Ayanna

Rhoda brought Ayanna into the indoor arena for some round pen reasoning. This picture of Ayanna was taken before Rhoda brought her inside.

Above Karin is teaching her to accept the bit. Below she is listening to Rhoda wanting to please.

We are excited to have her home and in training. Ayanna sticked at 15.3hands + a bit, just 1/4 inch shy of 16 hands and she won't be three until March 21st. She is going to be huge and is already gorgeous! Our plan was to breed Ayanna to Evan this spring but her body type is baroque and she would be a better match with Killian. Star needed to be covered and after Evan got the job accomplished, he was taken indoors. Below are a few pictures taken with the new camera without a flash indoors. I know they are not clear but his movement is SO spectacular.

R I P Ylse

We lost Ylse today.

The blood in the snow was from her, she aborted her foal, then just couldn't seem to recover. We have many many wonderful memories of this special mare. She was always a favorite here and at the IL Horse fair, she loved the people and loved the attention. We are so glad we kept her daughter Indy. Rhoda arrived to help moved Jenis, Eliza, Zalena and Ayanna from Middle Grove to Hanna City. Sangria was taken out to Middle Grove to assist in weaning her colt. We find weaning goes much better if the foal is with companions his or her own age and the mom is removed far enough away they can't hear each other. In a couple of weeks we will bring Lily, Helen, Indy and Killian home, then Jewel, Olivia and Ella. Lily and Ella are due in March, Indy and Killian are ready for training. Jewel needs a pregnancy check and it will be time to wean Olivia.

Website Deleted

Philip suggested removing the website off the web so not only was it removed, the entire website deleted. It actually took quite a while to delete all the pictures posted over the years. We will try re-installing in a few days. According to our stat counter we have had almost 300,500 hits since the statcounter was added in 2008. Many people enjoyed checking the pictures and watching our horses grow. Sure hope we can get back on line soon. What a productive day at Meisters! Around 150 letters completely processed with the Bibles mailed out. I ran out of stamps and will need to buy more before the next batch of letters are done. 150 doesn't sound like much but each letter must be read, posted on the computer, address label printed, the label put on the Bible, the postage applied and then hauled to the post office. The next job was a trip to my favorite store where pneumabort shots were purchased along with grain for the weanlings. It started raining before I arrived home and had to unload the grain in a cold rain. It is suppose to continue raining the rest of the afternoon. The trip to pick up the four Friesian mares will be put off until tomorrow.

Prissy x Valiant Foal Sold

One of our past customers wants to purchase Prissy's coming foal. She wants a painted Friesian and Prissy is guaranteed to throw spots. She is coming on Saturday to put down the deposit. We stopped selling our horses in-utero a few years ago but will make an exception for Chris. Prissy was bred to Valiant, check out Prissy below, this foal should be beautiful.

The foal isn't due until August 7th. I can't not write about our church service last night. We had a visitor from Roanoke speaking on the Holy Spirit. His sermon was mostly from Ephesians 3. It isn't just we have abundant access to Him, verse 20 tells us, He is Able to do Exceeding Abundantly Above All that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Dwelling on the service last night was the focus of our walk this morning. Mark actually had to wake me this morning to make sure I didn't miss that walk, hmmm in his mind that walk must make for a better wife. Something I read this morning must also be shared. But first a little back ground. I finished Isiah and knew the next book is Jeremiah but didn't want to weep any more so kept going to the new testament. You see Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. After 40 years of speaking for God, he never got to see Judah repent. Well today I am burdened with the word "repent." So many think that just means saying sorry. This morning readings the definition of repent was brought out that being sorry for sin is not enough. Repentance demands a change of mind and heart which results in a changed behavior. Time to head to work, the letters must be processed down at Berean.

Sangria Pregnant

Mark pulled the truck and trailer out with the skid steer then Rhoda and I took off for Middle Grove with that same truck and trailer to pick up Sangria, her colt and Ribbon. Ribbon was dropped off at the farm before we took Sangria and her colt to Hoerr Vet clinic for her pregnancy check and his coggins. She is now confirmed in foal. We were very pleased with her colt. Not only did he load up with no problem he stood quietly for Dr. Hoerr not even flinching when stuck with the needle.

