Pictures of the Day

Amy Koch brought over some huge beef soup bones and that was the basics for a delicious beef soup for the many visitors that came today. The first to come was Karin. Her job was to get the mares worked before the rehearsal scheduled for 1:00pm. She started with Jenis, then moved on to Ylse and finished up with Zalena.


When Karin pulled Ribbon out she discovered Ribbon has a bad case of mastitis on her left teat. This needed to be hot packed and milked out during the day. Below is Karin working on it for the 3rd time.

The riders started arriving for the big rehearsal. Below is Karin helping Rebekah get all fancy.

Once they were all ready to head out, the outdoor needed to have the barrels removed. Rhoda just expects Jenis to be perfect carrying barrels.
By the time the arena was ready to go it was decided to let the boys run off some steam before they had to settled down and work. How could we expect them to be perfect around such pretty mares if they weren't able to run off some of that extra energy.
And it's Valiant by a nose.

Until Evan catches up and passes him.

While the boys were having fun in the outdoor arena the girls decided to race in the field. And they're off.

By the time they hit the finish line it was Jenis first by 10 lengths, Ylse 2nd, Zalena 3rd and Ribbon dead last.

Rhoda had to show off the winning mare.

The pictures below are of Emily standing on Evan and Steven standing on Valiant while the mares are being ridden around them in the arena during the rehearsal.

I had to get a close-up of that, this is amazing behavior for 2 young Friesian stallions in the presence of 3 beautiful mares and Ribbon. Why the sound of Ribbon galloping around them should have caused major anxiety.

The practice was long but by the time they were ready to quit it was all coming together. Today they practiced first for the horsecapades and then the Friesian demo. When they were satisfied they all came in to warm up with some very tasty beef and vegetable soup. Rhoda then pulled Ella out to show us what she had been working on.


Emily Ricketts brought her friend Alison with her for the rehearsal and once Rhoda was done with Ella they got out Bunni, Jewel and Paris for a fun trail ride. Emily let Jewel race as fast as she wanted to when they hit the big field, she said Jewel was flying. Steven used Ella for one of his beginner students and was very pleased with how she was. He used her on the lunge line and she was perfect walk and trot for the student.
Phil and Anna came to work on the internet, Anna brought Braelyn out for a short ride on Ribbon. She was all smiles!

The day was still relatively warm by late afternoon so Braelyn rode over on the golf cart with me to the cabin following Rhoda on Bunni, Emily on Jewel and Alison on Paris. Once those horses were put away they rode back with us. That golf cart is such a handy tool around here.
Steven and Rhoda were able to get the gates back on the paddocks and now Indy, Killian, Ayanna and Bow are sharing the breeding shed paddock. Ella is back in her own paddock by herself.
It really was a wonderful day.