Emma & the Shock Collar

The collar was fully charged, calibrated and put on a more moderate charge then put on Emma's neck for the big test. Riding a bike down the driveway and onto the road was Rhoda for the first test as Emma loves to chase bikes. Emma runs out onto the road and realizes something is bothering her neck, she looks at her neck a couple of times but doesn't yelp, just comes running back. The charge was then set to number 14 up from 11 and the next time she ran out onto the road not only did she yelp but ran the wrong way. She had to be shocked again until she was back in our yard yelping all the way. We sympathized with her, cuddled her and told her about that bad road biting her and that was enough for the first lesson so back into the house we all went. Once we were back from the farm Emma was let outside and she not only wouldn't go near the road she wouldn't even go in the side yard, which was good but didn't reinforce the idea the road was the bad guy. When Rhoda came back from the trails she took Emma out to play. Rhoda started throwing a toy for Emma to grab and bring back. Rhoda deliberately threw the toy onto the road, Emma ran to get it, got shocked, ran into our neighbors yard got shock, ran back into our yard and got lots of love and sympathy. We have learned that Mastiff's have long memories and just maybe today will be enough of a lesson to save her life or at least a toenail or two. Years ago Darcy learn the lesson by crossing the road and getting hit by a truck. She tore her toenail in the accident and NEVER forgot that the road hurts dogs.
We are going to Jonah's Seafood restaurant tonight for dinner. Rhoda was given a $100.00 gift certificate from one of her house sitting jobs and is taking the family out.

Saturday Work & Fun

Mark started on the tree line with the skid steer this morning. The attachments for this machine are AMAZING. The attachment he is using today is called the turbo saw and it cuts through massive trees.

The tree below is almost 3 feet in diameter.



and finally one of the finished products, this tree was about 12 inches in diameter and the saw just zoomed through, what a way to knock down trees. The skid steer is such a versatile machine I don't know what we used to do before we had it, oh yeah worked harder.
By the time Mark was done, I had the horses fed, Raven's water tank OVER filled (yes I forgot and left the water running for 20 minutes)Velvet's stall cleaned out, and all the horses fly sprayed.
Rhoda and Karin loaded up the truck and trailer for a trail ride at Farmdale in East Peoria. They thought they were going to take Wynne and Bunni but those horses were not available. Mike and Diane went camping for the weekend to Lake Shelbyville with them. Karin ended up taking Sunny and Rhoda Jenis.



Velvet's colt is feeling much better this morning. He is still a bit swollen but more than ready to get outside.
Mom is in Tremont, IL at Rhonda's uncle Butches place for Threshing Days. She called to highly recommend coming to see everything. She said Nancy was enjoying it. Amy Koch was there with her mini. The Knoblochs were there with their Clydsdales, Tyler Joos, our farrier was there giving a shoeing demonstration, and there were many old restored tractors like Dad's Ford 8N.

New Surcingles & Leg Wraps

For the August shows Steven needed 2 surcingles for the 2 boys so this morning as we were up so early I went shopping on ebay and found 2 new ones for a reasonable amount. These claim to be professional, black, horse size nylon with neoprene and have plenty of rings. A concern is whether they will fit yearlings. They didn't offer cob size, only horse size but perhaps we can figure out a way to make them work if they are too big.
We have new black halters and to show off their movement we should consider wrapping their legs in white leg wraps. Of course I had to order 2 sets of these:
Now poor Steven will have the fun time of getting them use to all of this equipment.

Belle

The mare in the picture above and below named Belle is a Percheron x Paint mare we are shipping semen to next week. Her owner Kersenz emailed the pictures to us today. She and Raven can't help but have a beautiful baby. I really like these pictures taken in the fog. Thanks for sending them Kresenz. We met Kersenz at the Iowa Horse Fair in Des Moinse when the vaulting team performed up there.

Another of Raven and Lily's colts are now performing. I just received word that Abel is up at Friesians of Majesty in the New England area. His owner is going to email pictures next week. THAT is SO COOL! One down in Texas working for Medieval Times and one on the east coast. I often wonder if the trainers handling those stallions realize they are 75% Friesian and 20% Westfalan, not 100% Friesian. Do you think the owners tell?

