Day to day operation of a Friesian breeding farm standing 2 Friesian stallions. We have 6-10 foals each year out of Purebred Friesian mares, Andalusian mares, Thoroughbred mares and Friesian sport mares
by Judy Sceggel
309-208-3840
www.horsemeister.com
Lily gave birth to a very large all black filly at 10:20pm March 18th, 2011. The filly is very strong but as of 2:00am has not yet nursed. We are not out of the woods yet. She was given a bottle up near Lily's udder so at least she knows where to root around and we know she has had a good 8 ounces of colostrum. This is typical of Lily's foals as they all come early. Steven assisted in the birth, Lily was having a bit of trouble getting this huge one out while I video taped the birth and delivery of the placenta. I headed for home at 1:30am but will need to head back around 7:30am. Steven will work with her until 6:30am when he needs to leave for work. really tired!
The filly is only 12 hours old in the pictures below all taken by Rachel Sauder. She is AMAZING (both the filly and the photographer)! The rest of the pictures by Rachel were placed on Wynne's page on the website. The afternoon was busy. Cathie Trent brought Rachel's ducks to Bridlewood where they were loaded into the truck to take to the lake. Cathie keeps them over the winter when the lake is frozen. It was really funny watching Daisy and Donald greet Rachel. They were thrilled to take their 2 offspring and get back out on the lake. Lily and Wynne's stall were given a good cleaning along with their water buckets, then each mare fed. The 2 colts had a vet appointment for shots, coggins and health papers. Steven met me at the farm at 12:30 to load the 2 and get them to their vet appointment by 2:00pm. The supplies for the baby shower had to be purchased, the papers for 4 of the 2010 foals were filled out, hair pulled and a check for $55.00 included with each set of papers. Three were mailed and Caden's will be traveling with him.
Lily did not deliver last night. She does not like to share limelight with ANY other mares and would like all the attention on her baby once it is born so decided to make us wait. We will test her again tonight to see if her calcium level is rising. The night was relatively quiet, Wynne's new filly is doing great but sometimes bumps her mom's udder a bit too hard which causes Wynne to squeal. I slept in the trailer leaving Steven to call if Lily's water broke. Poor Steven didn't have a very good night at all. He wakes up with a mouse on his stomach. I got rid of the poison because of the chance of a dog eating it and now we have mice AGAIN! Mike is going to buy something to place the poison in that other animals can't get to. This morning Rachel Sauder of momentscapturedbyrachel.com came and took a few baby pictures which will be placed on the website soon. Friesian names must start with J K or L this year and as she was born on St. Patrick's day we are looking for a name that will fit. We are not used to looking at a purebred with a star but all of us this morning decided it makes her stand out and we LIKE it! Now for everyone wondering a star is perfectly acceptable in the Friesian world. Wynne's filly is absolutely exquisite, she has beautiful long straight legs, a refined Friesian head, her body is compact with a short back and a fantastic long neck. She should end up 15.3 or 16 hands, her coat is the blue black of Raven and so curly. She is for sale at weaning for $8000.00 or now with her dam for $18,000.00 and we will breed her dam back for free. That is 3 purebred Friesians at only $6000.00 per Friesian (2 for sure mares) Wynne RIDES, is only 4 years old and is a great mom!
Raven's first foal of the year is a beautiful purebred Friesian filly out of Wynne. We are thrilled to announce the birth of Wynne's brand new filly born at 7:30pm on March 17th, 2011. She was up and nursing by 8:40pm. She is beautiful and strong and we are thrilled. We pulled up at the farm at 7:30pm saw Wynne lying down, went to check and there she was in the process of delivering this beautiful filly. Mike carried the filly into the barn with Wynne following. This filly is strong! Steven had to hold her down while her umbilical cord was iodined and she fought like a tiger. Once he let her go she bounced back up and ran to her mom. Lily was brought in and she is testing between 250 and 350 which means a good chance she will deliver tonight. I'm heading back out to spend the night with the video camera.
