Website Down

This morning as of midnight our website was down. I started getting calls around 6:00am. I could not get it back on line until after 8:00am. At least it was an easy problem to fix. Steven Marchal drove to the farm early today, took care of Lily, grained Raven, Lily, Ciera, Sanna and Samantha. He also got Samantha covered so I will mark her down. I am checking into embryo transplant but that will probably be too expensive this year and I haven't recouped from Lily's colic surgery. We only have 6 days once she is out of season to find a recipient mare, do the flush and implant the embryo. I will have to get Samantha sonagramed to find out where she is in her season if we decide to go through with it.
Today was a long day at work, I didn't get off until 4:30pm, that sounds like plenty of time to get home and fix dinner but it just didn't happen. Someone was shooting off fireworks which started the mares running here at Bridlewood and they broke a fence. Once that was repaired it was already 5:30pm and Mark was home, but no dinner prepared. He was good about it, when out, picked some fresh rasberries and had them on a bowl of cereal. I have company coming in from Utah tomorrow and need to clean the house and wash sheets. It is a couple and their 3 almost adult children. Rhoda is giving up her bedroom for the couple and we will use Sarah's room and the 2 attic rooms for the kids. Sarah and Rhoda will share the bedroom by the laundry room for 2 nights.
Mom asked for 6 dozen eggs, she is also having company but hers doesn't come in until Friday for the Zeug reunion. Ours leaves Friday morning to head out to the lake for the reunion. My mom was a Zeug and most of her family is coming. I'm serving breakfast on Saturday for about 80 people. Earl Ringger called me on the way to the farm tonight. He would like to sell Chiquita. Chiquita is in foal to Raven so if someone wants to make an offer on her he would probably accept it.
I tried Lily in the small paddock tonight, just for a few minutes but it just didn't work. She tried to run, then she reared up and bucked. I was able to stop her after the first buck but she is not to be moving around so I had to put her back in the stall. I'll try tomorrow for a few minutes and see if she will settle down if I'm grooming her while she is in the paddock.

Good News Bad News

We had a pretty discouraging day but at least had some good news to go with the bad. Velvet is in foal so we will place her for sale. Samantha lost her foal at Middle Grove. She is in season now. Dr. Hoerr was out today to collect Raven and AI 2 outside mares so we had a good talk about her. As Samantha settles easily, actually she has always gotten pregnant the first time we breed her, he felt we should rebreed her,then pamper her throughout her pregnancy. Dr. Hoerr checked her over and there is just no good reason for her to abort. Samantha would be great for someone wanting to try embryo transplant as she is very fertile. I guess we will breed her and place her for sale for $5000.00. Someone is going to get a bargain!
Lily got her staples out and we can now stop the sulpha and the belly band but we still have to leave her in a stall for a couple more weeks. She still has a lot of edema and may have herniated, just have to wait to see about that. Steven had a very busy day, he went out early and had the mare shed cleaned out before I got there. I still have a wet spot, but we had 2 inches of rain in about 40 minutes with the last storm and it pooled at a low spot. I will need to haul in lime and fill it in.

Email from Emily

Hi Judy,
Anni and Knight are both doing great. I’ve ridden Anni three times now. The first time I had someone hold her for me to get on.
It didn’t bother her at all. The second time I went out to the pasture and saddled her up without tying her and she stood still very well.
The third time I rode her bareback with just a halter and she did awesome. I haven’t ridden her out of the pasture yet but I will soon. They both go out to the pasture every morning and come back in at night and they both are very good about being caught. They come running right up to the fence. Knight has been a perfect little gentleman lately. He pulled the cart today and did very well. He has gained weight too since he started going out on pasture about 2 weeks ago. I think it’s because I haven’t worked him very hard and he’s grazing alfalfa along with the grass.
Thank you so much. They are both a lot of fun!!
Emily

Horse Show

Rhoda took Jenis and Ylse to a show today. After she was tacked up and riding over to the ring, a girl asked her, "Is that the Horsemeister Friesians?" Another asked to take pictures of the mares. Rhoda said another lady even knew her name. We think it is because of the videos of the mares. Any way Jenis got a 1st, 3rd and 5th. Ylse got a 2nd and 4th with Monica Fritzenmeier riding her. We drove out to the farm tonight, cleaned Lily's stall and drove over to mom's to pick up Nancy for her ride home. Mark talked to Diane about decorating the office and Diane came up with some great money saving ideas that will also look nice. We have the vets coming tomorrow so I will have them sonagram Velvet and also check Samantha. I think Samantha may have lost her foal. I'm praying I'm wrong but she just doesn't look pregnant to me and she is due Aug 8th.

Senior High Camp

This video was taken in Norris, IL at the Herman Lake before AC Senior High Girls Camp started.
Yesterday was exhausting. We found out that the girls were going to be at Norris at noon instead of 1:30pm so we left from here around 9:30am, drove to the farm, then to Ruth's to pick up her 2 horses then headed for Norris. But... we almost got to the first stop sign when Ruth remembered she forgot their bridles so we did a quick turn around, got the bridles and still beat Karin and Mike with their 5 horses. Karin called when we were almost to Norris to ask if we remembered the bridles, I said "of course we did." I didn't tell her we really had forgotten them and gone back. We needed to try the trail first so Karin, Mike, Nate Herman, Amy Beth and Jarad Plattner all jumped on bareback. The horses did not want to go into the lake and it took Karin getting off her horse and leading them through but after the first time the second was easier and by the third Karin felt pretty confident they would work. Just about that time the first bus pulled up and we had our first group of riders. All went well until they rode through the water. One of the girls hit a thorn bush and got all scratched and bleeding from her leg. Karin took the tree clippers with her on the next trip but still came back with one girl bleeding. By the third trip with another bleeding camper, Karin got smart and picked another path. This one was better except there was a huge hole and Larry fell into it which caused Cindy to bolt and her rider fell off and knocked the wind right out of her. The third path Karin picked was a winner, from that point on we had no injuries. Mike needed to haul to Middle Grove so he took the big trailer and we used my trailer as a base. One of the girls came over, saw my 2 horse trailer with 7 horses tied to it and asked "just how many horses does that trailer hold?"
The buses were suppose to pull out at 4:00pm so we started packing up at that time. Mike didn't have the big trailer back yet so I just loaded up Ruth's 2 and left the others with Karin. I needed to get back to charge my video camera for the SNL part of camp that was to start at 7:30pm. I got to the Old School Center about 7:20pm as a huge storm was starting to build. They actually didn't start the skits until 8:30 so I had an hour to waste. Then the skits went on until after 11:00pm. I didn't get home until midnight, had to get up early to drive to the farm to take care of Lily and get back in time to drive to Morton, IL to pick up my sister Nancy. I made it!

