Dancer Jumps

 I went over at 6:30 am to start cleaning the foaling apartment but the guests were not yet gone. I went back to the house to make a quick breakfast for Mark and I. When I got back to the apartment the middle paddock was empty. The back gate was down and the horses no where in sight. I started searching and found them in the pond pasture so when Mark came over asked him to help get the gate back on. As we were working all 4 of those horses walked back into the paddock to get a drink. We got the gate on then moved a new bale in for them.

Below Mark is taking the skid steer back to the barn.

I went to work on the foaling apartment. Rhoda arrived to work with Tessa but I couldn't watch, as both the apartment and the farm house needed to be flip. Sarah arrived with all of the children, hers and Rhoda's and they started working with Dancer. I stopped to take a few pictures of that. 

Dancer is such a sweet mare.

Sarah even took a picture of Rhoda with her.

Rhoda and Zion decided to go on a trail ride with Dancer and Penny. The trails were wet and kind of slippery as it had rained earlier this morning. Rhoda asked Dancer to trot over a log, she slipped, caught her self and jumped it nicely.

Even Penny jumped that log. We were really pleased at how well Dancer remembered crossing creeks. She did very well on the trail EXCEPT, she wanted to run up the hill. Rhoda did not want her galloping up so made her walk it. Sarah took the video below of the trail ride.

I finished cleaning both the apartment and farm house around 1:30 pm, just in time as the apartment guests showed up just then. They called to see if they could come early. We were a little worried as the drive going up the hill washed out with that 2.4 inches of rain. Mark had been spreading manure but stopped and used the skid steer to drag it and that worked.

As the horses really wanted to graze in the pond pasture I asked Mark to help get the downed fence back up. I loaded up 2 of the 16 foot long boards on the top of the golf cart.

Those were painted for the outdoor arena and not used and were perfect for this job. We had to cut 4 feet off of each one.

As soon as they were up I let the mares out the back. By the time we got back to the house we were both tired and I really didn't want to cook. Mark decided a cobb salad from Gils was the perfect supper and I was more than happy to agree with him.

Our waitress brought us a second bowl but even though we split it we still had some left. We chose not to finish it as dessert waited.

The guests from the apartment and farm house have now arrived. The 3 older Swedish men won't make it here until after 10:00 pm. They will spend one night in the barn then move over to the farm house as soon as the guests today leave and I get it cleaned for them. We turned the barn parking lights, the dining room lights, the gym hall lights and three of the bedroom lights on for them. Hopefully they won't have any problems finding the bedrooms.

Moving Manure

 We were both up by 5:00 am I had to get up then as I had forgotten to load the coffee maker. Usually Mark gets up first and starts it. This coffee maker works quickly so it isn't a hardship to wait the few minutes it takes to brew a pot. I'm using mom's old one, as it is much faster than mine and I left mine in the farm house. After the walk I finished the barn for the men coming in tomorrow. Sarah was here with Zion, Eden and River. They had been working with Tessa but when I arrived we pulled Dancer out. We did a little round pen reasoning first.

Dancer hasn't been ridden or worked with since 2023 as she was a mom last year then left at Middle Grove. 

Mike thinks she is a plug but today she showed us some of her Thoroughbred side. It will be good to get her back in work. Dancer is Jewel's daughter, Grace's grand daughter and is 75% Friesian. Her sire is Evan. I let him out to graze today.

He has the field until we get the fence fixed in the mare pasture. Today was manure spreading day. I loaded while Mark spread.

We call that our black gold. It really does a great job enriching the fields.

We sure did need to clean up when we quit on that job. After our showers Mark took me out to eat. I won't say where but we didn't have a lot of time so it was that fast food restaurant that has crowns for little customers. After we ate we drove to Skylines for the service. David had the message on Jesus the Bride Groom.

I wish it could be shared here, it really was very relevant and David explains everything very well. Of course after we needed to visit with everyone. It really was good to be there. I showed Elisabet the aviary and aquarium. The birds are so pretty.

We thought the birds were colorful until we checked out the fish. There was a bright blue and even brighter yellow fish.

We really do have a wonderful home!

 

More Harli

 We got 2 and 4/10ths of an inch of rain during the night. The lightning and thunder woke us up. This morning we lost electricity but for just a short while and I only knew it because I was cooking when it happened.

Faline was waiting for us again and followed us to the farm house drive then stopped and waited. Yesterday we started the truck while she was there and that scared her so she waited for us at Mike and Diane's drive then followed us there and all the way back.

Mark came over to the barn to help move a bale in for the mares. I had to take a picture of Rosaleigh's colt standing on top of the feeder.

The other two saw me taking his picture and came over to the fence for some attention.

They were all glad for the new bale.

