Three Pines Farm

Big John left today for his new home in Arizona.  His new dad was able to fly out and spend some time with us and John this past weekend and we are more than sure they will have great times together.  John was a little irritated that he didn't get his breakfast (the shippers requested not to feed him his breakfast to lessen the chance of colic) but he loaded right up and is on his way.  It was very strange going to the barn this afternoon; no sound of his deep whicker, no huge feet stomping at flies...and Miss Tyla missed him so badly tonight that we had to put Joe in John's old stall so she could relax.  John's new dad has promised to set up a blog to chronicle their progress together and I'm so excited I can't wait!  Have a safe trip, John, I know your new dad will have tons of cookies waiting for you when you arrive!  We'll miss you, you big lug nut!

Just had to share a few shots from this past weekend.  That Ollie is getting so handsome!!!

I just can't get over those dapples....;)

Everything's been SSDD here on the farm; John has been picking up weight nicely.  We've been in communication with a possible home for John and hope to have everything tied up in the next few weeks; more details later.  Other than that, just look how gorgeous he's getting!  His summer coat just gleams and is getting so dark.  I think he'll have some dapples when he's finished, too.  We finally had a rain-free morning and while everyone (including myself) has muddy feet from slogging around in the saturated pasture, I couldn't help but snap a few shots.  Enjoy!

A few more from this weekend.  Hope to post more after a little editing.  Enjoy!

Drifter and Shiloh have a game where they stand almost out of reach of each other and play-bite.  They've taught John, and he loves it!  Here are a few pics of the 'Spotty Boys' playing with brother John.  I'm especially fond of the last one; since Drifter invented the game, he gets mad if he thinks he's losing...:)

John and I got to take a few short spins around the yard after the snow stopped this weekend; here are a few pics.  And yes, the reins are off of his new bridle; the bit is too narrow so I've got to get back to shoppin'.  :)

We're having unseasonably warm weather here (almost 70!!! In FEBRUARY!!!) and since it was so balmy, I decided to take advantage of it and crawl up on John outside of the corral.  He was all too happy to get out of the corral; most of it is starting to firm up, but spots are still a muddy mess.  He got a good brushing (he was caked head-to-toe from his roll yesterday and from the looks of it, he had several more today, lol) and then I snapped his lead on both sides of his halter and brought him to the fence.  He seems to know what's expected of him when you're on the fence but today, the lure of the grass was too much to resist.  Finally suceeded in keeping his attention long enough to hop on and we strode off into the yard, leaving wonderfully huge 'holes' in the soft yard...they're really too big to be called divots, lol!  Anyway, he's going to be a Thighmaster, that's for sure; from gripping with your thighs trying to pull his heavy head back up :).  While he's very good direct-reining to turn, I couldn't quite find his cue for 'forward'.  He just swivels his ears and acts confused when you tap, squeeze, whatever.  I'm guessing he's used to following...?  Once things start to firm up a little, I'll have Nate jump on Tard and see how John does following a leader.  The few forward straight-line strides we took were abnormally smooth, and he made no move to buck or be antsy whatsoever.  Just gotta keep going in little steps for my own sake; he's so intimidating!  But my 'balls' get a little bigger each time I step up to him.  He's really a big baby, I've just never been around anything so large.  He does need a little ground-manner work as he's a little unaware of his own size and where his feet are and where your 'personal space' is.  We'll get there.

Also have a bridle/snaffle ordered on eBay (flourescent green; if we're gonna catch attention, we're REALLY gonna go for it, lol) but at this point, I'm not sure how well a snaffle will work; pretty sure he'll be able to 'power through' it but I'd rather start easy and work our way up if need be.  And found that my trusty old bareback pad will fit...he seemed a little leery of it at first, but after a good sniff he went back to the grass and didn't mind when we lightly cinched it.  Also, this time I slid down to dismount instead of going back to the fence...damn, that's a loooong way down! :)

Anyway, fingers crossed that it warms up and firms up soon so we can get more done. 

**edit** I seem to have lost a post somehow, so let me throw this in here first so we can stay in order...

******Friday night, Steve came out to have a look at John's feet.  We brought the big boy out to the blacktop since everywhere else was still frozen.  John was a bit fidgety and pulled his feet away a few times, dancing around; Steve got accidently stomped a few times and at one point I was standing too far in front and when John pulled a front foot away, he hit me right in the thighs...completely my fault.  I do have a wonderful hoof-shaped bruise that covers both thighs though, lol!  Lesson learned.  We ended up only doing 3 feet that evening; we were all a little nervous, we hadn't had John that far from the barn yet, and the others were hiding in the barn out of sight; pretty sure that's why he was so wiggly.  Anyway, we decided to try again Saturday evening.  Now back to your regularly scheduled programming... :)*********

 

Thanks to Steve who came out after a long day at work to take care of our boys (you have no idea how much we appreciate your hard work, Steve! You're awesome!); and thankfully John was much better than the previous evening.  We had him in his stall this time and he got plenty of time to watch the other 4 having theirs done.  I really haven't gotten to put the time into Ollie that he deserves so we only got to do his fronts (I didn't want to push too hard and cause mental issues) but his rears aren't really bad enough to need work yet.  Anyway, by the time we got to John, he was so into his hay that he didn't even know we were there.  Steve did a great job as usual and I swear I saw a much easier stride in John the next day.  

We decided to release him Sunday morning...following usual protocol we let the others in one-by-one but they were too interested in John's hay, so we swung open the gate and waited.  John came out to sniff around but didn't seem to want to go far without the others.  Eventually they all came out and had a little run-and-chase time; the shenanigans were limited by the amount of mud we've got out there since all the ice started melting. 

This was taken shortly after they all went out together; notice me practically drop the camera at the end when I realized they were coming right at me :)...

And then a little later, Big John decided being clean just wasn't for him...

And a little later still, after I noticed they were all in the valley and I called them back in (please excuse the downed limbs and busted swingset in the yard; the limbs were still frozen to the ground underneath and the swing was a storm casualty as well)...

John was taught a lesson by little Ollie (he may be little, but he packs a punch!)...

All in all they had a very good day; John seems to really enjoy his freedom.  Can't wait until spring so there's actually some grass out there!  We're still trying to figure out a working arrangement for feeding time but we'll get there eventually.  John finishes his first and Ollie last; we separate Ollie so he has plenty of time to eat but now we'll have to find a way to separate John too so he doesn't try to bully anyone else out of their buckets and cause a ruckus.  :)