Acres of Grace

Update On The Colts

2010-05-16T20:09:00.002-04:00

The two boys are doing really well. Here is a picture I love of Prika laying with her son Fritz. Very sweet photo.

This is the boys today. Resting in the sun with their mom's.

Breeze and Shiloh are on the left, Prika and Fritz are on the right.

Fritz on the run!!

A nice photo of Shiloh. The boys are growing a lot and getting big!

Another Foal!

2010-05-15T11:25:00.002-04:00

Early this morning around 1 am, a little black tobiano filly (girl) was born! She is very stunning and does not have a lot of white.

She is going to have a gorgeous mane when she is older, mostly black with a splash of white!

Sweet girl. Nice markings. We are happy with her. One more foal to go......

2 new Foals!

2010-05-03T10:11:00.005-04:00

This is Prikas colt (boy). He is a black tobiano paint. He was born around 11pm on May 2. He is gorgeous and very friendly.

What a little cutie!!!

Here he is this morning. Doing very well. I was hoping she would have a black tobiano colt ;)

This must be the year for black tobiano colts, because that is all we have been getting! Last year was the year for fillies.

Mommy and son.

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This little guy was born May 1, so he is the first colt born of the 2. He is also a black tobiano colt. Very striking markings on him.

He is a little more shy than the other guy. But he is coming along.

Handsome boy. Big boy, he is very long legs and will be a big boy when he is done growing.

Mommy and son.

2 more foals still to come! Its been a busy weekend!!

Lily Is Here!

2010-04-11T18:58:00.002-04:00

Well Lily arrived safe and sound this afternoon. We picked her up and brought her home without issue. She does not like to walk on a lead, but we will work on that.

She is settling in well. Kiwi is indifferent to her, all he cares about is food! Ebony is more put off by Lily right now and has been spitting at her a bit. But Ebony and Kiwi are used to living as a group of 2, so its an adjustment.

They are all doing pretty well when out in the big field - lots of space. Its when they are in close quarters that they quarrel a bit. They look really nice together.

Off for a little run!

They are loving the tender grass that is starting to grow! Lily has never seen horses before and was/is a little worried about them, but the llamas are not in with the horses now, so she can get used to them without having to be around them.

The lady that I bought Lily from is very nice - I 9otld her about breeding Ebony and how I did not think she was pregnant and she said she would bring her stud llama over in may and let him breed both Ebony and Lily so they can both have babies next year!! That will work great - then the girls will not be stressed by trailering and hopefully they will both get pregnant and havinf lovely babies. Or maybe Ebony is pregnant....I guess only time will tell.

Lily observing her new surroundings. She is such a pretty girl. The llamas are all scheduled to be shearing in a couple of weeks - that should be interesting!

Spring!

2010-04-09T21:23:00.003-04:00

Well Kiwi and Ebony have been anxious to get out to the back pastures. They are tired of being cooped up for the winter and wanted some space to run around. The ground is still too soft to let the horses out be we have allowed the llamas to go out the back and have some fun.

This is Lilly. She is our newest addition and we will be picking her up on Sunday. She is a gorgeous white llama with very soft fibre. She will look very nice with Kiwi and Ebony, as they are both very dark and Lilly is very light.

Here is Kiwi taking a walk out in the back pastures...you can see the grass is starting to come up and the trees are looking green. I love spring...not all the mud (thanks horses!) but the new life, both animal and plant, the new colours and the warmer weather.

I am not certian, but I do not think Ebony is pregnant anymore. I think she probably absorbed the pregnancy a long time ago. She is not big looking, has no milk and is past her due date. I think we should have been seeing something by now. Will still keep our fingers crossed that there is a little one hiding in there somewhere.

R.I.P "Crickets Star"

2010-03-18T13:53:00.004-04:00

This morning Cricket delivered a premature, dead foal. It was a hard blow to us all, as we had been planning on keeping this foal. He was a gorgeous black tobiano colt. I had been hoping for a black tobiano colt. Though we were concerned for Cricket herself for a while, she is up and moving aorund now. She is looking for and calling to her foal right now. There are 3 more foals and 1 llama due soon, so lets pray for safe deliveries and healthy babies. Ebony is due next week and is doing well.

We have buried Crickets colt in the side yard and have named him 'Crickets Star' as he looks like him mommy except he has a little star on his forehead.

Random Moments

2010-03-16T14:08:00.004-04:00

This is our new lab pup Dewie. He is a great boy and lots of fun to have around. He comes out each day as I do my chores and he likes to nap in my chair.

Trixie watching a cat in the back field. Spring is definitely here and its been great out this week. The snow is gone....and will hopefully stay gone....the horses are shedding and its been great weather to be outside.

Royal now. Bigger and just as beautiful. She is a lovely girl.

Breyer having a nap in the hay with Ebony and Kiwi. Ebony is due to foal next week, so will keep everyone posted when all the babies start arriving (5 this year).

This photo is from a couple weeks ago with all the snow, but it shows all the big bellies of the pregnant mares. They are all doing well. Breeze is the first one due, on April 16th.

New Ones

2010-03-16T13:58:00.003-04:00

Its been a long time since I last posted anything :( its been so busy, but lets get up to date. There are 17 horses in total at the farm now. We have a stallion, who is friendly and gorgeous. We have a couple new mares and a new yearling. Twist, above, is a 10.5 month old filly. She is really nice and very friendly. I bought her mom and Twist came along too.

This is our stallion Breyer. He is handsome, well behaved and an all around nice boy. He will be breeding the majority of the mares this year, so we will have to wait until next spring to see his babies, but they should all be very nice foals.

This is Royal. She is a new breeding mare. She is very young in this picture, she is much older and much bigger now. She is a nice girl and we are happy to have her.

This is Prika. She is the dam of Twist, above. She is in foal right now with a full sibling to Twist. She is due to foal in May. She will be bred to Breyer this spring after she foals.

Winter Riding

2010-01-29T18:15:00.003-05:00

Ali and I did little riding the other day. She is just learning to carry a rider, and has only been backed 5-6 times. She is doing really well. Tomorrow I am taking her over ot a friends farm for a month to get some serious work done....its too cold to ride outside long and he has an indoor arena.

Ali learning to whoa.

Bucky Boy in the snow. Its been warm and then very cold out here. Tonight it was -23 with the wind chill and my cheeks were frozen...as they begin to defrost they are burning. All the horses seem to be doing fine in the weather...they all have nice cozy blankets on.

Ace with a pretty winter background. He will be broke to the trails this year. Time to get him out and about. He is doing very well and is back to begin his old self again.

Ace in the snow. I am ready for spring.

Pregnant Mares

2010-01-29T18:08:00.002-05:00

Ha ha, please excuse the view ;) This is just showing how wide Cricket is getting. The mares are all due in the spring, not too long now....very exciting.

This is Breeze. She is the first one due. This will be her first foal. It should be a really nice foal, they all should. All the babies are paints.

Ruby is getting vey big. She is the last one due to foal....5 days later than Cricket.

What a big belly! Ruby has had several foals before.

New Arrivals

2010-01-29T18:00:00.003-05:00

This is Indy. He is a gorgeous paint stallion. We bought him from out west. He is not here yet, he does not arrive until the spring. He will be breeding our mares this year. We are very excited to have him and are looking forward to meeting him soon! He is homozygous, so he cannot produce a solid coloured foal.

This is Bandit. She is also new and is not hear yet. She is an addition to our broodmare band. She is not due to arrive until the summer, as she is being bred before she comes out here. She is a gorgeous Black Tobiano from the same farm as Breeze.

Just a couple more views of Bandit. She is quite the looker ;)

Cold, Snowy Horses

2010-01-02T17:44:00.003-05:00

The horses were out for a run, I guess they were trying to stay warm! It has been -17 here, and -28 with the wind chill! Brrrrr......

A group huddle....they might be warmer if they stood in the run in shed!

The kittens first winter....they enjoy playing in the snow when its not so cold out.

Doesn't Tia look great in her new red blanket and matching red halter?!?!?

Snow, snow and more snow.....

Ali catches some z's .....gotta love those blankets :)

Cricket, being the matriarch, and a pregnant one at that, has the ULTIMATE blanket...it includes a super warm neck cover! She looks so toasty warm! I am going to get Buck one like this next year!

Ace is Home!!

2010-01-02T17:38:00.003-05:00

Ace has made an amazing recovery and came home on Dec 23 after spending 9 days in the veterinary hospital. He was home in time for Christmas :)

Ace has been doing really well and is getting stronger and better each day. He has been going outside for longer periods and for the past couple of days he has been outside for the whole day! He is even back to harassing Buck!.

Welcome home boy.

