Sissy Out Star In

Yesterday afternoon Karin arrived to help tease and cover mares. Sissy is now out but Star was in and covered by Evan. Once Star, Evan and Valiant were put away Karin wanted to work with Jenis and Indy only she comes walking out of the paddock with Killian. She obviously didn't look at the plumbing! Dee arrived to groom horses for Karin. Braelyn and Teagan arrived shortly after 3:30pm to play with grandma and grandpa. They kept us so busy we didn't even think to get out the camera. Amy Koch arrived and could hardly get through the door, the dogs were so glad to see her. Mark went out to move in a couple of round bales just as soon as there was enough daylight to see. We only ended up moving one bale, Lily's still needs a day to finish up her last bale.

Helen's Family

It looks like Helen will be traveling to Colorado. Her new family pictured above are going to drive out to pick her up at a later date. Cortney writes: Dear Judy, I found your website while looking at your add on draftsforsale.com. I began looking over your website and all your beautiful Friesians. It has been a dream of mine since I was a child to own one of Gods most majestic horses! All horses are majestic in their own way, but I have always loved the fairy tale demeanor of the Friesian. I think they are the epitome of beauty! I came across Helen and she has stolen my heart! What a beautiful, sweethearted mare. She has such a strong, kind look about her. I kept thinking of the name Faith. " Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 I have worked with other disabled horses in the past. One that was completely blind in both eyes and one that was blind(missing entirely) his left eye. I was so amazed and inspired by those horses and their ability to thrive, despite their disability. They both excelled at being trail horses and each had such a huge amount of trust in me. I was thinking how awesome it would be to work with Helen and use her has an encouragement to children and adults with disabilities. I think her strengths and beauty would speak volumes! And bless everyone that meets her. We live in the high mountains outside of Kremmling, Colorado. Our house is at about 8500ft. My husband, our 3 kids, our dog Kali, and 3 rescued horses live on our small ranch. I stay at home and home school our children, 5,3, and 1. We are Christ followers (we attend a Bible Chapel with about 50 other local ranching families). We are just trying to be His hands and feet to those around us. I have just read some of your blog and feel like we have a lot in common. I am the 3rd oldest of 8 kids. I have 5 brothers and 2 sisters. We were all home-schooled and raised on the word of God. I have always been the biggest horse lover in my family. I grew up in upstate NY and began working with horses at the age of 13. I used to clean stalls for a herd of 80 horses in exchange for riding lessons. I took English and Western lessons there until I was 18 and was practically running the barn. I moved out west after two years of Bible college to work on a dude ranch. I met my husband while working there and we decided to stay here. We have lived here the past 6 years. A brief view of my life story! :) Our horse Canyon, is a mustang/quarter horse who was badly mistreated. He has come so far! From being head-shy and nervous anytime we were around, to being the first to greet me at the gate in the morning and an excellent trail horse. I practice natural horsemanship( Tom Dorrance/ Buck Branaman) and think being consistent and showing lots of love can go a long way! Our other two horses are miniatures. They are the love of my 3 kids lives now. Getting loads of carrots and good grooming sessions! I have Google mapped it and you are about 15 hours and over 1,000 miles away. We have good friends who live nearby in Congerville, IL. He is a reining cow horse trainer. He and his wife moved there from here, over a year and a half ago. I could guarantee you Helen would have the best home and care available. With lots of gentle training and loads of love. I do appreciate your time!! Blessings!! Cortney Schaefer How could I not sell her to such a sweet family!

Help, Lots of Help

One of the best things about being from a big family is when there is work to be done. Last year Diane and Mom helped with Family outreach, this year they are both on a cruise. A little worried about getting everything done tonight I just mentioned it at choir and that's all it took. There was plenty of helpers tonight. Many many hands made for light work. Note to self, don't buy so many biscuits next year! We had just about the right amount of chicken, salad, green beans and dessert but WAY to many biscuits. I thought some of the kids might eat 2 each but most only took one and some took none. Out of the 175 baked I brought home over 50. Anyone want to stop in for biscuits and gravy? Dee, Olympia's owner came this afternoon and once she finished working with Olympia she was good enough to groom up some of our horses. What a help that is, the more they are groomed before the fair the easier it will be to bathe them at the fair. Lily was tested again tonight, yesterdays reading was 125, today's was 150. She is making progress but hopefully will hold off until next week.

