Mares and Foals at Middle Grove

After the walk today Oksana was brought over from the cabin field for the trip to Middle Grove. Ayanna and Foxy have ultrasounds scheduled for Friday morning and tomorrow is Berean day so this was the only day that worked out for this trip. The gooseneck trailer was unhooked and the stock trailer hooked up to the truck so I could drive in to Middle Grove instead of parking on the road. Karin was picked up in Farmington and came out with me. The camera was also taken so I could get some updated pictures of the foals for the website even though I can't update the website right now, hopefully Phil will get that up and running soon. The foals were all doing well out there, all were content and happy. Below is Anna and her filly by Valiant named  Delilah and behind Anna is Wicktoria and Bethany. Bethany is a year old Evan daughter out of an Appaloosa mare.

 Easter Bonnet was glad to see us and came right up for attention. She is really a pretty filly. 

 Ella has the youngest colt out there but he is doing fine. Galena is grazing behind Ella. 

 Below left to right is Lola's filly Easter Bonnet, then Flynn, Zalena's colt by Evan, then Zalena. 

 Below Karin is walking up to the herd. Flynn was taking a nap in the middle of the herd. The foals are all very relaxed and feel completely safe. 

Foxy and Ayanna were loaded up in the front of the trailer. Below Karin is getting ready to put the halter on Foxy while Foxy was checking out Lola's filly Easter Bonnet. If you would like to see the rest of today's pictures from there click HERE. 

Once these two were loaded we checked out Roxanne's leg and decided she'd better come back for more antibiotics and more hosing. Her leg was a little more swollen than it should be. Rosaleigh's udder was checked, and is already starting to fill up. She isn't due until July 7th but since she will be a first time mom, I wanted her home for observation.  Karin was dropped back off at the Library on the way back to Hanna City. As soon as I got home  Foxy and Ayanna were put in the short shelter paddock. Now that these 2 traveled together they are bonded. Roxanne and Rosaleigh were left in the trailer until a bale got moved into Ribbon's old paddock. A gate needed to be put in at the back before they could be taken out of the trailer and put in the paddock. 

Madeira, the new Andalusian mare was teased and showed big. I thought she was showing on Monday and was for sure showing on Tuesday so today was the day for the first cover. She is a maiden mare and the first thing she did after tying her to the breeding stand was to throw herself backward. Thankfully nothing broke but when I brought Valiant up she did it again and this time broke one of the lead ropes. The other held and the halter held. Valiant was put away, a new stronger lead rope put on the breeding stand and then Mike was called. He said he could be here in a half hour giving me time to put another round bale in the middle paddock and remove the bale holder in the far paddock. Eliza and her colt were put in the stall and grained. When Mike arrived Madeira was tied again and this time I twitched her while Mike brought Valiant up. Even with the twitch she threw herself backward kind of dragging me over the breeding stand but the ropes and twitch held. She then stood while Valiant got the job done. Valiant was taken over to the wash stand and instead of standing quietly Madeira threw herself backward again, breaking another lead rope but thankfully the other held. So it would have been nice to know that Madeira doesn't tie and that was probably a question I should have asked before we bought her. bummer. 

We start tying the foals at a young age so we don't have this problem when they get big and strong. 

Tonight David Obergfel had the service at church. Mom, Diane and Ruth came with Mark and I. It was good to be there, the service was on Nehemiah and the building of the wall.  We just need to keep at it, this job the Lord has asked us to do. Even if it is just picking up stones and placing them one at a time on the wall. 

A funny message came in from a lady that bred her mare to Evan last year. Below is the picture she sent:

That wasn't the funny part, just read what she wrote:

I'm not going to lie. I was pretty unimpressed with my Evan baby to begin with. She was aloof and extremely sassy. But in the past two weeks I really started to work with her and I've completely changed my mind. She learned how to lead in 5 short lessons. She picks up all four feet and even had a visit with the farrier on Monday. The farrier breeds horses and was extremely impressed with how well she did (he said she did better than his 2 year olds). Today she got her first bath and stood calmly for the whole thing soaking up all the attention. The people I board with have bred horses for 20+ years and they are impressed with her confirmation and how quickly she picks things up. I made the horrible mistake of selling her (she leaves at weaning) so I'm definitely bring back my mare next spring for a repeat breeding and I won't be making the mistake of selling next time!