Prayers For Ace

2009-12-17T21:22:00.004-05:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

2009-12-07T20:32:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-12-01T19:52:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-11-27T19:31:00.002-05:00

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!!

2009-11-27T19:28:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-11-27T19:21:00.003-05:00

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!!

2009-11-27T19:14:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-11-01T13:12:00.002-05:00

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 ;)
.
Its always hard to let them go.
Goodbye kids, have fun. We miss you.

First Mare From Alberta Arrives!

2009-11-01T13:01:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-10-29T13:25:00.003-04:00

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

2009-10-29T13:19:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-10-29T13:14:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-10-25T22:13:00.003-04:00

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.....

2009-10-19T20:31:00.002-04:00

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.

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!

2009-10-19T20:11:00.005-04:00

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.

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!!

2009-10-19T19:30:00.013-04:00

EBONY

BREEZE

RUBY

We Have ANOTHER Baby!!

2009-07-12T18:10:00.004-04:00

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. :)

Its Training Time !

2009-06-25T16:13:00.006-04:00

We have been doing a lot of riding and training these past few weeks. The weather has been great and its been going well. The horses are really starting to thrive under the work, they always do better when they have a schedule to work with.

Foxy was being a little stubborn at first and did not want to go forward but has improved very well and has become one of my favorite riding mounts.

She is a little overweight which made it difficult for her at first because she did not have stamina but she is becoming more fit and is doing well. She is one of 3 horses going to a week long riding clinic starting on sunday.

Bucky boy is the second horse going to the riding clinic. He has come a long way in the past 1.5 years and he is doing great, I am really really proud of him.

Buck is a good boy. The 3rd horse going to the riding clinic is Romeo. He is relatively new, but level headed and pleasant that I think he will do well in the clinic environment.

Another horse who has been getting a lot of training is ACE!!! He is out at the trainers and has been for almost 1 month. He is doing great and is such a good looking riding horse! He really has turned into all I had hoped of him.

Here is Ace with his trainer Andrew. I am pleased with the work that Andrew has been doing with Ace and all that they have accomplished. I look forward to seeing what the next month brings!

Ace man trotting! What a lovely boy with beautiful movement! I miss Ace but I go and visit him each week and see his progress which is very exciting.

Happenings

2009-06-25T14:27:00.004-04:00

Phoenix and Jetta have been let out into the BIG field for some grass and space to run.....and run they did!! Jetta is doing very well, growing and learning new things each day. She is starting to become more independant and moves farther away from her mom.

Buck and Romeo engage in a mutual grooming session. The boys are doing well and are both being ridden daily. Next week the 2 boys and Foxy are all headed to a week long riding clinic with us and it should be great fun all around!

Tia went for a run this morning, she was trying to get away from the bugs, they were pretty bad today. She is really maturing into a beautiful horse and she has the most loving personality.

ROMEO!!

2009-06-13T22:08:00.003-04:00

Here is my new boy Romeo. He is a 6 year old quarter horse and has an amazing personality. He is a little shy at first but when he is comfortable he gives his heart. I bought him from a good friend of mine because I wanted a trail horse that I could ride a lot. Right now I have a lot of young or pregnant horses and only 2 that can ride out on the trails...well one that goes on the trails and one that can be ridden but is nervous of the trails.

Romeo arrived today and he is in a field that is surrounded by the other horse herds, so he ran back and forth to meet everyone along the fence line! He has lovely movement.

This is the herd that Romeo will be joining - Buck, Pepsi, Tia (and Ace when he returns from training in the fall). So I was glad to see them all chatting over the fenceline and being civil with one another.

Buck and Romeo having a little conversation I guess ;) These boys will do well together and I think they will become good friends.

Kittens & the Big Outdoors

2009-06-09T19:02:00.005-04:00

Linus is out and investigating the big wide world!! The kittens have been outside, well since the day Phoenix gave birth (with a new foal who we had to carry to the barn we could no longer keep the doors shut) and they are doing well. They know where home is.

Lucy and Linus love to play in the plants and tall grass right beside the barn. They are still nervous of the horses and llamas but getting much better.

Linus look at the horses from the 'safety' of the tall grass!

Here Lucy and Linus decided to climb the gate and hang off of the bungee cord. They love to get all over the place!! They are little characters and we love to have them around!

Summer Days

2009-06-09T18:42:00.006-04:00

Our little filly is doing very well :) She is growing like a weed and busy as ever! We have named her Jetta. She is out in one of the big pastures with her mom and Misty who is due next month. The mares seem to be getting along really well.

Jetta is a very pretty little girl. She loves to run and play. She gets bored because her mom and 'aunt' only want to eat grass....she will have more fun when her little brother or sister is born.

And she's off!!

Phoenix and Jetta are off for a run! We named the little filly Jetta.....because she is like a little jet!! always speeding around the field!
Off they go! Phoenix is looking great! Trim and fit. She has been getting a lot of exercise lately!

All that running around makes little Jetta tired....

While she has a nap in the sun Phoenix keeps guard over her baby!

Proud Mommy.

Out & About

2009-05-26T14:17:00.005-04:00

Well our little baby is growing like a weed! She is 1 week old today. She is a very busy and very cheeky little girl!

She is learning to wear her halter and to stand quietly to have it put on. She is not too fond of wearing it yet, but she will learn that its all part of being a horse! She is pretty good at having it put on for the most part, but sometimes she can be silly about it.

Pheonix used to be an overweight mare.....not anymore! Her little one is keeping her on the move! Phoenix has never been a fan of exercise, especially running, but she is doing a lot now! She actually looks very good and has slimmed down a lot.

More exercise. And they are not even out in the BIG field yet! Oh boy is Pheeny going to hate running around the BIG field after her little one! This weekend hopefully we will have it set up for them to go into.

After all that work its time for a snack. Pheeny is very protective of her food and shares with no one....except her baby :) The little one has a couple front teeth now so she is just learning to eat hay and grass and the occastional oat. It is an incredible amount of work raising a young foal and at times they make you want to pull your hair out! But for the most part it is fun, exciting and rewarding. The next little one is due in 6-8 weeks....

First Day Outside!

2009-05-20T18:13:00.007-04:00

Pheeny and her little filly went outside today to get some fresh air and grass. Pheeny is very protective of her little girl, which is a good thing right now. The little baby, who still is not named yet, found her legs today and had a great time racing around!

Time for a little nap with mommy close by.

She had figured out how to get up and lay down now. It took her a while to figure out how to lay down!! LOL

On the move! She is very active and moves around a lot.

Well it has been a hectic few days and I am very tired, but it was well worth it for the little girl. She is so sweet and quite a character.

We HAVE A BABY!!!

2009-05-19T12:28:00.006-04:00

Phoenix gave birth this morning around 10 am!!! She had a gorgeous Bay and white tobiano filly!! (Girl).

Phoenix was very fussy last night in her stall so I definitely thought she was in labour, but no baby came so we let her outside for some grass and some air and about an hour later she gave birth outside in the front yard!!! The filly and mom and both doing well!

We have not named this little girl yet. She is quite tall and already has to bend down to nurse from mommy. The vet is coming out this eveing to make sure everyone is well and to give some vitamin shots and do blood tests.

Will keep you posted, but just wanted to show some pictures of this lovely little girl! I could not be more pleased with her. I expected (and wanted) and bay and I love the Tobiano pattern so I am very very happy!

Waiting, Watching & Wondering...

2009-05-12T20:13:00.004-04:00

Well Pheeny is close to delivering her foal! Her official due date is tomorrow and we are starting her foal watch tonight. She will be checked on every hour. She is showing signs that the foaling is near...full udders, big milk veins, relaxed muscles, being off alone etc... and we have being doing milk tests and it is indicating that she should foal within the next 48 hours, so the foal count down is on!

Hopefully she will foal tonight!! I'll keep you posted.....

Linus & Lucy

2009-05-12T19:43:00.003-04:00

The kittens have settled in really well. They now have names! The little male is called Linus and the little female is called Lucy.

Lucy checks out the world outside of the stall for the first time. I have just begun letting this wee ones outside into the barn for the day. I don't want them outside yet, as I want them to be very secure with this as their home. They are so very little!

Linus and Lucy rough housing again!

Nap time! They love to curl up together and have a nap and they are so cute when they do!

Out in the BIG field!

2009-05-12T19:24:00.002-04:00

Well we put the horses out in the summer pasture and they are absolutely loving it!! There is so much space and they can run and frolick. The little ones especially love it. They have been racing all over the place. They still have to come up to the barn for water but it is so healthy and nice for them to be out in the fields.

The whole group of them went racing past me the and I captured this great action shot of Ace. He has great movement, and I love all the bright green grass and trees!

