Lots of Laundry

 I was up at 5:00 am and finished yesterday's post. Click HERE if you want to see that without spending the energy to scroll down. Mark and I started moving boxes from our house to the back garage which is located behind the stall barn. The next job was to take the fine china over to mom's house. One brick was sticking up a little on the walk to her front door. Mark tripped and dropped to his knees. The only thing out of the entire tub to break was the platter to our wedding china. Thankfully we have lots of other platters and once those are full of meat no one would ever notice they don't match. As that has been stored in that back garage since 2011 every piece needed to be washed before putting away.

The other side of this closet has mom's everyday dishes, which is Corelle. I like my pattern better and may move some of mine over.

I worked off and on doing dishes each time I got a break. Diane, Spark, Ruth and Rhonda arrived and helped move the bed back where that belonged.  We found more things to take downstairs for others if they want. Diane and I worked for a while in the basement but at 11:00 am I had to leave. My airbnb guests in the foaling apartment left and I had someone wanting to move in at 12:30 pm. That hour and a half was just enough time but I really did have to move fast to finish in time. I spent some extra time cleaning out closets. The new guests seem delightful. They have a horse loving daughter who is in her glory.  The airbnb guests in the big barn left right at 3:00 pm. Mark went over to help with that. He used his big walk behind sweeper to sweep the gym floor while I worked on taking the sheets off the beds and collecting towels. I had a load on the golf cart when I saw Sarah, Nolan and the girls. Zion was busy graining the horses for me. Sarah had a good training day with Izzy. She is now accepting the tarp, wearing the tarp and standing quietly. Treats do wonders! 

Sarah even had Zion jumping over Izzy and Izzy just ignored her focusing all of her attention on Sarah. They went over to the lake to cool off. It really is hot today. I spent most of the afternoon inside running loads of laundry but would go over to the barn to clean between loads.  I had 3 loads of our laundry, 2 loads from the foaling apartment and 4 loads of towels and sheets from the barn today and almost ran out of laundry detergent. All 6 bathrooms were finished as were the windows and floors. The airbnb guests left the kitchen area looking very nice. I only had a few spills to clean up there. I made hamburgers for our supper then after supper took the sheets over to make beds. Mackenson was still in the parking lot looking for red rocks. 

That seems to be the next thing he is collecting. I asked him what he is doing with them and he said he is breaking them.  I told him it was 6:00 pm so he went home for supper. I'm thankful we have air conditioning. We were able to keep the gym at 67 degrees which helped cool the kitchen area of the barn to 70 degrees as that unit isn't working. Hopefully Phil and get that fixed soon. 

Busy Day Late Night

 I was up early and went right over to the barn to get it ready for the group coming in today at 9:00 am. By 8:30 am I was done but realized even though the air conditioner was on it was not running. Mark came over to see if he could fix it but he was not able to. Our guests arrived as he was working on it. I left there to get the foaling apartment ready. When that was finished Basilea was covered by Valiant. I was just putting the horses away when Kensley arrived. She would be spending the day with us as Taegan has a tournament in Chicago, Braelyn is at camp and Phil was working (he even came to check out the kitchen airconditoner at the barn). It was starting to rain so we met Stephanie, Israel and Elisabet at Elevate for some jumping fun. 

We paid for the 2 hour jump time and by the time that was over they were hot and sweaty. Kensley and I stopped at Culvers on 150 for a lunch at 1:00 pm and the place was packed. When we arrived back at the farm Sarah and Rhoda had arrived to work with the horses. Izzy was first. Today she did very well.

She accepted the tarp much better. Rhoda gave Sarah some pointers and by the time they stopped we were all pleased. Kensley gave the girls golf cart rides while they were working with Izzy.

Next they brought out the foals. We put the pretty pink halter on Star's filly and she matched Zion.

The filly got lots of handling, then we took some pictures for the website as I didn't have any nice ones.

We also got a short video of her movement. 

This filly is for sale for $3500.00 She can be reserved with a deposit of $1000.00 with balance due in September at weaning and pick up. Next out was Rosaleigh and her colt. This colt is so photogenic. 

He also has amazing movement getting lots of air time.

Of course we needed to get a video of that!