Trail Boys

Yesterday after the Berean work 200 pieces of juicy fried chicken from Kroger were ordered and paid for after work. Today a trip to Sams will be done to pick up the rest of the meal. When my niece asked what I was serving I replied, "a good old fashioned funeral meal" It is an easy meal to serve. Not that we are expecting a funeral, nope our Church is hosting family outreach and what goes better for a church dinner than fried chicken. Rhoda and Steven took the boys out on the trails yesterday. They were very well behaved. Valiant got work once they were done. Sissy is in season. Below Valiant is testing the air.

Rhoda also took Marika on the trails by herself. Steven brought Sissy into the arena for a quick groom, the saddled and bridled her. She has a long way to go before anyone actually rides her but is starting to accept and even look forward to coming into the barn by herself. Lily was brought into the stall area and her milk tested. She is testing at 150, meaning she won't go for the next few days. She was left inside but we must have forgotten to latch the doors. When I arrived back hours later to feed, there she is loose in the barn getting into everything she could. She was put outside and her messes cleaned up. Karin arrived to work the mares. I stayed to help. The funniest part of the entire afternoon came when she had Zalena and Ayanna inside. She was ready to start the trick training with Ayanna, Zalena was loose in the arena saw Karin working with Ayanna, walked over and climbed up on the pedestal, then looked over at Karin asking for a treat. Karin had to reward her. Indy was also really funny with the pedestal. She stood with her front feet on it for a while, we praised her, gave her a treat, then were just standing there visiting. Indy can't figure out to just back off, she climbs all the way up on the pedestal then steps off. The best part of the entire day came between 7:30pm and 9:00pm. Choir! We moved one round bale in the middle paddock this morning but another needs to be put in, both those were almost gone. The hog panels are working perfectly.

Marika to the Fair

Karin called after the vaulting practice to report the vaulters are now doing everything in the trot. She is so proud of them. Another she is most impressed with is Marika. Karin feels she is doing so well she is ready for the IL Horse Fair. Not to brag or anything but our horse trainers must be the best in the world if they can take an untrained horse and have it ready to show in a month with the weather we have had. Marika is pictured below one day after she arrived at the Horsemeister farm.

If Marika goes we have to figure out how to get her there, and of course we must have a red headed rider. The person in charge of stalls for the breed demo was called to see if there were any available stalls. He gave us the go ahead. The red headed rider part was a piece of cake, it just so happens my best friend has red hair! Isn't that amazing. Right about now readers are wondering, "whats with red hair?" Well our other three Friesian riders are Rhoda, Mykala and Emily who all just happen to be redheads. So Amy was called to ask if she was interested. Once she said yes, I bid on another red cape on ebay. Today after work the drivers license facility must be visited to renew the truck license plate and Kroger to pay for the chicken ordered for family outreach meal and Sam's for that meal's sides. Karin sent this to me today:

We are getting anxious to start our foaling season. Lily is bagging up and will be tested today. Below is Lily foaling Helen. This was just 17 days after having my hip replaced, Mark had to step in to help. How thankful I was to have a husband willing even though it was WAY off the charts of his comfort zone. At 55 seconds into the video you can see her one leg and nose, the other leg was not up where it needed to be and had to be brought up into alignment to help Lily birth Helen.

Cruise News

Mom called before 6:30am forgetting Florida is an hour later, to ask, "what boat did Mike and Diane go out on?" Apparently there is a Carnival cruise ship drifting at sea. Thankfully it is not their boat. Mom, Glenna, Leona and Carol were suppose to leave their hotel by 10:30 to board when they were notified not to leave. There was a drug bust on the boat as it docked in Jacksonville which put everything back hours. Once they were finally allowed to board and settled mom reported they had very nice lunch. They are now on their way to cruise the warm sunny Carribbean. The wind was bad this morning so bad it may have burned up the windmill motor. All morning and most of the afternoon the cold wind pounded the house and barns. The temperature is above freezing but staying in the 30s. The outside chores were done in a hurry to get back into the warmth. At least the temperature is suppose to start rising and stay in the 40s for the next 3 days.

Sissy's Education

This is the second day in a row Steven Marchal worked with Sissy. This is what he sent today: She did so well today. She stood quietly while i put the saddle pad on a few times and didnt care about the saddle. I also walked on the mounting block a bunch of times, leaned over the saddle and put my weight in the stirrup bunch of times.

