Preparing for the Spoon River Drive

The weather today mirrored my attitude, gloomy, damp and dripping tears. I know this was just a horse,  just a brand new colt that never even got the chance to nurse. I wish the loss wouldn't bother me but unfortunately I have a good memory and remember each foal we have ever lost. It just that we work hard to make sure the mare is pregnant and stays pregnant for almost a year then to lose the foal at birth and to know it wasn't a still born is awful. Especially if it could have been prevented by stalling the mare. When I think of those hours that colt lay in the brambles trying to get up, scratching his head and face all up on wicked thorns and getting weaker and weaker until finally he is too weak to even lift his head then dies it truly makes me feel sick at heart.
The other foals were worked with today. Joanna was taken into a stall and groomed up then her legs and hooves handled. Sangria is in so strongly she is standing next to Valiant by herself. The other mares plus Sangria's filly were off grazing in the big field. She was covered today and finally did leave to find the herd. I'm still waiting for Rosalie to come in and now of course we will need to breed back Oksana. Both of those will be bred to Evan as Valiant is their half brother.
At 1:00 pm I left for the Old School Center with the car loaded down with the popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, all the supplies and signs. Dan met me there and opened the doors. The popcorn and cotton candy will be made inside but sold outside near the pony rides. The pony ride area was staked off and when Karin arrived the two of us put up the pony ride signs on 116 and Route 78. We charge just $2.00 for a ride and if the weather is decent usually end up with lots of customers. The popcorn and cotton candy is sold for just a ONE ($1.00) dollar. We were putting up the signs in the rain. Hope tomorrow's weather is nicer.
After supper Mark and I worked on the middle drive laying down fabric and then covering it with gravel. Well Mark used the skid steer to cover the drive with gravel while I went up to feed Eliza. It was almost pitch dark before we both came in. It was a sad day, but Habakkuk 3:17 and 18 come to mind: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:" "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Awful News

We are SO sad to report Oksana lost her foal. I've been checking her udder every day but the udder showed no sign of filling and she wasn't due until Oct 22nd so she was left out with the herd in the big field. BAD mistake, she had a big all black gorgeous colt by Evan during the night right on the side of a hillside with the field on the right and a big ravine on the left. The colt evidently got up, staggered down the ravine and got caught in brambles. Oksana tried to get to him but was not able to and we were not aware that she had given birth to help. I was not able to bring the body up out of the woods but Emily will take the tractor and chains to drag it out for burial when she gets home from school today. So many if only if only go through my mind at times like this. If only I would have stalled her, If only I would have checked on the horses during the night, If only IF ONLY!

Roxanne PREGNANT!

 Horsemeister is SO very pleased to announce Roxanne was confirmed in foal today by Dr. Hoerr's fantastic ultrasound machine.

The sire of this foal is Valiant. Below is the picture of this 6 week old embryo.

Dr. Hoerr arrived this morning in a bus. Yes a cool bus.

 He has his vet stuff and meds all organized in the very back and a vet office complete with computers in the middle. His mom, Ruth Hoerr made all the curtains. He has a portable bed that can be set up on one side if needed. I was impressed.

Dr. Hoerr had a list of things to do today with the horses. Sangria's filly and Soul's filly needed blood drawn for their coggins test and a microchip inserted in their necks. Indy's filly got blood drawn for her coggins test. After Roxanne's ultrasound it was Ribbon's turn. She has had a snotty nose for months. In July we gave her 60 cc's of antibiotics IV every day for 10 days but it didn't take care of the problem. Today Dr. Hoerr recommended that we bring Ribbon in for skull xrays then if it is a sinus infection he will be able to tell where, drill a hole through her face bone into the cavity and flush it again and again until the pus is gone.  

Just by Dr. Hoerr describing the procedure is enough to make a person shudder. That is ONE big head. We have an appointment to take her on Monday. She will probably be left there for a couple days. Just when we were finally getting the vet bills all paid too. Oh well, Ribbon is special. As soon as the horses were put away off I took for the Berean office. To read about that work today click HERE. Once home from there the horses were fed and Sangria covered by Valiant. I gave up trying to breed her to an Andalusian stallion this year. When Mark got home tonight we worked on splitting and stacking wood. The apartment got one load and we stacked another load on our porch. We are both tired tonight and ready to hit the sack.

