Gone but Not Forgotten

I went in to work today to pay the first of the month bills a day early stopping first at TEMCO to get the Berean mail. The mail wasn't too bad today, it took less than 3 hours to go through. When I arrived home the truck and trailer were missing. Rhoda and Emily took it to Middle Grove to pick up Anna, Emma and Jenis. Anna will be used for the fund raiser at the Giant Goose Ranch while Emma and Jenis need to have pregnancy checks.
Marika and her one day old filly were taken outside for a few pictures.

She is a typical Evan filly full of life and lots of hair. She had fun running circles around her mom.
Rhoda and Emily arrived from Middle Grove with 3 horses. They didn't plan this trip very well, they forgot to take halters. Luckily they found 3 lead ropes in the truck. They just looped them around their necks and led them around that way. Rhoda had a friend coming to ride so Jenis and Anna were taken into the barn to tack up while Emily put Emma in the middle paddock.

 Below Bonnie and Anna didn't want to step in the puddle so of course their riders make them walk into the puddle and stand there while they visit.

 The ride was fun but very hot, we hit 91 degrees this afternoon with very humid air.

Next Emily worked Hadassah for about an hour. She is doing so well under saddle and has really filled out since last winter. Below she was working at a trot with a loose rein.

 Emily took off her bridle then lifted each hoof without Hadassah moving at all.

 It was so hot the cold water felt refreshing after the work out. Hadassah will be covered tomorrow morning if she is still showing then.

 She learned to drink out of the hose.

Toni, the lady buying the 2003 Keifer built showed up to hook her truck up to the trailer. We needed to try out all the lights first so the trailer was hauled into the indoor arena and plugged in. The 12 volt lights didn't work but Spark came over and discovered it was her truck not the trailer plug that was the problem. So that trailer is now gone but not forgotten. We sure had a lot of memories with it.
We are getting quite a storm tonight. Emily brought Lola in for the night just in case she decides to deliver early. I'm so thankful for the dry stall barn.

Sunday School Picnic

What a wonderful day we had in church today. Truly Sunday's are the best. I am so thankful we have this day of rest, a day of praising and worshiping our Lord and Savior, a day of fellowship with fellow believers and a day of fun.
As soon as we got home Marika and her filly were checked on, the filly is doing very well. She is so long legged and strong. Marika's water buckets were filled, more hay put in the stall and the stall cleaned. Ayanna and Violet were asking to come in. I get a kick out of these spoiled babies. They love coming into the air conditioned barn. As soon as they get into the stalls, the babies lay down for a nap.
Hadassah was pulled out and teased. She was still in so covered by Killian.
I went in to bake brownies for the picnic while Mark went berry picking. The wild black raspberries are ripe and Mark picked a quart to take to the Sunday School picnic.
We picked up mom, Molly and Emily and arrived 15 minutes before the prayer. The picnic was so well attended with so much delicious food brought they needed to add 2 more food tables. After dinner came the games. The funniest game was a new one for me. The organizers of the picnic had long tables set up and all along both sides were plates of what looked like whipped cream, inside the whipped cream was bubble gum. The kids were lined up, the start given and the kids had to eat the cream to find the gum, the first one to blow a bubble won. The next game was also funny. 2 wash tubs were filled with ice water and clear marbles were dumped into the tubs. The players had to stick their feet in the tubs and pull out a marble with their toes. The marbles could be turned in for prizes. I forgot my camera but Mark pulled out his cell phone and took a few pictures. Below is the wheelbarrow race.

They started out fast but most ended up crashing on the way back. too funny

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Today was the last day of senior high boys camp.

 Is there anything more touching than the picture below? Godly young men on their knees praying!

Update from Cynthia

We love Sunny so much! Thank you for everything! He has adjusted very well to his new home.  He is such a nice boy! After riding him yesterday he got a little hose off and his tail washed. He clearly is used to the hose and stood like a champ, and then on to hoof pick out which he seemed bored with actually. Haha..  Today I'll put my larger western saddle on him and Dewayne will be a lot more comfortable.  Olivia and our pony like him too, so that's a good thing! Thank you! Have a blessed day! 

It's a Girl!

Marika gave birth to a big beautiful filly by Evan early this morning.

Better pictures will be taken after church today. This filly figured out how to find the milk bar quickly. Rhoda helped apply the iodine to the cord. She was born with a very thick long curly tail, typical of an Evan baby.
Mark came out early this morning to help move in a round bale. Diane showed up to see the filly and helped with the morning feeding. Bonnie pony is now in with Ribbon and Killian and Killian lets her steal his grain so Diane had to stand at the bucket to keep Bonnie away. I need to come up with plan B for this pony.

Baby Shower for Kinga

We started work early today as the weather report was hot and steamy. I was out working by 6:00 am. The horses were fed, the last stall stripped and prepared for the day, the barn air conditioner turned on then Haddassah was covered by Killian. When I came in dripping wet with sweat Mark was on his way out to pull a tree out by the roots with his skid steer. This tree was growing up against the breeding shed and every day on the walk mom would comment, "this tree has to go!" Mark got part of the tree without a lot of trouble.

