Whelping Box

Emily and I were the only ones on the walk this morning so we cut it short to start preparing the whelping box for Emma. Emma is due to deliver her pups in 6 or 7 days. Mark helped bring the box in yesterday but today we cleaned it up, lined it well with newspapers then got some of the old comforters from the back garage and started washing them. Emma was glad to go into the nice comfortable box but what I didn't expect when I came in from working was to see this:

Darcy decided it looked pretty comfortable and joined Emma. I guess Darcy didn't want to feel left out.
We hooked up the truck and headed to TSC today to pick up 10 of the 16 foot long cattle panels, 20 bags at 50 pounds each of grain, 20 bags at 40 pounds each of bedding and 6 of their 50 pound salt blocks. Loading went fine, since we had 2 of the TSC employees to help. When we got home was when the real work started. By the time all those goodies were put away we were ready for lunch. After lunch the arena was cleared of equipment, a couple bales moved, the arena watered and raked to prepare it for vaulting.

Karin has such a big group of vaulters she has split the group into 2, having one group of 5 come on Mondays and the other group of 6 come on Wednesdays. Fridays are reserved for the Friesian practices.
The weather was sunny and 40s with much melting going on so Emily took advantage of the nice weather to work horses in the outdoor arena. First though we brought Sissy and Star in to the stalls for their grain. Their previous owner wanted to see pregnancy pictures of them so here they are.

Sissy above is due Jan 23rd, Star below is due the first of February. 

Both mares were glad to go inside for their grain. Emily brought Sheena over from the cabin field. She was teased before bringing in to work. This was the first time Emily worked Sheena in the outdoor. She was really pleased with the results. 

Sheena was well behaved and willing to do what ever Emily asked. After Sheena was taken back to the cabin field Hadassah was brought out. Notice the loose rein while Emily mounts.

 Below Emily is asking Hadassah to back up. This is another mare we are very pleased with. Hadassah came to us as a completely unhandled 2 year old and just look how nicely she is going under saddle now.  We were pretty thrilled to find the arena that just one week ago was covered by 8 inches of snow then frozen solid at temperatures of -18 was sloppy but very usable.

Even though the sun was out the wind was pretty fierce. By the time the training session was finished my fingers were pretty frozen. Luckily Emily had a fire going in the wood stove at the apartment. Karin arrived while we were warming up. Karin lightly worked Sissy and Star before bringing out Ribbon.

Below are the Monday vaulters minus Bethany, Bethany is suppose to arrive from Haiti the end of January.

I didn't stay for the practice instead headed back to the house to start supper. When Mark got home from work he put the tractor in the garage and after dinner his truck in the arena, more snow and ice are on the way.