Addyson's Birthday Party

On the walk this morning Ruth pointed out that the redbud tree had blossoms growing out of the branches and trunk of the tree. 

It looked like God has been decorating the tree for Spring. Last month I saw a thorn tree with thorns coming out of the branches and the trunk but have never seen this with a flowering tree. 

I didn't clean the barn or the stalls until after the walk and when I did clean then I thought I saw foal diarrhea. That meant a trip out to the field to find out which foal but none of them showed signs of that. Only then did I start checking mares and sure enough saw pus coming out of Lola. She must have retained a tiny piece of placenta. I check it before I buried it and thought it was complete but must have missed a tiny tear. Hoerr Vet clinic was called and Chris thought he could get me in by 11:00 am. That gave me time to meet Amy at Denny's for breakfast. We had just finished eating when Chris called back to see if I could make it there by 10:30 am and it was 9:30 am and I was still in Pekin. Amy took care of the bill and I left right away. I was 3 minutes late. Lola was put in the stocks while Emma held her colt in front of her.

Dr. Hoerr invariably has to put his arm where the sun don't shine in this job.

When he pulled it back out it was covered in pus.

He pulled out a pretty big puddle of pus.

The good news was it didn't smell so had not started rotting anything inside. She was infused with antibiotics. All should be well in a couple days. Lola was loaded and her 4 day old colt impressed Dr. Hoerr and Emma by just jumping in the trailer after her.  This afternoon was Addyson's 12th birthday party and she invited all the girls from her class.  Sarah brought one car load and Taunya brought the other. Sarah let  Kensley Taegan and Braelyn hold baby River. 

Karin took the birthday party girls out in 3 groups trail riding. While some of the girls were on the horses, the others were on the golf cart.

After everyone that came to the party got a chance to ride, Karin started on the next birthday party. Aubrey had friends and cousins over for her birthday party so Karin took the 4th group out too.

The girls all loaded up on the golf cart to head over to see the foals.

From there we went exploring on the golf cart and stopped at the pipe bridge so they could cross it.

We made our way to the playground.

Taunya served everyone pizza from the Warehouse.

The birthday cake was brought out, Taunya's friend made a horse cake for Addyson.

Below is a short video of some of the horseback riding, bridge and singing Happy Birthday.

IF you would like to see the rest of the birthday party pictures click HERE. 

Ruth and Fedi went camping at Middle Grove this weekend, Ruth sent back the 3 pictures below saying they are really enjoying it.

They bought the tent that hooks to their van and really wanted to try it out before we head down to Missouri for the canoe trip.

After the Storm

 We had So much rain yesterday and during the night a thunderstorm with plenty bright flashes and big booms. Lola and her colt were moved out of the indoor arena and into a stall for the morning. Mark got the tractor out early to start grading the driveways. 

It was almost too soft but the rain had really done a number on them. The grading helped.  This morning we started walking to Joan's, got to the hill and mom got stuck in the mud. She couldn't move or  her shoes would be left behind. At that point we turned around and headed back. Joan brought one of the canoes over but when we tried to keep walking the rain started back up. We decided it wasn't worth getting soaked and we all quit. Instead we went into mom's house and re-bandaged her leg. She had gouged it on the walker and had to put a lot of bandage on to stop it from bleeding through. We were able to put a smaller bandage on then wrap it with an ace bandage with her stocking on top and she was ready to go to quilting. I had to head to CEFCU to deposit some checks that won't go through the money center then headed back to tease mares.  Lily said no today and will be marked out and Irish is also out.  It has only been 16 days since Rosalie's last cover, she is not showing at all. The cookies from Anna were taken to the apartment and that checked over. Sometimes we have the riders using the bathroom but all was clean and ready. The guests were sent a message that it was ready for them. They were glad for that message as they were going to be in the area at least an hour before check in. They also asked to book for a 3rd night.  The paddocks were really muddy and even the big fields had standing water. The mares were not turned out until after noon. Instead of working outside the laundry and dishes were done inside. The rain stopped and the sun came out. A very pretty yellow butterfly came to visit the poor daffodils.

The mares were let out and all took off at a gallop. Lola and her 3 day old colt were also put in the field. The colt wanted to run and run but Lola was afraid he would get too close to the other mares. She had to work hard to keep up with him and keep him away from the other horses.

Lola finally felt comfortable enough to have a good roll.

As soon as she was up he was off again.

The other mares were all spread out toward the far end of the field.

Above Irish and Rosalie are far left with their two foals between, Lily and her filly are in front of Soul and her filly. Below Irish's colt is heading to his mom, Soul's filly decided it was time to nurse.

Once I knew Lola and her colt were going to be fine Jury and her colt were brought out. This colt is just 1 day old. He too had fun using those long legs.

Lily's filly was sleeping so sound I walked right up to her.

Last night was exhausting for those foals.

They all seemed to be doing fine so were left in the field while I cleaned stalls. IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures taken in the field click HERE.  When Mark got home he helped me get a couple broken board fixed behind Evan's paddock. Bryce came and Mark lined him out weed whacking and that all got done this evening. It sure is nice to have good help.