to see us. I didn't know a lot about John personally, I've read some of his magazine articles and have heard great reviews of his clinics but I thought I'd spend a bit of time looking at his site. Turns out that he is a not only a great horseman but he is also a fellow christian. How fitting that God would move in people to see that His people will share information to those who are willing to listen and learn! The woman also asked if we wanted her saddle and bridle. So after lunch, I went over to her house to pick up the tack and books/magazines. The saddle, bridles, and bits were all very nice and in super condition. Here's a picture of the saddle.
















When I was there, she told me she wasn't sure why but had decided that we needed to have the tack. She had received offers to buy it from her but thought it should go to someone who would put it to good use. Now here's the interesting thing about all that - I have never shared with her our desire/dream to be able to create a horse (and farm) mentoring program for children. God does provide when you want to put good back into the world! We are hoping to be able to get something started with that in the Spring and the saddle will sure come in handy. The connection between animals and children can be tremendous to both - more on this in a later post. Not sure if she will read this blog but thanks for the stuff!

I had some time to kill not long after getting the tack and books so I happened to pick up a random issue of John Lyons' Perfect Horse magazine from the pile of books. I was looking at the cover and one of the articles was entitled "Mastering Mustangs" so immediately that got my interest (still haven't gotten the paperwork back from the BLM to complete the Grace adoption yet by the way). So I started out reading the editorial from John entitled "What Are You Doing?" and found some real interesting stuff that I thought would be great to share. The main subject of the editorial is about losing track of what you are intending to do and how that makes us feel like we're not making progress.

"Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise. Many are
the plans in a man's heart, but it is the
Lord's purpose that prevails"

Proverbs 19:20-21

"As I look back, I can see that God is like a good horse trainer, using interruptions or difficult people to teach me lessons that seemed worthless at the time but have become valuable. He knew what He was doing. The biggest lesson is that even when I mess up, He still loves me."
John Lyons' Perfect Horse Magazine - October 2006 - Pg 6

All I can think of is "insipred words from a man who knows " horses and people. (Trivia: Do you know what movie "Language lessons ... insipred words from a man who knows how to ski." came from?)

One of the things I'm learning is that great horse people are not only good with horses but are also good with people. Helping them to learn how to learn and work through problems - horses, like people, are an interesting puzzle.

Later on that night at a family gathering, I had been given an old copy of a dog magazine that had a cattle dog on the cover. Dang if it didn't look like Laredo when he was a pup. Here's the cover picture




















Overall, it was a great weekend for receiving stuff and spending time with the family. Hopefully we'll hear back from the BLM this week and will be able to get Grace here at the Diamond G.

Those things defy the laws of physics

Got the adoption application from Randy at the BLM in the mail yesterday. A signature, a check for $125.00, and an envelope (complete with stamp) were all that stood between us and Grace. Sent the paperwork in today so as soon as we get the signed copy back from Randy we can set up a time for delivery from Mona. Speaking of Mona, I talked with her on Monday night and she was telling me that Grace is progressing nicely. She is now at the point where they can pick up all four of her feet without any trouble. Mona is hoping they won't have any problems getting Grace in the trailer and she'll have a nice ride up here. If I had to guess, I'd say we'll have her here at the Diamond G sometime right after Thanksgiving.

Cleo is coming along nicely. Been working a lot on the basics with her - a lot of ground work and basic riding fundimentals. Its been neat to see some of Bill Dorrance's techniques in action and some of the results they bring. Today we both saw quite a sight. We were working in the round pen when I saw the turkeys coming down between the house and barn. Cleo caught a gander at them not too long after me and they must've just seen her about that time too. So they decided to take evade by taking flight ... Now anyone who's seen a turkey fly knows it's not nearly as beautiful as an eagle and/or hawk. In fact, its like comparing a fighter jet to a C-130 lumbering down the runway for take off - you get to wondering just how that thing is gonna get off the ground. So anyway, we both stopped to watch this specticle - at first Cleo was dancing around but then curiosity just got the best of her and she just stood motionless watching them take off down the hill one by one. At one point there were about 10 turkeys in flight. Once they were down on the ground again and in the tall grass, we were back to business as usual.

