Joanna's Training

Emily gave Joanna a short lesson in the outdoor arena early this morning before the heat of the day and before she needed to leave for school. Joanna is doing very well with this round pen reasoning.

She is 5 months old, now weaned, registered and DNA'D with Friesian Heritage Horse International, Papers are in hand and has a brand new coggins. She is ready for her new home and if you have ever wanted a Friesian she can be yours for only $5000.00. Check out the video below of Emily working with her. Who ever ends up with her is going to be pleased.
The horses were put away in time for our walk then off to Berean I headed. David, Cindy and Mary helped at the Berean office this morning, not to brag or anything but we were working machines. To read about our morning there click HERE.
When I got back the Eliza was fed and the camera taken out to snap a few shots for the owner of Ribbon's colt.

 He is just huge. He is pictured above and with Ribbon and Rosalie's filly below.

 Sangria's filly came over to see what I was doing. She is a very friendly filly but also pretty independent. She doesn't always stay with her mom, Sangria. 

 Below is Rosalie's filly

 Below is Jewel and her filly by Evan. 

We had a wind storm come through with a bit of rain that brought in some cooler weather. The horses were enjoying the cool breeze while waiting for Eliza to get done with her grain.
Mark drove to church tonight taking me, mom, Diane and Ruth. David Obgerfel had the service. It was truly good to be there.

Lazy

Today was above 90 degrees with bright sunshine. That meant as soon as I got home from Berean, (to read about that click HERE)  the horses needed to be brought in and hosed off. Rosalie's filly was given a much needed haltering and tying lesson today. By the time the horses were cooled off and fed it was late afternoon and I was HOT. The air conditioner had been turned off in the house as last night and this morning were both cool. It was 83 degrees inside. The air conditioner was turned on and turned down to 76. Thankfully it works well. Mark came home early from work today determined to finish the fenceline. He finished before dinner and now for sure the horses can't get into the neighbor's corn and I can feel free to leave them out during the night. That is such a blessing, we have enough grazing for twice the amount of horses here. After dinner he worked on our drive. The rain we had while we were gone must have been amazing. The drive had eroded pretty bad in spots. We are thankful for that skid steer. Tomorrow morning Emily is going to help get a video of Joanna for a prospective customer. I'll need to get up early so will head to bed.

Jewel's Filly SOLD

After the walk I needed to work on the electric fence in Raven's old paddock. The lower strand was torn down and shorting the entire fenceline. That was finished around 9:30 am and the mares turned out again. The next job was to run down to Meisters to deposit a check for mom and pay a couple bills then off to Sam's club for groceries. As soon as the groceries were put away Emily arrived home from her school and we went to work. The first job was to work with Joanna. She needed some round pen reasoning. Her halter came off and she decided she didn't want to be caught. I love this round pen method of working the foals. She caught on quickly that if she stood still, Emily would scratch her and give her all kinds of attention. Emily put on and took off her halter numerous times before ending her education today.

Next Jewel and her filly by Evan were taken into the outdoor arena for a video. I had 2 people ask for a video of her while on vacation.

She is such a fancy filly. Her trot is so suspended it is easy to get pictures of all 4 way off the ground. Check out the short video below of her fancy trot.

The lady that is going to buy her will need to name her soon so I can get her registration paper work done and mailed out.  Once these two were put away Sangria and her filly by Valiant were brought into the outdoor arena.

Another fancy mover. Check out her short video.

These two were so easy to video it took just a couple minutes with each filly. They both just seem to show off. The next job on the list to do was to get a water tank out to the field. The mares have an automatic waterer but have to share it with Valiant which they don't like to do if there is a foal by her side. The water tank was taken out of the round pen and filled, then Ribbon brought over to drink. As she was drinking I snapped the picture below of her colt by Valiant for his owner.

 They enjoyed the freedom of the big field.

The next job was to go to Diane's office to work on the Horsemeister books. Thankfully she needed her computer so that was put off for a few days. This evening Mark went out to fix the back fence line. Some of the wires had been knocked down by a tractor and we sure don't want the mares getting into the neighbor's corn field. He finished up as the sun was going down. We had grilled chicken kabobs for dinner and made enough to serve tomorrow at Berean.

Rotten Eggs

Our Sunday was busy, not the typical day of rest probably needed now that we are home from vacation. When we walked into the house late last night something smelled and it wasn't the dogs. Searching the house with my nose constantly sniffing it led me to the kitchen and then the fridge. Oh my, when the fridge was opened we about gagged. Rotten eggs were the culprit and those were all my fault. I had hard boiled and peeled eggs to take on the trip down to Gulf Shores for a snack but forgot them in the fridge where they rotted for the last 10 days spreading their malodorous odors generously throughout the fridge and freezer. The fridge and freezer were emptied of anything that could absorb odors and the garbage hauled over to the dumpster. This morning the fridge was cleaned then fabreezed.
Amazing we were on time for church.  Tim Roecker had the morning service and Ken Hoerr had the afternoon. Right after church mom and I took this dress over and had our model model it.