Every one of Sangria's foals by Raven have been spectacular and this is the last one! She was bred to Valiant Oct 4th, 2012 making her due mid Sept 2013. We got a few pictures of him for the man coming to see him on the 19th.

Notice how high he gets all 4 legs in the picture above.

Before we put them in with the foals Sangria and her colt were wormed with Safeguard. Tomorrow Sangria will be taken back to Middle Grove and the colt will need companions so this is the best paddock. Below he is meeting Oksana his half sister. They use to know each other and it won't take long for him to get re-acquainted with her and Olympia.

Sangria was not sure she wanted him any where near those babies.

Rhoda worked both Boys today, Valiant was good, Evan tried to buck. Naughty Evan! The black Morgan mare came in season today and was covered by Evan.

Very Smart Friesian Mare

With this Friesian you can't assume someone left the door unlatched or the gate wasn't shut. I really need to get the truck and trailer unstuck today. Sangria's colt must be picked up from Middle Grove and taken to Hoerr Vet clinic to get a coggins drawn on him. He is probably sold, the man buying him is from Texas and will be coming this way in 10 days. We also must pick up Ribbon for vaulting practice.

Big Buck

http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/for_sale.htm copy and paste that link to get on the website. Today Eva Jean and I were swamped and played catch-up most of the morning. We didn't finish but at least got the labels all processed and on the envelopes. Rhoda joined us for lunch then she took me to the cell phone store to get her phone repaired while Dan took Spark and Eva Jean back to the office. After spending over an hour at that store we made the decision to look on ebay and Craig's list for a new phone for Rhoda. Her just didn't seem fixable. We were home by 1:30pm hooked up the trailer to head to Middle Grove but went absolutely no where. The truck got stuck in the mud. I'll ask Mike to pull it out with his truck soon. Since we couldn't pick up mares, we decided to work Star and Sissy. Both are greatly improved from yesterday. Star is catching on better than Sissy. Both mares were teased then put back. Rhoda checked Craig's list, found a phone, sent a text and off we went to Marquet Hights to buy the phone. On the way home Rhoda spotted a deer family not too far off the road. A nice big buck, a couple of doe and a yearling all grazing.

My cell phone was taken out for the pictures above. Sure wish I'd had my new camera. Off back to the cell phone store we drove where all of her contacts were moved to the new phone then finally home for the evening.

Java Wynne Max

http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/for_sale.htm It has been suggested to publish the web address each day until the website is up and running. Just copy and paste the link to get on. Three pictures came in from Java's owner. Java is now 2 years old out of walker Sally by Raven.

Kim was so pleased with her (I can see why) she bred her mares to Raven and now Java has 2 siblings.

Left to right Sammy(filly) Sully (draft x Raven) and Java. Thanks so much for the pictures Kim. Jill the owner of Wynne sent along the 2 pictures below, the first is of Wynne and the second is her colt by Raven named Max.

Jill writes Max is fantastic, blue black and gorgeous and he is NOT FOR SALE. As she is keeping him, she made the hard decision to place Wynne and her 2011 filly Kenzie for sale. Wynne is in foal to Raven, due April 18th, 2013, just 4 short months away and she only wants $12,500.00 for her. Just think in that short amount of time you too could be the owner of 2 purebred Friesians! Or buy both Wynne and Kenzie for $20,000.00 and have a ready made purebred herd of Friesians. To see many more pictures copy and paste this link: http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/wynne.htm Wynne is such a sweet mare, we took her to the IL Horse Fair and performed in front of thousands of people, she enjoyed the attention from the crowds and was always willing to hang her head out of the stall for attention. This is a fantastic buy! We are to have a much needed meltdown this week. Our driveway is so icy some of the vaulters coming to practice last night couldn't make it up the hill and had to back down then walk up to the barns. Yesterday's practice was all barrel work, Karin moved Darryl the barrel into the Horsemeister office so her team could practice in a comfortable 68 degrees. Her entire team showed up for the first practice, all excited to get back to work.