Pepsi and Tia went for a run. They were all a little nervous at first but have quickly settled in, they love all the grass too!

Even Misty got in on the action. She and her very pregnant belly went for a canter around the field too :)

Kiwi and Ebony spied me from across the field. They are loving all the space too. Ebony in particular is investigating everything.

Kiwi and Ebony on their rounds :)

Ace and Misty surveying all the space.

Kittens!!

2009-05-08T13:39:00.003-04:00

SO CUTE!!! We got 2 little barn kittens today. They are so soft and adorable!!! We have alot of mice so we needed a cat so I thought I would get 2 so that they can be friends.

These guys are a brother and sister and they are 8 weeks old. They have settled in well and are very very friendly and sweet. No names yet, but I will let you know. These little babies will soon be joined by the first foal baby.

The little solid grey one is male. He is curious and friendly.

This little white and grey one is the female. She is very cuddly and likes to be held. She is so sweet.

They like to sleep curled up together and it is adorable. It has been a long time since I had a kitten and I have never had 2 at once, so this is so exciting!

Ebony will be so happy when she gets to see the kittens, she loves kittens!

Randoms

2009-05-04T21:24:00.002-04:00

Here is one mommy-to-be. Phoenix is doing well and is in the last week or so of her pregnancy. If you keep your eye on the 'Pregnancy Countdown Page' you will be able to see how close each Mom-to-be is to her due date. Phoenix is 9 days from her due date. The page will be updated as each female is bred so keep your eye on the page!

Misty is doing well too and is very big. I will have to take a picture of her and post it. She is due in about 3 months, and the last 3 months are when the foal does %70 of its growing so Misty is going to get very big!

Cricket and her 2007 foal Tia have a little meeting over the fence. Cricket is currently in with the stud and should be bred soon. We have been out riding Cricket a lot and she really seems to like to get out. She is currently stalled at night to keep Phoenix company. Phoenix is stall in the 'birthing suite' so that when she does give birth it is in a quite and controlled environment.

Foxy and Jazz both thought there might be food in the tub. There was not. However these two get along very well....not many horses would put their heads in a small space so close together.

Bucky boy surveys the land. I have been riding him almost every day and it is doing him good. He is much calmer and settled when he is ridden regularily. Gets all the high jinx out!

Tia and Ace want to know if there is any food in the barn? Can we have some? We know its in there!!!

Riding & Training

2009-05-04T15:07:00.003-04:00

Buck and I were just playing around and I decided to see if I could get him to walk on the bridge and then stop. It is harder than one might think!! First off some horses are afraid to even approach the bridge. Buck and I did get on e the bridge and stand there, I was proud :)

This was our first attempt...almost on but the back feet are off. A good try though.

Foxy and I went for a ride and had a lot of fun. I have been trying to get out riding at least once per day when the weather is good. Today I had Buck out and we had a great trail ride, he was sweaty when we were done and I hosed him off.

Foxy and I playing in the fields.

The time has come to start training the youngsters. We have begun working them in the round pen. Right now I am just working on getting them to move in the direction I ask them to. They are all doing really well.

Jazz takes his turn in the round pen. He is such a nice fella especially for a stallion. I have seen him messing around with Cricket and Foxy so hopefully he gets them bred this year and we will have 2 little foals next year, the first foals from Jazz.

Tia did well too. She is a little more uncoordinated right now, but she is in a growth spurt and is very gangly. She has very long legs and is going to be tall! Pepsi was in the round pen too but I did not get a picture of her.

Look Who's Home!

2009-05-04T14:49:00.004-04:00

Ebony is home!!! She arrived Sunday from the Stud farm. She is pregnant and now all we have to do is wait unti l next April for her little baby to be born....that won't be hard at all....NOT. I am excited that she is pregnant and happy to have her back home.

Kiwi and I were taking a walk around the house and yard a few days ago before ebony got back. He seemed to really enjoy getting out and seeing things and of course he loves posing for the camera!!

Tia got a little frisky and decided to chase Kiwi.

This is one smart llama!!! He wanted the grass on the other side of the fence...lol we all know that story!....and so he simply laid down and stuck his head under! I had to laugh when I walked upon this scene!

Back together again! Here is a picture I took just an hour ago, its been one day since Ebony came home and she seemed a little nervous....because remember we moved while she was gone so she has never been to this farm before....so I let them out onto some nice pasture, it is the summer pasture and we are still waiting for some fencing before we let the horses out but I thought I would let Kiwi and Ebony out for a little while so have some nice grass. Welcome home Ebony! We missed you!

Brother and Sister

2009-04-22T14:33:00.003-04:00

Look how little Tia is!!! This is Tia with her mommy Cricket August 2007.

This is Tia now in April 2009. She has grown a lot and is a lovely little girl with a super presonality!

Tia and Pepsi meeting over the gate....or in this case through the gate, prior to Tia being introduced into the herd.

Big brother and little sister meet for the first time! Both have lovely personalities!

Time to eat! Tia and Ace are both going to be big horses. They are both tall and I think that Tia is actually a little bit taller.

Tia and Foxy Arrive

2009-04-22T14:15:00.004-04:00

Tia and Foxy have arrived!!! Tia is the white/sorrel paint filly and she is Crickets daughter. Foxy is the sorrel mare and she is really nice and well bred.

It did not take Foxy long ti find the hay! They have both settled in well. After a quarentine period they have now both been introduced into their respective herds. Tia is with Ace, Pepsi, Buck and Phoenix because she is too young to breed. Foxy is in with Jazz, Cricket and Misty because I would like Jazz to breed Foxy and Cricket this summer.

Foxy is a very small mare, she is about Phoenix's height but thinner and not over weight, which makes her look even smaller! She is a lovely little mare and I am hoping to get out riding her in the next day or so when the weather is not rainy.

Tia is very gorgeous. Some people do not like so much white on a paint, but she has a gorgeous face and the most beautiful long, flwing and crimpy mane I have ever seen! Her mane truly amazes me, I brush it all the time! This is Crickets little girl and Ace's sister.

NEW FARM!

2009-04-22T10:17:00.003-04:00

HERE WE ARE!!!! We have all arrived safe and sound to the new farm! :) The horses are particularily happy with the new and vast amount of space they have now! As far as you can see it our fields. We also have the forest and several other fields so they will have lots of grazing and some really nice trail riding areas.

This is Phoenix's field. It is close to the house and we can see her group from the deck and windows. She is in with the geldings and the two young filly's because it was time to seperate Jazz (the stallion) from the boys and youngsters. He has his own field right next door to them with 3 of his mares.

This is a view of Jazz's field.

Buck and Cricket survey the land!

This is Foxy in the new trailer. I will introduce you to Foxy in a later post.

Ah time for a rest! Now that they have checked out the new place and deemed it a good place to live Buck, Ace, Pepsi and Cricket all have a nice nap in the sun.

Ebony & Ebon

2009-04-11T19:15:00.005-04:00

Meet Ebon! He is Ebony's boyfriend! They just met so Ebony is trying to check out her new digs for the next 2 weeks.

He is a stud, so he wants to breed, but she wants none of that right now! We took Ebony out to the stud farm today after she had been sheared. It seemed like a good time to do it...then she does not have to move all around, when we pick her up she will be going straight to the new farm.

Kiwi is a little sad I think. He is not used to living without his little sis. Thankfully he is not totally alone, he is with the horses and he knows them well as he has lived with them for a year now. But I think he will be very happy when Ebony comes back.

Yes that is Ebnoy jumping over some logs. They are not very high, she is going into the adjoining pasture area. She certianly can jump though, when I took her off the trailer she jumped right at me and almost landed on me! Thanfully I moved out of the way fast!

Ebony is in a private field with Ebon, but she is checking out the other females over the fence and making friends. In about a year, next April, Ebony will have a little baby of her own! Baby llamas are only about 15 lbs at birth!! SO CUTE! Ebony will be home in 2 weeks, and until then I don't know who will miss her more...Kiwi or Me??

A Busy Day!

2009-04-11T19:03:00.003-04:00

We had quite the busy day today at the farm!!

We are beginning to pack up some of the stuff at the farm because we move on Wednesday. We drove the horse trailer into the field so that we could load one of the round bale feeders and the horses we quite intrigued! They all wanted to know what the trailer was doing in the field, lol.

Kiwi and Ebony were also sheared today. That is Ebony being sheared. She does not like it one bit! She was the fussy one this time. She jumped around a lot. But we got it done and they will appreciate it in the summer!

Kiwi was pretty good. His undercoat is a dark grey colour and he always looks sooooo different after he has been sheared!

