Ella the Pony

Rhoda has been working Ella and the only words we can say is This pony is just fantastic! The video camera was brought out for another Ella Video:

This was the first time Rhoda tried to ride Ella bridle-less, first time she asked her to bow and lay down without a bridle. What a GREAT PONY!

Adoption

During vaulting last night, Jakob and Bow, the two foals escaped from the paddock and came thundering into the arena, went straight to Ribbon and BOTH babies started nursing, one on each side of her. We knew Jakob was staying with Ribbon and her filly most of the time but never dreamed Ribbon would allow him to nurse. I guess one could say he has been adopted.
Vaulting went well, it really helps to have such a wonderful quiet horse that knows her job AND one that will nurse babies that are not her own. Makes me wonder if Jenis cares?
We were invited to Eva Jean's house for rotating potluck. She had 11 around her table. The food was almost as good as the very entertaining stories told.
Mark moved in 2 bales this morning, one for the 2 outside mares and one for Jewel's paddock. Both of the outside mares were teased and neither are willing. It is 17 days from Fire's last cover and we are so hoping she will not come in, it is 17 days since Calypso came here and we are so hoping she will show soon.

Driving Accident

Rhoda's offer on the house did not get accepted, she will keep looking as she wasn't willing to go any higher on that particular house. When we arrived back at the farm, Steven had Valiant hooked up and was driving him, he asked Rhoda if she would like to try. She is driving him, makes the comment he drives like a cadilac when things went wrong, horribly wrong, at least I thought so until Rhoda showed me how much worse things could have gone.

Just look at how nice Valiant drives in the video above. Rhoda started back after we finished with the video, Valiant started cantering, would not stop at the whoa, then started bucking and kicking. Rhoda dropped to the bottom of the cart pulling and yelling for him to stop but instead he swings down into the field and starts heading for a huge woodpile. Rhoda decides at that point to bale, throws herself out of the cart at a flat out gallop. Valiant continues galloping, bucking and running until he runs into a dead end. By this time the cart has a broken shaft, bent wheel and the steel mesh where Rhoda was taking refuge is all kicked up. When I'm bemoaning the loss of the cart, Rhoda brings me inside, turns on the computer and shows me exactly how much worse things could have turned out. Watch until the end, this video is one disaster after another.

We need to leave for potluck soon and the vegetables are not done.

Naughty Siblings

Below are the three siblings once Ciera let the other 2 out of their paddock. Ciera is Lily's 2 year old daughter, Jewel is Grace's 3 year old daughter and Super is Cindy's 4 year old son, of course Raven is the sire of all of them. They ran in the field behind Raven, galloped around like crazy. We put them in the pasture behind the boys where the video was taken. By this time they were questioning if we were going to put them back and kept running up to us. Nope we left them in for the night. This was actually a mistake, by morning I'm sure it had to be Ciera that figured out how to undo the latch on the field gate. Mark walks out the door at 6:00am this morning, it is very dark and he almost walks into a horse that is standing quietly waiting to be put back where they belong.

All three are now standing at the gate.
The video music again is by our Peoria choir.
Today Braelyn comes, I've been missing my grandchildren something awful and can hardly wait for Thanksgiving. They will ALL come for that even the far way Bloomington ones.

Repairs

Mark started the fire in the wood burner early this morning, it was COLD outside. When I left for the walk more wood was added and by the time we were done the apartment was 84 degrees. Both the back door and the front door were opened to cool down the place and the fire was dampered down. Meaning the wood burner needs a bit of regulating. It probably wasn't wise to stuff it FULL of good dry wood.
Rhoda got off work early, so we decided to take some video's of the horses just for fun. The first one was Indy and all went fine.

