Miserable Weather

The weather outside is miserable. A cold damp 36 degrees and spitting snow. We are all so ready for winter to flee and the sun to start warming us along with the earth.
Today Rachel's family is having the vet out to put down their beloved dog Saber making this dreary day even more sad.  We need to move in a new round bale for the boys and the 2 Walker mares as soon as Mark comes home from work today. At least we will have an extra hour of daylight in which to do this job. Gary Unsicker is dropping off 20 bales of hay tomorrow, the family buying Helen want to take back 10-15 bales, we will keep what ever they don't want. Square bales make it easier to feed when horses are in stalls. Ella will be checked this afternoon, she is due in 17 days. We are praying she delivers early as we are leaving in 17 days for sunny warm Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Dinner with the Family

After church the entire Sceggel family met here before heading in to the small town of Hanna City for Rachel's business open house. We were all very impressed with her new studio. Rachel is a very talented photographer and this is exactly what she needed for her business. Dinner was steak, sweet potatoes carmalized onions, sauteed sweet peppers, sauteed mushrooms and for dessert warm apple pie topped with french vanilla ice cream and served with coffee. David and Stephanie announced they are going to be adopting a baby boy in June. The birth mother's due date is June 6th, while Ben and Taunya's due date for her baby boy is June 7th. How wonderful that these little boy cousins will have each other.
The rain just kept falling today leaving the grand children stuck in the house but that didn't seem to bother them. Below the three older ones were watching the rain while Taegan napped upstairs.

Soon they moved to the fire place and started jumping off the ledge.

Jack didn't really enjoy that and ran over to uncle Dave for some snuggle time.

Addyson is learning how to fly in the picture below:

Karin took care of Lily and Rosalie tonight before leaving for her home in Maquon. We are heading to bed after a really wonderful day!

Drenched

The rain kept coming yesterday so much that Mark's pond is now full and gushing out of the overflow.
Karin arrived to help go through the fair supplies and clean the apartment. The vaulters used it during the worst of the winter to practice inside with the vaulting barrel. What was funny were the toys we found scattered from end to end. Looks like those vaulters did more than vault. The equine flu is still spreading. Yesterday little Rosalie came down with it, no runny nose yet but coughing and a fever of 103.4. Lily and Rosalie had to spend the day inside to keep her out of the cold cold rain. Steven arrived to help take temperatures. The boys no longer have a fever so they are on the mend but both are still coughing. Steven ask them both to sit on a single bale with perfect results. Those boys are so smart!  Lily and Rosalie must stay inside all day, the rain is suppose to start back up by noon and continue until 10:00pm.
Our company cancelled yesterday, the weather was too awful for horseback riding even inside.
I'm late heading out to feed almost an hour late but with the time change the horses won't even realize it.

Attached or Not

Sometime in the future I would like to add an attached garage to this old farm house. Diane and Rachel both figured out how this could be done but Mark thinks attached garages are over rated and dangerous. He is working on plans to expand the driveway while redirecting water away from the house but this includes a wall that would interfere with my garage plans. Anyone out there have pros and cons to an attached garage?   Below is a picture of the farm house, in my plans the garage would attach to the side door.

I want just a bit larger than a 2 stall so there would be room for the all important golf cart. Is that too much to wish for? We are not talking this year or even next but why not dream for the future.
The rain is coming down mixed with ice particles this morning during the feeding. The ice skids were not put on before heading out and that was a mistake. More time was spent trying to balance than the actual feeding. Hope it starts warming up soon.

Difference in 3Years

This evening I was working on the website updating a few pictures when I ran across the picture of Valiant's very first show at the Northern IL Horse Fest August, 2009.

Even way back then his canter was uphill and gorgeous. He is now over 16.1 and won't be 4 until July 7th, 2013. The next picture was taken Dec 2012.

We purchased Evan as a weanling, check him out below in the picture taken Feb 2010.

The picture below was taken Nov 2012 when Steven rode Evan in his first dressage clinic.

