72 Bales

I had quite a morning. Titus was telling me that Jewel was in season. Since we don't have electric fence around his paddock I let Jewel and Madiera out back into the pond pasture. Sure enough Jewel went right to the back of Valiant's paddock and started showing. Titus was so upset that those mares left he broke the chain going into the pond pasture and ran over to challenge Valiant. Silly boy Valiant is much to fierce to take on a two year old. The other mares came running out of the middle paddock to meet Jewel and Madiera and for a while it was chaos. 

Valiant was called up to the front and I was thrilled when he came. He was taken to the round pen. Titus followed the mares back into the middle paddock so I was able to catch him easily. The back gate was tied shut and he was put back in his paddock. Right away he saw Valiant in the round pen.

Above he is staring at Valiant and below he has turned around to stare at the mares.

Jewel was then taken over to the breeding stand and Evan covered her. She was put in with Rosaleigh and Irish and that paddock was given a new round bale. By the time all of that was over it was almost 7:30 am. No walk today, we met at the dumpster and went garage saleing instead. Diane drove Ruth and I, Joan went by herself and Rachel also went but with her husband  David and her grandson Brian. At one garage sale we all showed up at the same sale at the same time. David took the picture below.

I found a few church toys, a few toys for the barn and a couple of the door socks to keep the wind out of our house next winter. As Valiant was in the round pen Mark went right to work cleaning his paddock. He had almost finished by the time we got home from the garage sales.

The manure is scraped out and lime is put in.

Valiant got a new bale as did the Thoroughbred mares.

His paddock looks great now.

Bryan Sprout stopped by at 11:00 am to ask us if he could rake and bale the hay today as rain was now predicted for tomorrow. Of course we agreed. I left then for Sam's to pick up a couple items for mom's house and the rest of the Sunday meal. When I got back they had already raked one field and were starting on the field behind our barn.

It wasn't long after seeing the raking that he called to say they had started on baling as now we could get a shower tonight. At 1:00 pm Mark went out with the tractor to start moving the bales from the field by Joan's to the back of that field for transport as that field was finished. That field produced 22 bales. I went out to get in the skid steer and saw Berlica and Mike saddling up mares. They took Sally and Missy on the trails and ponied one of the Thoroughbred mares.

I was moving bales when I saw a doe running across the field. She stopped at the wooded part between the fields and then just stood there. I kept moving bales and the next trip there she was going back the way she came with a tiny fawn following. I did not take the phone in the skid steer as I didn't want to break it so no pictures but I watched them cross the entire field with that little fawn trying hard to keep up and the mom coming back over and over. They finally got to the edge of the field, the doe stopped and let the fawn nurse still out in the open. After a good drink they made their way into the woods. There were 50 bales on this field and for a while Mark was moving bales with his tractor and Mike was moving 2 at a time with his tractor while I was stacking. Soon Mark quit as his tractor got a flat tire and at 4:30 pm Mike had to quit.  I worked  until 6:15 pm and got the rest of the bales off the field and stacked. 

We started moving bales at 1:00 pm and finished at 6:15 but the hay is safe in the barn and looks and smells wonderful.

It is nice and green and still fine stemmed. It is such a good feeling to have hay put up for the coming winter.

I'm so thankful and praising God for providing again! 

My Phone

 Mark got a text from Philip this morning that he had my phone ready and ALL of what was on the old phone has now been transferred to the new phone. I drove right over to pick it up and was shocked at how many texts and phone calls I missed those 3 days without. No time to check them though there was work to be done before the walk. The pictures from our trip to Middle Grove to pick up the thoroughbred mares were downloaded first. Below is Tessa and Valerie checking out the pile of halters and lead ropes. Tessa has the mega mane while Valerie is sniffing the halters. Tessa has a mane like Ylse, Indy's mom. I'm so glad we kept her. 

Thalia is the filly below, she had pushed her way through the entire herd of mares to get to Mike first. As her mother is a boss mare Thalia has no fear and shoves her way to the front.

Below is Thalia and her dam Lea.

Jury and Sangria are always together. Sangria would be fine to be with another mare but Jury has attached herself to Sangria and won't leave her.

Left to right below is Tatiana and Rosalie, both are in foal, Tatiana was bred to Valiant and  Rosalie was bred to Evan. Tatiana is due March 15th, 2025 and Rosalie is due April 15th, 2025

Once the pictures were transferred to the computer the golf cart was taken over to meet the walkers. When we got to Joan's she brought out the baby robins she is raising and fed them.