The music used for the video is our Peoria choir. It was too late last night to try to find music that would be accepted on youtube. One doesn't have to listen to the music, just mute the sound if the amateur notes are bothersome.
Then we put Killian in the outdoor arena by himself, Rhoda walked him to the far end, let him go and he galloped to the end, stopped short, looked at the fence and jumped it, clearing it with his front legs but getting hung up on his back legs, then landing on the manure fork and breaking it in 4 pieces. He freed himself before we could get to him and ran all the way back into his paddock. At least no damage was done to the fence. Next we brought out Ciera. She was REALLY up. She took off galloping right THROUGH the fence. Why jump when one can just plow through. The 2 x 6 snapped so fast we don't even think she felt it. She ran right to her paddock gate, unlatched it and let her paddock mates, Super and Jewel, out also. They ran into the field behind Raven so we locked them in. Rhoda grabbed the video camera and started it rolling taking lots of clips of them galloping around the field. They were left in the field for the night. There is still plenty of grass. We needed to pick up Diane for Rhoda's meeting with a Realtor. Rhoda put an offer in today on a small house in Hanna City. It would be great if they accept the offer but we are not holding our breath on it, the offer was quite a bit lower than the listed price. Hope Mark will help with the repairs.

Vaulting Company

The Meister companies were the first on the list. A bill came from Chase Card services with a $16.00 late fee on top of a $1.50 fee for not paying last month on top of a $18.54 for some business service. This card has never been activated and I've never used the card. Trying to figure out how to cancel this card was not an easy task, three times I was hung up on. Finally a very nice lady named Ashley was glad to remove the charges and cancel the card. Once that was finished, it was off to CVS for the all important pain meds. Now there were 30 tiny little pills in the pill bottle and even with the insurance co-pay the bill was $10.94. One of those tiny little pills was swallowed around 1:30pm. It wasn't until 3:30pm as I was cleaning manure out of the arena that I realized the work was being done without a cane. THOSE PILLS WORK!
Steven was already at the farm watering the arena when I arrived back. He had it all raked and watered before Karin arrived for vaulting. Karin was warming up Ribbon when Michelle Kellenburger pulled up with all 5 of her kids. Her daughter Shaeya is joining the team and all the rest of the kids wanted to help groom Ribbon.

It was cold out in the barn so Tyden, Tekoa, Meiko and Wren came in to play.

Some how Ebby always knows when there are little kids around and as soon as they came through the door she did too.

This dog LOVES the kids, they carry her around, pet her, hug her and she just eats up the attention. I was amazed how patient she was with the little ones.

There wasn't much time after they left for home to get ready for church. Poor Mark got a bowl of soup and a salad for dinner.
Steven Marchal has a very exciting offer from a very famous man and we are anxiously waiting to hear his decision.

More Exercise

Exercise is good, right? Each morning we meet at 7:25 sharp at the dumpster but lately Ruth, Mom, Diane and Rachel are walking and I'm driving the golf cart with them. Last night the cart should have been charged up but wasn't. A short way into the walk the cart is going slower and slower until half way up the hill it stops and starts rolling backward. My family just all gets behind and starts pushing, then when I'm feeling bad about making them work so hard, they answered as one, "hey, we are out here for exercise and this is great exercise."
Yesterday was such a nice warm 65 degree sunny day and today the wind is blowing and the temperature is struggling to make it out of the 30s. Diane suggested stopping at her place for breakfast and to warm up. Rachel brought some fresh baked friendship bread, Diane provided the eggs and toast and I just provided the sausage.
A trip in to Peoria is a must today for groceries and to fill a prescription. Yesterday Dr. Bevill prescribed a new pain medication and I didn't take the time to fill it. Today I'm looking forward to filling that prescription and TAKING the pill.
The middle paddock will need 2 bales today, both shelters are about out of hay. With 7 horses in that paddock they are going through a bale every 2 days.
The rest of the paddocks are fine for another few days.