Practice

I had to be at Diane's at 10:00am to practice for our coming up reunion the 4th of July weekend. The 7 sisters are singing together so we thought we probably aught to practice. Because of coming at 10:00 I asked Diane if she would be willing to feed and water Lily for me but when Steven Marchal got to the farm around 10:30am all of Lily's water buckets were empty and there was no hay in her stall. Turned out Mike told Diane he would feed her and I think he only fed her a flake thinking we would be there soon and would want to clean her stall. We moved Walker Sally and her filly Chloe in with the herd and I started working on that paddock and shed. I will need to take Aleve tonight, I shoveled and moved about 10 wheelbarrows full of heavy manure.
Kate Johnson called and told me that Dr. Hoerr is actually coming now on Monday afternoon so I will get to be there. Steven was going to cover for me on Tuesday because of work. Kate is bringing all three of her mares over on Sunday, she wants Dr. Hoerr to pull their coggins for the year. We tried Velvet and she is not in season so I will have her sonagramed as well. I also will have Dr. Hoerr take Lily's staples out and hopefully he will tell me I can move her into the small paddock, at least at night. Lily is no better and maybe a little more swollen today. Ciera really needs to get out of the stall. She is 2 months old and she wants to RUN!!!
We needed more diesel fuel for the skid steer so I took 3 of our containers and ran to the gas station. I really hate using my car for that, it always spill some and then the car stinks. After dropping off the fuel, I took off to clean up and get to the bank to put the camp checks into the bank and have a cashier check drawn for the final payment on the surcingle. Leave it to Karin to find the exact surcingle she wants, buy it and have it paid for in 2 months. We would have saved for a year and still may not have found the best one for the money. Karin really did her research and got a wonderful one for our advanced vaulters. Now she wants to buy another complete set we can use for our beginner camps. Oh well, I'm sure she will come up with more fund raisers to pay for it. On the way back to the farm, I stopped at Doubets for more bedding. They only had 7 bags of the Best Cobb so I also bought their last 7 bags of ground corn cob. It is suppose to be absorbent but I don't think it is quite as good as the Best Cobb. The bill came to $93.93 and I had to write a check. At least I have enough bedding for a couple of weeks. Good thing the month is almost over. I really need to get out to Middle Grove and get updated pictures. Don't know when that will happen, tomorrow is AC Senior High Girls Camp at Norris, IL and Karin and I are hauling out 7 horses for it. The camp started today and ends on Sunday but we only have to provide the horses for one day.
A good thing that happened today is the middle paddock is finally ready to be scraped and Mike started it. Steven worked on it for about a hour, then Mike is going to work on it more tonight after work. Tim Reinhard is working on our office and it is really coming along. He is back from Haiti until the end of July. Once I unloaded the bedding I fed Raven, fly sprayed him, then headed home for dinner. Tonight I made grilled chicken salad and we had fresh picked raspberries with french vanilla cream for dessert.

A C Senior High Boys Camp Video

Remember, this is NOT the official video of the camp. I believe Adam Geyer is working on the real one, this is just a preview.

On site AI

Kate Johnson called today to tell me that she has on site AI is scheduled for June 30th, 2009 for 2 mares. She wanted to make sure that was alright with us. OF COURSE it is! I'll have 2 stalls prepared.
I made it to the farm early this morning and it was a good thing I did. Nothing moved the way I thought it should. I couldn't find my scoop to feed Raven, the syringe was missing for Lily's sulpha, the fly spray was empty, the hose was twisted and Ralph and Jamie, bless them, had put a fan in the window of the stall I move Lily into to clean hers but the cord was going right across the floor of the stall so I had to move the cord, unplug the fan and move it from the window, straighten the hose so I could fill Lily's buckets and search for the syringe which I found on the floor under a bucket, refill the fly spray and find The scoop which was found in the door of the arena.
Kind of funny now that I see it written down. I made it to work only 15 minutes late. I called Karin about Princess' pictures she couldn't believe how good that baby looks.
We are heading to Dixon's for the hooked on fishing open house. I'll finish this tonight. Dixon's was GREAT, Herman Pond Management has it really looking good!
9:30pm I'm home from work and have been putting together a video of the Apostolic Christian Senior High Boys Camp held Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I lent them my video camera and it came back full so I downloaded the clips and put them together. This is NOT the official camp video but I think it is a good way to see everything they did. It was held at the Old School Center in Farmington, IL owned by Dan and Spark Meister, one of the days they hauled them to the Herman Lake in Norris, IL. After working on the video, it was very obvious that they kept those boys moving!
I asked Bethany if I could hire her to feed and water Lily as I didn't need to drive out to the farm tonight. Holly thinks her mare is now out of season. We also think Sally is out, we tried her this morning.

Wednesday

I did not go out to the farm at all today. Steven took care of Lily for me in the morning, my mom fed and watered her at 4:00pm and at 9:00pm Ralph and Jamie Stone fed and watered her again. It is so nice to have many hands to help. The middle paddock is still to wet to work on but the others are coming along fine. I worked today at Meister Brothers, I was the delivery person and had to drive a truck with no air conditioning. I know it wasn't physical work but I was exhausted by 5:00pm just being out in the heat all day. It is my daughter-in-laws birthday and she wanted to go to Alexander Street Steak House for dinner before church. We all got to the restaurant by 5:30, had a nice early bird special meal, then headed for church. I am now home and really tired. I think I'll head for bed.

Princess At One Year Old

Pictured is Princess at 1 year old. Her owners sent me these pictures last night. Princess is out of Ribbon our vaulting horse, and by our Friesian stallion Raven. Didn't she turn out gorgeous! Just look at her FEATHERS at only one year of age. The amount of HAIR Raven throws if fantastic and the way Raven throws himself just can't be beat! Ribbon is again in foal to Raven and due in January 2010. If anyone out there wants first shot at this coming foal we will take a deposit on it and of course in-utero is always less expensive.

Holly's Mare

After work today I got to the farm before Holly drove up with her mare and had Lily's stall cleaned and her water filled before she arrived. It is just unbearably hot, my car's thermometer said it was 95 degrees and there was no breeze. We have very high humidity so any effort at all for us has us dripping with sweat. I hosed Raven off before I brought him over to her mare. Raven is so good, he listens to me, will mount when I tell him to and get off when I tell him to. I think Holly was impressed with how obedient he is. After Holly took off, I started hosing down the other horses. Clara stayed right up at the fence loving every minute of the cool water. Ribbon was the other mare that couldn't get close enough. Velvet, Duke and Mika didn't really like it and moved off. I brought Lily into the indoor arena and let her eat off a round bale while she was being hosed. I didn't get her staples out yet, maybe tomorrow afternoon. Steven called and offered to take care of Lily tomorrow morning. I told Steven that I was going to put her bandage on for overnight and when he comes in the morning to feed her he was to take it off but it was just too hot. I couldn't force myself to put it on in this kind of weather. After working at the farm, Mark and I drove over to the pond and jumped in. The water is freezing about 18 inches down and felt so refreshing. Diane brought out pizza and the sun tea she makes and we all enjoyed dinner outside by the lake. We got home around 8:45pm and I ran out and collected a couple of cc's of Jenis' milk to check with my foal predictor kit. I noticed today that she was bagged up compared to yesterday but the predictor kit indicates that I have nothing to worry about yet. She was so good today when I was hosing her off, I cleaned up her utter and she didn't even flinch, then when I milked her tonight she just ignored me. I think she will make a good mom to this coming foal. Jenis isn't due until July 18th and I don't want her going early. The picture is of Jenis and her filly Abby. I did not turn out the mares tonight, it feels like another storm is coming.

Email from Nate

Below is an email from my nephew Nate. I highly recommend anyone wanting to see FISH and the FISHING PARK to come. I know I'm going to be there! This is a great idea for a field trip to get out of the house and by the water. I've posted a picture of Nate's lovely wife, Brook and of course a fish.


Judy,

I am having an Open House at the new Hooked On Fishing Park at Dixons Seafood in East Peoria on this Thursday from 12:30-2 pm.

It’s a short notice, awkward time, and gonna be hot, but is a really cool place, that I would love to show you and any of your friends.

Lunch is provided.