Berlica came over to work horses and today we worked with Harli. She was asked to walk around first being led, then with Berlica on her in the outdoor arena then moved to the round pen for some trot. Harli did very well and we had no anxious moments.

The video is long but shows how quiet and patient Berlica was with her.

When she was done, she was untacked and put in the arena to graze while we brought Tessa, her filly, and  Rosaleigh's colt into a stall. I needed to pull hair from the foals for the registration papers. They were also given a haltering lesson and tying lesson. Rosaleigh's colt is just huge.

They were put back then the registration papers completed and taken to the post office and mailed. The rest of the afternoon I worked on cleaning the barn. I have guests moving in on Friday morning at the barn. There also have guests moving out Friday morning from the apartment and farm house and more guests moving in Friday afternoon into the farm house and the apartment so Friday is going to be very busy. The more I could get done today will help. Jozsef came to day and worked on the East door of the barn. The rain had been coming in there and damaged some of the wood trim. I was thrilled he fixed the problem. He is going to come back to help Mark hang the big net upstairs in the game room. We need to stop kids from throwing balls up and also down plus it is just an extra safety from someone falling. We left for church at 6:00 pm. Gabe Stickling had the message tonight. He has such a kind way of speaking. He spoke on Psalm 72 and Hebrews 7 click HERE to watch that. We went to Culvers for a late supper after church.

Round Pen Reasoning For Children

 Faline followed us again on the walk but took a short cut on the way home and was waiting for us on the drive to Spark's house.

When we reached Joan's she found the spilled popcorn.

I had the car already packed with the mail tubs and my purse so didn't even go in the house, just got in the car and drove straight to the Berean office. Today was Verena's funeral and a lot of the Berean volunteers went to that. Marvin went to the visitation which was held before so arrived a little late but in time for the prayer. We were busy.

Not pictured were Kathy and Marvin who were working in the other room. I stopped at the Hanna City post office to drop off the Bibles and studies going out today. Sarah was here with the girls. Sarah worked with Tessa today and once she was put away the girls were doing round pen reasoning on each other.

Sarah sent the picture and wrote, Maybe when they are done they will be trained. I never thought of using round pen reasoning on children.  I drove straight to the barn to start work there as Monday nothing got done inside. The beds were made and all of the garbage collected. The soap containers were all refilled as was all the other supplies. It was getting hot, was 92 degrees outside, so quit there and went inside to grade Bible studies and found Sarah and her girls had cleaned again. Mark is so impressed with 8 year old Zion, 7 year old Eden and 5 year old River. He said they just go right to work and when they leave it looks so nice. After the studies were graded I ran them to the post office then drove studies down to Meisters. Amanda gives them to her mom to grade. I went back to work on the barn when I got home but only worked for a couple of hours. Mark was cleaning up the manure spreader, he is getting that ready to spread manure soon. Sarah gave me some website work. She is helping clean up old pictures and how to present them. 

2 Trips to Middle Grove

 Joan, Ruth and I walked. Diane and Mike are now at Gulf Shores for a couple weeks. When we got to Joan's house Faline came running out of the woods and up to Joan who had some left over watermelon. Faline loves watermelon.

That silly doe followed us today on the walk all the way to the indoor arena. We stopped there as I wanted Joan and Ruth to help me hook the stock trailer up to the truck. After the walk Mark came with me to Mike and Diane's to help load Sally, Dancer and Denver. They were taken out to Middle Grove. The video below is once they were let out of the trailer. They were glad to go straight up the hill to find and join the herd.

On the way home I called D & H Camper Repair to see if I could bring in the motorhome. They are backed up but told me I could bring it in Oct 12th between 8:30 am and 11:00 am. There was traffic on the drive going back and forth between houses. David was hauling equipment with his Kubota and Spark, Rhonda and Tarah were walking so of course Spark had to stop to visit with David.

Rhoda and Sarah were here with the girls. They were working with Harli and as long as the stock trailer was hooked up to the truck Rhoda decided to give Harli and Merlin a loading lesson. Harli was doing so well they decided it was time to take her on a trail ride. Zion rode Penny in front so all Harli had to do was follow. 

Merlin had a lot of fun exploring everything.

We were all thrilled with how Harli behaved. She is really going to be a nice steady pony. When they got back and those horses were put away, Rhoda took out Sapphire for some ground work.

She saddled and bridled her then did some round pen reasoning with her. After removing the saddle she was loaded, unloaded then lead to her paddock.

Rhoda decided it was time for Sapphire to join the herd and learn herd manners. She was taken out to Middle Grove with Missy and while there I picked up Dancer. Below is the video of that trip out.