Not Too Bad

Well the doctor visit wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be, in fact it made me wonder, why did I even dread going? The nurse took my history and didn't even comment about how long it had been, she was more interested in the farm and Raven. Dr. Bevill was a good listener and the only reference he made to not going to a doctor was had I ever had my cholesterol checked. Once he was done with a pretty thorough going over checking heart, lungs, muscles and joints, he came back with, "everything other than your hip joint looks remarkably good!" I'm not sure if he meant for my age or my glamorous physical looks, hmm hard to tell, hard to tell. It could be that he is a fisherman and knows Nate. When I told him Nate was my nephew, yep, that's when the compliments started. I think he wants a chance to fish at one of Nate's trophy lakes. He gave me a prescription for pain which is just ONE pill to take once a day and is making an appointment for x-rays with an orthopedic surgeon. He gave me 2 options telling me both were good. The first surgeon I tried happened to be in our health plan network and that's who I went with. It didn't hurt that my daughter-in-law also gave me the same two names.
While I was relaxing in a doctor office, Steven was busy training and training and training. He has both Evan and Valiant driving the neighborhood, trotting up and down the lanes. Zalena, Ylse, Jewel, Jenis, Ciera, super and Calypso also were worked. What will we do if he takes off for Florida? Every day these horses they get better and better under his tutelage.

The Dreaded Visit

Steven showed up early to help breed Dezi the Arabian mare to Evan before he needed to leave for Hoerr Vet clinic. We wanted Super checked for wolf teeth and Zalena & Jewel sonagrammed for pregnancy. The news was good and bad. Super has no wolf teeth which is good news, Jewel is PREGNANT by Evan which is GREAT news and Zalena did not settle. She also may have stopped cycling for the winter. We thought if she did settle it would be a miracle. Now we just need to decide if we pursue a very late foal in 2012 or go for an early foal in 2013.
We had a busy yet productive day at Berean, finishing in time to help Mark with some credit applications before lunch. My doctor visit is scheduled for 2:10pm, not enough time to go home and come back so I'm staying in Peoria and watching the seconds tick by very very slowly. I've not been to a doctor for 21 years, this shouldn't be a hard thing to do but of course with each minute that goes by is a minute closer to this dreaded visit. Why the dread? I just know once this is over I'll be SO relieved!

They are DRIVING!

Anna brought Braelyn over this morning, we had so much fun playing together.

When Steven showed up he was determined to get a start on teaching the boys how to drive. Below is Valiant. WE were SO proud of both of these 2 year olds. It really shows how if the young ones are ground worked when young how they listen and accept each new thing as no big deal. Steven first drove him just in the harness, then pulling the cart behind. When Valiant was not concerned with the noise behind him we hooked him up and off Steven went.




The weather was nice so Braelyn was bundled up and taken out in the stroller. She enjoyed watching everything going on.

Below are the pictures of Evan from the start to the grand finish.




Steven took some time between working the Valiant and Evan to take Super into the outdoor arena for a video. We have a lady that wants to see him on a lunge line. This was truly just thrown together and later we will replace it with a better video.

The video program I usually use was not working, thank goodness Phil came to pick up Braelyn after I knew there was a problem, he is some kind of genius figuring out how I mess things up and then fixes them. As he was working on it, the Johnson's mare was brought over and she was in season NOW. Evan was the stallion of choice and he got the job done. Dezi the mare is an Arabian 22 years old. She will be here at least one more day and needs to be covered tomorrow morning BEFORE I leave for work. Hope Mike will have time to help.
Amy Koch sent along her mom's update below:
Hi All,
Here's the scoop. She was in surgery for 4 hours. The blockage in her small intestine was scar tissue from a previous surgery. The gastric cancer would not have been found it it hadn't been for that. They did take out her whole stomach and attached her small intestine right to her esophagus She'll loose some weight and have to eat in small amounts but as of now the doctor expects a full recovery.
She's in ICU now and on a ventilator. They are going to keep her out of it for tonight and wean her off the ventilator slowly as this surgery is very painful. She should be there for at least 2 days if not 3 days.
The next few days they have to watch for any leaking from where they attached all the new parts.
I'm going to head back to her house and start pitching stuff :-(! I'm so bad!! She'll be in the hospital for at least another week and a half.
I found this computer in the cafeteria in the hospital so I can check it daily. Please keep us in your prayers.
Later - Love Amy