Sanna

Velvet and her son had every scrap of hay cleaned up by the time I arrived at 7:00am. They should have been thrown more hay before leaving yesterday. They were moved into the opposite stall so theirs could be cleaned better and the boy checked. There is a little more swelling today than yesterday which is normal. Once Samantha and Sanna had finished their grain, the gate was opened to let them out into the field. They promptly went out, started grazing, walked around the back of the barn, then into the barn and into the stall. I forgot we use to feed them in the stalls. Each morning they would be turned loose with their grain waiting, Sanna to the right and Samantha to the left. I may have forgotten but they sure didn't. Once they were sprayed down for flies back they went into their own paddock. Sanna was taken first and Samantha's filly started calling and running around trying to find Sanna, it's like she is her second mother. When it was Samantha's turn, Sanna started calling. They will be separated once Samantha leaves for her new home and Sanna is going to grieve. They have pretty much been together for 20 years. There was a phone message today someone from Kansas wanting to buy Sanna on the payment plan but that is not desirable for us, the reason she is up for sale is we have too many horses on the place. The lady buying Samantha was emailed to see if she would be interested in taking Sanna also but if not we will probably sell her to the Kansas people. I keep telling myself I must become more hard hearted so it won't bother me if Sanna is left to grieve. As I'm about to drive into our driveway I see Emma out in the middle of the road standing in front of a man on a bike not letting him pass. She just wants to play but that poor man thought he was going to be eaten! Amy Koch was called to see if I could borrow her no no bad dog shock collar. She brought it right over but it needs to charge up before teaching Emma that the road will BITE her!

Sally

Dr. Pallen showed up today before Dr. Hoerr got to the farm so we had a nice visit and plenty of time to take her around showing her all the houses at the compound and explaining who lives where. She asked how many were actually in the family and I answered that question by showing her the picture Rachel took of all of us on Spark's fire engine. Just about the time the tour was over, Dr. Hoerr pulled up for the collection. Steven Marchal handled Raven, while I twitched Bunni, she is not in season and we didn't want her kicking Raven. He is just crazy over her so it doesn't matter or not if she is in season, that is why we consider her the jump mare.
Rhoda showed up at the farm about the time we finished up with the vets so she jumped on Big Sally so we could make a video of her and her filly for her new owner. I know I'm using the same music as before but the music I'm using is allowed to be put on a video and today I just didn't want to get all the way done with the video and have youtube mute it.
Sarah came home and started reaming me out about putting pictures up on the last post of the gelding of Velvet's colt. She said someone told her today they were shocked that I would post that. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD! That is part of running a breeding business.

Water Tank Plug

Sometime this morning both Dr. Hoerr and Dr. Pallen are coming to the farm to collect Raven for 2 mares in Morton, IL. Dr. Pallen is coming to observe, she will have to come collect Raven herself next week for the customer in Des Moines. Dr. Hoerr is vetting the shore to shore endurance ride and will be leaving on Friday.
Raven is so easy to collect that Dr. Pallen will not have any trouble even if she is a GIRL!
Velvet was glad to see me this morning, she had cleaned up all her hay from last night. She still had plenty of water. Her colt was lying down and didn't get up right away. He needed to be checked for swelling so was asked to stand up. He is sore but no swelling from the gelding. He was hand walked for 10 minutes but all is looking good with him. He was eating hay with his momma when I left. Jenis and Ylse at the cabin field are so funny. They listen for my car, mill around up front until they see me driving in then run to their buckets. All buckets and feeders needed to be dumped first this morning. We had an inch of rain in 15 minutes last night. Altogether an inch and 3/4s of rain fell from that storm.
The water tank in Raven's pen is leaking through the heater, we need to find the plug, pull out the heater and plug it up. If I can't find the plug we can always buy another one at TSC. Funny how even when we know we don't want to lose something we lose it! We have decided sometime before winter, one of our projects this year is to install an automatic waterer in the cabin field.
Before our work day new 2x6x16 boards need to be purchased and delivered. There are some fence lines that need repairing before the company comes August 22nd. It is SUCH a GOOD thing to have company once and a while.

Gelding Velvet's Colt

The lady buying Velvet's colt wanted him gelded before he leaves for his new home in September so Dr. Hoerr was glad to help us out with that. Above he is just finishing up and below is the colt on his operating table. Notice the bumper tires, they work great at keeping the colt in the correct position for this job.

