Prayers For Ace

On Sunday Ace colicked. He was immediately seen by the vet, and when his condtion worsened we made the decision to tranfer him to the veterinary hospital. He had a rough night on sunday.

On Tuesday night I recieved a phone call around 930 pm and the vet was saying that Ace was going into shock, his cardiac rythm was 80 (in horses the norm is 28-40). He had a temperature and was rolling frantically. I made the extremely difficult decision and gave the vet permission to put Ace down if the vet thought it was time. There were no calls through the night, and it was a long night.

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Yesterday morning I spoke to the vet and Ace had a sudden turn around near midnight, his cardiac rythm is down in the 50's and his temperature is back to normal. He was able to produce manure so all signs point to the blockage moving. The vet is still going to give him one more nasogastric tube with mineral oil and he is still on some pain meds.

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Ace's blood tests have come back showing anemia and he has blood in his urine, but as the vet said this is likely due to the extreme stress his little body has been under.

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He is not out of the woods, but we are all praying he will get better soon. As the vet said, we do not know the extent of damage to his intestines, so we have to keep that in mind. Ace is being treated for the anemia and blood in his urine, as well as he is still on meds to keep his system going. He is on morphine for pain. The vet will keep him on the meds for a few more days and then once Ace is off all the meds completely and is eating, drinking and passing manure for a few days without issue, he will be ready to come home.

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The vet also reported that Ace is brighter and taking more of an interest in his surroundings. So we are all prying hard that Ace continues to improve and hopefully he will be home in time for Christmas.

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I visited Ace today and he was 1000 times better than a few days ago. He was bright, interested in his surroundings and cheeky :)

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Keep good thoughts for Ace and hopefully he will make a full recovery. He is 2.5 years old and still has lots of living to do!

Winter Is Here.

Well at least for this snowfall Tia had her blanket on :) She stayed nice and toasty and dry during the snowfall, which is still coming down. Everyone who is getting blankets now has them on.

Ali, Trixie, Wyatt and Ace have lunch while Romeo stares off into space. The horses have been really enjoying the new hay we have been putting out. Its that time of year again and we have been putting the heaters on in the water tanks and blankets on the horses. Tonight we just installed the two heated water buckets for the barn, where there are two horses currently being stalled at night.

Breeze has adjusted well to living out here with us. She was quite nervous of having her blanket put on, so we had to desensitize her to it. We started by lettign her sniff it. Then we moved onto rubbing it against her. Laying it lightly over her back and then finally unfolding it and putting it on her. In all it took about 20 minutes. Now she is nice and toasty warm too.

And of course there is little Wyatt. He is doing well, growing a lot. He is a big boy now. He is in the barn tonight with Selby. He is such a nice boy and so cute.

The First Snow!

Well the first snow of the season has arrived! It was not a small amount either, it was a farily substantial downfall. Selby was still looking for grass underneath all that white stuff!!

Tia had fun running around in the snow. She loves to get out and use her legs, and the snow did not stop her! She slipped a couple of times....silly girl. She will be getting her blanket on tomorrow after she dries up for the night.

This is Wyatt's first experience with snow! :) He was happy to have a wamr blanket on and he seemed to like paying with Tia in the snow. He was unsure of all the snow clumping on his feet...lol welcome to Canada! He looks so cute in his little blanket!

Romeo will have to dry out before he gets bis blanket on. He is doing well, causing trouble as usual. He seems to really like Dude. He does not really like Buck.

This is what it looked like this morning when I headed out to the barn to feed the horses. It was very pretty. The trees looked nice with snow on them and I love snow so I tought it was great!

Abby has left for her new home 10 hours north. We are going to miss the little girl. I did not really expect to sell any horses this time of year, but when the right home comes along it makes sense.

I like this photo Of Cricket and Tia, its a nice shot of Mommy and Daughter...it also shows how different they are !

This is our HAY HOUSE...its a great new way to feed hay! It keeps the hay much drier and cleaner than the traditional feeders and its keeps it from being thrown all over the place. Its been a great investment, and the horses have no problem using it.