The shipper for Dalia finally called at 9:27am to say they were held up and wouldn't be here until late afternoon. After changing very quickly and driving probably a bit too fast I pulled into the church parking lot with 4 minutes to spare. Church was wonderful, first we had Bill Schick from Mexico up on the pulpit and he had both morning and afternoon, then Psalm 100 sang for us after both services. We stayed and talked quite late after the afternoon service not getting home until almost 2:40pm. Right after walking in the door the phone goes off and the shipper explains he is 30 miles out. Dalia was pulled out of the field and groomed a bit before he arrived.
Steven was anxious to try out the new cart.

He hooked Ciera up and off they went driving through the fields. It is such a beautiful day for a drive. We are thrilled with the cart, it is light weight, easy entry and yet horse sized.



Ciera is so well behaved it is hard to remember she is just a 2 year old.

3:00 am Scare

What is it with 3:00am? On Friday night Karin stayed with mom, she was dreaming that Emma was having pups, I'd put up a caution tape and asked Karin to keep the kids from crossing the line. One very obnoxious boy kept crossing the tape in front of Karin, when she confronted him, he looked up at her, reached out and grabbed her neck and started choking her. She woke up gasping for air. That was pretty scary but what happened next just about gave her a heart attack.
To tell this part of the story, I need to go back a bit to say that mom, Diane and Ruth went to the auction in Washington, IL to support the hospital the church is taking over in Haiti. Mom bought 2 cute 3ft tall snowkids all dressed up. They got home from the auction after Karin had gone to bed and mom just placed the kids in the living room.
So Karin wakes up gasping for breath, from this very scary boy trying to choke her. She is shaken enough that she decides to go into the kitchen to make some coffee early but doesn't want to wake mom so does not turn the lights on. She comes around the corner of the bedroom starts walking toward the living room and see's 2 little kids standing quietly facing her. She is pretty freaked out but is telling herself, "ok, it just looks like kids, it is probably a vacuum cleaner or something else," gets a bit closer and sees they have SHOES on! By this time, she thinks AHHH where are the lights, turn on the lights!
So our 3:00am scare early this morning was also disturbing. Emma decides she must go outside at 3:00am. I tell her to, "go lay down!" and instead she runs to Mark's side of the bed and starts bothering him. When he doesn't respond she ran back to my side acting pretty desperate. Well the last time that happened and she was let out and put back in Darcy decided at 4:00am SHE wanted out, so last night I whisper, "Darcy, get up." No response, I reach down to shake her and her body feels cool, I shake her and say out loud, "Darcy time to get up." now I'm started to freak out, her body is cool, she is not snoring and even when I shake her there is no response. Mark wakes up when I say very loudly, "Mark, I think Darcy died!" The lights are turned on and she is laying there so still I'm thinking how are we ever going to tell Rhoda, when I see just a very slight movement. Actually Darcy was so sound asleep it took her a few minutes to figure out we wanted her to go outside but once she was up she was fine.
Trying to go back to sleep after that just didn't work.

Songs of Praise

Karin and Rhoda worked horses this afternoon, it was so much fun to watch these very talented ladies train these very beautiful horses. The Saddlebred mare was presented to Raven and today she very emphatically said, "no!" Her owner was called and within the hour she was picked.
Dalia was suppose to be picked up today but now we hear the shippers are coming mid morning. We hate doing business on Sunday and don't know how to get out of this one.
Karin, Rhoda, mom and I had dinner at Scappechi's in Farmington before the Psalm 100 concert. Before leaving the farm we saw the most beautiful sunset. Rhoda actually drove around the barn so we could take pictures of the bright gold shining into the gorgeous red.

Below are some pictures of Psalm 100 quartet.

Psalm 100 is a quartet of young men from Bluffton, Indiana. Their harmony was beautiful. They brought their families along and it wasn't long before a few of their daughters joined them on stage.

Below they did one of their FUN numbers.

