Jones Land and Livestock, Inc.

Stork is on its way

2012-03-10T07:12:00.001-08:00

Meet our mares that are ready any time to foal....

This is Captains Dry Tang. Isn't she a beautiful? She has the most golden, buttery color. She is due anytime now with foal #1.

This is another mare that we have that is due anytime as well. Her name is Lake Hazel Suezee Que and she is due with foal # 3. She is also our daughters horse that is for sale. She is a gorgeous chocolate color.

There are some telltale signs when a mare is getting close to foaling. Several days before the mare will "bag up". In other words, they begin lactating and the utter will fill up, the teats will wax over and may even start dripping milk. Her behavior will often change as she becomes more uncomfortable. She may become more irritable, pace, break out in a sweat frequently, breathing may change, and they may raise their tail on and off.

Several hours before foaling a mare may exhibit the following signs:
Nervousness
Pacing
Frequently getting up and laying down
Sweating
Tail swishing
Pawing
Lose of appetite
Frequent urination
Leaves the herd
Kicks at belly
Acts irritable and looks generally uncomfortable.

When you see these signs, stay close by. You should plan on spending the night at the barn. Baby is on its way.

The two mares I mentioned above are both starting to bag up. They should foal within a week.

Don't forget to go back and check out the other links in our 2012 Training Series here

Housekeeping....

2012-03-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

As Josh and I started working on the several series that we will be doing this year we realized that our camera and recording equipment were severely out of date. HAH!

We have needed to upgrade our camera and recording equipment and that's been the reason for the delay in posting much. But, the new camera and recording equipment we ordered should be here at the end of the week and we are so excited!!

One of the main reasons that we have been anxious about getting the new equipment here, is because we have two mares that are due within the week! Exciting stuff!

So thanks for being patient. I promise you that our posting won't be as splotchy moving forward. Posting will be very regular. There is so much to share!

Gymkhana 2012 Schedule

2012-02-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

We just posted our Gymkhana 2012 schedule so take a look. All the dates are on the 4th Saturday of the month. Registration starts at 9am. Events start at 10am. Gymkhanas usually last til about 12:30pm or longer depending on how many riders we have.

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns on the dates:

May 26th (weather depending)
June 23rd
July 28th
August 25th

The events we will run every Gymkhana are barrels, poles. Other events that we rotate around are the flag race, goat tail tying, water race, tire race, boot race, pony express, quadrangle race and speed ball. As we get closer to event days, we'll post the exact events that we will be running. Also, we always post the results in our local paper and we will be posting them on the website.

Theses Gymkhanas are not only fun and but they also give you a chance to work on specific skills with your horse.

Let us know if you have any events that you would like to do and we'll be sure to do them!

See http://joneslandandlivestock.com/Events.html for more details.

Turning Dreams Into Reality

2012-02-18T17:58:00.000-08:00

Remember when we talked about what your horse goals are for 2012?

My daughter has had a dream for a long time to train a horse for show and hit the show circuit. It's starting to become a reality for her.

This week she got a new horse,a three-year old, named Pleased By Chex out of Miss Fritzie Bug and sired by Chic Please.

Normally Chic Pleases are pretty hot and not normally a youth horse. However, Pleased By Chex seems to be pretty mellow.

She's been researching horses with Josh, her Dad, forever- trying to find the right horse. The right horse needed to be something with great breeding, in her price range, and had to fit into her business plan.

Yes, my 13 year old daughter has a business plan.

After all, not only are we in the business of horses, but we are in the business of raising kids. There is nothing better than doing projects with your kids to teach them a few things about life. And, a neat side effect of doing things with your kids is that they love to spend time with you.

So her business plan is broken down into two parts- Part A and Part B. Part A- she trains the horse with her dad for the next year and hits a few shows to get a show record on her. Then she sells her horse in a year to get a return on her investment. Now the hard part A of her business plan is that tricky emotional part where you fall in love with the horse and just can't sell it. Since that is highly likely, she also has a part B so that she can still make a return on her investment. Part B is to breed her horse and sell the foals to get her money back out of it.

A funny part about her investment is that she didn't have enough to buy it outright, so she had to borrow some money from her brother to complete the transaction. So her brother teases her that he is currently a 15% owner in the horse until she pays him back. In the meantime, her other horse, Lake Hazel Suezee Que, is for sale. She is currently in foal to a son of Mister Dual Pep and due within a month. She's a great little barrel horse.