Thanks,

Nate Herman

www.hbpondmanagement.com

Nate's Fishing Blog

309-303-5691

Hot Humid and More Hot

This morning around 6:00am I went out to call in the mares. They were actually in the paddock waiting for me. That wasn't bad and they had not left any manure piles by the barn so I didn't go looking for any. I drove to the farm around 7:00am kind of discouraged. Lily was waiting for me and she is still draining pus and I remembered that I hadn't given her any antibiotic yesterday. Today has been a month since her surgery and things should be on the mend but they are not. The stall was pretty easy to clean, Steven had done a great job yesterday on it. I wasn't done when I heard the walkers, I really wasn't going to go with them, I needed to be at work by 8:30 but I just couldn't resist. Ruth was there along with Joan, Rachel, Diane and mom. We had a good walk-n-talk, but Rachel left to get the Kubota and Joan a shovel then met us on the dam of the lake. There was a HUGE and I mean Huge dead grass carp. It was taller than Gabriel, Joan's son. Joan put it in the bucket of the Kubota and Rachel drove it way back into the woods and dumped it. The smell was worse than anything I've ever smelled, if I had already eaten breakfast, it would have come up, as it was, I was gagging. When I got back to the barn I had to hustle to get everything done and barely made it home by 8:30 to get to work on time. I'm thankful for AIR CONDITIONING in my car!
The company of family and friends reminds me how much I have to be thankful for and how unnecessary it is to be discouraged. Karin called while I was at work to ask me to please take off of the vaulting camp page about her being the best instructor EVER! I will but she really is a great instructor and that shouldn't have bothered her. She wanted to stress that our camp is for beginners (I thought that was obvious and didn't need to be stated).
I'm typing this in my nice air conditioned office, I wish I could figure out how to air condition the barn or at least the stalls. Poor Lily and Ciera. I've got 2 ceiling fans and one box fan in her stall. I'm going to bring another box fan and stick it in the other window to try to draw the hot air out.
Steven emailed with some name suggestions for Sally's filly. I really like Carra meaning friendly but I think I want to spell and pronounce it Kara. I was thinking of staying with names beginning with C this year so I guess I'll take more time thinking about her name. One of his other suggestions that I really liked was Chloe.

Vaulting Camp Video

I got the Vaulting camp video done and uploaded it to youtube so I've included it here and also on our vaulting camp page. We are sending a copy to each camper that participated. Again I apologize for the video quality, without my good camera, I just can't take good videos.
What a busy day we had here. The heat was oppressive, in the 90s with a heat index of 110 degrees. I worked on the mare paddock here at Bridlewood. I put Ylse and Jenis in 2 of the Bridlewood stalls while I cleaned their paddock and moved in a round bale. Tyler Joos our farrier showed up at noon and he was very grateful they were not muddy. We left straight after their trim for the farm to get the horses done there. Steven Marchal (bless him) had the horses in out of the mud all tied up and waiting for Tyler. He also had Lily's stall cleaned and ready. How thankful I am for that, we were about ready to melt by the time we were done. We were so exhausted that we put Mika in with Duke instead of taking him back to the cabin. We also got Walker Sally covered, she is still in her foal heat, Steven thinks that her filly is gaited. Wouldn't that be cool I would be so temped to keep her, she looks like a purebred and can you imagine the looks riding down the trail on a GAITED FRIESIAN? We then pulled Lily and Ciera out and hosed them both off for about 10 minutes. This was Ciera's first bath and she really didn't like it but by the time we were done she was finally standing still somewhat enjoying the cool water. Lily has always loved to be hosed off. Back to Bridlewood after that and put Ylse and Jenis back in their own paddock and cleaned their stalls. I got a phone call from Heather from St. Louis she told me her Raven baby is a blue roan and she is thrilled. She is going to send me pictures for the website. This is the first blue roan colored foal Raven has thrown. The dam is a bay roan as I remember. Heather is bringing the mare back up for a re breed as soon as the filly is weaned. I think we will take our suits out to the farm this evening and when done working jump in Diane's pond. right now I need a drink!

Sunday a Day of Rain?

We woke up this morning to a gentle rain fall. It was soft and would soak into the ground EXCEPT the ground is completely saturated. We are starting to think about ordering lumber to build an Ark. The mares didn't get called in until close to 6:30am, I just didn't want to get out of bed. Poor Lily didn't get fed until 7:00am. By the time all was done at the farm it was 7:45am. Really should have gotten up earlier now there is only an hour before we leave for church.
Thinking about yesterday, there was just so much to be thankful for. Most of all the VAULTING TEAM which put so much energy and time into this camp. The place looked lovely thanks to you guys. No one got hurt, YEAH!!! The camp was a success and Karin has some great ideas about next year. Diane, thanks so much for the use of your house and pond. The water was so refreshing and the diving board is such a hit with the kids. Your pedal pusher boat is great fun and just relaxing on a raft in cool water on a hot day is a foretaste of heaven. The picture I uploaded is 3 of our campers working on their Kur idea on the barrel. We will see the Wisconsin team in Belvidere at the Northern IL Horse Fest in August. They are putting together a team to perform a Kur there. The Wisconsin kids also ride in one of the many drill teams so they will be busy.
I've continued this post at 3:00pm: After church Mark and I drove out to the farm, me to meet Holly Hinton as her paint mare was in a standing heat and ready to be bred and Mark to get some tools to work on our mailbox here at Bridlewood. Holly was already at the farm by the time we got there, her mare was ready and within a few minutes she was bred and Holly was taking her back home. I think it has been raining all day again but we had a small break in the rain just when we needed it. I still got muddy but oh well we got the job done. I fed Lily a little early and filled all of her water buckets. Lily just kept staring at the door asking me to PLEASE take her outside for grass, I just didn't have time, because of Fathers day. She has not improved but I also don't think she has gotten worse with the belly band off. I think I'm going to start removing the staples my self on Tuesday. I'll start with the back and only leave staples in where she is still draining. We are heading to Red Lobster for dinner and will be leaving from Bridlewood at 4:00. I missed a phone message about a lady from Kansas that wants to breed her mares. I'm assuming this will be shipped semen, pretty far to drive but we have had people drive all the way from Idaho so I never make the assumption, I just let the customer choose. There may be a reason they want live cover.

vaulting camp

Vaulting camp was a success. I am working on a video for all the campers and it should be done next week.
We started the day early, Mark and I drove out to the farm, installed the sign, worked on one of the shelters, took care of Lily and Ciera and then while Mark worked on the fence line, I took Lily outside for the first time in 28 days. While Lily was hand grazing, Ciera was running so much she hit a muddy spot and wiped out. She bounced right back up and took off again. Steven came to help Karin with the camp, and I had to head home to meet Andrea the girl buying Caspian. He is now at his new home. Caspian will be great for them and they will give him the best home.
I got back to the farm to start taking pictures and videos right around noon and all the vaulters were at Diane's for lunch and cooling off in the pond. It is now 11:00pm and I have just finished editing pictures, we have 150 of them so it will be hard to chose which ones to use for the dvd. I haven't even started looking at the videos.

Made It!

