Day to day operation of a Friesian breeding farm standing 2 Friesian stallions. We have 6-10 foals each year out of Purebred Friesian mares, Andalusian mares, Thoroughbred mares and Friesian sport mares
by Judy Sceggel
309-208-3840
www.horsemeister.com
Karin, Sarah Reinhard and I started bathing horses at 8:00 am scrubbing and cleaning Lola and Ella's white legs and white spots. After an hour using shampoo and baking soda we quit, loaded up the horses going which were Jenis, Indy, Lola, Ella and the 2 colts into the big trailer. We arrived at the Goose Ranch around 9:40 and headed straight to the Tee Pee Village. When we opened the back of the trailer we were disappointed to see someone had manured and Lola now had some new green spots on her very white legs.
The horses were taken right to the newly built corral and it didn't take long for them to attract the Herman grand children. These horses make the best baby sitters. The girls were happy just to be sitting on them while the adults frantically worked cleaning up any construction mess and getting the village ready for the grand revealing.
Below are Sarah and Hannah Reinhard getting into their Indian costumes. They were the riders for the Indian ponies, Lola and Ella.
The couple below were the couple to be surprised with the grand Revealing. They rode the Friesians while their 2 children were to ride double with Sarah and Hannah on Lola and Ella.
Jenis and Indy were led down to the village by Nate and Justin. They were put in the corral after the couple dismounted and promptly walked right through the lead rope taking down part of the fence. Those 2 mares were brought back up to where the rest of the group were waiting giving the parents of the couple a perfect ride down to the village when we were finally called.
The rest of the filming went well. Everyone was very impressed with the tee pees, the fire pits, the archery range. I'm not posting any pictures of the inside of the tee pees. If you want to see how amazing these were you will have to watch the show. It is suppose to be aired in the spring.
As soon as we got back from Canton Mark and I needed to move a round bale in for Killian and Hadassah and unhook the truck from the trailer. We were almost finished with that when Will and Jenni Moser arrived to pick up Isabella and her colt. They brought along Isabella's full brother and I regret not getting a picture of that boy, he is HUGE! He looks so much like his daddy, Raven. After they left Mark got the mower off the Kubota and the scraper attached and did a quick run through on the driveways. We had a little rain here so it was perfect timing.
Emily's mom joined us on the walk Friday morning. Emily picked Marie up late Thursday night so she spent the night at the apartment and left after the walk. Friday was the day to face the crowds at grand opening of Farm n Fleet in Morton. Emily shopped for electric fence supplies while I shopped for the big stuff. By the time we got out of there I dropped at bit more than $1200.00 but... it was so worth it. The biggest purchase was the complete round pen of 15 corral panels each 12 feet long and the 4 ft gate. Hog panels were also on sale for $19.99 each. Those have a unique use around here. They are wrapped around a round bale and used as a bale feeder. It works for all the horses except the Percherons. We needed a new batch as Ribbon has ruined just about every one we have here. We could have spent hours in that store but the next job on the list was the dreaded necessary reconcile the check book day at Diane's office entering every thing spent or deposited in Quick Books and paying the credit card bill figuring out what purchase goes in what category for the tax man. I am not an accountant and not very careful with my records or hand writing which makes this job a lot harder than it should be. Every time we finish this job each month Diane has me convinced to do a lot better and each time I resolve to do so but don't. This month I WILL! (she says I say that every month) As soon as I was released from that torture it was time to get a horse fix in before the next dreaded job, grocery shopping.
Will and Jenni's mare will be picked up later today and I wanted to get a few pictures of her Evan son before they leave. They were turned out in the outdoor arena and he showed off big time.
He has so much fun galloping around the arena. Those pictures were downloaded then off to Walmart for $118.00 worth of food to fill the fridge and freezer. And they say we don't have inflation.
Below are Rhoda and Emily getting Indy and Jenis ready for the PRC show. Friday was the last scheduled show and even though Emily is not suppose to use her arm she couldn't resist taking Jenis as she can be ridden with 1 hand.
Before they left for the evening we decided to try to collect Killian as Rhoda had all of the supplies to check the semen under the microscope. Killian will not use an AV so we decided to try using a obstetrical sleeve as a condom, that actually worked but we were having trouble with the microscope. We could see swimmers but were having trouble focusing for a count so decided to collect Evan's and compare. Well that wasn't such a good idea. We were using Ella as a jump mare. She is in season and willing to stand but we didn't want to breed her until October or November but wouldn't you know the condom broke. Whoops accidents happen, maybe she won't get pregnant. We were not able to compare and still have no idea if Killian should be used as a stud. I guess we really will have to wait until next year and hire Dr. Hoerr for that job.
I drove separate to the show as I can only take pictures when the sun is still shining. The show didn't start until 6:30 pm so I knew I wouldn't be able to see many of their classes but the one I was able to see Jenis came in first and Indy came in second. Below are a few pictures of the girls at the show.
