Another great review

Our guest left this morning leaving a note that he would be back at 5:00 to bring back the cooler he had borrowed. That gave me time before the walk to get the bed stripped and the sheets in the washer. After the walk the apartment was cleaned and prepared for the next guests coming in today.  When I got to the meeting place the sun was peeking through the trees and lighting up the fire hydrant

Mom, Diane and I met at the dumpster and started walking down the hill to Joan's house but turned around when Joan and Hannah met us coming up the hill. As we reached the playground we were all saddened to see one of the new trampolines had an accident during the night. A limb from another tree, WAY up probably 30 feet above us had broken off, plummeting down piercing right through the trampoline bed, destroying it.

No one heard anything during the night and there really wasn't much wind so we are not sure why this huge living branch would break off of a locust tree. Those are really hard wood.  Mike brought his equipment over and cut it up. The trampoline was new last fall and our last one lasted for years.
Valiant's automatic waterer was leaking this morning. Mike was sent a text. As it was in terrible shape instead of just trying to fix it, he replaced it with one of the new ones we bought last year.
Jenis and Sangria were brought over from the cabin field and put in the middle paddock. Tatiana and her colt were taken out for some new pictures for the website.

He is growing well. When Karin arrived this afternoon we took Soul and her colt out for updated pictures and a short video also for the website. He really moves nice but then again is dad is Evan and his mom is an Andalusian.

 Check out how high this colt gets off the ground. 

Rebekah Martin came as Karin was working with Valiant. They decided to work with Jenis and Oksana taking them first out on the trails and then doing arena work. While they were on the trails Zalena and her colt were taken out for a few pictures.

He is slowing catching up to the other foals. Zalena's colt was one of the foals born just a bit too early and his intestines weren't working correctly causing diarrhea. He was another colt on IV's for a while then went to Hoerr Vet clinic for 5 days while Mark and I were at Mark's 50th highschool reunion.  While at the vet clinic this colt lost his hair, poor thing. His hair is growing back well. The good thing is he loves grain so he and his mother get out everyday for a treat. 

Karin rode Jenis on the trails and she bucked at the very same place she bucked the last time. Karin corrected her so hopefully she won't do that again. Jenis didn't put a hoof wrong in the arena. 

 Rebekah had fun cantering Oksana.

Of course I needed to take a picture of Jenis' rear on demand. 

When Karin felt Jenis was soft and supple she traded horses with Rebekah. Oksana looks like a million dollars below. We sure have a lot of hopes and dreams for this mare. Just maybe someday she will be as good as Ribbon but today is not that day. 

Rebekah had to try the rear on Jenis. Jenis is smart and she was tired so didn't give Rebekah much of a rear.

Both mares were glad for the hosing down after that work out.

Mark ordered a new metal capable mitre saw that came in today.  The new guests arrived around 3:00 pm. There are 4 of them. They came, settled in, changed and promptly left for a rehearsal dinner. The guest that moved out this morning arrived with the cooler and reported that he was going to need to come back in a couple weeks and would love to stay here again. We would love to have him, he was very considerate and left the place clean. He said it was for work but I think he is probably coming back for more of Stephanie's cookies. 

Pam, the lady that bought two Raven daughters out of a mother daughter team of Gypsy mares sent the video below. They are pretty proud of these mares and they should be! Raven threw the best what ever he was bred to.

The last thing really good that happened today was Scott our guest left another wonderful review. He writes: I had a great stay with Judi. She was a great host and helped out with all my needs. The place is amazing to stay in. It is super clean and has everything you might need on the road. I washed clothes and was able to pet the horses. The place is about 1500 sq ft? and could entertain 10 people with two living rooms and a large kitchen. But unfortunately it was only me. I would bring my wife and kid (16) with me the couch looked great for my kid. I will be staying there each time I have to work at the Caterpillar plant. It is only a 12 min easy drive there. I will see you soon Judi.

Moving Mountains

Right after the walk today I got everything ready and drove to the Pekin post office where I was successful in renewing my passport.  Crazy that Peoria post office no longer has this service but Pekin does and was more than willing to do it. They even take the picture right there and send it in priority mail.
Pekin is south of us. As soon as I got home a few things were done and then I headed north to Sam's club then to Stephanie's house to pick up a dozen of her (CHIPPED) cookies for the next guests moving in tomorrow. There are 4 people coming for a wedding in Hanna City so these guests need the entire dozen. The odor of fresh baked cookies wafted through her house tickling the taste buds through smell. Thankfully Israel shared a piece of his cookie so at least I got to taste them. Stephanie creates the most delicious mouth watering treats. Her business is called Chipped, gourmet cookies by Stephanie.
Karin came after her work was done and helped me by working with Evan first. Evan's paddock needed a new bale and that was put in while Karin was working with him in the round pen.

