The Morning Turkeys

Driving home from the farm this morning I had to slam on my breaks to miss 30-40 wild turkeys crossing the road. This picture was taken after they had all crossed and were heading into the woods. None of them took off flying even after I got out of the car to take their picture, they just ran fast.
The window air conditioner was placed in mom's bedroom and started. The walk was cut a little short so Ylse, who is still in season could be covered. Bringing Raven over to the cabin is always fun. He starts out kind of slow until he realizes there is a mare waiting for him, then we end up trotting the rest of the way. He seems 18 hands tall as he is trotting over, the lift and power of his trot is awesome. Once Ylse was covered, Mike put a round bale in at the cabin under a tree so she can eat in the shade. We let Raven take his time going home through the field grazing as we slowly walk back. Today seemed extra slow, he got in at least 30 minutes of grazing. Sanna and Samantha are enjoying being in the breeding shed paddock. Mike has the fan installed on the ceiling blowing straight down onto them.
Mike was working on installing a drain pipe in the small paddock with the excavator when I left for home.

The Heat

The weather for the next 2 weeks is predicted to be extremely hot and humid. This kind of weather is MUCH, MUCH worse than extreme cold for a horse farm. For frigid weather horses can be brought inside, blanketed, given warm water, and fed more. The only thing we can do for the heat is keep spraying them down with cold water and encourage them to stay in the shade by placing the round bales in the shade.
Lesson learned from the death of Jenis' filly. The bale was in the far paddock, no trees, no shelter. The mares were coming up out of the woods and standing around the bale eating, not long enough for them to get overheated but the new black foals cannot regulate their temperature and very quickly became overheated.
We have the bale at the cabin field in the sun. Hopefully Mike can find a shady place to move it before they leave for Michigan. The horses out at the Middle Grove farm seem to do well enough, grazing in the cool of the morning, then standing in one of the lakes in the afternoon or under the many trees to get away from biting flies and to keep cool.
This morning before the walk, a window air conditioner needs to be put in mom's and hooked up. Her central air quit working, Mark temporarily fixed it but as soon as he pulled away it quit. It was 87 degrees inside her house. All of the new equipment is now at her house but with the extreme heat, the service men are all busy. We can't have MOM overheating!

Bad Scare, Sally Sold, Jenis Bred

All the meds, syringes, needles, IV lines and fluids were returned to Dr. Hoerr's office this morning. I needed to pick up the truck at the farm and Mark needed to work on mom's airconditioner so I asked him if he would give me a ride to the farm. He hadn't had lunch so was cooked a nice meal and fed and we headed to the farm at 12:30pm. As soon as we pulled up I ran to check on Ylse's filly and was horrified by the sight of her lying unresponsive in the sun. Screaming for Mark to come help, the wheelbarrow was brought to her, she was thrown in the wheelbarrow and brought into the arena where the hosing was started. The thermometer was grabbed and the result was awful, it went to 109.9 and then error. Her temperature was higher than the thermometer would go. After 10 minutes of intensive cold water hosing her temp was down to 106 and she was starting to respond to my voice. Mike, Diane, and mom showed up to help and after 5 minutes more her temp was down to 103 and she was trying to stand. With help she was on her feet and actually was able to nurse about a minute then back down for more hosing. Ylse was not engorged and the filly did not look dehydrated, just WAY to hot. By 1:30pm we had her temp down to 101. but she was very shaky and just not latching on when brought to Ylse, she would bump the udder but then drop her head. Brain damage is a very real concern at this point. Even the arena was too hot so the next time she got up, even though she wouldn't nurse we walked them into the yard under a tree. She seemed to get stronger and finally latched on and nursed. All the horses at the cabin field were brought over to the farm and Ylse and her filly were taken to the cabin field. This was the best option with the many shade trees and nice breeze. She nursed well at 2:30, 3:15 and finally after she nursed at 4:00pm I left for home. We now realize just how quickly the heat can overtake these new black foals. She is doing so well we can only assume we caught it very quickly and brought down her temp before any brain damage was done. Too bad we didn't learn this lesson years ago.
While Mike and Diane were still there to watch her, Jenis was pulled out and covered by Raven.
By the time I arrived home the deposit was here for Big Sally and her filly so they are now marked sold. We will see about bringing them home from Middle Grove to get new pictures and make a video before they leave.

