Labor Day Laboring

It was hard to wake up and start working this morning after our fun day and late night yesterday. Breakfast was suppose to have been served at 8:00 am but that just didn't happen. I think it was a good half hour late but no one seemed to care. The pictures from yesterday were uploaded to Facebook. Below are a few:

If you would like to see the rest of them click HERE.

Nancy was picked up from Morton and taken to mom's for the afternoon and evening. It is my turn to have her but at mom's she got to see mom, Karin, Joan and Spark and watch the volley ball games.

Today each of the six weanlings were haltered, taken into the barn and worked with. Mark helped with that and by the time we were done haltering the last one we were both hot and tired. We had another 90 degree day. Joanna and Tara were taken into the arena and hosed off then stalled for the night. The vet is coming tomorrow to draw blood on Joanna for her coggins and Tara is just there to keep her company. 

Mom and I took Nancy home but first stopped at Molly's house to drop off Teddy. Mom had been puppy sitting with Teddy while Molly and Gabe were with all the Haeflie's at their annual camping trip. Teddy was so happy to see his family. 

LaborDayCompany

Lots of company after church today at the lake, lots of fun and the games will go on till morning. Tomorrow will be soon enough to check the camera and post pictures but I leave you with this thanks to Sarah Reinhard:


Oh and one more thing to announce. The Horsemeister Pirates have been invited back to the IL Horse Fair the first weekend of March 2017. I think Jack just may have some competition if we can get Evan dressed like this:

From Dawn to Dusk

Today we worked outside from the earliest light until it was just too dark to see. It started of course at the stall barn with lights on but by the time Dakota and her filly were taken care of it was light enough outside to get the rest of the feeding done. Mark had Nick come help and together they worked on fencing until after lunch. We had 2 trail rides scheduled which Karin was in charge of and she took care of both. The first was for Bethany who was here visiting from Bluffton, IN. They took out Jenis, Anna, Missy and Cookie. I asked them to start in the arena as I had just finished pulling all of the weeds in there and before more pop up would like proof this job got done. Hanna rode Missy, Mackenson rode Cookie, Karin and Faith rode Anna and Bethany and Berlica rode Jenis.

Below are a few fun pictures of their ride in the arena.

 Next off they went across the field to do the 'death trails' backward.

Right after Nick and Mark were served lunch I hooked up the stock trailer and headed for Middle Grove to bring back Joanna for weaning. Mike was working there with the tractor and road scraper and helped hold Lily back while I drove Joanna away. He and Diane took a long trail ride this morning at Middle Grove riding Bunni and Mika. Diane was just heading out on the jet ski with her grand kids when I arrived.  Karin was just heading out on the second trail ride when we got back to the farm and offered to help me get a few pictures when they got back. That trail ride was for Faith and Ava, Karin owed them as they helped her at the Library. Joanna was groomed up in the trailer and stood very well for that. She was taken to the round pen where we thought she would take off running but instead she wanted to be with us. She was missing her mama. Still we got a few nice shots for the website.

 She is HUGE and has such presence it was pretty easy to get a good shot. Just look at that neck! She has an abundance of hair, she has unbelievable movement and towers over the other weanlings. She is for sale for only $5000.00 and this really is a bargain, a quality filly like this usually goes for much more. Everyone that ends up with a Lily foal is a happy customer. 

She was put in with the other weanlings so they can show her the ropes on this living without mama thing she is being asked to do.
The weather was so nice that Dakota and her 1 day old filly were taken outside for a couple hours this afternoon. She would run around her mom making Dakota spin trying to keep an eye on her wayward child.

It was cute when she stopped to rest under her mama's tail.

Mark spent most of the afternoon mowing the trails in preparation of the Labor Day rides then scraped the paddock next to Evan's. Ralph and Jamie came this evening to spend some time with Dakota and her 1 day old filly. They are still in awe of this special gift and sent this picture of their visit:

Dakota and her filly are doing wonderful. Jamie has named her Legacy.

 Dan brought out his boat and camper for the Labor Day weekend. He and his boys will be spending the night on the boat. Below he is taking Rachel, Dave and Logan for a three hour tour around the lake. Hope they don't get lost.

Susan and the girls will be sleeping in the camper. me thinks they might be the smart ones. Dan's camper is really nice, completely self contained. Tomorrow I'll get some pictures of that. This evening Mark and I worked on repairing Evan's paddock. We finished just as it was getting too dark to see so we really did work from dawn to dusk plus. What a great day.

Ralph & Jamie's Filly by Valiant

Dakota delivered a HUGE filly this morning around 4:00 am. This filly came 26 days early but is so filled out and stocky it made me check the cover dates. From the first cover this filly would be 21 days early, the last cover 26 days early WOW.

 Dakota is being a wonderful mom standing still when the baby first rooted around and then like a stone while she nursed. Unfortunately I was not there for the birth and Dakota tore. Dr. Palin came out this morning to repair the tear.

 This was a pretty big tear and she needed a few more supplies so her friend John drove out to help.

John knows how to keep young children happy and blew up a couple gloves for Taegan and Kensley who are spending the day with grandma.