Thanks for the pictures and updates Steven! It would be really wonderful to get her under saddle. She is a big stout mare that could easily carry some of our adult riders. We had a sweet day of fellowship starting with church, then dinner at David and Stephanie's house. Today the men served the women at lunch for Valentines day but I didn't figure out what was happening until later. Before church I went straight into the lunchroom to sign-up and was surprised to see the list put up in the case. I pulled it out, put it down to write my name on a slot then left it out for others to sign up. The only openings were 2nd shift waitresses. Not really looking at the names but enough to see the wrong gender down on some of the lines, I was feeling bad for Dean and Holly. Thinking they probably don't know that people will just come sign up each Sunday morning and asked some of the young guys to help. At David's class he announces we have 7 minutes left and a bunch of the guys stand up and walk out. At that point I'm thinking "I wonder if they are all ushers." Walk upstairs and see all the ladies are sitting and the men are ready to serve. Only then did I realize what the morning was about. DUH! Of course I was too embarrassed to show up for my second shift job.

Thankful for Stalls

Helen and Olympia are staying inside so Helen's leg can be treated. This morning waking to the sound of rain I was thankful they were in but not thankful for the walk to the barn. When we were living in the apartment it was just a few short steps from the bedroom into the stall area. Well no more, now it is a hike from the house to the barn. How spoiled I was and how spoiled I am to want that back. Here we are living in a perfectly nice farm house and I complain because of a walk in the rain. No more complaining allowed. Just thinking of everything to give thanks for is most humbling starting with the ability to walk, sing, work, then moving on to things such as houses, garages, apartments, barns, dry stalls and that's not even touching the living both animals and people and most of all the provision my Creator made when He, the God of all, became flesh, died for me, rose again, and LIVES! Wow, how can I not rejoice. Mom leaves this morning for the cruise with Leona Ivy, Glenna Pfledderer and Carol Scholl. They will enjoy sunshine and singing, someday Mark and I will spring for a Christian cruise, talk about a slice of heaven on earth. Yesterday afternoon was just about as productive as yesterday morning. Karin arrived to work with the mares. She has now started Ayanna, Indy and Marika on the pedestal.

Baby Bump

Mark and I started the work day early so early by the time we were ready to quit and have breakfast it was not even 9:30am. It just seemed so much later. The mats were laid in the last stall but still need to be trimmed, Helen was given her antibiotic then she and Olympia moved to the clean stall across the aisle which had been prepared the night before. Their old stall cleaned with fresh bedding laid. Hay brought in for the next 2 feedings. Mark is getting the garage behind the barn all organized but quit long enough to get the truck unstuck, the logs unloaded and split by hand. He isn't using the log splitter, he felt it was too much hassle to pull it out for just one pick-up load of logs. OK, I was impressed but perhaps that was the real reason since Valentines day is near. The split logs were hauled to the porch and stacked. Steven arrived as we were moving in round bales, one for the weanling paddock and one for Jenis' paddock. He groomed up Lily so I snapped a few pictures of her huge baby bump. Lily is not due for a month but is so huge it is hard to believe she will carry this pregnancy that long.

Pictures just can't capture how truly enormous she is, even this close up.

Pneumabort shots were given to Ribbon, Eliza, Marika and Zalena. Killian was irritating Indy and Ayanna this morning, thankfully he got close to Ribbon and she told him to quit being a brat in no uncertain terms. He is going to have to be moved out of the mare paddock soon. Perhaps Mike will let us bring Mika back as a companion for Killian since it didn't work out for him to be with the boys. Mika would put Killian in his place without trying to kill him. Once inside $208.00 worth of 2 kinds of dewormer were purchased Panacure and Strongid.

True Love

Darcy loves Rhoda. Today after Rhoda finished working with the horses she came in to say good-by to her dog. The pictures show what happened. First Darcy lays her head on Rhoda laps, looks up as if to portray her wish, "Please don't leave me."

Then she closes her eyes in contentment.

Mom joined us for a quick delicious dinner of chicken fajitas.

Start them Young

The sulfa was picked up at Hoerr Vet clinic around 11:00am and by the time I made it back to the farm Rhoda had already worked with Ayanna, put her back and was getting Eliza ready. Helen was given the first dose of medicine then left in the stall with Olympia. They will stay in for a few days to keep Helen's leg out of the mud. Dee, Olympia's owner arrived while Rhoda was riding Eliza and this was a good time to see how Eliza would behave with someone new. We were able to purchase Eliza only because her past owner was afraid of her. She is a big mare and had never been trained to respect people. She was also not trained to ride. Dee did very well with Eliza.

