School bus sitings

Boy, do I ever wish that I had my camera this morning on my bus run. The first thing that caught my eye was a beautiful muley buck. He had to have been a 6 pointer, and was hanging out with his girls. A little further down the road, and in the ditch was some little trees that had been sprayed by the county, so they were more like sticks. About a half mile of them. And built on every stick a spiderweb.

The sun was shining through these most amazing spiderwebs. There were 100's of them, heavy with dew. The sun caught the sparkling dew drops, outlining each web. They were all different, like snowflakes, and they were all made lastnight. That's most amazing.

New babies

Had some baby ducks hatch last week, and the rowen's are hatching right now. Darn, but those babies are so cute.

We haven't been getting the rain some other places have been, thank goodness. Lots of hay that was cut way to soon and is now lying rotting in the field. People must be patient when cuttin hay and wait for a decent forcast.

Both boys are off the rest of the week, 4-h and Calgary, they will have lots of fun, and I'm going to clean while they are gone yeah! and maybe paint. Nothing like paint for freshening up a house.

We picked out some tile for bathroom, It's going to look great.

Been working with the horses, even though I haven't been riding much the last few weeks. Rosie has done a complete 360 degree turn around, and is now my pocket pony. She's still a little jumpy, but has come so far, I can hardly wait to ride her.

rain, rain, rain

Well, to make up for last year, we are getting a double dose this year. We had three inches yesterday, yikes!!! It is so green out there, but we have had terrible wind storms that have taken down lots of trees and wiped out fences.

Bill Roy and Ralph Livingston came all the way from BC to train horses for Lesa and I. They worked their hinies off, and did 4 horses at my house and 6 at Lesa's, 10 hours each. I am so pleased with the job they did, especially Rosie. The change in her is just remarkable. I learned lots, and can hardly wait to apply some of what I've learned to my own horse training. They even convinced me to ride with just a halter on!

Been getting lots of time on Wilbur, I've taken him out on the trails by himself now and he's doing just great! I'm really pleased with the progress he's making. He's going to make somebody a great trail riding buddy.

I've also taken Tara out quite a bit, she is turning into a wonder trail horse, I really enjoy riding her. Now to get to work on the others and get them trail ready! All my 3 and 4 year olds except for Rosie and Eddie, have now been backed and ridden. That's pretty exciting.

Had some anxious moments when Gord's mom was in the hospital, but she's doing much better now, and is back home with lots of family support. Hoping to treck down there next week for a visit.

New foal!

Scarlet finially foaled, a very cute red filly. She is a sweet little thing, super friendly! As she is my only foal born here this year, I can spend lots of time playing with her!!

No name yet, just havent' had time to think of one.

Mare Owners--check studs papers

This is happening far too often, the perfect stallion is advertised, you think he will be a perfect cross for you mare. You look up his pedigree and find that he is not in the owners name~!!!!! What is with that!!!

All mare owners should check with the registry that the stallion they want to breed their mare to is in the stallion owners name. It has been happening way to often, a stallion is advertised then a quick check reveils that the wrong name is on the papers. This can lead to huge headaches when you try and register your foal.

You can look up on line, or just call the registry that the horse is registered with and they will be more than happy to help you.

Almost Spring!!

The snow is all gone, and I'm just going to asume that we will get lots of rain. The old folks around here are telling me that based on all the signs, we will have a hot, wet summer and for now I'm just going to go with that. We are only expecting one foal this year, Scarlet was bred to Money, I hope I get a flaxen mane and tail foal.

The hens are laying like crazy right now, and some are starting to set, same with the ducks so I should soon have little chicks around. Got my broilers and turkey's ordered for the end of April, so I got to get the brooder room all cleaned out and ready to go.

Gord made it back home from the ice roads. A disapointing season as the roads kept melting and they had to only drive at night, it really cut down on the loads that could be hauled.

Just finished kidding out the last of the goats (except for two doeling, and who knows when they might decide to kid). We are up to 35 new babies this week.

Off to visit the Rescue 100 today. It is just staggering the number of horses that have been seized this winter, including a herd of TWH. There has been questions of why, but gee, do you think the high hay prices and drought might have something to do with it? Mind you, if you know you can't feed your horses, then you best sell them!! or give them away or something, starving them to death or near death is not an option. And I guess you wouldn't believe the number of pregger mares that are there. If you know you have no feed, why are you breeding?

Up dated my website, be sure to check it out.

Lots of new babies!

Well, so much for only a few to kid! So far we have about 25 babies, and more to come.

Lesa and I have been getting to the arena pretty regularily. It's been great to take 2 or 3 horses at a time and spend the evening there. It is pretty exhausting though with working the next morning, but to see the progress each horse is making is great and it's better than sitting in the house! I've got about 5 rides on Wilbur now, I'm really happy with his disposition and he's very nicely gaited too. I've gotten on Belle twice now, just being lead around as we don't have the round pen set up and I'm not quite ready to ride her in the large arena.

New Song

I've added a bar to the bottom of my page with a song that I like. I'll try and change the song every now and then. The youtube version with the lion king is especially moving.

2010 Happy New Year!

Another New Year! Thank God! I'm not going to lament the passing of another year, I'm going to rejoice the coming new one. I'm full of plans and optimision for 2010.

Some highlights from 2009 include Gord getting laid off work in October, then getting hired back at the end of November (Yeah!!), our trip to Ontario with four horses. I'd never gone past the Sask. border, so I had an eye opener on just how big this great country really is. We sold a total of 10 horses this year, some young stock, some our broodmares so we could downsize. The drought really took a toll on the farm, we also downsized the goat herd from 60 to 40.

Me and Mira did take in one show this year, and it was great to see every one and all their lovely horses. Then I sold Mira to Guy from Andrew. It was a hard decision to make, but she went to a great home and is ridden and used way more than I ever could.

Health wise, we are facing challenges for the New year. I did manage to drop 22 lbs with help from my good freind Lesa and weight watchers, I'm looking forward to losing another 20. It makes getting on and off your horse way easier!!LOL. My hip is also thanking me. Tyler managed to break his wrist and then dislocate his elbow on his other arm, so he had two broken wings for awhile. All sport related of course! Wesley has been making a conserted effort to lose weight as well and has dropped about 30 lbs, lost 4 inches off his waist and is lifting weights. Don't ask me how much, but I think he can now lift small cars. Gord is looking at laser surgery for his back. It is now being offered in Edmonton at the U of A. His back is significantly worse, and the pain is getting to be unmanagble, so he has to do something. Aparently they take the laser and zap away the bone calcium deposits from the old injuries that are pressing on the spinal cord. Here's hoping, because I want my old riding partner back!!

I'm still driving my school bus, Wes is still going to school in St Paul, Tyler is in grade 9 now and playing every sport offered in school and Gord is looking forward to hitting the iceroads again. Kidding has started with a set of triplets and then a large single baby. We have several more waiting to pop, then the rest will hold off until Feb and March. I only have one foal due this year, Scarlet was bred to Money, I can hardly wait to see what this cross produces.

Been hitting the arena now that it's too cold to ride. I've enjoyed riding Java and getting her gaits set, have got on Wilbur and Belle, so we are off to a good start. I've also made some new freinds thanks to the horses, Dianne and Tara Lynn. Horses sure do bring people together. Looking forward to trail riding with all my trail riding buddies in 2010 and attending a few shows. So much to look forward too.