Packed Almost

Today should have been March 1st, except this year we get an extra day. This is leap year. Thankfully the last day of February was a nice one. Perfect for packing. Emily took the truck and trailer over to Gary's and picked up 28 bales of hay then backed the trailer into the indoor and loaded up 30 bags of bedding for our stalls down at the fair. I drove in to Meister's paid the first of the month bills one day early then went to Sam's, Dollar General and TSC to buy groceries, and dog food at the first store, shampoo, conditioner and padlocks at the second store, and hardware for hanging 20 buckets at the third store. When I got back I started packing the trailer with everything that was in my upstairs closet, the one that held the cotton candy machine, popcorn machine supplies, folding tables and trinkets. This meant trip after trip up and down the stairs out to the car then up to the trailer. Only a couple more things need to be hauled down tomorrow. Karin arrived before I finished so together we started cleaning tack, lots of tack.  The saddle racks were hosed down and moved in the trailer then once each saddle was done it was thrown on the rack. Mark came home a bit early and fixed the pedestal which was also loaded. Once the arena was watered, Karin started bringing in the mares for training. Ribbon was brought in first. She was due to be de-wormed and was given 2 Ivermectins. When Karin went to bring in Marika she Marika wouldn't put her left hind foot down. Karin grabbed a hoof pick and we cleaned that hoof to find an old rusty nail stuck in. When we pulled out the nail were shocked to see blood and find it almost an inch into her hoof. Marika was given a tetanus shot in November so was good on that but she needed to have her hoof washed clean, iodine applied, foot wrapped and then given 35ccs of Sulfa. She is now stalled and will probably need to stay that way for a bit and will be given Sulfa for the 7 days.  She has 5 days before she needs to be sound but more than that we are praying this heals clean. Puncture wounds are terrible and infection can fester inside so bad sometimes the horse will need to be put down.
The new 32GB camera card arrived, Darcy was listening to me mumble about hoping it worked so I snapped the picture below. She is such a good listener and never cares when I mumble.

 Later this afternoon Emily moved both trailers out of the way and started the burn pile. It was perfect burning weather, the wind had died down and rain is predicted tomorrow. The fire was warm and inviting as the sun set and the air chilled.

Tomorrow I should stop at Sam's and pick up one more 50 pound bag of popcorn. Karin picked up a 50 pound bag today along with 4 gallons of popping oil, and 2 cases of cotton candy which are all loaded into the trailer. It is NICE having so much room in the trailer.
After cleaning all that tack tonight my hands smell like Murphy's oil soap.

Zulu Chloe Update

The weather has been so nice this weekend, Mike and Diane camped at Middle Grove Friday then took a nice long trail ride. They checked over all the horses and all look well. Below they are taking a break out on one of the docks. Mike rode Mika and Diane rode Bunni.

Mom, Spark and Rhonda served lunch today in Peoria. Mike and Diane went in early to help, I came a bit later to help. All went well they had plenty of food and plenty of workers. This afternoon was our communion exhortation. Tim Funk gave it and gave all of us much to consider. Pride, believing we are always right, asking God to search our heart and reveal where we need to repent, OUCH! That hits where it hurts. This afternoon gave me a lot to pray about. After church Jessica and Emily took Jenis and Oksana out on the trails. The weather is just too nice not to ride.

 Above is Jessica asking Jenis for a rear and below Emily is thrilled Oksana stands quietly while waiting.

 Jessica let Jenis enjoy a bit of winter grass. We are anxious for spring and green grass. 

 A neat email came in from Lisa, the lady that bought Lily's 2013 colt by Valiant. She wrote: My 1st Zulu backing 2/18/16. He is doing really good. He was gelded in January. We had to put it off until the weather got cooler (less flies, swelling etc) Love him! Today is his 2nd birthday! ~Lisa

He is such a gorgeous 2 year old. Thanks Lisa for the updated pictures. Lily and Valiant are expecting again. Lily is due April 17th but usually delivers early so we will bring her home as soon as we get home from the fair. Another WONDERFUL update came in from Lori, the owner of Sally's filly by Raven named Chloe. Lori writes: Hi Judy, I thought you might wan an updated pic of Chloe. she is still as perfect as the day I bought her! She is sweet, beautiful and tall. We just love her ~ Lori  

Mark, Spark and Jake spent the afternoon at the Home Show at the Civic center. It ended at 4:00 pm and by 4:45 pm Mark was home. Take down went great.