The next section of the tree the roots went deep and wouldn't budge. At one point I thought the skid steer was going to tip over, I snapped the picture as the skid steer was coming back down.

Where there is a will there is usually a way and Mark was successful in the end. The shed looks painfully bare.  At 10:30 I had cleaned up and picked up mom to head over to Ruth's for Kinga's baby shower. Rachel Davidovics drove all the way Rittman, Ohio to prepare all the food and decorate Ruth's house for the shower. Kinga is Rachel and Sandor's niece. 

The food was delicious, better than any restaurant I've ever been to and it looked pretty too. Some people have all the talent. Below is Kinga posing with her baby boy due in a month.

 Mom even brought Missy Molly to the shower. 

Jordan, Brian and Rebekah's baby boy was fascinated with her.

After the shower I needed to move Eliza and Zalena along with their foals out of the cabin field in the back pasture. The waterer at the cabin was leaking and Mike needed to shut off the water.
Ayanna and Violet were out playing when the mares went by. I just happened to have my camera handy to capture Violet's joy of jumping. She will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. If it cools down I'd like to video her.

Karin picked up Nancy and took her to Diane's pond for swimming. I missed out on that, a very nice lady named Toni arrived to look at the trailer and decided to buy it. Monday I'll be saying good by to that.

Now for some serious news. David, Stephanie and Emily drove up to Minnesota to visit Fede from Mexico and found he had been moved back into ICU at the hospital. He developed an infection. Fede was working up in Minnesota mowing when he bumped a double stacked round bale pile, a bale fell off and landed on him breaking his back. Emily sent a text through asking for prayers for Fede.

He Made It

Lily's colt Zulu made it to his new home. Lisa, his owner writes: He came right out of the trailer without any problems. He got to stretch his legs in a large shaded roundpen all afternoon. He let me brush him all over. He drank plenty of water & some hay. He let me catch him & place the halter back on him without any problems. He led easily to his stall. He ate his feed. He was given electrolytes. I just went down to check on him (I snuck up on him) and saw him laying down and sleeping. So relieved that he felt calm enough to get some rest.

He is soooooooooo GORGEOUS!!!!!

Holly, Victoria, Sunny Gone, Tessa Sold

Elvis showed up for the walk this morning joined by a pretty senorita. Since we know Elvis is dead, any guesses who these people are?

Right after the walk we moved a new bale in for Ribbon and Killian and then it was weaning time. Emily put Star's filly Twilight in the stall with Heart and put Star in the trailer. Within minutes I was on my way to Middle Grove. Poor Star when we arrived she started galloping for the herd thinking her filly must be there. Thank goodness Karin arrived to keep watch and train horses while she was waiting for her painting job to start. I needed to head back to meet the Amanda, the lady coming to see Eliza's filly, making it home with 15 minutes to spare to try to clean the house up a bit and get a load of laundry started. Eliza and Tessa were brought over to the stall barn for Amanda. Amanda is now the owner of this fancy Friesian filly. Tessa will be staying with us until March. When it was time to take Eliza and Tessa back to the cabin field, Tessa was sound asleep in the stall. She was enjoying being in the air conditioning with no flies to bother her.
Twilight got a haltering lesson, tying lesson and picking up her feet lesson. Emily was working with her when Brittney arrived with her brother and sister to pick up Holly and Victoria. This is going to be a great match. Brittney has the patience Holly needs.
Mark came home early hungry, each of us had skipped lunch so ate supper at 4:00 pm then loaded up Sunny for his trip to his new home with Cynthia, Olivia, Buddy and Dwayne. Olivia is a Raven grand daughter and an Evan daughter. Check out this beautiful not yet 2 year old filly coming to greet Sunny.

They always say Friesians are like a golden retriever in the horse world. The picture below proves it.

I'm really posting the picture to show off the neck on this girl! Cynthia took the picture and sent it along with the picture below.

These 2 are going to be best buddies soon. The chores tonight fell on me as Emily is spending the night with David and Stephanie. They are leaving at 5:00 am to head up to Minnesota to visit Fede. Fede was one of David's boys when he was in Mexico and loves horses. He and Emily have been good friends since her Mexico days and both of their love of horses.  Fede came to visit not too long ago before heading up to his job. He was mowing around some double stacked round bales, the mower hit one and fell on him breaking some vertebra. We heard there has been some improvement and the doctors are hoping the paralysis won't be permanent.
The horses were turned out, fed and most of the stalls cleaned. I will have 1 more to do in the morning.

DNA Results Show EVAN is the Sire

Last year when it was time to breed Ayanna Evan was the sire I chose and Evan used then 2 of our customer's mares both came into season at the same time and both of the owners wanted Evan so 2 days later when Ayanna was still showing we used Killian on her. She was still in season 2 days later and again Killian was used to cover her. When Ayanna came up pregnant of course we thought it must be Killian. With sperm usually lasting only 48 hours once deposited into a uterus we were pretty positive this beautiful filly was Killian's very first foal. Well today we got the dna results back and of course shocked. How in the world did Evan's sperm last that long? We knew he was a fertile boy but this is a ridiculous amount of time.
It doesn't matter who her dad is Violet is beautiful and only going to become more so. Evan was my stallion of choice for Ayanna last year but customers ALWAYS come first in our business. Isn't it funny how life works sometimes?

