Benefit Dinner

Huge success! VERY tired, feel like I could sleep for a week. Sure need to thank all of our choir members, they worked tirelessly and hard, GREAT job everyone.

Heathcliff Sold

Izadora's colt born Oct 15th, 2010 registered name Heathcliff of Horsemeister has been sold. The deposit came today, he will be traveling to Kansas with his new owner Javier. Mike and Diane are camping at Middle Grove this weekend with Rachel and Karin, I've asked them to take the trailer to bring him home so we can get his feet trimmed before he leaves. Indy, Ylse's 2010 filly is still at the farm, she came up today asking for attention, she is lonely and will be so glad to have Heathcliff back. Indy has the mega hair of Ylse, her forelock and mane at nine months of age are as thick and long as some 2 year olds. I hope we get to keep this one and breed her to Evan in a couple of years. What an unbelievable foal they would make, plus being able to ride and show another fantasy, tall, Friesian mare would be wonderful.
We had a busy day at the farm, a nice lady from Champaign IL and her friend came riding. One rode Dalia and the other rode Paris. Karin took them out on the trails riding Ribbon, she was the ONLY horse left. Ribbon is not good at going through creeks so Dalia had to lead.
Rhoda took Jenis to Sandridge where she met up with a bunch of people from her work. They had an excellent ride. It sounds like Jenis was the star of the show!
Rhoda wore her Horsemeister T-shirt, hey all and any advertising helps.
Dan brought in 2 huge coolers from the Old School Center for us to use at the Benefit dinner. They are now loaded into the car and ready for tonight. Mark and I still need to tape cardboard down in the garage entrance so the carpet doesn't get marked up and put up a few tables. None of this should take too long, just have to wait for him to get home. Right now I'm starting the next step of the 'simple' dessert!

Still No Baby

Not only has Sangria not had the baby yet, she is really not even bagged up. How can a mare go so many days over due date when she is so huge and uncomfortable. Her last baby born 2 years ago was so late the foal was born with feather.
Ruth and Rebekah joined mom and me on the walk this morning. Ruth mentioned she is looking for a good home for Cindy.

Cindy has foundered and needs to be on a dry lot for the rest of her life. No good green grass, not even a round bale, just a good quality grass hay doled out twice a day. Her feet need to be trimmed about once a month to keep her serviceable but Cindy has the most beautiful babies and is also trained to ride. She is a registered, her sire was a purebred Haflinger and her dam a registered Welsh Cob section C.
Pictured above is Cindy and pictured below is her filly out of Raven.

Peoria Fishing at its Best

Everyone in Peoria knows the IL river has not been the best place to fish. My nephew Nate found a great fishing video of our wonderful river with some great fishing shots and placed it on his blog where I promptly copied it and placed it here. I found it very educational. My brothers are going to love this video, and we are sure Dan will be ordering the outfit and head right down to the river on one of his many boats for the chance of the big one.

Baking at Midnight

The afternoon was spent on benefit dinner work. Dan and Spark met Mark and I at the fellowship hall and put the tables and chairs out in the correct positioning. They left and Mark and I started washing goblets, 300 goblets. This served 2 purposes, the first was of course to wash the goblets but the second purpose was to make sure the dish washer at the fellowship hall worked, it did, thank goodness. Once home the notes needed to be typed, sorted, more typing, cutting and organizing. There was no time for dinner. It was off to choir with the notes. The recording went well finishing shortly after 9:00pm but we still needed to do more setup and didn't get out of there until close to 10:00pm but like Nancy would say, "noooooo" WE COULDN'T GO HOME YET we had to stop at Walmart for special ingredients like cream of tarter, heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, miniature marshmellows, and cherry pie filling. I signed up to make a dessert for the benefit dinner and it HAD to be started tonight. The first step was to make an egg white meringue and letting it bake for an hour at 275 degrees then turning off the oven and leaving it in the oven for 12 hours. All the ladies said, "oh this dessert is very easy but still elegant, anyone can do it," what they didn't say is it takes THREE days to make. The first step is done, the rest looks pretty easy, just need to follow the correct timing.
Rhoda found a mare she wants to take on as a project this summer. The owner was called and we made arrangements to buy her on Sunday after church.
The mare is located at Indian Hills up near Chicago. We told her we could be there by 5:15pm if all goes well. The mare is a 10 year old registered Iberian, she has an Andalusian sire and a paint dam. She will be bred to Raven, the foal should be an interesting cross. We are hoping she will make a good camp horse, we are so short of riding horses this year with Sophie and Annie gone.

