Exceptionally Kind

This morning on the way to feed I noticed Zalena with 2 fillies both nursing, one on her right side and one on her left side.  She has taken Rosaleigh's filly in and decided to be a mother to both her filly and the orphan.  I'm not sure if the reason she did was that Rosaleigh's filly was just so determined to nurse but now I have to wean her all over again. Zalena really is exceptionally kind. The only other time I saw a mare take in another foal was Jewel a few years back.  Sangria's colt and Jewel's filly were both born on the same day that year in the same field pretty much at the same time.  Jewel would let both her filly and Sangria's colt nurse off of her but Sangria would only let her own. By the time I grabbed the camera both foals were done and following Zalena across the pond followed by Galena's filly who is now the only one without a mother. It doesn't seem to bother her much though, she wasn't nursing much at all. When I checked Galena's udder a day after weaning it was already down but Rosaleigh's udder was not.

Jenis came over to see if I would give her attention. Emma was with me and she thinks it is her job to bark at the horses that come up to the fence.

Once the horses were fed Giselle, Roxanne's 2018 filly by Valiant was taken out to to get some updated pictures for the website.  She is such a beautiful filly and inherited the mega hair.

 She also inherited the big movement from her sire Valiant AND will be tall. She does not look like a yearling and yet she is not yet 14 months old.

Who ever ends up with her is really going to love her. She will really be the fantasy Friesian everyone wants plus can be bred at age 3. She is for sale for $8000.00 and is registered and dna'd in the Friesian Heritage Horse Registry, papers are in hand.

Karin and Kayla arrived and worked together to spray for weeds in the outdoor arena. When they were done with that they brought Evan out for some clicker training. While they were working with Evan I took the opportunity to move a new bale in his paddock then moved a bale feeder from the field and put it in Raven's old paddock for the yearlings. A bale was moved in that feeder and Isla moved over first. She was not sure she liked being in there all by herself.

She was galloping around tossing her head while waiting for me to bring the other two over.

She is another of our special foals, she inherited the mega hair from her dam Madiera and her height from her sire Valiant. Rhoda saw her today and exclaimed, "Isla is really beautiful!"  I had to agree. I'm just surprised she isn't sold but since she can be bred to Evan in 2 years we don't mind if she doesn't sell. I'm only asking $5000.00 for her and we would not be able to buy something of her quality for that amount so am not negotiable and that is probably the reason she isn't sold. I just won't take less for her. She is registered in the WARLANDER book of the Friesian Heritage Horse Registry and her papers are also in hand.  I finished moving the yearlings before Kayla finished with Evan so got a few pictures of her working with him.Below she is giving him the cue to lay down.

 He looked over at her to ask, "do you mean now?"

 Another tap and down he went.

He really is a beautiful stallion.

Karin put Evan away and brought out Valiant for clicker training.

He did well too.

She asked him to lay down and then sit.

Both boys are such a blessing to our farm. They sire gorgeous sweet HAIRY foals with amazing movement. We have been in business now since 2002 and I really don't think we have an unhappy customer in all these years and well over 300 foals. 

This afternoon a bunch of us met over at mom's to play games. We laughed so hard at times we could hardly keep the game going.  

This evening is cousin night at the apartment. Rhoda and Sarah are providing the meal but everyone is bringing something. 

I put together full crockpot of lasagna for the meal tomorrow at the playground. For years Rachel hosts a big labor day picnic and all are invited. The lasagna has cooked for 3 hours, is cooling for an hour then will be put in the fridge for over night.  It is an easy dish, serves a lot of people and is tasty.

Cinnamon and Abby

Today both Cinnamon and Abby were worked with. Cinnamon is now coming to me when I walk into the paddock.

She still isn't leading well but at least she doesn't run. Abby is still running from me. They are both in the paddock next to Evan. 

She gives up pretty quickly but as long as I can't trust her to come she cannot go to Middle Grove.  She was taken to the round pen and worked with. Today I had a break through with the fly spray. She didn't try to get away from that. She is still afraid of it but didn't move her legs.  Each day we work with that keeping the spray going until she stops moving. I'm happy with the progress on both mares. Cinnamon is still in season.
Joan and I went into town to pick up the white van. The back door hinge had broken and now is repaired. We were also given instructions on how to keep the other hinges from rusting.  Mark ordered the lithium oil spray from Amazon and that will be sprayed on the door hinges to keep them oiled.
We are gearing up for the Labor Day weekend company.

Grandchildren Visit

I met Stephanie at 7:15 am at Meisters to pick up Israel and Elisabet. When we got back we jumped on the golf cart and found the walkers and rode along with them for the second round and found a really neat big box at Diane's place ready for the dumpster. Instead we took that home to help build a tunnel into a fort. 

