Fun Times at State Park Farm

We had another beautiful weather day yesterday Saturday July 15th, 2017. Karin came early to help transport 6 horses to Middle Grove. We loaded up Lola, EasterBonnet, Rosaleigh, Ethan, Sally and Eli and dropped them off at the horse paradise. The herd was not in sight but the horses all took off running to find them. Spark arrived as we were unloading and we passed Mike going to Middle Grove as we were heading home. They both had work there.
Kayla, a new horse admirer pulled into the farm driveway just before us.  She wanted to watch Karin train then take a ride. Below Karin is working with Brista.

 Below is Kayla 

 Diane arrived on her trusty golf cart with 2 of her grand children.

 The training session went well, below Karin is hosing Brista off. She stood much better today for that and for the fly spray.

 Coke was taken out next. Karin got on her today after her session but I wasn't around to record it, I was helping Mark.

 Mark had a very productive day, the mower was attached, Valiant moved, his pasture mowed, Indy and Roxanne moved and their pasture mowed. A bit later he got the trails mowed too until he ran out of diesel with the tractor. He took a break and went into town to buy more and also picked up groceries. Karin took Kayla out on the trails after the training was finished. She rode Zalena while Kayla rode Missy.

 Below the horses were going to come galloping up the hill just as Diane and the grandchildren showed up. They had been over at Anni's holding the new bunny Anni's dog brought her. 

Karin had Zalena and Missy gallop up the dam trail which is a little wider than the cabin trail so I could try to take a short video. 

Once the horses were  put away we went to the Warehouse for a quick lunch. Karin headed over to mom's and I got ready to head to State Farm Park where the family was meeting. Phil and Anna picked me up. Below are a few pictures the rest will be worked on later. 

We had a fun afternoon and evening getting back almost 10:00 pm. 

Training Coke and Brista

We awoke to a fresh breath of air. The heat and humidity disappeared at least for today. Mike arrived to fix the automatic waterer in the middle paddock that had been running over about the same time Karin and Shaeya arrived to work with Coke and Brista, the two outside mares here to be bred. Coke is the Appaloosa mare that is here to be bred to Valiant and Brista is the Paso Fino mare here to be bred to Evan. They are both owned by the Giant Goose Ranch in Canton, IL and both mares were completely untrained. First out was Brista. Brista was never handled, they have papers on her but I'm not sure how old she is now, probably close to 10 years old. This mare would not be caught. For the last 3 days most of her instruction here at the Horsemeister farm is to learn that she must move when we ask but if she would stand and face the handler she would not have to work.

 After a few minutes Shaeya was able to walk up to her and scratch her all over then walk away. 

 The next job was to remove the halter, walk around her and put the halter back on. 

Even though this doesn't seem like a huge accomplishment it really is. This was the 3rd day in a row Brista was worked with and each day she has improved.  She was teased by Evan but did not show. When Brista was taken into the indoor arena to be sprayed off with water, we discovered the water to the barn and apartment had not been turned back on. This meant some of the waterers in the paddocks were still turned off too. I was very glad we discovered it in the morning before the horses got thirsty. We got them all working then brought out Coke. Coke was taken right over to tease and said no very quickly and loudly. She was taken right into the barn for saddling. 

 She was round penned until she was ready to stand and listen then bridled. 

 It didn't take long for Coke to be ready for Shaeya to start putting weight on the saddle. First one side then the other side. 

 Today she was asked to take just a few steps around Karin both directions with Shaeya sitting in the saddle. 

We were well pleased with the progress of both mares. Next Bunni and Missy were brought out so they could pony Coke on the trails except we discovered Bunni was lame on her right front leg. The hoof was cleaned off, hosed and iodine applied. She was stalled for the afternoon. 

This evening was spent at the playground. The weather was so nice that Diane brought a couple of her grandchildren over and Spark and Rhonda brought a couple of theirs over. The kids played on the playground while the adults played Mexican Train. Karin won by over 100 points. 

Training to Load

A bale needed to be put in the middle paddock early this morning. The 2 that are due August 1st, Indy and Roxanne were checked and neither mare is progressing. I really need them to deliver before we go on vacation the end of this month. Otherwise Karin is going to be doing all the hard work. Speaking of hard work Rhoda arrived while I was at the Berean office and did our dishes. What a great daughter. That wasn't the only work she did. When I got home we pulled out Rosaleigh and her colt to practice loading. Rosaleigh did not want to load without someone encouraging her from behind and we need to have the horses load with just 1 one handler. Not to brag or anything but her colt was the expert at loading. These Evan babies are just so smart.

He is quite the show off. 

By the time Rhoda was done Rosaleigh AND her colt were walking in quietly and unloading quietly. She sure has the touch. Next out was Brista the PasoFino mare. Rhoda took her to the round pen and gave her a refresher course then took her into the indoor, sprayed her off with the hose then fly spray then practiced loading with her.  She didn't do as well as Rosaleigh but not awful.

By this time we were all hot and went into the house. Addyson and Braelyn played beauty chair with both of them wearing a pair of Mark's reading glasses.

 Taegan and Jack colored and Jace played with a balloon. 

