NoBodyKnows

I had a lady email wanting to come to see Serenity but they want her for an upper level vaulting horse. They want to vault at the canter. Nope Serenity would not be suitable for that job no matter how nicely she canters. The last time we sold a riding horse instead of a foal was when we sold Sunny and at that point we decided never again would we do that. We had so many people come to "try him out" but were really just wanting a free ride. Karin was getting disgruntled after about the 20th time. Thankfully a past customer, Cynthia, expressed interest and ended up buying him. NoBodyKnows the trouble we've seen (That could be a song...but fits here) of having to stop work, tack up the horse spend an hour or sometimes a LOT of hours watching them try him out only to hear later, we decided we would like to come try him again and this time we want to bring my cousins kids, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and oh yes about 10 friends want to come to and by the way would  you mind tacking up a few of your Friesians and taking us all on a trail ride so we see how he does on trails?
This morning was kind of frustrating at the Berean office. The equipment was malfunctioning. To read about our morning there click HERE.
As soon as I got home the Exiss trailer was backed between the 2 buildings the ramp let down and the back doors opened then mares and foals loaded. Jewel and Sangria along with their fillies were taken back to Middle Grove. Jewel can now stay as she is confirmed in foal, Sangria will need to come back in a couple weeks to be bred to Valiant. Jenis was brought in a stall for her grain. Roxanne, Eliza and her colt were let out in the big field to graze while I made the Middle Grove trip. When I got back all three were standing in the stall barn enjoying the shade. That made it easy to put the horses away. Rosalie and her filly were let out and the stalls cleaned. The weanlings were fed and each was led around and hooves picked up. Star's filly was again led into the barn and tied to pick up her hooves as a reminder.
We had a nice evening at church tonight.

She's a Week Old

Early this morning the feeding was done then the weanlings water tank was dumped and in the process of being filled when the rain started. That meant no walk today because by 7:25 rain was coming down in sheets. By the time the rain stopped we had another inch on the ground. The fields are now soaked. I left for the Berean office just after 8:00 am. To read about our morning there click HERE.
When I arrived home the sun had come out so Rosalie and her week old filly were taken out to graze in the big field. Below are a few pictures. She had a ball galloping around her mom then flopping down for a nap.

Eliza and her colt were taken out to graze with them. Eliza's colt was very curious about this new little filly. He was staring at her in the picture below.  He is so handsome and must know it as he is always posing for the camera. What a neck!

The horses had to be supervised as the fence between the field and the corn field is down in spots. Either a tractor hit it or something ran through it. The field was too wet though to drive the equipment back to start working on it.
This evening Mark worked on the golf cart repairing the back seat.

Jewel Pregnant

Dr. Hoerr arrived at the farm around 9:45 am giving me time to walk with the ladies, eat a nice breakfast and bring in the mares for ultrasounds. We had good news and bad news today. The good news was Jewel conceived and is due July 15th, 2017. She is a wonderful mom and produces tall babies that have the most expressive movement and sweet loving dispositions.

The sire of her expected 75% Friesian foal is Evan.

The bad news was that Sangria did not conceive. We bred her to Neo, Chery Thompson's big Andalusian stallion and were hopeful but it just wasn't meant to be. We will send her out to Middle Grove with Jewel then bring her back in a couple weeks and just cover her with Valiant. Rhoda really wanted a replacement for Sangria and was hoping for a filly but since this is almost September and we have wasted most of this summer trying it is time to give up and just breed her back to a Friesian. It really is inconvenient trying to use someone else's stallion.

The next job was to draw blood from the 5 foals now being weaned. Zalena's filly, Adara, was the first one but only because she came right up to Dr. Hoerr to see what he was holding. He took one look at her and exclaimed, "now that's a nice foal!"

Adara didn't even flinch when he stuck the needle in. Lola's filly, April,

was next and she too stood well. Ayanna's colt, Caspian, on the other hand took one look at that needle and tried to throw himself backward.

Dr. Hoerr just calmed him down and within a minute had the blood drawn and the needle out. Sheena's colt, Capricho, was perfect not moving at all

and then came Star's filly Austara,

Oh my was she worried, she was very suspicious of Dr. Hoerr and was sure he was going to do something awful. I'm amazed at how quickly Dr. Hoerr finds the vein when he is holding a scared filly. After Dr. Hoerr left, Austara (Tara for short) was taken out of the round pen, led into the stall, tied and all 4 hooves picked up a few times until she stood quietly and lifted them each time asked. She also led quietly back to the round pen. I need to do that with each foal before they leave.

In the mail today came the registration papers for Sangria's filly, Soul's filly, Sheena's colt and Eliza's colt. We are still waiting on Indy's filly which should arrive soon. We will send the last batch of 5 after the last 2 deliver which would be Jewel's filly, Marika's colt, Rosalie's filly, Ribbon's expected foal and Oksana's expected foal. 

Tonight 9 more foal halters were ordered, we need to send each foal with a halter but I don't want to give up the halters I'm using on them now. These are suppose to fit a 500 pound horse which is pretty much what these babies weigh when they leave. 