 We were surprised to see Sarah walking over with Zion and Eden and since the day was turning warmer we played outside.  Check out how BIG that tree is. It was a lot of fun for climbing on.

 Zion, Elisabet and Israel were asked to stop climbing so I could snap a picture.

 Anna brought Kensley over this afternoon to join in all the fun. Below we are loaded on the golf cart and heading up to the barn to tack up Jenis.

 Israel got to walk and trot Jenis all by himself today.

Kensley started out being led but by the end of the riding she too had trotted all by herself.

The hardest to work with was Zion, once she was ON Jenis she didn't want to get back OFF Jenis. She cried each time even though we assured her she would get another turn.

 We finally just let her stay up and put the other kids on behind. 

While Sarah was watching them ride Jenis, Anna came with me to help cover Cinnamon. She is in season but doesn't stand very well and today I wanted someone to make sure she held still while Valiant did his job.  The cover was successful. It really did help having a second pair of hands.  When we got back to the round pen Israel and Kensley rode Jenis back to the barn to untack then Sarah and Anna loaded up all the kids to go play on the playground at Anna's house while I took the weanlings out of the stall for the first time in 2 days and put them into the pond pasture with Jenis, Zalena and her filly Legend. Both fillies come to me for their grain and I was reasonable sure they would not try to jump out and I was right.

The 3 fillies all ended up grazing together.

 Left to right in the picture below is Zalena's filly, Galena's filly and Rosaleigh's filly.

Galena's filly and Rosaleigh's filly are now successfully weaned and ready for their new home except...I still don't have them named and because of not having names I haven't sent in their paper work to register them.  I'm not good at picking names and sure wish I had help. Names this year need to start with J, K or L.  After I was sure they would all be fine together in the field I left for Anna's to pick up Israel and Elisabet and take them home. They had fun and so did I. A special thanks to Sarah and Anna for helping here today. It is SO nice to have extra hands around here. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE.

TOO Much Imagination

A notice came in early this morning that the dna results for Soul's colt could not be performed as something happened to the hair I sent in. That meant a trip out to Middle Grove this morning as we need those registration papers before the colt is weaned and goes to his new home.  Right after the walk I left taking the camera, an envelope for the hair and driving the car as no horses needed to be transported on this trip. Now comes the scary part and yet maybe it was all a coincidence. I was driving west on 116 and a white pickup truck started tailing the car. Since the speed limit is only 55 and the cruise was set I expected the truck to pass but it didn't.  At Farmington I pulled into the gas station to fill up and the truck followed me. I thought that was weird as the driver didn't pull up to get gas but just parked in front of the station. I filled the car's gas tank and got ready to head back west on 116, looked behind me and that same truck was again right behind me, way too close.  At that point evasive action was taken and I immediately got in the left turn lane and quickly turned left. The truck didn't have time to turn and went straight but I was pretty sure the driver was trying to turn at the next possible. The car was quickly taken back to 116, crossed that and into the other side neighborhood and out of sight of 116.  That was the last time I saw the pick up truck so all of this may have just been my imagination but when I got to Middle Grove I drove through the gates of the winter pasture into the summer pasture and hid the car before hiking up to find the horses, all the while pondering if just maybe I have too good of an imagination. I admit to looking back quite often on the way up the hill and had goose bumps during the evasive action.
The herd was not at the top but before hiking the ridge I noticed something white at the far clump of trees.

Those white horses really make it easy to find the herd as long as they stay with the herd.  Soul, Lola and Galena noticed me coming first.  I was sure the foals would be near by but none of them were in sight. Evidently I arrived during nap time.

 That warm sunshine after a cool night make for good sleeping and if they weren't laying down taking naps, they were ready to lay down and take a nap.

It is nice to see the herd all relaxed. If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from the trip to Middle Grove click HERE. As soon as I got home the hair from Soul's colt was mailed to UC Davis in California then the weanlings were cared for.  They were each haltered and moved into a clean stall with fresh water, hay and grain. They are doing great.
Mark came home a little early from work to work on the cutting up more of that downed tree limb.  He quit for supper, the went back out and worked until it was time to get ready to go to church.  The weanlings have stopped calling for their mom's and are now happy to see me coming with more grain. They are doing very well and can probably be moved into a paddock tomorrow afternoon.  Diane and mom joined us tonight. Greg Rumbold had the message.  We all stayed late visiting and have just now made it home and will head straight to bed.