We actually tell people that an Evan foal is more work in the beginning than a Valiant baby. They aren't terrible and usually learn quickly,  but I laughed when she wrote SASSY, that is exactly the right word to describe an Evan baby. 

A Big Mistake

Last year I made a mistake that didn't show up until last night. Kayla the lady in charge of the Friesian Heritage Horse registry messaged me to let me know the dna results for Zalena's colt did not match Valiant. At first I responded with, "that can't be, the registry must have made a mistake." Surely it couldn't be ME that made a mistake. Well I confess I AM the person that made the mistake. Zalena's colt is NOT by Valiant, he is an Evan son. Since this colt was already sold the owner was called but I only got an answering machine. She will have her choice, we will either give her back her money if she doesn't want him, OR she can take Eliza's colt instead as we know he really is Valiant's son.

The mistake was made when we covered Zalena the first time, we had a bunch of mares that needed to be covered by Valiant and Zalena was in so she was covered by Evan, then 2 days later Valiant's mares were all finished so used him and again 2 days later used Valiant again. Who would have thought it would be EVAN's sperm that was strong enough to live all those days and penetrate the egg first.
I am so thankful for this registry that requires DNA on all purebred Friesians. AND just so you know this is the FIRST time in all these years of registering foals we have ever made this mistake. Yep, I'm not perfect and the older I get the more mistakes will be made.
Unfortunately I cannot change the website yet. I've not been able to access the new way of updating and according to Philip it may take another week or so as Meisters have been swamped. The website host is making things much more secure now that all this cyber fraud is going on. I have so many things to change and update that I'd better make a list of what needs to be done instead of relying on my imperfect memory.

Peoria's South Side Academy Visits

News came today from the owner of Nikki, a mare that had been bred to Evan last year. She delivered a beautiful black filly early this morning. Pictures below were taken right after delivery.

 The picture below was taken later today after they were let outside. 

Rachel invited the South Side Academy out to her house and of course they needed to stop in and see a few horses. Karin pulled Evan out first.

 The very first thing Evan did was drop and roll then really rubbed in all that sand by rolling all the way over again and again. So much for pretty pictures of a clean stallion.

 Evan loves attention by people and right after rolling has to go over to get petted before working. 

 When Karin asked him to work, he had to show off his moves including his airs above the ground by kicking and bucking as he galloped around the round pen. 

 He is such a show-off.  Karin showed the students how he needs to obey when asked and if he doesn't obey she made him work. 

 When he settled down and did everything she asked him to do, he finished it up with a bow, lay down and sit and only then was allowed to go back over to the students. 

 They were quick to pick grass for him as a special treat and Evan took it all very carefully out of their hands. He really is a good boy. 

 Next the students were taken into the stall barn to visit the 2 foals we have here. Sheena's filly was first and then Eliza's colt. Below is Eliza's colt coming up for attention. 

 Notice Ruby the small dog down at the right hand corner of the stall door? Ruby and this colt play together when they are out in the field. Ruby was a hit with the students too. 

From here they went to the playground and enjoyed a beautiful day on their field trip here.  The rest of my day was spent working in the barn or in the house trying to catch up on things left undone over the holiday weekend. There was no Berean today as the post office was closed yesterday and it is not open early enough to get today's mail before we need to start work. The next time we will work at the Berean office will be Thursday and will need LOTS of help! Anyone wanting to donate a few hours on Thursday June 1st we will start at 9:00 am. The Bibles will also be delivered that day so could really use some strong guys.

A Beautiful Memorial Day

We were blessed with  perfect weather this 2017 Memorial day. We started the day with a big breakfast. The horse back riding was first on the lists of things to do before the heat of the day. Mom, at 85 years old went out on the first ride of the day riding Oksana our almost 5 year old Friesian mare out of Eliza by Raven.

 Anna and Kensley rode Sally. 

 Rebekah and Jordan rode Jenis.

 Karin and Taegan rode Missy, Braelyn rode Cookie. 

 And Mike rode Ripper. Ripper is just 3 years old out of Soul and is just now in training. 

