Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Dusty, Neche, and Dakota makes three!
Imagine our surprise when Dixie, our neighbor asked if we'd take Dakota, her yearling paint filly.
We'd known since she put her place up for sale there was an "outside chance" we'd get one of the horses... but we never, ever thought it would be Dakota. This is her very favorite little filly.
I hadn't gotten here yet when Dakota was born, but Bev and Cindy were at Dixie's within a few days of her birth.
Her daddy, "Sailor" is a full Quarter Horse paint, and her momma is 1/2 Quarter Horse, 1/4 Saddle Bred, and 1/4 Appaloosa. So that makes Dakota a whole lot more Quarter Horse.
The pictures below start with daddy, and then momma and baby, taken last year in late May.
Yesterday afternoon, Dixie stopped by and asked us to come over later. We hadn't told Mom, yet, that we're getting another horse.
At dinner, Mom inquired as to what Dixie wanted with us at her place... Well, let's just say Mom thinks we're "babysitting" for a while, a long while.
The plan was to "pony" Dakota off the back of the Avalanche. Cindy would sit on the tailgate and "hold" the lead line. In reality, the lead line would be securely attached to the trailer hitch. The idea was that Dakota would simply walk along behind the truck, all the way to our house.
Yeah, right!
The other horses (all 6 of them, including her momma) made darn sure they let us know what they thought. If I could understand horse... I'll bet they were giving us the dickens for taking her away.
About 200 yards passed the last fence (where two of the girls were still calling to her), Dakota said "That's it! I'm not going to follow this stupid truck... I want my momma!"
Well, Cindy and I ended up walking her all the way back to our place. I'm not sure how far that is, maybe 1/2 a mile, since we had to go by way of the road. I know it took us the better part of half an hour, with all the circling around we did.
Once home, we'd already assembled a small corral for her until she can share the round pen with Neche.
Thankfully, once we were on the home stretch, our horses began calling to her, letting her know she's very welcome and shouldn't feel lonely here.
If everything goes right, Dakota is my project. I will be the one who continues her ground training and gets her ready to ride. As she's a yearling, I won't be riding her for another couple of years. In the mean time, I'll teach her all she needs to know about respect, manners, and movement. When she's bigger and stronger, she'll also learn about weight on her back.
Labels: Horses
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