Alas, twodraftmom is no longer true - and long overdue herding update.

I lost my wonderful Belgian mare Babe a week ago. I have no idea what happened but last Monday she was just dead in the pasture and had been for at least 12 hours. I found out that draft horses live 20-25 years and she was about 20. She was my best horse (sorry Bob) and will be sorely missed. Bob and Pepper have taken up quarters and I saw them grooming each other heartily last night. We are down to 3 horses now, after the loss of my Missy last fall as well. I have made the decision not to replace her at this time.

On a happier note, sheep herding is progressing nicely with Fly. I signed her up for a clinic at the end of June but she managed to pick THAT DAY to stop working for Laurie. The very last session just before the clinic I had been in the field with Laurie and maybe she just decided it was time to work for MOM! So, time for Claire to get out there and DO it instead of just watching. It was a slow start but I have been watching Laurie closely and have picked up what to do fairly well(according to Laurie). Yesterday Fly was balancing sheep to me! This means that as i would move one way around the sheep, she would follow to keep the sheep balanced between us. And, as I would move the other way, she would also move. Fly is hearing 'Lie Down' and understanding it means she is in the right position to balance and then fetch the sheep to me. I'm so proud of her! If you know me, you know i hate to sweat but i have to say , as Fly gets better, this gets more and more fun! The sweating is ok by me and maybe i'll lose some weight!

Things to work on:

1. Try to get better fetches, both initially and whenever she is going towards the sheep. I need to push Fly out earlier from me to prevent her from side-swiping the sheep. She needs to respond to my pressure and start working on a nice 'get out' to gather the sheep. On a fresh fetch, I need to stand between fly and the sheep, let her go, and then again , push her further out to prevent herd busting.
2. More switching direction once she is on the back side 'fetching' them to me. Last night she was paying attention and did switch from left to right at least 2x!

Agility updates : Callie is temporarily taking a break after she came up lame. We are doing anti-inflammatory for 2 weeks then will do a recheck. Since the last blog we started advanced agility and she did great. Since she came up lame last class, I was able to run Barb's REALLY fast dog. It was lots of fun and will be something to aim for with Fly. Fly finished agility teamwork and we did well, I need to teach her weave poles and keep working on simple jumps, front and rear crosses, watching me, and following me around a course. I also need to start working her at a distance.

Sheep herding lessons and driving lessons for Claire/Babe

I took Fly for another Sheep herding lesson today. Its really just slightly organized sheep chasing at this point. Laurie says Fly has lots of potential! She is doing better at going AROUND the sheep. They also worked on pushing the sheep out when they get stuck on a fence. It's Flys job to make a space between the fence and the herd in that case and she's getting better at it. I'll work on getting a video next time!

Sunday we took a little drive with Babe, my Belgian draft horse.
Let me share with you our little forecart experience. I was
driving Babe single in our forecart. I was using the team harness with the loop
holder attachments that snap to my harness. I had told my husband (i'm the
horse person, he just helps me) that I really needed to get a belly band
attachment to keep the shafts from going up .

Well, my husband said, "lets go this way through the pasture, no problem, i take
the tractor this way all the time", It was down and up a rather steep draw..
so guess what happened when we got to the other side?

RIGHT! , the shafts, helped by TWO people in the forecart slid up and over her
shoulders and head! yikes. Fortunately there were trees all around, no where
for her to go really and BAbe stopped when i told her. The backrest of the
forecart almost on the ground.. Randy stepped off, and went to Babe's head.. The
shafts were kinda caught right on her bridle and he was able to get it off and
push the cart back down.. Randy then led her up to a flatter spot . So yeh, i
REALLY need to get the full belly band attachment made..

Disaster averted.. thanks to a good solid mare even though, based on her
behavior, I'm not sure she's ever driven single before! . O, did i mention my
husband walked back to the house ? hehe.. I guess he doesn't trust me ?