Velvet and her colt were picked up from the farm right around 10:00am. There was nobody around to help with the loading but they were both so well behaved I didn't even need any help. They were dropped off at the vet clinic as Dr. Hoerr had a sheep emergency. Middle Grove was next on the list of jobs for today. Bunni was picked up to use for a jump mare for 3 breedings! yes THREE. Two for this week and one for early next week. Mike's 4 wheeler was also picked up from Middle Grove and brought in to Hanna City. He and Diane were driving it from Norris to Middle Grove loaded down with saddles for a trail ride when it died. They had to be towed the rest of the way in to Middle Grove. Once everything was unloaded it was back to the vet clinic to pick up the horses except Dr. Hoerr wasn't quite done which gave me time to snap the pictures. Then it was wait and wait for the little boy to wake up. Once back at the farm they were put in the deluxe stall for rest and recuperation. Raven was pulled out and fly sprayed while I was waiting for his new water tank to fill up. His automatic waterer is turned off until we can repair a leak.

Cruisen in Feb

Ruth and Fedi will be celebrating their 20th anniversary in February and Ruth is interested in going on a cruise so of course WE will be joining them! Diane has picked the place and boat, so far wanting to go is Mike, Diane, Mark, Judy, Greg, Beth, Amy Koch and Beth Stuber. Anyone else interested let us know, Diane always finds the BEST BUYS. We will be driving down to New Orleans and leaving from that port, makes it nice, no flying so not limited to a carry on only. I can bring BOOKS!
Duke was out during the night, not too unusual except this time he got into the barn, knocked over the empty grain bins and got the lid off the one that did have grain in it. We do not think he ate enough to founder but will watch him. Once the barn was cleaned up and the grain unloaded from my car it was time to feed the boys except the scoop wasn't to be found. A funnel was used and worked pretty well, just had to remember to hold a thumb over the small end. The vet appointment to geld Velvet's colt is 11:00am which means the truck and trailer need to be hooked up and ready to go by 10:15am.
The Davidovics are leaving for their trip to California this afternoon. Rebekah has started a blog, her link is now posted. Rebekah is a very talented writer and her blog is fun to read. Just look to the right of this blog, look under my favorite blogs and hers is at the bottom.

Shipping

After work, Steven brought Evan, Valiant and Wynne to Bridlewood just for their experience of going new places. These three will be performing at the Northern IL Horse Fest the end of August and need to be exposed to new places. Rebekah met him here to pop on Wynne for the training session. I left for TSC to pick up some iodine shampoo and grain. Valiant has some of what we call the creepy crud on his legs and needed a good scrubbing while he was here. Just as I pull in at TSC the phone rings and it is a customer who wants to ship semen for her big black mare in Des Moines Iowa and needed the vet's phone number. I'm talking to her while looking for the iodine shampoo and finally give up, go to the counter and ask for it. Of course it was in the very aisle it should be, I don't know why my eyes kept skipping over it. When it was time to pay, no wallet in my purse, luckily my check book was so a check was written except as there was no wallet there was no identification. Good thing we are so well known. Out to the car to load the grain and there is my wallet on the front seat in an unlocked car down in the south end of Peoria, smart really smart.
Steven had both boys waiting for their shampoo and once they were lathered up it was suppose to stay on for 3 or more minutes so he walked them up the street and around the block. We had to have some video of how well they are working. To my knowledge they have never been to Bridlewood!

Chloe

Chloe is Ciera's best friend, the day Steven and I went to pick up Big Sally, Ciera climbed in the trailer, Chloe followed so we just shut them in the front until we finished with the other horses, otherwise they are in our faces ALL the time trying to figure out what we are doing. Once the video of Aragon was done Steven haltered Chloe, brought her out of the trailer, just led her a bit and then let her go thinking she would do her huge trot back to Ciera, nope, she just slowly trotted back to the herd. If we are going to get a video made of her huge trot we are going to have to bring her in to Bridlewood and use the arena. We are only asking $2500.00 for her and she comes with a reduced breeding fee of $500.00 to Evan at age 3. I am tempted to just keep her, get her under saddle so she can be used for the trail rides and breed her late in the fall each year for a 75% Friesian foal.

She is so filled out at only a year old she almost looks mature, I can only imagine how gorgeous she is going to look at 3.