Howard Herman sent me the clip above, I thought whoever made this video has imagination and a great sense of humor. ♣ ♣ An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding in Connecticut . The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car. He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?" "Just water," says the priest. The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?" The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!" ♣ ♣ Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney. "Did you see the paper?" asked Gallagher. "They say I died!!" "Yes, I saw it!" replied Finney. "Where are ye callin' from?" ♣ ♣ Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!" Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one." ♣ ♣ A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to Leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.' Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know.' 'You don't know? You're a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?' The doctor was holding the handle of the door; On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except his master was in here ,And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, But I do know one thing... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'
As soon as Wynne and Lily were turned out, Lily heads for the hay and Ciera heads for Wynne. Ciera has decided Wynne is her best friend. They try to spend some time over the fence grooming each other daily. Ciera would love to be in with Wynne, Wynne right now feels the same way about Ciera, she is her best friend but I'm sure as soon as Wynne's foal comes Ciera will be persona non grata.
All was quiet at the farm. Steven moved in a new bale for Raven and Sanna, we cleaned the mares stalls, then headed over for the walk. Dr. Hoerr was called to arrange bringing in Izadora's colt for a coggins test as today is now free except the appointment they gave me is 2:00pm tomorrow. This works out well for Cathie Trent. She has 4 ducks she wants taken out to the lake and will bring them in tomorrow. On the way back from the farm, at the corner of Old Lincoln and Baer there are three police cars with lights flashing. I'm trying to figure out if I can turn down Baer when I realize why the police are all there. Somehow someway a driver missed the turn and ran right through the fence into the neighbors yard. The police were there looking at the chain link fence wrapped over the top of the car. At least the doors opened and the driver was out.
The phone was on the headboard just in case Lily would go into labor and when it rang just before 5:00am in my mind I'm planning on how quickly I can get to the farm. Instead a man starts talking about being Michelle's husband and the transmission went out. It took a few minutes for my mind to wake up, get out of the panic mode and into real life to realize this means don't go to Iowa. Today Michelle and her husband were driving down from Minnesota and I was to start driving up from Hanna City to meet them somewhere in Iowa with Caden. Time for Plan B which will probably be the shipper coming through early next week. Caden will be kicked out of his deluxe stall and back into the foal paddock where I'm sure he will stay clean until then. NOT! Perhaps it will warm up enough to give him a real bath before he really leaves. No phone call from Steven so the mares must have had a quiet night.
Mom came home with me after church so Jessica could go to Culvers with the church dinner group. We stopped in at the house so I could change before heading out to the farm and Emma about knocked mom over she was so happy to see her. She LEANS into a person. We made it to the farm by 8:40pm, Steven had already brought the mares in. Wynne could not be checked, we just can't get enough colostrum out to test even though she seems full. Lily was checked and showing a calcium level of 90 which should mean we can go home and get a good night sleep but it's LILY and she has a habit of surprising us. She was acting different tonight, standing by the far end and she is sweating some on her chest both of which she did before some of her past deliveries. Steven is spending the night and will call if she goes in labor. I need a good nights sleep for the drive tomorrow to deliver Caden. I should have taken a picture of her tonight, Lily is HUGE.
We had a scare this morning and need prayers for Ruth and Fedi. Ruth called that the tests Fedi had showed a mass in his lung. Our prayer chain went to work, first of all praying no matter what Ruth could realize Fedi is in God's hands and praying that the mass is not what it seems. Emma and I went straight to work this morning after the walk. Emma was sure all those men at Meisters didn't belong there. After getting out hundreds of Bibles, all the chaplain requests and all of the individual request it was time to head to the post office then time to take Emma home. Phil, David Jacob and Mark showed up for lunch, once they were fed and another load of laundry put in it was back to the farm to check the mares and clean up Caden for his trip tomorrow. He will be meeting his new owner and we want him to make a good first impression, not go looking like a pig but a pretty colt. It was only 52 degrees when I arrived so he only got a spot bath but still was able to remove a lot of mud and comb out his mane and tail. Mike haltered him, led him around then picked up all 4 feet. Caden was good with the front, not sure about the back but finally let Mike pick them up. Mike held him while I pulled the hair for his registration papers. I hope his owner will be pleased, his mane and tail are way thick and long for his age. He is going to have the mega hair which is always impressive. Almost makes me want to re-breed Paris. Ayanna also got her hair pulled, I should have taken the time to pull Indy's and Izadora's colt, then all of those could have been sent in at once. Maybe this can be accomplished tomorrow before leaving for Iowa. Wynne's udder has really filled up. Tonight after church I'll head back out and stall Wynne and Lily just in case of delivery. The difference in her udder between yesterday and this afternoon was huge. Lily seemed about the same.