Evan just continues to improve, he is just down right impressive.

The middle paddock also got another bale. Tatiana is still in her foal heat and was covered this afternoon by Valiant.  Tatiana and her colt are now out with the the other mare and foal pairs in the pond pasture. She is being a very good mother and the colt is having fun checking out the other foals.

Tomorrow I'll try to get some updated pictures of him, he just turned 2 weeks old.  

Oksana was the last horse worked today. Karin has been working on Oksana's canter and each day she is getting more balanced. 

Today Pat Gomes came by to get the paper work to register her new Evan son out of her mare Whisper.  I was telling her we have 1 more mare due, she looked at Oksana and thought it was her. No, Oksana is just a big baroque mare. Indy is due in 4 days but her udder is still not giving us signs of pending delivery. Today Indy and Oksana were turned out into the back field, getting them off the mud. We got MORE than 2 and a half inches of rain during Tuesday night so all the paddocks are muddy. 

This afternoon was time to start moving mountains.  Rachel scraped all the sand off the volley ball court on Monday. Karin had 2 loads of sand delivered and put on the volley ball court Monday. Today we needed to move the mountain of sand Rachel took off the court. Joan started working using the skid steer to take some to her beach, some to mom's beach and some to Diane's beach.

 Above is the pile after she had finished her beach and mom's beach. Below she is taking the first bucket load of sand to Diane's beach going through the cabin field to get to the pond. Faith and Berlica were opening gates, Joan had to move some construction material that Mike had left over from putting up the new shed. 

 Rhonda's grand daughters helped Berlica and Faith move all the chairs and steps off Diane's beach so Joan could dump the sand. 

 She took 5 or 6 bucket loads to Diane's beach. Below are some of her helpers. 

 While the girls were waiting to open gates for the skid steer they had to pet Jenis and Cookie. 

When Diane's beach was finished, Joan worked on mom's yard and I started moving sand into the indoor arena.  When Mark got home he took over that job while I finished mowing our yard. Just as Mark was bringing the last load of Sand Spark arrived on his 4 wheeler needing to borrow the skid steer to move gravel. That machine is such a handy tool out here.  We had a late supper tonight of chicken teriyaki and salad with a slice of toasted raisin bread for dessert.  

Preparing for Indy

This morning the foaling stall was prepared for Indy's coming delivery. Below is one of my favorite pictures of Indy. Emily had just had a good ride on her and hosed her down. They were standing in the doorway when I snapped the picture. She is just 3 years old in the picture below.

Jessica rode Indy on one of her first trail rides at Jubilee.

Indy is a lifer around here, a true gift from God. Indy learned to swim when she was about 2 months old. She surprised us by jumping in the water even before her mom did and taking off swimming. Below Mitchel is swimming with her just before she turned 3 years old.

Indy is one of our performing mares, In the picture below her rider Tyler is probably around 6 feet 4 inches tall and yet Indy makes him look average.  

Indy's foals by Evan are amazing, tall, hairy and my oh my what movement. The video below is of Indy's first filly by Evan. Believe me they ALL move this nice.

Indy is still not as bagged up and she needs to be but just in case 4 bags of bedding was added to the stall that had been stripped down, swept and sprayed with bleach. Once that was done I changed out of those dusty dirty clothes and left for Big R to pick up 4 bags of grain, 4 50 pound salt blocks and 1 40 pound bag of cat food. The cat is doing a very good job keeping the mice down in the barn and I sure don't want her moving away.  She still had a bowl full of cat food but the bag was empty. This time I sprang for the more expensive bag after checking the ingredients, instead of $18.00 for 40 pounds I bought the $23.00 bag. The cat has earned her place here. As long as I was in Pekin for cat food Aldi was visited for a few groceries.  This afternoon Dan and Diesel came over for a short visit on their way back from a job, Dan hadn't eaten lunch yet so ate some of the Berean leftovers before heading back to work.
Mark drove mom, Diane and I to church tonight. Craig Stickling had the message. I sure appreciate our Peoria ministers. We got bad news that David Obergfel is back in the hospital in ICU. Please pray for him, we NEED him.

