Video of the PUPPIES For SALE

These puppies were born Thanksgiving morning and are just so adorable. Their mother is Arrieta, a Multipoo and their dad is HUX, a King Charles Cavalier. There are 2 males and 1 female and are for sale to a loving family for $1800.00 each. Sarah took the video below of them playing with each other.

The female puppy is the dark red with the white on her nose, face and forehead. The other two are males. Listen to them growling at each other on this video. SO CUTE! Please visit our website for more pictures. If interested in any of these puppies you will need to contact Sarah directly 309-208-1589

Unhappy at Christmas Time

I wasn't going to blog about this but was praying for the girl last night and this morning.  She must be terribly unhappy.  On the way home from church last night I got a Facebook message from a lady that also has a beautiful Friesian stallion only this one is RED. He is gorgeous and we were thrilled when she was willing to bring him to the IL Horse Fair.  Her horse was also attacked as not having quality but just so you know what it is that the people are making derogatory comments about, below is Laura's rare red Friesian stallion Redman

Beautiful color and wonderful conformation. What could be the reason to criticize this horse or his owner?  Laura, his owner works very hard to produce the very best foals possible and she has done it ALL BY HERSELF. She had a dream and has worked hard to make this dream come true. She provides well for her horses and is willing to share them.
Below is what she sent by messenger:
Hey my friend I am just letting you know this chick is being hateful about you on Facebook here is what posted back there was way to many to comments. This chick is the one that started it.
I read through some of the comments and just had to chuckle.  The person that started the thread is actually from Tremont, is young and probably pretty troubled but the gist of what she wrote was how horrible the riders are at Horsemeister and what cheap tack we use.  She also (I don't know this for sure as I am not a part of the group she was posting on, but was told) used the pictures I had posted.

IF the girl from Tremont was complaining about the cheap tack used on Galena I will just tell you that surcingle is a professional vaulting surcingle and cost well over a thousand dollars.  A surcingle is not like a saddle and it is much harder to sit a buck without stirrups so no one could criticize Karin's horsemanship as she controls Galena. Hard to imagine being so unhappy during the Christmas season. 

Below is the video showing the Horrible Horsemanship.

Well my answer to Laura was this: "Oh how funny. She is from Tremont, IL. It's ok, she is right about how not well schooled the riders are.  We let people ride that don't really know how.  We just make sure the horses are well enough trained that they don't fall off.

Our goal here at Horsemeister,  besides producing quality foals and having happy customers, is to promote these horses and give people a chance to show who would NEVER have the opportunity otherwise.  These riders haven't had expensive lessons, most don't own their own horse or have their own tack BUT did you notice NOT a SINGLE one FELL OFF! Disclaimer Nolan fell off of Eliza on purpose in the video above when he was "killed" by the sword.  Now not all of the horses in that video are well trained, this was Rosalie's very first time showing and she was just a 3 year old. Rhoda was willing to take her for the experience but if you have ever been to the IL Horse Fair it is obvious the horses are happy and the riders are having a great time. 

I will continue to pray for Audrey and pray she finds peace and most of all finds the One she needs the most, the Lord Jesus who loves her so much he died for her. 

They Have Volume

Anna and Gertie picked me up this morning to drive to Farmington for Kensley's Christmas program.  She is in Bright Futures there and it was amazing to see how big this class was. The kids did very well performing for lots of parents, siblings and grand parents. My phone didn't take the best pictures as I couldn't hold it still enough but Kensley is the 12th child from the left.

The video below is the class wishing us all a Merry Christmas.

We had another beautiful day.  Below are a few pictures of the weanlings as I was feeding them.

Above left to right is Tatiana's colt and Zalena's colt and below is the back view of Zalena's colt and Tatiana's colt.  They have become best friends. 

 Roxanne's filly and Missy's filly are in the picture below. 

 I also took pictures of the other 3 but they are on the phone and didn't come out well.  Karin, Rebekah and Faith arrived to work on Galena's training. Rebekah is warming up Valiant while Faith is cantering Galena for the warm up. 

 They did the same exercise as before where they rest the horse in the middle while the other horse works around them only this time Faith was asked to do some vaulting tricks on Galena while she was standing.

 Galena did very well today double but when Faith was asked to ride more on her rear end she threw in one buck. 

 Karin stopped the trot and had Galena walk while Faith moved back again. Galena did not buck at the walk even though Faith was sitting quite far back. 

 By the time they finished Faith was able to even move back with the trot without Galena reacting. Rebekah also got a turn to practice some vaulting moves on Galena. 

