Christmas!

So yesterday it was Christmas here in Sweden. Me and the rest of my family had a really good day.
It started off with opening our stockings and then we head down to eat some breakfast.
That's one of our tradtions, that we eat breakfast together and just talk and have a great morning. Dad and Benji also played some guitare.
Then it was time to head down to the barn and start mocking and ride some horses.
Me and daddy had a little photoshoot with Cat and Okie, we put on some raindear-ears and a little santa hat on the horses and took some photos while working the cows. The horses did a great job except that Cat was a little bit crazy, but I mean that's not a suprice ;).
Benji also went up on Okie and tried to work the cows, I was just a liiiiiittle bit scared.... But I think he did a very good job! (Proud sister)
We ended the day with just relaxing in the sofa and opening some christmas gifts, the santa also came to visit Olivia ;).
Well that's our Christmas this year, I hope that all of you also had a great Christmas!
// Ida

 Okie and I

 

Dad and Okie

Benji and Okie

 Olivia and Fiffelina

Having a good time!

So as you see by the title me and my family are having a really good time, the day before christmas!
My brother, Benjamin, came home from Gävle where he goes to university. Mom went to the grocerystore to by some things, dad and Olivia are making dinner and while I'm writing here Benji is singing and playing on his guitare. Such a wonderful spirit in the house!
So tomorrow I was thinking to ride Okie bareback on christmas morning, if daddy allows me ;).
Me and the family are planning to just have a nice and peaceful christmas this year, we haven't been home for christmas in years!
Well that's about it for todays blog post, see you all tomorrow i hope, if not me and everyone on 4 Corners Ranch are wishing you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Here are som nice pictures from the past that you can enjoy.

Cat and Polly

Brady

Avenir 

Cat and Polly

My crazy mom

Me, My friend Felicia and Fiifelina

Brady

Cat

Dad and Benji

Polly

Furix and I

Cat, dad and Gizmo

Loooongtime!

Well, finally remembered the password for the blog thanks to Ida's persistance!
She'll be taking over some of the newsupdating duties from now on, thankfully!

A whole lot has happened in the year that has passed, some good, some not so much...

Some horses have left us, some due to age and others are sold. Idas pony Furix Five unfortunately had to be put down as he was starting to feel age and all the wear and tear from fostering a bunch of riders through the years. We sold yearling Oscietra to trainer Svante Båth and we're really happy she'll get a chance to show her stuff on the track in the coming years.

Oscietra

We've still got more than our share left though but things are looking good.

Me and Ida's got 4yo Okie (Spooks Nu You) to play with and she's a fantastic mare! Super nice to be around, kind as can be and still with so much smarts and potential on a cow. We won the shows we entered with both her and Kick The Cat and hopefully Okie will stay sound in 2016 and Ida can start showing a little.

Okie

Cat will hopefully join the broodmare ranks this spring along with Dualin Cherroo in the US and start producing babies for us.

Cat

Ritzy's Dream gave us another fine trotter filly this year we named Blue Jean Dream (by Blue York Yankee) and things are looking promising for her.

Ritzy, Annelie & the baby

Blue Jean Dream

Some action will probably have to be taken with our US band though as we simply have to many in training over there with a strained Swedish currency and some things we want to get done over here.

Merry Christmas!

All things considered, we're looking forward to an exciting 2016 and wish everybody a great holiday and a Merry Christmas.

Allready October!

Fall's here, rain, mud, cold and all that comes with it too!

The barn is full this fall. My two limping QH fillies are just hanging in their pastures. Ritzy, Annelies trotter mare looks good and are hopefully safely in foal to Blue York Yankee for a 2015 baby. Her 2014 filly Oscietra is growing by the minute and is as pretty as they come.

Oscietra

 Our youngest, Olivia 2, is staking claim to Ida's shetland Fiffilina and insists on leading her to and from the pen and riding her every chance she gets. Ida and her pony Furix Five are doing good also. She's working him about as much as she can with school, homework and friends. They helped me in a cowworking clinic the other day and they both seemed to enjoy it!

Ida & Furix

Annelie also have a 5year old 17+ hands warmblood to start for a friend and she's got her handsful!

The horses at Todd & Julie's in Idaho are doing excellent also. Gunnen Olena is leading the pack with little over $2.000 in the bank after a 3rd place finish in the open Montana RCH Futurity and 2nd in the Intermediate open.

Todd & Gunnen Olena

 Spook Nu You finished 6th open and 5th Intermediate and pushed her winnings to $1600 I believe. She's placed in all three of her shows so far. 2nd open and 1st int.open in the Central Idaho Futurity, 5/6 in the Utah Futurity to go with the Montana show.

