Saturday was a day of cleaning up. Brenda headed off to Rocky Mountain House and took Miss Ella with her, so I thought it was a good day to take the motorhome into Cremona and dump the black tank to get it started on the winterization process. Once I got home, I took the pressure washer to her and washed off some road grime and dust as well as the many bugs that had committed suicide on our windshield while we were wandering around northern Alberta with Mike and Janna.
There she is all clean and ready for the inside crew to finish up and give me the OK to pump the pink stuff.
Once that job was done it was time to drag our old bumper pull horse trailer out of the barn and get ready for Sunday’s gymkhana. Caron has had Willow down at her barn all week doing a little practicing and just for fun we are going to take her new horse Jager along for the ride also.
You have a chance to ride more than one horse at these events although your points only count on your designated points horse. This time out Willow was the points horse and Jager was a no point addition. So there is no pressure on the young horse and his trainer that way they can take the time to get it right. Jager did great for his first trip away from the barn.
Although Jager is just a youngster and still growing he is already 17 hands tall (68 inches or 172 cms). For comparison Willow is about 15-2 or 62 inches. And I am thankful that she is done growing as that is already a long way to climb up or fall off.
The smile tells the whole story.
I never keep track the same way the timekeepers do at these events but as far as I am concerned the champions came home with me.
Today was another horse day. We are starting to get ready to head towards Dogpound South and there is a mountain of paperwork that needs to be completed to bring our horses south of the Medicine Line. You’d think they were Trojan Horses or something. Nevertheless it has to be done and I got started today with a Brand Inspection. Most of the states that we will be traveling through have Brand Laws and want a valid brand inspection done. For traveling around Alberta we don’t need that done so I had to haul Blue and Willow off to the local auction mart to meet up with a brand inspector. Pretty simple process as long as you have your 3 photos ready and the horses present. He just had a look at them and said yep they match the papers and pictures so we filled out the forms and submitted the $31.50 each and in a week or two they will have a Lifetime Brand Inspection paper. Just for interest Willow does carry our JB brand on her right thigh but Blue is brandless. I don’t want to start a kerfuffle about the pro’s and con’s of branding but Blue not having a brand does concern me a little as horse’s that are stolen are usually just sold for meat and a brand is the only reliable way to identify the horse.
When I get my passport I just need one headshot, a horse needs three shots, left side, right side, and head on.
Now just a Health Check and blood test and maybe they will be OK to head down the road from Dogpound.
Oh yah back to the title, Brenda came back this morning so I am off the Chocolate, toast and Ice Cream diet and back on her good cooking.
How does Jager trailer? Young and trailers? But an old pro like JB no problem!
ReplyDeleteDidn't know how much work was involved to get your horses a "Passport". It will be worth it all, I'm sure once you head out on the open range around Dogpound South.
ReplyDeleteDid all the pimples give away your diet of chocolate and ice cream to Brenda? Thank goodness she's back so you can eat some real food. ;c)
So, how does Blue get a brand inspection if he doesn't have one?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your horses need to be interviewed when they cross the border? LOL Quite the process to get their papers in order.
ReplyDeleteGosh John from Canada to Arizona sure seems a long way for horses to travel in a trailer? I'm sure you will have to make several stops on the way to exercise them. In my younger days I owned a horse and trailered him for about 400 miles. When we arrived his eyes were a little messed up I made the mistake of putting sand down on the floor to help him balance better but the sand dried out and blew into his eyes. Not very smart on my part. Just didn't know any better.
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