Jessica found the dress, Diane purchased the dress and since it fits We are probably going to have to have the Horsemeister Friesians do Frozen in 2018. That is unless Rebekah can figure out how to use it with the Pirates... By the way, can anyone guess which Reinhard girl this is?
This afternoon Mark helped put up the electric fence so we could get the mares out on the big field. The grass is thick and plenty long, enough free forage to last well into the winter. By the time we finished and put the mares out the volleyball players had arrived over at the playground. The camera was taken over but I'm too tired to download any pictures. The games were great, the company even better.

Made It

Nolan, Mark and I pulled out at 6:00 am from Diane's condo leaving for home. We decided to go up 57 as we needed to take Nolan home first which turned out to be a mistake. We should have taken 55 north, there was construction around Birmingham which made traffic come to a stand still then crawl for over an hour and a half and an accident on 24 which we found a way around but delayed us another half hour. The trip that should take no longer than 14 hours took 16. We are home but exhausted.

Ribbon's Colt SOLD

We awoke to sunshine but storms in the Gulf of Mexico in the distance. We had plenty of time for a nice long walk on the beach, fishing, breakfast, then feeding the gulls before the rain hit.

The rain started then Lynn, Debbie and Kristi packed up and left around noon today for home. Shortly after that Emily sent a text that Ribbon's colt was SOLD.

The people that came today to see him fell in love with his sweet disposition, his beauty and how HUGE he is. They left a deposit and the signed contract. Not long after that I had a facebook message about someone asking if we had ever used one of our stallions on an Arabian mare. Of course I was thrilled to say yes and needed to send pictures of Jamie's mare Myrrhcedes who is by Raven out of Paris.

Then this evening a phone call came of someone wanting to breed a couple mares in 2017. Amazing that one can be 900 miles from home and still do business because of the internet. Thankfully Diane's condo has dependable fast internet.
We picked up food tonight from Bahama Bobs for dinner then sat in the hot tub at Beth's condo. Her renters left and it was just too tempting. The weather had turned cool once the storms ended tonight. We are all heading to bed and will be leaving this vacation spot tomorrow morning. It was really a fun relaxing vacation. A special thanks to Diane for allowing us to stay here in her very roomy 3 bedroom 3 and a half bath, well stocked, 1375 square foot town home. If interested in renting this for a fantastic vacation that will sleep the entire family please feel free to check it out by clicking HERE.

Another Day Late POST

For some reason, even though no one is working and we are all just playing around there seems to be no time to update the blog. We had another beautiful but very hot day on Thursday. Today is our last day here in Sunny Gulf Shores, but this morning we can see storms clouds building out in the gulf that are suppose to hit the beach around 11:30 am. Lee just might get his wish. Yesterday sitting around the pool Lee exclaimed, "I just wish we would have had 1 day of rain so we could do some indoor fun." Yes we all think he may be a bit touched in the head. Nolan and Sarah showed up early this morning, Nolan is already out fishing and sending texts back with pictures of fish.Speaking of Lee and Nolan, both of these guys just can't seem to hang on to sun glasses. Nolan was hit by a 6 foot wave a few days ago and his first pair was swept out to sea. Since that time he has lost 2 more pair. Lee has only lost 1 pair but thankfully it happened as they were shopping. They both walked into a store yesterday with sunglasses on, walked out without them, went right back in but neither pair could be found so both had to buy another pair. The jelly fish had moved in yesterday putting an end to the endless fishing by Nolan at least for a few hours. Later in the afternoon he went back out and caught a lot of fish but let them all go. One was a Spanish Mackerel. The rest of us walked the beach or swam in the pool most of the day taking a couple hours to eat out. One of the favorite spots here is the Pink Pony. So far 2 groups here have tried to finish the nacho dish of that restaurant has. The Bork's had to give up and bring theirs back, Lee and Nolan finished but it wasn't an easy task. That entree is HUGE. They all really enjoyed eating there. Mark and I went to the Fish River Grill for dinner. This is supposedly where the locals eat, they even print that on the front of the menu. Mark ordered a torpedo which was Louisiana craw fish, mixed with shrimp and others things all baked together in a roll. With each meal they give you a 4 ounce bowl of swamp soup. The name and the looks of the soup was pretty bad but the taste was good. We both ate the entire 4 ounces. I ordered fish and both of the meals were delicious. The price was $12.99 and so big we had to get a box to take the leftovers home. This was the first time either of us had ever tasted crawfish and were surprised at how delicious it was.  In the evening, once the Bork's came back from swimming around 8:00 pm we played another game of Mexican Train which Kristie won big time.
News from home: Emily went to Middle Grove and picked up Jewel, her filly, Sangria, her filly, Eliza and one more but I didn't hear which mare. We have 2 requests for new videos of these 2 fillies and both were serious requests. As I was explaining that we were out of the state to the second lady that asked an email came in with pictures of Sangria's 3 year old filly by Valiant, a full sister to this years filly. Check out THIS picture:

