There's No Place Like Home

Friday we made the uneventful drive to Indiana to visit Roscoe and deliver his next batch of food. Plus there was the new foal to play with. As we pulled into the driveway, my boy was on his way to the turnout. A month at boot camp definitely made him more obedient and manageable. He must be hard to catch, because she leaves a halter on him. I guess the girls keep his attention.

Girl Watching

Once Roscoe was out, Lisa let out the mares and foals. That was fun to watch the foals run around. At one point the filly actually touched noses with Roscoe. He was really sweet and quiet with her. To bad it was too dark to take a picture.
The next morning, we stayed in the house and let Lisa do things in her normal routine. When it looked like Roscoe was out for a bit of turn out, I went to trim his feet. Other than moving a bit more than normal, he was good for his trim. He has lost some weight from the constant breeding, but overall he looks great. He was a bit tense, worried about doing things right, but gradually he relaxed. We played with him, doing stretches and tricks. He was happy to know the right answer. For Roscoe not being able to give Lisa the right answers during a breeding session is hard. He gets so frustrated and unfortunately takes it out on the mare. One time was long and hard, leaving him with chain rub and a sore nose. Roscoe says breeding is not all its cracked up to be. I think he will be ready to go home when his job is complete. He is tapping his hooves saying "there is no place like home."

My Handsome Boy :)

After his trim, Mom worked him in hand. He had to be told to focus and listen. This little session showed what we will have when we get him home. And that seems do able after watching him. He pushed and at one point by the mares got crazy, but Mom got him to back away. Backing has a great effect on him, getting him focused. She backed him and then moved him forward by the mares. If he focused on them, she backed him up and got his eyes back on her. He was super. He even stood and dropped his head asking for a cookie right outside one of the mares stalls. Mom ended by backing him into the stall with a mare right next to him. There was a little excitement, but he listened.
It was tough to see him acting like a new boot camp graduate, but aspects of my baby was still shining at times. He almost seemed to distance himself, to make it easier on himself. The morning we left he was ignoring us. Mom and I had to follow him around just to give him a treat. At the last moment he walked up to Peggy and touched her arm with his nose. As much as he wanted to be distant he had to say good bye to us all. Okay enough about Roscoe, I am teary eyed just typing this. He will be home as soon as the mares are confirmed in foal to the best of Lisa's knowledge.
In addition to the mares and foals, we were able to visit Tuscani Dundee (Comrade, Connor and Gavin's sire plus a bunch of others) the senior stallion at Castleberry Welsh Cobs. He is retired and spending time at the other property while Roscoe visits.

Love the copper color of him

Enjoying Cookies

This is the first time we saw him as a horse and not a stallion. I don't know if that makes any sense, but stallions seem to have two sides. When we saw him at a distance 5 years ago, he was the STUD. This time he was the awesome horse that could interact with us. Dundee is so shiny and has some cool markings. He also has knee feathers!!!

Kinda Cool, but Coarse

Of course I totally had to take a picture and swore to Lisa I would only share it on my blog. They are definitely different and definitely something even I would shave off. I guess even the super Cob Stallion Cardi grows them. I will say that I hope Roscoe does not develop them. Fetlock feathers, yes. Knee feathers, oh no.
So here are some pictures I took while I was there. I wished for my big camera, but made do with my medium one.

Ebony with Rebecca and Ffion

 

Photo bombed

The older foals

Lisa and the Ebony's colt

What should have been a great photo... darn baby

Showing off

Two hopefully expectant mares: Ebony and Ffion

Three hopefully expectant mares: Rosina, Rosalee and Dyma Hi

 

Fingers crossed the mares all took. Dyma Hi, far right, was the first one and so far she has not come back into heat. She is Comrade and Connor's full sister, so that will be a cool cross to see. Rosalee is one of my favorites and related to both Comrade and Rosemary. And yes that means this is line breeding on Rosemary's dam's line. She has the flaxen mane like Roscoe and the blaze too. Rosina is related to Comrade through Dundee and the second black mare. Unlike Ebony she is not homozygous black, so the foal color will be a surprise. Ffion is Roscoe's great Grandmother so another line breeding. There is one more mare, Rebecca, Lisa may use if she comes into heat again which would be another line breeding since she is Rosemary's sister. The last mare that could have been bred, decided she wanted nothing to do with him. Since she could really hurt Roscoe that breeding probably won't happen. So that is skinny on the breeding front. It will be a long year until we can see the foals.