By the time we finished Mark was home from work. These sunny relatively warm days working outside make me tired. After supper Mark and I were sitting on our chairs in the living room watching the news and both of us fell asleep. I awoke at 6:05 pm and was shocked, woke Mark and both of us scrambled to get out to the car in time to pick mom up for church.  Tonight was our special Christmas service at the Fellowship Hall. We started with Christmas Carols, the choir sang, Caleb had the message then the choir got back up to sing 2 more songs ending with the Hallelujah Chorus. This was a wonderful evening.

Not Meant For Me

I quit the walk after the first round as today is Berean day and even though I arrived at the Berean office a few minutes early there already were volunteers ready to work just waiting for the mail to arrive. If you would like to read about our morning there click HERE.
I had one stop to make before getting home today but when I arrived home it was sunny and almost 40 degrees. Perfect for working outside. When Karin arrived Valiant and Galena were brought into the indoor arena. While Karin worked with one I would groom the other just trying to get some of the thick mud off of them. Yesterday they were groomed but both must have rolled again in the mud.  Both did well today. No pictures as I was too busy working.  The weanlings are all doing great. The two colts (Zalena's and Tatiana's) are working out perfectly together.  They are glad to share buckets and best of all they don't pick on each other.  I had tried Roxanne's filly with Zalena's colt when we first brought them in and she was bossing him around picking on him so that only lasted a few hours.
Sarah posted a  picture today that just had to be shared here. Today is Nolan's birthday so Zion left for a slumber party with her cousin Iris. Below she is all ready to go with her cloths all packed.

I haven't heard how the slumber party went, hopefully the two little girls actually slumbered for Rhoda and lee.
I had a phone call from a man interested in Tatiana's colt. He was speaking Spanish but was able to speak some English. As soon as he hung up a text came through and this is what it said, "no puedo habiar. Le devuelvo la liamada en unos minutos."  Since I can't read Spanish I copied the text and sent it to David my oldest son.  He sent back pretty quickly, "I can't talk. I will return your call in a few minutes."  Well those few minutes stretched into a few hours but I figured he would get to it when he could and wasn't worried. I also was surprised he would feel the need to call instead of just texting the answer. Well David NEVER did call.   Do you get it?
I don't think the original text was meant for me.
A picture came in from Katherine, the lady that bought Zalena's 2017 colt by Evan. She wrote, "Kind and sweet and so mature for a yearling"

Sure hope her 2018 colt ends up as beautiful but for sure he will be as sweet. Zalena throws such amazing well behaved beautiful foals. 

In NEED of a Stock

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning as I was heading toward the walk. Rhonda took the picture below.

What a beautiful start to a Monday. Right after the walk and after the horses were fed it was time to start working the weanlings. They had been in stalls since bringing in for weaning on Saturday. Roxanne's filly was the first foal worked.  She was tied and groomed in the stall. She had a few burrs in her mane and tail and also one in her ear. She was excellent standing quietly even while tugging on the one inside her ear.  Valiant just seems to throw very sweet trainable foals. Her registered name is Giselle. She was taken out to the round pen and asked to move for pictures so I could update the website. She moves very nicely and it was easy to get a picture with all 4 hooves off the ground.

However those kinds of shots don't make the best conformation shots. She is a well built filly and the picture below shows how nicely balanced she is.

She was tied so her legs could be handled and she stood well for that also. 

She was taken into the outdoor arena, given a leading lesson and another tying lesson.  I was just so very pleased with her behavior. 

Giselle was born July 7th and is now considered weaned. She inherited the mega hair from her dam, check out that tail in the picture below.

She is only 5 months old and already it is down to her hocks, thick and bushy. She is exactly what people want, a well behaved Friesian with HAIR! She is available for purchase for only $8000.00.  She is a good investment as she can make her purchase price back with her very first foal. She was led back to the stall and Missy's filly taken out. She was also groomed first and had practice leading in the indoor before taking her out to the round pen. Her sire is Evan and every one of Evan's foals have that BIG movement.

 She is a very fancy mover and her owner will be well pleased.

She was just taken right to the paddock instead of a stall then Roxanne's filly taken out to join her. They were initially put in with the other three weanlings but that didn't go very well. Foxy's filly was chasing them around until they ended up standing at the back of the paddock while the other three were in the shelter eating hay.  Tatiana's colt was then taken out. I couldn't find a halter that fit him and he ended up with a much too big halter for his tying lesson.

 He was led out to the round pen and that ugly halter removed before taking a few pictures. He too moves nice and has a lot of hair.

He was put in with Zalena's colt then grained. Both boys were so happy for the companionship they were eating out of the same feeder.

Karin arrived after work and helped me move the three older weanlings out of the far paddock into the middle paddock leaving the far paddock for Giselle and Amelia. Once they were all eating we pulled out Galena and Valiant for training.  Karin had Faith and Rebekah come to help with that today.  They started with round penning the 2 horses in the indoor then Rebekah got on Valiant while Faith rode Galena for the warm-up.

