And Then There Were Four

Male puppy number 2 is sold and will be going to Texas. We now only have 4 males and 4 females available.

Male number 1 has an almost heart shaped black dot on his tail, he has an hourglass white mark on his chest. He is good for his nail trimming and loves to eat.




Male number 2 has no white and a big head. He LOVES to eat and is the first to reach the food each time.



Male number 3 has no white on his chest, he is a bit smaller than his siblings but a real fighter, he is active and social and enjoys snuggling up in ones arm.



Male number 4 has no white on his chest, a black rectangle on the tail and is a real sweet heart. He likes to stick his tongue out and doesn't mind his nails being trimmed and can be put on his back without squirming.




And below is male number 5. Male number 5 has lots of personality, he is kind of a cry baby, whining and bossing the other puppies around.

Bethany & Hanna

Spark moved the fire engine outside and put the ladder up for Bethany and Hanna. We knew there was a good reason Spark bought that fire engine! Hanna was first showing us what she learned, WHAT WAS HER MOTHER THINKING?





Hanna is sliding down the silk in the pictures below from the top all the way to the ground.





Bethany climbed to the top of the ladder to show us her routine. Once up the wind started blowing the silk away from her making it harder but very pretty.



She makes this look easy but we were all shocked at what she was doing, again, WHAT WAS HER MOTHER THINKING to let her buy this silk!
These girls learned this on youtube. I think it must be very dangerous to let your young impressionable daughter watch youtube.














Then if one is not too tired of pictures, Addyson and Jack came over for a visit. Taunya drove out to show Addyson the puppies and took Braelyn back into town for Anna.

UP then Down

Yesterday the filly seemed to be doing pretty well. She was urinating every time she was given IVs meaning not only is she getting fluids enough through the IV line, she is drinking well. Last night she was out grazing with her mom around 8:30pm as she was grazing, fluids were skipped and she was just given her meds. This morning she was laying down in the arena and Sanna is in the stall begging for the air conditioning to be turned back on. It is a worry that they were separated and another worry that when the filly was asked to get up she was pretty lethargic. Once in the stall, she got a big drink of water and went over to share Sanna's grain before hooking her up to an IV line and putting her grain in front of her. She is eating well, much better than a couple of days ago and her weight looks much better making me think she really is on the mend and maybe this morning is a fluke.
Yesterday bills needed to be paid at the shop and a few hours were spent at Meister's juggling money around. The Bridlewood roof is now finished and paid for. Mark is financing it. This will only take me 2 years to pay off unless Sangria's filly sells. Bridlewood was built in 1978 and this is the second time to paint and repair the roof. We have not yet paid for the mowing, raking and baling of our first cutting hay, Chuck will need to be called for that figure and we still owe the vet for Sanna's filly plus 2 ultrasounds. Each time I call for that bill it is not yet figured up but Chris, the guy that works on the books, thinks it will be more than $2000.00 but less than $3000.00.
The heat was again oppressive, reaching 99 with high humidity. When Mike came over to move in a round bale for the middle paddock we see a huge puddle by the automatic waterer. It is not leaking, Ribbon was continually putting her face in and splashing water out. The horses are getting hosed off but in Ribbon's opinion not enough.
French Fry needs to be checked today and covered if still in, Ylse should be coming in and Eliza is suppose to be covered today. We do not want to ask Raven to work in the heat meaning only one will be done. Hopefully French Fry is out.

The Widow Date

Yesterday even though the actual temperature climbed up to a steamy 98 degrees it didn't stop a good group to make a trip to Norris. Beth invited all the widows of the Peoria church for lunch out at the Herman Lake in Norris, IL. The Jail ladies (not inmates, volunteers) stayed the night at Norris to help get everything ready for these very special guests. Jenny, Diane's daughter, catered the meal. The bus picked them up at church at 9:00am and drove them first to the Old School Center in Farmington, IL where they Spark gave them a tour of that huge facility. As I am not a widow and not a jail volunteer, my camera was sent along with mom for pictures. The first picture is once they were off the bus and into the elevator. The camera fogged up so bad getting off the airconditioned bus.

The next picture is in the big theater room.

