90 Round Bales

Last night after leaving the hospital we stopped in at Riverplex and stayed long enough to watch Team 2 Meister win the first game then headed to Logan's Steak House for dinner. Team 1 Meister is all girls where as Team 2 is mixed. Players on Team 1 are Kari Bates, Karin Meister, Rachel Sauder, Jessica Sauder, Anni Davidovics and Rhoda Sceggel. Team 2 players are David Sceggel, Rhoda Sceggel, Caleb Sauder, Brian Schwind, Abigail Meister and Joseph Kummer. Logan's was crowded, in fact every resturant around that area had full parking lots. Weird to see so many people eating out on a Tuesday night with a recession going on. Below are a few pictures once we were finished with our delicious meals.

Above is Addyson with her mom, Taunya and below is Jack with his daddy Ben.

Below is Addyson with her aunt Sarah.

This morning, even before the day was light enough to see much Mark started moving round bales. The boys needed a new bale as did the mare paddock and the middle paddock. Ciera and Bonnie were moved into the middle paddock. Mike started working on the downed fence in the back pasture. There are 90 round bales left in the barn, all good quality. On the walk we discussed weaning and decided the third week of November works. Oksana, Olympia and Onyx will be moved into Raven's paddock while the mares will be hauled out to Middle Grove. If Jenis and Eliza are far enough off the property they can't hear the foals calling and the foals can't hear the mares weaning will go quick. The foals are now eating grain out of their mom's buckets, that is Oksana is, Jenis won't share, so they shouldn't lose any weight. And now for something to tickle your funnybone. This has nothing to do with horses but SO FUNNY! Want a laugh just watch the video below:

Introducing Taegan Rae

Taegan Rae Sceggel was born this morning at 6:46am. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 4 ounces and is 19 inches long. All is WELL! Below is little Taegan getting her temperature taken.

Big sister Braelyn is fascinated by her new baby sister.

Great grandma Meister was thrilled to hold her 32nd great grand baby.

Anna and Phil are thankful she has safely arrived and doing well. Congratulations! She is just beautiful! Not that grandma Sceggel is prejudiced or anything but she is absolutely adorable.

Pony Training

Below is the most impressive pony training I've ever had the privilege to watch.

Sunny But Cold

The hard frost of the morning took quite a while to melt today. It just didn't warm up until afternoon. The farm house kitchen had to be given 2 coats of paint. Mom came over to check out the first coat and talked me into painting the second coat. Dr. Hoerr arrived to check Jenis over. He did an ultrasound to make sure she was really in season, then took a culture of her uterus, finishing with infusing her uterus with antibiotic. If the culture is clean we won't need the next step. We will know if a few days if it grows anything. Steven Marchal and Karin Meister showed up to work horses just as the second coat of paint was started. Not that it was rushed or anything but I wanted to finish up in time to watch the trainers work their magic. Steven started in the indoor arena with Jenis, giving Emily a lesson on her while Karin took Eliza to the outdoor.

Steven worked with Evan next, below he is asking for a leg yield. Check out the extreme crossing of the back legs.

Evan has attitude, Steven would love to send him to an upper level dressage trainer. He feels this boy could just about go all the way.

Karin brought Jenis to the outdoor arena next for some bending training.

Steven worked Valiant last taking him out to watch as Karin worked Ciera.

Ciera did very well for Karin today. The trainer who didn't show up today was Rhoda, when the pictures were downloaded from today there was a picture of her from last night after the wedding and before she left for the volley ball game. She was almost too tired to eat dinner.

The games started at 8:00pm and even though team Meister was exhausted from the big day congratulations were in order, the girls won all three games.

Naughty Pony

On Saturday Rhoda pulled Bonnie out to work on her canter. Bonnie was a driving pony before we bought her. Driving ponies do not know how to canter, they are not allowed to canter. Rhoda was having a ball as Bonnie worked unsuccessfully trying to get Rhoda off.

We were laughing along with Rhoda at Bonnie's antics. By the time the training session was finished Bonnie was cantering along a little fast but nicely.

I have some extra time today, Hoerr Vet clinic called to change my appointment from Dr. Hoerr's office to here at the farm. He is heading right out this way for someone else. The painting was finished in the farm house kitchen this morning and now that I don't have to use the horse trailer laundry will be started. And for those who enjoy funny pictures, the far funny side:

Lily & Raven's Daughter Kiera

Judy, Dave and I took Lily’s Kiera to Springfield Friday night to have Dave’s racehorse trainer teach her to pull a cart for a month. They got her out Saturday morning and said she was trotting all around like it was nothing! I am so proud of her! She is such a good looking filly and has the best personality! Jill

WOW how amazing is that! Kiera is just over 19 months old. This is not too early to start teaching driving as long as the sessions are kept short. We love hearing how easy Raven babies are to train. Hopefully some of that wonderful disposition will rub off on Valiant's foals as well. Jenis has a vet appointment today at 2:00pm. She needs a culture done on her uterus and more than likely a flushing. She is back in season.