Profiling Bunni and Sally

This post is actually a blast from the past. We found out we needed a gaited horse all because of Diane, my main Horsemeister partner. She had been having hip problems and wasn't able to walk but could ride horses. Her mare to ride was Grace, our big Thoroughbred mare but soon even riding Grace was starting to hurt too much. In 2007 we decided to look into Tennessee Walkers scouring the internet for decent trail horse, mare and of course black as we knew we wanted to breed the mare to Raven. Mike found a lady selling 2 mares in Perryville, MO. We decided we would like Bunni, the younger mare, but the owner balked at our price offer. After checking over the other mare she had for sale we offered to buy them both, doubling our offer and that was accepted.
Mike and Diane drove down to Missouri  April 28th, 2007 to pay for them and bring them back. Bunni loaded and stood well, Sally was a nervous wreck, dancing around the trailer the entire trip back. Sally was born April 1st, 2001 making her 6 years old while Bunni was born March 28th, 2003 making her 4. Both mares were 15.3 hands and both black.
They were both bred to Raven in 2007. Bunni produced a big black colt April 23rd, 2008. This colt was born at Bridlewood during an afternoon and the colt needed to be pulled. Bud had arrived with a load of feed and jumped right in to help.
This was taken before I had a good video camera so please excuse the low quality. The colt was a cutie.

 They were moved to Hanna City at a couple weeks old and not taken back to Bridlewood until weaning.

 He was sold before weaning then exported to Canada once weaned. 

This was the only foal we ever got from Bunni. She was bred a couple other times but the second foal died of dummy foal syndrome. The last time we tried to breed her was in 2014, she was songrammed in foal, was within 2 months of delivery but when we went to Middle Grove to bring her in right after that it was obvious she had lost the foal. Bunni has been Diane's riding horse so even though she doesn't produce we will not sell her. The first year we owned these mares Sarah and Rebekah took them on a recognized endurance ride and both were pleasantly surprised with the awards they won. One came in first and the other second. Bunni has been trail riding all over, even Colorado up in the mountains. She is very fit and can handle just about everything. One of the more unusual things Bunni did was she was lent out to Gray Horse Farm for a cowboy mounted shooting clinic and she was the horse Edwin Peterson rode.

Sally is pictured below.

Sally gave birth the first time the 4th of July 2008 to a filly we named Liberty. 

She went on to have more beautiful foals for us of which I've just posted a few:

 The filly above and below was named Chloe. Her owner Lori just sent an updated picture of her and wrote: Hi Judy, I thought you might want an updated pic of Chloe. she is still as perfect as the day I bought her! She is sweet, beautiful and tall. We just love her ~ Lori  

Chloe also exported to Canada, for some reason the Canadians love the Friesian Tennessee cross. Or it could be they just love our Friesian crosses.  By the way Both Chloe and Onyx were not bought by the same buyer, they ended up in completely different Provinces. 

Sally is a fun ride, she loves to go, loves to gallop, and is another mare on our starting line-up. We no longer breed her, she is just too valuable as a riding horse. She also went to the cowboy mounted clinic where she was fast and accurate. Her rider was Rand Peterson and he and Sally were the fastest at the clinic.

We feel very blessed to be able to own both of these mares.

Bathing Horses

My mind was still on vacation last night. I went to bed without preparing the coffee, woke up at 4:45 am and thought, "Oh good the coffee should be ready by 5:00" until reality sunk in, if I don't make the coffee there will be no coffee. I won't be making that mistake again any time soon.
We had a busy day this beautiful Feb 27th, 2016. Walter is stalled until Tuesday so he needed to be fed and watered. His water bucket was dumped and on the ground and he was thirsty. I filled 2 buckets, gave him the hay Emily had prepared, a scoop of grain then left the barn. A couple hours later Mark needed some help taking the solar panels outside as Tim and Bill offered to help. When I arrived in the barn to help him Walter had dumped both water buckets.
A bright red cardinal came to visit this morning. He probably stopped by to see if we would feed him like mom does but that doesn't happen here. If I'm going to buy feed it is going to be dog, horse or human.

 On the way back up to the barn Ribbon and Ayanna were sacked out sound asleep in the warm sunshine. I had to check to make sure they were breathing they were so still.

Karin had 2 trail rides scheduled today. The first at 10:30 am and the second at 1:00 pm. Bethany and Bill arrived late last night and wanted to ride. Well Bethany did, Bill said he would only ride if we gave him a big horse! Now which horse do you think Karin had ready for Bill after hearing that request?
You guessed it, Ribbon! That meant the sleeping mares needed to wake up.

