Busy Tuesday

 I needed to go up to the stall barn early in order to get everything done that needed to be done. Rosaleigh and Star were both grained. While they were eating their water buckets were filled and the stalls cleaned. Rosaleigh and her colt were moved outside into the paddock right next to the stall barn. Filling the wheel barrow with hay was next. It took about 40 minutes to get everything done. After cleaning up I took the golf cart over to mom's. We left for the Berean office a little late but still made it before 9:0 am. Kathy couldn't come today so Skip was our only reader. Marvin was back and discovered another new rule on why we can't send a Bible to Michigan. Mom has been working on stamping the return address on the envelopes and we now have a whole box of them.

Shirley was in charge of the postage machine today. We got notice the postage rates are going up again next week. 

Vonnie, Shirl and Skip kept busy with studies and Bibles.

We didn't have an abundance of mail and were able to be done by 11:00 am this morning. We stopped at the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out. Kathy, the post mistress came out as I was grabbing the very full post office box and offered to take it inside. Now that was service. Even after explaining it was very heavy, she lifted it and said, "no problem, I'm glad to take it in." Joan was home waiting for mom so I left to get some work done here. After changing my clothes Valerie was pulled out. She IS in season and Mike came over to help get her covered. She actually stood very well. She was taken to the round pen then left to graze a bit in there while I got the mares and foals out. Star and her foal were taken out to the outdoor arena while Rosaleigh was just let loose in the field with her colt. She was on high alert.

No one was going to get too near HER baby!. She soon settled down to eat, took a big bite then lifted her head to watch her colt as he was running circles around her.

Star's two day old filly stuck close to her mom.

Valerie was worked about 10 minutes in the round pen. She remembered everything we had done yesterday and I was pleased.

The yearlings were locked in their paddock so Evan could be turned out into his pasture.

Mike got the cabin field ready for the yearlings. He took Disco/Cabo with his 4 wheeler, I took Dahlia with the golf cart while Shadow and Roseberry were just left loose to follow. Below is Dahlia checking out the flat bed trailer. 

I don't think they remembered being in the cabin field and were very excited to be there but not quite sure what to do. They were given some grain. Mike took the 4 wheeler back over to bring back Sally. They all rushed to the gate to watch her coming.

Once they were settled I went back to turn the 2 mares with foals out in the pasture. Each was curious of each other but not enough to get close. They felt they must protect their foals. I watched them for about 40 minutes to make sure there were no squabbles. Rosaleigh went over to check out Evan.

Star took her filly into the paddock giving Rosaleigh the entire field.

The mare that was most upset today was Blueberry. After Mike to Sally to the cabin field she called and paced back and forth at the fenceline until Mike took her over to the cabin field and then all was well.

I needed to be at mom's by 6:30 pm. Her flowers are really beautiful right now and her yard sweet smelling.

It was a beautiful evening, Mark got weed whacking done while I was at mom's. The lights were on at the barn when I got home. The Airbnb guests are using the indoor arena lights when they walk their dog. The picture below was taken from my drive looking up and over to the barn. The light in the sky is the crescent moon.

Feeling Thankful

 After the late night last night I didn't wake up until 6:00 am. I looked back on the foaling cam to see how many and how long the new filly nursed. She is a hungry little girl and is nursing sometimes for 8 or 9 minutes at a time then taking a small break and going right back at it. She is napping. By the time I got out to the barn Star had two empty water buckets. Those were filled first then her udder checked. She is producing and the more the filly nurses the more she will produce. She was given a good scoop of grain this morning and then again later this afternoon. She is really going to need the calories. Her stall was cleaned then her hay feeder was filled. I took a few more pictures before leaving for the walk. 

Faith came by while we were walking. She was drinking and driving.

After the walk Mark offered, well really I asked him kind of pleading, to go with me to Middle Grove to pick up Valerie and Izzy. Both need to come in for breeding. Valerie was not sure she wanted to come and walked away from the trailer but the rest of the herd surrounded us. Below are a few pictures.

Above is Haril and Jewel, below Holly is in the middle to the left is Aiken and I'm not at all sure who the mare is to the right but think it is Dancer.

Below is Dancer.

The herd split in two with some on the right and some on the left. 

Valerie was put in the front of the trailer and Izzy was put in the back and we were on our way home.

I needed to move some horses around before unloading. Sally was put in with the other riding horses, Rosaleigh and her colt were put in the outdoor arena, Blueberry was put in the middle paddock then the riding horses were let out in the pond pasture that now opens up to the middle paddock.

Valerie was put in the paddock next to Valiants.

She ignored him. Izzy was put in with the yearlings.

I thought she would be happy with them but she wasn't so put in with Valerie. The walkers came by just as I was pulling her out to tease. She is afraid of the stallions and wouldn't get near them.

Next Valerie was taken out and teased with Evan. She showed but I didn't get her covered today, will try tomorrow. Hopefully she is just coming in. She was taken out to the round pen and worked with. I'm really impressed with her mind. I took a short video of just a bit of her training session.

This evening Rosaleigh and her colt were put in the stall across the aisle from Star and her filly. Hopefully they will bond. As soon as Mike takes the yearlings and Sally over to the cabin field these 2 with their foals will be turned out into that paddock and field. It is plenty big that each mare should not feel threatened. The stalls were cleaned again, water buckets filled and two more wheel barrow loads of hay brought in, one for each stall. Below the 4 riding horses have just walked into the pond pasture.

This evening I stopped in at mom's for a few minutes but now I'm ready to crash. A good day and I'm thankful! 

