Greener Pastures

Mike rented a post hole digger for the skid steer after dinner Mark and I headed over to help and within 2 hours all the holes were dug for 2 pastures each an acre. Once the fence is up we will let the boys out, they need more room to run and play and they will love the grass. AS they have now both become stallions instead of colts they are not welcome at Middle Grove.
The posts are coming on Wednesday meaning no horses can be turned out with holes in the ground. Sanna and her filly were locked into the cabin field with Lily, Sangria and Wynne. They were all standing at the gate begging to go out when Sanna was brought over.
Grace was covered again, she may be going out, it took her a while to show but did stand for him.
Tomorrow my 3rd grandchild is suppose to be born. Taunya is more than ready to meet her new son or daughter. As soon as work is over, I'll be booking it to Bloomington, IL to hopefully meet my new grandchild.

Sanna In

The wheel barrow had been left along with the a rake at mom's on Saturday so on the nice quiet relaxing walk those were taken back to the farm rattling all the way. On Sunday when the wheel barrow wasn't available, the stalls were done by piling the manure up in the corner so this morning there was twice the work. Once done Sanna was checked and yes she is in season just like Dr. Hoerr said she would be. Her filly was put in the paddock and Raven taken out first to check Grace the Andalusian (still in and will be covered tonight) then brought over to Sanna. Paris is also in season again but we will not breed her as tempting as it is. Once home there was an email from the man that bought Big Sally's colt Piper 2 years ago with pictures. This boy is now a 2 year old stallion and the word out on the street is HE IS FANTASTIC!
Big Sally's owner will need to be sent these pictures, she now has 2 fillies that are FULL siblings to this magnificent stallion.
This colt at 2 years old is well over 16 hands and so well behaved. How wonderful Raven's offspring are and how thankful we are when the owners send along updated pictures.
Two checks need to be deposited today and the grocery store visited. There is just not much food left in the fridge.

Mother's Day

It was wonderful to see church full, many extended families came today and sat with their mothers making the day special. After church we headed to the lake for our mothers day picnic. We had beautiful weather and lots of kids. Karin got Paris out for the kids, then Spark brought over his dun buggy. The older kids played volley ball while the younger just played. Below are pictures of the day.










After dinner Rhoda helped bring Beth's Andalusian mare Grace and her filly Luna over to the cabin for a video.

This Raven filly is gorgeous and with her wonderful movement will make someone a very special mare. Did we mention how sweet she is? She LOVES people.
Grace is in season and was covered again tonight.
We enjoyed a bit of singing by the campfire before heading home.

Video Warning

So instead of an edifying time at the choir picnic Mark and I watched the video Eva Jean lent us called Amish Grace. This is the true story of the Amish school shooting. I'm very relieved no one came over last night, they would have thought someone died. This morning my eyes are still swollen from weeping over the movie. The dreams during the night were disturbing and each time I awoke the scenes from the movie flashed through my mind all over again. One of the mothers lost both of her daughters, she was explaining that she waits to hear her 2 daughters singing over their chores and when she doesn't hear them she starts praying she can forgive the shooter, then an hour later must pray again and the next hour again. The movie actually showed how important forgiveness is and when one cannot forgive the ramifications of not forgiving. Mark felt the initial reactions of the lead character were not as believable as expected but so heart wrenching. I recommend it to anyone struggling with trying to forgive someone. This was a most horrible crime committed against good families and yet the Amish forgave.
Hope I don't see anyone this morning at the farm, the horses don't care how bad I look they are glad to see the grain bucket, and hopefully the bags under the eyes will disappear before church.

The Work Day

It was early to the farm today to make sure all the supplies were ready for the crew due to show up at 9:00am. We had a GREAT crew, lots of help and got everything done on mom's list and more. The video was thrown together quickly and not very professional. ALL YOU WONDERFUL WORKERS, THANK YOU SO MUCH What a wonderful gift for mom. What a great job done. THANKS for making this day a special day!!!