The lady that sent the deposit that hadn't made up her mind which colt to buy has made up her mind. Velvet's colt is now marked sold!

The Horse Show

We discussed the pig roast this morning on our walk, It is August 22nd at 4:00pm. The largest pig we can get is around 200 pounds and that is now ordered. We will do it the same as David's rehearsal feast, provide the pig, plenty of bbq sauce, buns, table service and drinks and let the guests bring the rest.
The food will be served around 4:00pm with the horse show to follow. We will start with our parade of breeds, followed by horse tricks, the jumping demo, finishing up with the vaulting. Should be a GREAT evening. All are welcome, if you want to ride in the show, please email or call us first to make sure we have stabling for all that would like to bring their horses. We have 85 acres of trails that can be enjoyed after the show. The only cost to bringing in your own horse is as follows: tied to a trailer FREE, stalled $10.00 per stall. horses must have a current coggins within 12 months.
Ribbon is now out of season. All of the horses survived the extreme heat last week, thank goodness, and we are having a nice break in both the high temps and the high humidity. Today is just plain PLEASANT!

Our Walk

After church Mark and I walked to the local McDonald's. It was pleasant when we were hiking on the edges of the Madison Park golf course but hot when we were on the pavement. The hike is almost 5 miles round trip from our house but with the stop at McDonald's to share a small smoothie it doesn't seem like torture.
The torture comes at bedtime and that's when I determine I MUST lose weight. Even with 2 Aleve, the old joints start aching and the night doesn't end. Perhaps if my small mind can remember the pain, the food won't taste as good.
Today the vet clinic must be called for an appointment to bring in a couple of mares and foals. Dr. Hoerr called on Saturday and he wants to come collect Raven, depending on when his 2 mares are cycling, if Ribbon is still in we can use her but if not we will need to pick up Bunni from Middle Grove. Bunni is our jump mare, no matter if she is in season or not, Raven just can't resist her and she will stand willingly.
My phone went off during church yesterday, good thing it was on vibrate. It was a long distance number which meant horse call so I didn't bother calling back until we were on our way home. Typical Sunday call they wanted to buy a Friesian stallion for $750.00.

Velvet & Son

Mark and I got to the farm by 7:10am and the first thing noticed was that Mike had moved in a round bale for Sanna and Samantha. Mark actually came with me to help with that but there was plenty of other things calling to him. I was VERY pleased to see that job done. We got to the top of the hill and there is Velvet's colt in with Ralph and Jamie's filly Myrrhcedes. Velvet was running back and forth at the bottom of Myrrhcedes' paddock on one side of the fence while her colt was running back and forth on the other side. Before any of the horses could be fed, Velvet needed to be caught, brought out of the field and into Myrrhcedes' paddock so her colt would follow her back out of that paddock and into their own. This all went like clockwork and it even gave me a good chance to fly spray them both down. Velvet was not engorged so it had probably just happened, in fact once they were reunited the colt didn't even want to nurse. The colt may be sold, a deposit has come but the buyer still needs to make up her mind which colt she wants. She is trying to pick between Velvet's colt or Aragon, Izadora's 2009 colt. She emailed me this: Hi Judy, I will stick the deposit in the mail tomorrow. I am going to take one or the other. That much I have definitely decided on. I'm going to watch the videos about 100 more times each. They both have a lot of suspension. And I better not look at any more babies you have because I'll have to start all over again. Ha. I didn't expect them to be that nice at such a good price.
Ribbon was brought out to see if she is still in season. Mike got her covered last night but for the ultrasound date we need to know the day she is out. It took a while for her to show but she finally did so was put back. If she is still in tomorrow she will be covered then. Finally it was time to feed and the horses let me know their displeasure of having to wait by stamping and calling.
time to start getting ready for our favorite part of Sunday, CHURCH!

Jordan Schroeder

Last night after we had gone to bed, Rhoda got home and came up stairs with the news that Jordan Schroeder died. Jordan was only 25 years old when he passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. He left behind his wife Katelyn Thames Schroeder and 2 very young daughters Jaycee & Arawen. Jordan is the brother to Lindsey Getz and Jesse Schroeder both here from Peoria. Please pray for Katelyn and the entire Schroeder family. Jordan has now received the ultimate healing. We are so thankful for our Faith knowing there will be a reunion for this hurting family .

