Derek has been working a lot of OT, today is Sunday and he worked yesterday and today. :( I feel bad that he doesnt get much of a break, although the money is really good, I just hope he can hang in there until the company slows back down. We hope to get some projects finished with the extra cash, like our fencing!!! That is probably #1 on the list right now especially with our new circumstances.... He finished the cabinet, it turned out great and the guys at work were all impressed (and I'm guessing a little jealous too).
The dogs have all been great, we've been babysitting my parents dog Sarge all week as they had to drive back to ND, my dad's brother Wayne passed away. So the household has been a bit crazy, Sarge loves to run and he and Cooper wrestle around a lot. My dogs are super jealous of Sarge's feeding though, they go nuts to lick his bowl when he is finished!
I know I know.. everyone is bitching about the rain! But it is getting ridiculous. I dont normally complain much, but it is almost a bit depressing this year for some reason and if you live here, you know what I mean! We had to cancel our trip to Easton next weekend, we were going to take the horses and Russell to go camping for Derek's bday but he has to work and it was a bad time for him to take a day or two off work with his boss out all week. I think they appreciate he was willing to compromise. So now we have no plans yet for his bday, I'm not even sure if he is working or not on the day.
I got a text from Shannon on Friday asking if I could pick up Oakley on Saturday. When we got to her place, she was on the verge of tears.. she felt really bad for not having him sold and asking us to take back our horse. I told her no worries! The possibility of her taking him back in another month is still there, but i'm not counting on it. We kinda have room for him, we created a seperate corral behind the barn for him, but we also still have pasture options at my parents or at Roger/Diana's place if need be.
We have been talking about our options with Oakley and what to do.. We dont need a third horse, but he is a great horse. We called Tracy and asked if she might be interested in riding him because her mare is having hoof issues that will take a few months to recover from and she is out of a trail horse and we hardly have time to ride the 2 we got! She was very interested, so that is great.. it would get him out on the trails and keep him in shape! Whenever we get a free day soon, she's going to give him a try and go from there. I may still put him up for sale, just all depends on how things play out.
As we were driving out to Shannon's, we passed a blue roan horse that is about a mile from her place.. I mentioned to Derek that I LOVE blue roans and Derek joked, said his favorite is a red roan because well.. thats what his horse is! :) We get to Shannons place and are chit-chatting with her about who knows what and she says to me "Hey I gotta show you whats in my arena". As we walk over I see a 10mo colt, she got him on a trade deal and doesnt want him. Guess what color he is?? Blue Roan!! Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways.. so she proceeded to attempt to "sell me on him", talking about his great legs, responsiveness, movement, breeding lines, potential future height and good price. I was ho-hemming about it, what the hell do I need another horse for? As she was leading him around the arena, Derek and I quietly chatted and decided that we would take that colt by golly! I'm not sure if it was her persistance that she really wanted me to have him or my desire for a project or the potential that this guy might just be 16H when he's finished growing or what.. but we loaded that colt up and took him home!
He is basically a range baby, born w/o personal human interaction and is very scared and nervous by human touch. Shannon had a halter/lead on him 24/7 and he picked up how to lead with the minimal work she put into him, he is pretty responsive. As Derek led him to the horse trailer, Derek stopped at the back of the trailer to let the colt sniff it out, and that colt walked past Derek and jumped right in the trailer on his own.. Just the way we like our horses to load! He hauled home quietly as well. We got home and said "Where the hell are we going to put him?"
Since he is still pretty nervous around people and is NOT easily catchable, he needed a super safe area where he could not jump over, under or through any fences while trying to get away from human interaction. So we put him in Red's stall and closed it off completely. We left Red in the corral section with no stall access. We left Edgar in his normal corral and put Oakley in the new corral. It was dusk as we settled them all in, I took the colts halter/lead off of him and left him loose in the stall.
I was anxious last night as I played on the computer, wanting to go out and visit my new project.. So at about 11pm I headed out to the barn! :) Well things were not as hunky-dorry as they were when I left them earlier. When I went out to the barn, the colt was circling around in his stall, he seemed very nervous and anxious as well. As I walked over to the stall door, from the outside corral I see Red CHARGE that stall, MOUTH WIDE OPEN, TEETH OUT and he slammed against the stall, teeth literally racking across the metal bars! Oh shit, the colt was freaking out! I was calm, but internally a little freaked out by the anger and furry of Red, he kept wanting to charge that stall.. So in the late hours, I'm out there yelling at Red, trying to calm the colt with nothng more than my voice and wondering how I'm going to switch things up to alleviate the stress of it all.
I moved Oakley into Edgars stall/corral, moved Edgar over into Red's corral since I knew he would NOT charge the colt and then put Red in the corral behind the barn. Red had no way to basically see/charge the colt from that area. Things started to settle down, I was just about to get the colt to let me touch him, when Edgar accidentally touched the hot wire and bolted, stirring up everyone all over again. They finally settled again, I brushed Oakley for a while and then was able to get the colt to let me touch his left side only. This morning all seemed pretty good with the horses. I decided to give the colt the corral section as well as the stall, so I had to move Oakley and Edgar in together. Edgar is a little grumpy at Oakley, but they used to share a stall just fine together at feeding time, so I know it will be okay.
Red got PISSED again, because now that I moved Edgar, he couldnt see him and he spent his morning running around, rearing up and being a butthead instead of eating his breakfast. I was able to get the colt to allow me to touch him again on his left side, used a brush on his neck, he's good with touching his face (not his ears) and his neck, but once I move beyond his neck to his back, he gets nervous and moves away. I am doing this all very slowly. For now as I initially approach him, I have to do it facing away from him and backing up to him. I think he feels less threatened this way, it is non-confrontational. 
The colts name was Stone, but Derek does not like it, so we are in the process of trying to come up with a new name. It will be interesting to see just how much he lightens up when he sheds out. :) I LOVE projects like this so I am excited to have a colt to do some groundwork with. I was frustrated with Red last night, but I knew this about him, that he can be intolerable of new horses.. I was so glad there were metal bars between him and the colt! Yesterday morning I had 2 horses and now I have 4!
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