As you can see, llamas are actually quite a bit smaller when they have no hair!!! Their hair sure does make them look big, when in reality they are fairly small. Well another year of shearing done and so now I say on with the warm weather!!

Ho Hum...

2009-04-09T17:18:00.003-04:00

Well here is Pheeny wondering what all this snow is doing back here again?!?!?! Is it winter again already?? Actually today we had +10 temperatures so I think by tomorrow most of the snow should be gone...again.

This picture was taken last year, its Cricket with Tex. Tex is the stallion that Pheeny and Misty are bred to. He also bred Cricket but she did not take.

Here is my boy Jazz. He is going to be breeding Cricket this year and we are keeping our fingers crossed that she will get pregnant. He is also going to be breeding Foxy. She is a new mare that I have not introduced you to yet because she does not arrive until April 19th and I do not have any pictures of her. When she does arrive I will let you know.

He is a handsome boy. In a few weeks both Jazz and Ace will have minor surgery to remove their wolf teeth. Male horses (and some females) have wolf teeth and they can interfere with the bit when you begin to ride them so many people have them taken out. I am planning to have the vet take them out on the week of the 20th. That way the boys will be all healed up for breeding and riding season to begin.

Phoenix is only going to be in this field for another 6 days and then she moves (so does everyone else). She does not know this though. We practiced putting her on the trailer and she got on....but she has no idea why. Ebony leaves in 2 days. They will love the new farm though. While right now they live on about 3 acres, at our new farm they will have 50 acres!!! The will love the space, the trees, and of course me being out there with them all the time :)

Trailer Trials

2009-04-05T18:33:00.002-04:00

In preparation for our big move, we decided to load the horses in the trailer to see who is good at it and who needs some work. Here is Ace in the trailer. He is good at loading it. We have a 3 horse slant load trailer, so 3 horses can be moved at once. This will be great for when we move, less trips!

Ace likes to try anything new. He was fine to load the trailer, get tied up and have the partition closed. Buck and Cricket walked right on as well. Phoenix took about 5-10 minutes of looks at the trailer and then she got on it. Misty, Jazz and Pepsi all refused to get on the trailer. It confused me a little, because they have all been trailered before, and I have even seen Misty get loaded. But this trailer is new to them and they are a bit nervous of it. We will just have to keep working at it over the next 1.5 weeks.

Ebony was very very tired! She layed right out and rested in the sun. Compared to the weather yesterday (see previous post) this day was gorgeous! Apparently we are supposed to get more snow/rain tonight and all day monday and tuesday...yuck. Lets hope the weatherman is wrong!

Everyone seemed pretty relaxed this afternoon. Buck, Pepsi and Jazz all had a nice nap in the sun. Ace was also resting right beside Pepsi.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....Jazz was very sleepy today! He was enjoying the nice weather we had, unlike yesterday. I put the coats on yesterday and took them off today!

Spring or Winter?!?!?!

2009-04-04T18:12:00.002-04:00

This is Bucky Boy 2 days ago....bright blue sky, sunny and warm.....

This is what it was like today!! Cold, wet, snowy and rain. In fact this is the first time I have had to put blankets on horses in the SPRING who otherwise went through the winter without one!

Misty is wearing the red one and she did wear a blanket for the winter. Ace is in the purple one and he has NEVER worn or needed a blanket before. Pepsi is in the Silver one and she has never needed a blanket before either. She did wear one for a day when she first arrived but that was to protect her from bites, not because she was cold.

These 3 have blankets on now because it has been so warm lately that they have shedded out their winter coats, then it got very, very wet and cold and they began to shiver. So since horses never shiver they must have been extremely cold. But the rain soaked them to the skin and then the temperature plummeted. Tonight they will be nice and toasty warm though in their snuggly dry blankets.

Yikes, this is not the weather I was expecting! It was so warm earlier I was wearing a t-shirt. Now I have had to put blankets on 3 horses! Lets hope it warms up and stays warm!

Water, Vets & Pregnant Horses

2009-04-01T22:58:00.004-04:00

Well here is Phoenix at 296 days along in her pregnancy! She has quite the belly! The big day is getting closer and we should be blessed with a little one in the next 4-5 weeks, even as early as 3 weeks from now, but most likely 4-5 weeks.....!!!

As you can see Pheeny is HUGE! Her foal is doing a lot of growing in these last few weeks, gaining about 70-80% of its weight. So Pheeny's belly will continue to expand! I will have to take some pictures of Misty, she is about 7.5 months along and she is getting quite the belly as well.

Another shot of the mommy-to-be :)

Pepsi decided to cool her heels in the new found pond. With all this nicer weather, this small pond has formed in one corner of the field. Pepsi enjoyed a nice dip in the water. She also ate all the grass right along the waters edge.....because its grows the best there!

Mmmmmmm....nice green grass! Well at least I know she is not afraid of water and should be fine to give her a bath in a few months!

The vet was out today to give Kiwi and Ebony their yearly vaccinations. She said Ebony was a really good wieght and is sound for breeding. Ebony leaves in about 1.5 weeks to go to the stud farm, where she will stay for about 3-4 weeks. And I found out that baby llamas weigh about 15 pounds!!! AWWWWWWWWWW!

Kiwi was checked too. He is pretty good, he needs his teeth floated (grinded down) in the fall, because he has hooks on his molars, big fighting teeth and his front teeth have grown a lot. He is also a little under weight. This is because Ebony is a greedy little girl and steals his food! In 2 weeks we are all moving to a new farm and at this farm we will have tons more space and there is a nice big barn with stalls, so I am going to train Kiwi and Ebony to come into seperate stalls for their grain.....then Ebony can't steal Kiwi's grain!

Goings On

2009-03-24T20:43:00.003-04:00

Ebony decided to get some sun. We have been having fairly nice weather.....warm and generally dry. We are in for some rain and cooler temps but since it is almost April it should start to get nice soon and we should start to see some GREEN GRASS!

Kiwi was sunning himself too....and giving me a funny look in the process......they are scheduled to be sheared on April 11. Should be fun!

Phoenix is still growing a big belly. She is in the last month or so.....so her baby will be getting big and strong in these last few weeks. Phoenix herself is a little lazy and tired.....lol I am sure she would like to settle into a nice fluffy stall....in a few weeks she will be going into a stall each night.

Misty is licking busy getting some vitamins and minerals from the vit/min block....good thing too....she is growing her own foal. It so exciting!

Pepsi and Jazz model their new halters. While they share a nice cold drink.

Ace and Pepsi are up to their usual shenanigans.....chasing and play fighting with each other.

Pepsi is a fairly active young horse and likes to run and play almost as much as Ace!

Look at me no feet on the ground!

Quite the buck. She was jumping a playing with Ace.

Spring Fever

2009-03-20T14:59:00.004-04:00

Well with all this nice weather and sunshine the horses are getting playful and active. I know they are enjoying the warmer and sunny days as much as I am! Pepsi and Ace were very playful and they were chasing each other around the field.

Pepsi is a beautiful horse with beautiful movement. She also has a very loving and gentle personality. She and Ace have both been booked into a training program at then end of June. It will be a lot of fun to get these little guys going under saddle.

Ace loves to run aroudn the fields. He is by far the most active horse I have. I wonder what his siblings are and will be like? I bought his little sister and she should be here in about 1 month. Also the foals are both his half siblings as well, so it will be interesting to see how similar and different they all are!

Dirty! Pepsi rolled in a big muddy area and covered herself in mud. We were waiting for the farrier to arrive and she was wearing her new, clean halter.......its not so clean anymore! Everyone had their feet trimmed and they were all good, some more than others but everyone was managable. The farrier will be out again on May 13.......just around Phoenix's due date! So maybe by the time he comes back there will be a new little baby foal in the barn!!!

Pheeny is getting closer to her due date. She is about 6 weeks away from giving birth, so we are all starting to get excited and a little nervous about the big day :) I can't wait to see what she has, a son or a daughter and what colour it is. It should be a paint, maybe a bay a white one (Pheeny is bay). Who knows! We'll just have to keep waiting.

Speaking of pregnancy Ebony is scheduled to leave for breeding on April 11. She will be out at the stud farm for about 2 weeks. The stud is black like her and get this....his name is Ebon, lol Ebon & Ebony are going to have a baby llama. How sweet!

MUD...

2009-03-13T00:06:00.006-04:00

This is what happens when you have 36 heavy horse feet stomping around on the rain sodden ground......MUD. Mud, Mud, Mud everywhere. The horses have stomped the life out of the grass that was TRYING to grow! With all the rain we have been having, this early in the year, the ground is saturated with moisture and very soft. So in a matter of days this is what the horses have reduced the field to.......