There was one of Raven's offspring there competing for the first time. A 6 year old big gelding out of a Saddlebred mare. He is Indy's half brother so the 3 posed for a picture.
Raven sure stamped his looks on his children. That boy looks nothing like his mother. He is probably 16.2 or bigger and big boned. His dam was a small slight mare.
There are a bunch more show pictures of some of the other horses there showing and those are placed on the Horsemeister Inc Facebook page.
Bella was teased early today and screamed at Evan so we will mark her out. Diane and I were the only workers today at Berean but the work load was light. We finished at 11:00 am then off I went to my other job. Today I arranged to drive to a farm past Lewiston to pick up a load of square bales. The farmer was willing to sell 50 bales of second cutting 60-70 pound square bales of grass/alfalfa. He only had 50 left but when I saw the bales I was wishing I'd called sooner. He had already sold all of his 3rd cutting before I arrived. When I arrived home, the feed stall needed to be cleaned out and pallets put down. I only got 20 of the bales unloaded when Mark arrived home and helped with the last 30. Even he was impressed with these bales.
Emily was working Hadassah when I was out driving and she had already ridden Killian. She was so thrilled to be back on that boy. She is not suppose to ride for another 3 weeks with her broken arm but she says that Killian goes off her legs and the arm really isn't needed. I knew there was no way she would stay off a horse for 3 months! She tacked up Jenis and Indy and took her 6 year old brother Timothy on the 'death trails'. She was pretty thrilled when they arrived home safe. She said, "Indy is like a dog, following and coming when called making her safe for a 6 year old."
After the bales were done Mark wanted to work on putting the plywood up over the insulation and needed help with the measuring, lifting and holding it in place until he could get a few screws in. That took most of the evening. I was going to head to Morton, IL to the grand opening of Farm n Fleet but the farmer I got the hay from was there in the morning and said it was a mad house. The lines stretched for blocks, the parking lot was so full people parked at Walmart and walked over. I must go tomorrow as Saturday we are booked at the Goose Ranch and the corral panels are only on sale until Saturday.
The only decision possible was made late last night for Bonnie. It was time to let her rest from her pain and suffering. Bonnie was given the only humane gift left for us to give her, a quiet death and a grave out where she loved to live.
My brother John is a neighbor to the Middle Grove farm and he said he knew exactly which lighting bolt hit the horses, the flash of light and crash of thunder was so huge the vibration of sound waves actually knocked a deer head off his wall. I guess we need to be grateful our only loss was Cheyenne and Bonnie.
After the walk Bella was teased and covered, then Emily, her brother Timothy and I drove to Middle Grove to drop off Promise and Rhiannon and pick up Indy, Ella and Titan, Ella's colt. We had a long walk, the horses were at the farthest point again but that made Timothy happy, he got to ride Indy all the way back to the trailer.
When we got the horses home, Indy was given a bath and Ella's colt a haltering, tying lesson. He was groomed then taken to the outdoor arena for a short video of his fantastic movement and a few pictures. Check out how high this boy gets off the ground and this was just the trot!
We had just finished with the video when the straw arrived. The farmer had a bale of hay on his truck to show us, it was very nice hay but he wanted $7.50 for the bale. He has 600 of these bales and plenty of barn room to keep it stored so is hoping to sell it this winter to a boarding barn.
Mark, Mom, Timothy and I drove to Culver's to meet Rhoda for dinner before church. Emily has class tonight so after church Rhoda was taking Timothy with her until Emily got done. Emily's mom is traveling to Lester, Iowa.
We had a visitor from Roanoke tonight and the lesson was on Knowing God! We can sum the entire evening up with Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of this whole Matter. Fear God; Keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man.
Straw has been in short supply this year, the winter wheat crop was pretty much destroyed by the hard winter consequently if I could find straw it is expensive. Straw is used to bed the stalls for the births. It is really important when the weather is cold, it is a good insulator helping keep the foal warm. We have our first 2015 foal due in January and all predictions are for a cold snowy hard winter and we only have 1 bale of straw left. Thankfully I found some good bright bales of wheat straw in Princeville and the farmer is going to deliver 25 bales tomorrow around 1:00 pm, price is $5.00 per bale delivered. Who would have thought there would be a day we would spend $5.00 for STRAW!
We had a very busy day at Berean keeping 8 volunteers busy for hours. We have the best volunteers ever! Emily and I were the last to leave finishing up at 2:00 pm then delivering 140 Bibles to the post office.