We are so grateful we have these boys in our lives and on our farm.  What a delight to watch them grow from a Friesian foal to a majestic Friesian stallion.
The afternoon was spent putting the fair supplies away and organizing the apartment. It still needs a good cleaning but I needed to take a break and head to Sams for groceries. We have some people from Minnesota coming to ride the Friesian's tomorrow, Rhoda has been asked to host for this. The snow is melting leaving puddles of water and mud. The trails will probably be impassable but the outdoor arena is fine.

Long Morning

Mark started his van, climbed out of the van, shut the door, then came in to get a scraper for the ice on the windshield. When the ice was scraped off he went to get in the van only to find all the doors locked with the van still running. He actually has 5 sets of keys for this van, one in the van and the other 4 sets hanging in his office at Meisters in Peoria. Not using our thinking caps very well, I drove Mark in to Peoria, picked up the keys and back to the farm. The easier solution would have been for Mark to take my car in, grab the keys and come back but sometimes our minds don't work well before the coffee hits the brain cells. Once back I grabbed my phone stuck it in my pocket and joined Diane on the walk. We were heading back from Rhonda's when here comes Mark walking to meet us. His van was stuck in the snow, he tried to call only to hear my phone ringing from the ground. It had dropped out of my pocket when I bent down to put the ice tracks on my shoes. Mark, Diane and I hiked through the snowy fields to try to push the van out of the crunchy slippery snow but no luck. Mark had to bring the skid steer out, attached a chain and to pull the van out and onto the solid drive and only then was he able to head in to work. We are so ready for spring, snow is great for the fields but sure makes chores hard.

The Sit

Steven came out this afternoon to refresh Evan's memory about  sitting on the hay bales stacked 2 high. This time he was timed and it took exactly 1 minute for Evan to remember and sit and the second time even quicker. Remember Tuesday afternoon was his first time of really sitting and only the second time worked with on this trick. Steven then removed the top layer bale and asked Evan to sit on a single bale. He is so smart he figured this out after only a few minutes. The proof is pictured below:

He was praised and praised, what a smart boy! Valiant was brought in next. Steven wasn't going to do much with him as he is still not feeling well, running a low grade temp of just under 102 but when Steven asked him to back up he figured it out without a fuss.

Another smart boy! These Friesians really want to please making them so easy to train.What a wonderful breed. Not that we didn't already know that but it's nice to not just have beautiful horses but smart horses too.

Sebastian

Below is a video of James Cooler and Sebastian a Raven son out of Velvet. James trained him and used him for his application on the Road to the Horse.
Check out this boy at 4 years age!

Improvement

Valiant is much improved although he did cough once he was back out with Evan. He was so anxious to get out of the stall and into the field. He even had enough energy to want to play with Evan. Ayanna is not improved, she still has a fever and lethargic although not as much nasal discharge as yesterday. Killian is still coughing and Sissy has started coughing. I didn't hear any of the other horses cough at all and spent a good hour outside watching and listening. From now on our spring shots will be given in February. I blame myself for not thinking of this earlier. It's hard to think of spring shots when there is snow on the ground and freezing cold temperatures.

Sick Horses

Yesterday we noticed Valiant cough, then today he just seemed lethargic. He was taken into the stall and his temperature taken.  Sure enough he is sick, he has 103.8, normal of a horse is 101. Then today Evan, Killian, Ayanna, Indy, and Zalena started coughing with Ayanna having a snotty discharge. Evan's temperature was taken he is just slightly above normal at 101.4 but Ayanna is 104.8. Ayanna and Valiant were both given banamine which is a fever reducer and both left inside. I'm praying this flu bug hitting the horses will not cause a problem with any of our pregnant mares. They were all vaccinated 3 weeks ago but who knows what strain this is. Reading up about the equine flu on google it looks like they caught this from the IL Horse Fair.  The disease has a very short incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) of two to six days. BUMMER, what else could go wrong at that fair. We will not be able to have any outside mares come in for breeding for at least 3 weeks once this has run its course. Next year we will get each horse vaccinated 2 weeks before we head down and not let anyone bring their horses next to ours.
Then when leading Evan back to his paddock I see a huge puddle in the foals paddock, they have pulled the plug to their automatic waterer and lost it. After spending some time digging around in the mud puddle to find the plug getting soaked and frozen I gave up, went inside and brought out a couple of quart sized freezer bags which were stuffed in the empty hole. This isn't much of a fix, just may hold enough water for them to drink until we can come up with a plug. Mike was sent a text to see if we have any extra. The foals were given a couple of buckets of water to hold them off.
None of the mares were covered today, I don't want to expose Lily and Rosalie to what ever Valiant has.
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Drifts