I hate mud. Any horse owner will tell you that mud is a horrible, messy, pain in the %&$# to deal with. It gets all over the horses feet; they lay in it and get filthy and if you do not clean out the horses hooves and apply a antifulgal agent for thrush weekly, especially in this kind of mud, then the horses can get a really bad case of foot rot. But, anyone with horses will also tell you that in the spring, with a number of large animals there is no avoiding the mud. I call my winter fields, sacrifice fields, because they look like this when winter is over and they can't be used again until later in the summer. I seed the really barren spots in the spring once the horses are out of the field, harrow it to break up all the messy stuff in it and by July this field will be green and beautiful and full of grass. Then you can put some animals in it for a few weeks again to graze. But until then its a pain in the neck.

Off the mud and onto the young stud ;) Jazz is growing into a very handsome and stocky young stallion. He is a sweet boy and is very well behaved. If he does get a little pushy all he needs is a gentle reminder and he settles right down. He will be breeding his first mares this summer so we are looking forward to his first foals next summer. He will be breeding Cricket and a new mare named Foxy who arrives in April.

Doesn't he look cute in his yellow halter?? He has grown so much that he grew right out of his green halter. This is one of Phoenix's old halters, I was not sure if it would fit, but surprisingly his head has grown big enough to fit a 'grown up' horse halter ;)

This is Jazz's thing: eat all the grain and then immediately tip the bucket over. Sometimes he actually picks it up in his teeth and throws it to the side! He is looking for more grain....sorry buddy, you ate it all!

What a dirty girl!! Pepsi is a lovely palomino....however this means her coat gets very very dirty! She was out trying to eat the little bit of grass that is growing. Another thing about spring and mud is the horses are always dirty! When they lay down...its in mud!! The summer and fall are nice because they stay much cleaner.....with a few grass stains mind you. But I will take a grass stain over mud any day!

Recognize This Little Lady?

2009-03-08T20:30:00.009-04:00

Well recognize this little lady??? If you look at the post below you will see that this is Crickets most recent foal! (Gracie)

She is a big girl now. She will be 2 in July. And.......she is coming to live with her mommy! She will be arriving in April, in about 6 weeks. We purchased this lovely young filly a long with a 4 year old sorrel mare. They will both be here next month.

It will be pretty neat to see how this little filly and Cricket get along when they meet each other again. Cricket will recognize her foal, a mother never forgets. I am going to change the filly's name, I already have a horse named Gracie, so stay posted because I will let you know what I come up with ;) (Right now I am going to call this post 'Jewels' because that is part of her mothers registered name).

This filly is a half sister to Ace. They both have the same sire. And both of these youngsters will be half brother and half sister to the two foals coming (Phoenix & Misty's) as they are also by the same stallion.

It will be a very exciting day when this little filly and the other mare arrive at the farm. It will be neat to see Cricket with her foal again and see how they act together. What a day that will be! I will keep you posted for sure!

Yep, She's A Mommy

2009-03-01T21:59:00.004-05:00

You all know Cricket, she has been on this site a lot. She is my girl, a lovely trail horse and friend. She will be 17 in April (the 15th to be exact) and we are planning on breeding her to our young stud Jazz. This got me thinking about all the other foals Cricket has had (11 in total) and I thought I would introduce you to some of them. She has had 8 fillies (girls) and only 3 colts (boys).

This is Crickets daughter Bella. She looks a lot like Cricket. She will be 4 years old this year and is a really beautiful black mare. All of Crickets babies are very friendly. All of these daughters that I am going to introduce you to are by the same stud that Ace is by and he is the father of the two foals that are due this year, so all these girls are sisters to Ace and the foals coming.

This is Memphis. She is a pretty girl too. You will notice that all of Crickets babies, at least these ones, have a lot of white on them and they all have white legs, tails and manes. Cricket is a homozygous paint (she cannot produce a solid) and she throws a lot of chrome (white) to her foals. Incidently Cricket herself has very little white and a lot of black....

This is Bree. She will be 3 this year and is very sweet. I have met Bree and found her to be very pleasant and gentle. She definitely reminded me of her mom. Bree has one blue eye and one brown one.

This is Gracie. You can see Cricket in the picture with her. Gracie was born in 2007 and is Crickets most recent foal. Gracie by far has the most white on her of all her siblings. She is a sweet little girl too.

This is Gracie last winter, much bigger and older than in the above picture. She is a pretty cute little filly. I like her. She has a cute face.

As you can see Cricket has produced some very pretty foals and has always been a good mother. I am hoping that she will get pregnant this year and bless us with one of Jazz's fisrt foals next summer. There are 7 more foals of Crickets but I have not been able to track down any photos of them. I know that she had 10 daughter and 1 son. I know that her son's name is Rocky. In any case, Crickets upcoming 17th birthday just got me thinking about her and her foals so I thought it might be fun to introduce some of them to you. They are sweet (I have met a few of them) just like their mommy. In just about 2 months I will be posting about another new mommy, when Phoenix gets ready to give birth to her first baby who will be a half sibling to all these lovely girls here.

Bucky Boy & Mr. Moo

2009-02-16T17:56:00.004-05:00

Our meltdown is continuing so it was finally de-iced enough to get out for a ride :) Bucky Boy and I went for a short ride along the driveway and a bit on the road. It has been 3 or 4 months since Buck was out for a ride and he was such a little prince. Very well behaved.

One of our loops around the driveway. He is little chunky this year, lol, all that hay he has been eating. If you remember the story about Buck when he arrived last winter he was so thin we could stick our fingers inbetween his ribs. Now he is nice n' fleshy and healthy.

Look at all that grass! And to think it was 3 feet of snow last week! I hope we have an early spring and a nice warm summer. Can't wait for trail riding season to begin!

This is very unusual. These guys never stand together so close at the fence with each other. Phoenix, Cricket, Ace, Pepsi, Jazz and Ebony are all looking at something very intently....

Its Mr. Moo!!

The cows were outside for the first time and most of these horses and llamas have never seen a cow before! They could not take their eyes off of Mr. Moo. Buck did not care about Mr. Moo because when Buck was younger he used to work cows, so it was no big deal to him. Misty also did not care, I am not sure if she has been with cows before, she could have or she simply does not care one way or the other. Even Kiwi and Ebony were totally intrigued by this new and funny smelling creature :)

Is It Spring Yet?

2009-02-14T21:18:00.003-05:00

What a nice sunset picture of the horses :) But the reason I put this picture up was to show all the SNOW! All this snow was here on Thurday......

And its Saturday, 2 days later and look the horses are eating grass!! We have had some great weather, warm plus temperatures and it melted almost 3 feet of snow in 2 days.....amazing. It is so nice to see all the grass, even if it is brown and mostly dead. Kind of a tease though....it is only Feb 14th. Speaking of that Happy Valentines Day :)

Buck was thirsty and came by for a drink as I was resting on the other water tub (there are 2 water tubs for the horses). So I snapped his picture. Yesterday was Misty's 14th birthday :)

Well Look at these tired boys. Jazz and Ace were having a nice, relaxing rest in the warmth of the sun, and the comfort of the shed the other day. It was nice to see them in there, most of the time the big guys keep the little ones out.

We are busy thinking about all the things that are going to be happening this year and making plans, figuring out details and otherwise resting for the last month before everything starts to kick into high gear in April ---> We have 2 foals on the way....3 young horses to train to saddle.....one young stallion who will be breeding a few mares this year....a couple more horses to purchase....shows to prepare for.....hay to buy......fences to build.....minor dental surgery for the little boys (wolf teeth removal).....and tons of trail riding!! Yes very soon it will be very busy on the farm....so I guess instead of wishing spring would get here NOW, we should relax for these next few weeks because soon enough be will be missing the quiet atmosphere of winter!!

Random Goings-On In February!

2009-02-08T19:07:00.005-05:00

This is kind of a funny picture of Ebony. I was standing beside her as she ate her hay and she stuck her face in my camera so I snapped a picture. As you can see she is fairly tall and this is the view I have when I am facing her :) She is a cute girl. She is going to be sent off for breeding at the beginning of April...not too long now.

Speaking of views, here is a pretty typical view of Phoenix these days....standing at the hay with no head in sight because its buried in food!! She is eating a lot and loves her hay, lol. But she is in the last 12 weeks of her pregnancy when her foal will do 80% of its growing...so she is going to be getting A LOT bigger fast! She has a pretty big belly now...

Ace just wanted to see what was happening on the other side of the fence :) He just finished a course of antibiotics for a skin irritation and has healed up very well. He adores coming out into the main part of the farm and going for walks all over the place. Tomorrow if it nice enough I might take him for a walk to the neighbours farm.