Norris, IL is the next little town south of Farmington and once back on the bus it didn't take long to arrive at the Herman Lake. This is one of Herman Pond Management's trophy lake. Nate raises multi species of HUGE fish. Mom was given instructions to get pictures of the widows pulling up these huge fish but she was too busy SWIMMING to think about action shots. The ladies not only went fishing but most of them went down the water slide, took boat rides and had a really wonderful time. The next couple of pictures are getting ready for lunch, then sitting down to eat.


What a wonderful place to spend a very hot day!
Everyone had such a great time, Beth decided to make it an annual occasion.
Church last night was moved to the fellowship hall as a transformer blew and there was no electricity in our Peoria church building. We arrived a bit early, sat down near the front. Before the service started, more chairs were needed, People started streaming in. Some of the brothers started pulling racks of chairs out of the storage and lining them up, this went on until the fellowship hall was FULL. Ken Hoerr had the service speaking on the tribulation to come. Of course after the service everyone wanted to stay and visit, we didn't arrive back until after 9:30pm and the filly needed to be given another 2500 lactate ringer IV. Finally by 11:30pm I crashed in bed. This morning the filly seems a bit better but I'M STILL TIRED!

Karin's Camping

Church was moved to the fellowship hall and will be at 7:30pm instead of 7:00. Mark needed his clothes brought to the shop as he had a late estimate and while waiting for him to get ready I found Karin's camping video. She was camping at the Middle Grove farm. Weird to camp right in a horse pasture but they had a lot of fun.

It is pretty desolate out there more than a mile from any electricity and the horses are all thrilled when someone stays. They stick around the camp begging for attention.
The video shows quite a bit of the Middle Grove property, the creeks, the trails and most of all the HORSES!
The next video is when she had one of the many youth groups out to the Hanna City farm.

And the last video posted is taking a youth group from Maquan, IL to the Middle Grove farm for a camp out.

Thanks Karin for all your hard work. The volunteer hours you put into these outings are in the hundreds, no thousands. Can't wait to see your vaulting competition video.

Back on IVs

Yesterday Sanna's filly was again in distress, Dr. Hoerr had to come out after work to insert an IV catheter and he gave her 2500 ml of lactate ringers then left us with 11 more bags. Each bag holds 5000 ml and she was to have 2500 every 2 hours until midnight. That was on top of the rest of the days work.
Eva Jean is holding the box of processed Bible studies, 2 weeks worth filled the mailbox to overflowing and we had to work overtime.

The day is just starting to lighten enough to go out looking for Sanna and her filly as this morning they were not in the stall. They were found over by Raven and both standing but the filly is very lethargic, at least she is up. Instead of putting her back in and starting the IV's I'll let them stay out a bit, it is the cool 80 degrees right now instead of the 97 yesterday.
The camera was finally downloaded. The picture below was taken during Monday's walk with Rachel carrying Braelyn for weight training.

Someone donated this Jeep for Tim to take back to Haiti. This was MADE for Haiti, notice the periscope, much needed as they drive through the river beds. What a wonderful donation, a BIG THANK YOU to whoever did THIS.

Mike got the IH tractor working and brought it over to teach Mark how to drive it so we can get the pastures mowed now that the John Deere is not working. We are not used to driving such huge tractors.

Even before Dr. Hoerr left, Lisa Waibel brought her children out to see the puppies and ride Cindy. They want to free lease Cindy for a bit to see if they really do want a horse long term. Mike and Diane drove up on the 4 wheeler as the Waibel's were getting ready to leave and Diane gave the younger ones a ride on it while Mike mowed the back pasture. French Fry was checked, she is still in but we did not cover her, we will try this morning while it is still a bit cooler. We are expecting another VERY hot day with heat indexes at 115 degrees, actual temperature 98.
French Fry was still in and covered, Raven was hosed down and will need it again later. These black horses really suffer in this heat. If the stall area had the airconditioning installed he would be one given preferential treatment.

No Relief

The heat just stays and stays, there is no relief in sight. It doesn't even cool down at night. Sanna does not enjoy being hot and stands in front of the air conditioner trying to keep cool. Yesterday while hosing off her filly, Sanna decides that was for her and came quickly to the hose knocking into the mirror of my car and breaking it. That will teach me to park the car close to the barn. Another repair bill!
Rhoda came over after work, helped replace the puppy bedding, then carried all the pups outside for their first ever solid food. They loved the puppy food but today we need to soak it longer. Mike and Diane drove up on their motorcycle so while Diane was playing with the pups and visiting with Rhoda, Mike helped get French Fry covered then backed the trailer into place and unhooked the truck. Phil wants David Sauder to drive it in this morning.
Sanna's filly looks better and seems better, trying to stay out of my range when the meds were brought in. She would not eat any grain but did drink well once the water buckets were cleaned and filled.
Today Eva Jean and I will be swamped at work. We will have to pay for the play from last week where I was sitting on a beach reading books instead of down processing Bible studies. At least our office is air-conditioned.