I made it home from Wisconsin. That wouldn't usually be saying much but the storms I drove through were the worst driving I've ever had to do. The rain was coming down so hard that we were crawling down the interstate at 20 miles an hour and even then when the van in front of me put his brakes on, I didn't see it in time and had to slam on my brakes. Remember we are only going 20 and couldn't see 20 feet in front of us.
Lady is now delivered to her new home.
Karin was really pleased with the new gravel. She is ready for our vaulting camp except Spark had to borrow the video camera for boys camp so we are scrambling to find one we can use. If any one out there wants to lend us one it would be GREATLY appreciated.
Steven called to tell me that he had to refill Lily's water by 1:00pm. It is so hot and humid today that she and Ciera are drinking a lot. I'm keeping Lily's bandage off for the night. Tomorrow morning is the test. If there is lots of swelling on her belly back on it goes.
Sitting at my desk at work typing this because we still have no internet at home, I see Philip leaving work. He is usually off by 4:00pm so hopefully the big job he is managing for Meister Bro has not developed a problem. When dealing with so much rain and as Sarah told me today, golf ball size hail, the job can't help but come up with complications. At least I didn't have to drive through hail.
Tonight if we can get between storms, Mark and I have a few more things to do at the farm before Karin's camp. A new storm is building as I type so we may be taking the night off. Karin just called and the people driving down from Wisconsin tonight for her camp (2 adults 8 kids) are running into some problems with Wild Life Prairie park where they have reservations to stay tonight. There is no electricity out there because of the storms and they haven't been able to reach them by phone. I told Karin to call them back and have them come straight to the lake, we can surely find enough places to put them up for the night. She really called me to ask if I would bring scrambled eggs for breakfast if they do end up at the lake.

Wisconsin

Today I am driving Lady to Wisconsin to meet her new owner. Lady was confirmed in foal to Raven. I have all of her paper work in order to register the foal in 2 different registries, the transfer paper to put Lady in her new owner's name, Lady's coggins and health papers and last night I remembered I didn't have a bill of sale for her. I'm without my computer at home because of the storm and have to drive in to work to do anything. This is really getting frustrating.
Karin has to pack up and leave her house, there is no electricity and now no water. She is planning the vaulting camp which starts tomorrow and she is not able to get onto her computer.
I took Lily's bandage off today and will wash it, she is sore on her back so hopefully if I leave it off 24 hours she will not swell too much. I brushed her down and she loved it. I can tell it just feels so good to get that thing off.
Hopefully by the time I get back from Wisconsin today our internet will be back on line.

The Storm

Everybody in our house was rudely awakened by a lighting strike to the house around 5:00am. I don't know the exact time, all the electricity went out along with the cable company, internet company, phone lines and computers. We forget how to live without all these things. Anyway we don't believe any permanent damage was done. The strike was so bright and the thunder so extreme we felt the sound waves hitting us. This is the 2nd time I can remember being in the house during a lighting strike. Sarah gets out of bed and comes to our room and said to us, "did you hear that?" Like we didn't? I think she was frightened that a tornado was coming as she made the coment the wind is coming from all directions.
I was on the road early taking Autumn to Indiana to be bred to Keegan again(nothing to do at home) and made it to our meeting place about 10 minutes to 10:00am. I wasn't suppose to meet Emily's husband until 10:30am so I thought I would have plenty of time but just as I was pulling up to the gas station, a truck and trailer was right behind me and it was Mr. Jewell. Autumn was too scared to get out of the trailer. The poor mare, I loaded her in the storm, I was driving east and kept up with the storm so we never got out of the lightning, thunder and torrential rains.
Steven got to the farm early, took care of Lily and Ciera and met the first load of gravel. He also checked Walker Sally for me and she is coming in season but not yet at a standing heat. The first load of gravel arrived, it didn't go as far as expected but I still am glad for it. I need to be at the farm before 2:00pm for the next load and hopefully the transporter will have time to get a 3rd today.
We still have no internet at home so if anyone emails me, it won't be answered for at least a day. I have to drive to the shop for internet.
4:00pm I just got back from the farm. I got to the farm around 1:00 and had some time to kill before the gravel came so I got Raven's shelter painted. Just the parts that really needed it. The gravel truck arrived just before 2 and the driver got stuck so I had to get the skid steer out and push him forward, then as long as it was out anyway I spread the gravel so we will have that much less to do tonight. Lily was finished with her hay so she ended up being fed early but I put in plenty so she will last the night. It is hot today and Lily is HOT! She has to wear this big belly band and heavy western saddle pad. I think tomorrow I will see if we can take it all off for a couple of hours and hose her off.

Steven and Lily

Steven emailed that he would be glad to meet the gravel truck tomorrow and also will take care of Lily. That REALLY helps me out, otherwise I would need to get up and be on the road by 4:30 to get her done in time. I'm not sure the gravel will make it tomorrow. It has been on the schedule since Monday and each day the driver told me he would deliver it tomorrow. I'm starting to realize that tomorrow never comes. Karin would like it spread before her vaulting camp. I was suppose to lunge for Sarah but when Steven got out to the farm in time, I had him help me load Autumn and Lady and let him do the lunging. He is going to be the 'official lunger' for the Northern IL Horse fest anyway. We just got home from church and I'm tired after our interrupted night's sleep.

Our Visitor

Last night around 1:00am a bat came flying into our bedroom. It swooped around a couple of times then I heard it land and unfortunately it sounded like it landed on or around the headboard of our bed. There was just a very quiet flutter as it landed and I was tempted to just fall back asleep but the last time we had a bat come in and I didn't get up, the next morning when I went to turn off the alarm clock, the bat came flying out at me from behind the alarm. So I quietly said Mark's name to see if he was awake and he answered me. I told him I thought a bat had landed near our heads and he didn't react so I just scooted down toward the bottom of the bed to try to fall back asleep. I noticed Mark also moved down toward the bottom of the bed but then both of our legs were hanging off the bed. Finally Mark got up and turned on the lights and I looked for the bat. No luck but at least by then we knew it wasn't near our heads so we plumped up our pillows and went back to sleep.
Diane is feeding Lily for me to save me a second trip out to the barn. I have to be there at 11:30am to lunge for Sarah for vaulting. Karin is going to help me load 2 horses to bring into Bridlewood after vaulting, then I'll ask mom to feed Lily tonight so I don't have to drive out after church. Lily's incision is not draining as much and last night when I was changing the bandage I couldn't even squeeze much pus out. Funny story, mom got me some very large Attends at a garage sale yesterday to try on the bandage. Ruth came over last night and mom told her the Attends were for Lily. She just couldn't figure out how I was going to get them on her or why. I need Autumn here, we are hauling her to Indiana to be bred to Keegan the sire of her last colt. I need to leave around 5:30am to get back in time so it saves me quite a bit of time to have Autumn here instead of driving the wrong direction out to the lake and then back tracking. Lady leaves on Friday for her new home and I might as well bring her in with Autumn.

Our Friesian Stallion RAVEN's Collection

Well everything is again muddy at the farm. We got another inch of rain today out there. When Dr. Hoerr called I asked him how the semen quality was by today after collecting on Sunday and he told me "EXCELLENT!" Raven really does just keep getting better with age. It's hard to believe we have owned him for 7 years. Mark and I were invited to mom's for a wonderful steak dinner. She made a wonderful spinach dish, corn, salad with all the fixings and fantastic grilled steak. We had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. Then Tim and Joan walked over to the farm with us for Tim to scope out the apartment. He got a good idea of what to start on when Diane came over and between Diane, Joan and I we decided what to do with Raven's shelter. Tim and Mark cut windows, Diane has the paint and tomorrow I will work on painting the wood. We left for home by dark. I sure wished that I had our camera. Sally's filly is exquisite!

