MyKey's First Show 07-29-2006

We took MyKey to his first show in July when he was 7 weeks old and he won his class under both judges. He was a very good boy. Hauled him and his mom in, showed and tucked him back into his stall. All within 2 hours time. He wasn't nervous and his mom was quite happy munching on her goodies in her bucket while her "son" made his debut in the show ring.

We Have Water

Yes oh yes we finally have water. The pool has officially opened. The project is almost done. The landscaper is still working on the plants and sod which should be done by next week. For now I will show some pictures of the pool.

Mama is Proud

MyKey and Cooper are the two minature colts that were born this year. MyKey is the dark one that is registered as "DeBruces Buck to a T" and Cooper is the red colt that I wrote about earlier. Both are wonderful colts. Cooper is older-he was born in April. I had him body shaved last week due to his heavy, thick coat. The heat was making him very uncomfortable. Now his fur is shaved and he is feeling alot better.

MyKey was born June 7th so he is just coming up on a month old this Friday. Both colts are now halter broke. Today we took Cooper and his mother Windy to the front pasture where they had a blast running around. Cooper was very good and just walked on the halter like he's been doing it all along. Both colts are the only two that are halter broke on the ranch right now. Mama's so proud!!

I will post some recent pictures of both colts this week.

We Have Boulders!

Yes, we have rocks. It's taken a couple of weeks to gunite and create the boulders. The crew is still here fine tuning things and then they will come in and color coat the boulders. The color will be close to what is natural in the surrounding area. Today the crew is getting the forms set for the decking and placing the free standing boulders around the yard.

There was some misunderstanding regarding the sunken BBQ but it is straightened out now. Lynell is sitting on the bar stools in the bar. The stools still have to have boulders built around them.

Buck to a T

I've decided to name the new black colt "DeBruces Buck to a T". His grandsire is Buck and his dad is My Key T. Jeanne put Miss Daisy and Buckee out in the little pasture today to have a good run. Boy, is Buckee independent. He hardly followed his mother to and from the pasture from the stall. Tomorrow we are going to start halter breaking him. No more free runs!

Inspection and Gunite around the corner

Monday is the city inspection of the rebar and then the gunite will be applied, probably by the end of the week. That will be exciting as we can begin to see the formation of the boulders. They finished forming the rebar and putting the wire and sacks on the formations. It is beginning to take shape!

Baby Red Colt

Here are some new pictures of the little red colt I've been working with and previously wrote about. He is quite a character and very friendly. He has his own agenda and needs to be reminded who is in charge. Sometimes when I restrain him he trys to lie down to get away. His legs just bend and down he goes. Then he jumps back and expects to be released. Nope, it doesn't work that way. I don't let him go until I am ready. He is beginning to understand that the "lie down then jump up" manuver isn't working. It's fun working with him and see how fast he is learning. I've been halter breaking him as well and that is going smoothly. He is very willing to learn most things. He follows me around the pen and wants constant attention. He is getting kind of fat. His mom gives him lots of milk and he is eating more solid food. He sure hasn't missed any meals lately!!

Miss Daisy had her Baby June 7, 2006

On June 7th, 2006 Miss Daisy had her baby. The colt was born at 10:00pm. Miss Daisy went into labor and the baby had it's front leg wrapped around it's head. Daisy could not push the baby out. Danny and Jeanne DeBruce were with her and Danny had to push the baby back inside and get the leg straightened out. Danny is our hero. Had he not been there, the baby would not had lived and Daisy's life would have been in danger. Jeanne stayed with the colt for several hours making sure he nursed and the mare didn't accidently step on the baby.

The mare and baby are doing great now. We go visit them everyday. I've decided to name the colt "DeBruces Buck to a Tee". The grandsire is Buck and the sire is My Key T, so we combined the names and used Danny and Jeanne's name in the front. I guess we will call him Bucky for short.

The Port-a-potty has arrived

Yes, the port-a-potty arrived today. A complete surprise on my end. I guess the guys on the jobsite need somewhere to go. Today Boulderscape continued building the grotto areas on the backside of the pool. They placed wire mesh inside the structure to help form the rocks. The planking will be used to walk on while they sculpt the rocks and smaller waterfalls.

Boulderscape has arrived

The company that is going to do the rock sculpting, decking, BBQ, firepit and other masonery work on the pool is Boulderscape. They started yesterday with putting the footings in place and setting some of the rebar for the waterfalls and grotto. I think this process is supposed to take a couple of weeks to complete. The orange paint on the inside of the pool is where the underwater boulders will be placed.

New Horse Trailer

I sold my 3 horse trailer with a dressing room and my 5th wheel travel trailer and bought this 4 horse trailer with living quarters. Now we can go to horse shows with one rig and one truck. Much more fun! The first stall will have a stud divider for Max but the part hasn't come in yet. It should get installed next week. I had a generater installed on the hay rack on top of the trailer so we can have air conditioning at the horse shows when dryland camping. The dogs will be in heaven! I am going to look into getting a camera installed on the inside where the horses ride so we can see what is happening in the trailer as we are going down the road.

What's Coming Up

Now that the plumbers have finished, we are waiting for the city inspection for the work completed thus far. Then the following will occur:

• Gunite-applies concrete to the pool structure
• Electrical-run wire in conduits from the main electrical panel to the pool equipment and from the pool equipment to the pool/spa lights as well as any other areas in the yard
• Decking-will be done by Boulderscape (a separate company from the pool company)
• Preplaster inspection-fencing must meet city requirements before the plaster can be done
• Plaster
• Start Up-filling of the pool and test plugs removed, valves adjusted, pumps primed and other equipment activiated.
• SWIMMING-can't come soon enough!!

In between the above steps, Boulderscape will come in and sculpt the boulders, lay the decking, excavate the sunken BBQ, put in the underwater bar stools, build the firepit and do the masonery for the planters.

Bye Bye Annie

Annie left today for Palmdale. She is going to be bred to a warmblood and have a baby of her own. I wasn't able to get her to cycle on the same timeframe as Smarty so she couldn't be a receipient mare for me this year.

Bull Pen Update

The bull pen is moving right along. Rocky finished the final preparation yesterday and today Randy started to dig the concrete footings. The holes are at least 5 feet deep and are below the natural dirt line. So the footings that are placed on the built up side are very deep. Don't want the roof to fly in the high winds!