Sunday at Grandma's

My day started at 4:30 am to get the parade and vaulting pictures up and posted and by daylight they were. Mark wasn't feeling well so decided not to go to church and infect anyone. Mom and I drove together. We had a good day there. Our church family is such a blessing, well really our church is such a blessing to our family.
This afternoon I was so tempted to take a nap but the kids were coming over for dinner so instead of napping the house was straightened up and the meal started. We actually ate over at mom's house as David and Stephanie brought their new baby girl Elisabet out and we didn't want her by any of Mark's germs. Dennis and Gertie joined us for dessert. After dinner came more fun.

 Above is Elisabet and below are Riley, Israel and Elisabet. Riley Jane is Rebekah and Brian's baby and the two little girls are just 2 days apart.

 With Jay and Tara's four daughters, Phil and Anna's 3 daughters and Joan's daughter the girls WAY out numbered the boys this evening. Below Mom came out to visit with Spark who was holding his grandson Ezra.

 Below is Rebekah and her 2 children Jordan and Riley

 The volley ball games were fast furious and fun. We actually spend more time visiting than watching but some of the volleys go on so long with slams, digs and blocks we all stop talking and watch just to see who wins.

Hans and Mandy came out to ride Missy and Cookie, no pictures of them riding but their son had a good time feeding the 5 weanlings.

 He was practically surrounded by babies.  

Hannah's Parade

This post is ALL about Saturday. The day was so full of activities that by the time everything was over we all went straight to bed.
Saturday started at 4:45 am for me, it was still pouring down rain but there was stuff to do inside like bring all the parade candy down and pile it by the door then take the golf cart into the barn and start decorating it. By the time the morning was light enough to see the muck boots were put on and the tromp across the dam to get the mares had to be made in the rain and mud. We received another inch and a half of rain during the night and everything was a sloppy mess. For some reason the mares will not come into the paddocks. I am thinking we might have a hornet nest and the mares got stung but haven't found one. Jenis was a nervous wreck walking her through the paddock sure she was going to be attacked. She was taken into the stall and looked over well. I found places she had bumps so it may be she was attacked a few days ago.
Karin arrived to start bathing horse. Emily helped hook the Exiss trailer up to the truck. The trailer was cleaned out and the golf cart loaded and taken to Mike's office in Hanna City and left then the trailer taken back to the farm for the horses. The ramp on that trailer is so handy.
Karin had the mares ready to load and we were on our way by 9:00 am. Jessica was given the camera and took the parade pictures as I was busy with the golf cart and the manure fork just in case any of the horses left something one doesn't want to step in. The crowd was already starting to claim spots at the curb as we were lining up.

Below Karin is giving the pirates instructions in the bank parking lot where we are the last in line. For some reason the parade officials always want us to go last. It could be no one wants to take a chance of stepping into something nasty.

As long as we were in the bank parking Jack Sparrow decided to trade in some of his gold (plastic) coins. The bank receptionist at first looked a little incredulous but then played right along and exclaimed the exchange rate would be a dummy sucker or some smarties.

 Jack felt that was pretty fair,

and promptly gave his booty out to the vaulters.

The parade went very well.

To see the rest of the pictures of the parade click HERE.

Next came the performance at the Hanna City park where the parade ended and the carnival was suppose to begin although there were no carnival rides this year.

To see the rest of the vaulting pictures click HERE. As soon as the vaulting finished the horses were taken back to the farm then the golf cart picked up. From there the truck and trailer were taken to Middle Grove to pick up Jewel, Sangria and their fillies as Monday morning Dr. Hoerr is coming here for ultrasounds. I made it back from there, unloaded the horses, cleaned stalls, fed and ran in to shower before driving over to Ruth and Fedi's for the a ride to the Berean Banquet. That was kind of funny as Fedi drives us to jail. We didn't want to go to jail we wanted to go to the banquet which was being held at 5 Points in Washington. We arrived in plenty of time, found the 3 tables we needed got everyone situated easily before the banquet began.

There was a nice turnout of people all here to support this ministry. A wonderful group called Living Waters sang for us. 

The featured speaker was Manny Mill and he was LOUD. He has an extremely interesting history and is very involved in prison ministry. He talked about the importance of prayer.

It was late when we got home and instead of changing out of my Sunday clothes I just drove straight to the barn to feed and water Rosalie one last time but while there decided I may as well clean the stall up a bit. Emily and Daneilla walked in as I was cleaning Rosalie's stall in my Sunday clothes. Hopefully I can find something else to wear to church this morning. 

Game Night At Ruth's

Anna dropped off the Taegan and Kensley to spend the day with grandma. Taegan was such a good little helper for only 3 years old. She helped with the feeding, the stalls, and cleaning the house. Around 9:30 am Mark called to report he would need to go to Indianapolis and would I come with him to drive. Well Gertie was called and she agreed to keep the girls so the horses were fed quick and the dogs let out then off to Meisters I drove only to get there and find he had sent someone else but forgot to call me off. So it was back to Gertie's to pick up the girls. We had a fun day here even though it rained off and on most of the day.
Mark came home with about a half hour to spare before we needed to head over to Ruth and Fedi's house for supper and games. He worked on filling pot holes, a never ending job with all the rain we have been having this year. Cheryl Grassi's office had a luncheon today for all their workers and she brought the left overs for us.

