Rocky Rocks

Rachel Sauder sent over new pictures and a video of her month old Valiant colt. Check out the video, I think she did a great job showing him off thanks to her son Luke.

She also did a really nice job on his pictures.

Rocky is registered with Friesian Heritage Horse as Valiant's Spirit. He is for sale for only $3000.00. He is a typical Valiant foal very friendly but with lots of Friesian Presence! He can be reserved now with a $500.00 deposit then balance due at weaning. This boy will excel in the show ring if desired but will also make a really nice family horse. He loves people and has excellent conformation.

All 6

We had all 6 of our grand children visit today. Braelyn and Taegan arrived first and got to go on our walk. After the walk Emily took Braelyn on the golf cart with her while she sprayed weeds around the pasture and the outdoor arena. Taunya arrived with her 3 and soon there were 4 playing together nicely.

Notice all the bandages, that is vet wrap. We had fun wrapping up arms and legs. 

Jace spent most of his time here sleeping or eating. He sure is a good baby.

Rhoda got here just in time to take them for a ride on Paris. Of course she needed a good groom first.

 After the ride we took the golf cart over to the playground. They had a good time on the tramp.

Taunya's kids were all around so we decided to get a group shot except Brealyn saw them all gathered around Jace and joined right in.

Taegan needed a nap so she was taken back and put to bed. The girls decided to drive in to East Peoria for Lunch. Emily drove to Bloomington to pick up her sister Meagan and 2 of Meagan's friends.  I drove to Middle Grove, met Karin who got her 4 wheeler and rounded up the 3 horses we need back this weekend. Jenis, Zalena and Mika were brought back and put in the cabin field with Bunni, Missy and Cookie. David and Stephanie brought Israel over for us to watch for a few hours tonight. I only got one picture of him while grandpa mark was holding him.

He was very good all evening. Mark brought home a concrete saw and worked on the patio most of the evening.

Anni's Heart

My niece Anni Davidovics had all of her wisdom teeth removed. Ruth her mother took a video tape of her when she was taking her home. This video is hilarious but shows Anni's heart. LOVE YOU ANNI

 

Thank's to Rebekah for posting this for all of us to enjoy.

900 Pounds

Darcy loves to come along on the cart each day, it doesn't matter where we are going she just wants to go. This morning it was up to feed the horses and I wasn't quite quick enough for her. Below she is telling me to get moving.

The camera was along so a few pictures were taken of the 24 hour old foals. Below is Sangria's filly taking a nap in the field.

Both foals had a good time trying out their long legs after spending the night in the stall. Sally's colt was leaning up against her too tuckered out to lay down.

It didn't take long for him to flop down too.

By 10:00am it was just too hot outside to leave them in the sun and they were brought back inside. After the horses were fed and stalls cleaned I took a trip to my favorite store TSC. Just walking into the place is enjoyable, I could just stand there breathing in deep breaths smelling the sweet grains and leather.
I stuffed this little Toyota Matrix car with 500 pounds of grain and 400 pounds of bedding and then went to Aldi to stuff groceries into the already stuffed car. Once home the groceries were unloaded but the 900 pounds of grain and bedding were left in the car. When Rhoda and Emily got home from school they unloaded it all, cleaned the stalls again, fed and watered the horses.
After supper Mark and Emily worked on fencing until it was too dark to see. I had to jump in the cart to get the camera the sun was a big red ball hanging low in the sky. By the time I got back out it was almost down.

Pictures just didn't do it justice. The real thing was such a bright red glowing ball sinking below the tree line. There is still no rain in sight, just day after day of hot sunny dry weather.

Cyndi's Colt For Sale in MN

Cyndi sold us a half Friesian mare named Xena years ago. This year she has a beautiful half Friesian colt for sale. Check him out and contract Cyndi directly if you are interested in him. This is what she writes: 

He is huge and gorgeous! He has a very upright neck with a wonderful arch and a beautiful head! Long legs with incredible movement! He has a wonderful running walk as well as action! He is out of a gorgeous 16.1 Registered Tennessee Walker mare that has a awesome natural gait and the incredible Friesian stallion Douwke G Ster. F.P.F.S registered 17 hh FBHR Sanctioned stallion of Excalibur Breeding Center. He is shedding out black and is going to make some a dream horse! He is for sale at only $4500.00! He can be registered with the Friesian blood horse registry.  He is located in Minnesota, 45 miles north of Minneapolis, I am willing to haul him up to four hours from here to meet someone!  Call Cyndi at 763-528-8587

Check him out in the video below.

And here is another bit longer video posted below:

Up Before Breakfast

I was suppose to leave this morning just a little after 6:00am to pick up my grandson Israel but there were 2 mares with foals in stalls that must be taken care of before heading out. This meant getting out to the barn before daylight. Since there would be no time to clean stalls the mares and foals were put outside into the middle paddock that is opened to the pond pasture. It isn't easy taking them out, the foals were afraid to step out of the stall so they must be physically pushed while the mare follows. The mare is sure everything outside is going to attack and circles anxiously getting in the way until finally the paddock is reached. Both mares went straight to the salt block but the foals were busy exploring their new legs by running around. The mare would take a quick lick then run after her baby. Pretty funny to watch. Just after 6:00am a text came through cancelling the morning babysitting. Now I'll have time to clean and prepare the stalls for when the mares must be brought back inside during the heat of the day.
A message came through from Steven, Easter Lilly was in her first class and did great.

In the picture above they were testing her with all the toys used, blowing bubbles around her head, placing a hula hoop around her neck and bouncing a ball on her. What a good girl!

