Good News Bad News

We had a chilly start to our morning with the temperature hovering around 20 degrees. By the time the walk was over it had gone up to 23 degrees. The rain yesterday and big melt down did a real number on Joan's igloo. The roof caved in. Her kids worked hard to making their new home habitable and then this happens.

A close up of the cave in.

Still the igloo lasted longer than expected and gave hours of fun to Faith, Mackenson and Berlica.

Right after the walk the food for the Berean office was loaded into the car and off I drove getting all the way to Smithville drive when I realized I had forgotten the pies. Those just can't be forgotten so I turned around to get them which meant I would be 5 minutes late but figured I would be forgiven for being late at lunch time. If you would like to read about our work there today click HERE. Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to arrive at the farm around 1:00 pm but I wasn't able to leave work until 12:50 pm. He was sent a text that I was on the way and hopefully he wasn't waiting but I would be there in a half an hour. He wasn't here when I arrived which gave me the chance to gobble down some lunch before heading out to bring in the horses needing ultrasounds and coggins.  Ayanna, Rosalile, Indy and Oksana were all put in stalls as they were the mares needing ultrasounds.  Anna, Galena and Jenis were let loose in the indoor arena. Ivan (Tatiana's colt by Valiant) was haltered and tied to the trailer. When rain started up he was also stalled.
When Dr. Hoerr arrived he drew blood for the 3 in the indoor then walked over to Valiant's paddock. Valiant was pulled out, his picture taken from both sides and the front then his blood drawn.  Then it was time to get to work the stalled horses.  Ivan was done first. He was so well behaved for his blood draw, not even flinching. He is such a sweet well behaved colt. I can't believe how hairy this colt is. His winter coat is so thick and long he was well insulated for that last deep freeze. I should have taken a picture today but had not brought the camera out with me. Below is one of the last pictures taken of him December 17th, 2018. He is taller and has much more hair now.

The ultrasounds were next.  Rosalie was bred to Evan on November 22nd and then just taken out to Middle Grove.

We are pleased to announce this big beautiful mare is confirmed in foal due Nov 8th, 2019. The heart beat is going strong and all looks good.  It isn't terrible to have a late baby, she can be used all summer for trail rides then raise her foal in the winter.  We had Oksana sonagrammed in August. At that point Dr. Hoerr could not find an embryo but felt she was pregnant.

Today she was sonagrammed and is open. Hind sight we should have kept her at this farm and kept teasing her. As he could not find the embryo we will surmise she never was pregnant and we wasted a year OR she could have been pregnant and lost the foal.  Ayanna was confirmed in foal due in April then when we brought her in for training in December she came in season and was bred to Evan on December 12th.  Dr. Hoerr confirmed her in foal today and the heart beat of the foal is good and strong.

Ayanna's foal by Evan is due Nov 26th, 2019 so Ayanna and Rosalie who are full sisters will be raising their foals who are both by Evan, at the same time and Ayanna too will be available to ride all summer long.  We had Indy bred to Evan on September 15th and when Dr. Hoerr came to ultrasound her on Oct 30th, his sonagram machine wasn't working. He did a manual feel and thought she was pregnant but today we found out she wasn't. 

We will have to get her bred this spring along with Oksana. Neither mare are cycling right now but that is fine with us, we don't really want a January baby.
After Dr. Hoerr left the mares were put back out, the stalls cleaned and the arena picked up.  By this time it was almost 5:00 pm.  Mark got home shortly after and for some reason didn't want the Berean leftovers (he had the same meal on Sunday at Phil and Anna's then Monday at mom's house so I couldn't really blame him) instead he was served a crab salad. Not that he was crabby or anything like that.  It is storming with lightning, thunder and pouring down rain and is only 34 degrees outside. Mark parked his car in the barn and had to walk down to the house getting cold and drenched. There is for sure going to be flooding tomorrow. We are hoping this rain does not turn to ice and praying the temperature stays above 32. Just to finish this post this is a beautiful rendering of Let's Go Down to the River to Pray by a high school group.