Choir was even more wonderful than usual. Wayne gave us the choice of songs. He told Robyn Feucht, our lunch server for the evening he would be quitting early around 8:30pm but the choir members kept requesting songs and finding ways to improve them, in other words we were having FUN! The last time singing Alpha and Omega was such a blessing, Bob Hoerr came up with some dramatic changes that make a great song fantastic. As choir went late we didn't head up to bed until 10:30pm. Both dogs were shut in Rhoda's room until 11:00pm when Emma started whining and when that was ignored HOWLING. She wanted to sleep in our room by my side of the bed. Once she was let out, things settled down until around 4:00am when Darcy, finding herself all alone decided she would come join our party and as long as she was up we should be up to. She was told "Go LIE DOWN!" which she did but at 4:30am Emma thinks we should ALL be up. She was also ordered to be quiet and go lie down. Then it was lie there and watch the clock until 5:00am when the day needed to be started anyway. The dogs miss the girls, especially the time Rhoda spends playing with them. We old folks are just not giving them enough attention and something is going to have to change. Our next dog is going to be a little dog like Howard and Nancy's Zadie Lou. Besides being a great companion, she steals money out of purses and could keep us fed. Diane tells us that it is just as easy to love a small dog. Today the Bibles should be able to be processed both for the individuals and for the chaplains. The weather is suppose to be sunny and warm. Once that is done it will be back to the farm to clean up Caden for his trip tomorrow morning.
The news broke on Wednesday night after church. Junior Roecker has decided to retire from grading the Berean Prison Ministry Bible studies. This news was such a blow to our program, such bad news, that it wasn't shared with the other workers until today. Junior, for the last 18 years has been grading these studies each week taking hundreds. What ever was left over for the week was sent to him. Wednesday night he was asked about how many did he estimate he grades each week and the answer was staggering. He said, "based on the amount of stamps I buy probably around 500." Now that is not just 500 pages of paper, the studies come in sets of 3 and are double sided. That means he is grading 3000 pages a week. How will we ever replace Junior? Talking to Eva Jean today we figure it might take 20 people willing to grade to even try to replace him and we can foresee the studies piling up into a mountain. We finished processing today's studies after 11:30am but were not able to get the Bibles UPS'd out, the rain kept coming so after our very spirited discussions at lunch I just headed home to work on transportation plans for Caden. Caden will now be transported on Thursday instead of Friday. Tomorrow he will need to be cleaned up as much as possible for his trip to his new home.
Old news for most but relatively new for us. We are shocked and saddened by the terrible devastation in Japan. We were in St. Louis on Friday when it happened but as we don't have a television and don't get the newspaper we didn't know to search for the news on the internet. On Saturday was the World relief meeting and heard a bit but didn't realize how bad. Monday some time was spent on watching videos of the tsunami and earthquake. Diane told us this mornings news was pretty bad with nuclear reactors melting down. Pray for the people of Japan. Met Steven leaving the farm as I was pulling in early this morning and got the report on Lily and Wynne. Both mares spent the night quietly in stalls, both enjoyed the straw bedding. This morning when they were taken out there is straw in their tails, on their backs in their manes so they obviously laid down during the night. Steven checked on them during the night, then had their stalls cleaned nicely before leaving for the day. Once they were checked over they were put out for the day. It started drizzling during the walk and is a cold 34 degrees but a warm-up is coming.
Hello Judy I just wanted to tell you that Autumn is doing great! She is so loveable and easy to get along with, and a pleasure to be around!! I had to laugh at her this morning, as I watched her as she tried to open the stall door! She cracks me up! One of my passions is photography,,,and this morning I was taking pics of Autumn as she was eating hay and I thought this one was kinda neat, thought I would send it to you.... I will keep you posted on her dressage training and send you pics once in awhile!! Talk to you later Gail Thanks Gail for the update we would love more pictures and so glad you are enjoying her.
The stalls were cleaned, Lily and Wynne put in and then it was time to try to test their milk. None at all would come out of Wynne. The last time checked it was pretty clear and she is more bagged up but after trying for about 5 minutes finally gave up and moved over to Lily. Lily was able to be tested and no calcium is showing up at all. Steven is still going to bring straw and perhaps spend the night. As I was driving out, the foals were taking a nap. Very quietly tried to sneak up and get a picture and I'll let the pictures tell the story. Below is Caden and Indy And Indy checking out the camera. Ayanna was taking a nap just outside the barn of course the same thing happened with her. Please don't look at the ever present mud, the kids are healthy and happy and so very HAIRY. We will be glad when they can be moved to the beautiful green pastures of Middle Grove.