They asked who in the audience had been married the longest. What was amazing was Dan and Mariam Messerli have been married for 64 years. WOW some people don't even LIVE that long. Psalm 100 sang a very sweet song about marriage just to them.

Phil and Anna brought Braelyn but we didn't even know she was there, she thoroughly enjoyed the music of the evening, even singing along in her own way.

After the concert Rhonda invited everyone up to the kitchen for cake and ice cream. We were too full from dinner so skipped that part. What a blessed evening!

Tell Them

No Horse Business in this post.
I was sent this video last night, listened to it today and was convicted that I don't tell people enough HE IS COMING. God doesn't want ANY to perish! The man in the video below spent 23 minutes in hell and he wants you to listen. Please if you have any doubts if there even IS a hell, watch this video, it is long but take the time to watch until the end:

Beautiful View

Above is the view from Diane's window. Indy and Killian are in the cabin field until the SaddleBred mare leaves. Such a beautiful sight.
Indy was born the 4th of July 2010 and will be at least 16 hands if not taller, Killian was born April 25th, 2011 and is ALMOST as tall as Indy. That boy is going to be HUGE!
On the docket for today is a short trip West on 74 to pick up a horse size easy entry light weight driving cart. Steven wants to start the boys on driving and the old cart is so heavy and not easy entry.
Steven made a vet appointment for Super, Zalena and Jewel Tuesday morning. Super is to have his wolf teeth removed, Zalena and Jewel are going for sonagrams. Super is doing exceptionally well, he is almost ready for a trail ride but we want his wolf teeth taken out before any real bit work is done. Mike wants to raise his price now, he really likes this boy. Both Diane and I feel a breeding farm has no need for a gelding and do not want to up his price. We will see how the next couple of weeks go. If he does as well as expected we will think about keeping him, at least through the winter. He will be much more valuable in the spring. That would give his mane and tail time to grow back and give Rhoda a chance to take him to a few shows.

Hide and Seek Breakfast

Is there ever anything better than to spend the day with family and friends? This morning we had a big group on our walk and were joined later by even more.
Karin spent the night at mom's and Rhoda stayed here and both joined us on our morning walk including Karin's dog.

Mom, Diane, Ruth, Rachel, Rhoda, Karin and I were joined by Ebby, Heidi, Emma, Darcy and Studly!
As long as there were 2 extra STRONG helpers mom wanted the boats put away for the winter.


None of us were ready to quit and it was a holiday for those working for schools meaning no rush. Diane decided to have us for breakfast where we were joined by Rebekah, Kari and Noel. Kari figured out we were going to eat together but didn't know where, she first went to grandma's, then to the farm, by the time she drove over to Diane's she smelled the bacon and knew she was in the right spot.

Of course Noel dressed for the occasion!

After breakfast was work time. Steven, Karin and Rhoda started training. These were just a few pictures of the morning training session.





Rhoda had an appointment in Hanna City to look at some houses for sale at 12:30pm, Karin, mom and I joined her, looking at 3 different houses. When we arrived back Steven had already moved 2 round bales in the middle paddock. THANK YOU STEVEN, we thank you and the horses REALLY THANK YOU. The girls went back out to train while I put the soup on for a late lunch.
Late afternoon the saddlebred mare was taken out for Raven but she squealed and kicked at him. She still is giving some signs and we will try tomorrow morning just to make sure she is out before calling her owner. Still no sign of Calypso coming in.

Surprise 40th for Rachel

We kept this quiet all week but tonight at 5:30pm we were to meet at Diane's house, hide in the garage and surprise Rachel for her 40th birthday. It was all planned, the cars all were parked at the farm and people were shuttled over to Mike and Diane's. David told Rachel he wanted to take her to dinner at Gil's. Mike had planned to call David and tell him he got a deer, not just any deer but a big buck and they should come see it just as Rachel and Dave were leaving their house. All of this went as planned, except Rachel right away says, "ask Mike if we can have the meat." The lights were out, all 30-40 people crammed in the garage were hardly daring to breath when the Sauders finally arrived. Mike turned on the lights and as one we all yelled, "SURPRISE!" and she WAS.
We all enjoyed the sumptuous dinner, then watched and laughed as Rachel opened her gifts.








