Ribbon In

When the farm was reached this morning it was obvious that Ribbon is in season. She was standing at the gate looking longingly at Raven. Once all the boys were fed, Ribbon was pulled out and yes she was in but of course I can't be late for the walk so put her in a stall. Duke was grazing in the freshly baled field, heard Mike and ran over to the cabin and found a tree for some great hind end scratches. Mom just had to go help the boy. Mike doesn't even bother with a halter anymore, just grabs Dukes mane and leads him back to the farm. The funny thing about Duke, is on the second loop he is again out. He is now locked up with the boys.
Ebby found Heidi's toy whale and claimed it. The whale is heavy, we were surprised she could carry it as long as she did, almost the entire second loop. Once the walk was over, Ribbon was pulled out and hooked to the breeding hitching post where Raven very eagerly got her covered. All of the horses were fly sprayed down, the horse flies are bad this year, must be all the rain.
Jake was called for the skid steer and he actually showed up with the big truck before I was done at the farm. Now if we can just get it fixed quickly and back by Friday we could probably finish cleaning the paddocks before this wonderful sunny weather breaks.
Spark's fire engine was out of the arena and may have for the first time in its life spent the night outside. When Karin was called to tell her she replied that Spark moved it and is going to show her how to drive the thing so each time she arrives for her vaulting classes she can pull it out herself. Only in our family does the fire engine need to be moved before lessons.

The Hay

Mike called last night to let me know they had finished round baling the field. He believes we got 50-55 bales AND they were put up dry! We have had beautiful weather and this is suppose to continue through the 4th. Plans are being made to go camping at the Herman Lake in Norris. Should be great fun! This morning the weather was so cool and comfortable I overslept. Mark was the first down and made the coffee. I'm very thankful to come down to fresh made coffee. The skid steer needs to be hauled in to fix the leak. Monday we contacted Spark at Meister Electric, they have the equipment to haul it in. He was going to arrange it with Jake but it still hasn't happened. I think it is time to start being a squeaky wheel.

Who Is It

Below is an email from Steven giving me the answers to which horse is which in the last post.
hi Judy. First picture is Paris. then i think maybe Chloe then autumn then i think Ciera then big sally in back and walker sally in front.
Second pic is Sangria, Mika, Autumns hindquarters behind walker sally who is in the middle front and Bunni and Ribbon in back and Paris way back in the background.
I agree on the three girls in the pic. Ciera looks shorter because Chloe was more on top of the hill slope.
I think in the pic with big sally and velvet with their foals it is actually Izadora behind them not Paris. (I was right on this one it really is Paris)
The lone horse with head turned is velvet (identified by short tail) And the next pic I think is velvets colt not big sally's filly.
It is autumn with Karin.
steven
The picture below was not placed on the last post because I didn't have a clue who this horse is, lets see if Steven can figure out this one!

And Steven's Answer: You are going to laugh when I tell you the two guesses I have on this horse, either Wynne or Bunni. The mane and forelock look like Wynne the short flat back makes me think Bunni.

Rachel's Pictures

Below are the pictures Rachel took when she, Karin and Steven Marchal drove out to the Middle Grove farm to pick up horses for girls camp. She got lots of great pictures of Ribbon and Velvet, they didn't want to be caught and had a good time running around the herd giving Rachel plenty of opportunities. Even with encouragement the rest would only go a few steps before settling down to graze.
And they're OFF!


Below is a mare I know without a doubt is Sangria. So easy as she is the only gray mare.

The herd minus the 10 at the Hanna City farm quietly grazing.

Can't mistake the elephant, I mean Ribbon, who knew she could MOVE!


Rachel got a couple of beautiful pictures of Paris, too bad she isn't for sale!


My best guess of these three musketeers is left to right, Ciera, Wynne, and Chloe although I'm not sure about Chloe as I know Ciera is taller than Chloe. Perhaps Steven will have a better guess.

Left to right is Big Sally, Paris behind, Sally's filly, Glory, Velvet's colt and finally Velvet. According to Steven, This is a picture of Velvet.
And this is a picture of Velvet's colt. He is going to be amazing.


Below is one of the horses wanting to help Karin with the picture taking, not sure which horse but I'm sure Steven will know.

Sophie and Emily

Emily sent me these pictures today and how thankful we are to see them. Emily has done a wonderful job with her and Sophie looks great. Thanks Emily!

Trip pictures

Anna posted a few pictures of their trip to Lake Michigan with Ben and Taunya, too cute not to put up here. Anna and Addyson
Addyson enjoying the beach with her daddy.
And three of my gorgeous girls!
Then as I'm lurking around facebook, I see Karin has FINALLY posted some pictures of her Africa trip.
Bedtime:
Notice the tongue on this picture.
And of course DINNER:

Wynne

Steven was at the farm ready to pull out by 8:10am but the walk wasn't quite finished so he was gracious enough to wait for me. Once at Middle Grove we dropped off 5 horses and took Wynne back. The first video was made at Middle Grove, the herd was having a great time.
When we brought Wynne back to be with the Friesian mares at the cabin we took this video:

