Round Pen

After the walk Jenis was covered by Evan.  The mares are now in the front pasture and will be there for a few more days before we move them back to the pond pasture.
Emily, Karin and I decided where we could put a round pen up and how to do it reasonable. I drove down to TSC and picked up 9 cattle panels. We are going to use T post as the supports, 3 to each 16 foot cattle panel. The ground will need some work on leveling but it is almost flat and a big enough area in front of the outdoor arena.
Karin held her vaulting  practice in the indoor, we got enough rain yesterday that the outdoor was pretty saturated.
Willis Ehnle had the service tonight on Obedience. What an important part of a Christian's walk. He talked about the importance of being obedient. After church a bunch of us went to Culvers for ice cream and fellowship. What a great day.

New Duplicator

Spark came down to our office to show Diane how to work the new duplicator and all was going well until we ran out of masters. Making copies for the Berean Prison Ministry is a huge job. We send out  a set of 50 double sided Bible study lessons to prisons and jails in 48 states in the basic study and have now started an intermediate study. We have over 20,000 prisoners doing the lessons and that grows each week. It is not easy to keep enough studies on hand and when our copier broke almost impossible. One of our volunteers spent her own money, about $150.00 getting a thousand of lesson #1 printed off and a thousand of the letters that explain the study.
We were just a little late today for lunch. After lunch I headed down to TSC for insulators for Valiant's paddock. Emily wants to string another strand of electric fence there. It sprinkled rain on and off most of the day.
Diane took the pictures below of yesterday's trail ride at Middle Grove.

 Horses used were Mika, Sally, Cookie, Missy and Bunni. This evening as it was sprinkling out I was sitting on the front porch enjoying the coolness of the weather when this male cardinal showed up and started showing off for his mate flitting from the post to the rail and back to the post.

Camping with Karin = Rain

We awoke this morning to a light rain falling gently on the dry fields. Oh how we pray it continues. This is the second time with in a few days Karin took a group out camping at Middle Grove and the next morning it rains. We should have been sending her out there more often!
The picture below was taking by one of Karin's campers and posted on facebook. She writes, "I'm camping in the middle of a horse pasture!"

 Technically they aren't camping in the middle of that group of horses, the camp site is fenced off from the horses down by the creek. 
Big news at work is the brand new duplicator arrived. Spark set it up in our office yesterday and will get us started today. We send out 50 double sided lessons to prisons and jails in 48 different states. When our copier broke we were asking the volunteers at the Peoria County Jail to supply us with lessons and used up all their toner.

Beautiful Butterflies and Buzzing Bees

Braelyn and Taegan were here today but we were so busy the camera wasn't taken out until later. Emily worked Valiant and Evan early then we moved the round bale out of Emma' s (the mare not the dog) paddock. It was a grass bale and Emma needs more calories, she is nursing that big colt of hers, she was given a new bale from Middle Grove while the cows were given the grass hay. The bales from Middle Grove are fine stemmed grass  alfalfa mix and the horses love them. Evan was also given a new bale from Middle Grove. We noticed he had lost a bit of weight on the last bale which was grass hay. Karin held her funday Monday and Braelyn got to ride Ribbon and the golf cart while we were moving the bales. Rebekah was more than willing to drive the girls around in the golf cart. Hannah, Bethany, Faith, Rebekah, Anni, Karin and Emily all went over to Rachel's for lunch and a carbole game. Emily came back with the Kabota and mowed the pond pasture while we were waiting for Dr. Hoerr to come check Paris, Emma, Marika and Jenis. Dr. Hoerr was suppose to arrive in the morning but that didn't happen. Emily finished the mowing and got out Mark's super deluxe weed whacker for under and along the fence line.

I drove out to check the hay fields and there were so many butterflies and bees flitting around the clover. Since I had the camera with me I took a few pictures.