I took a break when Beth the owner of Grace, the Andalusian mare and her filly by Raven called to say they were just a few minutes away. The first thing we do off the trailer is tease the mare and sure enough, Grace showed. She was very close to a standing heat but not quite there. We tried again just before leaving the compound and she stood for him so we will mark her down.
Rhoda and Karin took off for a camping weekend at Jubilee State Forest with Jenis and Dalia. We would love to join them tonight for the campfire but after the work day will probably have an early night.
We are skipping the choir picnic tonight also, Myrna and Bob Hoerr host the end of the year picnic each year and we are usually the first ones there but for some reason we are kind of tired and want an early night.
Tomorrow is a special day in Peoria church. All the ladies will sit down at lunch first and be served by the kids and men. It is always a special treat.

Fence Down

This morning Ribbon, Jenis and Paris were enjoying themselves in the field. I didn't have time to walk the fence line but knew somewhere somehow these three found their way out of the pasture during the night and would need to be locked into a paddock until the fence could be checked. Steven came out to work Jenis and found Rhoda had taken her trail riding leaving time for him to walk the fence line and sure enough there was an entire section down along with some huge trees from the storm. Rhoda got back from Sandridge and helped Steven put up fencing. The middle paddock was left open and when we arrived tonight all the horses were still in but the real test was Ribbon. She was put in the middle paddock while Mark and I went over to power wash mom's house. After that was finished Diane had us over for ice cream, soda and conversation. We still needed to take the power washer back to the barn and check on Ribbon so left there around 8:00pm. Ribbon was in the back field eating off the hay bale instead of finding her way out. I guess the real test will be tomorrow morning. Let's hope the horses will be where they belong.
Tomorrow Beth's Andalusian mare Grace is coming in for Raven. She has a filly by him by her side, the camera must be taken to the farm for pictures. This filly is black and beautiful!
The work day starts at 9:00am, rain is predicted to start around midnight but we are hoping it will be done by the time the workers show up.
Another booking came in for July. That is going to be a busy month.

Pam's Mare

This LOVELY mare is for sale. Her owner Pam sent along this information on her:
I am sending one picture of the mare to you. Can you put her on your blog for sale $4,500? She is a registered Friesian Sport Horse Mare 7 yrs old. She is good on trail rides and has a wonderful disposition.
Pam is willing to include a breeding to RAVEN for her, WOW What a WONDERFUL opportunity for some lucky person. Buy a mare that looks like a purebred Baroque Friesian mare Or as Sue would say, "a Friesian on steroids" and breed her to RAVEN for ONLY $4500.00. The mare is located in Wisconsin and Pam is willing to help deliver her.
If interested in talking with Pam about her please email her at: pamthepioneer@gmail.com

Drugs

Too much physical work must have been done yesterday, either that or the running from the cabin field to the barn too many times. I NEED drugs, I WANT drugs, I want to be able to walk, run and keep up with the walkers. Today I will TAKE 2 aleve and hope tomorrow will be a better day. Unfortunately there was much to do Today. Ribbon and Cindy are now in a paddock together. Sanna and Sangria's stalls are now clean, Wynne covered and moved to the cabin. Sangria and her filly moved to the cabin. Hoerr vet clinic visited for sulpha, the cut on Rhoda's mare's leg is infected and she needs to be on sulpha. But... now we know why they sold her, she will NOT accept a syringe in her mouth. After working for over an hour trying to get sulpha in her and it going everywhere but her mouth, I gave up and put it on grain thinking there is no way this mare will eat it as a top dressing except she did. We will have to come up with a plan for deworming her there is no way to get a dewormer near her mouth either. I've had difficult horses before but none I had to give up on. Usually patience wins out, not today. We have found this mare to have wonderful ground manners and is great under saddle but she saw me coming with the sulpha syringe and was actually dangerous, swinging her head around, half rearing, and smashing herself into walls trying to get away from me and the syringe. Now I'm covered in sulpha, she is covered in sulpha the stall walls and floor are covered in sulpha, what a waste. It makes one wonder what ever happened to freak her out so badly.