The next step for her is to put together a training regimen /schedule and a plan to get ready for the first show on May 5.

Introducing our 2012 Training Series

2012-01-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

We are excited to introduce to you our Training Series that we will be doing in 2012.

Series #1 General Horsemanship Tips. This series will include a variety of information related to riding horses, horse tack, taking care of your horse, and what we learn along the way. This series will start in the spring.

Series #2 Colt Starting. In this series we will be taking you through each step of colt starting, how long each step takes, what you should expect, and staying motivated when training your colt. This series will start soon.

Starting at the end of February or the beginning of March, depending upon when our first mare foals, we will be doing Series #3 Raising Foals. This series will include discussions (and of course great photos!) when our mares foal, the first few hours after birth, how to handle the new foal in those first few weeks, and how to start teaching your foal how to lead and be groomed. We'll also show you how to avoid spoiling your foal. Again, this will start possibly the end of February, beginning of March.

All of these series will be posted on our Round Pen page on our website. As our series unfolds, each post will be linked back to that page in an easy to read format.

We hope you stay in the saddle with us as this exciting new year unfolds......

Horse Sense

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

1. Beware of those that "know it all" with horses. They have stopped learning.

2. Training horses is very difficult. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of time, consistency, impeccable timing, the ability to read body language, and the ability to adjust your technique from horse to horse. These things take time and lots of practice. Be patient and don't get discouraged. Anything of worth takes a lot of work. The reward will be worth it.

Negotiating

2012-01-05T23:34:00.000-08:00

What do you do when your daughter comes to you with a proposition?

"Dad, I'd like to make you a proposition."

"Okay."

"Well, you know I don't have any money but I want to make you an offer on one of your new foals coming."

"What kind of an offer?"

"Well, I'll train one of your new foals and then sell it. You'd get a great trainer at a discounted price and then I'll let you keep 50% of my profits."

How can you pass up an offer like that?

Stay tuned! We will keep you up to date on how our little trainer is doing. Those will be some fun posts!

Housekeeping....website updates

2012-01-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

We've been busy sprucing up our website....

If you live in our area, check out our events page. Not only do we host fun, family Gymkhanas in the summer, but this summer we'd like to add roping's and clinics to our list of horse events. If you are a local, contact us, if you are interested in participating in any of these events.

Our Gymkhanas are designed for the whole family to have fun- from little pee-wees up to adults. We run all types of events, the most popular ones being barrels and poles. We usually change the events from month to month so that you and your horse can have the opportunity to work on new skills as well as polish what you already know. It's a ton of fun!

We've also polished our For Sale page and added more horses for sale. It's so important to find the horse that suits your needs and fits your personality. We hope to help you find the perfect horse for you!

Stay tuned....we are working on our Foal 2012 page. That page will show you our crop of foals coming this year. Some special goodies that we will post there and on this blog- we will take you with us as the mares birth, imprinting, and starting a foal from the very beginning. You'll be with us every step of the way. Lots of good stuff ahead....

How much hay do you feed a horse?

2011-12-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

People always wonder how much hay do you feed a horse. A healthy horse needs to be fed on average 2% of it's body weight. If it's winter, or the horse is underweight, or if the horse is being worked hard, you increase that to 2.5-3%.

For example, if you have 1000lb, 15 hand horse, you'll feed it 20lbs a day of dry matter. If you have hay bales that weigh 80lbs., then you'll go through that hay bale in 4 days.

The bottom line is that you need to be daily watching your horse. Every horse is different. If your horse is dropping weight, you'll need to increase the amount or adjust the type of feed. If your horse is starting to put on weight, back off on the amount your are giving your horse.

Also, don't forget to adjust the amount of hay you feed your horse if you work your horse out or if it's cold.

It's best to be feeding your horses at least twice a day. Remember that horses are grazing animals. It is more natural for them to be eating in small amounts more frequently throughout the day.

What are your Horse Goals for 2012?

2011-12-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

Have you thought about what you want to accomplish with your horses for 2012?

It could be anything from getting a saddle on your horse, working on your balance when you ride, starting your horse on cattle, or starting your horse in the show circuit.