Pepsi and Ace were both interested in playing with this "jolly ball" that is made for horses. They acutally have two of them in the pasture, but of course like any young kid, they both want to play with the same one!

The sheep made one of their few trips out to the fields and Pepsi and Jazz, who are not used to being with sheep, were both keen to watch and sniff these strange little creatures passing by their field.

Well it has been in the + temperatures all week, and it supposed to get even warmer with +7 and +8 temps. A lot of the snow has melted and we now have some puddles. Today it was a bit icy as it was a bit colder out. After our warmer temps we are supposed to get rain and then back to the cold temperatures we usually have in February...great.....just great.

Kiwister and Eboneezer

2009-01-31T19:28:00.003-05:00

Well the gang was very happy today as they got fresh hay! YAY! They love their hay. They even got along with one another and shared. Aww.

Ebony loves to race around in the snow. Thats the best part! Kiwi and Ebony have been doing really well. They get along fine with the horses and they are thriving on living outside in the fields for the winter rather than in the barn. They love the space to roam around. Kiwi was very ill just after christmas with pneumonia, but we caught it early enough that he has made a full recovery. I just dewormed Kiwi and Ebony yesterday and since their deworming medication requires a needle they are not too happy with me right now....

They are getting along great with Pepsi and she has accepted them too. They love to hang out with the "new" herd members when they arrive. Such curious creatures.

Ebony loves to search for any scraps of grass or other plant goodies that might be buried under the snow.....she is going to have to wait a few more months before she is able to get much of anything out there!

Kiwi and Ebony staying warm and out of the snow and wind in their personal llama lounge.

Bashful Boys

2009-01-28T15:05:00.004-05:00

The boys were all hyper and wound up with the arrival of 'the new girl'. They were running around and play fighting with each other a lot. Male horses spend a lot of their time engaging in mock fights like the one above. These two fellas are geldings and very playful ones at that. Ace is an extremely active horse and he will need a job when he gets older, he likes to MOVE!

Ace and Jazz were racing aorund the field bucking and rearing. It was an awesome sight to see. Here Ace is jumping around and Jazz is making sure he is well out of the way of Ace's feet!

Jazz has gorgeous movement and looks stunning when he canters around the field. He really a lovely "black stallion" :)

Jazzy full speed ahead!

Ace and Jazz play a horse version of tag....Ace chases Jazz and then Jazz chases Ace. Silly boys.

Jazz has been growing like a weed and he grew right out of his halter! So here he is modeling his brand new red halter. He should fit this one for a long long time....its a full horse size. Its a little big around his nose right now, but it works and as soon as the spring comes and the grass gets here, he will grow even more!

Pepsi Arrives!

2009-01-28T14:45:00.005-05:00

Pepsi has arrived! She has settled in very very well, despite the current winter storm. She has made fast friends with our Jr. Stallion Jazz. I have never seen a horse adjust to and fit in an established herd so fast!

Pepsi and Jazz are enjoying a mutual grooming session. Jazz himself is a little introverted and he has not bonded to anyone other than Ace, so its nice to see these two geting along so well.

Aww sharing the salt lick!

Pepsi has lovely movement and she is a stunning girl. She will look beautiful in the summer when she has a sleek coat....all of the horses will look nice in the summer :)

She has some of the same bloodlines as Jazz and they are both foundation bred Quarter horses with babydoll heads. Some day these two will have beautiful babies.

Ace is still the tallest of the youngsters and surprisingsly he is actually the youngest horse we have right now. He is 5 weeks younger than Pepsi and 4 weeks younger than Jazz.

The herd converges to meet the newcomer. Cricket and Pepsi get along well too, but Cricket gets along well with everyone.

Oh Winter.

2009-01-22T20:43:00.003-05:00

Buck is modeling his brand new winter blanket. He was getting too chilly in all this cold weather we have been having. Poor fella. He feels better now though, and looks so handsome too in his raspberry coloured blanket.

Buck and Phoenix were hanging out today together for a while. They followed each other around a bit and then hung out near the trees. These two are the most dominant ones in the field....so maybe they were making plans!

Until they got into a fuss about something. Not too sure what they are doing....Phoenix is smelling Buck and then she freaked out .....see below.

I think she squealed at him because she is letting him know that she is pregnant.....except SHE started it and he is a gelding.....HORSES!!

Not too much else going on. Pepsi should be arriving this weekend, dependant upon the weather...its supposed to be very very cold. I am just waiting for spring to arrive and winter to end. The horses are getting a little bored....especially the youngsters. There is not too much to do other than walk to the hay feeders...then to the water....then to the shelter....and all over again. I think the little boys will have fun when Pepsi arrives as then they will have another youngster to hang out with. The bigs guys might not find her arrival to be as enjoyable. We'll have to see :)

Injured Foot Update

2009-01-18T22:37:00.006-05:00

Well with the storm that we have been having and all the cold and snow blowing outside, Misty is nice and comfy in the barn. She gets to stay warm and dry while everyone else is out in the snow.

Her foot is healing well, I am very happy with the progress. She should be fine to go back outside by the weekend. She is being such a good girl about having her wound cleaned and treated with antibiotic ointments. Its sore, but she lets me get it done.

Her stall has 3 big windows the are open directly to the outside. She can look out and see her pasture mates when they are at the bottom of the field. She also gets lots of fresh air, which is very very important. Horses do not do well when they are too sealed up in a barn. When I go into the barn in the morning Misty starts calling out to me.....I think she wants to make sure I don't forget to bring her grain!

Pepsi

2009-01-17T20:38:00.003-05:00

This lovely palomino is Pepsi. She is the newest resident of Acres of Grace. She is a wonderful young mare who will be 2 in May. She is very sweet and friendly.

Eventually when she is older she will bre bred to Jazz for some gorgeous foals, but for now she will be trained to saddle and be a lovely trail riding companion and show horse. She will be arriving hopefully on the weekend.

In the summer she is a gorgeous golden colour with a very curly white mane :)

I bought Pepsi from a good friend of mine. I know this young horse has been expertly cared for and has been treated properly and is well bred. We are very excited and anxiously awaiting her arrival!

Stall Rest For Misty

2009-01-17T20:27:00.004-05:00

Well my dear Misty is on stall rest :( When we went out to the horse fields today there was blood all over the snow...Misty cut the bulb of her heel almost off. It was bleeding a lot. So after I cleaned it an applied antibiotic ointment it started bleeding again because the snow irritates it. So she is now tucked in nice and cozy in the stall. She has straw bedding.....lots of yummy hay that she does not have to share.....out of the wind.....a personal water bucket...and the warmth of the barn....She is never going to want to leave! I will keep my eye on her, but i think with the stall and the cream she will be fine in a week.

The Pregnant Ones, an update.

2009-01-07T20:21:00.005-05:00

Just thought I would update you on the pregnant mares. Misty, above, is about 5 months along now and you can see her baby belly beginning to grow. She is due the last week in July 2009. She was bred to the handsome paint stallion pictured below. The paint is homozygous, so Misty should have a paint coloured baby. I can't wait!

This is Tex the stallion. As I have mentioned before he is Ace's sire. He is also the sire of Phoenix's foal (pictured below).

Phoenix is getting very large. Excuse the picture, lol, but it really shows how big and wide her belly is getting. She is due in the first week of May. Not too long now. I am super excited about Pheeny's baby. Her foal will also be a paint, and my future trail horse!

Another view of Pheeny's growing belly. She is starting to waddle as she moves and does not really have the energy to race around the fields too much right now. She is on maternity leave, and I no longer ride her, she just gets to relax and grow her baby!

Another shot of the mom-to-be. Just getting some sun. In other news, the calfs are doing well but remain nameless at this point. My uncle needs to pick some fun names for our bovine friends!

Cute Calves!

2009-01-03T21:11:00.003-05:00

Well Happy New Year! Here out at Acres Of Grace there a 2 new arrivals! Have a look at these little cuties!

We have 4 and 8 week old calves at the farm now! They are so adorable and so soft! The 4 week old is still drinking milk, which he is fed 2x per day. He loves his milk!

I love cows! They are one of my favorite animals, so I love to take pictures and spend time with these fellas.

Here he is trying to nurse on my finger. He is precious.

Hand feeding grain. I have to say cows are really messy eaters....he slobbered all kinds of goop all over my hands!