Lost the Best

Today shortly after 4:00pm I received a call from Alicia Cooksey that Jenis' filly was in distress. Trying to get to the farm following what seemed like 50 SLOW moving cars was awful. Karin was called to have the truck and trailer hooked up, Jenis in the trailer and the AC on full blast in the cab. As soon as I pulled in it took 5 or 6 of us to load her, Alicia came with me to hold the filly. Dr. Hoerr was called to tell him we were bringing in a critical foal and they were waiting for us. The filly was brought into the operating room, placed on a table and her temperature taken, it was almost 107 degrees and this is after hosing her off and 40 minutes in air conditioning blowing right on her. Fluids were started, alcohol dumped on her, ice packs placed on top of her and between her legs in the desperate fight to bring down her temperature but the damage had already been done to her brain. She started having seizures and needed more and more sedative to stop them. We got her stabilized enough to trailer them both back to the farm where the office was set up for IV's and a bed for the filly. At 10:38 she took her last breath. Mike had just walked out of the office so he was called back to dig her grave. Karin, Rachel and Tara all showed up right after she died so they helped put her body in the wheelbarrow then Karin wheeled her out to the grave. Jenis has been left in the stall for tonight and will be put in with Ribbon in the morning, not in with Ylse and her filly. This was a hard loss, not just for Horsemeister but personally. This filly was everything we were breeding for. God is in control and He never gives us more than we can bear. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

The Roof & Caden Wormed

It already is terribly hot and humid, at 8:30am 80 degrees with 88% humidity. Our son David showed up early to work on the farm house porch roof. He and Jay Brenner, Tara's husband are replacing the roof to stop the leaks that develop over the years. The farm house is 140 years old but this section was added later when the original owners finally put in a bathroom, so nice not to have to go outside in the middle of winter into a stinky smelly outhouse.

Caden was wormed today with Strongid, we will wait a couple of weeks and worm him again with Ivermectin.
Jenis was brought over to Raven first for her teasing but she is not yet in her foal heat.
Ylse is still in season and covered this morning, although she may be going out, she wasn't quite as interested as yesterday. Both mares and their fillies were fly sprayed down before putting back.

Dakota

Dakota is now here at Bridlewood, she is in training with Laura. Ralph and Jamie dropped off 2 round bales, then as my truck was hooked up to the trailer brought her over. This is all good except Ralph informed me that the truck needs to have the brakes repaired. ARGHHH, I just finished paying off getting the 4 wheel drive repaired, to get the skid steer repaired and the transportation to and from the place was almost $1000.00. We really don't own things, they own us. I think I'm going to have to take a second job! Last night at the AC home, Joan and Tim gave a very interesting report on the earthquake in Haiti and that helped me remember how blessed we really are.
Jenis needs to be teased today and if in covered. Her filly is one week old today. I have 2 people emailing on her already and this is the one I would have LOVED to keep. Don't get attached, don't get attached, don't get attached is the message that must be repeated over and over. One of them made an appointment to come down from Valparaiso on August 10th to see her. I don't know where the other is from.
There are 7 bags of grain in the back of the car that need to be unloaded before the walk today but no stalls to clean once there.

Ylse & Jenis

Fedi joined us on the walk today, we think he felt a little out of place at least he said he couldn't get a word in edgewise. I had to cut it a little short to get Ylse covered before heading to work today. Jenis may also be starting to show although she is hard to tell.
Eva Jean could not come into work again this week which made me work overtime by about 3 hours. It really makes me realize how much she does for Berean having to do her work and mine. By 4:00pm I was FINALLY ready to head down to TSC for 7 bags of grain. Aldi was visited on the way home to pick up ingredients for dinner.
We are heading down to the AC Home for Joan and Tim's Haiti presentation and somehow I have to get the energy to clean up first.