Spook Nu You

 Hagar, (Gunnen Olena) is leaving for the Idaho RCH Futurity today where he'll face alot stiffer competition than he's seen so far. No expectations other than he keeps developing and improving. He's still alittle behind in his herdwork etc but the experiance will do him good I think.

We're moving the little filly SDP Fourina C up to Todds this week also. I've thought long and hard on the subject and realised I really want to give her a shot at Reno. She's the best bred horse we have and though I love cutting, my heart & soul will alway's be more in the ranching and cowhorse world. A great big THANK YOU! to Gregg Smith for taking her in and caring for her!

SDP FourIna C

We've had some cowworking clinics here a couple of weekends and it's been really fun! Great people and a pleasure to work with and help you all! Thank You!

Long time!

April, May, June & July have come and gone and I guess it's about time to update the "news" here at the ranch!

We've got a super cute little trotter filly out of Annelies mare Ritzy! She's adorable and it looks like she'll be a big, well put together thing.

Annelie & Klådan (Itchy)

My mare Kick The Cat is hurt again! Coffinbone fracture, tendon tear and possibly some other damage to her left hindleg. All accomplished while in the pasture. We were looking to hit a few shows this year but those plans are now folded. Tuesday we'll know more after her MRI but it's not looking to promising.

On the more possitive front, our US ponys are doing great! Went for a visit end of June and got to ride 'em and check up on 'em. Great looking bunch and the 3year olds, Spooks Nu You and Gunnen Olena have just made their showdebute as I write this in the little Central Idaho Reined Cow Horse Futurity. Herdwork yesterday and alittle bit of good and not so good from the reports. Spook Nu You is sitting second after her 70 run and Gunnen Olena had some tough luck with his cows and posted a 66. Reinwork today and he should improve his score some if he runs to form. Reining isn't Spook Nu You's forte but she's getting better all the time.

Hagar

Okee

2year old Dualin Cherroo looks the part also. Beautiful filly with all the athletic ability in the world!
She's brought along nice and easy with plenty of ranchwork to go along with the arena stuff.

Cherroo

The yearling filly SDP Fourina C looks the part and is doing great at Greg Smith's. Just running in the pasture being a horse still.

SDP FourIna C

Ida and her pony Furix have had a great spring and summer with a few shows and a ride camp here at the ranch with some friends.

March is here...

Loooong, slow trailrides on the agenda lately. Kick The Cat has been pretty highstrung and super busy lately. Worried about everything and especially the cows. Not getting any better though we've spent countless hours in the herd, slow and easy roping and just mulling around. So I decided to rest her from them for awhile and just have her comeback to earth. A little improvement the last couple of days so we'll keep it up for awhile longer.

We're looking to ship the bulls here in a while as it's time to get some fresh cattle in and they're getting pretty full of themselves also and starting to challenge you whenever they can.

The new fillies have arrived at Todds and are doing pretty good. It was a long haul from Oklahoma and they are stalled up now for the first time aswell so Todd is taking it easy with them. The 2yo Dualin Cherroo has been saddled and flagged around some and the 3yo Spook Nu You or "Okie" has been ridden alittle. Busy times at Todds with the calvings starting also.

Cherroo

Okie

Other good news, Todd rode Hagar yesterday for the first time since the injury and he's doing great!
Fingers crossed, but it looks promising!

The yearling filly SDP Fourina C is enjoying the sun after a pretty tough Texas winter! She's headed for Greg Smith's in Idaho after the Super Stakes in April so we'll have all of them in the same state atleast ;)

February update

Got the new month started off right with a great dinner in town Saturday for birthday boy Ben (20). The whole family present along with grandma & grandpa. Hitting an establishment in town is something we seldom get to do around here and it was much apreciated by all.

Worked the bulls again today with Kick The Cat. She's been off for about a week and hasn't seen any cows for about 10 days. A little fresh but not too bad and we got to rope some and cut a few. She was pretty decent but she still really can't relax and work a cow the way I know she can with the herd behind her. She gets tense and nervous still but not quite as bad as she was last fall.

Here's alittle video, don't have a cameraman, any turnbacks or helpers so I kinda drift in and out of frame with the cam resting on the wall:

Winter's here

Well we finally got a winter after all! Decent temps for January though and just enough snow to lighten up the murkiness and make everything white, fluffy and pretty.

Idas Furix is back at it again and they're having fun going on trailrides and working out in the pen. Kick The Cat gets alittle lighter load than usual, just a spin or two a week at the moment to see if her attitude gets better. She in great physical condition and she really can get down & dirty with the cows. She's too high strung and busy still though but hopefully she'll improve with more ranchwork, slow n easy. La Flor del Viento, "Polly", is waiting for another date with the vet to get a final oppinion before we decide what to do with her. She's being pretty obnoxious with the other mares in the pasture though and they're pretty sick of her.