She felt comfortable enough to walk and trot her around the arena. Olympia was brought out next. She is such a smart filly, she figured out right away if she stands still the bag will get off.

Dee practiced leading her around teaching her not to barge forward. Olympia is learning respect, a great thing to teach while young. Her feet were picked up before putting her back in the stall with Helen. Olivia was next on the list. She is just not like any foal we have dealt with. Ususally when we ask a foal to walk on a tarp they are afraid and it takes a while to convince them it is safe. Not Olivia, the first thing she does is sniff it then paw it up into a bunch between her legs. She did this just about everytime we tried to walk her over the tarp.

Finally we just put it on her, and guess what? She stood!

Her feet were also picked up and handled before putting her away. By this time it was after 2:00pm and Rhoda only had time to do a very little with Zalena. She brought her into the barn and with no lead rope on asked her to bow. But...she left the grain scoop just a little too close and Zalena is just a little too smart. She figured out how to reach sideways with her bow to reach the scoop.

Karin's Letter

Karin was given an envelope from one of her little vaulters. She shared this with me, so cute it just had to be posted.

In case it is too small to read, this is what the note says: Dear Karin, I am so ecsited to come see ribbons baby be born. my mom said yes. I drew a picture I hope you like it. love, Shaeya Shaeya is our niece and has been vaulting since last year. All of the vaulters are very excited or should I say ecsited to be here when Ribbon foals. I'll need to order more mare predictor kits for this year so we can have an old fashioned birthing party starring Ribbon. Helen's leg is still swollen and infected. Hoerr Vet clinic was called to see if I could pick up some antibiotic but both vets are out on calls. Mike and Diane left for a cruise and mom leaves on Sunday for her cruise.

Trick Training

Today was hard, a cold rain, a stuffy nose, rattly cough and no energy. The camera was pulled out when Rhoda arrived but since I wasn't feeling well, I hit the wrong button and the pictures turned out not so good but they were posted below.. Rhoda brought in Eliza and just about then Steven arrived and brought in the boys and what happened next was amazing in my opinion. The boys were asked to pony Eliza without reacting. Below Steven is on Valiant leading Eliza. Valiant had to quietly accept her right next to him, then Steven asked Eliza to mount the pedestal.

Rhoda brought Evan over to mount, he loves doing tricks and was all ready to jump up in the picture below.

A successful mount up:

Steven asked Valiant to pop on next:

Next as long as Eliza was standing so still, Evan was brought over and asked to bow.

They finished up with both boys bowing under saddle.

Helen nicked her lower left hind and it has become infected. She was brought in the stall and the leg soaked in Epsom salts which mom picked up for me as she was already in town. Olympia was also brought in to dry off before her owner came. The rest of the afternoon I was huddled by the fire trying to dry off and warm up. Karin arrived then called when she was finished to report how wonderful the horses were doing. Olympia's owner arrived and Karin gave her a lesson in round pen reasoning and then a lesson on Zalena.

Stayed Home

Today was the day to catch up on the house cleaning and laundry. Not that I felt like working, if Mark hadn't called to say he was bringing company home most of the work wouldn't have been done. I've come down with a cold. The congestion, sneezing and coughing along with the nose that won't stop running or let the intake and out-take of air makes for all kinds of uncomfortable. Oh well this too shall pass. At least we have a clean house with scrubbed floors and clean clothes. Karin arrived late afternoon. To get as many horses done in her short amount of time allotted she worked 2 at a time, pairing a young one with an older mare. First up was Killian and Ribbon.

She determined this wasn't really fair to Ribbon. She tries so hard and he is such a tease. Poor Ribbon she was glad to go stand next to the heater while Karin focused on Killian.

Her next pairing was Jenis with Indy. That went very well. Karin found out it wasn't good to work 2 young ones, they feed on each other and make it much harder for each horse to focus. Indy was much calmer today. In the picture below Jenis is in front of Indy.