Sanna's Filly at a Week

We really need a name for this adorable filly. She is a week old and so very sweet.

The sun was out this morning for just a few hours before the clouds rolled back in, now there are showers predicted for the afternoon. The terrible storm reports are shocking 130 people died last night and over 200 hundred people have lost their lives with this massive weather system that is spawning literally hundreds of tornadoes.
Sangria and Sanna were so glad to get out of their stalls and into the field this morning. Frannie was brought over to Raven and she let him know in no uncertain terms that she was no longer interested in him. We will mark her out and try to schedule a sonagram for the same time as Wynne's. Lily was still in and was covered. Before leaving the farm the mares were put into a paddock with a shelter. The middle paddock will need more hay tomorrow. With Ribbon in that paddock we are going through hay twice as fast, she is such a big eater. Don't let anyone convince you that draft horses are easy keepers and don't eat much, not true!
Today around noon we are heading to the fellowship hall to start setting up tables and chairs for the benefit dinner. The new goblets will also need to be run through the dishwasher. Now I need to work on the job list and only have an hour to finish this.

Clarion Call's No Sleep Til Brooklyn

Jenny emailed new pictures of Sally's filly now named Clarion Call's No Sleep Till Brooklyn or for short just Brooklyn. Take a look at the muscles on this 24 hour old filly! She is going to be amazingly strong and amazingly beautiful.



Thanks Jenny for the pictures. This afternoon was spent driving, 5 long hours driving Bruno back to his owners than stopping at the Taco Bell in Morton grabbing 2 taco salads for dinner and reaching home around 5:30pm.
After church tonight, mom offered to feed Sangria and Sanna both of whom were left in stalls this rainy cold day. She came with Diane and when Diane was asked if she wouldn't mind stopping at the farm on the way home to get these mares fed, Diane stated, "absolutely NOT!" "Mike is out working on the trailer, he can do it." We had fun teasing mom about how Diane won't take her there to feed in her Sunday clothes. Mike will also check to see if Sangria delivered but we won't hold our breath on that.
Now it's time to head to BED!!!

Sangria and Sanna

Bruno is going home today but he did very well last night as far as howling, he was locked in the porch and we didn't hear a peep out of him but Emma was a different matter. AT 3:00am she insisted on going out and wanted to go out to Bruno, nope it wasn't going to happen and she was put out the back door while I sat outside and watched her. When she figured out Bruno wasn't coming to meet her she finally asked to come back inside and settled down. Bed felt wonderful at 3:20am and would have felt wonderful at 6:00am but Darcy thought we should all be up and when she insists on us getting up the bed shakes. She puts her massive Mastiff head on the side of the bed and pushes so hard she moves the bed. Why do we have dogs? Oh yes, that is one way we can get unconditional love.
Sangria was checked at 7:00am, no change from yesterday, in fact her udder seems to have gone down a bit. She was brought in out of the ever present rain and given her grain in a stall. She looks miserable and moved pretty slowly perhaps things are starting to progress. Sanna and her filly were also moved out of the mud and rain and stalled. Sanna's leg was completely back to normal and the filly was bright and curious, she started playing with the feed buckets. Wonderful to see!
Quint, the owner of Meister plumbing showed up at Bridlewood while I was at the farm. Mark was good enough to meet him and show him the puddle we thought was a leak. Quint disagreed with us, told Mark there is no swirling water so it doesn't look like a leak, as it is a low spot he feels it is just from the over abundance of rain but that doesn't resolve the issue of no water pressure. The next step is to drain the meter vault, shut off all water to the barn and see if the meter runs.
Mom and I were the only walkers brave enough to slosh through the rain and mud today and the reward was a one of mom's delicious breakfasts.

Another Filly!

