Manes and Tails

We had a big group on our walk this morning, only Rachel didn't make it, she wimped out and was afraid of turning into an ice cube and to think she is the youngest of us sisters living here. Ruth joined us wearing a new scarf still sporting the tags. We were teasing her that with money tight she must be expecting a short winter and could be thinking of taking the scarf back to the store. She laughingly informed us it was a gift from one of her students.

Emily joined us for the second round After the walk Emily and I started moving round bales. The middle paddock got 2 new bales. After breakfast Emily went back out to start washing, braiding and wrapping tails and de-tangling manes. Jenis, Eliza, Oksana and Zalena were fancied up.

Emily quit after those 4 mares were done, her fingers were getting tired. The horses were grained then I came in to work on cooking the roasts for dinner tonight and tomorrow's lunch. Joan and her children were busy splitting wood all afternoon. We could hear them working from across the fields. They have 2 woodburners to keep burning during this cold spell.  It is going to get very cold again tomorrow but by Thursday we are suppose to have a warming trend. 

SunDog

I awoke around 5:00 pm and started my conversation with God praying about the day when it hit me I wasn't sure exactly what day it was. When I realized it was Sunday a smile started all the way down in my chest growing quickly until it reached my mouth. It didn't even matter that the weather outside was frightfully cold, temperatures hovering right at 3 degrees with a stiff wind.
We needed to leave at 7:45 am to arrive by 8:15 am to help David and Stephanie with church lunch but didn't think about the state of the snow covered roads until we were actually ON the snow covered roads driving very slow. We noticed  what we thought was the sun shining through a cloud but was just too far south and different colored until we got on 116 and then were amazed at the sundog.

This is actually the first time I had ever seen this phenomenon caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere. These were very clear and bright. Thanks Rhonda for posting this picture. About this time I realized we were not going to be arriving on time and sent Stephanie a text that we were coming just going to be late. She responded with "we are ALL going to be late." Just as we arrived I remembered that I was suppose to bring the carrots, celery and spinach which were all still sitting in the fridge. Joan was called and agreed to bring them as she was coming early to prepare for her Sunday School class. We had a good group helping and all was finished in plenty of time to get in to hear the service. Tim Roecker had the morning service which was a bit shortened as the annual business meeting was held after it. It really is amazing to hear of all the ministries our beloved church is heavily involved in and the financials were downright humbling. I don't consider Peoria a big congregation and yet the amount of monies donated each year to the Handicapped Home, the Skyline Home, the Leo Children's home, the charity fund, Berean, World relief, Midwest Food Bank was shocking and I'm not even listing them all.
Lunch went great, plenty of food for all and plenty of helpers. Mike Rieker had another Spirit filled afternoon service. What a blessing it was to be there today.  After church I needed to make a pan of brownies for the hymn sing. Ruth, mom, Mark and I drove together. After congregational singing Kindred Spirit blessed us with beautiful songs, beautiful harmony and touching words. It was hard to leave such wonderful fellowship between like minded loving people.

snow pipes horses snow grandkids

An early trip to Sams club was on the schedule. Benj & Kristin and David & Stepanie are serving lunch at church tomorrow and need me to pick up carrots, spinach, celery, and 108 clementines. But there were no clementines. After a search in the produce area I found someone to ask. The stores are having problems getting fresh produce shipped in, the flooding is causing the problems. I was wondering why the produce section seemed like slim pickins and the cost of the fresh fruit had sky rocketed.
Once home Mark and I worked on putting together the frame for the solar system Mark is putting up on the south side of the big barn. Those pipes weigh 70 pounds each and needed to be carried out then threaded together. The snow started falling as we were working. We took a break after a couple hours of hard labor. Karin arrived to work horses and today I got to watch a bit how she does this. She brings all the mares in at once, round pens them together then picks one to ride. The rest are just loose in the arena while that mare gets worked. Once she is done with that mare, she rides her near the next one picked to be ridden, unsaddles the one she was riding, throws the saddle up on the one standing waiting for a turn and so on until all get ridden. I was amazed at how the mares wait their turn, stand quietly for tacking and mounting and the entire time they are just loose in the arena. Then it was back to the poles. We didn't finish getting them together before I had to leave for Bloomington. Our plans for today were changed because of a sick grand child. The plan had been to meet Ben and Taunya at 1:00 at the shop and switch cars, they taking ours to the wedding and us taking theirs and their three children to the Pancake Supper at the Fellowship Hall.  Well Jack woke up with a fever cancelling that plan. The snow was really falling on the drive to Ben and Taunya's, I am so thankful Mark put snow tires on the car. I forgot the camera so no pictures of my 3 adorable Bloomington grandchildren. We had a fun afternoon and evening. Rhoda and Lee are on their cruise and left their dog Ruby there and the kids had a blast playing with her. The trip home started out ok but the closer I got to home the worse the roads got. By the time I got to 474 the drifting was bad, the wind was howling the snow was blowing hitting the car, slamming into it and moving it sideways. Even going 40 miles an hour seemed too fast. Smithville road was even worse, the drifts had covered the road in places so deep I was just crawling along praying I was ON the road. Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have a husband that makes sure the snow tires are ON the car before winter hits?
We are leaving early tomorrow morning to help David and Stef give lunch.

