New Camera!!

A friend of mine gave me her old Canon EOS 20D when she upgraded her camera.  I finally got everything I needed to start using it (cards, battery, etc.) and I'm so excited to start practicing with it.  This is my first DSLR.  I learned the basics several years ago, but haven't had any practice since.  I've been reading and watching videos to refresh my memory, but keep in mind I am going to need a LOT more practice.  I'm still so excited to have an actual camera again because I hate cell phone photos.  I went out to practice with it outside for the first time today and just snapped some pictures of my mudball pony.  Gray horses are SO hard to take pictures of.  I was cheating and using the auto mode (because I was taking pictures of fast moving baby goats - see my other blog HERE for pictures of them), but I will eventually start using the manual mode.  I want to practice on still objects and landscapes first. I'm afraid I'll get frustrated if I try to practice on uncooperative animals lol.

 He is SO icky, but so handsome.  

I have a 50mm lens and I have very, very little experience with lenses (years ago and only a couple of times), so getting the focus right is very difficult for me.  I'm still learning and need so much more practice.  When I get it right, it's incredible.

 Napping while I take pictures of baby goats.

 The white balance or exposure is off on this one.  He's so cute napping though.

Woken from his nap.  I like the back lighting.  Wish he weren't so gross though.

Can't leave Led Zeppelin out.  I LOVE these pictures even though the lighting is awful.

 He was so fascinated with the kids.

Chrome was fascinate with them as well, but I was too busy making sure he didn't bite them to take pictures.  He was a good boy I'm happy to report.  Once things dry up and we aren't drowning in mud I'll hopefully be able to get some more pictures for you guys.  I hope you enjoyed them.

One last picture before I leave.  I wanted to share one of Jackal to show you how amazing this camera is when I get my you know what together.

It's so much easier to take pictures of him because of his amazingly wonderful sit/stay hehe.  :D

Rocky and Led Zeppelin

I just wanted to share a few pictures of Rocky and Zep too, so you guys don't think they are ignored.

Rocky giving his classic side eye while I photograph his icky coat.  They sure love winter mud lol.

 Zeppy is so cute.

He's still as feral as ever.  I'm beginning to think the only way I'll be able to tame him is if I trap him in a stall.... maybe when we finish building the barn I can try it.  I just don't 100% trust him because he has kicked and threatened to bite before.  Hopefully if trucks and tractors will stop breaking and if animals will stop needing vets maybe I can get him gelded finally.  That should help.  I know someone who had a twenty something year old jack that they gelded and it completely changed his personality, even though he had been breeding for years.  Zep has never been bred so maybe the change will be even more drastic.  We shall see. 

Boys are good!

 Does he look good in black and white?

Chrome watches me while I play with the goats.  I swear he's jealous!  I've still been bad about posting.  I'm sorry!  The new year hasn't started off great as far as my job has been concerned.  I don't want to go into details on here, but it's nothing earth shattering.  Just short tempers and I've been stressed with trying to avoid the flu that is circulating in the office. *shudder*  I don't know how I'm going to avoid it.  :\

Enough of that though.  The boys are doing great and that's what is important to me.  I just wanted to share a few pictures and I wanted to apologize for continuing to be so absent.

Bad lightning, but he looks good.  He's actually not fat!  I mean obviously he isn't fit or anything, but he's not a blimp either.  Winter is so kind to him lol.  It's so weird to have a horse that thrives in the winter and is so miserable in the summer.  I'm actually dreading the summer because of his sweet itch.... it used to be my favorite season.

You haven't seen this adorable face in a while!!!

Zep is doing well.  He's finally stopped trying to kill the goats (did I forget to mention that?), so that's a relief.  I was worried we would have to rehome him since we don't have a place to keep him that is separated from the goats.... but we figured out a safe feeding situation that avoids conflict.  We are also going to get him gelded, but HUGE truck repair expenses put a delay on our plans... sigh.  I'm so glad he's being nice though because I was in tears when we were considering having to find him a new home!  We've had him almost nine years and I can't imagine parting with him.

 I got a picture of Rocky without his face in a hay bale!  Welcome to the light of day piggie lol.  He's doing well too.  Sorry the lighting is awful.  I took these pictures last weekend at the wrong time of day.  I don't have a lot of choices though.  I never see daylight on work days and on weekends it's too cold outside during the nice lighting times.

I have to wash his tail again ick.  Chrome likes to beg at the dutch doors for handfuls of hay because obviously the goat hay is better than his hay (actually I think it's simply because it comes from my hand like a treat). *eye roll*

Well that's all for now.  Hopefully I can get some new pictures this weekend, but don't hold your breath for me getting them posted any time soon.  I had to work most of the day today and only having one day off a week puts me way behind on things like... laundry!  :(  I hope you all are doing well.  I miss you guys!!

A hoof stand makes all the difference...

 I love the lighting in this photo.  His face is so pretty.

Please forgive me for having so few photos.  I'm going to try to post more even if I don't have a bunch of pictures to share.  Anyway, I finally got a hoof stand back when Chrome and Rocky were first diagnosed with white line disease.  I don't know how I lived without it.

I love this thing!  It makes a world of difference.  Before this I was using a car jack thing that was all metal and weighed a LOT.  This thing is so light and maneuverable and has a wide base that I can put my foot on to hold it still.  It has the cup for resting the top of the hoof in or the round part for rasping from the top of the hoof.  I don't really use the cup very much because I don't use nippers very often.  I just rasp between their professional trims to prevent as many cracks as possible.  Preventing cracks helps prevent the white line by not giving it a place to grow.