Ritzy's Dream is getting bigger! For a first time foaler she's really swelled and the baby aint due for another couple of months. She's settling in more in her new role as a broodmare though, it seems like and we're really excited to see what peeks out late April!

Just happened to get a couple of more fillies bought too.....More on those girls when everything is finalized and they've arrived!

Olivia is being schooled into kindergarden and is doing great. Full throttle running and playing and not a care in the world if mom or dad is there or not!

Cowwork

Seems I spoke to soon on the health of our horses, thinking we were done with injuries and misshaps for awhile! Hours after posting, La Flor del Viento "Polly"for short, rolled in her stall and managed to get stuck with a trip to the clinic and a mangled pastern as a result!

Working Kick The Cat on the cows every chance I get. She's getting the technique down and the cowiness is there in truckloads. So much so that she's worried to death about the herd at present. We're trying to get her more comfortable around them and she's fine in the herd or facing them but when she has her back to the herd, she's worried. More so now then she ever was at 2 or 3 actually.

Abilene Spectacular is in full swing and most of the Futurity ponies looks to advance to the 2nd go. In the lead though a pony that struck out in the 1st go of the futurity last month but looks to impress here. With a 222 and sole possesion of 1st is RW Rockin (Dual Rey-Boon San Kitty) full brother to former futurity champ Rockin W! 2013 Futurity champ Dual Smart Kitty is hangin 2nd with a 219 along with a quartet made up of Cat Garrett, Reyvelation, Eazy E and Redman GB.

Rockin W

In the 5/6 classic it's all Boyd Rice and Paul Hansma so far. Boyd and CR First Tuff is sitting pretty with a 222 followed by Paul's Natalee Wood 220.5. Boyd and Paul also share 3rd with CR Sun Reys and Hez All Cat with a 219.5.

CR First Tuff

Natalee Wood

CR Sun Reys

Hez All Cat

New year, new possibilities!

Happy New Year!

Hopefully this year will be kinder than last! We suffered an abnormal amount of injuries on the horses and even had to say goodbye to a dear old friend in Avenir.

Avenir

He was one of the nicest and most personable individuals we've had around here and he will sorely be missed.

Ritzy's Dreams injury resulted in her advancing to the broodmare ranks and is expecting from S.J.'s Caviar late April.

Kick The Cat

Kick The Cat is rounding into form again after her tendon issue but there's work to be done in the head department on that one. One of the cowiest and most talented horses I've rode but she can be a handful at times. La Flor del Viento is awaiting another checkup to see if her hip/knee joints are fully developed. We had an issue with her sister that resulted in her being put down last fall and it might've been genetic they say. So before breeding her that needs to be resolved.

Ida & Furix

Idas pony Furix Five has been limping too as of late. He's better again and Ida is taking him for walks every other day. He should be fine in a week or two.

Hagar (Gunnen Olena)

Gunnen Olena is recuperating from his severe tendon tear at Todd & Julies in Idaho. So far so good, he was on his first post surgery checkup yesterday and it still looks hopeful!

SDP Fourina C

Yearling filly SDP Fourina C is cold and frozen along with the rest of Texas but is doing just fine by the reports.

Abilene Spectacular kicks of tomorrow and most of the top ponies from last months Futurity is entered, should be a great cutting! Futurity Champ Dual Smart Kitty will need another solid outing to keep the others at bay. Great horses with Futurity 3rd Johnny Reyngo and 4th Boon San Baby, 5-6th MK Smooth Runnin Cat and Smart Time Pepto 10 leading the chase. We'll also see how last years smaller futurity horses stack up with the big boys with the likes of CR Too Catty and VR Cowgirl Kaki, gonna be exciting no doubt!

Will post more often on here from now on, promise!

Some pics from yesterday's cowwork.

Ida, Martin & Gizmo

 After spending the day at the office, it was great to come home and work Kick The Cat on the cows some. She's still pretty cowfresh but simmers down some after working for awhile.

The Boyz

Wish I had horns!

We keep the calves in a litte pasture up by the roundpen at the moment wich is handy. They need to put on some weight though and will soon be let out in a larger pasture.

 Cat did really well after the edge wore of a bit. She's getting the positioning down pretty well, but can still get a little to hot when she's challenged.

She finished really strong and read the calf beautifully the last couple of turns.

Ida and Furix had a nice ride aswell, finishing with some quality time in the barn.

Olivia and Gizmo helped round up the bulls (by staying out of trouble).