Vaulting Practice 2016

Today was a damp day but not terribly cold. No rain this morning but after the walk the rain started coming down pretty steady. I was home today and realized I'm not as efficient with my time as work days. Laundry was done and reading but when I looked at the clock I was shocked to find it after noon. Where did the morning go?  Playing the piano, talking on the phone, reading, answering email questions and the next thing hours have gone by. One nice phone call came in today. This lady called to make sure Ribbon would be going to the fair. She said, "I come down to the fair every year just to see Ribbon. I love that I can pet her, last year you let me in her stall and we bonded."

I think Karin would agree with everything this lady said, after just about every vaulting practice or performance she states, "do you see why I love this mare!" Speaking of Karin she worked Anna and Ribbon today and confessed to only working 5 horses yesterday instead of the 6 she told us she worked. Oksana was skipped. Funny how the trainer loses count when there are just so many to work.

Today was the first vaulting practice for 2016. We have 9 on the team this year but only 6 were able to come to today's practice. With the rain the practice had to be held inside where it is just too dark to get good pictures. 

Last night Amy Koch came over and gave us a gingerbread house specially made for us. 

She had it so cutely decorated with gingerbread reindeer, a gingerbread man, gingerbread snowman and gingerbread Christmas tree.  Well tonight Mark and I spent the evening with Braelyn, Taegan and Kensely and they were astonished at the first sight, then when told they could eat it went to town. Below are a few pictures of this tasty house disappearing before our eyes. 

 Kensley got the tree and decided it was safer to eat it in the cupboard.

Thanks Amy you made their evening. They ate to their hearts content then played and played with it.

Ribbon Pregnant Anna Not

Ruth, mom and I were the only human walkers this morning. We were thankful for the relatively warm weather. We quit after 1 round so Ruth and I could get to work on time. We had a good productive morning at the Berean office. To read about our work today click HERE.
Ryan and Logan went with me to the Bartonville post office to drop off the 540 Bibles mailed out today. On the way home I stopped at Meisters to make copies of the IL Horse Fair release form for the vaulters and Friesian riders. This afternoon Ribbon and Anna had an appointment with Dr. Hoerr for preg checks. Ribbon was first and we are thrilled to announce she is pregnant and due Sept 23rd, 2016. Check out that baby in the picture below. We could even see the heart beating.

Sadly Anna did lose her foal. We will be breeding her this spring. We must be feeding Ribbon too much, it was coming out the overflow.

 Aaron held Ribbon while Anna took her turn. Dr. Hoer checked her out, all seems well, she is in the transitional period, meaning not yet cycling.

 Chris was standing by to fill out the paper work. Before leaving the clinic the next appointment was made. Dr. Pallen will be coming out to the farm Jan 25th, to draw blood from all the horses going to the Fair for the coggins test. It is required for each horse to have a current coggins if attending the fair. 

Karin was here working horses when I got back. She watered the arena then round penned and rode 6 horses today Ayanna, Indy, Jenis, Eliza, Zalena and Oksana. She said they were ALL excellent. She took a short cut, round penned them all together, then tied them all up, saddled one, schooled that mare, once Karin was happy with her put her back in the line-up, took the saddle off her and onto the next until all 6 were ridden. She has a good system for working a lot of horses in a couple hours.
It started raining tonight and is suppose to continue most of tomorrow then Saturday start turning cold and turn the rain into snow. By Sunday we are looking forward to single digit temperatures.

7 Home

Mom and I went to Berean this morning to just try to get yesterday's work finished. We were surprised to be joined by 8 other volunteers. To read about our morning click HERE.
Emily and I had arranged to meet at the Hanna City farm at noon today to start bringing back the mares. When we arrived at Middle Grove we found Mike hard at work building a road with his bull dozer.

 The mares were all spread out grazing. This is such a pretty sight. Instead of all standing around in a muddy paddock eating expensive hay they are relatively clean and eating the free grass.

 The mares saw Emily coming and all came gathering to meet her. She brought Anna and Eliza first. Once they were loaded in the front of the trailer she went back and got Indy and Ayanna.

I left with the first load, Emily stayed to help Mike then had the second load waiting ready for loading. Jenis and Zalena went in the front of the trailer and Ribbon in the back. While I was gone with the first group Emily was asked to take some pictures of the foals. We had a couple people wanting updated pictures of Winston. 

