Rosaleigh & Roxanne

We had a light mail day at the Berean office. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. It was so light that Ruth and I got tomorrow's work done too, all by 1:00 pm.
As soon as I got home the golf cart was taken over to the cabin field and Bunni, Mika and Sally were taken over, loaded into the horse trailer and driven out to Middle Grove. We are leaving Missy and Cookie here so the kids can get some riding in on them. The herd was up on top of the hill of the summer pasture when I arrived and it was quite a hike to get to them. The first job when I arrived was to check over the foals. They have been out there now for 5 days and have settled in wonderfully.  Below Lola is having a good roll in a mud puddle. Most of the puddles have dried up but this one still had some standing water and perfect mud for covering the coat. These horses know that mud keeps the flies from biting through.  That is Lily behind her. She had just rolled.

 Ayanna's colt and Star's filly came right up to greet me. 

 Ayanna's colt looked halfway clean until I saw the other side. He found out it is FUN to roll in the mud, his other side was plastered. 

 Star's filly had not rolled, she is just too feminine to get dirty. 

 Below is Zalena and her filly by Valiant. This filly is quite different from Zalena's 2015 filly by Evan. That filly was independent, bold and bossy. This filly is more timid and has learned to stick close to her mom so she doesn't get lost. She is a very fancy Friesian filly and will be more sport type than Ayanna's colt. 

 Ribbon will be picked up tomorrow from Middle Grove. Karin will be meeting me out there at 9:00 am and help get Ribbon, Sangria and Ella.

 Sangria is due June 12th and needs to come home to be under observation. She usually goes 10 days late but I don't want to take a chance of missing the birth. 

 You can see the favorite rolling spot behind Lola and April. There is still enough water in this puddle to make splashing lots of fun. 

 Lily has 10 more days out here before we will need to bring her home for an ultrasound. If she is confirmed in foal she will be going to Ralph and Jamie's house for a month so they can work with Joanna. 

Rosaleigh and Roxanne didn't want to leave the herd and didn't lead very well down the hill. I felt like I had to drag them both then when we got to the trailer Rosaleigh decided she didn't want to get in. I know the first thing I'm going to be working on with her tomorrow. She WILL load when I'm done with her. It really didn't take more than 10 minutes but we expect our horses to walk right in. They were put in Raven's old paddock for the night. Tomorrow one of  them will be moved into Galena's paddock so we can start teasing.  

So SO Sad

We took a phone call on Saturday that a mare Evan covered last year had given birth to a big strong colt some time in the early morning. Unfortunately this was a maiden mare and she delivered out in their pasture then ran away and left the colt. Later that morning they found the colt in the wrong pasture brought it up to the mom and they were shocked when the mom wouldn't let him any where near her. The colt lived for 2 days then suddenly got weak and died yesterday. The owner sent the video below of the colt:

THIS is why we monitor maiden mares for their first birth, why we make ourselves extra work putting them in the stall at night before they are due, closely watching their udders and testing the milk sometimes for days. If we are there when the mare gives birth and bring the foal up to the mom's face before she gets up she sniffs, then licks and instinct kicks in. Even after that we still won't trust that a maiden mare will allow the foal to suckle and stick around waiting and watching (sometimes for hours) when all we want to do is crash into a nice soft warm bed. We have seen maiden mares so worried about their foal that they won't let them out of sight and keep whirling facing the foal instead of letting the foal reach under to nurse. In this case we have someone hold the head of the mare not allowing her to move while someone else brings the foal over to the correct end. Once the foal actually nurses again instinct kicks in. We stay and watch the foal try a second time if the mare stands still for that, ah finally bed time for us.
We didn't just KNOW all of this we LIVED this.  Our very first purebred Friesian foal was rejected. Jenis delivered her first foal out in the pasture and rejected it. I found the poor thing the next morning and was shocked when Jenis would not let her near and kicked me as she was trying to kick the foal. Dr. Hoerr was called, he gave us all the information we needed to get Jenis to accept the foal but after a few hours I gave up and hauled the 2 of them to UofI. They hobbled her back legs and kept a student in with them 24 hours a day, after 4 days they still didn't trust her 100% but told us she was no longer trying to kill the filly. About then the filly came down with an umbilical cord infection and the vets there felt we should have surgery to remove the umbilicus. These 2 stayed at UofI for a little more than a week but at the end we had a live filly and a mare that would care for her. The only other time we had this happen I was better prepared and had plenty of help. This time it was a young mare who delivered 3 weeks early. The mare delivered in the paddock then left the poor thing. He was strong, up and walking when we found him and probably a 3 or 4 hours old. We kept someone in the stall with them 24 hours a day, each time the foal got up to nurse the mare was tied, if she tried to kick she was yelled at and threatened and if she persisted she was yelled at and walloped. After a few hours the foal would get up and head over, she would pin her ears and we would raise our hand and yell a long loud drawn out, "Nooooo" and she would stand ok but it took about 3 days before we felt we could trust her to totally accept the colt. I can still remember the relief the first time she couldn't see him and was worried about him. It was only because of our big helpful family we did not have to take them to UofI which saved thousands.