Website Update

Here are a few links that will open on the website you will need to copy and paste the links below to your address bar, for our forsale page: http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/for_sale.htm The new addition page: http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/new_additions.htm the photo gallery page: http://meisterheating.com/Horsemeister/photogallery.htm Each of these links will take you right to the website then every page will open except the index page horsemeister.com Know we are working hard to restore the entire website. Today Rhoda helped get new pictures of Sissy and Star. Below is Sissy:

Sissy has a beautifully colored black and white coat. She has almost perfect conformation, we will really look forward to a foal out of her by Valiant. Star is pictured below:

After watching Star move we have come to the conclusion we don't believe she is a Tennessee Walker. She showed no sign of gaiting and acts just like Kim Calhoun's Morgan mare. She also LOOKS like a Morgan mare. She has the pretty Morgan face, the thick mane and tail of a Morgan the big Morgan eyes, the strong Morgan body. She will be listed on the website as a grade Morgan. On a sad note the lady buying Helen and Olivia has had a very hard life change. She will no longer have a place to keep these 2 lovely foals and we will place them back for sale.

911

David Obergfel had the morning service opening to Nehemiah 6 and starts reminding us that everyone remembers Nehemiah for his one big accomplishment, the rebuilding of Jerusalem wall. What is the one big thing we are suppose to do doing, are we standing firm on the wall? Craig Stickling had the afternoon service reinforcing Dave's then building on it with how it's all about the Lord, all about God, not about us the covering cloud by day and the fire by night, then Paul's letter to the Romans ending with verse 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God until salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Truly it was good to be in Peoria today, good for the body and good for the soul. After church Diane invited everyone over for soup and games. She was suppose to have ice skating but the ice wasn't good so most of us stayed inside visiting. Below are a few of the family enjoying a good meal.

Andrew bow hunts and shot an 8 point buck today, he took it over to Ruth's where Fedi and Jozsef Davidovics helped him butcher and process the meat. They brought over the tenderloin and Rachel Honegger cut it in medallions, wrapped it in bacon and cooked it to perfection.

We were all having a great time when 3 police cars showed up, someone in the house dialed 911 then hung up quickly. The culprit was Ella!

It wasn't really her fault, Diane had a princess phone up in her loft, Ella thought it wasn't real and was shocked when someone answered. Diane thanked them for coming, she told them she was actually pleased to know they could find her house in the woods.

By time we decided to head home, Mark replied "that was just like a holiday party!"

Safe Arrival

At least one car coming home from Gulf Shores arrived safe during the night. We think it was around 4:00am when Rhoda walked in and the dogs couldn't contain their happiness at seeing her after the 2 week separation. Just to update everyone on the website, the company we pay to host our site is 1 and 1. They are going through each page of the website to make sure it is clean of any virus or malware. Once they have it cleared we hope google chrome and firefox will release it. It is discouraging to think all the work put into building and publishing a website can come to naught by some evil person. So thankful today is our day of rest. Thankful God gave us Sundays!

Work for the Night is Coming

We could have sung that song pretty much all day, working here until the sun went down. But...we got so much done, all the Christmas decorations taken down, all the paddock fences mended, the arena fence fixed where the fire truck backed into it, a huge load of wood split and stacked in the leanto behind the garage for next year, enough wood for this year to maybe make it through January all split and stacked on the front porch, 3 round bales moved into paddocks to prepare for when the mares come home next week, both of the new horses teased and moved into the breeding shed, the foals fed, the car washed so we can go to church in a half way decent car:

and finally Rhoda's mini picked up from Farmington and parked in the big barn. The snow stopped and the rain started while driving home. Mom went to Norris to help Beth while Mike and Diane went to Middle Grove. Below is Diane surrounded by Friesians and one paint, Prissy, at Middle Grove this afternoon.

Mike tried to ice fish without much success.

Ice fishing didn't produce much, the ice was just too thin to stay out long. I'm ready to sit down by the glowing hot wood burner with my favorite new toy, the kindle paper white for the evening. My old kindle broke during our trip to Haiti and I wanted one I could read at night. We really have moved into the 21st century.