Finally used up the remainder of the old sawdust and got to let the bin dry out for a few days. Since they've been predicting rain for the better part of this week, I thought I'd best get some into the bin while I had the chance. So now a little more than 1/2 of the pile is now in the bin where it'll be nice and dry and ready for winter. Took a bit longer to get it all loaded up than I'd have thought but I guess it goes quicker once you've logged more hours on the tractor and aren't worried about wrecking the bin or a run-in shed with a raised bucket.

Updates and Observations

Called the Bureau of Land Management office out in Wisconsin this afternoon and talked to Randy. The BLM folks had just received my application today and were in the process of reviewing it so Randy took a gander at the letter I provided and reviewed the paperwork and found everything in order. So long story short, we've been approved by the BLM to adopt Grace! Now Randy'll send me out a contract that I need to sign and send back to him (along with a check) and then we can bring Grace home to the Diamond G. I believe it'll do Cleo a world of good to have a pasture (and barn) buddy. We won't officially own Grace until we've had here here for a year. Once a year's gone by, the BLM will send us her title (think ownership papers) and we can consider her officially ours. Hopefully if all goes well we'll have her here by December. In the spring, once the snow's melted, she'll turn two which'll work out just fine to start her on groundwork. Tomorrow I'll call Mona and let her know what's going on and figure out what we need to do to get her here.

Had a real hard frost here last night (low of 28). Laredo found out the hard way that there was a skim coating of ice out on the deck. After returning from his morning business, he was loping down the deck to get to his tire. About 2/3rds of the way down he decides to slow down and finds out the hard way that that just ain't agonna happen. Somehow he ends up on his side and slides the remaing part of the deck right into the railing. Since he's a cattle dog, this isn't much of a problem, he just got up and started to take it out on the tire. Supposed to drop down to 22 tonight so we should have a good frost tomorrow too. Note to any perspective farmers/ranchers out there - a cool/wet morning with a hard frost the night before is not the best time to check out the status of yer electric fence. The good news is that it's working jest fine.

Another observation for today - its getting awfully dark awfully early. I was sitting at the computer this afternoon and it was dark by 4:45. Just Monday, I was out in the round pen with Cleo until about 5:30. Go figure - I sure can't.

In a round about way

The round pen showed up Friday morning. Twelve panels each 12' long by 6' high and about 100lbs, one gate panel (4' gate) 12' by 8' by about 120 lbs, and a box of clamps. This was about the only thing in a 48' box trailer. Kudos to the guy driving the truck, he managed to back in and around the back of the barn so that we could drop the panels right next to their new home. After inspecting each panel (real nice quality) as the driver handed them off the truck, they got stacked next to the run-in shed. They sure don't look like much stacked in a pile. So Saturday came and I had the chance to put it up - me and my round pen crew (Thanks Dad!). The instructions said it would take two people a little over an hour to get it up and functional. After finding the center of the location where it would go, we drew the 50' circle to use as a guide for placing the panels and started plunking them down one by one. First we placed the gate so it would be where I wanted it and then just went around the circle. After a little over an hour, all the panels were up so we went around and did some minor adjustements and viola, it was done. One of the most interesting things about this system is the spacing of the rails. The top ones, which are closer to the horse's natural line of sight, are closer spaced than the bottom rails. This provides a psychological barrier to the horse while still giving him full view of the surroundings. This helps the horse to focus on the task at hand in the pen without feeling too trapped. (Its all about feel.) Here it is ...
















Once it was built, of course I had to test it. Since they were predicting heavy rain for the afternoon and night, I got Cleo out of the pasture and tried out lunging her for a while. She's doing much better lunging now and seemed to not mind being in the pen. I've been noticing something interesting about her- after any sort of semi-physical workout, she rolls as soon as I turn her back out to the pasture/paddock. So this time I had the camera ready.















... and then (after some effort and a few failed attempts) over the top ...
