This email came today:
Hi Judy! Just wanted to let you know that Sally's filly came this afternoon at around three. Everything went great! And we just happened to catch her as she started so we got to see the whole thing! Very excited about the baby! Had to pull the sac from her head as she came so fast the water didn't break and when she was out and jerked her head around about twice and still the sac didn't break, I stepped in and did it for her. She's a lively one and we are so pleased for a girl! Here's some pics. Thanks for the beautiful Raven baby! I remember you saying something about Glory coming last year in a rainstorm and guess what? It's raining! I guess this is what she was waiting for! lol! Also, yesterday Glory became a yearling. So a year and a day for Sally's new baby! :0)
Jenny in Texas




Congratulations Jenny WHAT a BEAUTIFUL HUGE filly! She looks every bit as nice as Glory. How wonderful that she had her during the daytime and all is well.
We had a busy day and Steven was left to do most of the farm work such as moving in bales, grooming, graining and grazing horses and getting Frannie AND Lily covered. Raven is going to need a day off. Steven also believes Sanna is coming into her foal heat. Her seasons are usually a bit longer than usual so she won't be covered for a couple of days. I should drive out to the farm tonight yet but just too tired to even think of going. We just got home from choir and still need to care for the dogs. Hopefully Sangria won't deliver tonight or if she does deliver let's all pray she has no trouble.

The Howling

The howling started right after we fell asleep. We were pretty exhausted from the disturbed 2 nights before and headed up to bed at 9:20pm and were rudely awakened by 10:15pm. Emma was put out thinking that might help except then there was barking. It's a wonder the neighbors haven't complained. Finally around 3:30am the dogs finally settled down. That does it, even if it is too soon and Emma doesn't get pregnant he WILL go home on Wednesday! Emma was brought inside this morning and she is just covered in thick MUD. Didn't even have her cleaned up when he started howling again, one of the most sorrowful mournful cries, just pathetic. We will keep Emma in today away from him if we can stand the sound, put them together tomorrow then TAKE HIM HOME.
We have someone coming to try Dalia out, Karin has agreed to help out with that on Friday. Funny but everyone is going to miss that mare if she sells. She is so sweet and doesn't have a mean bone in her body.
Heathcliff needs to be brought in from Middle Grove and his feet trimmed. There is someone from Iowa wanting to come see him.

Lily In

Steven arrived at the farm and proceeded to move Sanna and her filly into the cabin field to get them off the mud and on the grass. The filly is doing very well and Sanna is ready to introduce her to the other 2 mares.
Steven brought Lily over for teasing, it didn't take much, she is in and was covered.
Frannie should have been checked today but it is POURING again, I just can't ask anyone to pull her out and test her.
We have a water leak at Bridlewood, a plumber will be stopping by tomorrow morning to see about fixing it. Funny we haven't had leaks since putting the pressure reducing valve on and the leak is in the field where we weren't even aware we had a water pipe. This will be an unexpected expense not planned for, oh well, easy come-easy go.
The Mastiff stud we borrowed for Emma has done his job very well over and over and we desperately WANT to TAKE HIM HOME! He howls all night long. We have not had a good nights sleep in the last 2 nights. The first night around 1:00am Rhoda opened her window and yelled at him. In the morning we discover he has taken the dog sleeping bed, the rug, and lots of firewood off the front porch and dragged it all into the yard to get rained on. Last night we opened our window and started yelling at him, Mark finally got up and put Emma out with him and finally there was blessed quietness. We were going to take him back on Saturday but I've asked Rhoda to text the owner to see if he go home Wednesday instead. Sleep deprivation is not a good thing for old people. It makes us very crabby.
The wrapped Bibles were picked up from the Skyline home and 10 more boxes dropped off for wrapping. Now it is time to work on the attic a bit.

Early Morning Phone Call

The cell phone rang this morning around 6:30am one of the farm neighbors called to let me know there were horses out. They pounded and pounded on the farm house door but no one would answer, thank goodness the office sign has the phone number in LARGE NUMBERS. Mike was called and off to the farm I drove pushing the speed limit on each road wondering who would have escaped. All was well when I arrived so went about the feeding. Mike was called to find out which horses were out, it was Rachel's 3, Sandy is in season and came over to visit Raven, Sunny and Xena were quick to follow. Mike showed up on the 4 wheeler and helped move a new bale in the middle paddock and one in the boys paddock. Sangria was checked and still no sign of her getting any closer to delivery. Sanna's filly saw us and started calling for some attention. How wonderful it is to see healthy, friendly Friesian foals on the property. We will be moving Lily and Wynne over from the cabin field as soon as a new bale is placed in the breeding shed paddock. It is time to start teasing Lily. Wynne's ultrasound can be scheduled anytime after May 4th. Ribbon was put in the middle paddock instead of putting a new bale in the back. Sanna's paddock will need a new bale tomorrow.

