Ribbon

The story of how we ended up with Ribbon is kind of a long one but here goes. Our girls were into vaulting and we were leasing Moose a big old quarter horse gelding from a lady named Charlene at Bridlewood. In fact Moose was the reason we actually got into Friesians. Rhoda was 9 years old and this was her first year to vault at Springfield. Moose was stabled right next to a big beautiful Friesian gelding. Now we had seen Friesians before on the movie LadyHawk but never one in person. This big boy had his head stuck out of the stall and just wanted love from everyone. When we got ready to head to the hotel, Charlene asked, "are you going to lock Moose's stall?" then said "why someone could just come steal him." We all kind of chuckled at that and told her if someone was going to steal a horse it would be the Friesian next to Moose, not Moose.
Moose died a few years later. We really needed a vaulting horses but every horse we looked at was either WAY to expensive OR totally not suitable. Finally one day Rhoda was back to begging and I finally retorted, "Rhoda if you want a vaulting horse, just pray for a vaulting horse." We did and the next day, out of the blue, Amy Koch called to tell me Kelly Stuber had a Percheron Morgan mare she was wanting to sell. We drove to Tremont, looked at Patsy and brought her home for a trial. She was uneducated but had such a sweet disposition. Patsy was a carriage horse and well trained to drive but not trained to ride. That doesn't matter when one has a daughter like Rhoda. She spent hours with her and soon not only was Patsy our vaulting horse, she was Rhoda's combined training Pony Club horse. Below is Rhoda on Patsy the gray and Sarah on the pony Ranger.

But..all good things must come to an end, our vaulting team was hugely popular and became too big. Patsy was just too small to easily carry the triples. So 12 years ago we started praying again. I drove down to the draft sale in Arthur, IL and started looking. We knew we wanted something a bit bigger than Patsy and for sure a bit wider. Well after wandering the barns and looking at just about everything then heading for the bleachers to watch about the only place left to sit was way up at the top.This was pretty disappointing, every horse there going through the ring was WAY too expensive and I was beginning to feel I had wasted the day. I started praying, "Lord you know what we need, I don't need something trained, I just need something with a good attitude." The very next horse in the ring was a black Percheron mare brought in by an old man. The announcer announces, "This is a 4 year old mare who has never been made to work a day in her life but she has a good attitude." Funny the auctioneer started the bidding at $2000.00 but no one bid, he got all the way down to $500.00 when I raised my hand and started the bidding. A few others halfheartedly bid against me but we ended up with her for a price of $750.00. Karin, Mike, Diane and Rhoda were called. They were just arriving in Arthur and were excited to see what we bought. so I left the ring to go into the barns to find what we had just purchased, met them at the parking lot and together we started searching. When we finally came to the horse that had the right number on the rear end I kept saying, "No No that can't be what I bought." She was MUCH wider than I could tell from the top of the ring, she was MUCH taller than I could tell from the top of the ring. Mike looked at her and said, "she's huge, someone could ride her head, a few could ride her neck, you could put 4 or 5 up on her back."  Of course we had to throw Rhoda up on her back. Now remember Ribbon hadn't been made to work a day in her life, she kind of pinned her ears but nothing else. We loaded her up, very thankful for a big trailer, and brought her home. Thankfully we have a lot of fearless kids around and just started throwing them up on her. We are very thankful and feel she really is our gift from God.  Below are a few pictures of just some of her many many performances in the last 12 years.

 This mare is plenty big enough for triples.

Ribbon is not bred every year, and when we do breed her we have to figure out her performance schedule for the next year first. Her very first foal by Raven was Princess. Below are a couple pictures of Princess as a 2 year old. She was purchased as a weanling by a police man in Ohio who wanted her for his police mount.

Each foal Ribbon produces ends up looking like a Friesian on steroids. They all sell at or before weaning and they are all sweet, huge, gorgeous and of course black.

 The picture below was taken right after this filly's birth! That's how huge they are.

Because of her performance schedule, Ribbon is expecting a Valiant foal Sept 23rd this year.  

Karin repeats over and over that Ribbon is worth her weight in gold. Now I'm not sure about that but also know one doesn't just sell a gift from God.  Over these last 12 years Ribbon has taught hundreds if not thousands of children and adults how to canter, how to do basic vaulting moves, and how much fun it is to tower over all the rest of the riders.  Ribbon has quite a following, when people hear Ribbon is coming they make plans to drive hundreds of miles just to meet and greet her. We have people call to tell us they come each year to the IL Horse Fair just to spend time with Ribbon. We will be back in barn 14 this year so come on down to visit this very famous mare.

