Recent photos of some of the Pintos

Recently I have been taking photos of some of the horses individually.

Mystery was born in December  10, 2013 and I love his light reddish brown markings.  He enjoys hanging out with his brother Saunder and they are always together.  He is very curious and follows me around in the holding pen - he loves people.

He is very smart and sweet.  

Chie was born November 9th, 2011 and this mare had quite a work out with Karyn last month.

Splash was born July 5th, 2010 and is our largest horse. She can be very sweet and likes to follow me around especially at feeding time!  Karyn got a halter on her for the first time last month.  Splash definitely wants a job!

In the background are never separated buddies, Mystery and Saunder.

Otumwa was born October 16, 2012 to Polka Dot and Thunder.  I love her white forelock and she has one blue eye.

Changes at the Pinto Ranch

In the past month we have brought over two colts from next door. Mystery came first when he was 10 months old so that he could be gelded. Then we brought over Saunder even though he is younger because his mother, Mama was looking very thin and she needs to be able to rest and gain weight without having a colt to nurse. She makes beautiful babies but she teaches them bad habits, such as being pushy.  We felt Saunder would be better off learning better manners at a young age.  It is a delight to have these two colts here and they have joined the herd fairly easily.

We have a wonderful and awesome  new trainer, Karyn Shirly, of Purple Sage Equine in Nevada. She is devoted to the methods of Tom and Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannamn. Our horses feel very comfortable with her and she accomplished a lot in four days.  She worked with Kendra and Lil' (Little) One who really appreciated her gentle manner. She halter trained Mystery and assisted during his gelding. She helped Majestic and me improve our ground work skills and she also did body work on Suki to help him get out of pain.

Karyn is really adept at reading the  body language of the horse and this came in very handy when bringing Saunder over, even though Thunder was standing right next to him! She timed it just right so Thunder would not come through the gate as well.  She does a lot of research on horses and their health and gave us some very helpful suggestions.  We all had a very rewarding time, plus lots of laughter!

Our vet  Dr.John Fling has retired and so we  found another very qualified vet, Dr. Rich Brazil who comes from Ukiah.  We really appreciate his willingness to drive so far to help out the pintos. He had seen the herd in the past when they lived next door with a previous owner.  I think he was pleased to see how happy and healthy they are now.

We are very excited that the pintos have such a great new team!!!

Kendra took this photo of Karyn and Lil' One.  He looks very calm and attentive!

Kendra's photo of Mystery and Karyn during the halter gentling.

Karyn working with Mystery the  day after he was gelded.

 Saunder the morning we brought him over - he is running up the hill 

to find his new herd.

I took this photo of Mama yesterday. She was running very free - I

have never seen her run so fast!! Go Girl!

Video of Thunder's Herd

This video was shot before we brought Mystery and Saunder over to the ranch herd. Polka Dot

is in the lead followed by Mystery, Saunder, Mama and Thunder brings up the rear.

Majestic and Mystery

Majestic will be a year old in May.  He is an amazing runner and he is already very tall.

Thunder and Mystery have a delightful relationship.  Thunder is very patient with our new colt.  My nick name for Mystery is "Carrot top" because of the hair between his ears. He is very sweet and his coloring is lighter, at least for now.

I love the photos of these two.

My favorite photo of the year!

Thunder has changed a lot over the years.  He is a lot calmer and always very happy to see us.  He is no longer afraid of humans.  We still can't touch him and I respect his boundaries but he comes right up to us with love in his eyes.

"Mystery" is here!

We misjudged when Polka Dot got pregnant - we have been waiting for a new foal since September.
He finally arrived on December 9th.  He is a sweet little thing and we named him"Mystery" since his arrival date was so mysterious. Below are photos of him one day old.

Polka Dot watches her new baby proudly!

Being a day old is hard work, "Time for a rest."

Polka is a very good mom, she is checking on her baby.