Tuesday, June16th, 2009

I was suppose to sleep in today, no mares to call in and Steven Marchal was going to take care of Lily but I still wake up at 5:00am. Bother!!! I really wanted to just relax in bed, instead I start thinking of all that should be done so might as well get up.
I got to work an hour early and was able to get about75 pieces of mail processed, then drove down to TEMCO to pick up the new mail and back to Meister Bros in plenty of time. Eva Jean didn't realize I had come in early and didn't think there was that much to do, wait until she gets them home and starts putting the labels on, she will be surprised how long it takes. While at work, Dr. Hoerr called to tell me that he inseminated another mare from the collection. He thought he was only going to be inseminating 3 but a 4th mare was in and the semen is such good quality he got the 4th done this morning. He has another collection scheduled around the 4th of July.
Steven spent some time with Ciera today teaching her how to lead. Because of Lily being stalled 24 hours a day, poor Ciera never gets outside. Sally's filly is just beautiful. I really need to get some pictures of her on the website. She has filled out nicely and really does look like a purebred Friesian. Comparing her to the pictures of purebred fillies from last year we can't tell the difference. Who ever buys her is going to be thrilled. She will have the look, the hair and the disposition, what more could you ask for?

Jake and Andi's Shower

I had to be at the fellowship hall today by 5:00pm to set up for Jacob Meister and Andi Jo Gerst's shower. Sarah came with me to set up the chairs and tables. While she was working on the chairs, I got the coffee going. We realized there was no ice so I had to run to Sams for a big bag. There were 11 helpers with this shower and we served a very nice salad with grilled chicken strips, strawberries, sliced almonds, crasins and feta cheese to add along with the dressing. Each lady also made a dessert. The trays looked very nice. We had 75 people come to the shower and Jake and Andi got lots of very nice gifts. I stayed late to clean up the fellowship hall so I was very glad my mom was willing to feed Lily. Steven Marchal called and offered to take care of her tomorrow morning. I am so glad to take him up on that offer. It is almost 10:00pm and I'm not going to even turn out the mares tonight. I'm going to sleep in tomorrow. I don't have to be at work until 8:30am. I still have to arrange someone to meet the gravel truck. I've got to take his number to work and call him to find out about what time he will be at the farm with the first load.

Monday Morning

After the long Sunday, 5:00am comes pretty quickly. I did not want to get up and was thinking about the day when I remembered that Amy Koch does stalls for Bridlewood on Mondays. She lives in Tremont, IL and would not be pulling up to Bridlewood until after 6:30am. I did not have to get up until 6:00am YEAH!!! What a luxury to lie in bed an extra hour, of course I could not get back to sleep but I did NOT get up until 6:00am. I headed out to call in the mares, then took a wheel barrow and cleaned up any manure left in the back field. I know I will work on my paddock today. Hopefully Steven won't make Lily wait too long for breakfast.
Sarah has a paper due this morning at ICC and she wanted me to proof read it, make any corrections and print it out for her while she headed down to Meister Brothers to empty the garbage cans and do the dishes. She was suppose to clean the shop on Saturday but instead helped us at the farm for the vaulting work day.

Raven Collection

This morning I was up at 5:00am to call in the mares, drive out to the farm, care for Lily and get to the Bloomington AC Church by 8:30am to help Ben and Taunya serve lunch. It was their first time serving and it went great.
After lunch we headed to Peoria for Kyra Klopfenstein's wedding. We had to wait an hour in the reception line but it was so worth it. The reception was beautiful. Instead of wedding cake they had a chocolate fountain with huge strawberries, marshmallows and cookies to dip.
By the time we got home from the reception it was time to go back to care for Lily. I stopped at Family Dollar to buy large diapers for her bandage hoping this would be better than the pads I am using but once I got to the farm and opened them, I don't know. I'll have to have Steven Marchal check in the morning. He is going to be taking care of Lily for me tomorrow morning which will free me up to work on my paddock here at Bridlewood. It is hard to keep up with the manure if I don't work on it at least 3 times a week. Just as I was pulling in at home, the phone rang and Dr. Hoerr asked if he could come collect Raven for 3 mares. I turned around and headed right back to the farm. Raven's semen is very dense (full of sperm) and he gives enough on each collection to do multiple mares. This collection, after removing the jell factor was over 80 cc's of very viable dense semen. Raven just seems to get better with age. Dr. Hoerr is planning on coming back out later in the week for another collection. The good thing about Raven is that we don't even need a mare in season for him to be collected. He is ALWAYS ready.

Work Day

If you weren't at Diane's for breakfast, you missed it! We had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, home made biscuits with wild black berry jam, home made iced cinnamon rolls, fresh squeezed orange juice and piping hot coffee. Those who did show up for breakfast were Mike, Diane, Karin, Mom, Joan, Tim, Faith, Sarah, John Honegger, Steven Marchal, and me. It was hard to get to work after the good food and good conversation. By the time we got to the farm, Steven had already cleaned Lily's stall and fed and watered her. THANK YOU STEVEN!
That Karin is a slave driver but wow did we get a lot done. She had Dan and Susan's kids, Sophia and Abram washing down the inside of the barn, Joan and Sarah working on removing the old wire and putting it in the dump trailer. Mike was using the John Deere tractor to pull stuff out. Anni Davidovics was helping sweep down the inside of the barn. Steven Marchal was on the skid steer, someone else was on the Kubota mowing, Joan's renter, Jay Pence was first weed whacking then using his chain saw. Tim was helping us with moving all the heavy equipment out so we could mow. Every time I stopped to look around there were workers. Diane brought over her wonderful sun tea for a cool refreshing drink. Poor Susan was in the barn and didn't get any. We all put in a good 3 hours then headed for home to get ready to go to Norris, IL. Thank you everyone that helped. I need to order gravel and have it delivered before next Saturday and the place will really look nice!
After lunch we headed to Norris, IL where the girls camp was on Friday. Beth Herman, my sister, took us by the mule over to the VIP dock to see the HUGE rainbow trout, small mouth bass, large mouth bass and blue gills all waiting to be fed. After feeding the fish she tried to take us up the dam to the diving platform but the mule just couldn't make it and we had to get out and push the last part of the hill. We get to the platform and guess what, another fish feeding operation at that dock also. Nathan Herman, Beth's son is one of the partners to Herman Pond Management and it is very obvious that he loves his job. The pontoon boat came and picked us up for the ride back to the main beach. We had a very enjoyable boat ride out on the open water. Once back, it was almost time for dinner. Joan and Tim provided the meat and every one else brought dishes to pass. We had a fantastic dinner. I still needed to get back to the farm and take care of Lily so we headed out around 8:00pm. A long but GREAT day.

Family Connections

Time to give credit where credit is due: ONLY because of my wonderful family are we able to do so much. The official photographer of the AC Girls camp, Rachel Sauder (Meister) of MomentscapturedbyRachel is my sister. She also lends her 2 horses for us when ever we have a big group going out. The owners of the lake at Norris is my sister Beth Herman (Meister) and her family. Spark and Dan Meister are my brothers, they own the Old School Center in Farmington, IL. Anni and Rebekah Davidovics are my sister Ruth Davidovics' (Meister)girls and they lend us their 2 horses when ever we ask and help out when ever I need horse handlers. My sister Joan Reinhard (Meister)provides 3 of our best vaulters they also they keep the cabin (tack room)clean so we can find the tack quickly. Not an easy task. My sister Diane Honegger's (Meister) husband Mike lends us his truck and trailer when ever we ask, so we can cram 5 horses in a 4 horse trailer when ever we need more horses. They also own the farm at Middle Grove with my brother Spark. Mike does all the law work for Horsemeister, helps to have an attorney in the family. My brother John Meister works hard at keeping mom's equipment running and when it doesn't will bring his own to get her mowing done freeing us for the more entertaining part of having company. My sister Karin Meister is the vaulting instructor and volunteers for all the organized trail rides of groups and some how keeps everyone safe.
My parents Paul and Rhoda Meister raised 11 kids all hard working but loving company and knowing how to give back. THANK YOU to my family!