This wasn't going to be shared but after trying to explain to my mom what happened, here goes. Dressing each Sunday is not a big deal, I have one outfit for cooler weather and one outfit for warmer weather. Yesterday in church I had on my outfit for cooler weather, it is not that old maybe only 5 years but because here in IL we seem to have more cooler weather it gets worn more than the summer outfit. I'm sitting up near the front, put my glasses on (I'm near sighted, not bad enough to wear bifocals but want to see the ministers expressions) then take my glasses off when we head in for lunch. I usually wait the first shift. Jan sits down to be waited on and comments on my glasses. She tells me, "I didn't know you wore glasses, I saw someone sitting up in front with YOUR clothes on and thought, Who is that person Judy gave her clothes to and WHAT IS Judy WEARING?" I'm trying to explain this to mom this morning after the walk and she keeps interrupting, who did you give your clothes to? When mom finally figured out the story we burst out laughing. So the moral of the story is, time to find some new Sunday clothes! Hopefully garage sales will start up soon. I don't know why men get to wear the same suit every week but when the women do it is noticed. Not fair! At the farm, Wynne is very bagged up. Once home the foaling predictor kit was pulled out, I'll be heading back to the farm to test her milk.
The hired equine transporter can't be here until next week instead of this week which kind of threw a monkey wrench into the plans for our Gulf Shores trip Saturday. After talking to Caden's owner we are tentatively making different arrangements. We will plan on meeting just past Iowa City on Friday. His papers were put in order yesterday, just have to pull hair and include the $55.00 check for registering him. The only 2 other problems, would be leaving Wynne and Lily if they haven't yet delivered. I don't know whether to pray for them to foal out before leaving or hold the pregnancy until after the 26th. Yesterday afternoon papers were also filled out for Ayanna, Independence, and Heathcliff the new name for Izadora's colt. It actually is not simple paper work so gets put off until there are a few uninterrupted hours that can be devoted to filling out the 4 pages for each foal carefully. I still need to make a copy of Izadora's Trakehner papers to include with Heathcliff's and pull hair from each of those foals. At $55.00 to register each foal it is important to go over the paper work carefully. The FHH registry raised it prices from $40.00 last year to $55.00. Hope it doesn't continue to climb although it is still much cheaper than FHANA at $225.00 per foal then $130.00 a year to be in the registry. Steven is bringing in straw for the foaling stalls. It makes a nice soft bed for the mare to foal out and is better for a new baby than pellets but is so hard to keep clean. He is also making plans to stay overnights. We will try a baby monitor from the stall area to the office where there is HEAT. No freezing this year!
Yesterday Steven moved Izadora and her colt over to the foal paddock to help the colt get used to his new buddies. Today Izadora was moved and the colt left in the foal paddock. Izadora is patiently waiting by the gate for someone to move him back and the colt is calling. We will see how it goes, usually we want to move the mare out of hearing distance but weaning went well with Ylse this way. Church today was awe inspiring. To hear the Spirit work through our ministers... how can we not listen, how can we not hear and how can we not see how great is our God. How can we not be down on our knees in reverence and thanksgiving being adopted into God's family while we were yet sinners. We don't dare come to him saying, "You need me in Your family, I can do so much for You." We come as broken hearted people asking to be saved from our own wretchedness. I wish all could hear what was spoken today, even those with hard hearts. My eyes are tired of weeping. To every season there is time for both tears and joy. Today I will rejoice in the JOY of my salvation through the shed blood of our loving Jesus Christ.