On the way back to Hanna City I called Hoerr vet clinic to see if I could get Dancer in for an ultrasound. The soonest I could was Monday morning the 21st of September. After parking the truck and trailer the motorhome was unplugged and driven inside. The ad was removed and I won't advertise it until it is repaired. While we were all horse-in around Mark was changing oil in tractors. Below he is changing it in the Kubota. 

He also got the small Kubota oil changed.

The rotisserie chicken from Sam's club was deboned and chicken salad made which we will have for supper tonight. I'm pretty tired so will go to bed early tonight. 

Another Wonderful Sunday

 I went over early to check Jury's eye. It was much better, the swelling was down and she was opening it fine. I took a picture and sent it to Rhoda after treating it. 

We picked up Rhonda for church this morning as Spark went to the jail. When Mark let us out in the parking lot Rhonda mentioned we should have church outside today, the weather was exceptionally mice. Mike Kaisner had the morning message and said the very same thing when he got up to the pulpit. His message was on Psalm 116 and 2 Corinthians 4. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. Caleb Plattner had the afternoon message. We are starting on the minor prophets study and he spoke on Amos chapters 1 and 2. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. After church as soon as I changed I went over to put the slide out on the motorhome as we had someone coming to look at it. Sarah was there with Berlica and they were tacking up 4 horses for a trail ride.

Joan took Nancy home to her house and Nancy got to feed crackers to Faline, who came running out of the woods for a treat.

Rhoda arrived to work with Sapphire. Today she saddled her.

Sarah sent the video below.

After supper all of the little girls went to the barn to do vaulting. Rhoda and Sarah helped with that.

Left to right back row is Elisabet, Eden, Iris, Riley, and Blair, upside down hanging in front is Zion.

As the weather was cool Jewel wanted to do more trotting so Rhoda ended up having her stand for some of the tricks. Berlica came and also helped. We had a good evening with lots of fun things to do. Joan brought Nancy over and let Nancy play basketball with her, she even made a basket. Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home tonight. Another wonderful Sunday.

Sweet Dreams

 I was having a wonderful dream and a song was running through my dreams when I awoke this morning. I found the song on youtube and want to share it here. The refrain "I know YOU are able and I know YOU can but even if YOU don't my hope is YOU alone. 

My dream was about a big revival in Peoria! What a wonderful way to wake up. I really don't know when I heard this song, it might have been years ago and was so thankful to hear it in my dreams. Last night before going to bed I had asked for good dreams. What an amazing answer! To think HE cares enough to send that to this old failing creature (me). A big heron was on the swimming lily pad this morning but by the time I slipped out the door it flew off towards Joan's beach to hunt.

I had plenty of energy to finish the barn before 9:00 am. Today's guest at the barn was supposed to be a small intimate wedding. They asked if they could come early to set up for their wedding.  I blocked off last night and told them they could arrive by 9:00 am.  After making sure all was well with the barn I drove to Sam's club to pick up the food for Sunday's meal. We will have chicken skewers with onions and peppers. Mark will grill tomorrow so once home the chicken was cut up, drizzled with olive oil then covered with parmesan cheese. That was put in the downstairs fridge then peppers were cleaned cut into chunks, drizzled with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

Sarah was here with the girls. Sarah was going to go on the trail ride but Jury's eye was swollen and weeping. I took some medicine over, tried looking in her eye but couldn't see anything. It may just be scratched. The girls went on the trail ride by themselves.

Zion got her helmet caught in a branch with thorns on it so. Sarah took the golf cart down and a branch clipper. The girls rode the horses back down to show her where the branch was. Sarah cleared more than that branch. There were brambles on either side of the trail that needed clearing. When they came back Sarah brought Tessa out to the round pen. Her filly decided she didn't want to follow her mom and was showing off to the other horses.

She was bouncing around, below all 4 hooves are off the ground.

She really is spectacular!

Sarah was teaching Zion how to desensitize Tessa. In the video below I'm not sure if she is training Tessa or Zion. Even Eden and River helped some.

That small intimate wedding turned out to be HUGE. There are SO many cars and trucks and they have music playing that goes boom boom boom. We really can't hear it unless we step outside. I sure hope it isn't bothering the neighbors. A request came in for a lady to hold her wedding here in March 2027, I said NO. No more weddings. This is the second time I was told it would be small and both times it was huge. I guess I don't know the definition of small. Maybe in their minds 200 is small. Berlica stopped by with some lead ropes they made.

These were a trial. The won't work as a lead rope, they will be too rough on the hands if the horse pulls away but will work as ties. I sent her with the red lead rope which is made of soft cotton to see if Joan can find that to use instead of the hard rope. This evening the desserts were made for tomorrow. 

I have just finished icing the cake and sprinkled some powdered sugar on the brownies. Mark is already in bed and I will be heading their shortly.