John Honegger's Funeral

Mom drove to the funeral today giving me a ride. I was meeting Mark there and wanted to go through the line with him. Amy Koch was also coming. By the time we arrived Mark was almost to the front of the line. Thankfully no one complained when Amy and I joined him. David Obgerfel had the service and it was so touching. David knew John well, along with hundreds of other people. The singing was beautiful, the songs so fitting.
Mom drove in the procession to the cemetery and the person following her could not keep up. The line was split in two with mom at the end of the first line and the others coming when they could.
We did not go back to the church for lunch as work awaited.
I was meeting Karin at Middle Grove to drop off Oksana and Ayanna and pick up Sangria's filly for weaning. That went well. Jenis and Eliza were called in for their grain, then Ayanna and Oksana loaded. By the time I got back to the barn Jenis and Eliza were finished and ready to be put back out. I noticed a big bird circling around on the wind, I could tell it wasn't a turkey vulture but looked too big to be a hawk and I thought it might be an immature eagle but  after studying the feathers I believe it to be a red tailed hawk.

 I had plenty of time so stopped for gas on the way. Karin and I pulled in at the same time. It was nice to have help unloading. Those horses let loose and we watched to see which way they would run. They ran up the hill, neighed then headed left. We thought at that point we were in for a long hike. We got to the top of the hill and no horses at all were in sight. Just as we started down the ridge, we heard the thundering of hooves. The horses came running up but were at least a half mile away. The camera lens was zoomed as far as it could go, sorry the video is quite jumpy. These horses were galloping for the shear joy of running.

They stopped at the big puddle and started jumping in to cool off. By the time Karin and I got to the puddle most of them had moved off grazing but Mika was enjoying splashing around.

The black horse below had mud on her rear exactly like Ayanna did so when she walked up I thought she was Ayanna. Karin kept saying there is no way it was Ayanna, she wasn't wide enough but I pretty much had her convinced it was Ayanna because of the mud. It was only a bit later that we discovered this mare was Indy. Karin knows these mares much better than I do now. She trains out here a lot and I only see them when I drop off or pick up a horse. 

Ripper walked up to Karin and I saw the gray and assumed it was Hadassah until I saw Hadassah. I always forget about Ripper being out there.

 Above is Ripper and below is Hadassah. She has become much more gray than the last time I saw her. She also has dapples. What she doesn't have is a mane. She must have rubbed it off. Oh well her mane grows quickly. 

Below is massive mighty Whitney. This mare is just huge. She is expecting a Valiant foal April 5th, 2017. Hadassah, in the picture above is also expecting April 5th, 2017 but her foal is by Evan. 

 Below is Marika and her colt by Valiant. This colt is 4 months old but will stay on his dam at least another month. He is going to be a very hairy Friesian stallion. Check out that tail and the feather in the picture below that.

 I led Sangria down the hill while Karin lead her filly Aletia. Once Aletia was loaded Sangria was turned loose, she went running up the hill to the herd.

 Aletia was brought back here for weaning and put in with Adara and Angelica. She is as tall as those two fillies but at least a month younger. She is suppose to be picked up either this weekend or the next.