This is SUCH a nice filly that was suppose to be for sale but after meeting and greeting her Jamie felt like there was no way she could sell her. Instead she decided not to buy Joanna, Lily's filly by Valiant so Joanna is now for sale again. Joanna is special, she is going to be either 17 hands or close to it. She has the movement and disposition to excel in dressage but also the athletic ability to make a jumper. Her bones are so thick they will hold up to even the upper levels. IF interested in Joanna she is now for sale for only $5000.00. Notice how high all four hooves are as she trots in the pictures below. This filly has airtime!

The Charity Ride for Charity

The weather was deliciously cool and refreshing this morning. The heat and high humidity seems to have taken leave of our area at least for a while. I didn't even have to change my shirt after the walk today before heading to the Berean office. That office was busy today, to read about our work there click HERE. After the Bibles had been dropped off at the post office I stopped at Meisters to pay the first of the month bills. Last evening the vice president of South Side Bank called to report someone had cashed 2 checks from Meisters that were obviously counterfeit totally around $2500.00 They had frozen our accounts so that no checks could be cashed but that meant none could be written either. This morning Mark and Curt went down to the bank a couple times to see what details they could find out. Then they had to close out our account which we have had for 40 years then opening a new account. This meant hundreds of dollars worth of checks needed to be thrown away along with ordering hundreds of dollars worth of new checks. It wasn't enough that the thief got away with $2500.00 it is costing us just to stop this thief. Why do people steal? Why do they work so hard to take money that they haven't earned? The bank worked out something that at least we could pay our bills today.
As soon as I got home from there the mares were turned out into the big field and stalls cleaned.

Rosalie was turned out with them for the first time since her filly was born. She was keeping her pretty far away in the beginning but soon decided they were not a danger. The filly had a ball galloping around her mom.

Emily had cleaned out the short shelter paddock and put in a new round bale and moved all the weanlings into that. She was mowing when I got back from the field. My job was to grade the arena with the tractor then Emily finished the job with the 4 wheeler and rake. We were just finishing up with the arena when Jennifer arrived with her 4 children. Today was the day her daughter Charity was to get a lesson on Jenis. This lesson was donated to the Midwest Food Bank Auction so it was a charity ride for Charity.

To see the rest of the pictures of this ride click HERE. While Charity was riding Jennifer and the boys went over to mom's to feed the fish.

Emily decided that Charity had good balance, good instincts and was talented enough to go out on the trails so she saddled up Anna and off they went on the 'death trails' crossing the creeks and nagivating those huge hills. We finished up this session with a glamour shot, of course all the dresses we had were just too big but this one almost fit.

As we were getting ready for bed a text came in from Jamie, the owner of Dakota. Dakota was bred to Valiant and is due Sept 28th. Jamie sent this picture.

Dakota was definitely waxing so the truck and trailer were taken over to their place at 10:00pm and Dakota loaded up and brought here for delivery. She is not bagged up enough that I think she will go tonight but she is a maiden mare and Jamie does not have a good place for her to deliver.

NoBodyKnows

I had a lady email wanting to come to see Serenity but they want her for an upper level vaulting horse. They want to vault at the canter. Nope Serenity would not be suitable for that job no matter how nicely she canters. The last time we sold a riding horse instead of a foal was when we sold Sunny and at that point we decided never again would we do that. We had so many people come to "try him out" but were really just wanting a free ride. Karin was getting disgruntled after about the 20th time. Thankfully a past customer, Cynthia, expressed interest and ended up buying him. NoBodyKnows the trouble we've seen (That could be a song...but fits here) of having to stop work, tack up the horse spend an hour or sometimes a LOT of hours watching them try him out only to hear later, we decided we would like to come try him again and this time we want to bring my cousins kids, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and oh yes about 10 friends want to come to and by the way would  you mind tacking up a few of your Friesians and taking us all on a trail ride so we see how he does on trails?
This morning was kind of frustrating at the Berean office. The equipment was malfunctioning. To read about our morning there click HERE.
As soon as I got home the Exiss trailer was backed between the 2 buildings the ramp let down and the back doors opened then mares and foals loaded. Jewel and Sangria along with their fillies were taken back to Middle Grove. Jewel can now stay as she is confirmed in foal, Sangria will need to come back in a couple weeks to be bred to Valiant. Jenis was brought in a stall for her grain. Roxanne, Eliza and her colt were let out in the big field to graze while I made the Middle Grove trip. When I got back all three were standing in the stall barn enjoying the shade. That made it easy to put the horses away. Rosalie and her filly were let out and the stalls cleaned. The weanlings were fed and each was led around and hooves picked up. Star's filly was again led into the barn and tied to pick up her hooves as a reminder.
We had a nice evening at church tonight.

She's a Week Old

Early this morning the feeding was done then the weanlings water tank was dumped and in the process of being filled when the rain started. That meant no walk today because by 7:25 rain was coming down in sheets. By the time the rain stopped we had another inch on the ground. The fields are now soaked. I left for the Berean office just after 8:00 am. To read about our morning there click HERE.
When I arrived home the sun had come out so Rosalie and her week old filly were taken out to graze in the big field. Below are a few pictures. She had a ball galloping around her mom then flopping down for a nap.

Eliza and her colt were taken out to graze with them. Eliza's colt was very curious about this new little filly. He was staring at her in the picture below.  He is so handsome and must know it as he is always posing for the camera. What a neck!

The horses had to be supervised as the fence between the field and the corn field is down in spots. Either a tractor hit it or something ran through it. The field was too wet though to drive the equipment back to start working on it.
This evening Mark worked on the golf cart repairing the back seat.