Picking UP

 It was a nice morning for our walk. Even Molly went following us all the way to Joan's house and back.  We did not walk to the barn though. My airbnb renters have a male German Shepherd they let loose and I didn't want to take a chance on him getting into a dog fight. They leave tomorrow morning. I picked up Aunt Jinnie at 8:15 am to go to the Berean office. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE. We actually quit a little early as the rain was going to be moving in by 1:00 pm and I needed to get to Middle Grove to pick up Soul.  As soon as we got home I changed and ran up to the barn to find 2 halters and 2 lead ropes then left for Middle Grove.  I didn't pull into the field once there as I was afraid of getting stuck so started the long walk up the hill. There were no horses in sight. I walked along the ridge and could see well both sides as the leaves are not yet on the trees.  I was just about ready to send Mike a text asking if he had moved them to another field when saw something white by the 5 acre lake.  Those horses were about as far from the first gate as they could possibly be. I snapped 3 pictures before they noticed me coming. That is Sangria and Cookie in the first picture.

Mika is the chestnut, Jewel is the bay and I'm not sure who the blacks were.

Left to right is Soul, Missy and Jury.

Jury was the first to notice me.

I checked her udder and it is flat. She is supposed to be due in August but both Rhoda and I think she may be due May 11th. She was confirmed in foal at that point but then in September started showing and was covered by Valiant. Now we are wondering if her hormones were off. We will need to keep a close eye on her udder. Soul was haltered and her udder checked, there is no sign of it filling up but she is due in 11 days.

The other mare haltered was Cookie. 

They were just left to graze while I took pictures of the other mares.

Above  is Sheena and Tatiana. Sheena is looking great. She was bred to Valiant and is due June 18th, Tatiana was also bred to Valiant and is due May 16 but she is another mare that always delivers early.  Below is Sheena and behind her Rosalie. Rosalie needs to come in for breeding but I keep putting it off until I can get a few more hog panels for bale wraps.

Above is Rosaleigh who is bred to Evan and due June 7th and below is Lily who is bred to Valiant and due May 4th.

Above is Oksana who is bred to Evan due June 25th and below is Indy and Madiera. Indy is bred to Evan due Aug 16th while Madiera was bred to Valiant and is due June 7th. Madiera and Rosaleigh were both in season the same time and needed to be covered the same day. We really like what Rosaleigh produces when bred to Evan so decided to breed Madiera to Valiant.

I didn't get a good picture of Jewel as Soul started walking away but Jewel is bred to Evan and due July 6th.  Dancer is the full sibling to this expected foal. 

IF you would like to see the rest of the pictures from this trip to Middle Grove click HERE. It was a long walk back leading 2 mares.  Jury followed until we started down the hill then started running which made Soul and Cookie want to run.  There was no way I was going to let go and have to make that long hike back. Jury ended up coming back and following all the way to the gate.  She is really attached to both of these mares.  Funny how the gray horses all stick together. By the time I was loading it was starting to rain. When back both Soul and Cookie were put in the short shelter paddock. They will need to be moved soon as it is supposed to rain all afternoon, evening and even tomorrow. That paddock will be too muddy.  The trailer was cleaned out and parked.  Then it was time to head inside to start on some house work. Mark was actually impressed by my cleaning job. He is easily impressed OR it is easy to make things look nice when they start out that bad. I had neglected the dishes Sunday and Monday.