It is cold out and I am tired of the winter! Hurry up spring! Everyone out here is doing well now. My poor llama Kiwi was ill with pneumonia over the christmas holidays, but we caught it early and he is doing exceptionally well and will make a full recovery. It was a little scary, and man do llamas resent you pouring medication down their throats! Happy to say he is doing well, and not longer hates me for giving him medication :)
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Pretty slow here right now, with the snow and the cold no one has any energy to do much. The horses pretty much spend their time eating hay. Only Kiwi and Ebony seem to enjoy this weather. Phoenix is 2/3 of her way through her pregnancy and is definitely looking big now. We are all very excited for the arrival of her baby at the beginning of May :)

A Mid-Winter Flood

2008-12-31T11:11:00.005-05:00

Well we had a mid-winter flood! The weather just seemed to get warmer and warmer and then viola a meltdown! Good thing there was no hay in this round bale holder, because it would have been ruined.

Its a pretty big pond for this time of year...takes up a good portion of the field. It is supposed to drop to -19 tomorrow and stay cold for a while....so soon we will have a big ice rink in the field. And I supposed that bale feeder will be stuck there for the rest of winter. Ah good old Canadian winters!

Buckleberry decided that he would rather drink from this new pond than from the heated water tubs. What a silly boy. He HATES the water heaters in the tanks, he is afraid of them, lol. So any reason or excuse he can find to not use the tanks is great with him :)

With the sunlight and one lone horse drinking from a temporary pond this picture struck me as a unique picture. I like it.

Cujo's Couch

2008-12-27T22:22:00.004-05:00

What a tired little boy! Having a snooze on his own personal couch after a busy few days.

Ha, ha, his personal couch is just his size and he recieved it as a christmas present. He loves his couch.

Snow Dogs!

2008-12-27T22:10:00.004-05:00

Cujo had lots of fun playing in the snow over the Christmas holidays :) He likes to run through the snow and eat snow flakes. But the poor little fella gets cold very very easily and usually only plays outside for about 10 minutes before he wants to come in to the nice warm house!

Jumping through the snow!

"What should I do next?"

This ol' girl is Sasha. She is a husky/german shepherd and she is well suited to the snow! In her younger days (she will be 14 years old in 2009) she loved to race through the snow. Now she meanders around a bit, watches the little fella and comes inside to have a long nap in a cozy bed.

Merry Christmas To All!!

2008-12-21T11:13:00.006-05:00

Well all the animals out here have gotten into the christmas spirit!! Cujo the boston terrier looks very full of christmas joy in hit santa suit!

Hehehehe! Yes I torture him by making him wear festive costumes. Poor guy :)

What a cutie! I think here is is more confused as to why he is sitting on a kitchen chair rather than the santa suit.

Molly enjoys hanging out with her friends under the christmas tree. Her she is with Moocow...a lovely little cow that moooooos chirstmas songs and with Oinker a bashful little pig who oinks christmas carols. Molly does not sing any christmas carols. What a crew!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you from everyone, both human and non human, here at Acres of Grace !!

Farm Life In Winter = Chores, Chores, Chores

2008-12-21T10:03:00.006-05:00

It is a snowy cold season out here at the farm. I have never disliked snow until I bought farm animals!! There is so much more work in the winter and so much less fun activities to do with the animals. It hard to ride in the snow, and if there is a frigid wind blowing forget it.

I spend hours each week shuffling hay around...from the barn to the feeders.....from one feeder to another.....from the ground where the horses throw it back into the feeder.....it never ends! The small bales are about 80 pounds. First you have to climb up the hay stacks and throw the bales down from the top....then you have to pick it up by the strings and carry it out into the yard....travel down an icy, slippery embankment with the strings digging into your palms....shuffle it onto your knee as you try to open the gate to the field....and then try to make it through a mass 0f 8 animals (6 of which a big horses) each trying to eat the bale as you carry it out to the feeder.....throw it in the feeder.....climb into the feeder so that you can get the strings oof of it....which is a whole other problem, because they are so tighly wound they can be very difficult to get off sometimes......climb back out of the feeder and do it all again.......11-15 more times.

Speaking of hay, we also have to put 2 big round bales out in the feeders on the weekends. Each round bale weighs about 1500 pounds. I have to try to roll it out of the barn and down an embankment so that the tractor can lift it up and take it out to the feeders. Not too bad.....except when there has been so much snow that I have to spend half and hour diggins out the door to get the hay out and another half an hour digging out the gate to the horse field so that tractor will be able to get in. The tractor is not able to plow in front of the barn door because it cannot get up the embankment. And I cannot plow infront of the horse gate well because it cannot get close enough and just ends up pushing the snow against the gate. Then there are the times....like yesterday....when the tractor breaks down (which happens frequently because it is old) and we cannot use it so we have to call a neigbour or try to push these big 1500 pound bales out to the fields ourselves...(almost impossible). Sometimes the tractor works to take the hay out but breaks down in the field and then we have to try to keep the horses away from it so they don't run into it and get hurt.

The water is a whole other story. The hoses freeze so every other day I have to get the hoses from the basement....drive them to the farm....unwind them....fill the buckets.....stretch the hoses out to drain.....wind them back up.....tie them with baler twine....and take them home again....once home I have to unwind them again...drain them again and wrap the dang hose up...again. Not much work? Hmmm....well it is the MOST ANNOYING thing ever, winding and unwinding these dang hoses every other day....your hands get wet...the hoses are cold so they are stiff....the water the runs out of them makes icy patches.....and it is just a big chunk of my time that I could be using to do the many other chores I have to do. Oh and thats if the water pipe has not frozen...which it does a lot....in which case it has to be thawed with a hair dryer. Sometimes the actual pump out in the pump house freezes....and that requires a professional plumber and a whole lot of stress.

And no the horses cannot just eat snow for their water. They could phsically do it, but it does not provide enough liquid and they have to use precious body heat in order to melt the snow. In winter dehydration is a huge problem and even bigger is that dehydration can lead to colic....a life threatening and sometimes fatal problem where horses cannot move anything through their intestines and their intentines eventually die and thus so does the horse. Water is the single most important aspect of the horse being able to move food though their system, it lubricates the organs and flushes all the toxins and food out.

Once per week I have to add new straw to the horse and llama shelters because the horses poop in their bedding and make a nasty mess. The llamas do not (Thank goodness) but they get a little more bedding on the cold days. This is not too bad, but the twine is impossible to get off sometimes and often when I am trying to spread out the straw a few of the horses come over and get in the way because they think I might be spreading out more hay.

Then there is the feeding of two certian horses and two certian llamas. The night before I feed I have to soak beetpulp pellets in hot water so that they become soft and palatable. Then I have to make sure I remember to bring it to the farm ! I make a mix of different grains and a concoction of supplements and mix it all together. Take it out to the barn yard and one at a time bring each animal out and feed it, so the other animals cannot fight over and steal the food. This is not too bad, just one more chore that needs to be taken care of out at the farm.

I know that this post sounds like I am complaining. But I am not, truly. I do it because I love my animals so much and want them to have to best care that I can provide. Which means lots of water and hay on these cold winter days. I decided to write about it because I heard some friends complaining about the snow and winter and realized that not too may people realize how much work is involved in maintaining a herd of horses and llamas throughout this cold season.

But I have no regrets. Its true I do not enjoy winter as much as I used to and a big part of that would be that I have to spend so mcuh time outside in the snow. And yes I HATE winding and unwinding the hoses day after day and I wish there was a heated hose I could use (there are heated hoses and coils but becasue I have to run my hose through the snow these are not appropriate). But it is simply part of owning horses and I have a lot of fun with my horses. It is more fun in the summer and fall because among the chores we can do a lot of riding, but each season has its own set of chores that has to be done. Winter is just hard because its cold, wet and windy and there is more that has to be done. ie hay coupled with less that we can do ie. riding. The thing that I really focus on during those cold, windy and wet days when my boots are soggy and my fingers are ice is that winter leads into spring....and spring means little hooves racing around the fields and the foaling season begins :)

Snowy, Snowy, Snowy Day!

2008-12-09T18:32:00.006-05:00

It was a very snowy day.....there was lots of snow and it was very windy. The horses stood out in the snow and got covered in the stuff! they looked kind of funny actually.

I did manage to get some very good scenery shots of everything blanketed in white. So pretty.

Buck and Cricket stood out with their bums to the wind and had a nap in the snow. They got very covered in it, but lucky them they have a fur coat....I was freezing! If you look very closely you can see a dark blob in the run-in shed....that is Phoenix....she decided to get in out of the wind and snow. It must have been pretty warm in there because the snow melted right off of her.

Pheeny going for a run in the snow. See even horses like to play in the snow!

Misty spent her time eating....snowy hay? who cares! She just kept munching away. Actually the digestion process keeps the horses very warm.

Jazz and Ace also spent time chowing on the hay. They were eating at the top bale feeder. These little boys are good little friends.