David Davis

We awoke to 9 degrees with a stiff wind. Only the truly dedicated walkers walked but we probably shouldn't have my cheeks were pretty frozen by the time we quit.
It was too cold to work outside today. Most of the day was spent at the Berean office processing the letters. As soon as I got home I built a fire in the wood burner, laid down and just soaked up the heat. Mark calls the wood burner a poor man's hot tub. In a way it is better than a hot tub since it heats the room and when I walk out of the room I'm not soaking wet. That's always a plus when there are below zero wind chills.
It was good to be back in church tonight. Funny how listening on line is just not the same. Craig Stickling had the service, exactly what I needed to hear.
Tonight I just got notification that David Davis is bringing his painted Friesian to the fair.

I think this is the loudest colored Friesian in America, probably in the whole world. David has a special connection with him and has taught him amazing tricks. Now before anyone asks, Friesians ONLY come solid black, so this is a cross but a very nice cross. We are hoping Lola produces a painted Friesian this year. If she has a filly and the filly really IS a daughter of Killian we will keep her.  David is also a minister and hopefully will put on cowboy church this year. We weren't too impressed with the minister the last couple years.

Marika

Marika was probably our biggest disappointment driving almost 700 miles to pick up this 16 hand Friesian mare in foal to a Friesian stallion not related to any of ours and when we arrive we find a 15.-15.1 hand mare.  She WAS in foal so we went ahead and purchased her loaded her up and drove home arriving way way after dark.  We were told she wasn't trained to ride but had people sit on her so of course Rhoda saddled her right up and jumped on.

We waited anxiously for her foal to come, hoping for a filly even though Marika was not a big beautiful 16 hands but when she did deliver the foal was deformed. I felt like buying her had been a total waste of Horsemeister's money. We sent her first to Rainbow Riders for a couple months as a therapy horse then bred her to Evan then just sent her to Middle Grove. and the next year she had a beautiful filly.

 Above she is just a couple weeks old and below she is 5 months old.

She had very nice movement and at that point we felt Marika had redeemed herself. We bred her to Valiant in 2014 and Marika produced a colt June 19th, 2015. Below is the video of her giving birth.


Marika is a good mom but we had not really put any time into training her. This fall when we were working with the new play we asked Amy Koch if she would like to put some time into Marika then ride her for the 2016 IL Horse Fair. Karin, Rhoda and Emily put a little time into round penning her.

 We were actually pleased to see her big movement.

Amy took Marika to Bridlewood for a month then was brought back here to start working with the herd. Marika is doing very well. Rhoda did some training right after she came home.

 When Rhoda finished I mentioned that we need to think about using her more after the fair. She has very nice movement and looks decent. Below is Amy Koch riding her during the practice.

We were very pleased with how she handled the charges, being in the arena with 9 other horses and still was willing to listen to her rider.

Marika was bred back to Valiant and is due July 7th. We expect this foal to finish around 16 hands, be very sweet and have decent movement.
We had a cold day with wind chills in the single digits. Karin was here training when I arrived home from Berean. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.
Karin had 8 mares in the arena and had ridden every one. By the time I arrived she was getting ready to put them away.

Jenis had just had a good roll and was sitting there waiting while Karin put lead ropes on the rest.

Stiffened Muscles

What a change from our beautiful warm 47 degree sunshine yesterday. Today it didn't make it out of the low 20s and the wind has been fierce. The cold was seeping into the bones and stiffening the muscles.  Ruth, Joan, mom and I walked but only one round and it took 4 layers of clothes and coats to be able to work outside today. The horses got an extra feeding but none of them were taken out and worked. Jenis is now in with Roxanne. It is easier to grain both of these girls the right amount if they are together. The middle paddock now has Eliza, Anna, Indy, and Marika and Zalena. Last night Eliza was accidentally put in the middle paddock instead of with Roxanne and I wanted to move Anna back with the mares to make it easier for the riders to get her out.
I kept the wood burner burning brightly all day. We will have an early night tonight.

Zalena

We purchased Zalena the day we got home from Connecticut with Killian. Pictures below were taken the day after we got her home.

We left on a Fridiay, had just driven over thousand miles to Connecticut, loaded Killian and driven over a thousand miles back arriving home around 4:00 am on Monday, slept for about 3 hours got back in the truck and trailer and drove another 300  miles into Missouri to pick up Zalena then another 300 miles home. I can still remember that nightmare trip coming home with her. Terrible thunderstorms moved in and the thunder was crashing around the truck so loud I thought Zalena may have a heart attack before I could get her home. Of course it didn't help that I was exhausted. Rhoda, Mike and Diane were waiting for me at the barn when I arrived to unload and put her away. Since Killian was new and without a partner Zalena was put in with him then it was time to crash and sleep straight through for 10 hours. Funny we were a little disappointed in Zalena. Looking back now we had no reason to be but we expected her to look like Jenis and Zalena was about an inch shorter. I kept looking at her legs and thinking they are too short. The longer we keep her the longer we love her. She was a first premie (highest rating available for a foal) and I think grand champion at her foal kuering.  She was bred to Raven and produced a beautiful filly. This foaling was a terrible heartbreak. I brought her inside and tested her and according to the test she would not be foaling any time soon. She was nervous inside and not at all happy so even though it was pouring rain I took her back outside and put her in with Ribbon. With the storm during the night I heard nothing but  thunder crashing but when I went to feed the next morning there was Zalena a nervous wreck desperately trying to get out of the paddock. And then I saw the reason why. She had delivered during the night, the foal had slipped under the fence fell into the drainage ditch and drowned. It took awhile before I stopped beating myself up for that loss. Poor Zalena, she grieved, we grieved and of course the 'if only if only' wasn't helping. When we first brought her home we wanted to find out how she would ride, we were told she was good but don't always believe what we are told, so Karin and Rhoda took Zalena and Jenis trail riding. The excited call not too long after, "she is another Paris!" Zalena was going through creeks, up and down hills and not at all spooky. What a joy to have purchased a trained horse without vices.

