Last Week at Jagumba

Hi Everyone,

  This week has been very wet.  We have been given over six inches of rain in the last three days.

Home grown watermelon

Kathrin arrived home safely last Saturday evening.  She was very happy to see me and the wonderful American candy I had brought back with me.  That evening we had Ben, Barry’s nephew, and his family over for dinner.  Their daughter, Rachel, may borrow on of Barry’s mares to use during Pony Club this year.  While they were hear looking at the mare, Rachel got to ride on the mare’s foal, which is almost eight months old.  She was just the right size jockey for the little horse. 

Rachel riding giving the foal his first ride

Sunday morning, braving the threatening looking sky, Kathrin and I moved the spider fence in the horses’ paddock.  We then spent some quality time training two of the new brumbies, Marvin and Amber.  Amber is about two years old, while we think Marvin is only a baby at one year old.  I got to work with Marvin.  We started out with a join up.  During the join up, I stand in the middle of the yard with a stick that has a plastic bag on the end and let the horse run around me.  Since the horse wants to get away, it runs in a circle around by the fence.  When the horse gets tired of running, it will usually stop in a corner.  If the horse puts its head in the corner and its rear toward me, I shake the bag and make noise the horse doesn’t like, this is something we call “pressure”.  If the horse turns its head toward me, then I stop making any threatening moves or noises and take a step back.  The horse will usually look at me for a few moments and then try to turn away.  As soon as the horse turns its attention away from me, I apply more pressure.  Pressure can be anything that makes the horse uncomfortable.  By using a pressure and release technique, I am teaching the horse which of its choices bring it the most comfort and which choices bring it the most discomfort. 

Kathrin giving me a few pointers with Marvin

  After awhile the horse eventually realizes that if it stands facing me, then it doesn’t have to work or be uncomfortable.  Then I work at having the horse move itself so its head is always following me.  I do this by slowly walking from one side of the horse to another.  The horse will generally follow me with its head.  When I reach a certain point, the horse has to move its rear end away from me to keep following me with its head.  This is one of the first lessons we teach a horse, to always keep its rear end (the end that likes to kick people) turned away from us.  I start my half-circles out away from the horse and then I slowly work my way toward the horse, generally with my shoulder toward it rather than straight on, until the horse will allow me to touch it.  Then I start with lots of rubbing on the neck until I can work my way down the horse on either side.  On some horses it is best to do this kind of rubbing with the end of a stick first, so that way if there is an especially sensitive spot and the horse tries to bite or kick at what is touching it, the object touching the horse is not my hand.  From there I work up to putting on a halter and then teaching the horse how to yield the front and hind quarters. 

  Marvin was a new challenge, since he had not been handled as much before as the other horses I have worked with.  He ran off on me a few times, but persistence makes all the difference. 

While we were working with Marvin and Amber, we also brought Rosa and her new foal, Banjo, into the yards.  Kathrin separated Banjo from his mother, and then rubbed him all over and got him used to being touched and being a bit apart from his mom. 

  Later in the afternoon, Kathrin and I went out for a ride on the motor bike.  We went down past the cabin to the river and collected some edible mushrooms to have with our meal.  The mushrooms are very good sautéed in butter.

Kathrin and Spike picking mushrooms

Edible mushroom

  Monday morning arrived with fog, wind, and smatterings of rain.  It was cold for what was supposed to be a summer day.  Kathrin and I rode around the goat fence on horseback.  We had to pull two goats out of the fence. 

Kathrin pulling a goat out of the fence
while the audience watches with intense interest

Then we worked with Marvin and Amber again.  It was amazing to see the progress the horses had already made after just one day of training.  Then Kathrin had me start teaching Banjo how to lead on the end of a rope.  First I rubbed Banjo all over and get him used to being touched.  Then I put on a little foal halter.  Next came the hard part.  All Banjo really wanted was to return to his mom, so I had to move him around in circles, teaching him to yield to the pressure of the halter, so that he would get used to following the instructions I was giving him as I applied pressure through the lead rope and halter.  Soon Banjo would turn complete circles when I pulled him in that direction and from there I was able to lead him a few steps forward before he would try to pull back on the halter rope.  It is important to get young foals used to people and yards, so that when they are older, they are not so afraid and panicky. 

Me and Banjo

In the afternoon, Kathrin and I picked some of the ripe cherry tomatoes and then made a tomato and zucchini mixture with them.

Kathrin in the garden

Pomegranate blossom from a bush near the cabin

Tuesday morning arrived with pouring rain.  It started in the very early hours of the morning and didn’t quit until late in the afternoon.  So Kathrin and I spent most of the day inside working on different computer projects and house hold chores.  When the rain let up in the afternoon, we had another session with Marvin, Amber, and Banjo. 