We teased Holly and should have been able to cover her but she had already ovulated and was out. We will need to wait for her next cycle. 

After breakfast Mark and Mackenson went to work on the mulberry tree.

Today I needed to get our laundry done and while working here in the house I listened on AC Central, David had the VBS message at the Roanoke church last night. He taught about the greatest mystery in the Bible. To watch that click HERE. My next job was to finish cleaning the barn. I finished that around 11:00 and went over to mom's as I saw Sarah's car there. Ruth was with mom, Anni and Rebekah's families were also there and the girls were having the best time playing on the beach.

Below the little girls are watching Brian pull in a bass.

Those bass are fun to catch, the give a good fight.

Jamie and Ralph arrived with some home made throws and a quilt. Mom was thrilled with the quilt and decided she would love to donate the throws to Skylines for residents there. I put those in the car and will take them to church and give them to Karen Hoffstetter to give out. When everyone visiting the lake were ready to leave we were shocked to find a big branch had broken off and was blocking the main drive. Mark had to get his trusty chain saw out so we could start clearing.

Below is the picture taken after the work was done.

This evening Aichen was teased and covered by Valiant then I went to check Berlica's job. She had weed wacked the round pen and outdoor arena. They both looked great. 

The hay really looks good and is drying well.

The fields smell so good right now.

The mares in the middle paddock went into the pond pasture then came over to greet Jewel and Madiera. Lily's colt was fascinated with Madiera's colt.

Jewel came over to check him out.

Below is a video of the horses this evening.

Rachel and David came by on their golf cart with their grandson Brian to see the horses. He was a little intimidated with Titus.

He enjoyed feeding Madiera's colt.

Soon though Madiera pushed him away so she could get the treat.

When I got back inside it was almost 7:30 pm and tonight the 2nd episode of season 4 of the Chosen was on. Mark and I watched that. I really enjoy that series. It makes the Bible come alive. 

Hay Day

 We got an inch of rain during the night and it was still sprinkling when I went up to the barn to check the mares. Madiera and Jewel would need another bale today.  They were finishing up their last bale when I arrived. 

My hipcamp guests were glad to have had the indoor arena to stay out of the storm last night.

They came out to thank me and let me know they would be leaving this morning. About that time Mike arrived to hook up the stock trailer to his truck. This morning Mike, Diane and I were taking the 3 Thoroughbred mares to Hoerr Vet clinic for their ultrasounds. They all loaded nicely.

We were on our way by 7:50 am and reached the clinic at 8:25 am.

Below Mike is unloading Bulu.

She was taken into the clinic and put in the stocks. While Aicken was tied to the trailer.

When Dr. Hoerr sonagrammed Bulu he found a pretty clear CL meaning she had ovulated a few days ago.

We decided not to short cycle her. She was led back to the trailer.

Aichen was next. She had a good size follicle on one ovary but didn't seem to be in season. She was given a shot to short cycle.

Holly was last and she was coming into season with some edema and a good size follicle so she was also given a short cycle shot.

When we got back to the farm both of the mares that were short cycled were teased. One was ready to be covered, the other will be ready tomorrow.  Valiant covered Aichen and tomorrow will covered Holly. Madiera, her colt and Jewel were turned out and a bale moved in for them. Madiera's colt is so cute.

He is kind of a stinker, running ahead of his mom then not wanting to go into the paddock with her.

Jewel who is  now due in 5 days is beginning to worry me a bit. I was sure she was pregnant earlier but looking at her today she seemed not as fat today.

Surely she isn't just FAT?  

After they were put away I left for Aldi. We needed groceries. When I was loading the car with the groceries the lady unloading hers in the next car over asked if I was a Meister then told me her name was Mo and she served us at the Village Inn for lunches when we were at Meisters. When I finally got home Bryan Sprout was here cutting our hay.

Bryan stopped and got off to say hello and comment on how nice the hay looks. I'm just thrilled he is taking care of our hay. We should get a wonderful first cutting.

I had to get a video of that hay falling behind his mower.

My new phone had arrived. I drove to the nearest Cellular store with the new and the old to get it turned on and was disappointed to find they could only turn it on and not sync it since my old phone couldn't be opened. I was working on putting phone numbers in the contact part when Philip sent a text to Mark's phone that he would try to sync it so we dropped it off at his house on our way to the fellowship hall. Tonight was family night, Gail and friends put on the delicious meal tonight. Karen Martin came today to speak of her years as a hospice nurse. It was a VERY good talk. To watch that click HERE.