Above is Walter (Sangria x Valiant) and below is Zephyr (Ella x Evan)

 Ella's colt Zephyr went down to the lake to get a drink followed by a few others.  This colt is so cute and friendly. He followed Emily all the way up to the gate and probably would have checked out the trailer if the gate would have been open.

 Below is Jewel coming back from the lake.

Mark, mom and I were a little late leaving for church but still arrived during the singing. Craig Stickling had the service reading first from Numbers then from Ephesians 6.
Time for one funny story from the day. I was driving the first load back from Middle Grove when my phone went off. A text came in asking "when is the horse fair and do I have a room?" Thinking this was from Rhoda, when I hit the stop sign I used the speaking app to write, "I have reserved a room for you and Lee Friday and Saturday night, On Thursday you will stay in the girls room with me." It wasn't until I arrived back at the farm that the texter responded, "you mean I can't stay with Spark?" The text was from RHONDA not RHODA!

TOO MUCH MAIL

Today there was just no time for horsing around. Today was the reconciling for that fun week of vacation. One look at the full to over flowing mailboxes was all it took to predict today would be spent laboring at a computer.

 Do you have any idea how many pieces of mail can fit in one mailbox? This was 2 full to overflowing boxes stuffed and crammed full.

To read about the work at the Berean office today click HERE.
Of course by the time I got home I sure didn't want to go outside to work more. A couple good things to report. Emily was suppose to get a rental car today and will have better transportation than the old truck. She is still not able to ride, too much pain in her chest and arm. She is not able to earn wages if she cannot ride and really needs to be compensated for lost wages. I hope the man that hit her has good insurance.
We got the license plates in for the 2007 Prius. Mark is heading out now in the dark to put the plates on.

Catch Up on Work Day

Our first work day back after a nice vacation is always a struggle. Banks were visited, deposits made, bills paid and the dreaded shopping done.
A big pot of creamy chicken and wild rice soup was made for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow at Berean. Karin drove to Middle Grove to check over the horses and get them back into training. She called to report Anna looks like she lost her foal while we were gone. Anna wasn't due until Feb 8th. This is a pretty big loss for us if she did. Emily spent some time out there on Christmas Eve and checked over all the horses and they were all fine then. We are bringing her in on Wednesday and will have her checked over. All the horses were spread out grazing when she arrived even though there was still plenty of hay out which is nice to see.
Ralph and Jamie came over this evening bearing gifts. Her Raven daughter Myrrhcedes won a gold medal in Western horsemanship and Jamie ordered a second medal to give to me.
Today the paper work was filled out, the check written and mailed out for the Horse Fair. We will have 14 stalls and will need to decorate them all. I think we have plenty of material and gorilla tape so it should go pretty quickly.
The new camera arrived today just in time for pictures tomorrow.

Birthday Blessings

It's COLD here, not just cool it's below freezing and the puddles are frozen. When we left Hanna City it was sunny and relatively a warm 45 plus degrees. When we arrived in Gulf Shores it was 81 degrees. Kind of a shock to ones system.  Before heading out to feed a hat and warm gloves needed to be pulled out, a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie and of course the winter coat all put on. Ok, maybe it was a little over kill. By the time the chores were done I was hot. Today is Rhoda's birthday, her first as a married woman. She was sent a birthday text then it was time to get ready for church. Today was Larissa Feucht's wedding day and Peoria was packed. Eric Givens had the morning service and Craig Stickling had the wedding service. Both were so worth listening to again.
After church mom and I drove to Bloomington to eat dinner with Rhoda and Lee then drove home. Mark wasn't feeling well, he picked up a cold on the way home from Gulf Shores so didn't join us for dinner but did enjoy the left overs.
We have a busy week planned. This week the mares must be brought in from their nice long vacation at Middle Grove for the Horse Fair practice. We will need to haul in Anna,

 Ayanna,

 Eliza,  

Indy,

Jenis,

Oksana,

Ribbon,

and Zalena.

The first vaulting practice is Friday and the first Friesian practice is Saturday. Marika will be joining us next month for a couple practices with the group before the fair. She is at Bridlewood working with Amy Koch. Evan is also going to the fair and will be in the demonstrations but he is already here. That's one less horse to transport. This year Dee is bringing her Jenis x Raven filly 3 year old Olympia and her Zalena x Evan filly Zoey, a coming yearling. If all goes as planned tomorrow the paper work will be sent in with payment to the IL Horse Fair for 14 stalls. 