Memorial Day

Even though this today is a holiday work still needed to be done. Eliza was covered early this morning by Valiant.
We started with a big breakfast here for some of the campers but Rachel fed the bulk of the campers at her house and when I say campers I'm using the term loosely. Most of us had houses and beds to sleep in. After breakfast Braelyn and Taegan were taken out to the barn to tack up a couple horses for a riding lesson. When we walked into the barn there was a big black snake right where we would tie up the horses. Of course we had to catch it.

We talked Braelyn into letting her daddy let the snake go in the garden. We finally did get around to the horses but with a big beautiful fascinating snake around it was hard to get their attention back.

 Mike and Karin went out early to start working on the 'death trails' making them safe for the scheduled afternoon trail ride.

 Mark is installing hydrants that are hooked up to the pond behind the barns. We will be able to use pond water to water the arena's when it is all hooked up. Below he is digging the holes for the hydrants.

We were down enjoying the beach when Jessica and Rachel came rowing over. Anni had organized a scavenger hunt and these two were coming over to look for clues.

 Mom was enjoying the fishing until Studley came and scared them all away. 

 The girls were glad to see Molly

 These three had lots of fun on the beach here and the goose ranch today. 

 Noel came over to see the puppies

 Marie brought Justine and Timmy over to swim, Justin raked the arena then worked on cleaning up the moss in the lake. Spark thought he looked like some kind of sea monster. 

 Justin and Timmy

 Below Jenis is waiting to be tacked up for the afternoon trail ride. 

 The other horses used were Mika, Bunni, Sally, Missy and Cookie.

 A bunch of the group went to the Goose Ranch for volley ball and when they came back they couldn't get in the lake fast enough. It was just plain HOT, but the volley ball games were fun. 

 Below Mike is taking a group out on the trails. 

 Company for the puppies

 After supper Frisbee and football were played at the playground

 The trampoline got some good use today. 

 Joan got a bunch of fishing poles at a garage sale. She spent the evening fixing them up for the kids so lots of fishing went on this evening. Joan caught some big crappies tonight but threw them all back. The lake is still recovering for the winter of 2014.

 More visitors for the puppies. 

 Before the sun set I knew that Galena must be covered, Mike was busy so I asked Ruth if she wouldn't mind helping and it was a good thing I had help. Galena would have broken another halter if Ruth hadn't been holding the lead rope. She just got spooked when Valiant went up. Thankfully she listened to Ruth and then stood.  Once that was done we headed back to enjoy the camp fire. Below Sarah and Joan are sitting around the camp fire. 

We had another fun filled LONG day. We will all need to go back to work to rest up.

Beautiful Day for a Wedding

We had lots of visitors in our Peoria church today as today was Andrea Leuthold's wedding. Ron Kipfer from Bluffton had the morning service and when he was done speaking I was truly humbled. The minister that had the afternoon wedding service had an amazing service. What an awesome God we serve. We had a beautiful day for this wedding, bright sunshine, low humidity and a high of 84 degrees.
After church the weekend fun schedule was going strong but before I could join in Galena needed to be covered by Valiant. I noticed yesterday she was interested but used Valiant on Eliza. Mark helped with Galena as she was a maiden mare.

