We Have WATER

This was written Tuesday evening late but not published until the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. THIS is Tuesday's news.
It was a little chilly on our walk today and Joan forgot her jacket. I had been feeding the horses and was plenty warm enough so gave my jacket to her. On the second round Rhonda happened to drive by and snapped the picture below.

Rhoda arrived today and the first mare out was Wicktoria (Tori). Today Rhoda felt Tori was ready to start under saddle.

 What a change in this mare. She came here this spring a nervous wreck, just sure we were going to abuse her. She did not like people. We had been told that she was trained to ride but who wants to ride a nervous scared mare that does not pay attention to a rider? When Rhoda tried to mount the first time last spring Tori felt like she was going to explode. Tori was taken to Middle Grove and just left alone. When Karin would work the other mares Tori showed no interest at first but about a month ago Karin noticed a change. Tori came up and was watching Karin work the other mares. When a mare starts showing interest and wanting to be worked with it is such a breakthrough. Today Tori was calm and accepting of everything Rhoda asked of her. To see the rest of the training pictures click HERE. Next out was Titiana. This 3 year old has never been trained but has also not been started. She came here Sunday (2 days ago) a sweet curious willing to learn mare. It is easier to start a mare that has never been started then one that has been started badly.  She was round penned first.

 Introduced to the tarp

 The tarp carried over her head but notice Titiana is curious enough to follow. 

 she stood quietly when Rhoda put the saddle on her back and tightened it. 

 When Rhoda asked her to move was when a reaction came. Titiana went running off bucking but the bucks were so small we laughed. 

 After a couple rounds, Titiana realized it was just going to stay on her back but it didn't really bother her. She was then asked to carry the tarp around hooked to the saddle. This was no big deal at all. 

 Rhoda took her to the mounting block and jumped up and down on it. Titiana was curious but not scared. 

 And that was enough for today. Below Rhoda is leading her back over to untack. We were so very pleased. 

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of Rhoda working with Titiana click HERE. Titiana is in season. She was taken over and covered by Valiant. That sounds so easy but for a maiden mare it was not. Both Rhoda and I worked hard to make this cover happen and were thrilled when Valiant got the job done. Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to come Wednesday morning but had to cancel. He will be here sometime Thursday afternoon. Rhoda will not be able to be here then. Bummer I'll have to find help for that.  Next we had to run in to Meisters to pay the first of the month bills just 5 days late then over to Big R in Pekin to pick up 12 bags of grain and shots for the weanlings. As soon as we got home the weanlings were given their first 5 way. They will need a booster in a month. Each of them were also de-wormed with a half of an Ivermectin. All did well for both the shot and the de-worming. We were de-worming the mares when Spark arrived to look at the water leak. Our water had been turned off but every hour I would turn it on to fill up the automatic waterers. He wanted to see the pit with the water turned on so I ran down to the house while Rhoda finished up with the horses. Spark took the excavator over to mom's first to work on her water leak. This was a big job, the leak was under the driveway slab.

 Braelyn came over to help dig. 

 John, Spark, Dan, Mike, Mark and Annie worked there and got the pipe that had broken exposed but did not have the right material to fix the leak. Fedi went to buy the right stuff while the rest came over to our place to fix our leak bringing the excavator over for the digging.

 Below they are discussing where to dig. 

 The sun was setting but there was still plenty of light. 

 Below Spark starts to dig. 

 John explaining where we would find the leak while Dan digs. 

They found the pipe. Mike went to his place to get the supplies to fix it. By this time everyone left as it was late and getting very dark. Mike was able to patch the leak by flashlight. The horses had water by 9:30 pm. What a long tiring day but thankful the leak is fixed.