Oil Change

Mark made an appointment for the car to get the oil changed at 8:40 this morning which meant I had to cut the walk short and leave around 8:00am. When I arrived at Peoria Toyota I was told this would take an hour and a half. As soon as those words were spoken my head started shaking. Nope, that is not going to work, I needed to be at the Berean office. It worked out well though, they were more than willing to give me a ride to that office where we had a good mornings work. To read about that click HERE. Mary Ginzel gave me a ride back to Peoria Toyota just before noon where I was shocked to find the car still up on the lift. No problem it took a bit to pay the bill. Now about that bill. Mark called earlier to ask how much for an oil change and was told $39.94. That sounded about right so before I left this morning, he said, "make sure you don't authorize any other charges." Well when the bill was presented it was for $59.55. Do you want to know WHY? The oil change was $39.94 but that didn't include the OIL or oil filter. The charge for those two items: $11.56. But that wasn't all, it also didn't include the gasket of $5.41 and of course they needed to charge for resetting the reset oil replacement reminder on the car for $1.13 and there was one more charge itemized as a misc. shop charge of $3.59. For the record, the place had a very nice lounge for customers to wait with lots of goodies and drinks all free, they also offered to take me to the Berean office for free. They were pleasant to work with and gave me service with a smile. 

 Once home the camera and video camera were taken out to the field. Eliza was called in for her grain then the other mares all wanted to come up to see what was going on. 

Indy and her filly Angelica brought into the outdoor arena to try to get a video. Angelica decided she would rather be with the other foals and decided to just jump out of the arena leaving a very worried Indy still inside. To see that jump click HERE. Ribbon was standing right about where Angelica jumped and was shocked to see that filly fall at her feet. She moved her colt away with a disgusted look at Indy and her filly.

 Angelica was taken right into the round pen and asked to trot just to make sure all was well. She was and is fine. What a goofy girl. I think she likes jumping but needs to learn to lift those back legs quicker.

 Soul and her filly were brought out next. Without help though I could not get a decent video and just took a short clip of Briana. To see her trot click HERE. 

Right after work Mark went over to the playground to help chop up the tree Jay cut down yesterday. We had church tonight at the Fellowship Hall where Ken Hoerr gave us an overview of Peter. It was well attended and good to be there.

Angelica Jumps

Angelica, Indy's filly by Evan, decided to leave her mom and jump out of the arena. The camera was rolling and not turned off until she landed. Then just to make sure she was ok from the fall, she was taken into the round pen where she showed her big trot. Check out the video clip below to see her jump, fall and then trot off sound. 

Soul's Filly Moves

The short video clip below is just to show how nicely Briana moves. Briana is out of Soul by Valiant. She is registered, DNA'D and microchipped with IALHA as half Andalusian and registered also with Friesian Heritage Horse as half Friesian. She just happens to be for sale for only $5000.00.

Timber

Today was Berean day, I pulled in exactly 2 minutes late and was sure all those ladies waiting there were going to dock my pay. We had a good time working there today, to read about our morning click HERE.
After that work the real work came. Today was the dreaded day of reconciling. I'm ashamed to say I let 3 months go by without reconciling the Horsemeister check book. Weird but for some reason even though we are from the same parents some of us have book keeper talents and some just don't. I look at the checking account on line and as long as there is money in there I think it's fine. If the balance looks low I throw money in there. Evidently that's not exactly how a book keeper believes it should be done. No wonder I drive Mark and Diane crazy.
Mark was home when I got back to the farm and was just heading out to mow the pond pasture.

 I took the golf cart down to check on Oksana, the next mare due. In the picture below Indy is on the left, Oksana in the middle and Rosalie, huge Rosalie, is the mare on the right with her filly next to her.  

 Oksana and Indy's filly came over to check out the golf cart.

 They both started taking halters off the cart and dropping them on the ground.

Silly silly mares. Oksana is due Oct 22nd and is the last due for the year. Once she has her foal we will have a nice long break of 5 months before foaling season starts back up.
This evening Jay came over to the playground to remove one of the old locust trees that had grown so tall it was causing the maple tree to grow funny. Below is a short video of him taking down that huge tree.

Jay's daughter Renee came over to watch.

 Jay counted the rings, this tree was over 45 years old.

Mark finished mowing the pond pasture then mowed around the fields and also the 50 foot strip going toward Lancaster.

A Day At Home

Rare these days that are free from driving. No rushing the walk, no quitting early, no scramble to load the car and pull out on time, just a relaxed day.
Early this morning Eliza was up waiting to be fed. She is now trained to show up at the front gate near Valiant first thing in the morning. None of the other mares were up, they were all out grazing. Thankfully she is putting on weight. After breakfast Bunni was brought over from the cabin field and stalled while the burrs were removed from her mane and tail. Cookie was brought inside next. She took longer as she has so much hair. Her mane didn't just have burrs it was also tangled but thankfully I have a lot of cowboy magic and got the job done within a half hour. These two mares were put next to Evan.
Soul and her filly were brought in and her filly, named Briana, was haltered and hooves picked up. She remembered and did very well. Soul has an extremely thick mane and tail. The mane was untangled but not braided. That will need to be done later as it will tangle right back up if not braided. Her tail needed to be washed but instead I just got the tangles out and left it for later. She and Briana were taken out to the outdoor for some updated pictures for the website.