The battery of the camera gave out about then so there are no pictures of the last pairing of Ayanna and Zalena. Karin finished up with each of the horses working on the bow. After his company left, Mark borrowed the truck to bring in more wood and got it stuck. We are having milder temperatures and the mud is too much since the 4 wheel drive is still not fixed. Today is the first of 6 weeks of family outreach at the church. Diane had to leave early, she is a driver, Rachel had to leave early, she is a teacher while Mark drove mom. I stayed home so I wouldn't share my cold. So thankful we can listen on-line. What was really funny was the songs that were being sung as it connected. Oh Come All Ye Faithful was the first, then Silent Night. At first I thought I was listening to an older service then had to smile when I heard the kids yelling out numbers. They KNEW those songs! We had John Rasse from Tremont speak. Do we accept blame or do we try to pass blame to someone else. Why is it so hard to obey? He started with Adam and Eve in the garden then went to King Saul.

88 $450

Well Jemima the duck got 88 stitches and her owner a vet bill of $450.00. Was it worth it? It just depends on who is asked this question. Hopefully the owner of the dog will willingly pay the vet bill. Kind of hard to imagine an old duck being worth that kind of money. Perhaps she could claim pain and suffering for the loss of her husband and daughter. Maybe Cathie should consult an attorney. Eva Jean and I had a very good productive day at work. I arrived before 8:00am and Philip had the new printer all set up and ready to go. He went over all the information quickly and when the print button was pushed it was amazing to see how quickly the labels printed. The first batch was well over 100 and it spit them out in just a few minutes. We were able to finish processing the studies by noon and not just a few, we are talking around 600 pieces of mail. We didn't count but we know this by the amount of envelopes we went through today. Eva Jean had to take hundreds home with her as we didn't have time to finish but at least we got all the labels on the envelopes and the envelopes on the studies. Danny joined us for a late lunch. By the time I arrived home, Rhoda was in the arena working Ayanna. She used the round pen reasoning first, then asked her to bow.

I was thrilled to see how Ayanna responded. After working on the bow with great results, Rhoda popped on her bare back and rode her around the arena.

She is going to be a spectacular mare when full grown. Ayanna was put away and Zalena brought inside. After working on her bow, Rhoda had her work with the tarp. Zalena was willing to carry the tarp around the arena quietly.

The next exercise Rhoda asked of Zalena was interesting. Mark has the round bales set up as a obstacle course. Rhoda asked Zalena to walk inside, then back out which can't be done in a straight line.

But even more impressive was when she asked Zalena to back into that spot even turning the corner.

What a sweet mare, trying to do what ever Rhoda asked of her without a fuss. Next Sissy and Star needed to be teased. It is 19 days since Sissy's last cover. Neither of them showed, Star was put back, Sissy taken into the indoor by me while the boys were both brought in by Rhoda. They were wonderful, ignoring the mare standing in the arena while they worked. Rhoda had the boys side by side, asked Valiant to bow and they both went down at the same time. No pictures of that, I was holding Sissy. Once they were put away it was Sissy's turn to work. Sissy is very shy and not very trusting of people. We felt we had a break through today. She followed Rhoda without a lead rope, followed her as she was dragging a tarp around the arena, stood quietly on the tarp, walked on the bridge then allowed us to stick her while up there (she is 16.1 hands) and finally started the first of the bow training.

Karin arrived as we were putting her away. Karin brought out Jenis and Indy, then Killian. No pictures the camera had been taken inside to download the many pictures taken of the others.

What in the World?

Check out the picture below and just try to guess what this is:

Need some clues? Here are a few clues: She is alive and female, she lives here in Hanna City during the summer but takes a vacation each winter in Dunlap IL, she has been married for 7 years but was shockingly widowed yesterday, she also lost her daughter yesterday in a tragic double murder. The murderer lives close by, there was a witness to the murders but the murderer was not taken in to custody. Need still more clues: Her hobbies are swimming and eating. She, her husband and her daughter didn't get along with the neighbors when living in her summer home. She has never grown a speck of hair. See below for the full story of this poor pitiful survivor. Today was a typical Monday. Philip got the new printer hooked up in the afternoon, too late to print off the labels ready to go. The shopping was done at 3 different stores. TSC for 5 salt blocks, Aldi for bread and a few other items then Sams for dog food, fruit and dish washing liquid. Three of the salt blocks were placed in paddocks, the apartment heat turned up for the vaulting practice scheduled at 5:00pm, then the dreaded paper work finished for the 2012 stallion report. Karin's vaulting practice went well, her vaulters did the routine at the trot for the first time. Karin stopped in here after the practice for a late supper then showed me a letter one of her little vaulters wrote asking if they could come stay when Ribbon has her baby this April. Looks like the end of April will be a very busy month with 3 mares due right about the same time. Are you ready for the answer to who in the world is that in the picture? She actually has 2 names, she is called Jemima when she lives in Dunlap and Daisy when she lives in Hanna City. Her husbands name was Donald. Jemima, Donald and their daughter were attacked yesterday by a neighbors dog, Cathie Trent, with whom Jemima, Donald and their daughter were staying found the mutilated bodies of Donald and their daughter but could not find Jemima's body and assumed she had also been murdered. Thankfully Jemima was found alive, taken to the vet, her feathers plucked so the vet could stitch up the grievous wounds in her neck. Jemima aka Daisy is a duck.