Samantha In Foal & Hannah Stitches

The vet was due early afternoon for Samantha's sonagram and Jenis' after delivery check up so it was back to the farm by 12:30. First Hannah and Faith were asked if they could come help me make a short video of Caden, Paris' colt, we have a lady wanting to see how he behaves with children. Steven Marchal showed up to help with the videos and ultrasounds.Caden was put away and Ylse taken out. I noticed she was in her foal heat this morning but didn't have the time to get her covered. Steven held Ylse's filly while Raven got the job done. Just as we were fly spraying Raven to put him away, Our vet showed up. First on his job list was Ylse's filly. She is still tender on her right front. He felt it is not a serious injury, she got 1 cc of banimine and her foal shot. Then it was Samantha's turn. Her ultrasound showed her pregnant at 18 days so she had a caslick put in. Her new owner will need to have that removed 30 days before she is due. Steven jumped on her for a short video to send to her owner along with the good news of her pregnancy. Then it was Jenis' turn. She had been dripping blood and needed to be scoped and ultrasounded to make sure all was clean in her uterus from the birth on the 7th but all looked good. Her filly was also given the foal shot. Just as the bill was being figured up, my phone rang, It was Karin, she was watching the kids swimming at Diane's Hannah went off the dive and hit another child and cut her head. Karin wanted to ask our vet if he would look at it. Joan was called and between her and the vet they decided it probably should have stitches. Thank goodness for our vet!
Hannah ended up with 6 stitches.

Early Morning Coffee & Africa

Dogs barking at 4:00am was our wake up call this morning. They were sure there was something in our yard and actually there may have been as both dogs took off running for the barn at full speed barking all the way. They came back very pleased with themselves. Perhaps a critter from the woods was sneaking up on the goats.
It is such a pleasant morning I was waiting for them to come back while sitting on the back stoop when the birds started their morning singing. I was going to head back to bed but if the birds are up, the coffee and the DAY may as well be started.
While lurking on facebook I see that Karin has uploaded her Africa video. So it was grabbed and posted here for all you viewers that aren't Karin's friend on facebook.

This will be many neat memories for mom and Karin for years to come.

Thai Birthday Dinner

The church was packed for Rachel's wedding the reception line was so long that we didn't feel there was enough time to go through that and still make Brian Ricketts' visitation in Fairbury, IL. As soon as David and Stephanie got to our house we loaded up and left for the visitation. We were through that line and on our way to Ben and Taunya's house by 3:30pm. Sarah had already made it so once Rhoda arrived we left for the Thai restaurant in Bloomington. We walk in and who should be there but Wayne and Carol Klopfenstein along with some family.
What a small world we live in. We had never eaten there, what a co-incidents that friends from Peoria would decide to eat at this restaurant the same time we decide to eat there. Addyson needed the lemon slice, not to eat but to play with.

After dinner Ben and Taunya had us over for icecream cake for Mark's birthday. What a good ending to a good day.

The Lord's Day

This is a special Sunday, Rachel Streitmatter's wedding is today, then we are also going to head over to Fairbury, IL for Brian Rickett's (Emily's dad) visitation. On the way home from that we will make a detour, stop in Bloomington, IL pick up Ben, Taunya and Addyson and go out to eat for Mark's 60th birthday. It was yesterday but we were too busy to celebrate it then. David and Stephanie will be riding with us but Rhoda and Sarah will drive separate. Phil and Anna are in Kansas for another wedding so won't be joining us. Anna's birthday was also yesterday so she is missing out. Her big news is she has been hired to work for district 150.
On the road by 6:15am and a big doe ran across Smithville road, then up the hill. There is something so beautiful about God's creation in the early morning. Her bright chestnut color stood out so clearly against the lush green grassy hill as she bounded up and then out of sight. At the farm the mares inside were fed first, then Jenis so she could be checked over. She is still leaving blood spots but is bright in her countenance and eating well. Her filly is amazing. She is very curious and brave following me around while I was checking out the paddock, then standing quietly for some scratching. Ylse's filly was playing in the stall today and would love to be outside with her sister except she is still favoring her right front leg. Today not as much as yesterday and she has not had any pain killer for 48 hours so she is probably on the mend. Steven Marchal left some weight builder earlier and that was added to Samantha's grain this morning. Nursing her big hungry filly is causing her to lose some weight. She was moved yesterday into the breeding shed paddock so she has no competition for her grain. Sanna wasn't happy being separated from her but Samantha is content.
Zephur was pulled out and brought over to Raven, she didn't show anything for the first couple of minutes then showed a little. As she was covered yesterday she was taken back to her stall. Both stalls were pretty much stripped and new bags of equine fresh bedding dumped in them.

Saturday's work

Emma and Darcy wanted to come to the farm this morning. This is the dogs trying to both fit in the back seat.