The snow was coming down so hard last night it took us 40 minutes to get to choir but by the time we left the plows had been out on the major roads and it only took us 20 minutes to get home. Below are a few pictures taken this morning coming back from the walk. The first is looking down the driveway to mom's.

Some of the drifts are 3 feet deep. The next picture is looking at the back yard of the farm house:

Today is stay at home and clean day and if I have enough energy once this house is clean and organized I may head over to the apartment and start organizing and putting away the Fair supplies. That is a big if! Now that vaulting is over for a few months the apartment needs a deep cleaning. We have guests coming to stay March 13th and leaving on the 15th. They are driving in from Colorado to pick up Helen, will stay a day then take off early on the 15th. 
Either this afternoon or tomorrow morning we will need to move in 2 bales for the middle paddock, one for Jenis' paddock and one for the boys.  The walker mares in the breeding shed paddock need to be teased, it is 22 days since Sissy's last cover and 19 since Star's last cover. If they don't come in this week I'll schedule Dr. Hoerr to come out and sonagram them. We also need to have Killian's wolf teeth pulled and his coggins drawn before he is hauled to Emily's for training.

Sit Evan Sit

We are getting more snow but that didn't stop Eva Jean and I from showing up at work today and work we did. We were swamped with studies, so many we were only able to get the mail opened and entered. Eva Jean ended up taking home the bulk of the work. She will need to apply the labels, separate the studies, stuff the studies and deliver them to the graders. Mark needed the car and was willing to deliver the Bibles to Skyline in order to have it. Philip gave me a ride home. As we were pulling in Steven called to report Jenis had climbed through the gate pretty much demolishing it and was standing over with the boys. Sure enough she is in season and covered by Evan. Then as Steven was putting Evan in the stall for trick training Ayanna and Lily both came up to show. Evan was put in the stall, Lily brought right outside the gate with Rosalie staying in the paddock and Valiant brought over. That was 2 successful covers. Steven then did some sit training with Evan. It took a while for to achieve the first successful sit but when he sat he was willing to stay, it must be comfortable for him. The picture below was the second and last time he was asked to sit on the hay bales. I didn't have my camera so used Steven's cell phone to take the picture.

What a good boy, he again sat quietly until asked to move. Ayanna was taken into the paddock next to the stall barn and Evan brought out and introduced to her.  We weren't sure if Ayanna would stand as she is a maiden and wanted plenty of room for him to get away if she didn't but she stood almost perfect. That was 3 successful covers in the matter of a couple of hours. 

Sunday's Vaulting Performance

Finally, finally the 2 vaulting videos and 2 Friesian videos of the 2013 IL Horse Fair are loaded and view-able. All of the videos are high definition. I borrowed a spool of black thread from mom for the fair and needed to return it tonight but when I walked out the door there were 5 horses galloping around the yard. The gate to the middle paddock was again open. The horses were all bribed into the indoor arena and the gate shut, the thread taken over to mom's and only then did I start hunting down halters and lead ropes to start putting them away. Ribbon was first and when the gate was shut I realized exactly how the horses are getting out. The mud has kept the gate far enough away from the post that the chain can't reach all the way around it. Probably Killian has learned how to lift the single chain out of the loop. This evening a rope was tied twice around the gate and post then knotted securely. That should keep them in. One at a time they were put away, each time slopping through the mud at the gate in the pitch dark. I'm ready to sit down with a good book.