Karin drove to Middle Grove to check on Bonnie. Bonnie was always with Cheyenne and when Cheyenne was killed by a lightning strike we were surprised Bonnie survived. Karin noticed she was acting weird but thought she was grieving. Well Sunday we finally realized Bonnie too had been struck by lightning. It didn't kill her but it sure caused some damage to her. She was struggling to keep up with the herd and falling over unexpectedly. Karin reported she is eating and drinking fine but one side of her face is paralyzed. I guess we are going to have another special needs pony. We were expecting to have to put her down but she has improved a bit since yesterday. Poor pitiful pony. She was always such a fancy fun pony to ride, moving like an Andalusian.
I wonder if she will be able to recover.
Mark came home a little early and got some of the mowing done before we had to leave for choir. Choir tonight was well attended. We have all new songs this year and got to work on 7 of them tonight. One we worked on is a goosebump song. It is so beautiful we all got goosebumps.
At 6:15 am we heard a crack of thunder but the rain hadn't started yet giving me just enough time to get Bella's stall cleaned and the stalled horses fed and watered. The other horses were all skipped as the cold rain started splattering against my exposed face. And to think this is only the middle of September. The cold wet 42 degrees is hard to take when our usual high would be 80 degrees. The rain stopped in time for the walk. Diane, Mom and I started walking and didn't even get one round done before the rain started up again so instead of finishing the walk in the rain we stopped at mom's and she cooked a great breakfast for us with her farm fresh brown eggs, crispy bacon, rye toast fresh squeezed orange juice and of course coffee.
Today was a good day to work inside on laundry and read while waiting for the machines. We had a break in the rain long enough to get the other horses fed their grain around 11:00. That break didn't last more than a few minutes before the sound of rain drops hitting the metal roof could be heard again.
Finally this evening the storm moved on and the sun came out. Bella and her colt were thrilled to get out of the stall. She was taken over to Evan teased and covered then left in a paddock with hay and grain for the night. She showed off her beautiful movement. The video was taken a couple years ago but she hasn't lost her pizzazz.
We had another wonderful Sunday. Mike Reiker started preaching for the first service then started having problems with his eyes so Tim Funk filled in for him with the theme, "what will we do with Jesus?"
Tim Roecker had the afternoon service. We only had a couple of hours home before leaving for the fellowship hall for the annual all church picnic. In those few hours Isabella was teased and covered by Evan and the horses fed.
The picnic was great,
Below is one of the check in lines
There were 4 food lines that stretched way back
The food was worth waiting in the long lines. The young group from Peoria going by the name All For ONE did a wonderful job putting this picnic together.
It was very well attended by young and old. A special thanks to the young group for hosting.
We had a wonderful day, it was sunny and mild. At 2:00 pm the thermometer reached 59 degrees but it felt warm as long as we were in the sun. Mark and Nick put in a long day removing the old siding and getting the insulation put in. After lunch they also put a few hours in on the fence line.
Twilight got picked up today for her new home in Indiana. I was proud of her, she led quietly over to the trailer and figured out how to get in even though there was a big step up. The new owners have an appaloosa mare they want to bring next April to breed to Valiant.
The barn was cleaned up and prepared for the next mare coming in and she arrived just a couple hours after I finished. Isabella owned by Jenni and Will Moser was brought over to breed to Evan. She has a very regal 3/4 Friesian colt by her side by Evan that sold within a couple weeks of birth. Karin was called to see if she would come help get Bella covered. She arrived to find Will was handling the colt just fine. After Evan got the job done Isabella and her colt were stalled. Karin took some of Joan's children over to Ruth's to ride Larry and Paris. She posted a few short videos of them enjoying the horses on Facebook but I can't seem to share them here. I think this must be the first time Mackinson and Berlica rode a horse.
I spent a few hours weeding the arena, some of the time using those very limited bendovers and some of the time crawling. Funny I hated weeding the garden when we were growing up and don't weed the garden now but don't mind at all working in the arena. The sun was shining warmly on the sand making me feel I was in Gulf Shores.
Speaking of Gulf Shores, Rachel, David, Jessica Sauder, Anni Davidovics and my Sarah took off yesterday afternoon driving through the night to Rachel and David's new condo. They will spend a couple days tearing out one of the bathrooms and replacing it with a brand new bathroom. She posted a few pictures of the work.
Rachel took some time this evening to stop work and take some beautiful pictures of the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.
Sue the lady that bought Piper from us a few years back is having health problems and sold Piper to a lady in Alabama. Sue sent an email writing: Hi Judy, I have the horse trailer I bought for piper I am selling if you know anyone looking for one. It is a 2 horse straight load 7 ft tall extra wide extra long with dressing room.
will need tires soon but was stripped and repainted 2 yrs ago. just put new crank on it. asking $2900.00 or best offer.
Sue sent these pictures:
This is a great buy for anyone with a Friesian or a big warmblood they want to show, the tack area has a nice sized dressing room with plenty of space for all the show equipment.
If interested in this trailer please contact Sue directly at sue.martin@mchsi.com
