Drop OFF and Pick UP

Mike left early for Middle Grove today to check on the horses and see if we needed to put out more hay. He reported he put 4 bales out last week and they weren't even touched. He emailed the two pictures below of the horses grazing by the lake.

Today was the day we had scheduled to take Oksana, Tory, Anna and Lisa and bring back Ayanna, Rosalie and Indy.  I was a little unsure how Lisa would load but was pleasantly surprised when she followed Anna right into the back of the trailer.  The middle divider could not be opened today so I had to expect Oksana and Tory to load into the side door. Tory was sure there wasn't room for her once Indy was in but we made it work. Sue and Karin had already arrived and were waiting at the gate.  Mike had a new combination lock on the gate and none of us knew the combination. Luckily Mike answered the phone gave us the combination and we were good to go. The sun was shining bright but it was below freezing so I drove on back. Good thing I have 4 wheel drive on this truck, the top layer was melting in the sunshine making it very slippery and muddy. We stopped and let the mares out at the bottom of the hill. Below is Tory getting ready to jump out.

 Lisa wasn't quite sure what to think and walked out of the trailer a little slow, but when the other 3 took off at a gallop she was right with them.

 Sue and Karin hiked up the hill while I turned the truck around. Below they are almost to the herd. That is Studley with them. 

Below some of the herd are meeting Lisa. 

 That is Skye in the picture below. She was following Karin where ever she went. 

 I wanted to check on Foxy and was pleased she has gained back every bit of weight she dropped when nursing her filly. She looks great. 

 The other mare checked was Rosaleigh, she too looked great. I didn't get a good picture of her but she has gained everything back plus. All of the horses are doing very well. Below is Lisa checking over the place. It was surprising how well she adjusted to being in with the herd. There was a little bit of squealing then they all settled down to graze. 

 Hadassah is just so beautiful.  She has on a safety halter as she can be hard to catch sometimes.  

 We had Rosalie, Ayanna and Indy haltered and were starting back when I realized I hadn't seen the 3 foals yet. We found them all together down by the water.  Tatiana's colt is still very friendly, he let me scratch and pet him all over. He is pictured below. He still has some of his foal coat on his nose making that brown but the rest of him is pretty much shed out.

 Below is Roxanne's filly. She looks amazing. She has a nice set on LONG neck, short back and nice rump.  By the way both of these foals are for sale, both are purebred Friesians, both are registered and DNA'D with Friesian Heritage Horse. If interested please visit our website for more information. 

 The 3 mares were loaded and brought home. Sue and Rebekah helped comb out the manes and tails then Karin round penned them together. Left to right is Rosalie, Indy and Ayanna. While they were working on the manes and tails I moved a new bale in for them in the middle paddock.

 All three mares were given a good refresher then taken out on the trails. 

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures taken from today click HERE. A nice email came in from a lady that came to the Giant Goose Ranch when we were doing the pony rides for their big 4th of July party.  She wrote: Just wanted to share this cute picture my daughter drew about your horse she rode and fell in love with...( its not like this is her first ride, we have 3 horses) She talks about "Cookie" everyday.

One of the reasons why this little girl fell in love with Cookie is her looks but the real reason is Cookie is so well trained that she walked, trot and cantered for Julia when Julia asked.  

It was really cold today. We started the day with 17 degrees and hit 32 degrees late this afternoon. By evening I was so cold it took soaking in a hot bath to finally warm up enough to get ready for church.