Friesian Demo Sunday Performance

Below is the Sunday performance of the Horsemeister Friesians starring Karin and the evil Queen of Maquon, Emily as the princess bride the Lady of the Lake, Mitchel as the prince, and Rhoda and Mikayla as the red headed attendants. This video can be viewed in high definition.

The Pirates of Horsemeister

Below is the Saturday performance of the Horsemeister Pirates at the 2013 IL Horse Fair.

Musings on the Fair

The following is not to bad mouth the IL Horse Fair, in the past this fair has drawn thousands and tens of thousands of people all interested in seeing the different breeds of horses and the opportunity to watch and learn from many different clinicians. This year was actually a disaster from the time we tried to make sure we were entered until the time we left the fair. We had to ask where to send the entry fee, no release forms were given to us until we emailed numerous people asking for them. Upon arriving we were given our stall assignments, decorated them only to have someone come a day later to explain we were given the wrong stalls. Luckily the lady who's stall we were given was more than willing to share our feed stall instead of making us take down decorations and move Ribbon. There was a program but the schedules on the program meant nothing. We were given our performance times but that actually meant nothing either.  At times the horses were all tacked up with their fancy costumes the riders mounted only to be told minutes before entering the coliseum to go back to the stall and wait for a couple of hours. Trying to let people know when we were performing was a nightmare. There were people driving down from Peoria and the surrounding communities that wanted to watch the Horsemeister Friesians and the Horsemeister Pirates but each time they were sent a text with the time, that time slot would change. There were not very many different breeds of horses, mostly stock, paint or gaited, come to find out the owners of the different breeds were not contacted in time to enter the fair. We were missing the Andalusians, Fjords, Haflingers, Paso Finos, Thoroughbreds, Clydesdale  Bashker Curleys, Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walkers, plus many others. The fair was under new management and change was to be expected but surly someone would know to invite the owners of the horses to a horse fair! In the past each year the winner of the breed and sport demo would receive a free entry fee for the next year horse fair but this year we won and got a ribbon, a piece of paper stating we were the winner and 2 small boxes of electrolites (which we have never needed to use).  That sounds like sour grapes on our part, it looks like we weren't grateful to win.  Even with all of the problems, there was much to be thankful for. Our boys got lots of experience riding around the fairgrounds with other horses even mares in season and didn't put a hoof wrong. They performed flawlessly even though there wasn't a crowd to perform in front of. Ribbon did exceptionally well for the vaulters. I'll be working on the videos today, the Saturday Friesian performance is now up, it can be watched in high definition if desired. When the rest of the videos are finished and published they will be uploaded, check out the audience, or lack of audience in the Sunday performance.

First Place!

We arrived home to find Killian running around outside the pasture frantic to get back in. We found a gate open but don't know how or why it was left open. Thankfully the other horses were all still in.
A bunch of us stopped at Steak and Shake on the way home and had a really great time hashing over the highs and lows of this fair. More on the fair tomorrow as I am so ready to climb into my own bed! But first a few pictures.

The Friesians won first place in the breed and sport demo. Our prize was a ribbon for each horse and some electrolytes.
David Davis did a trick training clinic with Evan right outside our stalls. Steven has many new tricks to work on with the boys.  

The vaulters did excellent, even better than yesterday. 

Tomorrow more will be recorded and hopefully a video made.

Vaulting Video

The Watson family posted the video below of those fantastic Horsemeister Pirates. Watch and enjoy the Saturday performance of these very talented kids and Ribbon the Big Black Pearl.

Ninjas

We had an amazing day. The horses were very well behaved from early morning until we were ready to leave the fair. Ribbon was the first horse in use today. She was entered in the Percheron halter class at 9:00am. We were actually shocked that she was the shortest horse in the class.