 Karin had them do an exercise where one stayed in the middle while the other cantered around both directions. 

 Then came the real reason for today.  Galena hates to be ridden double but with vaulting we need to have 2 and 3 vaulters on at the same time. Karin had Faith behind her as she asked Galena to move and did that ever make Galena mad. She tried her best to throw them off. 

 Good thing she isn't very athletic. After realizing Karin wasn't going to stop or get off she finally settled down and gave Karin a nice trot. 

 They finished up with letting her stand in the middle resting while Faith and Rebekah did some vaulting moves at a stand. 

Mike took Ripper and Indy out yesterday and discovered the stock trailer has some major problems. It cannot be used without some extensive repairs.  We will plan on purchasing another stock trailer next spring but our specifications are non negotiable and 14 years ago we actually had to have ours special built.  We must have at least 7 feet tall, 6 feet wide, 18 feet long, a middle divider, an escape door at least 3 feet wide in the front section and it must be a bumper pull.  So far we haven't found a used one with those dimensions and may have to have another built. I have the 2 horse hooked up for any emergencies right now. I ordered 20 more small halters on Saturday, hopefully they will be here soon. 

Celebrating Christmas Early

Today was our Sunday School Christmas program. After church we all met at Phil and Anna's to enjoy a meal, together, sing happy birthday to Jesus and exchange gifts. Christmas is all about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His birthday is usually celebrated on the 25th of December but this year it worked out for most of us to get together today. This year the Texas Sceggels were not able to come as they came for Thanksgiving but the rest of the family enjoyed our afternoon and evening together.

Taunya's dad came over to pick up a few items for Taunya for when they go to the Ark encounter next weekend and we were able to Marco Polo Taunya and say hello to the kids. If interested in seeing the rest of the pictures click HERE.  After we finished Joan sent a text that anyone who wanted to there was games at mom's. I showed up a little late and joined Joan, Ruth and mom.  Berlica and I were partners and ended up winning by over 100 points.  She really made the difference as the last time I played I lost miserably. 
Rhoda and Lee took Nancy home as she lives in Morton which is almost on their way home to Bloomington. I still need to get up to the barn to feed and fill water buckets for the 3 weanlings that are stalled. Hopefully tomorrow I can get updated pictures of them as they are still reasonably clean from being at Middle Grove.

Weaning Day for Three

Mike had a trail ride scheduled to leave here at 9:00 am for Sandridge State Forest but we had a few problems one of which was a low tire on the 2 horse trailer.  Thankfully Mike has a compressor on his truck. Diane says he has everything needed on that truck.

Below the four horses going in the stock trailer are tacked and ready for loading. 

 Karin drove the truck with the 2 horse trailer loaded with Ayanna and Rosalie while Mike took the stock trailer loaded with Missy, Cookie, Mika and Sally. 

Shaeya and Diane sent back a few pictures of the ride. The picture below was taken by Shaeya as those are Ayanna's ears. 

They stopped for lunch and to let the horses rest.

It was such a beautiful sunny WARM day for December 15th with the temperature rising into the 40s.  If you would like to see the rest of the pictures they sent click HERE.  After the ride they drove straight to Middle Grove to drop these 6 horses off and pick up the 2 foals still out there for weaning.  That went perfect. Shaeya snapped the picture below of the herd after we had loaded the 2 foals.

I had arrived about 30 minutes before the trucks and trailers got there and hiked out to find the horses. They were at the far end of the property so I had Mike bring the stock trailer to the far gate.  With his, Karin and Shaeya's help the foals were in the stock trailer and headed back to the farm within just a few minutes.  Roxanne's filly by Valiant and Tatiana's colt by Valiant are now in a stall and have joined Missy's filly by Evan for their weaning and none of them are happy.  They actually aren't doing too badly, no water buckets spilled and they are all eating hay and grain but every once in a while calling out in hopes their mom's will answer.  The dams were also calling but they are back at Middle Grove and out of ear shot.  Hopefully Monday I can get updated pictures of all three of them.  What was funny was the 2 foals we brought back today look almost identical (Valiant stamps HIS looks on his foals). Karin asked, "How are you going to tell them apart?" she didn't realize one was a colt and one a filly.  I drove Shaeya home and on the way saw something unusual in the sky towards the west. It looked like a comet or meteor streaking towards earth lit up by the late afternoon sun.  I stopped to take a picture of it but only had my phone and it wouldn't focus on it I really need to be carrying the camera with me. Earlier a bald eagle flew right over the house and again I didn't have the camera. 

Phil came over this evening to help Mark with some wiring.

Now that the ceiling is exposed Mark wants to put up two recessed lights that shine right over our chairs. Us old folks need better lighting for reading in the evening.