Unfortunately I injured my shoulder a few weeks ago and I missed a few weeks of trimming.  I can only do two hooves per weekend because of my weak back, so I did Chrome's hind hooves this weekend. Next weekend I'll do his fronts.  If hubby doesn't do Rocky's then I'll do his the next week, although they are due for a trim before then so we will see.  It's really simple with the hoof stand to just put a quick bevel on the hooves when I don't get so far behind.  This weekend was a bit more difficult because I went so long between trims due to the injury.  I'll get caught up eventually if I stop hurting myself.

I'm really proud of Chrome though... I just wish I had pictures.  This weekend I was trimming his hooves by myself and I'm lazy so I just carried my chair, rasp and hoof stand out to the pasture.  Chrome was napping with one hind hoof resting on it's toe.  He watched me set my stuff up without moving.  Then I grabbed his hoof and started rasping without even putting a halter on him.  So I trimmed his hind hooves out in the pasture with no halter or rope.  The only problem is if Rocky decides to investigate because he will chase Chrome off which can be dangerous if I get on the wrong side.  Luckily Rocky had his head buried in the hay bale and was ignoring us.

I'll leave you with a picture of Zep waiting on the horses to go out to the back pasture.

Best Friends!

 You would think on a horse blog that if I did a post about best friends I would be talking about Chrome and Rocky right??  Well... see for yourself...

Chrome and Jasper get along great.  They play together in a way I haven't seen Chrome interact with a goat in years (he used to play with one of the bucklings we had the last time we raised goats).

Then there is Rocky and Zep...

Rocky isn't a super sociable horse, but he gets along with Zep a million times better than Chrome.  He doesn't bully Chrome as much anymore and they do play together sometimes, but they aren't exactly friends.  He would never let Chrome share his feed like Zep does.  It probably has something to do with the fact that Zep isn't a threat to Rocky in hierarchy.  It's not uncommon for the dominant horse to be friendlier with lower ranking individuals.  It just sucks for Chrome because he's not a dominant horse.  He submits to every adult horse he's ever been around.  At least he and Zep still adore each other and now he has Jasper too.  :)

It's Cold!

 My sweet guys coming to see me.

It went from mid seventies to mid twenties in ONE DAY!!!!!  It is soooo cold!  I know it's a lot colder in other areas, but that big of a difference in one day is so extreme.  Thank goodness it isn't raining anymore though.  I was so undecided about whether I wanted to put Chrome's blanket on, but since the rain stopped before it got below forty I decided not to.  He hasn't shivered at all so I feel good with my decision.

He's all flab again from the lack of exercise, but he looks pretty good.  :)  Check out those dapples!!  I bet he would look sharp if he was clean hehe.

Zep and the boy goats all seem comfortable too.  This picture really shows how huge Rebel's horn spread is.  Wow!!  Yankee is doing well too, but I forgot to get a picture of him.

 Rocky giving me his "look".

 Jasper is a fuzz ball!

Chrome says, "Hey mom, guess what would help keep me warm..."

 "More candy canes!  Pleeeeaaase!!!"

He LOVES the candy canes I've been getting at work lol.

I want to say again I'm sorry I haven't been posting.  Also thank you for the readers who have stuck around and who check in on me.  You guys are so awesome and I miss you all.  I hope you have a very merry Christmas and I'll try to post more even if it is just more random cell phone pictures like these.  :D

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!

 Love this picture!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I'm so thankful for having the day off to spend with my family and also because it gave me time to play with the animals and actually get the camera out so you can see this guy's handsome face.  I know you've missed seeing it hehe.

I wish he hadn't been standing on a slope here lol.

Ignore the smoke coming out of his back.  We finally got rain after being under a burn ban for three months so we were burning brush piles.

Hubby got Rocky out too and we spent a long time brushing them.  I even combed out both of their tails, which I don't normally have time to do.  Rocky had some snarls in his so I'm glad I did it before they got worse.

I wish I had time to wash Chrome's tail weekly.  It's so gross looking.

It is finally growing again though, yay!!  

Putting Jasper out in the big pasture has distracted Rebel

and Yankee from rubbing their horns in Chrome's tail.  :)

Looks so much better!  His is so much thicker than

Chrome's and takes a lot longer to comb out.

I don't have a whole lot to talk about.  I haven't been riding Rocky because it makes me sad I can't ride Chrome.  Rehabbing from a tendon injury is boring and gives nothing to blog about.  Sorry I've been so quiet.  I'm just so thankful he is healing up and everything is going well.  :)  Enjoy the pictures.

 So handsome!  I had to use the scissors to cut burs out of his ear hair lol.

 His mane is growing out.  I'm leaving it to grow out for the winter again.  

I'll roach him again next spring when he starts rubbing it out again. 

 Can't leave Rocky out.  He's doing great. 

 Going for our walk.  He loves his walks.  :)

 Harassing Rocky.  Chrome is such a dork.

 Now he's remembering how to pose lol. So handsome!

He has such a cute expression.

 I took this picture by accident and I liked it so I kept it.  :)

 Once back out in the pasture Chrome just wanted to go eat hay and wouldn't pose.

Rocky was standing guard over the goats eating their food and then when he realized Chrome was at the hay bale he trotted out there.  Silly boy.

That's all for now.  I hope you all are having a super awesome, happy, thankful Thanksgiving!!!