She may have been the shortest but she was by far the most hefty! When we were walking back to the livestock arena we felt like someone was staring at us from above. Sure enough we looked up and this hawk was giving us the evil eye.

It had flown into our barn and couldn't figure out how to get out. Ribbon was also entered in the draft walk, trot, canter class at 11:00am.
Her walk canter departs were perfect on both leads. Even her trot was a free open movement, no shuffle for her.

We started the popcorn and cotton candy and were pretty much swamped with customers. Below Beth has been roped into making the cotton candy but it looks like she has plenty of help.

Steven was the unsung hero of the day. He kept the hay bags full, the water buckets full and the stalls cleaned out.

 He got the boys under saddle, taught them the tricks then sent them into the arena with the performers. Rhoda was getting Eliza ready for the show when a group of people came through, saw the Friesians and stopped. A lady exclaims, "the Friesians are here, wait until my husband comes, he has only seen them in magazines, it has always been his dream to see a Friesian in the flesh." just then the husband arrives, walks up to Eliza touches her and says, "it happened!"
Mikayla spent quite a while getting Emily ready to be the Princess bride for the Friesian demo.

That turned out just about perfect. The crowd roared at the ending. Karin had Lucas with a horse hat and Moses in his mouse ears run into the arena as the stallions exited. Moses jumped into the sled and Lucas pulled him out with Moses raising his hands just like Emily did when she was being dragged into the arena. The video will be posted once we are home from the fair. After the demo the horses posed outside the coliseum for a photo session. It seemed about everyone on the fairgrounds pulled out their camera right about then.

 Below is the King and Queen of the Friesian demo.

 The Evil Queen of Maquon showed her more tender side helping Moses the mouse and Lucas the pulling horse up onto to Jenis for a picture.

 By the time we arrived back at the stall there was so many people milling around to congratulate the performers on a fantastic performance!
We had to wait a couple of hours to watch the vaulters perform their routine. It was video taped but I had to steal Julie's picture of the Horsemeister Pirates.

A guy saw the Horsemeister pirates lining up for a picture and says, "look at the ninjas. The lady he was with exclaims, "those aren't ninjas they are clearly pirates!"
We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner then came back to the hotel to hash over the day.

IL Horse Fair Friday

We had a great day, the horses were wonderful and we had lots of help. We didn't do a lot of selling of popcorn and cotton candy but sure gave a lot away.
Below is Eliza checking out some of the giveaways.

Eliza and Rhoda in the warm up arena.

 

She did amazingly well today. A funny story about Steven Marchal and Evan. They were in the warm up arena when a girl on a paint mare came up right next to them, stopped and wanted to chat. She is asking Steven all kinds of questions about Evan and then says, "oh my mare is in season right now, will that bother him?" Duh!!! but actually Evan was very well behaved just standing there waiting quietly for Steven to give him the next command.

The pictures below were taken of the parade of breeds. Left to right is Mikayla on Zalena, Rhoda on Eliza and Mitchel on Jenis.

Mitchel on Jenis racing Mikayla on Zalena. By the way Jenis won.

A back view of Emily on Evan, Mikayla on Zalena, Mitchel on Jenis and Rhoda on Eliza. 

Just out of the picture is Steven Marchal with Valiant. Those boys were so well behaved in this arena full of horses.

Steven ran through all ofValiants tricks and Valiant was absolutly perfect.

Below Emily has asked Evan to sit. Those boys were real crowd pleasers.

                                                      Evan and Emily ready to ride.

 The stallions were so well behaved.

Below is Becca on Ribbon during the parade of breeds.

The announcer forgot to call on the vaulters, he announced that was it and the crowd started yelling what about the vaulting. Karin lead Ribbon around while Becca showed the audiance what vaulting was all about.

We closed up for the day and went to Applebees for dinner. A bunch of the group went back to the fair for the rodeo but I came back to the hotel to play catch up and found the bottom half of the laptop cord missing. It must have been left at the fair and the laptop's battery does not hold a charge long.