Monica's Wedding

There were a few times during the wedding service the minister had the crowd chuckling and a few times deep in thought. It is very good for every married couple to sit through a wedding service even after 35 years. After the service we headed home to find that Emma had pulled down and scarfed all the left over treats from the costume party. On the way to the reception we stopped at Katy and Justin's house to see their brand new baby boy Crosby. The reception was held at the fellowship hall. Monica is such a beautiful bride.

As Monica has and loves horses the decorations were country. Check out the gorgeous hay bales below.

The flowers were pretty too.

Stephanie and Rhoda were bridesmaids while David was an usher.

We hung around to watch Monica and Karl leave in the decorated car. Notice the hay on top of the car, again some of the best hay we have seen all year.

The little boys were thrilled when Karl swept balloons out of the car, they had a great time stomping on them.

We stopped at Kickapoo Cafe for dinner, left for home when Rebekah called to report the mares were out heading toward Hanna City. Tried calling and texting but no one around, we got caught in traffic leaving Wildlife Prairie park and were at a stand still. It didn't really take that long to get home but each second seems like 10 minutes when one is in a hurry. We spotted them in a field with people chasing them. They were leading Ciera and Bonnie pony but no one could catch Jenis and Eliza and the foals. I thanked them, grabbed Jenis and started the long walk back scolding her all the way. Mark met us at the farm and helped put them away. They have now lost their grazing privileges in the back field, knocking down a fence. Really a tree fell and knocked down an entire section.

Karin's Dog

Karin's dog Studly is a very energetic happy dog who is in love with Emma. They are best friends but he wears her out with his puppyplay. Karin posted the 2 pictures below of her beloved dog and we are all wondering if he was off visiting a morgue or digging for bones in the cemetery. Obviously his rider didn't help control his digging. Probably because the rider can't see.

We were in bed and sound asleep shortly after 9:00pm from the big day when my phone went off. Mark heard it ringing but didn't wake me. For some reason the ringing of the phone didn't wake me but the little beep announcing a message sent my brain into panic mode. I hurled myself out of bed and went running for the phone which had been left on the table. Sure that Anna was in labor and I was needed to watch Braelyn but not sure when the phone call came, it took too long to play the message, my brain would tell the fingers which button to push but somehow 2 or 3 buttons would be pushed and each time I would have to start over. Finally thought of looking at recent calls to see who called and discovered it was Rhoda. About that time the brain woke up enough to slow the fingers down. This call was discouraging. Rhoda worked until noon then drove over here to work with Stacy and Ciera leaving just enough time to pick up her bridesmaid dress from the seamstress, get home, shower and drive to the rehearsal dinner. When she finally made it home from the rehearsal dinner to try on the dress it was after 10:00pm and time to panic. The seamstress who was to hem the dress took a shortcut. There are 3 layers to this dress, she got the top layer hemmed, then either ran out of time or got lazy and just sewed the bottom 2 layers to each other. Unfortunately they weren't straight but twisted when sewn together leaving a very twisted up mess when the dress was actually on a person. She brought the dress over here and together we had to figure out how to fix this coming to the conclusion all the expensive seamstress hemming stitches must come out. Once that was done and the dress back on Rhoda it looked just as it was suppose to look just a bit long. Hope Rhoda has heels for today. It was good to crawl back into a nicely warmed bed next to a hot husband.

Sauder Costume Party

Today was the annual Sauder costume party. We all worked most of the day on our costumes...that may not be true for some of us. Our day started early, Mark installed all of the grips and towel bars in the farmhouse bathrooms plus one here in the apartment. We are now all ready to have more joints replaced if needed. This house is SO set up for us old handicapped. Stacy came over from the cabin to spend some time with Ciera. She took her to the outdoor arena for some instructions. She is asking her to move sideways below.

We were pretty impressed with how quickly Stacy had Ciera lunging and stepping sideways.

Yesterday Stacy worked on getting Ciera to lower her high head. Today she had this result very quickly.

Diane invited us over for coffee and cookies for a late morning snack. Right after lunch Rhoda and Karin worked a bit with Stacy riding Ciera.

After working with her we all decided the hematoma must come out. It is obviously bothering her. We have a vet appointment for Monday and will discuss this with Dr. Hoerr then. Rhoda showed Stacy how to teach Ceira to bow and lay down to end her session.

Rhoda gave Stacy a lesson on Ylse so she could feel the huge trot a Friesian has and learn to post it.

Mike showed up to take Ylse, Zalena and Holly out to Middle Grove, once they were loaded we headed in to get ready for the party. Below are a few pictures, if you want to see the rest please visit one of our facebook pages. http://www.facebook.com/ravens.friesians or http://www.facebook.com/mark.j.sceggel

This has been a really fun long day and we are so ready to hit the sack. Good night all!