Made It Home

We left before 5:00 am and made it home by 6:30 pm. A long trip that just seemed to fly by. We walked in to a sparkling clean house and one very sore big old dog. Darcy went on a long walk today with Emily and Rhoda and now needs help getting up. Both dogs were pretty glad to see us. Darcy got a pain pill so hopefully will be feeling fine soon.
We had a very relaxing week down south and now I'm ready to be home. Thankful for safe travels.
A very nice email came in from Jenni the owner of 2 Raven offspring. She writes:
Judy,
I am on cloud 9 today. I fell in love with dressage years ago, but never thought I would really be able to ride like that. Palmer and I have been practising some of the training level skills for a couple weeks at lessons. Today, Palmer and I practised both training level 1 and 2. It wasn't perfect, we have more work to do, but we did it! His free walk is magnificent. I LOVE this Raven baby. He is the most amazing gelding. He loves to learn new things that keep him engaged. The fact that I can work training level dressage with him, our intern work english hunt class and some jumping, and then I can put ANY child with or without experience on him and he takes care of us all. That speaks volumes for his breeding. We are beyond blessed to own him.  I am excited to take him for training level testing this summer!!
Sincerely,
Jenni

Thanks Jenni, we love to hear from owners when they are this excited. Jenni and her husband Will are going to be bringing down their very rare Fell ponies to the IL Horse Fair for the first time. If you have never seen a Fell you won't want to miss this years Fair. These ponies have a tremendous amount of hair and such sweet dispositions.

Winding Down

We had a cold last day here in the South. A lazy day. John and Fedi joined us for breakfast then went over to Joan's or Beth's for another breakfast. Ruth and Nancy left this morning for home with Spark and Rhonda leaving John and Fedi to fend for themselves. They sure had no problem with that. A few diehards stayed up all night and went fishing early but only caught a sting ray and crabs. For lunch Beth made a huge pot of potato soup that she just threw all of our left overs in. This soup had sausage, carrots, broccoli, spinach, onions and just all kinds of good savory things to eat. By the time the soup was done we all reported, "Beth this is DELICIOUS!" Too bad she was not able to give us the recipe. A hot bowl of soup was just the ticket today. We played games pretty much all day. The kids spent lots of time in the hot tub.

Mark and I took a nice long walk after lunch then came in to start packing. Our fun for the week is quickly winding down. Joan,. Bill, Bethany, mom and I played Mexican train this afternoon until Mark started getting hungry. After finishing one game he and I walked to Bahama Bob's for supper bringing back a Mahi Mahi sandwich for mom. Karin had arrived and joined in the games this evening.
We are going to head to bed soon. We need an early night after the late night carousing happenings last night. We are getting up at 4:00 am and heading for home. Praying we all reach our destinations safely. We have had a wonderful relaxing vacation and will hope to do this again next year the same time. Good By Gulf Shores.

New Year's Eve Party

Yesterday was such a fun busy day, and with no camera, just the phone to record a bit of it. We walked early and came upon some funny looking fishermen. Below Spark is sporting his state of art BRAND new outfit just purchased for this trip.

This chic outfit is water proof, light weight and leaves plenty of room for a coat underneath for warmth. I'm just sure this fashion statement is going to take off and be the next fad down here. Why I bet next year every fisherman is going to be looking just like Spark!
Fedi, Greg, Nolan and Spark were having some good luck with fishing. One of Fedi's poles had a huge bite, a big tug then nothing. Something big bit right through his steel leader. Greg got such a big fish on it took ALL of his fishing line. The drag was screaming, Greg was fighting but the fish was so big and so strong it just took the line straight out to the middle of the ocean and once the line was gone the fish was out-a-here. His pole and line were just not rated for that huge of fish. We were never able to see exactly what took either of these but the guys were able to pull up some nice sized pompanos. Below mom is showing off Nolan's fish, he was in too big of a hurry to get back out fishing.

 

 The weather was cool and rain moved in later in the morning. The kids went to Rachel's to play games. From there a bunch spent a lot of the day at the rec center swimming in the indoor swimming pool, playing in the gym, playing ping pong and wally-ball. From there it was back to Rachel's for FOOD, games and movies.

Rachel ended up with a house full most of the day. 

We were going to try to get a nap in because of needing to stay up for the annual New Year's Eve party which gets held no matter where we are but were never able to. All of us, well most of us crowded into Joan's condo for games and snacks until midnight. The games got pretty rowdy.

We had to quit the games about 10 minutes before midnight to get everyone over to the beach. We met in a circle, had a prayer, Diane handed out noise makers, Rachel and David had the official countdown on their phone and at exactly midnight the noise level went from zero to the decibel of a 747 jet plane taking off, or it seemed that loud. People up in the high rises started joining in on the noise and fun by shining bright lights down on the beach to see what in the world could be happening. Others from the down the beach in both directions were lighting off fireworks to celebrate either surviving 2015 or welcoming 2016. Rachel took a short video of mom and Beth dancing on the beach. Beth had the moves mom not so much. To see this short clip of boogie woogie mom  click HERE.
By the time we came in we were so ready for bed.
Today it is hard to believe it is no longer 2015 but a brand new year.