He is also for sale. He is by Valiant so will be TALL, he is a purebred Friesian stud colt and with his height, movement, conformation and beauty he is worth much more than what we are asking for him which is $12,000.00 He really will be that fantastic fantasy Friesian everyone desires. He also can be reserved with a deposit of $1000.00 balance due at weaning in September. He will be registered and dna'd in the FHHI registry.

After cleaning up Mark and I left at 5:30 pm for Kensley's softball game in Elmwood. We have never seen her pitch at a game and thought we would be able to watch that tonight but tonight she played first base and third base and at each position got players out. As a hitter she was hit by the ball once, walked every other time except the last time then got a base hit but ended up with 4 or 5 runs.

We didn't stay to see the finish. I had airbnb guests waiting to be introduced to the horses. We arrived home at 8:04 pm and they were outside on the porch waiting for us. We took a tour and met every horse then brought the mares and foals into the stalls so they could be handled too. It was almost 9:00 pm by the time I put the horses away and got back to the house. 

BIG NEWS For Horsemeister

 I was outside hooking up the stock trailer to the truck early this morning then went to the cabin field to get Rosalie and Dancer. Mike arrived to help load. Rosalie and Dancer were put in the front of the stock while Valerie and Sheena were put in the back. We were on our way to Hoerr Vet clinic by 7:20 am and it really does take 40 minutes to get there pulling a heavily loaded trailer and with all the road closures. I made it there a minute before the 8:00 am appointment. Emma helped by leading Dancer as I took Rosalie into the stocks. 

It didn't take long for Dr. Hoerr to pronounce her pregnant!

Rosalie was bred to Evan on April 16th, 2026 making her due March 27th, 2027. Dancer is related to both of our stallions so we needed to know where she is in her cycle. Today when teasing her, she let Evan sniff without screaming at him but no winking. 

The ultrasound showed she is just coming into season. We have a plan for her which I will explain later. Those 2 were taken back to the trailer and tied. Then we brought Sheena and Valerie up. Sheena was first.

Sheena was bred to our 3 year old stallion Oliver out at Middle Grove. He is pictured below. He has a full thick mane and tail but is still a little short. His sire is 16.3 and his dam 15.3 so we are assuming he is a slow grower. He was obviously tall enough to breed a 16 hand mare as Sheena sticks at 16 hands.

Below is the embryonic vesicle from Sheena and Oliver.

We are THRILLED to announce Oliver is going to be a father.  Sheena is expecting! Sheena is due April 15th, 2027.  Last mare in was Valerie.

Dr. Hoerr pronounced her pregnant in less than a minute. Valerie was giving him the evil eye as he was messing around in her private area.

I was pretty excited and couldn't wait to call Diane and Mike. THIS is big big news for Horsemeister. We now have 3 options when choosing a stallion. We got to the trailer and had company. This little lamb tried to follow us up to the horses.

Someone has too much time on their hands, now I've seen everything. Once all 4 mares were loaded I started the long trip to Middle Grove. The truck and trailer were taken into the field to unload.

I was dropping off Valerie, Sheena and Dancer. Mike and Diane will be going to Middle Grove this weekend and will work on getting Dancer covered by Oliver. Rosalie was coming back to Hanna City so I had to wait for the other 3 mares to leave before I could drive out. They were in no hurry as they were enjoying the thick lushes grass.

They finally started up the hill.

I was able to drive out and shut the gate before they even got to the top of the hill. The truck was almost out of gas by the time I got to Hanna City so stopped at Caseys and put in $136.08 to fill it. 

When I finally got home Rosalie was taken over to the cabin field with Sally and Jewel. Berlica was busy mowing the mare pasture.

The grass is growing great, mowing keeps the weeds down and distributes any manure that was deposited helping feed the field. It's a win win for us. Spark is working on a tough project.

He is not digging a swimming pool, nor a grave. He is trying to find piping that was laid a long time ago.  I ran over to Joan's to check on the 2 fawns. She was feeding them when I arrived.

They are both does but the one above is extremely small. She is drinking well so hopefully she will make it. The other is doing very well and looks huge when comparing them. Berlica, Taegan and Kensley came canoeing over from mom's house.

This evening Mark and I worked in the back garage again. We were able to go through a lot of things. We are going to sell the AI breeding equipment so I took pictures and posted them on Facebook market place. It hasn't been used since 2006 and whoever buys it will need to clean it up. 