The cat family! A cute pic of Lucy and Uncle Linus sleeping with the little kittens, Lolly and Lucky. So adorable!

He's Ba-aaack!!

Remember him? This is Romeo....we owned him for a few months in the summer and then sold him back to his previous owners.....well my sister has been missing Romeo all this time and she just bought him....again!! LOL He arrives home tomorrow! Oh Romeo!

A New Dude!

This is Dude. He is a new trail horse. He is only about 3-4 years old. He is not the prettiest boy in the yard but is very laid back and easy going. He is friendly and has been doing great on our rides. He is a little thin right now, but some good hay, a little grain and a warm blanket will do wonders for this boy.

I really like Dude. He is sweet and sensible. He seems to really like to be out doing things. He gets along well with the other horses. Looking forward to many years on the trails with Dude!

2nd Mare From Alberta Arrives!!

Well Breeze has arrived! She came about a week ago. She arrived on a huge tractor trailer, at 11 pm, in the pitch black when it was raining! It was quite the experience. Of course there are no street lights out here in the county and we live on a huge hill, on a dirt road. The trailer could not make it up the hill so I had to walk her about 15 minutes from the drop off point to our farm.
Breeze has settled in very well and its getting along with the group. She is HUGE! The biggest horse out here...and I thought her sister was big! She is friendly, a little nervous, but coming along well. She is gorgeous and everyone loves her colour. She is due to foal April 16 2010.

2 More Goodbyes...

Well Jazzie is off to his new home. I am going to really miss the boy. My mom is really going to miss him too. It was time for Jazz to start the next chapter in his life. He is off to a great home with 2 other friends and a new 'daddy' waiting to spoil him!

Pepsi also left for her new home yesterday. She is still close by and living with friends of mine, so I will be able to keep tabs on her ;)
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Its always hard to let them go.
Goodbye kids, have fun. We miss you.

First Mare From Alberta Arrives!

Yesterday our first Alberta bred and branded mare arrived. Trixie is a gorgeous bay tobiano mare. She is very well behaved and friendly.

Trixie has a stunning head, and is a welcome addition to our broodmare band. She will produce top quality, well put together foals.

She does not have a lot of white on her, just a nice splash on her side and a couple little patches on her hip abd shoulders. I really llike the paints with enough white to look like a paint but not so much that they look too white. Trixie also has a brand on her hip.


She is hte big sister to Breeze who is still in Alberta and should be arriving sometime near the 20th of November. We are very exicted to have both these girls :)
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As you can see we have A LOT of mud...its been so wet and rainy there is mud everywhere. I am waiting for the snow!! I would rather have a nice layer of snow then all this mud....mud = mud fever and that is a really annoying problem to deal with.

Surprise....

Well we had quite a surprise this fall....Lucy our little barn kitten was at the vet to be spayed, along with her brother Linus who was going to be neutered....I recieved a phone call the Lucy was indeed pregnant and due in a few days!!!

So on Sept 17th, Lucy gave birth to these 2 little boys!! SO SWEET! We think the father is the neighbours tom cat. Anyhoo, Lucy became a mommy at 6 months old....so needless to say she is on her way to the vet soon to be spayed...no more babies!

These little cutie are 6 weeks old today :) Their mom is in the process of weaning them, they eat a lot of solid food now. In a couple weeks they will be fully weaned and mommy will be off to the vet. They are so active and so cute. I have really enjoyed watching them grow up ;)

The Wee Ones Story

Remember this little girl?!?!? She was our last baby in 2009, born July 11. A lot has happened in that time....she was sick for a while when she was a few days old and required a blood transfusion. Her dam also did not produce enough milk, and the milk she did produce was not a great quality so we had to start feeding Abby grain and milk pellets at a very young age.

This is Abby now! Happy, healthy and doing great! She has grown a lot, and is very strong now. She no longer requires special care, she still gets grain, but she is small and was born late in the year and with winter coming she needs the extra protien. She has been weaned from her mother and is out with the other foals and the rest of the herd. She is doing really well and we are very happy with this little girl.