Easter Sunday

The sunrise service was everything expected and MORE. First up was a group of 6 junior high girls singing 2 part harmony on three songs. Then came Dusty and honestly, Dusty Funk played the piano and sang three songs there were so touching and beautiful tears were streaming down the faces of many. When he got up from the piano there was first silence then the applause started and I am convinced that if we hadn't applauded even the very curtains and walls would have. Bob Hoerr's group sang 3 very touching accapella songs ending with Then Came the Morning, then the choir sang 3 songs, and finally Chuck Hemmer finished up the service at 9:30 giving us just enough time to get to church 15 minutes before the morning service. How was that for timing?
After church we met at mom's for our big Easter dinner starring perfectly done turkey, asparagus, mashed potatoes and gravy, dinner salad and mom's home made banana nut bread. We were all too full to have desert right away so saved the strawberry covered New York cheese cake and coffee for later. One funny thing, we wanted to make this meal special and instead of just serving the asparagus with a bit of butter and salt we went all out cooking it with hard boiled eggs, a thick white sauce with cheese and sauteed butter cracker crumbs. Afterwards one of the girls said, "why did you put eggs with the asparagus? That just doesn't go together."
Rhoda brought Paris over for Addyson and she thought she was in heaven.


Great grandma was trying to convince her it was time to get off to give Nancy a turn and Addyson would say no, no and try to change the subject.

We finally convinced Addyson to jump on the tramp so Nancy could have a turn on Paris. Nancy was even able to trot Paris, she was also thrilled.


When Nancy was done Rhoda gave Addyson one more ride and this time even trotted. Addyson was all smiles.

We were thrilled when Phil and Anna showed up with little Braelyn. Mom had to hold this little sweet heart.

I was able to play with Braelyn a bit and when Rhonda brought over Tara's daughter Jane Leah, of course they needed to be compared.
After the volley ball games were over we sat around mom's table eating our desert visiting until time to head for home.
Nancy didn't get much sleep last night, she kept getting out of bed walking around, finally at 3:00am mom asked her, "Nancy why do you keep getting out of bed?" Nancy replied, "I'm trying to find my Easter basket." Once mom told her she would only find it in the morning Nancy stayed in bed the rest of the night.
Ben and Taunya took Nancy home. She was so glad to leave, Nancy was really tired of defending her Easter Bunny from everyone wanting a bite.
It was a long emotional day but had to stop at the farm to check on Sangria before driving home. No sign of her pending delivery so she was left out.

Emma's Date

We drove over 2 hours one way and brought back a date for Emma. Bruno is an AKC registered English Mastiff with champions in his pedigree. His owners were willing to let us bring Bruno here to meet Emma. All went well, the dogs played and played then tied the knot. Hopefully puppies are on the way! Isn't he a handsome fellow? Emma sure thinks so and even Darcy liked him. Below is Bruno on the left and Emma on the right.



Darcy had to get in on the act and check him out.

She gave her approval for the match and they all stopped play to get a drink.

Mark and I took off for the farm to drop off one more load today. Mark worked very hard today while we were off driving around the country side. He went through and pack up items in the closets, cupboards and even worked on the basement.
At the farm, he unloaded the truck while Mike brought Frannie, the 10year old buckskin over for Raven. She was still in and was covered. Mike gave a good report of Frannie today. Karin rode Frannie while Mike rode Dalia on the trails. Frannie wasn't a ball of fire but no buck, rear or even spook. She took her time going through the creeks. She needs work with leading but was accepting of what Karin asked her. We will post pictures of Frannie once she is shed out and cleaned up. She is a grade appendix mare with a nice long neck. She will make a great match with Raven. Sangria and Sanna were put in a paddock for the night. With the sunrise service tomorrow for Easter I didn't feel there would be enough time to get to the farm before we needed to be at the fellowship hall.