Dogs

Emma loves lying in front of Darcy just chewing on her face.



And finally they just rest.

We are always amazed at how Darcy is so patient with Emma.
Today was just plain HOT. Too hot to work hard although Mark got the yards mowed and I got the laundry done.

Bike Ride

Ben, Taunya, Philip and Sarah took bikes on the rock Island trail this morning and this is how they came back!


Pretty muddy but fun. Grandpa and grandma got to watch Addyson but it wasn't a lot of fun, she pretty much slept the entire time.

Weary

Yesterday Karin, thankfully checked on Ylse's filly so I didn't have to drive back out to the farm. The extreme heat is wearing me out. Up at 5:00am today and the temperature has not dropped below 80 degrees, that along with the high humidity levels make working outside miserable. Yesterday the humidity was 90 percent at 7:00am, I haven't heard how high it is now. If we can get through today, there is suppose to be relief in sight.
On the walk yesterday I made the comment that after 8 years of standing Raven if someone offered to buy all the Friesians I would probably take them up on it. Weary is the mind and weary is the body. There is just no excess energy to run the business right now. Karin wants to set up a work day at the farm before the hog roast. When she called to ask which is a good day I actually shuddered. She set August 21st, the day before the hog roast.
Today we will plan on working on the farm house lawn, the new septic field was installed and some manure was dumped on the low side and spread with grass seed planted which is coming up beautifully. Then the roof needed to be replaced on the addition and once the clean up was finished we dumped more manure on the high side but didn't have the time to spread it or plant grass. Storm after storm since the manure was dumped and now it will be heavy with water and hard to spread.
Samantha and Sanna will need a new bale soon. Jenis and Ylse got theirs yesterday along with Raven, the 2 boys, Ribbon and Wynne.
Driving out to the farm this morning huge storm clouds were moving in. The picture above shows them just as we pulled in. We were able to get the horses fed and some of the manure spread with the grass seed sprinkled on top before the storm hit.

Advice from the President

Time for some real advice. We are all worried about the state of our government, we need to listen to the advice below from an honest politician. Now spread the word.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
.......Abraham Lincoln......

Emma

Five hay bales were moved into different paddocks this morning right after the walk. Ribbon was covered, still in big. The horses were all needing fly spray this morning badly. The huge horse flies were just annoying about every black horse on the property. The trip from the farm ended at the shop this morning, Mark needed a credit card application run then the change from the apartment laundry machines needed to be collected. When I finally did get home both dogs were anxious to get in out of the heat. It was 80 degrees this morning at 7:00am and is suppose to get into the 90s with heat indexes of 110. We had a black sleeping bag on the living room floor last night that this morning was put up on the couch, when Emma went into the living room she saw the sleeping bag and was sure it was a bad guy sitting on the couch. The panic this brought out from our supposedly brave dog was hilarious, we didn't realize she could bark that loud. Our big brave guard dog is afraid of a sleeping bag but don't tell anyone. She was pretty embarrassed when the bag was picked up and thrown back on the floor.

Email from Alesia

Hi Judy,
I ponied Princess on the trails a couple of times so far (just with a rope halter). The first time I ponied her by myself for a 45minute ride. The second time, a friend came with us for and hour and 45 minutes. My friend's comment was that Princess was a "Perfect Angel" !
Poor Zip was up front bearing the brunt of the deerfly ambushing and I let the leadrope go too slack while swatting the flies. Princess had stepped on the leadrope and over it and got it under neath her... behind her front legs. She stopped, the rope got tight and I had to turn to see what happened. She stood so still for us while we ran the rope back through. No panic, and no one had to dismount to untangle her. Then we went over logs and ditches, up and down small inclines and down the road with light traffic. I was very proud of her!
Our neighbor commented that it was funny to see the biggest horse of the three was the one being ponied!
Alesia :)

Princess is out of our vaulting horse, Ribbon and by Raven. She is now 2 years old and beautiful, sounds like she will be so easy for the Kata's to train. Thanks for the email Alesia!