Ultrasounds & Scapecchi's

Wynne, Sanna and Sangria were brought over with their foals and put into stalls to wait for Dr.Hoerr. Wynne and Sanna for their sonagrams and Sangria's filly needed her first doctor visit and foal shot. Dr. Hoerr actually arrived EARLY, that was a first! We knew a big storm was coming by the dark clouds in the west with the rumble of thunder. Because Dr. Hoerr was early, Rachel Sauder, who brought her filly over for health papers, was able to get back to her place before the storm hit. First on the list was to show off Sangria's filly, Dr. Hoerr was either very impressed or a good actor, I think it was the former as she is so impressive with her elegant looks and long legs. Wynne had a 45ml on the left ovary, she was given an HCG shot just to make sure she ovulates within 48 hours. She will be covered tonight yet, then should be out. All looked good with her. Sanna is just starting to come into season but won't be ready for a few days. Sanna is going to be 22 years old this June and we wanted to have Dr. Hoerr check her out thoroughly. We were pleased with his findings. She looks great inside and out and the go ahead was given to get her back in foal. The rain was pounding on the barn roof so hard by this time it was hard to visit so Dr. Hoerr loaded up and pulled out by 4:25pm. I made it home in time to get cleaned up before leaving for our thankyou dinner at Scapecchi's restaurant.
Earlier Diane and I were counting up the ways our friends and family help out Horsemeister. We have money in the bank and hay in the barn, time to pay a bit back. We started calling our helpers for an invite and ended up with 12 for dinner. We had the back room all to ourselves and had a wonderful time from the beginning to the end. Mike snapped the picture below and we all decided to show the camera our better side.
After dinner Mike took anyone that wanted to go to BEAS for ice cream which Mark and I turned down. We had a long drive home unlike the rest of the group.

Low Bridge

The picture above was taken yesterday, the filly is about 18 hours old in it, isn't she HUGE? Before the walk today, Wynne was taken over to Raven where she didn't show and he was not interested. We are not sure what's going on with her. Hoerr Vet clinic was called to see if we could reschedule the sonagram but someones cows needing vaccinating had taken our place. The clinic is going to call me back with a time later.
Following a truck home from Bartonville bank today was very interesting. I was pretty sure the truck driver was delivering a load for Meister Brothers and pretty sure he was lost, he NEVER should have taken Kickapoo Creek Rd from Bartonville. There are signs posted 'low bridge' before one even gets on that road but perhaps the driver didn't see the sign. He got close to it, slammed on his brakes when he realized how low it was, then slowly made his way forward his smoke stacks actually clearing it by less than an inch. I guess if he would have started scraping, some of the air could have been taken out of the tires but what a long drawn out process that would have been.
Credit applications were run for Meisters and bills paid for Bridlewood apartments before heading home to soak Rhoda's new mare's leg. She cut the front of her left front on Tuesday, it looked pretty good yesterday so I just treated it with some iodine ointment but today it is a bit more swollen and needed hosing.
When I walked in the house the phone was ringing, Hoerr Vet clinic was calling to let me know Dr. Hoerr was out our way with the ultra sound machine and would be stopping in around 4:00pm.

Stolen Car?