Update from Emily on Sophie

Hi Judy,
I took Sophie on a ride last night and she did awesome. I love her wonderfully smooth gaits. We went across the highway and she didn't act scared of the cars at all, of course the pasture goes up pretty close to it so she has been well exposed to the fast moving cars. We didn't make it across on the first try because she had to stop and check out the yellow lines and then wouldn't go across them so we had to turn around because a car was coming. The second time she marched right over them. Our neighbors were having a singing so then we had to go down the road with a line of cars on each side. She snorted at them a little bit and then decided that they weren't very scary and went right through. She loves to do her fast running walk and I love it too. We cantered a little bit too. When we got home she was all hot and sweaty so I took her for a dip in the pond to cool off. Then she was in such high spirits she was running in circles around me on the way back to the pasture. I wished I had a camera with me when I let her loose. She was so beautiful running with her tail held high and neck arched with the very red sunset in the background. Oh well, it was probably to dark for a good picture anyways. Then she would tear right up to me and put on the breaks and stop right in front of me, hold her head up really high and snort very loudly as if saying "Look at me... yes, I know I'm gorgeous!!" Her ground manners are very good and she is very respectful while being led. She totally impresses me every day how much we've bonded since she calmed down. As far as the spookiness, that is almost gone. I think she must have been pretty far out of her comfort zone when she first got here not having been away from other horses or around goats or cows. She is catching on to riding very quickly; she turns a lot easier than the first couple of times and goes, speeds up and stops right on command. Thanks so much for letting me have her for the summer. I'm going to see if Laura can take pictures of me riding her today if she has time.
Emily

Thanks for the wonderful update on Sophie Emily, We can't WAIT to see pictures!

Time

A few of nights ago we lost our electricity in one of the violent storms. We found our alarm clock was almost 2 hours off so if it read 3:30am it was really only 1:30am. Now I'm not saying we are lazy or anything but we never got around to changing the clock in our bedroom. When I would wake up during the night and look at the clock, I would just do the math and go back to sleep. Last night was hot and humid which doesn't lead to a good nights sleep. The clock was glanced at more than once, each time I thought, this night is taking forever. The last time it was reading 4:45am, lying there blissfully thinking I can stay in bed another 2 hours when the sky starts to lighten, it took my non coffee fueled confused mind a few seconds to realize rats, Mark must have changed the clock to the correct time I'd better get moving.

Sunday Blessing

This is SUNDAY the day we have the privilege to go to church and worship our God and King. He alone is worthy to be praised, today we don't go to church to see what we can get out of it, we go to WORSHIP our Creator.
Our walk on Friday ended on a very emotional note. All of us girls miss our dad so much, Diane commented that it has been 5 and a half years since he died, we need his wisdom and need him so badly NOW. The grandchildren are forgetting his legacy and how he lived. There are 96 or 97 (I can't remember the number) of the family he left behind. Speaking to his offspring, do not quit the race, finish the race as dad did. Go today and WORSHIP our Lord and King, Thank Him for the gift of salvation. Our God is omnipotent and His Word tells us it is His will that ALL should be saved. He is not a God of division. REMEMBER your legacy!!!
OK, enough of the preaching already.

Old School Center

Emma wanted outside this morning at 4:45, I could hardly get my body which felt it had been run over by a truck, to roll out of bed to let her out. Once she was taken care of it was back to bed until thunder woke us up at 5:30am. Our hay was FINALLY cut yesterday afternoon so of course we will have rain. The clouds are moving quickly so perhaps it will be a short shower, not all day rain and not too much damage will be done. Actually the orchard grass is so mature it is like straw anyway. Girls camp ends today, it is such a huge undertaking for 3 short cram packed days. The camp is held at the Old School Center in Farmington, IL. That is the only facility that can handle an undertaking so huge. Not only does the Old School Center have room to sleep the many campers, counselors, servant helpers, cooks, speakers and organizers, it has 2 gymnasiums, conference rooms gathering rooms, game room, a huge theater, a well stocked commercial kitchen, and plenty of bathroom facilities including abundant hot showers. This facility rents out very reasonable for churches, family reunions, and special events. If interested in finding out more, the website link is: http://www.oldschoolcenter.com
We really appreciate being able to use this for the camps.

Senior High Girls Camp

Karin was to be at the farm at 10:00am and there are no horses needing meds, today was a sleep in day. No trip to the farm until later which made Raven wait a couple of hours for his grain. He was not too happy.
Today's heat was intense. We hauled 6 horses out to the Herman Lake at Norris, IL for senior high girls camp and were so glad each ride ended in the water, not just to cool off the horses but also the riders. Rachel furnished her 2 horses and also came along to help. Rebekah lent us Larry, Karin drove Mike's old truck and the stock trailer and also invited Melinda to come help. Thank goodness for good help!

There were around 300 people there between campers, counselors, helpers and family. The tubing line was long but so refreshing when it was finally your turn.
This was a group of campers coming for the horseback riding. Beth had a good system of transportation using 2 mules going back and forth from the horse back riding to the water slide, and rope swing. The pontoon boat was another mode of transportation.
We had those horses busy for 3 and a half hours, they and Karin never had a rest. We loaded up the horses as soon as the buses left and were back to the farm by 5:00pm. Karin and Rachel were too tired to walk her horses back, Rachel brought over the golfcart and she and Karin rode that over to her house leading her 2 horses.I think this is the lazy way of moving horses. Really Karin's bottom was pretty sore riding bareback for that long afternoon.