David and Stephanie's Family Videos

We always enjoy when David makes a new video of his family. Below is the latest one 2018 Summer:

Of course if you just need more like this grandma, check out the earlier videos, Below is 2018 spring.


, Below is Winter 2018:


and even some 2017 videos: Summer of 2017:

And the last one is FALL of 2017:

Ayanna's Colt On the Way to Utah

The first of the foals left tonight. The transport company had a big rig, 10 horse trailer with a dressing room and a big truck. When they told me how big it was I made the decision to take the colt down to the water tower and meet them there. I couldn't imagine trying to make the turn into our driveway with such a big rig.  He walked right up the ramp and into his stall on the trailer but was not happy being away from his companions and not allowed to be with the other horses on the trailer.  Hopefully he will settle down soon but the driver told me they were only going 4 more hours tonight. It was so terribly hot again today that none of the horses got worked. Tatiana was covered early this morning then turned out into the pond pasture where it is a little cooler. Karin came after work and even then the thermometer was reading 92 degrees. She only got the volley ball net hung up then came over to help practice loading with Ayanna's colt. He was taken in and out of the small side door of the trailer and each time no hesitating at all. I thought of pulling the Exiss trailer out and practicing on the ramp but it was just too hot and tonight I found out it wasn't needed. The colt just marched right up that ramp. We are expecting strong storms during the night but I don't think they are expected to hit until 2:00 or 3:00 am. 

ALL Caught UP

The very first job this morning after the walk was to finish stripping and bleaching the foaling stall. I finally finished that job around 10:00 am and only then went in for a late breakfast. On the walk this morning I got a vine ripened tasty tomato for breakfast and ate that with my eggs. Did that ever taste good. I took a break and listened to AC central while working on the parade pictures from Saturday.
If you would like to see them click HERE. 
 listening first to Doyle Frauhiger from Bluffton North, then Earl Ringger who was speaking in Morris this weekend. Between sermons I ran up to the apartment and did the finishing touches for the guest coming in today.  This afternoon I needed to make a trip to Kroger to buy something for the Berean meal tomorrow.  I'm not going to mention what I'm having but it is something I've never served before there. We like it here so hopefully it will go over well.  Karin arrived after work today to take our visitor from Holland out on the 'death trails'.  Rebekah Martin brought Claire Izeboud out for riding and what is funny about this is that Hannah was too embarrassed to bring her believing our place is just to junky looking to have someone from Holland who knows all about Friesians.  Well Claire was given Sangria to ride and as we were heading down to the pond pasture to get Sangria, I mentioned that Sangria is an Andalusian.  Claire responded with, "Oh I've ALWAYS wanted to ride an Andalusian!"  We MUST tease Hannah about her snooty guest. Claire wasn't snooty at all, in fact she really enjoyed her ride today.

 Rebekah was given Missy to ride. 

Karin spent her time re-schooling Sally who has learned to grab the bit and GO. 

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from the ride and schooling session click HERE. 

Just as they started this ride, the first load of sand arrived for the volley ball court.

Rachel spent most of the day removing the sand off the court. Karin used Sally to show the driver where to go.

 Then before they could head down to the trails a propane truck arrived and took the wrong turn heading to Rachel's house instead of Joan's house.

Karin used Sally to stop him then the horses were taken down the dam hill instead of the other trail.
I was put to work showing the propane truck the way to Joan's house as Karin told the driver to follow the golf cart. As we were heading down the lane the driver from Kickapoo Sand and Gravel was busy dumping his load.

Joan took mom to her eye doctor appointment then she and her children, Mackenson, Faith and Berlica went to work on the driveway filling in pot holes.

The last load of sand arrived while they were working, so Joan took the skid steer up to start spreading sand. When Mark got home he took over but the skid steer really isn't the job for that, it is just too big. I think Rachel took over using the small Kubota.  Phil had to leave on a service call so I ran over to Phil and Anna's house to stay with Taegan and Kensley until Anna got back from Braelyn's soccer practice. Braelyn is really having fun learning soccer.  When I got back I finished the pictures from yesterday's fun at State Farm Park.  

If you would like to see the rest of those pictures click HERE.

Tatiana and her colt were put inside and the air conditioner turned on as today was again in the 90s.  This evening she was turned out in the breeding shed paddock and promptly showed, if she is still in tomorrow morning she will need to be covered by Valiant. The health papers for all 3 foals leaving soon finally arrived as well as the 10 bales of hay. The first foal leaving is Ayanna's colt. He is leaving tomorrow evening. I am finally all caught up on the pictures from the weekend and there is something really satisfying about that.