Making Ready

Mom and Molly were able to walk until around 7:45 am then Joan brought her van over and picked them up to head down to Gulf Shores, AL. It is SO good that they can go. This is exactly what the doctor ordered...a beach vacation to help heal.
After the walk Rosalie was pulled out and teased. She showed well but would not stand well and tried to kick so Evan was put back. I'm not sure why she is showing but not willing to stand. I may have to call to see if I can schedule an ultrasound, IF they are even willing to do a non emergency procedure, for her. Karin arrived early while the sun was out and worked with Rosalie first. She had a good roll then went flying around the round pen.

For such a big mare she is light on her feet. Rosalie was put in with Ayanna and Galena and Irish brought out.  Irish is now waxing but Karin wanted to work with some relaxation exercises with her.  The clumps of wax on her teats looks more clear than milky but there is a chance we will have a foal tonight.

I ALMOST have her leg feather white.

While Karin was working with her Lola and Soul along with their fillies were turned out to graze. Those fillies love to run.

The two fillies really are best friends.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures of them in the field click HERE. Next Karin drove to the cabin field to start tacking up the horses there for the trail ride today. All 4 of the horses there went out. Hannah rode Sally, Karin rode Sangria, Wren rode Missy and Tekoa rode Cookie.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from this ride click HERE. Late this afternoon we heard the rumble of thunder and storms were predicted. Indy and Oksana along with their colts needed to be brought in from the pasture.  Both colts were taking a nap when I arrived. Indy and her colt are in front. Oksana's colt is laying flat where Oksana is standing so he can't be seen.

They both jumped up and followed their mom's.  When they were put away Irish and Zalena were both stalled and given their grain.  Zalen will be put back outside once the storms move through and Irish will be left in a stall with the monitor on. I have the apartment all set up if I need to move in  tonight for convenience but if she doesn't show signs of labor I'll just stay at the house and check the monitor during the night. 

Mom called at 8:30 pm, the trip is going fine but they had two strange things happen. The first was they were going through a storm and the driver side windshield wiper blew off. They used the GPS and found an Autozone just 3 miles away, bought a wiper and had it installed. Then they were using the GPS to find a rest stop and it took them off the interstate into a neighborhood and ended up at a new construction with a portapotty They were pretty surprised, there was man there working on the new house and told them they could use it or if they wanted they could use the new house. They didn't use the new house but were glad to use the portapotty. They are still 2 and a half hours away and are looking forward to arriving. 

6 Big Beauties

Early this morning Indy and Oksana were turned out in the pasture with their colts and this is what they do each time they are let out into the pasture.

They love getting out on the grass.

Diane showed up for our walk this morning. We haven't seen her for 5 and a half weeks but she is just here for 2 more days before she does that sheltering in place thing again. Robin and I were the Berean workers again and got everything done by noon. IF anyone WANTS to grade Bible studies we have plenty to be graded and I'll be glad to drive them to your house and drop them by your front door. Joan had Anna's 3 girls and her 3 younger children all working on mom's Mother's day gift of weeding the flower beds, pulling weeds from around the hostas, digging up dandelions and mowing. It started raining twice during the work day but each time stopped pretty quickly. This evening we went to mom's house to watch a documentary on Gary Maibach's time in Vietnam.  Gary went as a  conscientious objector and of course became a medic. He was called Doc Maibach and was one of "The Boy's of 67" who served with the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 4th/47th battalion, 9th infantry division in Vietnam's grueling Mekong Delta during 1967. Below is a short video.

We were not able to watch the planned documentery but that was just as well. Mom and Joan are leaving for Gulf Shores in the morning and there was still packing to do. I dropped Mark off at the house and went up to the barn to bring in Irish. She is much more bagged up tonight but still not waxing. Mark didn't go straight into the house when he got home, instead he went mushroom hunting and found six big beauties.

They were cleaned and fried up for a snack tonight and were they ever delicious!