The owner wrote: Just wanted to update you guys on promise HM she is great beautiful horse, she is very calm and a smart animal and I love her. We bought her like 2 years back and I just wanted to thank you guys for this beautiful mare you have gave us the opportunity to own.
Notice the height on this 3 year old, she towers over the palomino quarter horse next to her, and is being ridden double in a parade. Sangria and Valiant sure do produce gorgeous calm babies time after time. 
Emily has her hands full the next few days. She is moving in bales, cleaning stalls and taking care of new babies. So thankful she is taking care of everything there so we can be here. Last night she spent some time with the buyer of Eliza's colt and Lola's filly. She will be trailering them to Medina, Ohio leaving next Friday after school and returning home on Saturday.

Our Wednesday

Another day late on posting but the evenings around here are too busy and fun to sit at the computer. Yesterday was another beautiful day. After breakfast the Borks went out to feed the gulls their breakfast.

 

They are amazed at how many gulls come and how they will just snatch the food out of the hands.

 Nolan was fishing again and just as I walked up caught one.

 This one he threw back pretty quickly.

 Rhoda made this huge alligator sunning himself on the beach.

 We all went swimming and boogie boarding. The waves had tamed down enough they were giving us good long rides without smashing us into the sand. No pictures though as I was boogie boarding too. We all went to the pool to rest in those calm waters after we were all tired out. The pool here is 9 and a half feet deep which keeps it cool enough to be refreshing. Sarah, Nolan, Rhoda, Lee and I walked down to Bahama Bob's for lunch. Mark drove 20 minutes away to an open air fish market. The fish were being brought in fresh right off the ocean. Mark bought shrimp, red snapper, and 2 other kids of fish which were grilled for supper. Sunset on the beach was gorgeous. News from home, Ribbon's colt is doing excellent. We can watch him on the monitor from here, he is bouncing around his mom. Emily delivered Star's filly this afternoon to her new owner.

We played Mexican train again until way late into the night not getting to be until after 10:00 pm. And of course I over slept this morning missing sunrise. These relaxing days are starting to mess up my sleep schedule. This is the first morning down here that I did not wake at 5:00 am. How in the world would I get all the work done at home if this continues.

Fun Filled Exhausting Day

Nolan started fishing this morning around 7:00 am and it didn't take long for Sarah to send this picture back:

 

He came in for our usual breakfast then after breakfast the storms came rolling in from the Gulf of Mexico. Below the clouds were boiling above the water and buildings.

 The rain came down hard for a bit them stopped. Lee thought the waves looked like they were going to be good for boogie boarding and talked Rhoda, Nolan, Sarah and Debbie into joining him.

 Above is Sarah waiting for a wave and below Rhoda has just caught a wave.

 

Above Lee is about to get dumped on and below the wave is crashing down on Nolan. 

                 The waves were a little too strong for Debbie, knocking her down quite a few times.

 After all were worn out in the turbulent waters of the gulf, they were more than willing to relax in the still waters of the pool.

To see the rest of the pictures from today and some from yesterday click HERE. The sun came out brightly heating up the outside until it was almost too hot. Mark and I walked down to Bahama Bob's for their lunch special just before 2:00 pm. Rhoda, Lee, Sarah and Nolan went for a long bike ride all the way past Orange Beach past the state park and over the big bridge then back. Diane only has 3 bikes and there were 4 that did this long trip so they took turns with someone running along while the other 3 rode. Everyone was pretty wiped out when they got back. This evening was the dolphin cruise for the Borks. They took the last cruise going out so some of the pictures of the jumping dolphins were pretty dark.

 They were able to watch the sun set from the boat.

 After the cruise they went to dinner at Hurricane Wings and Grill in Orange Beach. The were all well pleased with their meals. Mark and I went for a long walk on the beach this evening coming back at dark. Sarah and Nolan had already left for their hotel when we finally made it back to the condo. News from home was all good. Ribbon and her colt are doing well. Jamie stopped in and took this picture of the colt:

He is such a handsome fellow. We are all tired from our fun filled day and are all heading to bed early. Who Knew playing could be so exhausting.

Ribbon's BOY!

Emily sent a text last night with this picture attached: 

I did not expect her to have a colt as she has only ever delivered fillies but this is a big bouncing boy. He will be the largest born for the Horsemeister farm in 2016 and is just huge. Hopefully more pictures will be sent from home soon. Ribbon delivered 11 days early, another first for her but she was so uncomfortable with this pregnancy in the heat last week it is a good thing. As Valiant is the sire this colt is sure to be amazing and sweet.