Dalia, Mattie, Bridgett In Foal

Philip dropped off Braelyn for our morning walk, she got a bit fussy in the stroller so first Ruth carried her a bit, then Rachel, they are using her as weights to help with the aerobic exercise.
Scary news this morning, a phone call came from the people that bought Lily's filly. They have Lily at their place until the filly is weaned and Lily was colicking when they arrived to feed. Surgery is not an option with Lily, too much scar tissue from the last colic surgery so we were praying the banamine would work. If not she would have to be put down and what a loss that would be, not only is she LILY, but she is in foal to Raven. By noon the call came that Lily was much better, actually acting normal and hungry.
Dr. Hoerr arrived for ultrasounds, we had 2 outside mares and 2 of our mares to be done, plus Jamie Stone wanted coggins drawn on Dakota and Myrrcedes along with their shots. Eliza was our only disappointment, she did not take and is coming back in season. Sure hope she will settle this time. She was given a shot and should be ready to breed in 4 days. Dalia IS in foal, we will place her for sale to help cover some of the vet costs on Sanna's filly. Both outside mares were also pregnant. Mattie the HUGE Clyde cross mare was diagnosed with twins, not just twins but identical twins as there was only one CL meaning only one ovary ovulated and both embryos were the same size. One had to be pinched off, mares are just not made to carry twins.
Then it was time to show Dr. Hoerr Sanna's filly. He actually saw how she will go up under Sanna to nurse but not latch on. She did this twice while he was observing. He drew blood then took her off one of her meds of which has side effects such as a depressant and loss of appetite. Actually by this afternoon she is bit brighter. Dr. Hoerr recommended we put her on calf manna, a milk rich grain that a young foal will digest well.

Hot Almost Unbearable!

How thankful we are that church is air-conditioned but what a shock to our system when we get home. Sanna and her filly were hosed off before changing out of our Sunday clothes. The filly was definitely weaker, once hosed off she reached under to nurse but just couldn't seem to latch on. They were taken into the stall and 150 cc's of Sanna's milk was force fed successfully. She then ate a few bites of grain. She will need feeding every hour and maybe we will see an improvement.
French Fry the Saddlebred mare is still in and was covered, then hosed off with cool water and fly sprayed before putting her back. Raven was also hosed. He LOVES cool water.
Heather from St. Louis emailed the picture below of her 2 Raven offspring. They are both Blue Roan's out of her bay roan mare Jackie.

She wrote how happy she was with both of them.
Mike came over and moved 3 round bales in, one for French Fry's paddock, one for Kim's mares and one for the middle paddock.
Sanna's filly was given another 90 cc's of milk at 3:00 and again at 4:00pm. Each time it seems to stimulate her appetite and she walks over to either try to nurse or eats a bite of grain. So far no luck on her latching on. Hopefully by tonight she will be nursing.
Amy Koch and 2 of her grandson's Parker and Brady came over to see Emma's pups. Emma was well behaved. Darcy had to show off a bit for them.
The apartment stinks today, as it is too hot to work outside, Mark is clear coating the bedroom and bathroom door.

Update from Canada

Lori, Chloe's owner sent this nice update: Hi Judy, I just wanted to send you a quick update on Chloe. She is magnificent! I could not imagine life without her. She has a very sweet personality and is so easy to work with. This spring she was taken to a petting zoo nearby, they also board and train horses. She was introduced to all sorts of animals... pigs, goats, mini horses, lamas and all sorts of birds, even emus. The experience was really good for her. While she was there she was trained to drive for six weeks and she was amazing. At two years she was measured at 15 2hh and about 1100 lbs with a very beautiful thick long mane and tail. Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to own such a fantastic girl, talk to you soon, Lori.
Thanks so much Lori, we love hearing about Raven's offspring and how much they are loved and by sending pictures made us SMILE!

SOLD

This one is sold, hurry there are only 5 males and 4 females left. Of course they cannot leave until mid August at the earliest.