Another Super Sunday

We awoke to silence. No rain pounding on the doors and windows. Yesterday we got a bit OVER 3 inches of rain. Today we had sunshine and warmth.  I headed out to the barn at 6:00 am to get the stalls cleaned, the horses all moved and the arena cleaned up. It was just past 7:00 am by the time I finished and headed in to make breakfast. We left for mom's house for church as soon as we were notified that the church was live on Facebook but when we got there the connection was pretty bad so we ended up watching Gridley's morning service. Clark Stoller had that service while Tim Roecker had the Peoria service. I'll have to listen to Tim's message tomorrow on AC Central. Mark, mom and I were joined by Diane, Joan, Ruth, Sarah and Hannah. Ruth and Anni served church lunch today of a delicious fruit salad and chicken salad sandwiches. After church the weather was so wonderful that people started showing up at the lake for fishing and boating.

 Even Rhoda and Lee came with almost 2 year old Iris. 

 Karin took a group out trail riding.

 With that 3 inches of rain the lake overflow was a roar of water pouring out.

 The creek was pretty full but the horses still went right on through. Below is Jordan riding Cookie. 

We had London Broil for Sunday dinner tonight served with wild rice, garden salad, deviled eggs, butter sauteed mushrooms and onions and coffee cake for dessert. After dinner we went on a long golf cart ride. At one point Rhoda organized a race with the grand daughters.

 Rhoda and Lee had a long trip home and after they left the girls helped bring in Irish. Of course they all needed to ride her on the way in to the stall barn. 

 Above is Kensley taking a turn while Braelyn leads Irish and below is Zion. 

 Above Braelyn is taking her turn while below Taegan is ready for her turn. The trampoline was used as a mounting block. 

Irish was taken into the stall and given a good groom by plenty of good grooms. Zion was brushing out her mane while Braelyn, Kensley and Taegan worked on her body.

Our last job of the night was to bring out Zalena for grooming since I had so many good helpers. She was shedding and the girls helped. Take a look at that pile of hair they got off Zalena. 

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from this afternoon click HERE. It really was a wonderful day. 

All Day Rain

It rained during the night and all day today. I was so glad the middle paddock got the new bale yesterday.  Lola and Soul along with their fillies were brought into the stalls while Karin, Magda and Kayla were working Valiant and Evan. Karin reported both boys were full of themselves exploding with huge movement in the indoor. They were glad for the chance to run. Once they finished up with the indoor the mares and foals were moved into the indoor arena and their stalls cleaned.  Joan, Karin and I spent the afternoon playing games with mom. When I left mom and Joan were busy making their menus for their trip to Gulf Shores on Tuesday. Mark went out in the rain and cleaned off the solar system panels and came back so wet and chilled he crawled into bed with the electric blanket on. I was so wet and chilled from feeding horses and moving them around in the rain that I sat on the chair with the heater on. It really did feel that cold. We would have started a fire in the wood burner but it's the end of April and it's the principle of we DON'T need heat in April.
This evening the arena was cleaned up but the mares and foals left inside. It is just so nasty outside. Zalena and Irish have the stalls for the night. Irish is not waxing but is getting bagged up enough that I don't want to take a chance on her delivering out in this weather.

Rainy Afternoon

No rain this morning, we walked. After the walk Karin came to work with Rosalie. 

While she was doing that I moved a new bale in for the middle paddock. Berlica helped by opening and shutting the gate. The rain didn't start until Karin, Ava, Aubry and Berlica were on the trail ride.

They finished the ride but I headed back inside as I didn't want the camera ruined. To see the rest of the pictures of the trail ride click HERE. Sarah and Nolan dropped off the girls after 5:00 pm and picked them up around 7:00 pm.

We played. From there we went to mom's house to watch the play Fiddler on the Roof. I had heard the songs but never watched the play. That lasted until after 10:00 pm and I had to drive the golf cart back in the rain and am now soaked.  Mark dumped the rain gauge, we have 5/8ths of an inch so far but no sign of the rain stopping. In fact according to weather.com it is going to rain most of tomorrow also.