Home James

The family vacationers down in Gulf Shores, AL will start their drive home tonight hopefully arriving early Sunday morning. Praying they will have good driving weather and traveling mercies. Speaking of weather, the cold yesterday on the walk was brutal a mere 10 degrees. Funny when it is that cold the artificial hip aches but get those temps up into the 20s and I forget I have an artificial joint. I was sent the picture below and broke out laughing,

Thanks Jenna, ok, I'll stop talking about old creaking joints. Mark and I have a full day planned splitting wood and repairing fences. The temps are suppose to climb into the low 30s, a real heat spell although snow is expected to make its arrival by 1:00pm. We are planning on driving out to Farmington to pick up Rhoda's mini and will want to bring that home before the snow starts.

Ben Stickling's Funeral

I was a little early at the meeting place for our walk this morning. The boys saw me walking up the lane came galloping over to show off.

I'm really going to have to start carrying the camera, the phone just doesn't really work well with action shots. Today we celebrated Ben's graduation, his graduation from this hard life here on earth to his heavenly home with Jesus. After the funeral, Spark made the comment that was the best funeral service he had ever attended. We all agreed. Ben had asked his son Craig to have the service and gave him the verses he wanted read. They were almost all on forgiveness and love. What an amazing earthly story Ben had and what a legacy he left by his 6 children, each one a pillar, not just a pillar in the church but in the world. I will say that was one of the hardest funerals I ever had to sing at. The tears and sniffs were abounding up in the balcony. My wish is to get a copy of the message and share it with each one in our family. Ben was given a gift of 8 years and in those 8 years his family grew by 22. Craig listed off the births, baptisms and marriages his dad was able to see by those extra 8 years. You see Ben was in the same hospital the same time as dad those 8 years ago. Ben was not suppose to live while dad was suppose to. Both families shared the same waiting room for days. Ben received a miracle according to his surgeon while dad got a new body and a new home.

Company for Dinner

Emma was taken along today first to work, then to the bank and finally over to Morton, IL to Hoerr Vet clinic for her ACL surgery except once over the 474 bridge the traffic came to a stand still. An accident had closed the interstate.

Just lots of emergency vehicles and flashing lights were visable until we got close enough to see the problem. A Fed-X truck had jackknifed across both lanes of the Eastbound traffic.

At least we weren't at a dead stand still for hours, there was an off ramp and an on ramp just before and just after the accident. Once she was dropped off it was back to work to pay the first of the month bills just 3 days late. Ralph and Jamie Stone were coming to dinner tonight so a trip to Aldi was next for a few necessary food items then home to clean and prepare the dinner. I decided to make the venison meat loaf that Rachel Honegger served only we had no venison and had to use ground beef. We could have called Rachel Sauder for some, her son Caleb hit a deer on his way to work. He called his parents and told them the body was by the water tower. Rachel and Dave jumped in the truck and saw the deer laying off the side of the road, Rachel asked David to feel it and make sure the body was still warm, she didn't want to be picking up old road kill. When David reached down he discovered the deer was still breathing. Neither of them had any guns with them, the only weapon was David's pocket knife which he promptly used to put the poor thing out of it's misery. Although it isn't easy or clean to finish off a big animal with a small knife. David had blood dripping down his arms, blood on his clothes and lots of hide and blood on the knife. That isn't the end of the story, right about then Caleb calls them back, his keys are locked in the building and he needed his parents to come open the doors. Can you imagine how this wild man looked like driving up to Caleb's work in a pickup with a bloody dead dear in the back, getting out of the pickup with blood on his clothes and arms holding a bloody knife? I was able to pick up Emma around 4:30pm. The sun was a big red ball as it was sinking quickly. The phone camera was taken back out and the picture below snapped as I was driving.

Mom and Ruth went together to Ben Sticklings visitation then mom joined us for dinner. Dinner went well, Ralph and Jamie look great. We caught up on all their news.

Happy Birthday Rhoda

I can still remember hearing the doctor say, "it's a GIRL!" Of course I was sure I was expecting my 4th boy and had nothing cute, NOTHING for her to wear home from the hospital. My best friend Amy stepped in bringing with her dresses, cute little pink dresses. At that point I was sure my new baby daughter was going to wear pink for the rest of her life until someone pointed out that pink doesn't really go with red hair.