It's a Boy, It's a Girl

A big surprise was waiting for me this morning. Sally had a colt by Evan during the early morning today and Sangria had a filly by Valiant around 7:00 am. Below is Sally's colt:

He is gorgeous! Pitch black with lots of thick curly hair. Evan sure throws the hair. This boy was already dry and had nursed when we found him. We estimate he was probably born around 2:00am as when I checked on her late last night there was no sign of labor. Sangria had just given birth when I arrived to check the mares early this morning.

She was busy cleaning this big  filly off. The filly had not yet nursed.

We can't wait to see how she matures. She has a very feminine face. Better pictures will be taken a bit later today. We wanted her in a stall to iodine the cord and make sure she nursed. I held her on my lap on the golf cart while Emily drove over from the cabin field to the barn. That works well for transporting newborns usually but this filly is so big it was a struggle to keep her legs off the ground. 

The filly has now nursed and the cord has been cared for so finally it was time to make us breakfast. 

After breakfast Sally and her colt were taken over, stalled and the colt's umbilical cord iodine'd.

Boots & Helmets

I had to quit the walk early today to say good by to Sarah. She is now on her way to Florida for a couple of weeks. The mail also had to be picked up at the Peoria post office instead of TEMCO as Ellen is out of town. That sounds so easy, just drive down to State street except the entire downtown seems to be under construction. What a mess! We actually had a light day today giving us time to get some UPSing done plus the studies and letters all processed.

Rhoda and Emily got home from ICC and decided to work the boys. They haven't been worked the last few weeks because of the extreme heat and both boys were full of energy. Below are a few of the favorite shots of the day. Valiant was worked first, below he could hardly contain himself walking to the outdoor arena.

 Once Rhoda let him loose, off he went bucking and leaping into the air.

 Check out how far off the ground all 4 hooves are in the picture below. This boy can JUMP!

 Emily and Valiant

 Rhoda and Valiant. Today they worked on walk canter departs with good success.

 Emily and Valiant working on the canter

 Valiant was asked to bow and lay down. Emily is prepared just in case he decides to roll once down.

 Evan was next. Below Emily has asked for a canter from Evan.

 Emily and Evan cantering

Rhoda and Evan working through his tricks.

 Emily and Evan

 Evan sniffing Rhoda's toes.

The reason this was titled boots and helmets is because every time these girls work the boys and pictures are posted we get admonished about no boots and no helmets. Sure enough as soon as the pictures were up on facebook the comments started coming in. Should I apologize for setting such a bad example for the world? Once the boys were put away the girls took off for the evening. They are doing something for ICC and will get extra credit by going.

Steven Marchal called to give an update on Ella pony and Easter Lilly. They all love Ella and would love to keep her. Steven had to stress they can ONLY have her through April, she must be returned by May.
Steven sent the picture below of Ella working.

They were also pleased with Easter Lilly but haven't used her yet for lessons. 

Mark finished week whacking around the pond tonight. With no rain falling for such a long time the only thing growing are the weeds.

Labor Day Fun

The heat spell broke during the night, the morning was a cool  refreshing 72 degrees. Mark could hardly wait to fire up his fancy weed whacker and start clearing the new fenceline. We are just about ready to start stringing wire. Emma is still in and was covered today. She should have been out. I'll probably have to haul her in for a sonagram to find out what is going on with her cycle. We were out of dog food which meant a quick trip to Sams. Steven Marchal called as I was heading home to say he was on the way to pick up Ella at Middle Grove then EasterLilly here. Sarah and Rhoda took a group out to Middle Grove for a trail ride. As soon as Steven had the horses loaded and was on his way, I was on my way to Middle Grove arriving just in time for a group photo.

The horses used today from left to right is: Ribbon, Pandora, Zalena, Indy, Jenis, Marika, Missy and Cookie. After posing for a quick picture they were off:

In the picture above the horses are coming down the hill to the lake crossing. The picture below is zoomed in as far as the camera would zoom. This land is just so big.

I decided to hike over to find the rest of the herd, they were busy eating the waist high grass and amazingly even after our lack of rain most of it is still green.

 Hiking back I saw Mike and Diane heading in on the pontoon boat.

 I met them down at the dock and climbed aboard for a short ride. We decided to take the 4 wheelers over to the herd, check them over and spray them down with fly spray. They were all relaxing under a few trees.

What a great place this is for horses. I needed to get back for company, Phil and Anna with their 2 daughters arrived to grill hamburgers.  Phil took Braelyn fishing

but the horses in the cabin field were out of hay so Mark took Taegan with him to help run the skid steer.

Anna's brother Tony and his wife Sarah arrived with their daughter Nora who is just 10 days younger than Taegan. Braelyn had fun pushing them on the swing after supper.

We enjoyed dinner but after spending the entire day outside playing and working we are more than ready for bed.

A Big Crowd

We had a blessed day in church. Dave Obergfel spoke in the morning and Craig Stickling in the afternoon. So thankful we get to immerse ourselves in the scriptures twice on Sundays. Mark and I brought Israel home with us so David and Stephanie could go to a wedding. Rhoda, Sarah, Shaun, Philip, Anna, Braelyn and Taegan joined us for dinner then all headed over to the playground where a big crowd had gathered to play volleyball. There were a lot of teams rotating in and out. The heat is still here but suppose to break tomorrow. Steven Marchal came up from his job at Therapeutic Horsemanship to check out Easter Lilly. That program had just retired their 29 year old Percheron gelding and they really need a quiet draft horse for some of their bigger riders. Check them out by clicking on the link below:
http://www.thstl.org/
After Steven worked with EasterLilly he feels she is exactly what they need. He is taking her there for 2 months. If she works out for them she will stay, if not she will be brought back to us. She leaves tomorrow.