Pintos and video

I have been wanting to shoot videos of the pintos for some time. Photography is my thing, not movies but I am experimenting with a video camera.  I have not set up editing software on my computer yet,  so here are   four short clips.  There is not a lot of action - just walking  horses.  Hopefully, as I learn more, the videos will improve!
The first one is of Chie, 6 months old,  walking with her mom, Polka Dot on a very windy day:

Some of the herd walking through Eucalyptus trees.

Suki, Sweetie, Moonbeam and her filly Ceilo Luna, three weeks old:

A short clip of Luna who is growing leaps and bounds:

Moonbeam has a filly!

The morning after returning from the Buck clinic (May 2 nd), I went out to feed the pintos and I noticed a strange little horse. I wondered where it came from because it was not there the night before.  I then realized that beautiful Moonbeam had her baby, much to my surprise, as I wasn't expecting the foal until June or August. Moonbeam turned two May 6th, since  horses gestate for eleven months  she was just a year + when she conceived. Before we knew she was already pregnant,  we had all the stallions she lives with gelded. Suki is the dad and he had a good time just before he was fixed!  Although, a young mare she is a very good mother and we have increased her feed so she has plenty of milk.

Her filly's name is Ceilo Luna which means Heaven/sky moon. She is just a few hours old in these photos and  is my grandson's horse - he chose her name and is very excited and can't wait to meet her!
She is already nibbling on alfalfa hay; runs, hops, bucks and is a pure delight to watch!

Little One and Buck Brannaman

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, we want to be able to halter as many horses from the herd as possible so that they can get their hoofs trimmed and they can be treated by a vet if needed.  Little One was having a hard time accepting love and training for the halter so we decided that it might be helpful to take him to a Buck Brannaman clinic. You may have seen the documentary" Buck"  that came out last year. (You can read more about him and get the DVD at http://brannaman.com/)  Buck has started horses since he was a child and his approach is gentle and kind.  He spends nine months of the year traveling around the country teaching four day clinics.  We are very fortunate that Little One was able to attend  his colt starting clinic at Red Bluff fairgrounds April 27th-30th.

It was a wonderful experience - friends and family traveled to Red Bluff to learn from Buck and they also got the added treat of watching Little One.

We loaded Little One in the trailer early in the morning and eight long hours later we arrived. He was fortunate to be able to stay in an outside pen.  Kathe Smothers, our wonderful friend and trainer, had told Buck ahead of time that he would need to rope Little One in order to get him started.  We weren't sure beyond that what would happen.  There were twelve horses with owners in the indoor arena.  We were told to trailer Little One into the arena and put him in the round pen in the center.

After talking to the class for about an hour and giving the participants techniques to practice, Buck worked with Little One each morning in the pen for about an hour the first two mornings and a half hour the third morning. By the second morning, Little One was haltered and calm enough on the third afternoon for us to do ground work with him in the outside pen.  Success!

 Little One was the star as he was the only horse that needed to be readied for a halter and he basically had private sessions with Buck.  He is one very lucky horse!

A horse needs to be roped and worked with before a halter can be put on them.  Here is Little One resisting. Buck is on his horse and  Kathe is watching outside the pen.  Kathe has studied and ridden with Buck for twenty years -we and the herd are very lucky to have her as our trainer!  You can learn more about her work at http://quietmindhorsemanship.com/  Kathe will be teaching a clinic at Sea Ranch stables in June.  I will post more information about this once the date is settled.

Finally Little One gets touched!!! We have waited a long time to be able to touch this shy sweet horse.

Kevin a friend and student of Kathe's is doing ground work with Little One  in the arena on the third day.


Buster who was adopted from the Point Arena Pinto herd by Eve Larson, about a year before I became involved with them, also went to the clinic. I don't think I have posted a photo of him before so here is a photo of  Buster I took last year for the 2012 pinto calendar and is in The Point Arena Pintos Book which you can see at http://photographycreated.com/



                                   

Here is a photo of Eve (in the blue cap) riding Buster in the clinic.  She was smiling a lot and it was a delight to watch her with her lovely pinto!

This was quite an adventure for all of us and one we won't soon forget!