Anni rode Zalena at the 2012 IL Horse Fair. 

Mikayla Cooksey rode her for the 2013, 2014 IL Horse Fairs.

and Rebekah rode her for the 2015 IL Horse Fair.

Meanwhile Raven had died so Zalena was bred to Valiant and April 15th, 2014 produced a tall friendly just gorgeous colt.

Zalena was bred to Evan and May 7th, 2015 produced a gorgeous hairy filly with amazing movement named Zoey.

Zoey was sold to Dee who also owns Olympia and Dee is bringing both her girls down to the 2016 IL Horse Fair. Zoey will be 10 months old at the fair so please stop in to see her at our stalls in barn 18.
Zalena will be ridden by Jesse Stickling for the 2016 IL Horse Fair. Zalena is in foal by Valiant and is due April 29th. We are expecting a tall friendly foal with this mating. Valiant throws tall and exceptionally sweet babies. One funny thing we learned about Zalena is she can't swim, no really she CANNOT swim.

Her head goes right under. She learned to hold her breath but could not figure out how to move fast enough to keep her nose out of the water. Zalena will not be asked to swim across the lake any more.

Super Sunday Super Practice Super Bowl

I skipped church again. The coughing and sneezing is just so gross that I don't want to infect anyone. I listened on line for the morning service but not for the afternoon, it wasn't on line this afternoon since today was the reading of the memorandum. Hopefully they will have that published on the AC sermon website.
Today was the first Friesian practice using the horses for the play they are performing at the IL Horse Fair.

I was going to try to video the practice for Rhoda but the arena is just too big and there was too much action going on in all areas at once. Below are a few pictures.

The rest of the pictures were placed on the Horsemeister Facebook page. To see them click HERE.

Both Karin and I thought the practice went wonderful. The play is exciting, full of action and LOUD.

Rachel is hosting the superbowl party at her studio. Looks like it may be an exciting game. 

Eliza

We acquired Eliza about 5 and a half years ago. She came from Minnesota.  I was picking up a mare in Iowa and the owner offered to meet me there. When we met the owner tells me, "stand back" and tentatively opens the trailer door not sure exactly how he is going to get her out. It was obvious the poor man was terrified. He kept saying, "don't get too close, she is a big mare, don't get too close." She wasn't terrible unloading and loading into our trailer so I thought, the wife is probably the horse handler. It wasn't too long after getting her off the trailer at our place when I found out why he was terrified. Eliza had NO manners. She didn't lead, she would run right over the handler, barge through the gates and hit people as she rushed out. It took our handlers about 2 days to have this mare minding her manners and not much longer for us to really start enjoying her. A few days after she arrived Rhoda had a couple friends over, and both of these girls grew up with horses.  Kym was determined to ride Eliza. Funny this was another mare that had never been trained and yet within a few days of coming here being ridden on the trails.

Kain and Rhoda took Ylse and Eliza to Jubilee and were very pleased with how well she accepted anything asked of her.

 Of course her steering wasn't the best, below the girls are practicing for one of the performances and this was Eliza's first time to be in one. She gave Rhoda quite a ride.

Eliza was bred to Raven and delivered Oksana June 16th, 2012. 

Eliza was bred back to Raven and delivered a colt May 28th, 2013 (sold)

She was bred to Valiant and delivered a gorgeous filly May 7th, 2014 (sold)

She was bred to Evan and delivered a very sweet beautiful colt May 8th, 2015, below is the video of her giving birth.

Eliza was bred to Valiant and is due May 30th, this year.  Eliza was taken to the IL Horse Fair in 2012 just as a guest, we thought it would be good for her to be exposed to the crowds but we did not feel she was ready to be ridden that year.

Below Rhoda and Eliza are chasing the evil Queen of Maquon out of the coliseum at the 2013 IL Horse Fair

 Below Bethany and Eliza are performing in the livestock arena during the 2014 IL Horse Fair. 

Below Bethany and Eliza are one of the good fairies in the Maleficent play at the 2015 IL Horse Fair. 

Now for the record, Eliza will be at the 2016 IL Horse Fair but she won't have any pretty fairy lights or a fancy dressed beautiful rider.