Once she hits both sides a few times, she's up and good to go back to grazing.

Turned the clocks back yesterday, sure does make a difference at night. I was working out in the round pen tonight and it was just about unuseable by 5:30. Lights sure would be nice but with the impending winter, so would our indoor arena. We're trying to work out the logistics of where we'd put in an indoor arena (we're hoping to be able to get one in next year - fingers crossed) but don't have an exact location at the moment. Ideally it'd be directly connected to the barn but if not then it would be good to have it very close by. The exact size would depend on where it was located but we would want it big enough so that we're not always turning a corner.

Our application has been submitted to the BLM (our "local" office is in Wisconsin) so no we have to wait to hear back from them before we can move forward with Grace. It really stinks that she is over an hour and fifteen minutes away, we'd like to go see her more often. Here's to hoping.

Hope Springs Eternal

It seems as though we're well into fall now here at the farm. The front yard is covered in about 3 inches of oak leaves. Seems as though in another week or so and most of the leaves will be down on the trees around the house.

Cleo has settled into a nice routine. Now that the weather is getting cooler, she is much slower to come out of her stall into the front paddock in the morning. She usually chows on her grain pretty quick but eating her morning hay is quite a leasurely affair. She'll take a mouthful and meander over to the door and look out over the paddock onto the road. Whenever she sees someone in the yard, she looks over to them asking for some company and a scratch or two. Here she is around supper time looking over at the door that leads from the house to the barn. As you can tell, she is eternally hopeful that someone will be coming out soon to give her supper.















I had to do some traveling earlier this week so I had to rely on my backup barn crew. With a little bit of instruction and lots of on the job training, they did an outstanding job holding down the fort. They got to enjoy the experience of going out to the barn in the quiet of early morning and hearing Cleo nicker as she waits (impatiently I might add) for her first hello which better be closely followed by breakfast.

While traveling I had some time to start reading my Bill Dorrance book - all I can say at this point is "wow". What a great man he must have been - I wish I would have had a chance to meet him. You can tell by his writing that he was a quintesential cowboy who had a great love of and respect for the horses he was in contact with. A humble man who spent many hours quietly observing the animals, their interactions with other animals and humans, and their reactions to him all in an effort to help him have better and more meaningful interactions with the horses. He spent a great deal of time in self reflection always re-evaluating what was happening, what worked and what didn't, how to make things better, what to try next, etc. The main point of this book is developing the feel between the horse and rider. It is this connection through feel that will enable the rider to properly set the horse up to succeed in whatever the rider wishes.

""Asking" - this is what people say sometimes, but what we mean is helping the horse or presenting something to him. What we're interested in is the person's frame of mind when they want the horse to do a certain thing. That word "ask" is really a lot more in the area of communication that's between people, so we wouldn't say "ask." What we'll say is that before you learn to how to present something to the horse through feel that he's going to understand, you have to learn how to observe and make sense of the way he operates his body and how new information is processed in his mind. "
- True Horsemanship through Feel p 11-12

One of the things that Bill asks Leslie Desmond to talk about in the book is people's inherent aversion to try something new because of their fear of failure. This fear of failure can really hold a fella back from succeding and often causes people to behave "business as usual" even though they know there might be a better way to get the job done. God didn't put us on his earth to fail. Something to ponder there ...

I'll leave you with this picture taken tonight at sunset looking out over the back of the farm.

Amazing Grace

We've been thinking about seeing if we could get a mustang from the BLM since we've been here on the farm. Basically, every so often the BLM rounds up herds of wild mustangs and offers them up for sale or at auction. You can learn more this program here. Well the other day I was looking at the website of Ever After Mustang Rescue and saw Amazing Grace. Grace is a blue roan mustang mare that's about a year and a half old. She is gentle - she allows folks to brush her and they are working with her on picking up her feet but she has not been broke to lead nor introduced to electric fence. So on Monday night, we drove down to Biddeford to see her - she is even cuter than she looks on the website. Since she is still growing, her back end is taller than her withers but she seems to have very good confirmation and disposition. Unfortunately these aren't the greatest pictures (especially the eyes in the 2nd one) but it was the best I could do under the lighting conditions.






























