Bring Them Home

Now that Karin is off work I had arranged to meet her at 10:00 am to drop off Jewel and her colt, Lisa and Tory at Middle Grove and bring back Star, Sangria and Galena.  Jewel has her ultrasound scheduled for June 12th so hers is a quick trip out there of just 12 days.  Lisa and Tori both were covered a few days ago so they can stay for at least 3 weeks.  Sangria looks pregnant and would be due Aug 12th, if she is pregnant but since she had colic surgery years ago her belly always looks big.  I have an appointment on Monday at 3:00 pm with the vet clinic anyway so I'll see if I can bring Sangria in at the same time.  Star had to come home as she is due June 22nd and Galena needs to be here to be bred. Karin took the pictures below.  This group of Galena, Lola and Soul with their foals were grazing under the trees. Off to the left are the Gypsy mare Irish, Isla the Warlander, Giselle, Roxanne's filly and Ivan, Tatiana's colt.

 All of the foals came right up to us. Below is Soul's colt.

 Lola's filly left, Galena's filly right.

 The yearlings came up for attention also. We were really glad, this gave us a chance to fly spray them all down.

 Soul's colt in front of Lola and Galena's fillies.

We hiked up to find the rest of the herd, checked them all over gave each one attention haltered Sangria and Star before heading back to Galena to halter her. We had a couple problems and ended up hiking up and down the hills for 3 hours. The amount of rain has caused the lower land to be a swamp area and Sangria didn't want to get her feet wet! Galena's filly would follow for a little while then run back to the other foals. I ended up loading Star and Sangria into the trailer then getting another halter and lead rope and  hiking back up the hill to help Karin. I didn't have my phone with me on the first trip up so didn't get pictures of all the other mares.  Below Irish, Ivan, Isla and Giselle are letting Karin fly spray them.

Karin led Galena and I led Lola for the second trip down to the trailer and this time not only did the foals come along but the 3 yearlings and Irish followed us all the way back to the trailer. Once Galena and her filly were loaded Lola and her filly were put back in the summer pasture. Lola  ended up taking those 4 plus her filly back to the herd.  There is an abundance of grass and grazing in this pasture yet and we are so short of hay that it is worth bringing mares and foals out even if it is just a short time. We talked about getting a round pen up on the flat area which would make it much easier to load foals. Most of the time we can drive to that area, put the mares and foals in the round pen then load from there instead of trying to haul them all the way down to the road. It will need to dry up a lot before that would work but it is something to think about. I'll look around to see if I can find a used round pen somewhere.  On the way home we stopped at Bs for a late lunch and water each of us drinking 3 full big glasses of water.  We were both so thirsty.  Star was put in the field with Roxanne. Sangria wasn't happy by herself so put in the pond pasture with the mares and foals.  Right now I have 21 horses here and the rest at Middle grove (I think about 22 there) This is an older video taken 3 years ago. Ribbon is in it along with a few others now gone.
This evening Joan is hosting a cook out for the young group and she invited us over for dinner too. It was nice not to have to cook.

Under Water

A storm last night and another unexpected storm this afternoon dropped another half inch of rain. Derby, Julie's mare, was teased. Today she screamed and struck out at Evan but still winked a little so was taken over to Valiant's breeding stand and covered.  He slops through the soupy mud at the gate to get out to do his job. He had to be hosed down first to remove any mud before doing his job. It is so muddy at the breeding stand that the human helpers get splattered with mud too. The amount of laundry this rain is producing is epic.
  As the sun was shining this morning Sheena and Madiera were let out into the pond pasture for the very first time since their foals were born. Madiera's colt is 8 days old and Sheena's colt is 6 days old and they have been spending their days stalled and nights in the indoor arena as the colts were just too young to be out in the rain. They were taken first to the round pend for a few pictures for the website. Below is Madiera with her mega mane and her colt who was SO excited to be outside.

Madiera's colt was fascinated with the puddle in the round pen and kept making his way into the puddle to splash.