Countryside

Rhoda arrived shortly after 10:00am to help Stacy with Ciera finishing up with a bow. Rhoda needed the truck to haul sticks to the fellowship hall for Monica's wedding tomorrow. The living quarter trailer was hooked up to the truck, as no one was around to help unhook it, Rhoda just pulled the whole rig out to the fellowship hall. The decorators must have wondered if she was bringing horses for the decorations, everyone knows how much Monica loves horses! Stacy wanted to see Ciera's mom Lily, who is at the Middle Grove farm. After walking to mom's for a quick visit, mom decided to come with us to Middle Grove. We traveled the country side today giving Stacy the grand tour. On the way we stopped in Farmington, IL where Dan gave us a quick tour of the Old School Center, then stopped at the Herman Lake in Norris, IL where Beth gave us a tour of their new facility and a ride to the VIP dock to feed the fish. From there Middle Grove. The horses were not in sight but we were prepared to walk and walk we did. We found them at the top of a hill spread out grazing. They were all far too lazy to come running, after-all we didn't bring a trailer with us so why bother. The Friesians were the only horses interested in attention. Indy & Killian were first up in our faces with Ayanna a quick 3rd. Lily and Helen were right behind her. The rest of the horses were too busy grazing on the thick knee high green grass to bother with people. We headed back to Hanna City around 2:30pm for a late lunch at one of the 2 restaurants but both closed at 2:00pm. It worked out better anyway to come home for lunch, Steven was here working the boys and Stacy really wanted to watch him. Karin showed up to work the mares right after Steven was finished. Mark arrived home with hooks, towel bars, and grab bars for the farm house bathrooms and after supper headed down to start installing them.

Surrounded by Cold Mud

Time to turn the heat on or start a fire. It's cold today after yesterday's warmth the weather seems downright cruel. We got dumped on again last night now there are puddles and mud everywhere. We had a lady named Stacy fly in from Colorado yesterday but her plane got delayed in the Chicago O'Hare airport. All flights were shut down, seems president Obama flew in and out of there. She didn't arrive her until almost 9:00pm stopped in to get acquainted with Ciera then we took her over to the cabin for the night. Speaking of Ciera, what a brat. She didn't want to be stalled and let us know. Bonnie pony was brought in to treat her eye and Ciera decided she didn't like Bonnie and tried to attack her over the stall wall in front of Stacy. What was weird about that is Bonnie and Ciera are good friends. I just finished telling Stacy, "Ciera will never hurt you, she doesn't bite or kick," when Ciera reached over and tried to nip. What was up with that,? Our usual sweet girl is acting like a big bad stud! We are standing in her stall and she is following us around the stall in our faces asking for attention then starts licking my leg. What a pest. She is probably still mad that all the other mares got to go out in the big field yesterday while she had a bath.

Levi's Tragic Accident

Levi ran over his kitten. Dan, Levi's dad is video taping Levi driving the car when the cat runs in front. Watch this tragic accident. The best part was "No cats were harmed in the filming of this video" the kitten is fine. Below is Dan and Abram shooting a potato launcher, Levi works hard to catch the umbrella. Holly was teased but today screamed and struck out at the boys so hopefully she was in and now out. Our bad news is Jenis is back in season. A call was put in for Dr. Hoerr for ideas on what could be going on with her but he hasn't called back yet. The morning was warm, it was just too tempting to work outside with the horses instead of in the house cleaning. Steven arrived to work the boys, another excuse to stay outside, the video camera was grabbed and hopefully a video of Steven riding Valiant can be made once the program is back on the computer. Just as he was finishing up the breeze went from warm to a blast of cold arctic air. Our gorgeous Indian summer vanished in the space of 15 seconds. Now there is no excuse to stay outside and the cleaning must be done.

Friesian Video

Cally Matherly made the video below. FPS hired her to fly over to the Netherlands for this. Cally owned Raven's half brother named Scout who died way too soon. This is what she writes:I started doing equine photography when my stallion died, and it has taken a life of it's own. I asked God to make his loss a positive thing and He surely has. I now travel all over the world doing mainly Friesians, and absolutely love it. Now am into farm promotional video and sale horse videos as well and growing every day in knowledge and skill in this 2nd profession. Cally is now considered the most talented Friesian photographer in the United States. So now it is posted as proof for everybody out that that keeps emailing the link to this video saying, "you have to see this!" It is only a bit more than 4 minutes long and Friesians are so beautiful, take the time to watch if you haven't yet. Mark left at 4:45am for St. Louis, Mike and Diane left at 5:00am with Andrew to pick up a bucket truck 7 hours away. This day is going to be busy!

Horse Property For Sale

Linda contacted me about Arial Downs, a well laid out horse property for sale. All of her contact information is below, if interested please contact Linda directly. Located on Ariel lane in Canton this horse property is a little over 11 acres, 2-62x100 barns on property, one with indoor arena and 10x20 foaling stalls, all oak, with drop down grills. tack room, feed room, grooming / locker room. indoor arena is shredded rubber. Also an outdoor vinyl arena, listed for 179900.00, reduced to 160000.00 firm. all equip. can be purchased separably, 60 ft. galvanized steel round pen with walk through door, and paddock panels made of same steel. 5 amish made shelters with windows,new, 9x15. 6, solar tanks. tractor, and all quick hitch attachments, property also has a huge sawdust box 30x60. contact Linda at 309-647-1150 or email at arieldowns@gmail.com.

More pictures are added on to our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ravens.friesians