The couple who run the farm that hosts the rescue are good people. Mona and Brad were very gracious hosts while we were there. Grace is kept in a 20'x20' pen inside the indoor arena (BLM requires this sort of housing) so we went in to check her out. She was OK with me being in her pen and eventually Mona and I got her into a squeeze chute and were able to attach a long line to her halter. At that point, Mona turned her over to me and went off to work on the freeze brand of another mustang. By the time we were leaving, I had her semi-lunging and starting to be lead. (Only had about 20 minutes before the younger child was going to turn into a pumpkin :-) ) Mona explained the process of adoption to us and showed me the papers on Grace - she was captured in Nevada when she was likely about a year old. Mona had a horse and burro paired off in one of the stalls in her barn - the kids got quite a kick out of seeing the burro and learning how closely attached they were to each other. Neither can go anyplace without the other. So currently we're working on getting the forms filled out and submitted with our "local" BLM office so we can hopefully be approved and bring Grace to the Diamond G.

We have horses, turkeys, groundhogs, beavers, and racoons on the farm but the other day I ran across some wildlife I've never seen before. Words can't describe it but fortunately I had the camera with me at the time.




















Today I got a delivery of pine sawdust (can't use hardwood sawdust for horses) from N. C. Hunt. When ordering, the woman on the phone asked me how much I would be interested in getting: 3.5 cords, 5 cords, 12 cords, or a trailer truck load. It was hard for me to picture what a cord of sawdust would look like (like a cord of wood 4'x4'x8'?) so since they will deliver year round, I played it safe and just got 3.5 cords. In case anyone else is wondering what 3.5 cords of sawdust looks like, here's a picture of it.















This basically filled up the bed of a 10 wheeled dump truck (GMC General) and had that nice newly cut pine smell. Interestingly enough, James, the gentleman who delivered the shavings, was telling me that they keep their pine shavings in a barn (which holds about 5 trailer truck loads of shavings) and when it's full, it doesn't have that nice pine smell but rather smells like kerosene.

Diamond G Farm Equestrian Program

Well, the boarding business hasn't come quite as quickly as we'd have hoped so we were thinking that we should branch out to some of our other ideas a bit early. One of the things we were thinking about doing was offering riding lessons. So allow me to introduce the inaugural class of the Diamond G Farm Equestrian Program
















A little tricky to teach such a large group (about 30) but one pupil really shined through:
















Well OK so they're really not too teachable. It turns out that we seem to have three flocks of turkeys that are around the farm. We have one large group (the group in the picture above), we have a smaller group (15-20), and there is an even smaller group of two or three. Funny thing about turkeys, they'll all be around milling about until a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Then they'll disappear until early December. Then they do their vanishing act just before spring hunting season opens up. I'll say this for them, they are fun to watch. Speaking of watching, the other morning it was a scene right out of a Halloween movie. I was looking out at the field across the street (it was foggy) when out of the mist, I saw one head pop up after the next.
















Made some good progress with Cleo today. Took her out to where the round pen was (and will soon be again thanks to Wil Howe). When I first saw her and lunged her, she went well to the left but didn't want to go to the right. Today she worked equally well to both sides although she tried to quit a few times when going to the right. Took her down to the ring and lunged her down going to the left and back up going to the right. Not much seems to bother her. Dogs barking, the neighbor using a nail gun to put up siding, the turkeys, shooting in the distance - whatever. She's also getting very spoiled. Now when I groom her, I just ground tie her and she stays very still, only turning to look back at me when I stop brushing with a "why'd ya stop, keep going" look on her face.