Junior High Girls Camp

This year Junior High Girls camp was held in Farmington, IL at the Old School Center owned by Dan and Spark Meister. On Friday afternoon the girls were taken to Norris, IL where my sister Beth Herman's family own a 30 acre lake. The Hermans provided the jet skis, tubes, water slide, diving platform, volleyball, canoes, and a pontoon boat to take the girls to the other side of the lake. We provided the horses. There are 99 campers plus staff, total around 130 people. I think all had a great time.

New Filly

Walker Sally had a filly this morning and all is well. The filly is pitch black, not a single white hair and has just about perfect conformation. I really can't fault this filly. I got to the farm this morning right at 6:00am and saw the filly just learning how to get up. She was a pro on figuring out where the milk was and by the time I left the farm she was nursing well. I put Sally and her newborn in the breeding mare area, just because I thought Sally would be more comfortable away from the other mares. The 2 boys were so funny, both standing together with their heads through the fence trying to get a peek at their new half sister. Lily is about the same. I cleaned her stall, fed and watered her, gave her the sulpha, changed her bandage, fly sprayed them both then left for home. I just found out Karin has some workers at the farm today, some of the vaulters can't be there tomorrow and wanted to work today so poor Karin has to be their 2 days in a row. I need to get there with my truck and trailer by noon to load for girls camp at Norris.

Change Location for Cookout Saturday

Hi All, Joan's cookout will be held at Norris, IL. Junior high girls camp is now going to be there on Friday which frees up Norris for the Meister family. cool, hope to see EVERYONE there.
We'll plan on leaving from the farm in plenty of time to get in some good swim or fishing time at Norris.

Work Day

Hi EVERYONE, Karin is holding a work day at the farm on Saturday. She wants the place to look spiffy for her vaulting camp. We are having breakfast at Diane's at 8:30am on Saturday, anyone wanting to join us would be welcome to come for breakfast. Diane's breakfasts are legendary, some of the best you could ever have. We will be weed wacking, mowing, and cleaning up the place. I need Mark to get the office sign installed. After our work day, Joan is inviting everyone to the Lake for a cook out on Saturday. This should be a FUN day, hope you all can come.

Tail Gate vs Bedding

I had to drive to TSC to pick up more grain, salt blocks and bedding but when I asked for the bedding they said they didn't have any to sell, only 2 pallets for Bridlewood. So I headed back to the barn to unload a bag of grain here for the 2 Friesian mares and Cathie was working on the green barn. I told her that TSC wouldn't sell me any bedding but they had 2 pallets down there for her. She said I could buy it from them if I would go down and pick up a pallet. I jumped in the truck and headed right down. Barb at TSC loaded it for me but when I tried to shut the tail gate, the pallet was in the way. Barb told me don't worry about it, it is so heavy it isn't going any where. I guess I wanted to believe her but really knew in my heart I shouldn't. Any way I'm creeping home, got all the way down Garden to Larmie, had to go up a small incline onto Larmie and dumped the entire load in the middle of the road. Not only did I have to try to clean up bags of spilled bedding on a busy road but my tail gate is ruined. I can't believe how fast I was able to load an entire load of 40 pound bags of bedding into my pickup truck while cars and trucks are flying around me. This is the most expensive 10 bags of bedding I've ever purchased. hmmm how do I tell my tax man that the price of the tail gate really is completely tax deductible as it is bedding for my sick horse. :o)

Piper, Big Sally's Colt

Well Mike named Big Sally's colt Piper. Emily rode Big Sally on the trail ride yesterday so I took some video of them to get Piper on youtube. It turned out ok, I wish he would have showed off his big trot but he just wanted to canter. I took this AFTER the trail ride. Piper went through all the creeks, up and down the hills and stayed right with his mom, so it was a success. Piper is for sale, we are asking $4500.00 for him BUT if he is purchased before he is weaned we will take $500.00 OFF his price. Reserve him now with a $500.00 deposit and only pay $3500.00 once weaned in September.
Today I didn't get to the farm until close to 7:30am and Lily was HUNGRY. She thought I'd forgotten about her as I made her wait an extra 15 minutes for her hay. Mom came over and visited with me while I was cleaning her stall and changing her bandage. I will probably have to take it home and wash it again tonight. Raven was waiting for his grain so when I went to get it, I realized a mouse had eaten a hole in the bag. I knew I should have put it in the metal garbage can I have for grain but I was being lazy. Someone 'helped' me by filling it with garbage so I didn't take the time to empty it. NOW it was a must do and the grain is again in the garbage can. When I was ready to leave the farm, I couldn't see any of the horses, they were all way in the back pasture behind the pond. Of course I couldn't leave without checking on them so hiked all the way back through the mud and mud we have, it rained quite a bit last night. By the time I checked everyone they all followed me back to the gate. Hind sight, I should have just called to them, they probably would have all come running. Oh well, I can use the exercise.

Joan and Haiti

Today while we were at the Lake with Emily's group, Joan was working on a DVD of some of her Haiti pictures. Joan and Tim and their children have been in Haiti now for 2 years and have one more to go before their term is up. That's not to say they won't sign up for another tour of duty but we in our selfish way hope they will come home to stay next year. I took one of Joan's DVD's and put it on youtube. I need to watch this over and over to understand how very rich we are.

Emily's Group

Emily Ricketts brought over her home schooling group for a trail ride today. I took a short video of them getting ready. Karin took them on the 'Death Trails' and all survived. Only one girl fell off and she didn't get hurt. Mike and Karin worked on the creek to make it passable for the horses and the fact that all came back means it must have worked. With Sandy out because of her stitches, Karin didn't want to use Sunny as he only behaves when he is paired with her so we were short some horses. Karin had to ride Ribbon on the trails. We also put Emily on Big Sally and both of those mares have never been on the trails. Karin had to get off and lead them through the creeks. We were pleased with how Big Sally did on the trails, we will start using her more regularly and see if she improves going through water. Ribbon is just too wide and takes up too much room.
I don't really have an update on Lily, she looks and acts the same. If anyone would like to pray for her healing, I know she (and I) could use many many prayers. I called the person buying Lady to arrange transportation and Lady will be leaving the farm on June 19th.
Jenis, Ylse, and Caspian were wormed today with Strongid. I didn't turn them out last night, I was just too tired to think about trying to get up early to call them in.

Good News Bad News

Today Dr. Hoerr and Dr. Pallen came to the farm and I got both good news and bad news. The good news is that Lady and Big Sally are in foal. The bad news is that Lily's abdominal wall is breaking down and she is now developing a hernia. I am very frustrated with this. If I had been told that this could happen, I think I would have tried harder to clear the impaction another way. I wasn't able to be at the farm, I work on Tuesdays and was in a meeting when Dr. Pallen called. Thank goodness for Steven Marchal. He had all the mares in and ready for the vets. Kate Johnson brought her black Arabian mare in for breeding today, then she decided she wanted her gray mare also bred and she wants on site AI. Dr. Hoerr gave her shots for both mares to get them cycling together that way he only has to collect the stallion once to inseminate both mares at the same time. Talk about an easy way to collect a stud fee, there is almost no work for us AI. Dr. Hoerr does all the work.
Tonight after work, I had to clean up and head to Princeville, IL for VBS. The Bible class was doing a service project and wrapped Bibles for me. They got almost 6 boxes wrapped, which is really wonderful as I had NONE left. I typed up a bunch of request today and had no way to fill them. I can't work tomorrow, we have a group of home schoolers coming out to the farm to ride in the morning and a man coming down from Chicago around noon to see Sangria's colt.