Soggy Fields

All was well at the farm, Sangria and Sanna were both anxious to get out of their stalls. The sun is shining for the first time in what seems like weeks. All of the outside feeders were almost half full of water. The 2 inches of rain yesterday on top of the 3-4 inches that have already come down this week caused the lake to go over the dam and every paddock is a muddy mess. Once the mares were fed and put on the field we took off for home. Still no sign of Sangria getting any closer to delivering.

Emma's Husband?

Along with everything that must be done today to get ready for Easter, Rhoda and I are taking Emma to meet her (hopefully) husband. One English Mastiff stud is a beautiful apricot color, 2 years old and already 180 pounds. Then Rhoda actually found a fawn color stud not that much farther away and the last litter he threw was 16 pups and the stud fee is only $500.00. The owner of the apricot wants $800.00 and his litters are usually around 10 pups. We would prefer to have the fawn color. Our plans are have one litter of pups then SPAY this girl although if we end up with show quality beautiful puppies we may need to rethink this plan. If Emma does get pregnant the pups would be born after the move which means no fenced in yard. Perhaps we can put up a pup run somewhere. Funny how we had Pleasant Home all ready if we ever wanted puppies and never had puppies. My mom used to raise Irish Setters but used the now gone chicken coop and run for them.
I'm a little apprehensive this morning about the trip to the farm, hope all is well.

VIRGINIA S

This is VIRGINA S. her owner Michelle is placing her for sale.

FPS/FHANA Registered 4 yr old Super sweet, no vices,groundwork done.Works well in round pen. Responds well to voice commands Really nice movement. Ready for undersaddle/driving training. UTD on vaccines dewormed. Microchipped at Keur.3rd premium
She is located in New Hampshire. Stands 15.3 hands.Very sweet disposition.She has spirit and is quite animated in her gaits. No vices.
Very good manners.Stands in cross ties,enjoys being groomed.Gets along with other horses.Very easy keeper.

***SERIOUS*** inquiries only please
9,500 will consider trade
*********ONLY FOR************
Knabstrupper mare or filly black and white leopard.
OR
ApHC Leopard Appaloosa mare black and white(large spots) 15.3 hands or taller,sporthorse conformation,trained under saddle with a good mind not spooky.
If interested please email Michelle directly at HorsesofAr​t@aol.com



And Michelle also sent a short video of her.

Good Friday or Gray Friday?

It was raining this morning, kept raining all afternoon and is still drizzling a bit even now. Sanna and Sangria were turned out in the arena for some exercise and it was needed. They had been in all day yesterday because of the rain and now all day today Sanna was actually a bit stiff on her back end until she walked around a bit. Lily and Wynne were in the cabin field, the rain was pouring down and they did NOT want to come in. This is not a nice warm rain it was downright cold. They were going to be moved into the kid paddock as it is now empty but they just didn't want to come, they would rather eat the grass than stand inside. Knight was brought in to dry off before leaving for his new home. Will and Jenni Moser are free leasing him until the Reinhard's want him back. We are so glad to see him go, he would just not stay in, until today when I wanted him to come then of course he is all the way behind the pond grazing.
Dr. Hoerr came out to check over Sanna's filly and give the foal shot to her. He took one look at Sangria standing so huge in the opposite stall and exclaimed, "I see you bred my favorite mare again!" Now just for the record that was a lie. Sangria hates vets and the vets are always careful when they work on her. She bites them or knocks their teeth out. One time she had to be quarantined because of drawing blood on a UofI student. We were all dumfounded when we found out she was nasty to them. She has always been a delightful mare for us.
We are heading to church for the Good Friday service. Mike has offered to feed the 2 mares in stalls tonight after church.

Auction Night

We LOVE auction night and tonight was even more fun than usual. It was my granddaughter's birthday and Rhoda insisted on taking the trailer just in case there would be a suitable pony for her. Amy Koch and Karin came with Rhoda and I. Usually the auction is visited for 3 main items we can NEVER have enough of, buckets, manure forks and halters but for some reason (perhaps 30 of them) Rhoda wouldn't let me bid on buckets. Amy Koch on the other hand went down to buy one and started looking at more, Rhoda yells down, "just walk away Amy, just walk away," but of course that didn't work, Amy bought 6 buckets then sold 3 of them to me. At $3.50 a bucket we thought it was a great buy.