And this is how they ride. Darcy's face is always on the bottom with her body on the left and Emma's face is always on the top with her body on the right. Both with their faces between the 2 front seats watching so they don't miss anything.
The bigger Emma grows the harder it is to fit.
Mike picked up 3 horses from Middle Grove last night for his company coming in today. Rhoda wanted to use Bunni for the Ride for the Cure competition but Mike really didn't want to give her up so Rhoda borrowed Sunny for that endurance ride. Can you imagine a Haflinger in an endurance ride? They're not going to win any ribbons!
Both stalled mares were eagerly waiting for their morning hay by the time we arrived at 7:00am. Zephur is still in season and was covered, I actually needed Mark's help for this cover, she wasn't too willing to stand quietly today so she may be going out. Ylse's filly is still sore on her right front, thankfully she is still running a normal temp, this morning it was 101.6. Jenis' paddock had some blood spots on the ground. No fresh blood but this is something that needs to be checked by our vet. She may have a small piece of placenta still in her uterus. I checked it over and didn't see any tears before burying it but may have missed a small tear. Her temperature was also normal. On Monday I'll try to schedule the vet out to look at her, Ylse's filly and sonagram Samantha. Mark started working on the storm damaged roof when Mike came over to help this freed me up for mowing the fence line. The dogs followed me over to the cabin when Samantha and her filly were moved to the breeding paddock. Both dogs had to take a swim to cool off. By 1:00pm we were hot, sweaty and ready for home.

Jenis' Filly at 2 days old

After dinner Mark and I drove to the farm, Mark to work on the tree line and I had horses to care for. Once Ylse and Zephur were fed, the stalls were done and Samantha and Sanna grained, it was time to let Jenis and her fantastic filly out for some grazing. This filly has so much presence and is so photogenic it was actually hard to take a bad picture. She sure had fun running around. Notice the neck on this filly.






As we were pulling out a deer came out of the woods and into the field and just stared at us. I got out of the car to take a picture but she took off running and the picture was just too blurry to post.

Training the Boys

At the farm this morning, both fillies were up and playing in the stalls so both sets of mares and foals were put out into the far paddock and fed there. Ylse's filly is still tender on her right front leg but she does not have a temperature, it was 101.6 this morning and her soreness is definitely better than yesterday. Ylse and her filly were brought back into the stall, leaving Jenis and her filly out.
Zephur was covered again by Raven and she is standing very well. We are hoping she will be out tomorrow. She needed to have the mud hosed off her feet before going back into her stall. Ylse did not want Zephur looking at HER baby and let out a huge kick into the door and smashed a board off which needed to be nailed back on. Let's hope she doesn't do that again. Zephur was just standing in her own stall minding her own business. Steven Marchel showed up and was working Evan so the video camera was brought out. Once Evan was going well, he brought out Valiant, hooked them together and took off for their morning walk. I'm so impressed with how he handles the boys. Mike was worried they were going to get too strong for us but they both mind Steven very well. I asked Steven to take Evan out in the field to get a bit of lunging on the video. Evan did very well considering we have NEVER lunged him. I Just wanted a couple of rounds to show his fantastic movement.

We are so thrilled with how the boys are working together. They are already impressive as yearlings, how beautiful they will be as 2 year olds.

Emily's Dad

Emily Rickett's just emailed that her dad has passed away. The above picture was taken November 22nd, 2009. How hard it is to believe that Brian is now gone. He leaves behind his dear wife Marie and their 7 children, Emily is the oldest at 17. Please pray for this family.
The visitation will be Sunday after church with the funeral on Monday. Emily will email us the times.

3:00am Cleaning

The dogs started barking at 3:00am, Mark went down to let them out and Emma had a bad case of diarrhea in far corner of the playroom. He came back upstairs to let me know so it could be cleaned up. He really does love dogs but not enough to clean up a huge pile of stinky slimy runny disgusting dog manure. She must have gotten into the garbage and eaten the old brownies we threw away. Both dogs were sure there was an intruder somewhere in our yards, both barking and milling around by the door once Mark had them outside. They are such chickens of the dark. Both Darcy and Emma act so big and brave but won't go off the driveway just in case something jumps out at them.