 Briana has an appointment with Dr. Hoerr on Thursday to get her microchipped inserted and her blood drawn for her Coggins test. She will be 5 months old October 2nd. Check out her mane in he picture below. She has as much or more mane than a 5 month old Gypsy filly and moves much much better. She has the lift so desired for a dressage horse but then her dam is a purebred Andalusian and her sire is Valiant. She is for sale for $5000.00. She is registered, DNA'D and will be microchipped with IALHA as half Andalusian AND registered with Friesian Heritage Horse and Sport International as half Friesian so can be shown in both Friesian and Andalusian shows.

The other mares saw them and all came running over to watch which distracted Soul.

Once Soul was put away, Indy and her filly Angelica, were brought out for some updated pictures too. The water tank needed filling so that was started while Angelica's pictures were taken.

 Check out the feather this filly already has at almost 5 months of age. Angelica is also for sale for $8000.00, she is a purebred Friesian registered and DNA'D with Friesian Heritage Horse and Sport International. She is old enough to be weaned. We have an appointment with Dr. Hoerr on Thursday morning to draw bloodwork for her Coggins test so she will be good to go to her new home within a couple weeks. 

This filly will be tall, probably around 16.2 hands and have the mega hair of both her sire AND dam. Her sire is Evan...need I say more? The laundry was done while working on the pictures.
Jamie Stone came over with new pictures of her horses. Her mare Dakota was bred to Valiant last year and below is the filly that mating produced. Meet Legacy.

 Below all three of her horses are running across the field with Dakota in the lead followed by Legacy with Myrrhcedes bringing up the rear. 

Myrrhcedes is an offspring of Raven, Valiant's sire and is a top notch show horse. This evening Mark mowed Valiant's pasture and the mare pasture next to Valiant's. We had a beautiful cool sunny day, perfect to make lots of electricity with Mark's solar system. 

Finally Cooling.

Israel slept all night and didn't even wake up until I had finished the horse chores this morning. He really was tired from all the fun at Rhoda and Lee's house Saturday morning and our house later. We had enough time to go to the playground before his bath before church this morning.
Not thinking about having a 3 year old with us, mom and I went right up to the front of church but Israel was very good sitting pretty quietly through out Dave Obgerfel's entire service. Peoria had a double portion of Holy Spirit during that service. I often wonder how the minister feels once he sits down. Is he drained? Did he feel how the Spirit was working through him blessing us with true Words of comfort, hope, but also correction? Greg Rumbold had the afternoon service and again we were blessed.
Taunya and Ben were already at our house when we arrived home and watched Israel while Karin and I ran to Middle Grove to pick up Soul, her filly and Cookie. Soul's filly needs to have her micro chipped inserted along with updated pictures and a video for the website. Cookie is needed next weekend for the Spoon River Drive. While at Middle Grove we checked over all the horses and pulled hair from Marika's colt so I can send in for his registration papers and DNA test. I forgot to pull Jewel's filly's hair so will need to do that the next time out there. When I got back to the farm the horses were just put in a paddock next to Evan. Both mares have some burrs in their manes and tails and I want them all out before putting them in the field. All of the kids and grand kids were here except Rhoda and Lee. Stephanie and David brought out dinner for everyone. She called it hay stacks but no hay was in sight. This was kind of a Mexican meal a little like a taco salad but even better. Sarah made brownies and Ben picked up ice cream at Dollar General for dessert. We all migrated over to the playground for volleyball around 6:00 pm. On the way over I picked up Willow, she and her grandpa were going riding AND taking Ripper (2 year old gelding out of Soul).

 Above is Willow on Ripper and below is Mike on Ripper. Now for the record, both sat on him and were led around a few steps then Ripper was just ponied for the trail ride.

 Willow rode Mika and Mike rode Bunni leading Ripper. 

Volley ball was well attended. There were hundreds (that may be a slight exaggeration) of kids running around playing, jumping on the tramp, playing on the playground and sometimes fighting with each other. The noise level was high the games were great and the visiting fantastic. The games went on until dark. The heat left the area late this afternoon and the breeze issued in some perfect fall weather. It was just a perfect evening.