One More From Alberta!

This is Trixie. She was born and bred on the same farm in Alberta as Breeze. In fact they are half sisters, they have the same sire ;)

Trixie is also joining our broodmare band. She is already in Ontario and I am hoping she will be arriving at the farm this weekend. We are very excited to have her and looking forward to getting all the horses home!!! Trixie and Breeze along with a few other mares have been booked into the breeding shed for next spring.

A Gorgeous Girl!

This is Breeze and she is stunning. She is our newest horse. She is not here yet, she is being shipped out from Alberta. She should be arriving sometime near the end of November. We are anxiously awaiting her arrival!!

Breeze truly is a gorgeous horse. We are very pleased to have found her. She makes 3 black and white Tobiano paint mares now...with Cricket and Selby...can you tell we like Black and White tobianos?!?!?!?

Farewells.....

Its really hard to let horses go, but sometimes you have to. We changed our breeding program and some of the mares no loger fit what we were looking for. I made sure to find them great homes. We can't keep all the foals either...

Phoenix's foal this year is gorgeous. She is a bay tobiano and is turning into quite the lovely girl. She is the one and only foal out of my girl Pheonix. But I had to let this sweetie go.....however I sold her to my sister, lol, so she actually still lives at the farm ! Its really nice, I dont' have the responsibility for her, but I get to see her all the time!

Foxy was just sold and I miss her. It was a really hard decision, I really like this mare. However she no longer fits into the breeding program so I decided that I needed to sell her. I sold her to a friend of mine, so I will be able to keep her under tabs!

Misty was also let go. She was sold to a lady who wanted a nice quiet horse to ride around and to do pony rides with her children. Misty will be great at that and left for her new home about 1 month ago.

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Its really hard to let them go, but when you can find them good homes, and homes with people hat you already know it makes a difficult decision just a little bit easier....

NEW Faces!

It has been a very long time since I wrote here!! I had no idea how busy I would be moving to a new farm and having foals. There just has not been the time to get on the computer much. We had to build a new hay barn, redo the old barn and put up tons of fences....so much to do and so little time.

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In addtion there has been several changes to the herd. We have added some new horses and sold some others. Let me introduce you to the new ones first....

This is Selby. She is a gorgeous 4 year old Black Tobiano mare. She looks remarkably like Cricket! She is an excellent trail horse. She is very friendly and loving. She is on the riding list.

This is Firefly. She is a beautiful Red Dun Overo paint mare. She is 10 years old and has had one foal...isn't he a cutie. She is very special to me. She is joining our broodmare band.

This lady is Ruby. She is 11 years old. She is very big right now, lol, she is due to give birth in May (same as Cricket). She was bred to a homozygous paint stallion so she is going to have a paint foal. She is a really nice, small mare. She has joined our broodmare band.

This is Ali. She is a 5 year old Appaloosa mare. She is going to be bred next year if she is not sold by the spring. She is a very friendly and loving mare. She adds some nice colour to the mix!

This young man is almost 6 months old now. He is our future stallion. He was bought to be a stud, he has the looks, the pedigree and the temperment. We have high hopes for this boy!

FOALS FOR 2010!!

EBONY

BREEZE

RUBY

We Have ANOTHER Baby!!

Well this little girl was eager to arrive....she came a full 20 days before her expected due date! She is a gorgeous dunskin filly with a black mane, dorsal stripe and white legs.

Her little tail is black and white!

She arrived at 8 pm on July 11th and the delivery was smooth and uncomplicated. Mom and baby are both doing well.

Today was the first day outside and she liked to stay under her mommy's belly! She is a little shy and quiet, unlike her sister Jetta.

It was a nice day to be outside! The weather was warm and sunny but there was a breeze so it kept the bugs down.

Isn't she precious?!?!?!

We have been practicing with her halter already so she will be used to it in no time. :)