When the manure forks came up for bid I was able to get 6 of them for $12.00 each.

The lady behind me bought a beautiful blue cowboy hat we were all drooling over. Below is the happy winner.
The other items purchased tonight were 3 bunches of used halters $2.00 a bunch, a brush and comb lot, fly spray, one English stirrup leather, 2 sets of 3 tier saddle stands, and a new thick Western saddle pad for $7.00.
Karin was looking for a suitable horse for their therapy program, Rainbow Riders in Monmouth, IL. There were only 5 horses to go through the ring and none were suitable for that program. If anyone has a horse or large pony for sale cheap or free lease that can walk, trot, and canter that would be able to handle at risk and handicapped kids please email us. This program lost one of their perfect horses this winter and they really need to replace him.
We drove home from the auction in another thunderstorm, through bright flashes of lightning and driving rain. The truck and trailer are parked in the Bridlewood drive until tomorrow morning when it will be taken out to the Horsemeister farm.

Muddy Trip to Middle Grove

Below is a brand new RAVEN son owned by Heather from St. Louis.

The MUD is everywhere. Even on the walk it is hard to find the high dry places on the gravel drives. Once done, if Heidi wants in she waits for mom to wipe her feet. What a smart dog!

Sanna and her new filly were let out first this morning before Sangria to make sure the filly would stick with her mom. Sangria was really upset to be left inside and very anxious to run to Sanna and was shocked when Sanna would not let her near the new baby.
Steven showed up for the trip to Middle Grove. We knew the roads were bad and we would have to walk the horses in the long long drive.
Steven took Ciera, Ayanna and Heathcliff.
Below are full sisters Ayanna and Ciera both by Raven and out of Lily. Such beautiful girls!
It was such a gray dark day it is very hard to get pictures of black horses. Below was when they were let loose to go find the herd titled READY SET GO!

Steven brought the trailer to Bridlewood as we are heading to an auction tonight. We are looking for a therapy horse for Rainbow riders. Karin has put her order in and the best part is she is coming with Rhoda Amy and I.
Once home from Middle Grove it was time to get the oil changed in the car. I'm not very good at that so cheated and took it to fast lube.

Sun Up to Sun Down

Walking across Joan and Tim's dam this morning we see a king fisher diving into the lake. His picture was taken once he was back on the branch.

Ebby found a new treat, a hoof trimming from Tyler Joos the farrier.

This tulip was all by itself in the middle of the woods.

The pictures above were all taken on our walk this morning.
David and Stephanie are on their way to Mexico, they stopped in to say good by but we were all at work.
Once all was well at the farm and the filly was nursing it was off to walmart for groceries. Mark's dinner meal was prepared and placed in the fridge as we had an appointment to pick up a buckskin mare named Frannie at 5:00pm. Mike took the truck and trailer and I followed with the car. Frannie was a bit hesitant about getting into the trailer at first but with a bit of bribing she stepped in and stood quietly. She is in season and was covered today then placed in the first pen with a new round bale and Dalia for company.
EVAN has his first booking today. We planned on using him for Jewel in the fall but he now has a real customer coming, a beautiful black 4 year old Raven daughter.
Once home from picking up Frannie, Mark wanted me to head right back out to the farm with another load of stuff from the garage.

The stall needed to be emptied of all the wood scraps stored in it before we could start emptying the truck. We finally finished up by dark. This moving is hard work!

Sanna's New Fillly

We are so thrilled to announce the birth of Sanna's brand new filly by Raven born at 9:40am TODAY! I arrived at the farm before 7:00am, let the horses out and cleaned the stalls finishing just about in time for the walk. After the walk, Ruth, Diane and I decided to sit around mom's table watching her eat breakfast while we visited with each other until 8:30am. As we were walking back to the car I saw both Sanna and Sangria out grazing in the field. Before heading for home had to stop at the Horsemeister office and see Sanna going into the stall but didn't think anything of that, she goes in when she is done grazing. Went home to eat breakfast when Ralph calls that there is a baby and the sack is still around it what did I want done. He was told to take the sack off, then Rachel was called to see if she would head over to in case there was anything else needed. Rachel was kind enough to bring her camera and emailed pictures of this beautiful big filly!