Amazing Trip to Middle Grove

The people coming to try out Serenity were suppose to arrive by 8:00 am which meant I needed to be out teasing Serenity at 7:00 am and covering her with Evan if she showed. The horses were all up by Valiant's pasture when I got out and Serenity showed as she was taken out only Evan didn't want to do his job. He kept glaring over at Valiant instead of checking out the pretty girl. I ended up taking Serenity into his paddock to get the job done. We really really need to get the second breeding stand back up. We took it down to build a new shelter last year.
Once Serenity was covered she was let back out in the field with the rest of the mares. Eliza was brought out and grained. Ribbon was still in and showing but I decided to wait until later today for her. I made it back inside to cook Mark's breakfast then headed back out to fill water tanks and grain the weanlings. At 9:00 am Serenity was brought inside and groomed then put in the paddock next to Evan's for easy access. The people finally did arrive around 11:00 am, worked with Serenity a bit then loaded and took her home. She won't be marked sold though until after 30 days, we want to make sure she is a good fit for them.
As soon as they left, Jewel and her filly were loaded into the stock trailer and off I went to Middle Grove to drop them off and pick up Indy and her filly so we can get a video and updated pictures for the website as her filly is now for sale and I needed to pick up Oksana as she is due in a month and Roxanne for an ultrasound. The ground was dry making it possible for me to drive the truck and trailer all the way back and up the hill where the herd was spread out grazing. They saw the truck and trailer and came running. About the time I stopped the truck I was surrounded by beautiful horses.

The back gate was opened, Jewel's halter taken off. She quickly jumped out of the trailer followed by her filly. By this time even the late comers were arriving. Below is Jenis, Soul and behind Jenis, Soul's filly.

 Below is Soul and her Valiant filly.

 In the front is Rosaleigh behind her is Sheena and Ayanna and behind them is Oksana, Missy and one other coming over the hillside. 

 Below is Hadassah. 

 Oksana is left, then Missy in front of a mare that I can't see well enough to name. 

Oksana was the first mare I was looking for just praying she was still pregnant and when she came waddling up it was very obvious she IS.  She was haltered, I turned around to walk her into the trailer and to my surprise Indy and her filly were already in the trailer.

 The middle divider shut leaving Indy and her filly in then before I could put Oksana in Ayanna jumped in the trailer with Whitney and Lily trying for the last spot. Those horses were shewed out.

Oksana was brought in and tied and out I went to find Roxanne. She was standing at the front of the trailer, haltered and put in the back next to Oksana. The trailer gate was shut and off I drove. All of this took just a few minutes, this was the quickest trip ever to Middle Grove. It wasn't until I talked to Karin that I realized I had not seen Cookie or Marika and her colt. I'll need to take another trip out right after church tomorrow if it hasn't started raining yet. Diane was here with a bunch of her grandkids plus Joan's kids so they helped with the unloading. Amy Koch had arrived with a couple of halters. She was over visiting at mom's so as soon as the horses were all settled the golf cart was taken over there so we could have a nice visit.
After leaving mom's there was just about 15 minutes to get Eliza fed and Ribbon covered by Valiant. That went like clock work. Valiant just does his job with no drama.
Mark and I left to meet Rhoda and Lee at Red Robin. They were bringing us Israel for the night and we were going to eat there but at 4:45 am there was already a 45 minute wait. Instead we walked over to Panda Express.
Emily made it home from Ohio with the truck and trailer. Israel and I took the golf cart up to the apartment to visit with her about the trip. Israel had fun playing with Jessica's pug puppy. Israel is now ready to head to bed.

The Broom

Mom and I hit a garage sale in Hanna City after the walk this morning. There were many antiques there but that is not what I'm looking for. There were just 2 items purchased both by mom. She bought and ax and a broom. I was admiring the broom when she said, "I almost asked the seller if he had one with a longer handle." Thinking she doesn't want to bend over it made perfect sense to me until she replied, "that would make it much easier to fly."