If you would like to see the rest of the horse back riding pictures click HERE. The second ride of the day was the adult ride with lots of galloping. Austin rode Oksana, Anni rode Missy, Karin rode Jenis, Mike rode Sally and led Ripper and I'm not sure who rode Cookie. I didn't get pictures of the second ride. The girls and I went over to the lake to play.

 Philip took Braelyn and Kensley for a canoe ride and caught a baby turtle. 

 Kensley had fun playing with the turtle. 

 Joan brought home the old raft from Norris. Everyone had a ball playing on that. 

The volley ball players came but we were too busy watching the girls play in the lake to go watch. We played games on mom's deck and had a late lunch. Mark spent the afternoon mowing and weed whacking. Mike worked on putting gravel down where the new automatic waterers will be going. The campers and tents were packed up and put away until the next camping trip. We sure had a wonderful day with perfect weather.

Sunday's Activities

Rick Kaisner was in Peoria and had the morning service. We are always so thankful when he, his wife Michelle and their 4 children come to visit Rick's parents. Tim announced him from Chicago but really from Peoria and that is exactly how we feel. I can't wait until his message is posted on AC central so I can listen to it again.
After church we had a big group come. Phil and Anna with their 3 girls are camping in the camper while David and Israel borrowed a tent from Rhonda. The kids had fun canoeing, swimming, fishing and turtle hunting. Phil caught another 2 tiny turtles for Braelyn and Taegan but both turtles were able to escape and swim away after less than a half hour. Braelyn caught a fish with her bare hands, then a bit later brought down a huge bull frog. We are thankful when all of the catches are able to get free and back into the lake. Lots of family came for volleyball and then singing around the campfire while big slabs of that salty delicious heartattackonastick, otherwise known as bacon was simmering on sticks over the fire. Later the goodies were brought out for dessert and of course lots of that sticky sweet treat somemores were made. We played games and then sat around visiting until late into that night. It was well after 11:00 pm by the time the last of the talkers made it to bed. And today we get to do it all over again! Sarah and Rhoda posted more pictures of Iceland. I'm glad they have internet where they are staying so we get to see some of these waterfalls too. While they were hiking they found a lamb on the wrong side of the fence. Rhoda was able to catch it and put it back with the herd.

Saturday's Activities

Mark started grading the driveways maybe just a little too early. There were kids sleeping on the trampoline that got rudely awakened. Joan and her kids and grandkids all packed up their motorhome and drove out to Norris where they will camp for the weekend. We decided to camp at the lake. Phil and Anna will be camping in the trailer while David and Israel are hoping to camp in a tent or maybe Rachel's tent trailer. The trail rides were suppose to start at 9:00 am but everyone had slept in as last night was a late night around the campfire. The first ride of the day started around 10:00 am.  Below they are heading down to the 'death trails'

Those were the only pictures taken of that first ride as I was helping get mowers hooked up to the tractors. Mark mowed the pastures and the perimeter of the field.

Spark used the smaller Kubota and mowed his place. Diane had Irelyn and Crew for the weekend. They spent the night in the cabin then came over to play with Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley.

Mike pulled Ripper out for training first long lining him.

 Valiant came running over to check out that new boy horse on the property. Valiant doesn't realize Ripper has already been gelded and is not a threat.

 After the first trail ride the horses were taken back to the barn for the next group going out. This was the easy ride for kids. Below Anni and Hannah are taking Sally back to the barn.  

 Braelyn was so very proud that she got to ride Cookie all by herself for the very first time outside of the round pen.

 Below is Anni and Taegan coming back from a ride. Taegan was so happy. 

 Braelyn took riding Cookie very serious. Even when Cookie had to go fast, she held on real tight and didn't scream. 

 Below is Mike on Ripper. This was the first time Ripper has been ridden with a group of horses. 

 Anna and Kensley had a fun ride on Jenis.

 Austin enjoyed Oksana. He rode her the last time and did well with her. 

The horses were put away and those going to Norris took off. Phil and Anna took the girls in a canoe and fished. They actually caught 2 little turtles (not with the fishing poles). The girls named them Pongo and Flower and played with them for a few hours before letting them go. 

This evening we cooked around the campfire. Phil and Mark moved the trailer over for tomorrow and hooked it up. Sarah posted a few pictures of their trip to Iceland.

 By looking at the  pictures I think it is probably wet and cold but they sure look like they are having a great time.