We need another girl name!
On the way home a text came from Heather of St. Louis that her bay roan mare Jackie had a BIG BLACK BOY! The first RAVEN SON of 2011. We were beginning to think he was only going to throw girls this year. Heather is thrilled, this is her second Raven baby out of her mare Jackie. The first was a beautiful blue roan filly and she believes this boy may also roan out. The picture below is of this boy's full sister.

Empty Nest Syndrome

Gradually we have been losing our children, either to spouses or the university. It wasn't that noticeable until a holiday dinner is in the planning stage and then realizing one's children now have other obligations and may not be able to attend. Funny how hard this syndrome hits and hits when not expected. Our job as parents are to bring our children up to know the Lord, Love the Lord and serve the Lord with all their hearts souls and minds, to prepare them to be on their own, then let them Go. Not able to sleep with these thoughts running through a mind that won't shut down and yes grieving a bit when the verse below comes to mind:
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Even God must have felt this empty nest syndrome when He put His plan in place for our salvation.
So very very thankful Jesus willingly left the riches of heaven and His Father to lay down His life for ours.
How thankful I am that there is going to be a grand reunion once we are finally in our real home. So looking forward to that wonderful reunion around the Lord's banquet table.
Yesterday was hard, the weather didn't help so dark, showers and thundershowers all day, the rain coming down in sheets but the sun WAS shining, and shining brightly above the dark clouds.
We had a very blessed practice at choir. We got to sing all of the benefit dinner songs and they are the best of the best. Lifting voices in praise, is there any better way to end a hard day?

Wynne's Date

Pouring down rain, lightning flashing and thunder crashing at the farm this morning while Wynne was brought to the breeding stand and Raven taken over. Paris was in season and flirting over the fence trying to get Raven's attention while we are standing in the rain trying to get Raven interested in Wynne. With Mike's help we finally got the job accomplished but all of us got a bit muddy. Why did I wait until this morning? If we would have gone to the farm last night we could have skipped this morning but somehow I was just too lazy and tired last night. At least Wynne was successfully covered and we will mark her down.
The mares were fed and Middle Grove discussed with Mike and Diane. We decided Paris will stay in Hanna City, Ribbon MUST stay in Hanna City, Bunni, Sally, Izadora, Mika, Dalia, Ciera, Ayanna, Jewel, and Heathcliff will get to go to this horse paradise for at least a month before the riding horses will be needed back in Hanna City. Now if it would just stop raining long enough to get them out there.
Mike was out yesterday checking over the fields and fences there. The grass is coming up GREAT!
Once home from work, Dalia's video was reworked, the last video of her youtube took the sound off, this time a song was picked that was left on.

Dalia is a very nice young registered branded Oldenburg. We will breed her to Raven unless someone out there is looking to purchase a quiet young green mare and will give us lots of money for her.:o)Take a look at her video, she really does have the want to please disposition and the dressage movement to move right up the levels.
The last round hay bale here at Bridlewood will need to be moved into the paddock soon, the tractor is leaving for Hanna City next week.
The bad news about the boys becoming men happened this afternoon. Paris is in the paddock right across the drive from Valiant and Evan. Both boys today could not stand it, jumped the fence making it almost all the way over and knocking boards down to get out of their paddock, then jumping into her paddock. Valiant was most persistent trying to cover her while Mike is trying to get both OUT of THERE! Mike was able to stop them before it went too far. We just don't want Paris bred and he said once he had a lead rope around their necks they were very respectful and minded. They never tried to kick or were dangerous, just determined.
Paris will be moved and electric fence will be placed around the boy's paddock.
Even though it is STILL pouring down rain Mike took 4 horses out to Middle Grove tonight. Mika, Jewel, Sally and Izadora are now on their way. Those horses will be so glad to be back to their green lush summer pastures.

Inspection Information

Hi, Anyone interested in attending the Friesian Heritage Horse inspections this fall please go to: http://www.ipshr.com/FEIT_INSPECTION_Info_1.htm
fill out the form. This is not a sign up but an information gathering. We need at least 12 horses signed up in order to host the inspections in our area.
This is a great opportunity to prove to yourself and others that YES, your horse REALLY is as good as you believe it to be.
Farm news is FINALLY Wynne is in season and was covered by Raven. No drama just willingly stood. Steven was out working at the farm for a few hours and got the job accomplished. Today will be considered a clean-out and Wynne will hopefully be covered again tomorrow morning. Steven brought Raven into a stall and groomed him up beautifully, even his very thick long mane and tail were combed out.
The other news is that both boys have now dropped both, they have officially become MEN. We were thinking of taking them to Middle Grove for a month but now they will no longer be welcomed there.

