finally...

we love this little guy...

Now that I have a new knee and the weather is changing and the flowers are blooming and Elovns smilin' and Pableu is healthy, happy and liking us a lot, we can begin building with him. He is so full of youth and vitality and to see him run around here and buck and play and then see him relax and smile while we brush and love on him is just wonderful. We're so glad he's here with us and we can all grow up together... 

uncle smokey plays with the "little shark"...

nip n nip back

come on uncle smoke let's play!!

THIS is horse whispering

Whenever I talk to my friend Cate about Pableu's colty antics she says "that little shark!!!" and, he is. He behaves just like a bratty, pesty 8 year old sometimes.  Sometimes when he's out of his pen and he feels like it, he snakes through the fence into the corral his uncles live in and pesters Smoke relentlessly. I went in there one day to watch them because I wanted to make sure no one was getting hurt and took some pics. What I saw was really cool. Pableu was on Smoke like white on rice...nipping, squealing, rearing, pushing anything he could do to get Smokey to play with him. At first Smoke acted like he was a pain in the ass but then he started having fun. When Pableu goes too far, Smoke sets him strate but all in all, they have a great time together...

quite the jumper!

oh those scritches feel good!

daddy longlegs

Last week our good friends Ed and Jane brought over a load of hay they got for us and we had some other friends with kids visiting while they came. Well I guess all the commotion got Pableu pretty excited because he decided to jump over the 4'6" log pole fence that separates him from his uncles. He fell as he landed but except for a tuft of belly fur on the pole that scraped off his tummy, he was fine!  He hasn't tried to jump over again since then but to ensure he doesn't, we've made it higher. If he jumps that, I'll have to find a way to get him to stop getting taller. (yea right!). Anyway, once he got in there he had a great time rubbing his back on his favorite juniper tree branch...hehe!

our beloved home

riding sheeprock

even with all of the struggles and hard times we've faced this year elvon and i never take for granted what we have and where we live. it is beautiful here and our wish is that we can stay here for a long time and continue to make life sweet and peaceful for ourselves and our fourleggeds...

echohawk

golden boy

Echo is Smoke's buddy and out on the trail they have a really good time together. Echo is our only horse not from a California HMA but comes from Buck n Bald in Nevada. He's silly and sassy and likes to dig in pockets to see if there's any good stuff there but aside from that, he's a good horse that has half a moustache when he's shed out in the summertime. He's a palomino with some really cool and unusual markings that also come out when he's shed out and he's tall. We got him from a wonderful woman who loved him but needed a first-time horse. With Pableu he's very gentle and loving and the only one who doesn't discipline him much. Elvon would say that Echohawk is only on his "second cat life" meaning he's still real young and green. His name when we got him was Echo and we added the 'hawk' part to honor the Echohawk family, native folks who practice indian law and defend native rights. I like to stand in his corral and tease him about his halfa moustache and tickle his chin. He loves it... 

handsome whistlesmoke

our handsome and sweetest boy

This horse is possibly the sweetest one around and i constantly sing praises to his original owner who passed away and made it possible for us to give him a home. Whatever he did in bringing this horse along was wonderful because Smoke is so wonderful. I thought he was going to be my horse but he made it very clear from day one that he wanted to be elvons horse. He looooves elvon and never misses a chance to give him a big lick across his face when he sees him. He's our 'elder' but on the trail makes any other horse eat dust with his big wiggly butt and quick clip of a trot. Lately he's been the target of Pableu's misguided, hormonal attentions but Smoke usually gives him a little kick and that's that. He's just adorable and we never get tired of spending time with him. The Whistlesmoke part of his name came from a young Blackfoot warrior named 'Young Whistlesmoke' and the handsome part well...he is very handsome... 

helaku

helaku nibblin' some sweet grass

I have rescued this horse twice so he's not going anywhere and has a forever home here with us. He's aloof and standoffish to the other horses most of the time and in spite of his size the lowest in the herd order. He likes people though and will always come over and say hi. He wears his heart on his sleeve and was terribly abused and neglected in the past. I was worried about how he would treat a new horse but he's very sweet to Pableu and is gentle about the way he schools him. On sunny days I can find him lying in the sun and I never miss the chance to give him a good massage while he's off his feet. He too is from the Twin Peaks Herd Management Area and I think he knows his little homey is too...

the uncles...

Big Guy

Pableu has four uncles that have lived with us for some time and when we were thinking about adopting him we spent a lot of time wondering how well they would do accepting a young colt into their herd. Well, they have done fine and I'm really proud of them for they way they teach and treat him and make him feel wanted a loved. I will introduce you them one at a time with a little story about how they reacted to Pableu and how they spend time with him. I'll start with our most wild-at-heart fella and leader of the pack, Joaquin...



I have had Joaquin the longest and in many ways, he's the closest to my heart. Why? because he should be living his life in the wild and we both know it. When I have him in hand he's wonderful, funny, loving and light as a feather. But he never wants to be caught and prefers to be left alone. He doesn't want to be ridden so we aren't going there and he adores Pableu. From the very first day he made it very clear that he was in charge of him and he treats him like a son. He nips and schools him, protects and looks after him, and teaches him a ot of things he needs to know. On the days he spends outside his corral with Pableu they rip and run all over the property and have tons of fun. Of all of our horses I thought Joaquin would bully him or ignore him. Boy was I wrong...