Susan took Sophia and Abram to volley ball practice but when it was time to go her mini van was no where in sight. The first thought in Susan's mind was OK Dan, where did you hide the car. It must be SO hard for the spouses of our family. She called Dan and asked him, "Dan are you playing some kind of trick with the van?" When he replies he is is at the Old School Center working Susan tells him the van is missing. Now the van had lots of important things in it like her purse and the kid's homework. Back into the building she goes to report that her car is stolen. The coach exclaims, "Wow this is quite the night for vans, someone else couldn't get their van started and had to call a tow company." Turns out the towing company came when the owners had gone back in the building, hooked up Dan and Susan's van and towed it away instead of the one that wouldn't start.
Last night Mark got home from work late, when he drove up he noticed some garbage by the side of the road so he got out of the truck and started to clean it up. Five African American young kids from the South Side riding bikes came up the hill, saw Mark working and asked him if he lives here. Then they ask him, "are you a billionaire?" Mark did not expect that, kind of chuckled and told them no. He was telling me about their reaction, explaining, "I think it is because the lawns look so nice." The story of our lawns, is that the Waibels are now doing all the lawn care and the place LOOKS GREAT!
Notice for the family: DON'T FORGET the work day at mom's on Saturday. This is her main present for her birthday and Mother's day. We will be working from 9:00am to noon and will serve lunch after. Many Hands Make Light Work, come on family we need you all! Remember your poor widowed mom, grandma, great grandma really loves to have her family come work together. Surely you can come give 3 short hours to her. We all enjoy the fellowship of being together AND we can even play volley ball after lunch.

Moving the Mares

What started as a simple job ended up with so much drama and complication. Steven showed up to move a new round bale in the back and one in the middle paddock. Discussing options now that Wynne and Lily cannot be moved to Middle Grove we decided the best option is to move a round bale into the shelter at the cabin field and put the mares and foals there until they are sonagramed in foal. Steven was leading the three Friesian mares while I followed with Sangria and her filly when Sanna's filly got separated and ran all the way back to the barn. Sanna is frantic looking for her baby, see's the right size baby next to Sangria and tries to come between them. Sangria starts kicking to keep Sanna away from HER baby, the filly is calling desperately trying to find her mama, Rachel is bringing her filly over for the farrier without her dam and she is calling along with Sunny and Sandy calling. It was a chaotic mess. The picture below was snapped just as Sanna's filly started running back to the barn before the mares went crazy.

Tyler Joos showed up during the commotion. Rachel's filly Xena was done first, then Heathcliff. We were very impressed with Heathcliff's manners. He stood nicely for all 4 feet.
Tyler did Cindy last. Cindy foundered on the spring grass. We want to see if she will be sound and once her feet were trimmed she walked out great. Rhoda will need to get on her and give her a refresher course in riding before bringing her to Bridlewood for the Waibels. I think she will work out well, we will breed her to Raven before sending her. She has had 3 beautiful black babies by him. Rhoda felt the last filly out of Cindy should have been named Snuggles, she was adorable.

Frost May 4th

Who would have thought there would be frost on Amy's anniversary!

Not just a little bit, it was hard enough to work at scrapping it off as Mark can attest.
At the farm both mares were anxious to get out of the stalls and get out to the field. Sangria's filly is doing well. She is SO HUGE! These pictures were taken at 12 hours old and don't really show how tall she is. We need a person to stand next to her to really get the perspective.

She still has trouble figuring out how to lay down gracefully.

While I was taking the pictures a truck pulled up with Rachel's tractor.

While Rachel and Dave were getting a driving lesson, the dirt guy called. He got going early and wanted to change the time to bring mom's gift. By the time I called him back he was already past the drive and had to turn around. We got the mulch dumped first and it is a much smaller amount than needed and than we thought we were getting. We must go pick up some more before Saturday. That was a bad buy. The shovel ready composted top soil doesn't look much better than what the farm provides, another bad buy. THEN to top it all off, Wynne comes back in season. Her ultrasound was scheduled for Friday, that had to be canceled and Raven brought out. At least Raven was thrilled to have some work.
Mary Ellen made it to mom's wonderful breakfast starring free range chicken eggs and savory sausage. We had a nice visit before she needed to leave and I needed to get to work.

Walmart must be visited before heading back to the farm to meet the farrier at 4:00pm.

New Rachel Pictures

Rachel camped at Middle Grove with some of the other family last weekend and snapped a couple of pictures. She was kind enough to send them along. Above is Ciera at 2 years of age checking out Karin's dog and below is Jewel at 3 years of age in the front with Mika and Izadora in the background. I saw this picture of Jewel on Rachel's facebook and asked if I could have a copy in Mike's hearing. Right away he asked "WHY!!! She is NOT FOR SALE!" We are so thrilled with both of these girls.