Favorite Superbowl Commercial

I was sure the Clydesdale commercial would be the best of the super bowl after all Budweiser spent Four Million to tell everyone people love horses and horses love them back but was blown away by the farmer commercial. This one took the prize.

Ravens

Not that I'm interested in football since da Bears weren't playing but if there must be a winner of the big game it's great to see Raven's name up in lights. We had a really wonderful day in church starting with David's class. David asked us if we knew what the only man made thing up in heaven is, the answer was so humbling, the only man made thing in heaven are the scars in His hands, His feet and His side, which we caused. Craig Stickling had the morning service, since I was downstairs in class I missed it, but heard about it while serving during lunch at table number 5. Tim Funk had a very powerful afternoon service. After church I went to grab the cd of the morning service and they were already all gone. Probably everyone in the morning class grabbed them all during lunch. On the way home from church we needed to stop at Walmart to pick up Mark's prescription for his diabetes pills. We arrived to find they were out to lunch and the pharmacy wouldn't open for another 15 minutes. So we wait, and wait some more. Finally arriving home around 2:45pm. Rhoda and Mike took off for Middle Grove to ride Sangria and Sally. Both were great although they didn't want to cross the rushing creek. Diane hosted the super-bowl party. The food and fellowship was fun but the game sure took forever to end.

Too Big or Not Too Big

Last night a lady called from Texas supposedly about a mare but she really just wanted to pick my brain. Turns out she has a nice coming 5 year old FHANA Friesian stallion and is mystified why people aren't beating down her door to use him. The first thing recommended to her was to get him into Friesian Heritage Horse registry. She really needs a website and promote, promote promote. Most customers need to know their foal can be registered and want to see lots of pictures. During the conversation she made the comment, "it's easy for you, you have such a big name and every knows of Raven." That statement made me chuckle and had to be repeated to Rhoda who was still here when the phone call ended. So the name is too big? How could we possibly shorten Horsemeister? Today is the most looked forward day of the week around here. After 2 cups of coffee, the eyes and mind are still bleary, just not working properly, perhaps a hot shower will help.

Trail Ride

We woke up to a fresh layer of snow on the ground and 27 degrees. Mark helped move 2 new bales in the middle paddock, one in Lily's paddock and the small round bale into the weanling paddock all before breakfast. Rhoda & Karin arrived early, while in visiting Diane came over followed by Mike a few minutes later. This was a great time to discuss the training of Ayanna and Indy. Steven arrived during our meeting, got the boys out and called to report while riding Valiant, he asked Even to bow, lay down and sit with 100% success. Olympia's owner arrived as Steven was putting the boys away so he jumped in to help halter Olympia for Dee. Karin and Rhoda came out and helped clean the stalls then went into the indoor to start training while waiting for Mike to arrive with his 4 wheel drive truck for the trip to Sandridge State Forrest. Today they took Eliza for Karin, Jenis for Mike and Rhoda got the privilege of riding Ayanna for her very first trail ride EVER. They pulled away just as our next visitor arrived. Amy Klein and her husband Russel arrived to meet the dogs. Amy is considering a Mastiff in her future and wanted to meet the dogs and learn everything she could about them.

It might be my imagination but I believe she fell in love with Darcy and Emma spending a couple of hours getting to know them. The falling in love part was vice versa, the dogs loved all of Amy's attention. It wasn't long after Amy and Russel left that the trail riders arrived home from their very successful trip to Sandridge. Ayanna did great most of the trip, she started getting tired and threw in one buck when asked to canter toward the end of the ride but nothing Rhoda couldn't handle.