A bit later Amy, my best friend arrived for a visit so Rhoda took all the kids and had them help clean out the trailer giving Amy and I some time to talk. So thankful she was able to come today, we had a lot of catching up to do. A bit later we took a golf cart ride and check out the clean stock trailer. Rhoda and the grand children did a great job!
Taunya got back with sleeping Abe so she and Rhoda took the older kids to the playground while I stayed back at the house with the sleeping baby. This evening after supper we met at mom's for games and were joined by Joan and all of her children, Rhonda, and Diane. Hannah, Faith, mom Joan and I played while Mackenson worked on his fort and Berlica played with a i-pad. It was a fun game. We finished at 8:30 then Rhonda sent the picture below of her 15th grandchild.

Above is Aden Eugene born July 10th, 2017. He weighed in at 7 pound 13.2 ounces. He is welcomed home by his parents Brett and Kari and his big sister Noel and brother Tripp.

Another REALLY Hot Day

The cloud cover kept the temperatures down a little with today hitting 90 degrees but the humidity is so high it felt like 106 degrees. Karin and Elisabeth arrived to work with Valiant a bit then Valiant was taken into the cool stall barn and given the spa treatment. His tail was brushed out and braided and Elisabeth took the mane braids out, brushed his mane and forelock then rebraided them.

He enjoyed the attention. Karin and Elisabeth left for the Goose Ranch to help Shaeya with Brista the PasoFino mare they wanted to bring here for training. Shaeya was close to getting the halter on her but not quite tall enough. Between those 3 not only did they get the halter on but they were able to load her into the trailer for the trip here. Below Shaeya is leading her to the round pen. 

 Below Karin is working with her. This mare has very nice movement. Brista is a registered Paso Fina with very nice movement and is a beautiful mare. 

 She and Evan will make a beautiful foal with a lot of hair and great movement. 

 Karin hosed her off to cool her down after working. This was the first time ever for the mare to be hosed. She wasn't sure about it but stood pretty well for Karin. 

 Next was the dreaded fly spray. This was one of the problem areas with this mare, they could never get fly spray on her but after the instruction and then hosing off the fly spray was no big deal to her. 

Karin took her right over to tease to Evan but she did not show. Right about then Hoerr Vet clinic called to say they could fit me in this afternoon to ultrasound a couple of mares, so Karin, Elisabeth and Shaeya helped load Rosaleigh, her colt Ethan and Jamie Stones' mare Dakota into the stock trailer. We arrived at the vet clinic and it only took a few minutes for Dr. Hoerr to declare Rosaleigh pregnant. 

 Above Ethan and Rosaleigh are waiting for Dr. Hoerr and below is the embryonic vesicle. 

 Next in was Dakota. Dakota has been at the Horsemeister farm for 19 days and has not come into season. 

 Dr. Hoerr found the problem, she has a non ovulatory follicle. meaning the follicle did not ovulate stopping her from coming into season. She was sent back with a shot she will need in 2 to 3 weeks. 

Ralph and Jamie will pick her up tomorrow. Hope all works out for them to get this mare pregnant again, she had a lovely filly last year by Valiant. I had to stay inside this afternoon to cool down so worked on the Berean Blog. To read about our Tuesday one day late click HERE. 

Mark drove mom and I to church tonight. Tim Roecker had the message. We had the ICC/Bradley young group there and that is always a privilege. The singing is just beautiful. After church Mark took us to Wendy's for a late dinner. We drove home watching God's light show playing in the West. Lots of lightning lighting up the clouds but so far away we couldn't really hear the thunder until now and it is just a low rumble. We were tempted to just sit out on our patio watching. 

Dakota

I had to leave early from the walk this morning but not too early to watch Addyson, Jack, Jace, Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley load into the van to go to VBS today.
We had quite a time at the Berean office. A storm was dumping copious amounts of rain as the mail was being picked up. When we opened the door to the Berean office we could hear the sound of rushing water. The water heater in the bathroom had popped it's top (what ever that means) and was pouring water out at a high rate. Robin quickly shut off the water then when Marvin and Mark K arrived they fixed the water heater. The morning became oppressively hot but when the air conditioner was turned on no cooling came out. Meister's was called and and we were put on the schedule for a repair man to come out in the afternoon. We had a lot of volunteers working so the office became over heated very quickly. The windows were opened but then it started raining again so the window bringing in the air had to be quickly shut. Somehow, someway we all got along even in the heat and finished most of the work before lunch. Mom got lunch ready and we ate in shifts. Caleb from Meister's arrived, found the problem and got it fixed for the afternoon so Marvin, Bill and I stayed until all the Bible requests were entered. That means I don't have to go in to work tomorrow. Special thanks to those 2 volunteers going above and beyond the call of duty. Pictures of the work there will be downloaded and entered tomorrow. I'm really tired today. The heat is draining us of energy. The mares were checked and hosed off. Dakota was teased and I thought finally showing. She was not covered though. She kicked violently, we will need to find out what is going on with her. The heat indexes are suppose to be running in the hundreds all week. Poor Indy and Roxanne. They were both sweating heavily today, it is no fun being heavy in foal when it is this hot and humid outside. The good news though is we got more than 2 inches of rain yesterday and this morning. The fields are greening up great.