Front view of the three mares taken by Lisa

Stallion Boot Camp

Life without Roscoe is just plain weird. I keep expecting him to come around the corner and take his spot at the gate looking down the barn aisle. Lisa has been great about giving me progress reports. I feel like the parent of a naughty child misbehaving at school though.

But Mom...

Roscoe does not believe he has to listen to Lisa. He gives her a hard time just walking to the turn out. So Lisa has started round pen work with him to establish her authority. Luckily that is something he knows and can serve as a bridge between them. Stallion boot camp has started. She has to be able to control him if any more breeding will take place. And yes that means he has covered one mare so far. Once Roscoe knows the routine and that Lisa is the boss, hopefully the hormonal idiot will be more controllable and make the process easier.

Roscoe vs Lisa 2012

On the positive side, she says he is fit and smart. I hope both will help him get through this learning curve. Lisa and Roscoe have sort of been through a power struggle before, a couple years ago getting ready for a show. She had to move him around then too. Roscoe is not an easy horse, never has been. It is a darn good thing we had no experience with foals before he was born, because then we would have known how tough he was from the very beginning. We just thought he was being an independent boy. He has kept us on our toes for nearly four years and now Lisa knows why.

Two strong personalities

 

The tough part for Roscoe is that when he was trained for the phantom, there was separation of activities. They had a breeding shed that he went to by leaving the barn from the right side. Turn out was done by leaving the barn from the left side. He learned how to act when he was in the different areas. At Lisa's the breeding happens right by his stall. And since she is a one person operation, the mare is tied up right by the stall which raises the drama for handling him in the stall. They are working through the bumps and figuring each other out. As tough as it is to experience this from a distance, I think it is better for all of us that we are not close enough to drop in. This way Lisa is the only authority figure he has to deal with. No blurred lines.
So here's hoping the progress reports keep improving and breeding can happen once the mares come into season.

Working things out

Stud Splats

You all know I love Roscoe.

Stallion Selfie :)

But there are moments I just have to laugh. He really thinks he is special and everyone should know it. Especially Winston. Well one of the ways he achieves that is by creating stud piles. He poops on other horses piles, marking his area. This is funny for Roscoe because like the other Cobs I know, he is an economy pooper. By which I mean, he produces one big pile in the time other horses have 3. So when he goes around doing his stud piles, they end up more like stud splats.

Poor boy, trying to be the big bad stallion and I am laughing at his splats. When owning a Stallion I have learned to find humor where I can. The down side of this splats is that I have to keep his tail braided, so it does not get pooped on. Recently, I rebraided it into 3 braids because it is so thick and tied them together.

I will say it makes for great viewing when he is posturing towards Winston. His breeder edited two pictures I took for me. These are his, "How close to the fence can I get with out getting zapped while looking studly" pictures.

What is great is that attitude translates into his movement while he is working. We lunged, then long lined him not long after these pictures and he was super. The confidence shows in his work. Sometimes too much. He wanted to trot, but Mom said he had to walk. I served as a side walker with a lead line. I never had to intervene he listened so well.

Then while Mom rode Winston, he trotted along the fence line or bit at the fence. Winston totally ignored him. So he went and did some stud splats. I did not know who to watch. They both provided entertainment.

Hmm, Time for sunscreen

We are getting rain today. I hope it is dry enough to ride tomorrow. They all need to get to work. No pasture art pieces here, even if they are cute enough for it :)