He is really going to be someone's dream come true. A black Warlander colt that is curious, friendly, mega hair and TALL! He is for sale for $6000.00 which is a bargain for such a quality horse. I know Athena (Sangria x Raven) appraised for $25,000.00 as a 2 year old so anyone wanting an investment may want to take a look at this colt. 

 Sheena's colt was also excited to be outside and was strutting around like a 'real' dressage horse. What a fancy colt he is. It is actually shocking how well this 6 day old colt moves. 

 They both were glad to get outside and run. As Sheena is a Thoroughbred, she wanted to run and run and run.

They were glad to get out and graze.

Rosaleigh was teased and still no sign of her coming into season. As Lisa and Tori are now both out they were moved in with Roxanne and Rosaleigh moved into the paddock next to Evan's. Maybe now that she is next to a stallion she will come into season.  Below her filly was enjoying her mom's grain.

I went back to the house and just about that time the moisture heavy clouds decided to drop a half inch of rain very suddenly with big drops that came splattering down so hard the driveways became rivers quickly.  

Is the rain ever going to end?  We are kind of underwater around here. The fields are saturated and sloppy, the paddocks are so wet that the mud is turning to soup. We are thinking of ordering planks of wood and buckets of pitch to start building a boat and we live on top of a hill! A very nice picture came in from the lady that bought a Lily x Valiant colt a few years ago. She writes: I love him so much   I was riding him on the levee & and man that was taking pics of his son riding his bicycle stopped & asked if he could take our pic.  It is the old black & white dark room film.  He developed it himself.

Thanks so much Lisa for sharing the picture and giving us an update.  

Cousin Lake Day

We had big storms again last night that dropped almost 2 inches of rain on our already saturated fields.  The transport company for Marika met me at the water tower at 12:45 am. It was pouring down rain. I tried to snap a picture for the owner but in the rain and dark this was the best I could do. The trailer was a big 10 horse semi trailer. Marika had a big stall in the back. She was glad there were other horses aboard.

More storms are predicted tonight. There has never ever been a year like this before. This morning the apartment was worked on and the laundry done. All the girls (except Taunya who still lives in Texas) came today with my grand children to have a lake day. They found a big fat toad to play with.

 Evan Iris had fun today laughing and playing with her mama's shoes.

 We got a picture of them all on mom's porch swing.

 The toad was put under the blue bucket and each time he would hop the bucket would move. We had fun trying to figure out which direction he would hop. 

 The littlest grand child is Eden and she slept most of the time. She is such a good baby.

 After a fun day they all came over to the house for ice cream cones. 

I left for Aldi to pick up a queen size air bed that includes a pump. I just need to pick up 4 D batteries. We have two fathers and their two boys coming in later in June and they would like 4 beds.  A long train blocked the tracks on the way to Aldi so long that I kept falling asleep while waiting for it to pass after that interrupted nights sleep. 

Mark had me bring his church clothes tonight as he had a late estimate. Mike Kaisner had the message.
The horses were fed and stalls cleaned and now I'm more than ready for bed.