We set all of our clocks back when arriving home last night which is suppose to help in the morning but it ISN'T HELPING. Dragged myself out of bed at 6:00am and stumbled into the pitch dark laundry room to throw another load in. It is now 7:00 and I should be leaving for the farm but can't make myself leave the heater and cup of coffee. Perhaps by 7:30am after 2 cups of good strong coffee I can be on my way. This is one minor convenience of not living on the farm. Someday we will be out there. Last night we were visited by John the Ghost. Rhoda is at her new apartment and Sarah is on a work team helping with the flood damage in Nashville leaving Mark and I empty nesters. That's us and the 2 dogs. The dogs were lying quietly in front of the heater, Mark was in the dining room working on books and I was here in the playroom on the computer when something crashes in the kitchen. When checked there are 2 metal hairspray cans that were on the marble counter and both have jumped off the counter on to the floor. By this time it was close to 9:00pm (really 8:00pm) and both of us are exhausted so head up to bed. We get to the top of the stairs and see the projector is missing from the ceiling just the wires are hanging down and the WI game is turned on and buzzing. The power was pushed to turn off the buzzing sound then I head into the laundry room to start a load of towels. Mark hears a sound and says,"aren't you going to turn that buzzing off?" The game turned itself back on. Of course he thinks I didn't know what I was doing when it was turned off the first time but I watched the light go out and the buzzing stop. That's when we start blaming John the Ghost. He is the perfect scapegoat for anything broken or missing. He sneaks up the stairs from the basement and hides important things like keys, hairbrushes and purses. He breaks glasses and bowls when no one is around. He empties the garbage out onto the floor spreading it throughout the kitchen hallway study and living room (oh wait that might be Emma). Mom was very gracious to drive over and check the mares this morning saving me a trip out. She called to tell me they are VERY pregnant and no babies.
I was blessed to be asked to help serve at the AC World Relief meeting today at the Peoria Fellowship Hall. Blessed not just to be serving but getting to hear each speaker talk about a mission AC world relief supports. It was amazing to hear the successes and failures, the trials but praises to go along with the tribulations. Tim Reinhard was actually the first speaker, he started with, "I just visited the cemetery and had my left and my right hand each placed on my 2 son's tombstones, and today is Gabriel's birthday." As he started to sob the entire audience started sobbing in sympathy with him. Tim was able to compose himself enough to go on and graphically explained the situation in Haiti since the earth quake. One of the amazing things that actually happened months before the earthquake was the filling of the containers. Tremont was sending a container with piping for the well project. The piping was 2 foot to long for the short container and asked Tim if they bought the longer container, could he fill it before shipping it. Tim went down to our Berean warehouse where skids of sheets, bleach, soap, walkers, and crutches had come in. Tim took truck loads to the container, when it arrived in Haiti months later, Joan took one look and said, "Tim, what were you thinking?" Why do we need skids of these things. Three days later the earthquake hit and the word went out they desperately needed sheets, bleach, soaps, crutches and walkers. God's timing was perfect! We heard from the co-ordinator of the Jamicia missions, the many deaf villages, schools, and orphanages. We heard from the people running the World Relief Child Sponsorship and found out we are sponsering children in Zambia, Guatamlia, Mexico, Haiti, Jamacia and I'm sure I missed some. He actually talked about our child's (Jose Sanjay's) murder, how the teachers were the ones that had to identify him, no one else came forward to claim him and then at his visitation how his cousin was murdered in front of his mom. Bill Shick came up from the orphanage in Mexico to plead for prayers. He had pictures up and told us about each child. Bill just adopted 2 girls and is in the process of adopting 2 more of the orphans. He told us how the adopted children are just as precious and loved as his own children. This is how it is to be God's adopted child, we are just as loved as Jesus. Spark and Uncle Ed came to talk about Berean and brought with them 2 that had been in jail and prison, converted and are ministers now 15 years later. Both of these men told how they met the Lord at the Peoria county Jail through a Bible Paul Meister gave them. There were 3 or 4 other speakers but I missed hearing them when we were working on either serving or clean-up. The entire day was just amazing. Diane, mom and I left at 3:45pm to head to church to set up for lunch tomorrow. Mike and Diane are serving. Ruth came with her 2 boys. Mike and Rhoda were already there working and Gina, Mike's sister came a bit later. We were done in less than an hour with so much good help. Mike, Karin and Rhoda took Mika, Dalia and Jewel to Sandridge State Forrest for a trail ride. Karin was called for the report as she rode Dalia for the first time. She said Dalia is green but very light both in the mouth and on her feet. By the end of the ride Karin was really enjoying her. Dalia wants to please and is not at all a spooky horse. Rhoda rode Jewel and was very pleased with how she acted. Jewel was rounding down for Rhoda and also listening, trying to please. Rhoda feels Jewel will not be quite as fast as Grace but then Grace was a race horse and Jewel is half Friesian. Steven called from the farm that he feels Wynne will deliver early next week and Lily by Friday. He brought both of those mares plus Sangria into the indoor arena and gave them each a good groom. All in all it was a great day.