This morning the composted cow manure top soil will be brought to mom's for her birthday along with a load of mulch. This gift is one that mom WANTED for her birthday. There aren't too many parents that are thrilled when given 2 cubic yards of manure. My favorite cousin Mary Ellen is coming along for the ride and mom has offered to feed us breakfast once the loads are dumped. Mary Ellen is only a few days older than I am, she has a great sense of humor and growing up together was a lot of fun.

Sangria's New Filly

After dinner it was back to the farm to check on Sangria. I pulled up at 7:21pm and saw her laying down in the field in labor. Right away I could tell Sangria needed help. This baby was over due by almost 3 weeks and I could only see one hoof. Mike and Fedi were working on one of the trailers and came as soon as they were called. By the time they arrived both feet were showing along with the nose. The camera was handed to Mike, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty, and I started helping but realized right away this baby was so big it was going to take more than my strength. Fedi got right down to business and between Sangria's contractions and Fedi's strength the filly was born by 7:30pm. Some people will think we started pulling too soon, just let nature take it's course but when the mare is not making obvious progress there is a real reason to help. A few pictures were taken once they were safely in the stall for the night. The filly was nursing by 8:20pm. I stayed until 10:00pm waiting for Sangria to deliver the afterbirth but she is taking her time with that so finally headed home.
Sangria is a great mom.

This filly was so overdue she was born with the Friesian Feather.

She knows right where the milk bar is located.

She had a tough time trying to figure out those long legs when she was ready for her first nap.

We are so thankful all is well.

Helpful Offer

As Rhoda wants the Horsemeister truck and trailer for Friday, Steven has offered to take his truck and the stock trailer for Wynne's sonagram. Still have to work out the details as Steven has a job in Peoria and I think he gets off at noon. Wynne needs to be in Morton at 1:00pm.
Yesterday evening was such wonderful riding weather it was a privilege to watch Rhoda take her new mare through the paces. Damita's last owner was a very friendly talkative girl named Felicia Reinhard. When we told her about Joan marrying a Reinhard from Indiana her dad told us that they were from the Jacob Reinhard family from Ohio. I wonder if they are related, will have to ask Tim when they are back from Haiti.
Today after the Berean work is finished, I need to work on the supplies for mom's workday. For her birthday and mother's day she wants 2 loads of topsoil and 1 load of mulch. I'm going to go purchase this then see if Mark can help Thursday afternoon transporting at least the topsoil. If not perhaps he will be willing to give up this evening now that choir is over for the summer.

Email from CJ Baker

The email below came this morning from one of the PonyClub DC's. As Bridlewood is FULL and has been FULL for 20 years CJ has taken a lease on Collingswood Farm and opened up a new boarding facility.

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY JUNE 4th, 2011 10:00am to 4:00pm.

CJ Baker Boarding, Training, Lessons & PRC Tack-Everything for your Equine
at Collingwood Farm, 12327 W US Rt 150, Brimfield, IL Contact CJ Baker at 309-370-0144 or prctack@gmail.com
Beautiful 100 Acre Farm, Nice Stalls, Large Grass Turnouts, Large Indoor Arena – Regular Grading, Indoor Lunge Area, Grass Outdoor Dressage Arena, Grass Outdoor Jump Area, Daily Turnout, Grass Track, Close to Jubilee State Park, Lesson and Training Program with CJ Baker, School Horses Available
Stall Board with Daily Turnout or 2 Pastures with Shelters
Tack Shop on Grounds – PRC Tack, Everything you need for your Equine
Still looking for 6 more boarders at Collingwood.

Now my home pasture is empty if you know of anyone looking for a nice pasture.
I think the pasture is 8 acres, 2 or 3 in front pasture, 5 or 6 in back pasture. They can be combined or separated by the middle gate. Large Lean Area, Water, grass, use of barn and outdoor sand arena, short trail around the property and use of the tack room. Summer board – just pasture - $150 – Winter Board – Hay, Grain – twice a day - $250.