Wednesday morning was overcast and chilly, but with little rain.  That was fortunate since we had a beef group meeting that day, and part of the meeting was to be held outside.  The meeting was held at the farm just down the road that Barry’s father used to own when Barry was a kid.  It now has different owners, but it is still cattle land.  As we were about to leave, Kathrin received a phone call from the farm we were suppose to visit.  One of their cows had stumbled down a hill, through the fence, and was lying in the road.  We hopped in the car and rushed down to see if there was anything Kathrin could do for the poor cow.  Kathrin did try to help the cow revive by giving it some liquid formula of glucose, magnesium, and calcium through an intravenous injection.  Unfortunately, it did not help the cow much.  She died shortly after.  Kathrin checked the tongue and found that there it was swollen with small pustules on the underside.  These symptoms pointed toward snake bite. 

Kathrin doing what she can for the sick cow

  Well since the road the cow died on is the only road into the farm we were visiting, all the other members of the beef group meeting stopped to watch and offer aid.  After the cow had been checked and it was found nothing could be done, everyone headed up to the house so the meeting could begin.  After the introduction of the topic, beef fat, had been introduced, the whole group adjourned outside to take a look at some cows and learn how to tell what fat score the cows would fall under when sent to the market to be sold.  It is important to know the fat score of a cow because the fat on a cow determines the chances of that cow getting pregnant, and cows with more fat often sell for more money.  We learned that to tell the fat on a cow, there are certain areas on the cow’s body where there will be no muscle, and any soft flesh will be fat.  By looking, you can tell how fat a cow is by how large and round the brisket, or front jowl, of the cow is, by how much fat is around the cow’s tail and ribs.  After feeling the cows to try to judge their fat scores, the farmers then took an ultrasound machine that would measure the depth of the fat between the skin and the muscle at the point where it was placed.  Most cows need to be at least at a fat score of three with 7-12 mm of fat in order to be bred or to bring money at the market. 

Learning where to look for fat on a cow

Beef group members comparing the fat on different cows

One of the group members using the ultra sound machine
to check the thickness of fat

  When we returned from the beef group meeting in the afternoon, Kathrin and I worked with the brumbies again.  They were much quieter and more willing to move around as we directed. 

Thursday was the day of rain.  It started raining Wednesday afternoon and did not stop until late Thursday evening.  Kathrin and I watched two movies and stayed inside most of the day.  In the late afternoon, we thought we had found a break in the storm.  So we rode on the four-wheeler up to the goat paddock so we could check the goat fence.  By the time we reached the top of the hill it had started pouring again. 

Riding the motor bik in the rain

We pulled one goat out from the fence.  I was completely soaked by the time we made it back down the hill.  While we were out and wet anyway, we decided to ride down by the river.  The water was rushing down in a torrent and muddy water was submerging rocks that were normally above the water.  The bridge over the river was flooded with rain water that had run down off the hill. 

Bridge covered in water

River swollen with all the rain

  Friday arrived with no rain (thankfully).  But the warmth of the sunshine was soon taken by the biting cold of the wind.  The wind blew in large, repeated gusts all day.  Windy weather is not conducive for working with horses, especially young and inexperienced horses.  Horses are more apt to spook when it is windy and they usually spend most of their time trying to keep their backs toward the wind.  It was a good day to be inside.  So I spent most of the day packing in preparation for my trip to Tasmania.  It was quite the challenge to fit all of my necessary junk into one backpack and a shoulder bag. 

Kathrin and I also made one last batch of homemade ice cream. Yum! Kathrin has an electric ice cream machine. The machine turns a paddle inside of the ice cream canister, and we put crushed ice and salt around the outside of the canister to provide the necessary temperature. We freeze the ice in old milk jugs. Then when we make ice cream we use a large wooden mallet to hammer the ice into small chunks to fit around the canister. 

Kathrin smashing up the ice

Pouring crushed ice and salt around ice cream canister

  In the afternoon, Kathrin and I drove down on the four-wheeler to the cabin and around the large paddock behind the cabin as a last farewell ride around Jagumba.  We saw several small herds of fallow deer and some kangaroos.  We also saw one large Samba deer.  I also got to see Jimmy and his foal, which has grown quite a bit in the last few months.  

 

Jimmy's mare (far left), foal, and Jimmy

While we were down at the cabin, we picked some more corn from the garden and checked to see how the tarps on top of the hay were doing with all of the wind.  It was a good thing we checked because the ends of the tarps had been blown back by the wind.  We readjusted the tires and string along the sides and put the tarps back in position. 

Tarp blown off the hay due to high winds

Must run now,

  Hana