The Morel of the Story

Ebby joined us this morning bringing her favorite dried out deer skin, of course Emma could hardly wait to get it away from the little monster but had to wait until Ebby found something better.
We had just finished the first loop, laughing hard listening to Diane tell about what happened to her father-in-law when Rachel looks down and finds the FIRST morel mushroom of the season.
We feel Diane's story should be told as surely there is someone else today needing a laugh. A bunch of the kids showed up at the lake last evening for volley ball around 4:00pm. Diane took 5 of the young ones over to feed them some dinner, walked in the door with these 5 wide eyed kids and there was her father-in-law standing in the middle of the kitchen dripping wet with just a blanket around him.
John decided to put out a bunch of fishing lines in their pond to catch some of the small bass. He went out into the pond in the little paddle boat and was catching fish as fast as he could pull them in, reached over and tipped the boat going completely under.
He came into her house, and was sheepishly trying to figure out how to run her washer and dryer. Diane found him some old swimming trunks to wear while his clothes dried. He told her "if I could have figured out how to use your machines you would have never known."
Diane went on to tell how the rest of the evening went with that start. The more she talked the harder we laughed! And people wonder why we don't want to miss these walks!
On the second loop, Rachel finds ANOTHER mushroom. so the moral of the story is keep your eyes open and perhaps you will be blessed with a morel.
Steven is going to the farm today to meet a man wanting 6 to 8 loads of manure. While he is there he will tease Lily and Wynne. Sangria is definitely more bagged up today, perhaps we will test her tonight. She is a few days overdue. Both mares were let out and their stalls cleaned.
Our goblets are to be delivered today at the fellowship hall around 2:00pm. Mark is coming with me and will help Myrna Hoerr and I run them through the dishwasher before putting them away.

Triumphant Entry

At church today we heard about being a servant and having a servant heart. Dave Obergfel had the morning service and spoke of the the thousands of years that have gone by since that first palm Sunday and yet we are still reading and thinking about the owner of the ass and colt of an ass that was willingly lent for Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem. What can we lend, what can we give?
This set a somber tone for the afternoon communion service. There was much time for reflection of the sacrifice Jesus would make just a few days later.
On the way home sadness started creeping into my heart of the ones missing. Why does there need to be a separation? How long before we reach our REAL home?
Once home from church just had time to change when Rhoda called with the news that Ciera was sick and maybe colicking. Rhoda was told where the banamine was and that I would leave NOW. Didn't even get a block before Rhoda called back to tell me she was wrong, Ciera was fine, just having a good roll. With both Sangria and Lily having colic surgery in the past I think we just panic sometimes.
Rhoda, Sarah, Karin and Mike were getting ready to go trail riding and after the ride the girls had some fun in the field. The video camera was in the car so we had some fun taping.

By 6:00pm it was time to put everyone back for the night. Mark showed up with one more load of tools from the garage along with some gutter extenders. Once those were up I headed home for dinner.

Tara Had a Girl

Tara, Spark and Rhonda's daughter had a home birth this morning a little after 6:00am, a big bouncing beautiful nine pound baby girl. Rhonda got to be there and all is well. Great grandma reports that the baby is CUTE! We can't wait to meet our new little grand niece. I think her name is Jane but we will get more details later.
Mark and I arrived at the farm with another pickup load of tools from Pleasant Home around 7:00am. We see this ARGHHH:

Evan had climbed to the top of the hay bale and somehow taken down a board. He is VERY proud of himself. The work on a horse farm is NEVER done. How they did this is a mystery.
Sangria is starting to bag up this morning. She was very anxious to be fed and let out. Sanna was about the same as yesterday. Mark unloaded but with our only wheelbarrow so the stalls were done once the truck was empty. That wheelbarrow was a gift from Karin and it was the best gift given last year. No mares were teased but Lily may be coming in. We will need to move in 2 round bales this afternoon, one for the herd and one for Lily and Wynne.