Such a fun evening.

Humbling

Not that I gloried in my strength, it was always just taken for granted. When someone would bring in one 32 pound box of Bibles, I would bring in 2 at a time. Hay bales were lifted and thrown without a second thought. I only had one speed and that was FAST. Well today was a very humbling day. It was tough trying to make it up the hill on the walk this morning and that was WITH a cane. At the top nausea hit from the hip pain. It was time to give up and admit a real doctor must be visited. Not that a vet isn't a real doctor but for some reason I really don't want our vet doing a hip replacement on me. He may use a cow or horse femur. After what seemed like hours on the internet trying to find a doctor in our insurance network the job was finally accomplished and I have an appointment next Tuesday at 2:15pm.
Not that I'm type A personality but I need to get back on my feet right away, there is a wedding to attend December 3rd, a short vacation that is already paid for on Jan 2nd with a great big group of family members (can't miss that) an already paid for cruise Feb 4th with my beloved, the choir trip Feb 24th-27th then the IL Horse fair March 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Today Steven helped get the Saddle Bred mare covered and teased Calypso. Still no go for her. He has been such a big help around here it will be hard to see him leave for Florida if he ends up training with Tommie Turvey.

Steven's Demo

Yesterday we put together this short video using clips of some of the video's already taken to show just a bit of Steven Marchal's talents.

He works quietly and consistently with these young horses and by watching the video one can see the horse respect and listen to him.
Do YOU want to have a trick horse? one that listens to YOU at shows, one eager to please YOU?
Steven is willing to teach the horse and YOU a few impressive tricks. The cost of this is $750.00 for 30 days if it is at the Horsemeister farm or $500.00 a month at your farm.

SaddleBred Mare In

Steven showed up early this morning bringing $78.33 worth of grain to restock the feed stall. He started working horses and by the time he was done he had 8 of ours worked and Calypso. Pretty impressive, the first 2 brought in out of the mud (over 4 inches of rain the last 2 days) were Zalena and Ella.
Below is Zalena after Steven asked her to lay down.

The last time he asked her to lay down he took off her bridle and walked away thinking she would get up and follow him and instead she was so comfortable she stayed laying down.

Ella was great for Steven, she picks up her training quickly. The next 2 horses in were Ciera and Jewel. Ciera is laying down very quickly, she knows she gets some grain once she is down. She is such an impressive 2 year old, Steven doesn't do much trot with her because of her age but what a nice trot she has.

Jewel is actually the most impressive horse in training right now. She is so athletic and willing. She is just learning the bow right now, will be introduced to the lay down later but her undersaddle work is fabulous!

The Saddlebred mare (which we still don't know her name) was taken over to Raven and she said no very emphatically. Her owner was called to explain today was suppose to be the day she was ready to cover and we think she is no longer cycling for the year. Wouldn't you know when the owner showed up at 4:30pm the mare starts to show, Raven is pulled out and she stands. We will mark her down as a successful cover. She was just trying to make me look bad. When Steven took Calypso over to the boys we were just hoping she would be coming in also but no go on her.
Super didn't have a good day today. He was not as well behaved as he had been, we think the weather has something to do with it. He didn't listen as well and tried to run through the gate today. Because of that Steven ended up having to work him extra long. We like to keep the training sessions short and sweet about 15 minutes a horse but it is important to end on a good note.
We needed to leave for church by 5:00pm as Diane was serving dinner tonight for the Team Kid outreach (about 100 people). Mom and I came to help with the set up and clean up afterwards. She had the very popular taco bar and actually RAN OUT of food! There was enough for every body to go through the line at least once. Her meal was delicious, everyone really enjoyed it.
We had a visitor from Bloomington tonight for the service. He spoke on Sanctification.