New Filly

 I was so thankful that Star was put in the stall and on the monitor last night. I could tell she wasn't comfortable. She would take a few bites of hay then pace then settle down and take a few more bites. As this is her first foal I wasn't sure if it was because she was in a stall or that she was having contractions. At 10:45 I saw her lay down and start to push. Once the foal was almost out I expected her to reach back to check out this thing that just came out of her body but instead she just laid there and the foal was struggling to breath. I got the sack off in just a few seconds. Below is the video of the evening. 

She is a strong filly but Star doesn't have much of a bag. At first Star wouldn't stand while the filly tried to get in position. Mike had to hold her but a couple of times she lifted her back leg threatening to kick the filly, once knocking her away. We had to strongly explain to the mare this was not acceptable. After the first time the filly nursed, Star was much better and by midnight I was back in bed knowing both the filly and the mare were fine. Below are a few pictures, better pictures will be taken of the filly later today.

Wonderful Representative

 Another cold morning, the fields were full of frost. Rosaleigh acted like she wanted to join the other mares in the pond pasture but when I let her out she changed her mind. The video below shows her indecision. 

She and her colt were put in the middle paddock and the back gate locked so she can't join them today. We picked up Rhonda for church as Spark went to the jail. Tim Roecker had the morning message. Click HERE if you would like to listen. Gregg Rumbold had the afternoon message. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. 

We got home around 2:00 pm and just rested a bit before I loaded up the food for tonight's meal. On the patio next to the step this snake was trying to warm up in the little bit of sunshine. 

I had to politely ask it to move so I could walk up the steps.

Mark brought over 8 pounds of hamburger and grilled 24 nice thick burgers. Just a note for myself we really needed 10 pounds, we ran out of burgers for the last 2 late comers. They were really good. Tonight we celebrated Addyson, Abe and River's birthdays.

Mark picked up a cake from Costco and it was a lot more than our family could eat so we sent out a family text and by the end of the evening we had enough others come that the cake was gone. Mike and Diane went to Middle Grove after church and brought back Blueberry and Sally. Blueberry was supposed to be due the end of this month but is for sure not pregnant. We will need to start teasing her and she was put in the paddock next to Valiant. Sally is here to help with training young ones. She is with Blueberry tonight but as soon as the cabin field is open she will go over there along with the other riding mares. I needed to leave while it was still light outside to bring Star Temple in tonight. She is finally starting to bag up. To keep her company Cookie was brought in and put in the stall across the aisle. Star still needed the burrs removed from her mane and forelock and is really shedding. She was given a good groom and the burrs removed. There is now hair all over her stall and me. Her mane and forelock are both very thick.

Cookie was next. She didn't have burrs but had so many thick fairy knots in her mane we couldn't brush through it. All of those knots were removed.

I have both horses on the monitor. Cookie would prefer to be outside with Missy but she is the smallest horse and hopefully her stall tomorrow will be easy to clean up. Star has settled down and is happily eating out of the feeder  Today is the last day of the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, WI. Valiant had 2 of his offspring in the FHHI demo. The one on the left is Ribbon's last foal by Valiant and the one on the right is Easter Lilly's colt by Valiant both all grown up.

They are both massive but they are not only HUGE they are gorgeous and have wonderful minds. They really do a wonderful job representing the Horsemeister horses. Thank you SO much Brandee for sharing the picture.

Annual Work Day

 After yesterday's heat the storms last night dropped an inch and a half of rain and dropped the temperature over 44 degrees. It was downright cold this morning with a brisk wind. I moved Rosaleigh and her colt outside to clean their stalls but put them in the outdoor arena as the paddock was pretty muddy.

The colt was so funny trying out his very first buck.

I didn't have a lot of time to stay and watch. Once the stalls were cleaned they were moved back inside until the paddocks could dry a little. I still needed to cook breakfast then get over to mom's for the annual lake work day. We had a wonderful turnout of kids and grandkids and got even more done then Joan had on the list. Even the young ones worked hard.

The dam was the biggest job, the guys needed to cut down all the saplings. The excavator was used to haul up the cut trees and branches. It was also used to tear down the fishing dock and helped build the brand new one. The next biggest job was to repair the damage done when the retaining wall eroded into the yard. The gutters were cleaned, the logs inside were all wiped down, all windows inside and out cleaned and so much more. If you would like to see the pictures of the day click HERE. I also made a video of the work day as so many people were working on so many different jobs.

We were finished with most of the projects by lunch. Mom bought pizza for everyone. We had chips and desserts but the special dessert was cotton candy. Joan got the cotton candy machine out and everyone that wanted some got some, even mom.

Below is a picture of the finished retaining walls.

Below is a picture of the brand new fishing dock.

The dock was finished after lunch. About that time the apartment booked for 6 days, they are bringing 2 dogs with them and wanted to make sure there was a fenced in place just for dogs. When I explained there wasn't that but we could shut the barn doors to the indoor arena and they could run free there they were happy. That meant I needed to get the shovel and clear the ground at the front doors so they could slide shut. They hadn't really been shut since the pandemic as we quit showing then. Once those were sliding open easily I went in the apartment to make sure there were no dead stink bugs and I found a few. Once that was done Mark and I stopped over at mom's. I had left a sweat shirt there. Ruth was with mom and they were enjoying root beer floats. After visiting a while it was time to go home and rest. The iris are blooming by our patio. What a beautiful flower.

The rest of this evening was to get the pictures off the phone and on the computer.