The meal was delicious. After the meal we all went out to see the teeter-totter Fedi made for their playground equipment. Of course mom had to try it out.

 Back inside the kids were fascinated with Fedi's snake. 

We played games until almost 10:00 pm. Ruth's house was loud with laughter. A big thanks to Cheryl for providing the food and a big thanks to Ruth and Fedi for hosting. When I got home I ran to the barn to feed and water Rosalie for the last time tonight and discovered the hose had been left on full blast between the 2 barns flooding the entire area. The vaulters must have left it running after their practice. I hate to see that bill and will probably need to take it out of the vaulting fund.

Lots of Rain

We were awakened at 12:30 am by a huge crash of thunder. About that time Emma came crashing into our room and tried to climb on the bed. Thankfully our bed is too high for her to get all the way on. A 171 pound English Mastiff plus Mark and I would make that bed way to crowded. She was taken into the family room to watch the storm and I marveled at the amount of rain pounding down. Then I overslept not waking until 6:30 am. That meant I had to rush the chores feeding and watering all those weanlings plus Rosalie and cleaning stalls. The filly is doing great. It was 7:15 by the time Mark got his breakfast then I had to take off at a run to make the walk. This morning the rain gauge showed over an inch and a half with more expected. Thankfully it wasn't raining during our walk. I only got in one round again though as I needed to pick up the mail at TEMCO and be at the Berean office by 9:00 am. We had a really good day there today. To read about our morning click HERE. Rhoda was here when I got home, she had all 5 weanlings in the round pen and had started cleaning stalls. Oh how wonderful it was to have help with that today. Those weanlings trash their stalls worse than any big horse. The camera was taken out to get a few pictures for the weanlings owners.

 April is in front then left to right is Tara, Adara, Capricho and Caspian in the picture above. Below is Adara and Capricho.

 They ran around then all stopped to get a drink. They were funny with that tank though Caspian kept trying to crawl into the tank. By this evening there was a big puddle in front of the tank. 

 Below is a picture of Zalena's filly named Adara. She is the only one in this bunch not sold yet. She is a purebred Friesian filly by Valiant. She has great movement, is very fancy and will be tall. She is for sale for only $8000.00.

 Next we brought out Rosalie and her 2 day old filly by Evan. The sun was shining too bright to leave them out long but we got some cute pictures for a lady interested in purchasing her. She is also for sale for $5500.00. She is 7/8ths Friesian 1/8th warmblood but will look and act 100% Friesian.

 Once they were put away Rhoda and I stripped the foal stalls and added new bedding. As there was still time before Rhoda needed to leave she pulled out Serenity. Serenity has been at another barn for the last year and we wanted to see if she remembered her training.

 She did ok, not as good as we expected but not terrible. If she had a consistent rider she would be marvelous. Today she was looking for something to spook at but each time she thought of it Rhoda made her work just a little harder until she settled down and realized she needed to behave.

Rhoda asked her to bow and was pleased that she remembered that. While Rhoda was riding I was busy weeding the arena. With the tremendous amounts of rain we have had the grass is growing in the arena. Thankfully it pulls out easy. The grass is also growing in the yards but tonight those got mowed. We had two loads of gravel dumped today. Mark got the skid steer out and started filling pot holes and adding gravel to the drives until the rain started back up again. The last job tonight was to give Mark a hair cut. Even that is growing.

Pictures For Owners

We cut our walk short giving me time for breakfast before heading in to the Berean office. To read about our morning there click HERE.
Once I got home and took care of the weanlings, Rosalie and her new filly the camera was taken out for updated pictures of Capricho (Sheena x Valiant) for his owner.

This owner actually bought 2 of our foals, Sheena's colt and Ayanna's colt and both will be picked up the middle of September. Above is Sheena's colt and Below is Ayanna's colt.

Both boys are sharing a stall as they are both being weaned. Last night all 5 weanlings were in the same stall but Ayanna's colt is bigger than the rest and was picking on the girls so the colts were separated from the fillies this morning. This afternoon there was much less calling and by tonight they were all quiet and glad to see me. All 5 are eating and drinking well.
Rosalie's filly is doing well too. She was running around her mom bucking this evening. No pictures of that, it was just too dark in the stall but here are a few from yesterday. Rosalie is in love with her.

 Below she was trying to scratch her face but wasn't quite getting the job done. 

 She is curious and brave for such a tiny filly. By the way she will easily catch up in size with the other foals and over take them when older as her mom is so huge. 

Mark drove to church tonight with Ruth, mom and I. Tim Funk had the service. I sure appreciate our Wednesday evening service, it is good to be there, good to sit under the sound of the Word and good to visit with everyone after the service.