Dog School Graduate

A trip back to the farm was in order, to meet Steven for putting iodine on Jenis' filly and checking Ylse's filly's temp. Mary Bennett came with us to meet the horses and play with Duke. Steven was working Wynne when we pulled in so he showed us how well Wynne is picking up the bow. Jenis' filly is so strong it really does take 2 of us to hold her in place for the iodine. Ylse's filly was feeling much better, putting weight on her leg and her temperature was down to 101.6. Their stalls were cleaned, buckets filled and more hay dumped while Mary was grooming Duke. She took a short ride on him but at 1:00pm we needed to leave, Addyson was coming over to visit grandma. Mike will just have to feed and water the 2 mares tonight, 2 trips to the farm today is all I want to take. Dog school tonight and Emma GRADUATES!

Emma Finally graduated from dog school. She was so exhausted tonight that she could hardly wait to get into the car. An hour of work and practice is just too much for her. At least most of the time she listens and tries to please. Tonight we played a dog form of musical chairs. Emma sat on a dog and was disqualified, Ebby came in second, she was closest to the tape (chair) but didn't sit as fast as the only other dog in the running which was also the dog Emma sat on. And if you can't read what it says, the close up is below.

Ylse's Filly

Left for the farm early this morning, just kind of anxious although trying not to be, knowing God is in control and every horse out there is His. Jenis and her filly were left in the stall overnight and they are doing great. Her filly is magnificent! Once Jenis was fed, they were turned out into the last pen for some exercise, she gave me quite a show. Then it was over to the cabin to grain the mares and check over the 2 foals there. Samantha's filly was running around irritating the two older mares where Ylse's filly was lying in the MUD. Once the mares were grained and they were getting their morning fly spraying, Ylse's filly didn't move away from the spray like usual. Sure enough, there was something to be anxious about, she didn't want to put any weight on her right front leg. Ylse and her filly were taken over to the farm, cleaned up and stalled. The filly's temperature is 102 which is considered normal so I don't believe it is an infection, I think she may have slipped in the mud and strained something although there are no swellings or bumps. She was given 1 cc of banimine and left inside. I'll have Steven check on her later this morning. Both fillies should have more iodine put on their umbilical stumps.
Mike helped get Zephur covered, she is still in big. Her owner was called to let him know. We had so much rain again yesterday and more is predicted today there is no dry turnout.

Zephur and MY bad accounting

The name of the Friesian mare in for breeding is Zephur, although I'm not sure of the spelling. She is in season big time and was covered once this morning but that is considered a clean out for Raven as he hadn't been used for a week. A trip was made to the farm around 1:30 to check over Jenis' filly, Ylse's filly, and grain Samantha.
Jenis seemed a little uncomfortable so she was given 3cc's of banimine under her tongue, then a trip home to pick up another 10ccs just in case she would go into a full blown colic. By the time I was back she was fine so the banimine was put away in the office. A chair and book were brought in the stall so they could be observed for a couple of hours. A huge storm rolled in with a lightning strike somewhere close by that caused all of us to jump, then a deluge of rain. Around 4:00pm the rain stopped so Zephur was brought out for the real cover. She was so in I could hardly get her to walk by Raven to the hitching post. When Raven is brought over, she panics and won't accept him. The rain starts back up and after trying for 15 minutes getting soaked and covered with mud in the process, Raven was put away and Mike was called. We will need to try again in the morning with 2 of us.
Yesterday was so busy trying to get work done without my main helper that I forgot to make a run to the bank with the deposits. I knew there would be an automatic withdrawal for the credit card bill paid on line and last night when I checked the account it was short a bit so I borrowed from Mark's account and did an on line transfer but I forgot we ordered more checks and that also was an automatic withdrawal of $48.00 so my checking account was overdrawn this morning by $35.00. A bank run was first on the job list on the way home from the farm but too late, I now have a $25.00 charge but at least all the payments went through. I HATE throwing away $25.00 because of my poor memory or laziness. I think this is the second time in my life I've had to pay and that is 2 times 2 many.

Jenis JJ's New Filly by RAVEN

What a beautiful surprise was waiting for me this morning at the farm. Last night Mike was called to see if he would put Jenis in the barn, storms were in the area and even though she wasn't due until the 19th, I didn't want to take a chance. The filly was up and nursing by the time I arrived. She is so strong, Mike could hardly hold her still for her iodine treatment.





Steven came out early this morning, helped me get some pictures of this strong little fighter, applied more iodine to the cord and then worked Wynne and the boys. The Friesian mare in for breeding is in season so Steven also helped with the cover.
The pictures below are of her. She is a purebred Friesian mare owned by Don and Pat Kummer. They should have a fantastic Friesian foal next year.