What a Great Day

Karin arrived early to clean Ribbon up for the last vaulting show of the year.

The morning was clear and cool, just a beautiful day. She loaded up and pulled out at 8:30am right on schedule even though she forgot her shoes. Thank goodness for sisters, she ran over to Rachel's and found a pair that fit. Mark and I started on clear coating the bedroom wall in the farm house. After the first coat was on we broke for a breakfast of blueberry pancakes then back to work. Mark worked on the staining the stairs while I mowed until the mower ran out of gas. About that time Steven Marchal arrived to give a lesson on Bonnie and once that was over he pulled Evan and Valiant out for training. After he rode Valiant he asked him for a few tricks. Valiant remembered and went right into the bow and then lay down.

Notice Evan in the back ground patiently waiting his turn.

Evan was not as well behaved as Valiant but still we were pleased.

Jewel was teased before the boys were put back, we believe she is just starting to come into her foal heat. Once the boys were put away the mares were let out and that was funny to watch. Mare after mare had to drop and roll in the cool dewy green grass. Of course As soon as Sangria laid down her boy climbed right over her.

Then it was back to work on the house. Mark foamed the gaps around the windows while I sprayed bug spray around the barn and house, we are going to try to keep the spiders out this year. The Rose of Sharon bush has been blooming all summer. As I was looking at the blossoms a bee came buzzing in for some pollen and of course a picture had to be taken.

Karin arrived back in good time. She reported the show went well, the vaulters did great.

Karin decided to work the mares and brought Ylse out first.

Then Zalena, Eliza and Jenis. Eliza is pictured below.

Eliza and Jenis' fillies were let loose in the arena after Karin was done with the mares for pictures.

Rhoda came to join the fun and brought the golf cart out with Darcy.

She was asked to hold Jenis' filly for a picture.

She then brought Bonnie out for some trick training. Below she has asked Bonnie to step up on the pedestal.

We stopped for a quick dinner before heading to the fellowship hall to hear the Latty, OH choir sing. That was so beautiful! What a great way to end a great day.

Horse Talk

So what do you think Jewel's filly is trying to say in the picture below?

We were laughing at the foals today. They had been locked up because of the rain and when they were finally let out neither baby could keep their feet on the ground. They were bouncing around their mothers like Tigger would bounce around Winnie the Poo. They really need to have a video made of their antics.

Sangria must roll and her colt must try to climb over her each time just ruining the moment.

Karin came today before the vaulting practice and worked mares. Ylse was first, what a beautiful Fantasy Friesian she is with her mega hair.

We are so thrilled she is safely in foal to Raven. To go along with all that hair she has a beautiful face.

Next out was Zalena. She is not as photogenic but still beautiful. Her neck is just unbelievable, sure hope she throws her gorgeous conformation with the foal she is carrying.

A few of the vaulters arrived early and had to play with the foals. Below is Becka going up to visit Jewel and her filly.

That filly stood there brave as could be for a bit for the petting.

And then took off showing us the back of her heels.

She is such a little spit fire. Sangria's colt is so elegant and laid back when he is not climbing over his mom.

The rain started up, the horses were put away, the vaulting practice had to be held in the indoor arena. As a special treat Mark took me to the deli in Hanna City for dinner. He had the antipasto salad and I had a Reuben and we both finished up with a piece of home made blueberry pie. The vaulters are leaving early tomorrow for a show, the truck will need to be filled with gas and the tires checked before hooking it up to the stock trailer. D & H called at 4:45pm to report the living quarter trailer is done and ready to go. The bill is $1620.99 and that's after they were given a deposit of $650.00. Oh well, it's just money. They close at 5:00pm not leaving enough time to drive in to pick it up. That will be done on Monday.

Storm Clouds

The sky was dark this morning so dark it seemed much earlier than it really was. The horses were all checked on and fed before 7:00am. By 7:25am the storm clouds were rolling in quickly and by 7:45am the walk was called on account of rain as the lightning strikes with it's accompanied booming thunder ushered in the wind and huge drops of cold rain. What a change from yesterday. So enjoying the pounding of the rain on the roof while the dogs and I are safe and warm inside our cozy apartment. Saw this picture and just had to laugh. That was actually me not too long ago trying to figure out what lol meant and no it doesn't mean lots of love!