Basilea For Sale

I've been cleaning and hauling things down from the upstairs the last few days and last night my calves were aching. I was thankful that was gone this morning for our walk. When checking mares this morning before the walk the waterer was again running over. I took it apart but couldn't get it to stop no matter how high the float was. 

Mike was sent a text. He came to fix it while we were on the walk and he had it fixed within 30 seconds. Thankfully he showed me how so maybe I won't have to bother him next time. After the walk came breakfast and after breakfast it was time to tease mares. Thalia was teased first and she was not at all interested in the stallions. Unfortunately Basilea, Thalia's dam who was covered the same time as Thalia WAS back in season. She didn't settled so we will try again. She was successfully covered by Valiant this morning. Below is Basilea at the breeding stand. 

She is a beautiful Friesian mare born March 8th, 2008 making her 18 years old this year. She is trained to ride but we haven't done much with her. Below are a couple pictures of her being ridden in 2024.

She has nice gaits and the lady we bought her from told us they had been trail riding her. We are interested in selling her so if you have been looking for a Friesian mare she can be yours for just $10,000.00 She is registered with the German registry. 

If she settles you would get a FREE Friesian Foal. You can learn more about her on our website by clicking HERE. We are not offering live foal guarantee on her as we are only charging for HER not her pregnant. Once she is confirmed in foal we will either keep her or price her differently so if interested at all you may not want to wait. Check out her 2023 filly Thalia in the picture below.

We are keeping Thalia so ready to let Basilea go to a new home where she can be loved. She really does love people. They were both left in the breeding shed paddock. I moved the water tank in last Thursday so today dragged a hose down to the house and filled it.

There is plenty of grass in that paddock but we also have a bale in for them in the shelter.

My next job was to bring Rosaleigh and her colt into the stall for their grain. The colt stood perfect today for haltering.

He checked out the hay but then went right over to the grain bucket and demanded his share.

He sticks his head under Rosaleigh, then lifts up. When she lifts her head his dives into the grain bucket. 

Star and her filly were brought in next. I had to corner her to get her halter on but once I did she stood quietly. She was tied, her legs handled and lifted. 

She is going to make someone a nice riding family horse. She doesn't have the huge gaits of the Friesian even though she is half Friesian. She is for sale, just check out the for sale page on our website by clicking HERE. Once the mares and foals were done with their grain, Rosaleigh and her colt were let out to graze. I took the short video below before going back to work.

THEN came the real work. I started cleaning out the shelves in the back garage to make room for when we move. We had 2 broken microwaves up on those shelves. A 12 string guitar, lots and lots of old pictures and picture albums and lots of things that need to be pitched. I quit working about 2 hours. 

I brought down to the house 2 tubs of china. I have some of Mark's mom's good Lenox china. Below are the 2 huge platters and 2 serving bowls.

The oval platter is 17 and a half inches long and 13 inches wide. The plate below is really a platter, 13 inches across.

The serving bowl is almost 9 inches long about 2.5 inches deep and 7 inches wide.

There are 11 plates with this set, just 4 salad plates, 6 dessert plates and 4 dessert bowls. 

I think we will sell this as I have my own good china. Everything had to be washed and dried and that took a while. We quit at 2:00 pm to load up the 2 wheelchairs from mom's and take those to Timber Ridge. Once home I took the golf cart over to Joan's house. Dan had to rescue a tiny tiny fawn. It was probably born yesterday. This one was a twin and too small to keep up with her mom and sibling. They took off and never came back. By the time Dan brought her she was very dehydrated.

The poor little fawn was very thirsty and drank the formula well. The other fawn looks huge compared to this tiny one.  The picture below shows the two fawns together. You can also see the deep scratch marks on the older fawn's face where she was attacked. Her face is still swollen. 

To get ready for family night at the fellowship hall I really needed a shower and told Mark I would go first. Getting out I slipped, hit my chin hard enough to draw blood. As I'm on baby aspirin the bleeding wouldn't stop so Mark went to family night while I stayed home and watched. Once the bleeding stopped it really isn't much of a cut, more of a small scrape. Ryan Funk had an interesting talk. I'm not sure if it will be on AC Central but if it is I will post it here.