 

 Dr. Hoerr arrived around 4:00pm, the good news is Marika had ovulated probably Saturday and we got her covered Saturday morning. The bad news is Emma is not in a true season. She has been showing for 12 days but she had nothing but a bunch of small follicles on one ovary and a 25 on the other. Jenis had not progressed much either. She had a 35 mm on Friday and it only progressed to 36 mm. We will breed her on Thursday, take her to Dr. Hoerr's on Friday for an ultrasound to see where she is. Paris was the other mare checked. Her prolapse is not getting any better. Dr. Hoerr told us to just keep on with the treatment she is getting. Washing it down 3 times a day and smearing furazone on it. We will give her a couple more steroid treatments then stop those. They don't seem to be helping anyway. Emily left for the singing at Skylines. The young group is meeting at Rhoda's after the singing, we expect Emily back late.

Training

The email below came in last night:

Hello Judy,

Do any of your people ever travel to train colts?  I have a 10 month old friesian/gypsey gelding that really needs someone who is experienced with colts to work with him.  I do not have the experience.   I just thought I would ask.  We live in Maine.  Thank you. 
Leslie Dutton

So what about it Horsemeister trainers, are you willing to fly to Maine to train a 10 month old colt? It really wouldn't be worth it for the owner to fly out someone, give them housing and food then pay for their training for such a young colt.

We have Dr. Hoerr coming out this morning to collect Evan and AI Jenis. At least I hope he makes it this morning. Last time this was scheduled Jenis was in in the morning but by the time Dr. Hoerr arrived she had already ovulated. We will also have him check poor Paris.

Sunday Company

Church was wonderful as usual. I'm so thankful for our church where we hear the truth spoken twice on Sunday, our church family who we share our joys and sorrows with, and most of all our Lord Jesus Christ who paid the blood price for ME.
Right after church Ruth and Fede hosted a celebration for Jozsef Davidovics who just became an American Citizen. Below is Happy Jozsef!

 

Below is his happy grandmother-in-law Loretta

 His son Koby

 Dan and Susan's family all came to help celebrate.

 David wasn't going to let Jozsef and Fede crowd him. Jozsef is Fede's younger brother.

 Jozsef's happy mom Irma who had a cold but took off her mask for the picture.

 Special guest Annette came to help with the celebration. Annette brought delicious home made orange sherbert to the party.

 After the party we headed home to make dinner for the kids that were coming for the evening. David, Stephanie, Israel, Phil, Anna, Braelyn, Taegan, Rhoda and Emily joined us for a steak dinner.

Below is Israel getting ready to be fed.

After dinner was the usual Sunday evening volley ball games.

 followed by some horse back riding. Below is Emily on Zalena while Kayla Kummer is riding Jenis.

When they successfully returned from the death trails Braelyn and Taegan got a turn.

Today was a good day!

Clair's Colt

Joann the new owner of Clair called to report Clair had a beautiful BIG baby boy yesterday morning around 6:00am. He is healthy, unbelievably friendly and gorgeous. Valiant is the proud papa. Joann promised to send pictures soon.  We are so pleased that Valiant is throwing his daddy's wonderful disposition. So far each of Valiant's offspring have the the quiet, want to please disposition that Raven's foals have had.
We didn't realize how important this was until we bought a half Friesian mare named Xena out of another Friesian stallion and literally could not train her. We thought this was a fluke until we bought a couple of others and had almost the same experience. We want Horsemeister to be known for their wonderful friendly foals, not an untrainable animal.
It is so cold this morning it feels as if it is late fall.
The horses and cows need to be fed and Paris attended to so I'd better put on a sweatshirt instead of a short sleeve shirt and head out.

Vaulting Camp

Vaulting camp was held today at the Horsemeister farm. Karin does such a good job with this camp. In years past it has been so hot the campers are always ready for a cool refreshing swim in Diane's pond but not today. It was cool and when the wind started up it wasn't just cool it was down right cold. The girls had a great time learning how to vault.