I’m looking for a nice all around western pleasure type horse for a 15 year old girl, priced around $1,500.

CJ Baker - 309-370-0144
Heart of Illinois Pony Club - Jt. DC
prctack@gmail.com
CJ Baker - Boarding, Training & Riding Instruction
at Collingwood Farms - Also home of PRC Tack

Busy busy Morning

I should have skipped the walk but wanted to ask Ruth, Diane, and Rachel's opinion on something. Sanna and her filly which I think we are naming Kassandra were in the stall with both doors wide open, the filly sound asleep on the nice bedding of straw Steven had laid down for Sangria. Sangria was turned out and she also promptly went into a stall and stood waiting for her grain. These mares are so well trained, now if only Sangria would deliver soon safely.
Had to run down to TSC by 9:00am to make it back to the farm by 9:30am to meet Sherry, the lady picking up Dalia for a trial. Then it was off to Sam's for dog food. Poor dogs had to live on people food Sunday, we ran out of dog food Saturday and didn't have time to even think of dogs.

Sangria Sunday Morning

Arrived at the farm to see Sangria standing in the shelter, not eating, just standing quietly. She and Sanna's grain was brought out, Sanna starts gobbling hers, Sangria takes a few bites then walks back into the shelter. Her grain was then put in the shelter where she started eating slowly. I so wanted to stay but she seems ok and is not so bagged that it looks like birth is imminent, hopefully we have a day. Steven is going to check on her this afternoon. The truck and trailer were hauled to Bridlewood early this morning for our trip up to Indian Hills to buy a mare Rhoda would like as a project horse for the summer. We are leaving right after church. A round bale has been moved into the paddock for the mare as we won't get home until after 9:00pm.

The Dinner

This dinner was our 40th benefit dinner and we wanted it special. The phone calls started coming at 11:00am yesterday. The first one was the tables did not have the steak knives on them. It was off to the fellowship hall earlier than planned leaving at 12:30pm to fix this main problem. Mom purchased all of the steak knives for the fellowship hall a couple of years ago as even the most tender prime rib needs more than a table knife. The very first job was heading to the kitchen going straight to were the knives are kept. They weren't THERE! Holly Ramseyer and I started searching all of the cupboards and they were just not there. I started thinking perhaps someone borrowed them and forgot to bring them back. Finally Dean was told, "we just can't find the knifes" Dean looks at us like we are crazy and replies, "they are sitting in a box on top of the serving counter." He had kindly put them out all ready for use.
From that point on things started hopping but in a good way, everything easily fell into place, the choir members started showing up all ready to work and many hands made the work light. The dinner was truly the one of the best ever served. Dean and Holly out did themselves. To serve 300 people a hot perfectly done dinner all at the same time is an amazing feat. And then came the program... The choir sang 17 songs, our all time favorites. I thought people would think is this ever going to end but instead the very first person I talked to after the program exclaimed, "This blew me away!" and everybody that came up basically said the same thing, the music was AMAZING! Can you imagine how the heavenly choir will sound? Sometimes I just can't wait.
After all was done with clean up I followed Mark's truck home in case anything blew out. His truck was filled with the garbage and cardboard. The dogs were so excited when we pulled up they wouldn't leave the truck alone circling it and barking. Time for some dumpster diving! Some of the garbage bags were opened and prime rib meat and fat scraps pulled out them. They think Mark's truck is the best vehicle ever after last night. I easily filled a couple of gallon sized zip lock bags of this tasty treat, fed them a bit then headed for bed. This morning Darcy couldn't WAIT to run to the truck, stands there and barks asking "aren't you going to open these great smelling bags again?" Once was enough! Now hopefully the Meister brother workers won't show up for lunch tomorrow and think the scraps are some kind of casserole. That actually happened at mom's one year, she had the scraps in a pan in the downstairs fridge, Tim Reinhard pulled out the dish and started eating it. He thought to himself, this is terrible, mom is usually a better cook than this.