 Funny funny. Speaking of funny, on Wednesday night Ruth drove her car to mom's and caught a ride to church with us. Well Sarah Reinhard took her home and as soon as we dropped mom off and saw Ruth's car still at mom's house we all burst out at the same time, "Ruth forgot her car. She is going to be looking for that car come morning." Sure enough Thursday morning arrives and Ruth's car is still sitting in mom's driveway and we were sure Ruth would show up late explaining that she forgot her car. Well we started the walk without her, get up to the barn when we see Fede's car come flying in. Ruth sheepishly states, "I forgot my car." She went out of house to drive over to the lake for the walk and the car wasn't there. She called Fedi and asked, "did you take the car?" When he replied that he didn't and didn't know where it was she started calling her children and of course no one knew where the car was. We are not quite sure when she realized where it was, we were too busy laughing. Some people thought we should have called her on Wednesday night but then we would have missed a great laugh. After all Laughter is the best medicine. After garage saling I drove to Pekin, IL to shop for grain at Big R. This week they were having a sale on the 50 pound bags of 12% sweet feed, just $5.99 a bag. I bought 14 of them just about all that can fit in the car and still leave room for groceries in the front. Aldi is right next to Big R so I have to save room for groceries every time. Once home the grain and groceries were unloaded and put away it was time to bathe April and Caesar, the two foals leaving today. I was rinsing them when Emily arrived and had them loaded by the time she changed out of her school clothes into her driving clothes. Below she is loading the truck with a cooler of food and books to study.

 She is picking up her friend Chloe in Indiana and will travel to her aunt's house in Rittman, OH. The two foals will be staying at the neighbor's barn over night. Then tomorrow morning Caesar (Eliza's colt) will be picked up from there and April will be delivered to her owner at a boarding barn 15 minutes away.  While Emily was pulling out, the mares and foals were up near the trailers so I snapped a picture. They are sure loving being out on pasture.

This afternoon was for inside work, laundry and dishes. I really didn't mind working inside today, it was hot outside. After supper Mark moved a few loads of wood over to Joan's for the winter while I got Ribbon covered by Valiant and fed Eliza. Eliza is definitely putting on weight now that her colt is weaned. Diane arrived on her golf cart with Ella, Ireyln and Crew. We were able to visit while waiting for Eliza to finish her grain.

Darcy Scare

We had a scare this morning with Darcy. She asked to go outside around 3:00 am and somehow between the time she was let back in and 6:00 am she got herself stuck in the bathroom, wedged between the toilet and the wall not able to lay down or stand.
She had to be helped out and at that point was scared and confused. She is 11 and a half years old and the Mastiff breed of dog has an average life span is 8-10 years. Once she was settled back in the kitchen Emma and I left for the walk. After the walk she was still laying quietly so was left alone. The Berean work was easy this morning only taking a couple hours. By 10:15 all the Bibles were loaded and I was on my to the Bartonville post office to drop them off.
Rhoda had been notified about Darcy and was coming in from Bloomington to check on her so was asked if she would stop at Hoerr Vet Clinic and pick up the health papers for the two foals traveling tomorrow. I arrived home about 10 minutes before Rhoda got here and asked Darcy to get up and go outside but she walked a few steps into the family room and fell. She was able to scramble back up but seemed scared and confused. I was able to help her out the door and down the one step out to the patio and then the yard. By the time Rhoda arrived she was feeling much better. Rhoda gave her a couple pills and asked her to go outside again so she could watch her walk. Emma was glad to lay in front of the door watching Darcy while Ruby watched from the drive.

 Darcy made it into the yard and sat. 

When we called her back in she walked right past the stairs and both Rhoda and I thought, "oh no she is still confused" but instead this smart puppy went past the stairs because she knew there was a chew bone in the flowers, picked it up and then came down the stairs to the patio. 

Yep, she is fine! Rhoda and I went out to make another video of Joanna and this time ask her to move out enough to show how big her trot is.

Rhoda worked on leading with Joanna and personal space. Joanna was taught to go slowly out the gate. That took a few tries before she realized she was expected to walk behind Rhoda and not rush out the gate.

Ruby loves helping out with the horses. Next out was Rosalie's filly so we could get some updated pictures for the website. This filly will be a month old tomorrow. She is another floater, check out the air time in the trot below.

 We would have been surprised though if she wasn't a floater as her sire is Evan. All of his foals float. 

Mark checked all the tires on the truck and trailer and the oil in the truck for Emily. She is taking April and Caeser to Ohio tomorrow. April's owner lives about 15 minutes from Emily's aunt and Caesar's owner is from Virginia but meeting her there. Star's filly left last week, these 2 are leaving tomorrow and Ayanna's colt and Sheena's colt are suppose to leave next weekend. Hope all these new owners will send pictures as these foals grow. They are all so special.
Ben and Taunya and their children will be moving to Dallas, TX soon. We weren't very happy about this move as Taunya is expecting their 4th child in April. They left this week to house shop and sent the pictures below of their new home. OK after seeing the pictures of the house and the back yard we are a little happier about this move. Looks like we will have a new vacation spot.

We really like the looks of that hot tub come January. Taunya said the flight to Dallas is just 2 hours. The drive is around 12 hours.