Ylse's Filly - Sale Pending

It looks like Ylse's filly will be heading to Georgia the first week of December. This will give us time to wean her, get her coggins drawn and health papers ready. William, the man buying her is running to the post office tonight to get the deposit in the mail. The sad fact is a lady from Michigan was also interested but William actually emailed first. Too bad we don't have another to offer her. Some of the ads placed for the filly have been changed to Sanna. We hate to see her go but really need to cut back on horses. Mark told me if I can get down to 20 horses before winter I don't have to make a skid steer payment. He doesn't think this is possible but prayer is an amazing tool. Sanna has given us 3 beautiful fillies and is in foal due May 10th, 2011. She has the extreme FEATHERS and throws this in her foals. She rides and drives and is beginner safe, in fact she is so safe she is the horse Mike puts his dad on for trail rides. We are only asking $10,000.00 for her, that's like getting 2 purebred Friesian horses for the price of 1.

Hog Roast

ATTENTION: Everyone is invited to a hog roast at the farm on August 22nd 2010 at 4:00pm. The vaulters will be putting on a performance (and the kids say it will be the best performance EVER!!!)There will be a jumping demonstration, barrel racing, and trick riding.
Please bring a covered dish and desert. All table service, drinks and meat will be provided.
This is the last weekend for the Reinhard's to be here before heading back to Haiti so come help us send them off with a great time. Put it on your calendars now we would like a great crowd of witnesses! Email msceg@hotmail.com or call 309-676-6511 if you need overnight accommodations or directions.

Karin & Ribbon

Karin was able to get Ribbon covered yesterday with no problem but while she was getting it done, Caden escaped by pushing between the gate and shelter. She said he was hard to catch. I had to laugh, each morning he sees me drive up and comes running. The ONLY reason we are breeding Ribbon back to Raven is because Princess, her last foal from him is so gorgeous! The picture below was sent to us by Princess' owner, Alesia Kata. Thanks Alesia, you talked us into trying for another just as beautiful, hard to believe your princess came out of the elephant!
Mike brought Jenis over to Raven this morning and she is still showing so was covered. We believe she is going out, Raven just wasn't that interested. She should probably be checked tomorrow just for the sonagram date.
Carolyn from Meisters helped get all the Bibles stamped and ready for the post office between phone calls. I was so grateful for her help. Actually I was dreading today knowing the Bibles needed to be mailed out. It is so labor intensive but goes so much quicker with another pair of hands. After dropping them off at the post office it was time to go home for lunch. When I drove up, Philip and Caleb were there waiting and as I was cooking David joined us.
Amy called during lunch to tell me we had a bull dozier out in back. At first I was all excited thinking someone dropped off a REAL bull dozier (I have been asking for one for Christmas for years) but then reality hit when she started telling me of broken boards. She meant Dakota is plowing through some fences. Jamie and Ralph Stone, her owners were called and Ralph said it was because she was trying to escape the work camp we have her in. Laura Stiverson is training her and Dakota would rather be at home in front of her round bale lounging around.

Faith, Hannah, & Bethany

Karin took this video the day Hannah needed her stitches. I thought it was adorable and stole it off facebook to post here.

Ye Shall Know Them by Their Fruit

After the walk today, Jenis was covered, then as Raven was being led back, Ribbon was calling to him. Raven was taken over to Ribbon and yes, she is in season.
Karin is coming in today so hopefully she will get Ribbon covered.
I left for home close to 9:00am and was thinking it would be so wonderful to have a tomato for breakfast. A few days ago looking at the 2 tomato plants we have, there were only a couple of big green tomatoes but perhaps one of them had ripened. We haven't had a vine ripened tomato since last summer. Eagerly out to the garden I run to check. With all the rain and sunshine the 2 tomato plants were huge but... only a couple of green tomatoes could be found. Disappointed I started to turn away when I realized there was one tomato near the bottom of the plant that had turned an ugly maroon color with black around one edge. The tomato was picked, and very carefully sliced and peeled to find just a little bit of good flesh in with all the bad.
What an example of how we should NOT be. The Bible tells us by our fruits we shall be known. Do we want to have so little good fruit that even to see it we must be peeled and sliced open? Do we want to look good on the outside, like the huge tomato plant did from a distance although it had no real edible fruit? How disappointed God must be when we are like this.
Struggling with finances were making me feel discouraged, our vet bill for trying to save Jenis' filly came yesterday $602.58 for a dead foal that would have sold for $8000.00. On our walk, Diane reminded us that when we start to feel discouraged, we need to start counting our blessings. Each of us on the walk are so blessed with abundantly wonderful family and friends, we always have plenty to eat, more than adequate shelter and clothes to wear. We have a Lord and Savior that loved us so much He gave His life for us. He has prepared a home for us and has sent His Comforter to be with us now. We are His most precious creation. Today I will thank Him and rejoice!