Going WELL

The two weanlings (both of which need to be named) did well last night. They did not dump their water buckets and both of them had eaten all of their grain and most of their hay.  Their water buckets were cleaned and filled and they were given more hay and grain but I did not clean stalls as I didn't want to be late for the walk.
After the walk I left for the Berean office. We had a very good morning there and had lots of laughs today. If you would like to read about that click HERE.
As soon as I got home the weanlings were checked. Each was haltered and tied. The far stall was cleaned, fresh hay, water and grain put in and then the fillies were put together. Their stalls were cleaned and they were left alone.  Cinnamon was taken out and teased. She is in big time. She was successfully covered by Valiant.  Abby ran from me in the paddock but gave up pretty quickly. She was taken out and teased. She is not in and let Evan know in no uncertain terms of that.  She was then taken to the round pen. Abby is smart. Today I asked for 1 round of canter before asking her to turn in and she not only turned in she stood when I walked up to her and touched her forehead. The other side was exactly the same. One round of canter, when I backed up she turned and stopped.  She was disengaged both directions then led over to the fly spray. That took a while as she was afraid but as soon as she stopped moving the fly spray stopped. That was also done both directions. She still has trust issues and I'm not sure how long this will take but today was encouraging.   After supper tonight Mark went out to work on that huge tree limb. It is completely blocking the second drive and tonight he was determined to open that drive back up.

 Mike took Ripper and Hadassah to the outdoor arena for some canter work.  Hadassah did very well staying right with them.  Ripper is green broke to ride but doing very well.  Today Mike cantered him both directions and each time he took the correct lead. 

I ran up to the barn to take care of the weanlings for the night. When I finished Mark had the skid steer down at the tree and was able to move the base off the drive.

It is hard to tell in the picture but the base of the limb that fell is over 6 feet in diameter.

He was able to chain saw enough that the drive is now open.

We will work on moving branches at a later date when things dry out more.  And just for another reference on how big this tree is Diane took this picture of me standing next to the tree.

Weaning Day For Two

Early this morning we were having a rain shower but no wind and all of us sudden we heard a huge CRACK, rumble, THUD and went running for the door believing one of the stallions were breaking out of their paddock. It wasn't a stallion, the big old tree lost a huge limb.

Right about then I got a text from Rachel saying, "Hey we just heard a pretty good-sized tree fall in your stallion pasture near the volley ball court.  You might want to check your fence."  I replied that it was the one in our yard and that Valiant came running up to investigate.  Rachel sent another text, That's weird because we could see something fall all the way from here through the trees. "  YES this limb really was THAT BIG! Rachel lives all the way across the lake and mom's house is between her's and mine. Mark is going to have his work cut out for him to get that drive back open.
Our walk got rained out, well part of the walk. Diane showed up with an umbrella and I showed up with a rain coat and Ruth showed up late. Joan didn't walk but we walked to her house, said hello then walked home. Dr. Hoerr was scheduled for this morning and he almost made it arriving shortly after noon bringing Emily, a vet student that is shadowing him on his rounds today.

Galena and Tatiana were scheduled for ultrasounds and we needed a new coggins done on Lisa. We did the blood draw first then the ultrasound machine was taken into Galena's stall. It didn't take Dr. Hoerr long to find the embryo.

 They even saw the heart beat as Galena 5 weeks along. Galena is due July 1st, 2020.

 Next up was Tatiana, she was bred only on her foal heat and then sent out to Middle Grove as we were all leaving on vacation.  She too was confirmed in foal. Tatiana is due July 12th, 2020 but she usually delivers 3 weeks early.

 As soon as Dr. Hoerr left Galena was taken to the trailer and loaded up. Her filly was left in the stall for weaning. The next to be loaded was Rosaleigh. Her filly was left in the stall across the aisle. Lisa was 3rd to be loaded and then Tatiana and her filly were last. I was very pleased at how quiet both Galena and Rosaleigh were once loaded. When I arrived at Middle Grove all of the mares dropped their heads and started grazing.  

 Galena soon realized she was missing something, neighed a couple times then took off up the hill to look for her missing daughter. The rest just followed up and over the hill with Tatiana and her filly bringing up the rear.

When I got home the fillies were checked. Their stalls freshly bedded, water buckets filled and each was given new hay and grain. Both are eating and drinking but both are still calling. I have them on the monitor.  They go to the grain bucket, take a bite, walk over to the door and call. 

Depending on how they do tonight they may be put in the same stall tomorrow.  Both are plenty old enough to wean. Mark brought home a special gift after work today,  a dozen red roses. They were absolutely beautiful! They sure brighten up the house and my heart.

After supper Mark went right to work on the fallen limb.

 It almost looks like he cut that in a heart.

Julie, the owner of that big beautiful paint mare that was bred to Valiant last month sent the message, "we are expecting" along with this picture:

 Her mare is PREGNANT!  congratulations Julie, that is going to be one beautiful foal! All of the mares that were sonagrammed today were covered by Valiant. It is wonderful to have such fertile stallions.