Introducing Piper

Piper has joined the Horsemeister herd.

 She is a big 17 hand 50% Friesian 50% Percheron mare by the Friesian stallion Hessel. Hessel is known to throw the magnificent HAIR gene and Piper has it. Her mane and tail are thick and long.

Piper is trained to ride and drive. She is very sweet and has good movement. She will be bred to Valiant this spring. This morning we had a fun walk, Ruth's birthday was yesterday and Joan's is today so there was much to talk about. Those walks are more about talk than exercise. We had 6 of us 8 girls today plus mom. Karin and Ruth were able to join us today since today is a holiday for the schools and both of them work for a school district. They even do the same job.
After the walk Karin came over with David Jacob to work on Ribbon's costume for the spring show.

Karin has a bit more to do on it but it is looking great. Next was the scheduled trail ride for GUYS! Yep that's right Karin took out 3 young men. Almost all of our customers are young ladies so this was a nice surprise. They were all pretty thrilled when they found out they were riding "war horses!"

 Above Karin is leading the way on Eliza followed by Jessie on Zalena, Jake on Jenis and David Jacob on Ribbon. Below they are posing for a picture before heading out on the 'death trails'

The ride went well, they all survived even though 2 of the mares ended up falling to their knees on some of the slippery hills. 

Rhoda, Sarah, Emily and I ended up shopping at the Salvation Army store. Those girls know how to shop. Sarah found a pair sandals and a pair of pants for me that can be snapped up to make pedal pushers (that's the old fashioned term, I'm not sure what they are called now) for the cruise. Rhoda found a pack that holds a lap top with a shoulder strap or back pack straps so it can be carried either way and I found luggage. A Samsonite, the perfect size for my clothes plus it has a handle and wheels. I'm going in style on this trip!

When I got back to the farm Emily was working with Killian. I watched for a bit taking a few pictures all the time thinking it was Valiant. Only when he stopped did I realize it was the young 3 year old. He has just grown so much. They were in the indoor so the pictures aren't the best but he was very impressive.

 She round pens him first then plays. She will run across the arena and he follows bucking the entire length.

 I had to see that again and Emily took off running the second time with the same reaction.

These 2 have a special bond, Killian really loves Emily and it is easy to see that Emily loves Killian.

Since Karin was off work today she offered to help bring back Ayanna and Star. Ayanna needs to come back for training, it looks like she is going to be in the show while Star is due to foal in February. Emily was working with Sheena in the arena when I made it back from Middle Grove. Mark was waiting when I got back with the horses. We drove in to Hanna City and signed up at the park district gym for the next three months.