Chloe

Yesterday Steven also helped with the video taping of Chloe. We weren't going to post this, we just don't have the facility to show off their fantastic movement at Middle Grove. On this video she is trotting down hill toward the herd. If she was on flat ground and moving out one could see how nice she really does move. So even though we are disappointed in how this video shows her movement we figured it was better than no video at all, it still shows her nice disposition.

Work today went well, what a joy to have Eva Jean back. There was much to catch up on from the 2 weeks she was missing.

Rain

The storm last night took out our electricity so of course this morning we had no idea what time it was when we got up, turned out it was 5:30am. One lightning strike was so close the house shook with the sound waves of the thunder. We got a good drenching rain last night and it is continuing today. Yesterday we checked out the grass at Middle Grove and even though there was still plenty of grass the ground was so dry. This rain is great for both farms.
No walking this morning so instead we met at mom's for breakfast. Mom is such a great cook, we always enjoy sitting around her table enjoying the fruits of the earth while visiting.
The best news for me was that Eva Jean is coming back to work today. HURRAY! We got so much more done in a short time with 2 of us working.

Aragon & Velvet's Colt

This morning early,Steven Marchel hooked his monster truck up to the trailer so we could pull away right after the walk. We wanted to take Autumn, Mika, and Bunni back to Middle Grove and pick up Big Sally. The video camera was taken out thinking we would try to get some videos of the individual horses but it didn't work out too well. The rain started before we were able to finish. Aragon's movie below was cut short, can't have the camera getting wet.
Chloe was worked with and we got a few good pictures of her but she didn't show off at all so will wait on her video. Chloe is a yearling, out of Walker Sally and is for sale for $2500.00. She comes with a discounted breeding to Evan at age 3. She is a pretty filly and will have a beautiful 75% Friesian foal when old enough.

We pulled out as the rain was starting to come down harder but there was no rain at all by the time we pulled in at the Hanna City farm. We brought Velvet and her colt along to make his video and did so since the rain was holding off. He really has fantastic movement and will be black once his foal coat is gone.
Once home the rain started in earnest and actually is welcome. The fields were pretty dry. Then Mike called and asked of we let horses out to graze. Nope, we just accidentally left the first pen open. We took Mika, Bunni and Autumn out of the first pen but then put Sally and Velvet in the far pen with the back open not too smart.
Ylse is now out of season, Jenis is still in and was covered, after all we didn't want Raven to make the trip over to the cabin for NOTHING!

Jenis Covered

Church today was FREEZING. Talk about a turn around from last night, the temperature on the ladies side was set to 66 degrees brrrr. Amazing how many of the sisters asked for coffee at lunch today. We had 2 visiting ministers, both very interesting. Mom, Nancy and I were sitting a couple of benches behind Mark and we decided not to go through the line but head out. We couldn't catch Mark's eye, he didn't know we were behind him so once the baptism service was over we sent Nancy up to go tell him we were ready. Instead of talking, Nancy stood next to him until he thought she must want to sit down so he let her in the bench next to him. Of course mom and I were cracking up laughing, trying to be quiet. finally I walked up and tapped him to tell him we were ready.
We made arrangements for mom to take Nancy to her house, then after dinner, which mom offered to cook, we would take her back to Morton, IL.
Jenis needed to be covered tonight so we knew we would be heading out to the farm.
It is again very hot today, 91 on the car thermometer driving back from Morton at 6:30pm.

