Round Pen

Jake and Sierra are headed home next weekend so we've been busy making preparations. The dogs had chased a chipmunk under my truck last year and while trying to catch it they managed to rip out all of the trailer hitch wiring. When we bought the two horses, they came with a 2 horse, angle haul trailer that is in pretty good condition. The brakes and floor had been replaced and all the lights were working. Steve did a good job keeping it in good condition so there wasn't much for us to do other than take care of our tow vehicle.


It took me a week of evenings laying out in the mud under the truck bumper, but I managed to repair the damage and wire a new plug fitting onto the rear bumper and install a plug-and-play trailer brake controller . We picked up the required size tow ball and hitch and easily installed them into the receiver hitch on the truck. We wanted to test it all out towing the trailer before we had to bring the boys home with it. Saturday was a cold and snowy day and we had decided against outdoor jobs, but focused instead on the trailer and a couple of shopping stops, so up to Dreamscape we went.
Steve had parked the trailer there when he delivered the two horses. We backed the truck into position, dropped the trailer hitch down onto the ball, hooked up the chains and electrical connector and checked out the lights to ensure they were working correctly. We did find a grounding problem with the left brake light, but apart from that, everything worked fine. We towed the trailer down a very muddy and messy Long Lake Road and over the Roy and Patou's place. They have a nice area large enough to turn the truck and trailer around and the trip would be good practice. After driving over, Carol took the wheel coming back up to Dreamscape Ranch. She did great! I handled the "backing up" chores this time but I'm confident that she will learn to do it in no time.
In town, we picked up some "horsey" things at the Horse Barn that will complete the tack we need for Sierra, in particular.
Carol was busy this week, riding Sierra, getting confident with him and brushing up on her riding skills. I will be riding him this week for a lesson and then a trail ride and Carol will be giving Jake the once over. It should be a fun week, in that regard.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (I've always wanted to say that!), we needed to put up all the rails on the round pen and do a little fence wiring work to finalize our other two paddocks. We will be needing everything once everybody gets home. I forgot to mention that Whisky, is away at Camille's Horses, having Jordan and Candice give him a proper start with a month of training. He is joined by, Chance, Lea's little rescued colt. Those two will be done early in May, but until then, we will have to make do with our two retired guys, Mystery and Acorn, until Jake and Sierra get home.
Sunday, dawned sunny and dry, and although it stayed cool all day, the sun was out so our round pen work went well. Of the 12 sections that comprise the pen, we completed 9 and managed to get portions of the other 3 ready to go. It will only take us a few hours one evening this week to finish it all up. Well, other than the tractor that is! Yes, you read that correctly, our tractor is disabled (the left front wheel axle broke and the wheel fell off) and is stranded inside the round pen. I was leveling the ground in preparation to put some sand down to improve the footing for the horses. While removing the dirt, I was manoevering the tractor, with a full loader bucket of dirt, and had the tractor in 4WD - apparently a big no-no. A nasty crunching sound, followed by the LF wheel departing its' normal place on the tractor, left me stranded exactly where I was at that time. The parts are ordered and will be here in a few days.