Past Exhaustion

Emily and I started early. Zulu and Ravyn's Heart were turned out in the side paddock to get some exercise before the transport company arrived. But to be able to turn them out Ayanna had to be locked in the pond pasture. Those foals were glad to run.

The transport company was suppose to arrive between 9:00 am and 10:00 am which was exactly the time Dr. Hoerr was suppose to arrive for sonagrams and Pat with Whisper for her sonagram. Pat made it first, Whisper was teased and showing but Pat wanted Dr. Hoerr to find out when would be the best time to breed her. Dr. Hoerr arrived and found that Whisper had just ovulated. Pat took Whisper to the breeding stand while Emily handled Evan. I was holding Hadassah for her ultrasound when Zulu's ride to New Orleans arrived. Hadassah is in season now with a 45 mm follicle. We decided to breed her to Killian as Evan had already been used and Valiant is her brother. Emily put Evan away and led out Zulu to the trailer. He impressed the drivers when he stepped right in. Emily gave him some hay then came in to help with the next 2 sonagrams. We are very pleased to announce Zalena, Eliza and Ribbon are now pregnant. Zalena and Eliza by Evan and Ribbon by Valiant. Unfortunately we will have to have Ribbon rechecked. Last year she was carrying twins, one was pinched off but then the other didn't make it. Well this time it looked like she was pregnant with triplets. Ribbon is so fertile we have a tough time getting a foal out of her. Mares are not designed for multiple births. Twins can happen but most of the time one or both die and the mother becomes infertile.
The next job was to give baths. Holly was first, she doesn't like to be bathed but tolerates it with patience. Rhoda arrived while we were working on her and snapped the picture below.

Ravyn's Heart was the next one bathed and unlike Holly, Heart LOVES her bath. She stands still even when Emily is washing her face.

Check out her beautiful tail. It is so thick, long, curly and soft.

 We made sure she has a clean heart.

The next job on the list was to head to Middle Grove to pick up Sissy, Star and Twilight. Sissy will be going to Oklahoma with her daughter and Twilight needs to be weaned. We drove to the original land so Emily could borrow Karin's 4 wheeler then she met me at the new land gate and off we went to find the herd. We came over the hill to see them in the valley all clumped together napping.

The horses were all glad to see us coming down the hill. While Emily went to get the two mares I started snapping pictures.

Above is Indy in the front, Anna to the left and Prissy right. Below is Sangria and Promise.

 Above is Rhiannon and below is Sheena in the front of Sissy, Cookie and Emma

 Twilight has such a thick mane it stands straight up like a Fjord. She has so much hair but it is slowing coming off and she is shiny black underneath.

Oksana above is looking grown up at only 2 years old. Indy below was bored with the entire photo shoot.

It took a while to lead Sissy, Star and Twilight back to the trailer. Sheena kept running up trying to get them to go back and Oksana followed us all the way to the trailer. We were really pleased with the loading process. Star and Sissy loaded first, Twilight thought about it, figured out how high she needed to jump to get in and made it. Emily stayed at Middle Grove to pick up rocks for Mike while I took the mares home. They were unloaded and moved into the pond pasture. By this time it was after 5:00 pm and Mark was already home. Since I knew I would be late getting home I asked Sarah if she would make stir fry for dinner. The house smelled great when I walked in and the food tasted even better. After dinner we started moving more manure. Mark ran the spreader while I ran the skid loader. We finished most of the pile in Ribbon's paddock. I had to take the bucket off and put the bale spear on for the next job, which was moving 2 new bales in the Middle paddock. Emily arrived back from Middle Grove as we were moving the second bale in. She put Killian back and opened the back gate. 

It is now after 10:00 and I am so ready for bed. The house is a mess, no dishes or laundry got done but it was a good day!

Vaulting Practice

The home owners association around here complained about the smell on the walk this morning. Mark was informed that this is just not acceptable, that is to spread all that valuable stuff on the fields when people need it for their gardens. Good thing the smell only lasted a day.
I made it home from work in time to watch some of the Wednesday's vaulters practice.

The rest of the pictures were placed on the Horsemeister Inc Facebook page. After the practice they migrated over to Diane's pond for a refreshing swim to cool off after that hard practice.

 David and Israel came. Israel got to play in the boat where the kids were putting all the tadpoles they caught until he decided he wanted to eat a tadepole. This made the kids tell David that Israel needed to be removed from their holding tank.

So Israel had to made do with  trying the sand and left the evidence on his chin. 

Willow was busy swinging a happy Crew.

They were all having fun catching critters and jumping off the diving board.

 Even Studly had to get in on the fun diving off over and over. Each time Karin was on the board so was Studly waiting his turn.

Mark, Mom, Emily and I left tonight at 6:40 pm so we could stop at HiVee the grocery store for supper before church. Tim Funk had the service reminding us, "We are a most blessed people." This is not because of anything we did or do but because our names are written in the Book of Life.