Water tank, Paddock Cleaned, Air at Church

Our dinner at Red Lobster was delicious, mom ordered snow crab legs which she shared. Haven't had crab for years.
We arrived at church early for the testimonies but the sweet fellowship while waiting is so worth coming early.
Tonight BJ Elsasser was mentioned by 2 of the converts and Tim brought his name up on the 3rd. What a testament to faith this boy had in life and also in his death.
Many tears were shed through the smiles tonight.
Church was warm, no kind of hot, it was obvious the AC wasn't working correctly about midway through the first testimony they came and got Mark. Things started improving, we could tell there was at least some cool breeze coming into the sanctuary but when all was over we couldn't find Mark anywhere inside. He had the car keys so we are hoping we haven't been left and a trip out to see if the car was still there was in order. Once outside we see a ladder going up to the roof and sure enough, there is Mark on the church roof in his suit. Just then Terry from Meisters pulled in, we showed him where to go, Mark threw us the keys and we drove home. Just for the record, Meisters does not have the contract for the heating and air in the church. He came up to bed around midnight but said he had been home a while and all was fixed.
Once I got home, it was straight out to the barn to clean Dakota's water tank and fill it knowing she would need water either tonight or tomorrow. What a surprise someone had already done it. Not only did Dakota have clean water, her paddock was SPOTLESS! THANK you to who ever did this.

Ylse Covered

The first stop of the day is always over to check on Ylse and her filly. I had the camera so once they were fed, a few pictures had to be snapped. Here she is playing peek-a-boo over Ylse.
and of course we had to have a close up of her pretty face.
Once they were fed and all was ok, it was over to let the other mares out to graze.

Then it was time to work on the roof debris. We were really hot by the time that was cleaned up, Mark took the truck out to finish cutting up some trees that were down while I jumped in the skid steer and dumped 3 loads of well composted manure on top of the yard where the new septic field was laid. Mark will spread it and plant grass seed when it is cooler. Mark wanted the skid steer to haul some of the huge logs so he put the claw attachment on it while I took Raven over to see if Ylse was still in season, she was, so was covered. Jenis was moved to the cabin as Ylse wanted a companion and she is still also in but was covered yesterday. Funny how Ylse is content as long as she is with Jenis. As we were walking back we saw mom's car flying down the driveway, then flying back up the driveway with an ambulance following her. Behind that came 4 more emergency vehicles. Mom was called to find out what in the world was going on. What we heard was pretty scary, Jesse Pence was turning blue. Someone got Rhonda, she ran over, then called mom to go meet the ambulance to show them where to go. It wasn't long when we saw one ambulance heading back down the drive with the lights flashing when they hit the road the siren started screaming. We haven't heard yet how Jesse is doing. Mark was taking a load of brush over when one of the ambulances headed out.
Please be praying for the Pence family.

Autumn's Son

The lady that bought Autumn's son emailed us a picture of him today. Didn't he turn out beautiful! He is not even 2 years old and he is HUGE!!

Sleep IN

We kept Emma in our room last night and she let us sleep until 6:30am. When she is downstairs, we start hearing barking around 5:00am. We think she just wants to be with us. The only downfall with keeping her in our room is the snoring, not as bad as Darcy but still quite loud.
There was a message waiting by the time we made it down the stairs, mom called to tell me she was graining Ylse, her filly was fine and would I want any other horses fed. Mom is dog sitting both of Karin's dogs and Ebby, Diane's dog and when she got up this morning Ebby was not at her house. She started walking and Ebby runs up from Diane's to join in. Ebby knew where she was suppose to sleep and had gone home.
We will head out to the farm a little later this morning, work until the heat is unbearable, then put our suits on and cool off at Diane's pond. Mom is coming in around 4:00pm today we are planning on going to Red Lobster for dinner then to church for the testimonies.
The person that wanted to see pictures of Autumn wanted to trade an 11 year old untrained 14 hand grade mare for her. Not!
I want to thank everyone for their emails and phone calls about the loss of Jenis' filly. It really does comfort one to know how much people care.

Autumn

Tonight after dinner Mark and I went out to the farm to clean up shingles from the porch roof. I took a break to take some pictures of Autumn. Earlier I had someone email on her and realized we had no updated pictures of her. I still need to get some riding pictures, but at least these have been posted on the website.


After filling the truck, Mark asked me if I needed to do anything else before leaving for home. I was hot and tired and told him no I was more than ready to go. We started home turned on Smithville Road when I remembered that both Jenis and Wynne had been put out to graze and they couldn't be left loose. Mark graciously turned the truck around and back we went. Both mares were more than ready to be put away.
By the way, Autumn is by our Friesian stallion RAVEN and is the full sister to the Grand Champion at the Friesian Sport Horse Inspections. She has wonderful movement, is slightly over 16 hands, has very balanced conformation, well trained to ride and beautiful. Autumn has a great disposition, wants to please, and she is a favorite with the camps.