Praying she settles on this cycle. By the time she was put away a group was already out swimming off mom's beach. The swim suit was thrown on and the afternoon was spent on a raft out on the lake joined by mom and Diane. After an hour or two of bright sunshine mom, Nancy and I took the golf cart around the new trails. Mom had never been on them and we did some exploring in places we probably shouldn't have gone. One of the tires picked up a thorn and was losing air but I didn't know it until the second trip around the trails. Diane, Ruth and Mike ended up walking back while I took the golf cart back to the house. Hopefully I can find the hole and fix the flat tomorrow. Karin picked up 100 pieces of chicken for our dinner tonight. Everyone else threw in the sides and desserts. The food was great. After dinner the volley ball games started up and were very entertaining to watch. The volleys went on and on, each side slamming and the other some how digging it out and over. Karin gave Ava and Faith a bareback lesson on Missy and Cookie in the round pen. I didn't even take the camera out today so Karin snapped the picture below and emailed it.  We love starting the young riders bareback, it really helps them learn to balance. usually though they wear a few more clothes than swim suits.

Ruth and I took Nancy home and by the time we got back the campfire was burning brightly and the bacon waiting to be cooked. We had a beautiful day, bright sunshine, warm but not humid and perfect for the many activities and to think we are going to do it all over again tomorrow.

Camping Trip Cancelled

We decided to move the horse camping to mom's lake. She has such a nice beach but the real reason was the weather. Storms were predicted. Thankfully they held off until the last ride was just finishing up. No camp fire tonight but the rest of the day was a blast. To see the pictures (and there are a lot) click HERE.
I'll let the pictures tell the stories, we are exhausted from our long day of playing outside.
Early this morning Lily and her filly Joanna were taken out to Middle Grove and Bunni and Mika were brought back here for the scheduled trail rides today. When I got back Eliza was covered by Valiant today. She is now in her foal heat. We had lots of visitors today.
A new Evan son was born, the owner sent the picture below. They said he is a big strong colt.

Eliza's Colt SOLD, Ayanna, Lola, Star, Zalena Pregnant

The phone call came during our walk this morning. Paula is buying Eliza's colt. As Paula is in Lithuania right now, her husband will send the check. He is still in the states. It actually was good that she decided this morning, I had 4 texts and emails of people wanting to buy him. Karin arrived in time to help bring the mares in before Dr. Hoerr arrived. We had him check Honey first and it was a good thing he did. Honey was in the process of ovulating but her uterus had free floating fluid. This is NOT a good thing. Her owner was called and Dr. Hoerr told her step by step what needed to be done then did it. It seems each time Dr. Hoerr comes he has his arm stuck where the sun don't shine.

The next mare sonagrammed was Jenis. She had just ovulated so we will wait a couple weeks to short cycle then breed her.  Lily was next and she had a 52 mm folicle and was ready to be covered. Ayanna, Star, Lola and Zalena were all confirmed in foal. All 4 are due in April next year. Ayanna the 16th, Star the 17th, Lola the 19th and Zalena the 23rd. They were loaded up and taken to Middle Grove. Karin took the video below on her phone of the herd coming at a gallop to meet us.

That looks like quite a herd but what is shocking is there are 19 here at the Hanna City farm. When they all get together and run can you imagine the thunder of the pounding hoof beats as they gallop through up and down the hills of Middle Grove. We brought Missy, Cookie and Bunni home for the weekend and will pick up Mika and Sally tomorrow morning. A bale was put in Raven's old paddock and the riding horses put there. Sangria will need to come home when we take the riding horses back. She is due June 12th and looks just huge. You can see her at the very end of the video.
Lily was covered by Valiant. Eliza is now in her foal heat and will be covered tomorrow morning by Valiant. We decided to breed her back the same way, her colt really is 'that nice!'
As soon as I was done with chores here a trip to Sams and Aldi's was next on the list. We needed lots of groceries for this coming weekend. We are planning on lots of family, camp fires, horse back rides, volley ball games, swimming, fishing, canoeing and fun. Lots of fun.

Cousins

We had an amazing morning at the Berean office, voting today most productive. To read about our morning click HERE.
As soon as I got home, Eliza and her colt were hosed off put inside. The day was hot and muggy and Eliza was obviously uncomfortable. Honey, Camille's mare was showing big time. She was taken out and covered by Valiant. She shouldn't be in but I don't want to take a chance on missing her again. Dr. Hoerr is coming tomorrow for ultrasounds. Her owner was contacted to see if we could schedule one for her too. The cost is just $40.00 and well worth it for us to know exactly what is going on with her. Spark, Rhonda, John, Diane and I left to meet Mike, Dort, Skip, Pat, Eddie and Dana for dinner tonight in Tremont.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening visiting and singing but probably over stayed our welcome. It was just so hard to leave.