Today I went to our local equestrian book store - Knight Equestrian Books and picked up "True Horsemanship Through Feel" by Bill Dorrance and written by Leslie Desmond. I've only gotten through the introductions and forewards and its already looking like a great read. Bill was one of the pioneers of natural horsemanship and was looked up to and mentored many of the greats. Unfortunately he left us in 1999 (at the ripe old age of 93) but left behind a lifetime of knowledge and skills that he was sure would be a benefit to all horsepeople. I'll be sure to post more details and interesting quotes as I make my way through. (This won't be a quick read - this is one of those books where you need to read a little and then reflect a whole lot.)

Fall is in full swing

Well, it looks like fall is in full swing here at the farm. The leaves have been changing at a rapid pace this past week and also falling off the trees at the same rate. Last night we had our first frost of the season.















According to the local weather service, we dropped down to about 31 degrees last night but by mid afternoon we were back to t-shirt weather (~60 degrees).

Today I introduced Laredo to Cleo. Laredo has seen Cleo from across the yard and barked at her from the house but today they got to meet in person. I had Cleo out in the front paddock so I brought Laredo over and he was watching her (staring intently as only cattle dogs can do) from below the bottom rail. So Cleo comes munching over and her and Laredo meet nose to nose. Of course being the heeler that he is, Laredo sees this big thing and does what comes naturally, he tries to nip her (on the nose since he couldn't reach her hoofs). Much to her credit, Cleo really didn't seem to be bothered by this and continued to munch along. (Laredo never got her muzzle.) So we went back later and after another failed attempt, Laredo seems to have come to his own conclusions that (1) Cleo is not a cow and (2) she's OK and doesn't need to be herded and/or nipped. "Nothing to see here, move on" (For those in the know, the rabbit still gets it when someone comes into the house tho).

Meet Laredo

Speaking of cows, I would be remiss to not mention our Blue Heeler, Laredo. He's 4 now so those much more experienced in all things Heelers tell me we've only got a few more years (anywhere from two to six) till he calms down a little. If you're not familiar with the traits/characteristics of cattle dogs, here's a good site that gives a real good background on them Digital Dog - Blue Heeler Info

Without further adu, here he is ...




















Laredo is all those things listed on the characteristics from the link above - fiercy loyal, independent, hard headed, etc. He came to us from a breeder in Florida who told us he was "the mouth of the litter" - boy was she ever right. He has several unique barks for different events and demands and is not afraid to let us know when someone is nearby. We heard him long before we saw him the day we went to pick him up at the airport - just a little fluffball yipping away in his travel crate with his blanket and stuffed rabbit coming down the baggage conveyor.

Laredo enjoys life on the farm - he has much more land to roam out over now and is looking forward to the addition of livestock. (Can I have a some cows pleaseeeeeee?)

If you care to give a listen, Dan Roberts has written a song about Blue Heelers called "True Blue Heeler" off of his album entitled "There's A Little Cowboy in All of Us".

Oh by the way, if you have a cattle dog and you have to take them to the vets, be prepared to pay an "Unruly Dog Fee" :-)

Newest Addition to our Family

Well, since I last posted, we've added a new addition to our farm family. Allow me to introduce Cleo Blue Bailey. She's a 7 year old dual registered (AQHA and Foundation Quarter Horse) Blue Roan mare. Here she is - as its starting to get colder here, she's already beginning to fuzzy up with her winter coat.
















Cleo is the first horse in our barn - it sure is nice to be able to look outside and see her playing in the paddocks and munching away. She's made the transition to our farm and is settling in quite nicely. She's got a lot of reining and cow in her pedigree. I've seen her reining side starting to show through and am looking forward to seeing her cow ability. (Stay tuned for more on our thoughts and plans for cows in future posts.)

Greetings from the Diamond G Farm

Howdy, thanks for stopping by and visiting with us here at the Diamond G Farm.

We are a family of four who are re-establishing a horse boarding facility in Edgecomb ME. Just where is the Diamond G Farm you might ask? We are located at 49 Dodge Road - which is right off of Route 1 and close to Route 27. Anyone from our local area will know our farm as Patty's old place or "the big yellow barn". Here's a quick peek at what it looks like from the outside.


















Over the coming days, we'll be posting more pictures of our facility as well as more info on the goings on at the Diamond G Farm