Da Boys

Mark drove the truck in to work today with my car keys in his pocket. There was no going anywhere today for me. Instead the apartment was picked up and swept, dinner prepared early and then it was time to play. Jewel, Sangria, their foals and Ribbon were turned out to graze while the stalls were cleaned. They were all brought inside in the afternoon before the foals over heated. Rick Sills showed up with the barn air conditioner computer board but wasn't able to hook it up, there was still something missing. That was fine the temps were just below 90. Steven Marchal came to work the boys so the camera was grabbed. By the time he was done 712 pictures had been snapped. Most of the pictures weren't good enough to use but there were a few posted on facebook, Steven's training page, the photogallery, Evan's page and Valiant's page. My very favorite is the one below of Evan right after his swim.

He is all clean and shiny. Before they were allowed to go swimming they had to work. Valiant was first. Steven took him to the outdoor arena where Valiant was just perfect. Her really didn't put a foot wrong.

He is so impressive standing over 16.1 hands at 3 years of age. That along with his beautiful movement makes him one handsome fellow! Evan was just about as good for his first time to be ridden in the outdoor arena.

They were so thrilled to get over to the pond after working so hard.

Above is Evan and below is Valiant.

How blessed we are to have these 2 boys.

Funny Foals

After Mark was finally released from Methodist it was time to let the foals out and watch them play. Jewel's filly was so funny, she has the hardest time keeping all 4 feet on the ground.

It must be the 25% Thoroughbred blood running through those veins. She was going up..down..up..down then around and around. Sangria's colt is much more laid back but when he moves, "oh my does he float."

Sangria loves to have a good back scratch and takes every opportunity to drop and roll.

She finished the roll and before she can get up, her colt tries to crawl right on top of her.

I thought the picture below was interesting, a head shot of Sangria and her 2 week old colt.

One of Karin's vaulters showed up early for practice and went over to pet Jewel's filly. I was surprised at what happened next. One would assume a new filly would be shy and not let a stranger near, nope, she had to come right up to meet Becka.

Did You Watch?

I'm not real involved in politics but will admit to watching just a bit of Mrs. Obama's speech last night. When she said, "Being president doesn't change who you are, it reveals who you are." she was absolutely truthful. We are not to speak ill of those in power over us but by his own policies and actions he reveals how out of touch he is with Christian Americans. Enough said but we all need to get out and vote. Below is a commercial on the values made by the Catholic church. Whatever your beliefs, this is a very powerful video worth watching. We have such a wonderful country, lets all do our part to save it, get out and VOTE! Today is the dreaded stress test for Mark. He has gone in to work and will be picked up there around 8:00am for the short drive to Methodist.

The 4th!

All day today I thought it was the 3rd of September, Philip's birthday. He was wished happy birthday, Eva Jean was told it was Philip's birthday, all the first of the month bills were paid today with the date Sept 3rd, 2012 only to finally find out by accident I'm a day late and a dollar short, well at least a day late. It is oppressively hot today with temps in the 90's, not even a slight breeze and high humidity. As soon as I made it home from work, the 2 mares with the youngest foals were brought back from the cabin, hosed down and stalled. Those 2 black foals are still too young to regulate their body temperature and we don't want them to overheat. Hoerr vet clinic was called to arrange for Raven's coggins and EVA tests to prepare for freezing his semen. We have a morning appointment on Sept 14th. We may as well have him ultrasound mares then. Prissy, Paris and Cor could all be checked if we choose to bring them back from Middle Grove. Sangria and Jenis could also be checked by then. Mark has an early appointment tomorrow at Methodist for the stress test. This test takes almost 3 hours to run. They wanted him to come this morning but by the time they called to ask him to come in he had already had a cup of coffee.

Achy Breaky Heart

The stress test didn't happen, evidently there is no way to schedule a stress test on a national holiday. Mark was finally released from Methodist with instructions to call tomorrow to schedule a stress test. The blood work showed that he did not have a heart attack but his chest is still achy. As we were driving home from the hospital we stopped at Home Depot and bought a fridge for the farm house. That was the only appliance we still needed. It won't be delivered until the end of this month, probably perfect timing. Next we stopped at Walmart for groceries buying lots of good crunchy delicious fresh vegetables, a couple of boneless skinless chicken breast, a blood sugar meter, test strips and lancets. A very healthy delicious stir fry was cooked for dinner. After dinner Mark just couldn't rest after having to lay around all day and wanted to start caulking around the furnace & air conditioner which meant that closet needed to be cleaned out. It is amazing how much stuff one can stuff into a small closet, we found all kinds of things we were missing...like the outlet plates that needed to be put on the bathroom outlets. That job got done next. While he was busy with that installation I took the golf cart over to the cabin to grain and check on the nursing mares. We now have the 4 mares with foals all in the cabin field. Steven put a new good quality round bale in for them and moved Jewel, her filly, Sangria and her colt in with Jenis & Eliza and their fillies. They were all getting along fine, Jenis is still the boss of everyone but meek Eliza is second top dog. She is learning from Jenis how to stand her ground. Mike teased Clair and she was out so he took Clair and Prissy out to Middle Grove. Bonnie was wormed. Karin worked 4 horses today, 2 mares and the 2 boys. I'm not sure which mares she worked with. Then Steven sent through a text that he worked both boys. He reported he rode them in the indoor and both were good, they should of been good being worked twice in one day.