Locked, Seriously?

Mark is from Connecticut where not only is every vehicle put away into a garage once put away it is carefully locked up tight. I am from the Midwest where not only do we not lock anything, we leave the keys in the vehicles in case someone would need to borrow it. That can cause problems in a marriage. Rhonda needed to pick up the Bible studies out of my car and mom needed to give Rhoda a check so we took the check with us on our second round of the walk stopping at the big barn to put the check in with the Bible studies except...the car was locked. Mark parked the car in the barn, locked it up and took the keys into the house. Rhonda arrived after I hiked down to the house to get the keys. Once the car was unlocked and the keys put IN the car we headed to mom's where she had prepared breakfast for the walkers. Mom is going to have her knee replaced in March, her knee is now too painful for her to walk with us so we voted that she should stay inside and cook. Not really, she offered. After breakfast TSC was called to make sure they had a bale spear in stock. They not only had one, they offered to take it up to the front and put my name on it. Mark picked it up so I didn't have to drive in to Peoria. I was outside waiting for him to arrive after work, the weanlings were hungry and needed a bale before daylight disappeared. Except Mark had removed the key to the skid steer and taken it to the house which meant another hike down to the house for the key. Finally the spear is taken over to the skid steer and it won't fit. Mark called Mike who knew what we needed to do to make it fit. By this time daylight was gone, good thing the skid steer has lights. Finally the bale was placed in the bale feeder and the weanlings moved into Raven's old paddock but it is dark and they are all afraid of that big round thing in the middle of the paddock. Oh well soon they will discover it is a bale of hay.

Jan 1, 2013

Our new year started off cold but sunny. So good to have the sunshine, it was almost enough to negate the cold cold temperatures until working outside. We needed to move a round bale in for the weanlings and decided to move them today over to Raven's old paddock. The round bale feeder was positioned just so, the gate knocked off the frozen ground and swung open wide waiting and then waiting some more. After hearing a loud snap I knew it wasn't going to happen today. The frozen air caused the bale spear to snap off when Mark was trying to lift the bale. Tomorrow a new one must be purchased, there is no way to move a round bale without that spear. Diane called from Middle Grove to report all 30 horses were out grazing and loafing in the sunshine. She emailed the pictures below.

The picture below is Spark out ice fishing on the big lake at Middle Grove.

Makes me shiver just looking at the picture. Another new year tradition is a big pot some kind of soup, usually vegetable beef barley but today chicken and wild rice soup was on the menu. We enjoyed some for dinner, some taken over to mom's and the rest frozen for later. The rest of the day was spent reading and feeding the fire.

Happy New Year

At church last night it was obvious that Tim must have some kind of listening device either in our house or in the car, he preached exactly what I needed to hear. It was so obvious even Mark made the comment, "that sermon was for YOU!" Just a little history, Sunday I found out some people near and dear to me decided to leave our fellowship and go to another church. I couldn't sleep well that night, my mind distraught then really sad all day Monday. Trying to get the work done without tearing up wasn't easy. I didn't even want to go to to church but thank goodness that wasn't an option around here. Once there the wonderful fellowship of the saints, the singing praises to our Lord, the quiet worship before the sermon and then the Spirit bursting out of Tim's mouth flowing directly into my heart all worked together to fill me again with God's peace. He knows the future, He knows our heartache, He KNOWS! So we can leave 2012 behind and look forward to 2013. Right after church we headed out to the Old School Center in Farmington, IL to help ring in the new year with food fun and fellowship. There were volleyball games going on in one gym, parlor games in the library, card games in the dining room, more games in the game room and a bunch of boys playing video games in the theater. Now I will confess, we left before midnight but there was no sleeping once home, the neighbors were letting off huge fireworks that seemed to go on and on. Mark enjoyed them. Today those people that didn't spend the night in one of the comfortable suites at the Old School Center will be making their way back to play. Tradition in the Meister family is to play all day the first day of the year starting with a football game out in the cold and ending in the theater room for the games on the big screen, movies in the library, volley ball and basketball in the gyms.