We got our January 2012 Horse & Rider magazine in the mail and it had a great article about setting and achieving your goals. A lady by the name of Roxanne Peters had the goal to start showing in the NRCHA circuit in the limited non-pro division. She had tons of odds to overcome. She worked full-time and had a limited income. But she wrote down her dream and started working at it. In her words, "Little did I know that fate would intervene and my dream would grow." In the end she ended up standing in the winners circle.

You will never know what can happen unless you try.

It's a great article, only found in January 2012 Horse & Rider magazine.

So, what are your horse goals for 2012?

The Ranch is our Canvas

2011-12-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

The wonderful thing about living on a ranch is that you have so many things around you from which to make Christmas gifts. And with 7 kids making gifts for each other, it's exciting to see the things they come up with.

A book shelf, an airplane, a boat formed from a hollowed out piece of wood, painted pieces of wood and a "forget-me" stick.

A wire picture holder Josh made for one of the kids, made from wood and wire lying around the ranch.

A bow and arrow using baling twin and a nail, a boat made out of a hollowed out aspen tree, a pine cone "bomb" and an origami "Yoda".

The coolest homemade gift was what Josh's Dad helped me make for Josh. A chalkboard and a "drop-box" to put in the barn.

Beef- It's what's for dinner!

2011-12-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

Josh and I are big college people. Meaning we want our kids to go to college after they graduate from high school. Because of that , we started talking them about college even before they went into kindergarten.

We talk about all the subjects in college that there are to learn about and what each of the kids would love to study more about. Of course, when we mention college to the younger kids, the conversation goes something like this,"Did you know your Aunt Anne, while she is in college, she can eat ice-cream whenever she wants." It's at this point that my kids realize that the college life is definitely for them!

Because we have so many kids, college savings is not something that can easily come out of our monthly budget. Josh and I have to be creative about helping them save for college. We are constantly thinking of projects that will help them save money. The beauty of living on a ranch is that we can amp up the project past your typical neighborhood lemonade stand.

That's why we sell beef. Good, homegrown, marbled beef. Ohhh yyeeaahhh!

We've raised beef for 5 years now. We raise beef for ourselves and then sell the rest to customers who care about the quality of food that goes into their body.

There is nothing better than the beef we raise. Once you taste it, you'll never go back to just buying it from the store. In fact, even when I've had a steak from a restaurant, it's just not the same taste. There is something about it being raised carefully by a local rancher.

So, if you want to make sure that you can secure your beef for the 2012 year, make sure you contact us soon.

Put yourself in the saddle

2011-12-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

I think that one of the amazing things about the Internet is that you can develop your talents or interests. Whatever you find interesting that you wish to learn more about, you can.

If I'm interested in learning more about photography (which I am), there is a bundle of websites out there that can help me learn step by step how to take great pictures. I can find any kind of DIY projects. I can type in what ingredients I have in my pantry and there are websites that can help me come up with a menu plan. Josh recently learned all about transmissions because our transmission went out. Anything I want to learn how to do, I can through the help of great websites.

The Internet is so empowering.

That's how we want our website to be with you on the subject of horses. We want you to feel empowered on the subject of horses. We want to feed you with the information you need so that you can say to yourself, "I can do this!"

Becoming the best we can be involves always learning. There is always much to learn on the subject of horses. And the more you know, the more enjoyable it is and the more you get addicted to owning and taking care of a horse.

Our website and this blog are the places to start if you want to improve your equine skills.

We will show you how to train horses from start to finish (the word finished is used grudgingly here as a horse and rider are never truly finished) as well as post tips we've learned along the way. Keep checking both the website and this blog!

A sneak peak into what's coming in the next few months.... 6 new foals will be coming starting in March. What do you do to get ready for them? How do you care for them? What training can you do with them when they are young? Stick with us and put yourself in the saddle.

Where is the snow?

2011-12-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

December 11, 2011

December 11, 2010

There is quite a difference between the snow levels between this year and last year. We were skiing last
year at this time. Today, Brundage hasn't even opended yet. Yesterday Tamarack opened for the season but they've been making snow for quite some time. The weatherman says we are in an inversion.

But, since the weather hasn't brought snow, we've been doing other things.....

like making stuff for Christmas,

the website

getting our website spiffed up and a blog started,

Captain Dry Tang, aka "Chex"

dreaming of 6 new foals, one of which is coming out of our beautiful "Chex",

barn doors

and always working on our barn.

It's always so wonderful to be busy and have dreams. And we are dreaming of one day having this.....
an indoor riding arena.

a picture off of the We Cover website