Party Time

I left Mark at Methodist Hospital after dinner, arrived back at the farm to find a huge party happening. The playground was packed with kids both big and small. The usual Sunday volley ball games were in full swing. The weather had broken, the cloudy spitting rain of Isaac had given way to a sparkling new bright green world so Karin let the mares with foals out of the stalls just loose to graze and cleaned both stalls. I felt free to stay and visit with the many people on the cheering section. Taunya's parents arrived with our shared grandchildren about the time the family volley ball quit and the Peoria Young group arrived. Car after car pulled up dispensing full loads of players ready for action. They had been playing ultimate Frisbee at the Hanna City park and were ready for serious volley ball. Where do they get their energy? Rhoda took Addyson to the farm for a riding lesson on Bonnie so over we headed to watch. That pony is just doing wonderful. After the lesson Rhoda worked on her tricks. She had that pony bowing and laying down as she was on her. She took Bonnie outside to show how nicely she has her walking through Isaac's puddles. It was very dark by this time, near 10:00pm, a flashlight was brought out and given to Rhoda as she was riding Bonnie and off she want to find Sangria and Jewel. They were not coming when called. They were found at the far end of the property, both foals bedded down and the mares wouldn't leave them. They were brought back and locked in the 2nd pasture. The volley ball players were so loud the mares had to go down to the end of the pasture to investigate all the noise and came galloping back up the hill. This set the boys (stallions) off and they started thundering around their paddock. Mark had the usual interrupted night sleep at the hospital, the doctor has ordered a stress test but because of the holiday it may not happen. He is feeling fine, no more chest pain. I'm heading to the hospital as soon as the chores are finished here, for some reason I over slept.

Unexpected Trip to ER

Mark was awakened this morning by mild chest pain. This was the 3rd day he has had it off and on so this morning at 5:00am he decided we should head down to Methodist hospital Emergency room. His blood pressure was elevated and when given a spray of nitro under the tongue it dropped like a stone causing him to break out in a sweat. The emergency room doctors decided to admit him. He is now comfortable in room C524. When asked if he needed to see the hospital chaplain he replied, "no Bonnie Bach is good enough for me." Bonnie is a well respected RN working here at Methodist for years and a good friend. His blood has been drawn and sent down to the labs, his ekg looks fine, the chest exray looks fine so we are anticipating his release soon. He will need to take a stress test probably Tuesday.

Wrong Decision

Yesterday I gambled then found out today I lost. Sangria was not covered yesterday, this morning during our first break in the rain she was taken over to Raven and said, "no!" very emphatically. There is no second guessing Sangria, she is either in or out there is no maybe about her. Then Prissy was brought over and she also said no. Bummer, Both mares should have been covered yesterday. I chose to cover Clair yesterday instead of Prissy planning on catching Prissy this morning. And wanted to give Raven a day off with Sangria. The best chance of conception happens just before or as she is ovulating. Now that Sangria is out, she and Jewel were turned out in the field with their foals for a bit. What beautiful subjects to photograph.

Above is Jewel's filly by Evan learning to dance and below is Sangria's colt by Raven. The muscle on Sangria's 11 day old colt by Raven is amazing.

Welcoming Isaac

The first few sprinkles arrived just after 6:00pm last evening. Mark had just finished the mowing around the farm house. The rain tapping gently on the roof was so welcome. The 2 mares with new foals were moved inside before the rain started. All evening and during the night the gentle rain continued. We haven't had lightning, thunder or wind, just a nice steady welcome rain. Sangria should be covered today if still in. She was not covered yesterday to give Raven a day off. Prissy also needs to be covered. According to weather.com we are to have a short break in the showers around 8:00am and both can be tried then. The most exciting news came from Steven Marchal. He found a company near Springfield, IL that collects, freezes and stores stallion semen. With Raven's knees in such bad shape we don't know how much longer we will have him around. Even though we have 2 other proven stallions and one up and coming, Raven's offspring have been so spectacular we don't want to lose the option of a Raven foal in the future.