 Ribbon is always perfect for this camp. Mark and Emily worked on the patio in front of the farm house door, removing the old concrete. This was a big job and what they found underneath the concrete was a surprise. Almost a foot of sand!

 Mark and Emily worked on scraping the sand off and piling it up in the yard. Now to get out of the house one must take a huge giant step! We need a step stool to get into the house.  After lunch Karin and Emily took Amy and Eve on the death trails. Eve rode Jenis while Amy rode Zalena. Karin took Marika leaving Emily Ribbon.

Right after they left a car pulled up with what looked like another vaulter but it wasn't. This was a girl named Gabby from Florida and her grandmother who just happened to be from Peoria. They came to see the Friesians. The foals were a hit as always but Evan also had to be taken out and shown off. Gabby was able to run Evan through all his tricks. As we were exiting the outdoor arena the trail riders showed up and 2 of those mares are in season right now. We held Evan back until the mares were put away. When the girls got back from the death trails I asked them how it went. The first words out of Eve's mouth were, "I WON!"

 Evidently they raced coming back. After dinner Emily went back out to weed whack and Mark went back out to work on the patio. Paris needed to be treated and the horses fed and finally I'm ready to sit down with a good book.

Prolapse

We had a wonderful beautiful rainy day yesterday. It rained a soft gentle rain for 3 full hours in the morning and then in the evening another pretty good shower came through. I went in to Meister's to work on Bible labels finishing around 2:00pm. When I arrived home there was such a nice surprise. Rhoda got back from the camp out at Middle Grove and instead of leaving for her home stayed here and cleaned, even scrubbing the floors. Emily had company today, her aunt and other family members came to visit. When she was showing them the foals, she noticed Paris was in trouble. Poor Paris had a prolapsed rectum. Below Rhoda is trying to push it back in while I called to arrange to take her to Dr. Hoerr.

 

 This is what it looked like when we arrived.

 Below Dr. Hoerr is working on putting it back in place.

He was only partially successful. She was given a steroid to help reduce swelling from the inside then the prolapse was washed and covered with epson salts to draw out fluid from the outside. We brought her home and will treat her 3 times a day. Her prognosis is mixed, Paris is in her twenties and even if we can get everything back in place there is still the question why this happened. I've had horses for over 50 years and have never seen this before.
Dr. Hoerr is coming out Monday morning to collect Evan and will check her then.

Pictures from Yesterday's Trail Ride

We had such a wonderful evening yesterday. The weather was cool and perfect for trail riding. Below are a few pictures but the rest are all posted on the Horsemeister, Inc Facebook page.

 

When they got back and started untacking, Jewel noticed Emily was in the group. She left the others and came to see her at a fast walk. She loves Emily so much she will leave the herd or her grain when she see's Emily coming. I think the feeling is probably mutual.

 John and Beth came driving over on their 4 wheeler and joined us for the evening. Spark pulled out his guitar and handed it to Mike for some pickin and singin around the camp fire.

 What's a campfire without the special food that goes with it. We had plenty of heart attack on a stick (big slabs of bacon) and marshmallows for somemores.

 We had a little rain early this morning then it stopped for our walk. It was such a relief when the soft gentle rain started back up. We are so dry here. Our hay fields will green up and grow, the corn is getting a desperately needed drink. Thank YOU LORD!

Camping at Middle Grove

We worked most of the day with the plan to head to Middle Grove around 4:00pm but didn't get going until close to 5:00pm, there is just so much to do here. Rhoda and Emily mowed, weed whacked, and trimmed. Karin took Ribbon and her filly to the Rainbow Riders summer camp and taught 16 kids how to canter on her. Emma is still in and covered by Evan.
Below are just a few pictures during the evening trail ride at Middle Grove. More will be added tomorrow after a good nights sleep.

 

they came around the bend and found Spark, Mike and Terry out fishing on the pontoon boat.