DVD

This morning after calling in the mares at Bridlewood, I headed out to the farm to take care of Lily. I washed her bandage and she had been 24 hours without it so I wanted to see if any of the swelling was coming back. The bandage really does do a good job and yes there was swelling. After cleaning her stall, re bandaging her, feeding, watering, taking care of Raven, I headed back to get ready for a funeral. I had to pick up my brother Spark as he was also singing at it. The singing went fine and when we got down to work, it was past lunch time so we headed for Denny's. Once lunch was done it was back to work. I had to run to Aldi's to get some food for dinner, all that I bought on Saturday was gone. After dinner Mark and I went back to the farm to work on the tree line. I noticed Raven was calling to the mares and sure enough Velvet was in season. I got her covered, fly sprayed everyone, cleaned out Lily's stall again, added bedding, fed and filled water buckets, then headed for home to work on the videos of the Bridlewood show on Saturday. I video taped all the riders for the stadium jumping and want to get each family a dvd of the show. It was a great success, only one person fell off and that was not her fault, her horse bucked right after a jump. It is going on 11:00pm and once I finish Anna's dvd, I'm heading for bed. I'll have to work on more tomorrow. I got 6 done tonight.

Sunday Morning

We woke up this morning around 4:30, just too excited to sleep. Jumped out of bed, wrote the last blog, then headed out to call in the mares. They came running so I locked them in then checked on their water. The tank really needed cleaning but had to be emptied first then scrubbed and filled. By this time it was almost 5:30 so I left for the farm to take care of Lily and Ciera. Yesterday morning was the last time Lily's stall was cleaned, usually we do it twice a day so when I went to check her bandage, she had soiled it by laying down in a pile of manure. It is home in the washing machine right now. I'll hang it to dry before we leave for church and hopefully it will be ready for her by this afternoon. While I was giving Lily her sulpha, Ciera was running up and down the aisle way getting some exercise. Lily was fine with it until Ciera ran outside, then she started calling. Tuesday the vet comes to check Lily out and if she gives the ok, I hope to start hand grazing Lily so Ciera can get some running time outside.
Yesterday I showed the colts to a man from Chicago. He told me he wants to buy Sangria's colt and will send the deposit. I guess I'll believe it when the deposit comes. I told him, I won't mark him sold until the deposit is here.

New Family Addition

OK, I'm going to confess, I made lasagna for dinner last night. Any one in our family knows what that means, if I invite people over, then tell them I'm serving lasagna it means there is going to be an engagement announcement. My son David has been living in Mexico at an orphanage just shy of 2 years. He asked for Stephanie Regeer from Princeville, IL and she said "YES"! Their story is too long for me to write but the highlights:
David and Stephanie were in the same wedding 2 years ago and that's when he first really noticed her.
When it came time to pray for a wife, he couldn't get Stephanie out of his mind.
He went back and forth about asking for her as he has not spent any time with her.
Finally he had a dream where she told him, "it is ok, you can ask for me."
When Stephanie got the proposal she told her elder that she would like to meet with him in person before giving her answer.
David flew up from Mexico 2 weeks ago on a Monday, met with Stephanie, then flew back on Wednesday.
Stephanie said YES.
They will be announced in Peoria, Princeville, and Madalena today.
Now for my dinner. I had enough but barely. At least everyone got first. Next time I will prepare much more. 5 pans of lasagna 10 loaves of avanti's bread, a huge salad, 10, 2 liters of soda, 8 big bottles of water, 2 pounds of butter, 3 tubs of ice cream, a cheese cake, a big bowl of berries, a chocolate cake, and a big sheet cake. the only thing left is some of the sheet cake.
We all had a GREAT time. I posted a picture of the happy couple.

skid steer

Our wonderful skid steer has developed a leak, OH NO! Both Mark and Mike have been adding water and antifreeze to it. The last time it was in for repairs it seemed to take forever to get it back. Funny before we had it we didn't know what we were missing, once it was gone we couldn't wait to get it back.
Karin fed Lily for me last night so we could go with our family out to eat at Scapecchi's for dinner. They have wonderful steaks and sweet potatoes. After dinner we swung by the farm to change Lily's bandage, clean her stall and Mark hooked up the dump trailer to get ready for moving manure.
I'm having a family get together tomorrow night, hopefully most of our immediate Meister family can come, I think the numbers are around 80 - 90 people if you count all the babies. Mom knows the correct count, I'll have to ask her.
I turned Jenis, Ylse, and Caspian out last night, they were so glad for the grass. This morning around 6:30 I call them in and they all came running. It only took me one day to teach them this. I LOVE IT when I call the horses and they come at a gallop. Jenis and Ylse are so impressive when they are running. Their hair flying, their impressive movement and their black shiny color. If the sun was bright I would want to take a video but this early it is just coming up. I posted a picture of Sanna's filly from last year, isn't she cute? I hope both of these girls have beautiful healthy foals.I'm having my coffee, I'll read the paper, then take off for the farm to feed Lily.

Guardian Angels

This morning after graining and fussing over the horses I have here, I ran out to the farm to take care of Lily and join the walkers. Today I was a little more organized and was on my way home by 8:15. I worked on the house for an hour, then ran down to the shop to prepare a Bible for a man that is in the hospital. I got that delivered by 1:00, just walked in the door when Cathie called that the boys from the orphanage boys from Guardian Angels were here. She had 5 horses prepared and was giving a talk on them by the time I got out there. She had me in charge of Henry an older TB gelding and a boy named John. I could not convince John to get on Henry so we put him away and went to look at one of the foals I had here, then I introduced him to Darcy and had her do a few tricks for him. We pulled out the old cotton candy machine and made cotton candy for John and the rest of the boys. By the time we finished with the cotton candy, John was ready to try getting on Henry. As soon as he was sitting on him, he wanted to get off, he said that Henry was just too tall and he wanted to try Honey, Sasha Trent's little 12 hand pony. So while the other boys were learning how to lead, he was riding Honey around. By the time he was done he was feeling much braver and helped Cathie clean out Joker's hooves. John was feeling pretty proud so we had Darcy come out to meet the boys and show everyone how she would shake John's hand and whisper to him. It was a very successful outing.

Ylse, Jenis and Caspian

I drove out to the farm this morning by 7:15 and was in time to join the walkers, Diane, Joan, Rachel and mom, they let me feed Lily first. It was a great start to the morning and things are looking up. Sometimes just being able to share concerns are wonderful. Joan and Rachel are both vaulting parents so I asked them if they felt the Jeff Moore clinic was worth the money. Both said YES, in fact Rachel said she wishes she would have let Luke go to it also. That is good to hear, both ladies are conservative in their spending (in other words, tight).:o)
After cleaning Lily's stall, feeding, watering, giving her the sulpha, taking her temp and changing her bandage I took off for home. I was surprised to find that it was 8:45am. Where does the time go? It is such a beautiful sunny cool day, I started work on my paddock and worked for 3 hours, I am probably about half done but enough that I could move in a round bale and get it ready for the horses. I left at 12:30 to pick them up, Sarah Reinhard came over to help me load and by 1:00pm I was on my way to Bridlewood. I think the horses are glad to be back, at least by tonight they will be as they will get turned out on pasture at night and brought back in by day. Both mares are showing their pregnancy, how I am praying we have good deliveries and healthy foals. We want to take both Jenis and Ylse to the Northern IL Horse Fest with their foals. Monica Fritzenmeier and Rhoda will be doing a 6-10 minute show with them. Steven is going to go to help Karin with the vaulting as Sarah is stepping down from lunging. This is one of our favorite horse fairs and I highly recommend it. It is small enough to easily see everything but VERY entertaining. The breed and sport demo's are very well thought out and some of the acts are first class. I wish the IL Horse Fair would take a lesson on this one and demand their breed and sport demos be more than just riding around the arena.