Tornado

The Frauhiger family farm in Bluffton, Indiana was hit last night at 9:00 pm by a tornado. Joan's daughter Bethany married Bill Frauhiger and this is his family farm. He, his parents and his brothers all own the farm and work hard making a living for the families by milking almost a thousand cows. The tornado spared the family houses but pretty much destroyed the farm buildings including the milking parlor, machine sheds, barns also destroying equipment, trailers, tractors and cows. The big blessing was that it hit at 9:00 pm which just happens to be break time for the many workers. There were NO workers in the building when it hit. Two of the workers were in the house trailer, one went to shut the door and was sucked out into the tornado, his brother said the trailer started spinning around and he was thrown outside. He started calling for his brother, who answered him, they just shut their eyes to try to protect them as the debris swirled around them. The only injury was broken ribs and a collapsed lung to the man sucked out into the tornado or the man thrown out of the trailer I haven't heard yet which man. He was taken to the hospital but will be fine. The Frauhiger family were amazed to find many of the cows survived. There were many with injuries and some so severe with boards sticking into them that they needed to be put down. This is a drone video taken today of the clean up.
Frauhiger Farms from The Chapel on Vimeo. Their church family, the Bluffton community came to help with many transporting over 800 cows to other farms for care.
We had a good morning at the Berean office. We had a special treat, Marvin brought in a rhubarb dessert his wife Gail made and after the work was done we enjoyed that treat. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.  As soon as I got home Derby, Julie's big paint mare, was teased and covered by Valiant. We have had so much rain here that the path to Valiant's gate is now soup. His legs had to be hosed off before the cover.  He could go out the field gate where there is no mud but he knows if he waits at the people gate he will get to do his job quicker so slops through the mud and waits for me to bring him out. It rained again this afternoon. Derby was put in the round pen while her stall was cleaned. She had a good roll but then ran around and around waiting for me to bring her back inside.  Sheena's colt had his IV taken out. He is doing very well and no longer needs it. He only got fluids once.  The vet clinic was called to arrange the health papers for Marika. She is leaving at 1:00 am. The transport company has a 10 horse trailer and a big truck. The rig is so big they are afraid they will not make the turn so Marika will be taken to the water tower when they get close. I'll need to sleep with the phone next to the bed as they will call when they are 15 minutes away.  Marika was given a bath and stalled. We will be sad to say good by to her but I really need to cut down on the work load here. Below Faith and Marika were posing for a picture for a perspective buyer.

The trailer was cleaned out and is ready. A big storm moved in this evening and has been dropping tremendous amounts of rain. This heavy rain is suppose to keep coming most of the night. It is going to be a wet transfer come 1:00 am.

Good News for Sheena's Colt

The colt was checked on first thing this morning and I was relieved to see him up and nursing well.  His IV was flushed a few times today but other than that never needed any more fluids. If he is still doing well tomorrow I will remove his IV.  The mares were all teased today and none of them are in season. I am still waiting for Lily, Zalena and Rosaleigh to show. All of that was done before breakfast. After breakfast Mark worked on changing the snow tires off his car and changing the oil. I moved a bale into the middle paddock, moved Jewel, Lily and Zalena along with their foals in there then moved Rosaleigh to the far paddock.  The breeding shed paddock needs a new bale but it is just so muddy I would rather try to wait for some dryer weather.
The volley ball players arrived and played until 1:00 pm. Karin had a trail ride scheduled at 10:30 am leaving from here in the rain going to Sandridge where it wasn't currently raining. They had a good ride. Shaeya sent back some pictures.

Our airbnb guests left this morning and left this review:  “Judy was an amazing host. We had a great stay at her place and would highly recommend it to anyone staying in or near Hanna City.”  She also wrote a personal note to me: “Thanks Judy - we had an excellent stay at your place. P.s...your snacks were amazing!!”

This afternoon I drove to Sam's for more dog food AND people food. It was raining when I got back. We ended up at mom's for games this evening and had a good time. 

Memorial Sunday

It rained during the night and was raining this morning when I went up to the barn to feed.  Sheena's colt had some diarrhea on his tail but seemed strong and ok.  As he is just 2 days old though we didn't want to take a chance that he would get dehydrated so decided to let Dr. Hoerr know we would need him this afternoon. As Sheena is Mike and Diane's personal horse they took care of that.  Mark and I took mom to church. After church the colt wasn't better so we were really glad that Dr. Hoerr was coming.  Tori was teased and is still in so covered by Evan. Emily and Mitchel  brought Julie's beautiful paint mare Derby over to be bred to Valiant. It took her a little to show but she stood well. When Dr. Hoerr arrived the colt was checked. He had no fever but was a little dehydrated. Dr. Hoerr put an IV in and gave him a liter of fluids.

 As soon as he was given the fluids he was feeling better and nursed well.  Dr. Hoerr checked him over well.

 The only thing wrong with him is the diarrhea. We just have to support him with fluids until that clears up.  Stephanie had Israel's birthday party at the house and she went all out making this a ninja turtle birthday.