Karin pulled in Jenis, Marika, Eliza, Zalena, Indy, Ribbon, Ayanna and Anna for the first trail ride. She had 10 wanting to ride so 2 of the horses were ridden double.  Rodney took Ava for a bit on Eliza then Ava was moved to Bethany who was riding Jenis.

  Bill went double with Mackenson on Ribbon. Above is the group heading out and below is the group after the trail ride. 

 Those that wanted to took their horses into the field for a fun gallop. Below is Ayanna with Karin.

 Hannah and Anna had a ball racing with Indy and Anna. 

 Bethany had to show us a rear with Jenis. 

 Ribbon is all stretched out at a gallop with Bill.

To see the rest of that trail ride pictures click HERE. 

We left the horses tied up in the arena so we could get the hot water heater hooked up to get some of the dried mud off these 8. Karin brought each mare to the water heater while I soaked the bad spots. That water heater works great. The hot water dissolves the mud balls right off the feather and the mud clumps off too. 

 Jesse Stickling showed up just as we were finishing up.  He decided to ride Zalena bareback.

 Karin talked him into using the bareback pad for the trails. 

 He was able to trot and canter her without losing his balance on this ride. 

Tim finished up tightening the screws on the solar panel's once Bill left on the trail ride.

All the panels are up now, Mark just needs to hook up all the wires and this first batch will be ready to start producing electricity. Mark would like to put up 16 more panels but has to earn some more money first. Maybe next year for the next set. He, Spark and Jake were down at the civic center for the home show showcasing these solar systems, heat pumps, air conditioners and furnaces. He got home late tonight, will go back tomorrow afternoon then tear down at 4:00 pm. They were busy today talking to lots of people. Mom left for church early this morning for church cleaning then lunch set up. She and Rhonda are giving lunch tomorrow. Mom said there was a big group for cleaning and once it was done many stayed to help set up. What servant hearts we have in Peoria. I have to take my last trip up to the barn right now to feed and water Walter then will hit the sack. 

Fair Schedule

We had a beautiful sunny WARM morning. Mark walked but I had to spend our last morning laying by the pool reading. We had an uneventful flight and made it home just a little after 5:00 pm. The dogs were happy to see us. The schedule was sent for the IL Horse Fair.  All times are approximate. We will be busy.

Friday's schedule:
10:30 am  Evan and Rhoda for the Liberty class in the coliseum
11:00 am  Vaulters for the breed and sport demo in the livestock center
3:30 pm  Evan and Rhoda for the stallion parade in the livestock center
5:20 pm  Friesian play for the breed and sport demo in the coliseum.
Saturday's schedule:
9:15 am Friesians in the livestock center for judging
1:00 pm  Evan and Rhoda for the stallion parade in the livestock center
1:00 pm Ribbon needs to be in the annex building across from the (lc) for draft conformation
2:30 pm  Evan and Rhoda for the liberty class in the coliseum
2:55 pm  Vaulters for the breed and sport demo in the coliseum
4:00 pm  Friesian play for the breed and sport demo in the coliseum
Sunday's schedule:
10:00 am Friesians play for the breed and sport demo in the coliseum
10:40 am Vaulters for the breed and sport demo in the coliseum
12:15 pm Evan and Rhoda for the stallion parade in the livestock center
2:00 pm Evan and Rhoda for the liberty class in the coliseum

It looks like I'll be running all over video taping. It will be hard for me to have time to visit with people about the horses, pop popcorn and make cotton candy. Me thinks me needs two of me. Good thing we have a lot of helpers coming.

Farmer's Market

Today was the a big day for Old Engelwood Town. Each Wednesday evening the vendors start setting up booths and tents and on Thursday the town is flooded with people flocking for bargains. It was like the first day of the Spoon River Drive at home. If only if only I'd had my cotton candy and popcorn machine. I'd of fit right in hawking my delicious wares. Right after breakfast Mark and I struggled to find a parking place so we could visit,then ended up blocks away and walked. Now for the record most of the customers are elderly and most of the items for sale were healthy fruits and vegetables, weird kinds of humus, all kinds of fish, fancy baked goods (all healthy of course) and lots of home made crafts. The place was packed and lots of samples were being given out. Since we didn't see a single child, there wouldn't have been much market for cotton candy but I bet the popcorn would have sold, although what good is popcorn without tons of butter and salt. Nope this wasn't the place for my wares.  It seemed most booths were doing a brisk business with a lot of people walking around the place with full sacks. This WAS the place to be!