Time to Move the Mares

Well tomorrow I have free to start moving horses. I will take Ylse and Jenis to my place. I want to have Jenis at Bridlewood for foaling. I've posted a picture of her with her first filly Abby. She is due in July and I want her to be here at least a month. I also think I will bring Caspian here. He needs to have his feet trimmed and Tyler Joos, our farrier comes regularly to Bridlewood. Lily was great for her bandage change. I was able to get lots of pus out today by pushing up along the incision, also I am using a bladder control pad directly on the suture line to soak up drainage. Each time I take it off, I'm shocked at how much has come out. Today at Walmart I bought a big bag of 42 of them so I know I have enough for 20 days. I stopped at TSC, picked up 3 more bags of bedding and took it out with me along with more fly spray. After I cleaned Lily's stall, I poured out a bag of the bedding pellets, Ciera wanted to play with the bag so we ended up having a fun game with it. She would paw it, jump back, kick out and come right back to it. I picked it up and rubbed it all over her body, she was enjoying it but I had to quit and head home to make dinner. I got 2 checks in the mail today, one for a stud fee and one for a payment on Caspian. Every little bit helps!

Is This Love?

I don't know why but after driving to the farm this morning, cleaning Lily's stall, changing her bandage, feeding and watering, I was wondering why do I do this year after year. I use to work this hard so my daughters could compete but both are now grown and don't have much time for the horses. I guess I'm just getting old. Today I am discouraged. I really shouldn't be, Lily is holding her own but really, is it worth it. Life would be very simple, easy and MUCH less expensive if I didn't have any animals. Then I remember the joy they give and yes, they are really worth it. Our dogs throughout the past have given us unconditional love, our horses are always glad to see us, in fact they leave their hay for some petting. They never criticize, they are always happy to see us even when we are carrying bridles.
I stopped at the bank on the way back and got the $140.00 for the vaulter's. They are taking a clinic with Jeff Moore. Jeff Moore is the Olympic vaulting coach so we have to take advantage of learning from him when he is here. I also gave Karin $400.00 so far for the new vaulting surcingle. We still owe her $425.00 but we have made a great start on paying for it. I hooked up the trailer for Karin, she will have to drive, I am singing at a funeral so won't get to go to this clinic.

Lily's Bandage

After our interrupted night's sleep we had a tough time rolling out of bed so I asked my mom to feed Lily for me so I could save some drive time. We got down to work in good time and I think we had another record as far as Bible studies returns. Eva Jean Schaefer got the last piece of mail opened by 11:20am and I still needed to enter it into the computer and print out the labels. Spark Meister, Skip Meister, Dan Meister, Breck Nelson and Mark went to lunch with us. The guys are working on a permanent rope swing for Norris, IL for the AC camps starting in 2 weeks and wanted to talk it over at lunch. I drove home to wait for Lily's bandage which was suppose to be here by 1:00pm and I waited and waited. I finally called Fedex and they agreed it was suppose to be delivered and they can't get hold of the driver but would keep working on it. I was worried about LIly running out of water so hired Bethany to walk over and feed and water her until I could get there. The bandage finally got here at 4:20pm and I watched the dvd that came with it and rushed out to the farm. Lily was contentedly munching away and all of her water buckets were filled to the brim so THANK YOU BETHANY! The bandage is almost too small and I really struggled to get it on correctly. I will have to change it twice a day so until I get used to doing it I may want help. Lily saw me coming with her tube of sulpha and started backing up. She really didn't want that but she did stand for it once she was at the back of the stall. Ciera has a patch of hair rubbed off on her neck. I can't figure out where she did it or how but it probably happened during the storm last night. I couldn't believe the lightning and thunder. The strikes were close and soooo loud. By the time I got home from the farm, Sarah had dinner all ready. THANK YOU SARAH!
Mark and I are heading out to keep splitting the wood for winter tonight, hope we get the pile finished so I can unhook the tractor and put the round bale spear back on it.

Police Visit

We are sound asleep at 1:00am when Mark hears tapping on our door, he goes downstairs and there is a police man from the county. He tells Mark that the city police need our phone number, one of the Meister trucks was just pulled over with an intoxicated driver. Now, I need to tell you, the police can't figure out our phone number because NO one knows how to spell our last name but the truck has Meister on it and everyone in the city knows where the Meisters live, in that big old house next to the cemetery so the city sends a county man to the house to wake us up. Even though our name is Sceggel, the police know where to come to talk to the Meisters. Mark gives the county officer our phone number and when the phone rings at 1:10am, it wakes me up. I can hear Mark talking to someone and can't imagine who is calling us at this time in the morning. Mark comes back upstairs and tells me that I need to get dressed and drive him down into the south end of Peoria to pick up a truck. When we get down to the south end of Peoria, actually Griswold and Montana streets, I'm shocked to see the truck is attached to our 16 foot hydraulic trailer. The man that "borrowed" the truck to go drinking, oh excuse me, as the police told us he said he borrowed it to go do his laundry, was driving around the south end of Peoria with a huge honken trailer hooked to the back. I don't know where he got the alcohol whether at a private home or bars but it had to look strange weaving down the road at 1:00 in the morning.

Lily

UPDATE: Things are NOT good with Lily. Her stitches are breaking down and causing infection. We are worried about the abdominal wall breaking down. I've ordered her a belly band that will be shipped over night, the cost will be more than $600.00 by the time I pay for everything but if we are to save her this will give her the best chance. I decided not to spend the money on a sonagram for Lily, more than likely she lost the foal she was carrying and even if she did lose the foal I'm not going to be breeding her any time soon, I don't even know if I can save her life. Sangria's colt got his tetanus shot, Big Sally's colt also got his tetanus shot. Myrrhcedes' eye will be fine, no scratches on the actual eye, just an abrasion above it.
This morning Lily's incision is swelling and weeping. Dr. Pallen first suggested that I take her to UofI but I really don't want to have her stand in a trailer getting bumped around for 2 hours. Lily is not running a fever and she is eating and drinking well so I don't think it is infected, I just don't know what to think. I guess that's what we pay the vets for. Jamie found out that I was having them come and asked me to have them look at Myhrrcedes eye. She bumped it and cut it on a bolt. Then Rachel found out and asked if they could look at Sandy for her. They offered to share the farm call so if which ever vet comes out doesn't mind checking the other 2 horses it may not be so expensive for me.
Jamie just called to tell me that she was in a bad accident and she and Ralph are on the way to the hospital. Her SUV is totaled and the Emergency personal want them checked out as both are banged up. A lady driving a car with 2 young children pulled out in front of them and Jamie couldn't stop in time.

Athena at Four

The man that bought Athena sent me her 4 year old pictures. Athena is now over 17 hands and has been undersaddle for 2 years. She is a wonderful mare, just look at what Sangria and Raven produce.