He certainly enjoyed that. Israel and David are camping here at the lake at Indian point in a tent. Sure hope they don't get rained out. After the party everyone went over to the playground. Spark brought his handy dandy crowd mover to give grandchildren rides while the volley ball players played. 

We had a big group playing games. A campfire was built and we enjoyed somemores  and visiting until quite late. The colt was checked on one more time, before heading down to the house. He jumped right up and nursed well.

Holiday Weekend

As soon as it was light enough to see I went up to the barn to take care of Sheena and her colt, feeding and cleaning the stall. The next job was to tease. Lisa is still in and covered by Evan. Tori is in big time but we are using Evan for her this year so she will have to be done tomorrow after church.  The morning was nice so Sheena and Madiera were taken out to the field with their colts and a few pictures taken for the website. Sheena's colt is just 1 day old and Madiera's colt is 3 days old.

They both had a ball running around driving their mom's crazy. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures click HERE. On the way in I took the picture below of Lily, her filly, Zalena and her filly in the pond pasture. See the missing hair on Zalena's filly's back leg, it WILL grow back and she is doing well. This was from the day she was born. She ended up laying in a puddle for over 20 minutes.

Anna dropped off the girls so I put them to work. Below Kensley is petting Rosaleigh's filly. 

 This filly loves kids. She came right up to the fenceline to get Kensley and Taegan to pet her. 

Only after the morning chores were done did I head in to make breakfast for Mark.  Our breakfast looked so good that the girls wanted some too.

After breakfast Braelyn and Taegan were given the job to put all of the pictures up on the new fridge.

Kensley was given the job of taking care of Pax their new puppy.

Karin had a trail ride scheduled leaving here around 10:30 taking 5 horses.

 Karin sent back pictures.

They had a very good time but got lost on the red trail. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures Karin sent back click HERE. Mike didn't want Ripper left by himself at the cabin field so took him out for a ride.

After that ride he took Ripper out to Middle Grove. Mike feels he is trained enough now that he does not need to stay here and can go out on the good grass.  Rain was predicted later but this afternoon was nice so we went over to mom's beach and were joined by lots of dogs. Pax enjoyed playing with Bear, Gabe and Molly's dog who is here for a week while they are on vacation.

 Molly even came out and went swimming.

 Kabur joined the group.

 Emma and Chewy were to dignified to join in the rabble rousing play.

 Even Studly came but I didn't seem to have taken any pictures of him. The two below played until both were exhausted.

 Joan came canoeing over from her house.

 She and Braelyn went to move a boat they thought was blocking the siphon overflow pipe.

 It wasn't a boat blocking the pipe, there was a big snapping turtle caught in the pipe. He was dead and smelly. The suction of the pipe pulled him in and he drowned. 

Joan showed us a picture of her van.  This just happened today as the young group was traveling to Alabama to the Tennessee Memorial Sing.

They were almost to their destination when they had to stop for traffic. A truck pulling a trailer didn't stop in time, tried to miss them but slammed into the back and side of Joan's van. SO very thankful no one was hurt but the van is more than likely totaled as it was pushed into the car in front and also has front end damage.  

 We went back to the house to get swimming suits and grandpa Mark came out to swim with the girls.

 Mackenson came swimming over too.

 Below they are burying Taegan in the sand. Only her hair is sticking out.

 After all that work Kensley needed to get a little sun and take a nap.

 Phil and Anna arrived so Mark and I left for home to get ready for our dinner date with Amy and Ken Koch. Today is Amy's birthday and we decided to eat at the Red Lobster in Peoria. Mom came along too. We had a fun evening with delicious food that none of us had to cook. Megan the owner of a Raven son out of a Thoroughbred mare sent the picture below with the caption Figured I'd share a few now that we have him all dappled up and got some muscle on him!

Thank you Megan, your boy is BEAUTIFUL and obviously well cared for. The Friesian X Thoroughbred cross is a wonderful mix and we are thrilled to get updates.
It is again pouring rain outside.  We were worried after out nice day that the mud may be dehydrated but that isn't going to happen THIS week. Rain is predicted EVERY day of this coming week. Today was a good day!