The morning was cool with bright sunshine drawing out the crowds. We didn't buy anything, just too full from breakfast and did not want to haul anything home. By 10:00 am it was plenty warm enough to lay in the sunshine by the pool. That doesn't interest Mark at all so he went for a walk and by the time he got back a couple hours later had put 17,200 steps on his fitbit.
Even though we are on vacation we still answer the phone and by noon Walter was spoken for. The buyer is arriving Tuesday morning with cash and a trailer to haul him to his new home in Alabama. He won't be marked sold though until the cash is in hand and he is on the way. That phone call meant I had to call Emily, have her run out to Middle Grove to pick him up and call the vet clinic to schedule an appointment for a travel certificate. When Emily answered the phone she and Rhoda were out working horses. They had just finished with Rosaleigh and Roxanne and had started with Oksana and Evan. Rhoda snapped a few pictures on her phone and emailed them to me so I could share them here.

 Above Emily is asking Oksana for an extended trot and below they are on the 'death trails' crossing a creek. It looks like Ruby, Rhoda's dog, was having a good time following.

Once Evan and Oksana were put away these two amazing, sweet, talented, helpful ladies drove to Middle Grove and picked up Walter.

Rhoda said he loaded up quietly but danced a bit in the trailer when he found out he was leaving the herd and traveling by himself.
For dinner tonight we drove back to Howard's and arrived in time to try their early bird menu. I ordered the 6 oz sirloin while Mark ordered the broiled haddock. Both meals came with vegetables, choice of potato or rice and both of us also got the salad bar for an extra $2.50. Below is my meal.

Our bill came to $29.00 plus tip and was delicious. After dinner we came back to the apartment and watched the movie Noble on Mark's i-pad. This was a true story of an Irish girl named Christine Noble who had a dream as a child that she was going to go to Vietnam to take care of the orphans and street children and how that dream became reality. It was a very good uplifting movie.

Tornado

Our weather went from yesterday's bright sunshine to clouds this morning but no rain. We had another good breakfast at Maria's then went to Lemon Bay Park to hike more trails as rain was due to move in by 10:00 am. Well we hiked the 3 mile trail and before we got back the rain started. We were reasonably close to the trail head when the first sprinkles hit and by the time we got in the car the rain was coming down in earnest. We decided to sit out in the screened in patio to watch the rain when the tornado sirens started, the phone's emergency alert sounded and the wind started screaming at us. We stayed out on the patio watching the trees extreme bending and waving and weren't too worried until the trees started bending the other direction then swirling around. The rain was coming down in sheets slamming into the roofs of the near by houses. By 1:00 pm the storm was over. Later we heard about the terrible tornadoes that hit here in Florida and Louisanna.  After being cooped up for those few hours we decided to walk into town, about a mile trip.This egret lives in the neighborhood walking from house to house asking for handouts.

 We were distracted by signs of another park so took a detour. We came upon this HUGE cactus. My mom use to have one of these growing on the marble windowsill in the dining room but it wasn't near this big. This one was at least 15 feet tall.

 

About a half mile down the road is the brand new veterans park, a very nice facility out on a point with a great view. A little farther down we came to a park that wasn't advertised. Because of the rain the park was closed but the docks were still opened. A lone pelican was sitting on one just waiting for a fisherman to come along willing to share.

We walked a couple miles and came to Indian Mound Park. This park is surrounded by water on 3 sides then a road leads to town from the 4th side.

A lot of the park was under water. We watched the gulls and sand pipers from the comfortable benches at the edge of the water. On the way back we heard then saw the big trucks with mulching trailers on the back cleaning up the debris from the storm. Just as we got back into town the rain started back up but it really only sprinkled until we made it back to the apartment. All in all today we walked 6.77 miles today. This evening we drove to another highly rated restaurant for dinner called Howards. This restaurant also lived up to the ratings. We arrived shortly after 5:15 and had a tough time finding a parking place. We were told the wait would be 15 to 20 minutes but within a few minutes we were seated. They have an extensive menu but the special today was all you can eat haddock that came with sweet potato fries and the salad bar for $15.00. The meal was delicious.
We made it home in plenty of time to listen in on Peoria church. Tim Roecker had the service. Another good day.
Berean news: Marie had a car accident bringing the lunch yesterday. I don't believe she was hurt but the lunch was ruined. Not that lunch is more important than her car but I didn't hear how the car fared.  Diane and Anni worked on typing in the letters today to have the labels printed for tomorrow. The Bibles had not yet arrived but Diane is hopeful they will be there by tomorrow.
No horse news today so all must be well at home.