Kiwi and Ebony....the llamas who come from the Altiplano.....which is covered in snow...COLD SNOW.....spent all their time in their llama hut. I only saw Ebony come out once, other than that they hunkered down on their straw bedding. Silly llamas! This is their natural habitat! Me thinks Ebony and Kiwi have been too spoiled!

The Scary Horse Eating Snowman!!

2008-12-01T20:35:00.003-05:00

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! This is my rendition of a snowman....more like a snow triangle :) Anyways, I thought it would be fun to build one for the horses with hay shoved in it for them to eat. It was fun to build, and so funny to watch them approach it. They were quite nervous of it when they first saw it. They thought it was a scary horse eating snowman!! By the time they saw it it was getting dark. I had to use my flash, which scared them even more.

Ace and Jass were the first ones to approach the snowman. They seemed to get over their fear of it much faster than the big guys. They began to eat the hay almost immediately.

Buck was next, I guess he figured that if they little boys could get near the intruder and not get eaten then he would go have a look himself. So he chased the little boys away and checked out the snowman.

But....Ace came back...the snowman is so tasty!

Phoenix decided that she too wanted to see what everyone was upto. So she came over to eat some of the snowman too. Yummy.

Buck and Phoenix spent a long time just standing by the snowman, not letting anyone else near it. Misty never bothered to come and check the snowman out, she is pretty standoffish, that one. Cricket was totally freaked out the "the monster in the field" that she did not come over but rather ran around it snorting and stamping her feet. I suppose with her poor eyesight, she could not really figure out what it was and it took much longer for her to get her nerves up to check it out.

When I arrived the next day the snow triangle was shorter....someone knocked the top off and all the hay way eaten. It was fun to watch them though. Next time I am going to build a bigger one, and earlier in the day so I can get better pictures.

The Duns

2008-11-26T21:04:00.005-05:00

This is Misty. She is a Red Dun. She looks fairly similar to Buck, except she has a red mane with blond streaks and a red tail. Her legs are red and her only marking is a white star on her forehead. She is bigger than Buck. I never noticed until I looked at these pics side by side how different their heads are! Misty has a very small, refined, feminine head. Her muzzle gets thinner as you get closer to her nose. Her cheek bones and eye orbits are refined and delicate.

Buck on the other hand, has chunky cheeks and prominant eye sockets. His muzzle does not thin out much towards his nose and has a more boxy shape to it. His bottom lip does not protrude as much as Misty's does. He is supposedly a buckskin, but I think he is actually a dun. He has dark legs, dark mane and tail with some blond highlights. His markings are brown or black not red like Misty's. Hence he is a dun and she is a red dun. Buck has more white markings...he has a star, a snip and one white foot. He had leg barring (like tiger stripes) on his legs. Both Buck and Misty have dorsal stripes on their backs.
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Its just interesting, how similar and yet different they are. I never noticed to what extent until I put these head shots side by side.

Snow Load

2008-11-26T20:45:00.003-05:00

Buck and Cricket looking cute together standing on the hill. There was ALOT of snow last night, because 2 days ago I was riding Pheeny in the front yard....on GRASS!

Hahaha....Pheeny is so cute. She has snow on her ear...lol from the trees. She is getting big, it is exciting watching her belly grow....it will grow ALOT in the spring. I have been keeping a photo journal of her pregnancy, each month I take a pic of her and you can really see how her body is changing and her belly is growing. It is very exciting to look at. I am keeping one for Misty too.

Aw Acer! He is lovely. A little bit of a brat sometimes....he can pick on Jazz a bit and he loves to harass the big guys. He is 18 months old now and is growing into a big boy. He likes to run a lot, and loves to whip everyone up into a frenzy of running around the field.

Hehehehe! Ebony loves the snow! AFter watching the horses race around the field (Ebony and Kiwi stayed safe in their llama lounge) Ebony decided to kick up her heels too!

Ace tasting the trees. Silly, silly boy.

Buck Shows off for his Mares

2008-11-26T20:23:00.003-05:00

What an amazing sight!!! Buck was really putting on a show today. I have never seen him like this before...it was both breathtaking and nervewracking. He seems to be jealous of our new little stallion Jazz and he put on quite the show for everyone. As you can see from the pics he was showing off and there was lots of snorting, blowing and weird growling noises to accompany all this.....I think Buck was gelded late, and thus he is kind of 'studdish' and thinks that Phoenix, Cricket and Misty are HIS mares...so he put on a show of dominance.
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In the above pic he is prancing, not something I have seen him do before, but something stallions (or geldings who think they are stallions) do to show off for their mares. Notice the arched neck.

Here is is just running full blast. Now all 6 of the horses were running around, but I mainly took pictures of Buck because of how he was showing off...it was something I will never forget.

This is Buck slamming on the breaks. He over shot his mares and so had to stop really fast.

Quick turn around and he is off again. Arched neck again.

Here he is rearing. He reared several times. I have never seen him rear before, but I suppose he has never felt he had to show off before. He is showing his dominance here. Awesome sight.

He stood on the hill very alert, notice his pose. He was snorting all this time and making weird growling type noises.

Standing on the hill again. Very alert, very tall. He is a magnificent boy. He is quite upset at Jazz and does bite him. I put another hay station out so hopefully they will keep away from each other more. Jazz is pretty laid back and just tries to go on his own way and eat. He is unaware that he is indeed a stallion. Buck is VERY aware of this fact.

Looking For a Foot of Snow

2008-11-24T19:47:00.003-05:00

Pheeny and I went for a short ride around the driveway. She is getting big and she finds the cinch a little uncomfortable now, so for a short ride I did not bother with it. She is 170 days along in her pregnancy and is getting big.

We had some fun and it was great to be riding her again, we have not gone out for a ride in almost a month so it was nice. She can ride until February/March but Jan-March are usually the coldest, snowy months so she may get out of work sooner ;)

Jazz is doing really well! He is a really sweet boy and seems to be fitting in nicely. Ace and Jazz are not totally sure how to play together yet....Ace is much more rougher in his play than Jazz is and so sometimes they seem to have little miscommunications. LOL, the lives of horses!

It was so cute to look out and see Ace watching over Jazz that I had to grab my camera and head out to the horse field. It is a very good sign that Jazz is willing to lie down, he obviously feels secure enough to do so. And it was cute that Ace stood over him and kept him company. What sweet little boys.

Jazz just catching some rays!

Ace has turned into quite a handsome guy. Not the scrawny little fella he was when he arrived but very tall and imposing. He is more mischevious than Jazz is, but also very loving and likes to have all the attention he can get!

We have been getting a lot or rain/snow mix and I hate it! I like the snow, but hate the rain. And when it rains and then drops a few degrees and turns to snow, then its a slippy, icy mess. I am looking forward to about 1 foot of snow. Right now Misty and Buck are sore because they are used to wearing shoes and their shoes were pulled off for the winter (so they do not slip and hurt themselves) and the mud is hard on the ground and that makes their feet tender. So a foot of snow will do us all good....softer footing for the horses.....and I will not have to worry about the mud in their hooves causing thrush.....and of course a little tobogganing never hurt anybody!

Jazz Arrives!

2008-11-22T20:56:00.006-05:00

Well our little stallion Jazz (his call name) arrived safe and sound today. He had a 4 hour trailer ride to get here, but was in great spirits and very happy and healthy when he got off the trailer.
He is such a little doll. He is very friendly and happy to be with people and horses a like. He is not pushy or aggressive, but is assertive and will stand up for himself in the group if he is being pushed around.

Phoenix is the dominant mare and pregnant to boot so she was a little fussy when he arrived. She knows that he is a stallion, even though he does not know he is and is not in a breeding mode yet. She wants him to know she is the boss and she is pregnant..so stay away!

Cricket, who is not pregnant and is always nice to new horses got along well with him. She is very gentle and did not try to be pushy. Won't they have gorgeous foals together?

Ace was just so excited to have a buddy who is his age. Jazz is 1 month older than Ace, however Ace is already much taller and bigger than Amigo. It looks to me as if Ace and Jazz are planning some kind of mischief to get into already!!!!

Kiwi had to come by and see who the new guy is. They were both very gentle when meeting and it went very well. You never know how a horse will accept a llama, but Jazz was awesome!

Just running around the field, being a little guy! Misty sniffed him once and went on her way to go munch on the fresh hay we put out. She is a bit standoffish. She is pregnant too, so she was neither happy or sad to see a stud. Buckleberry pinned his ears, tried to bite once and then got over it. He generally is a laid back guy, and just wanted Jazz to know he is BELOW Buckleberry in the pecking order.

The New Guy....A Stallion

2008-11-21T21:32:00.006-05:00

Here is Jazz, the new guy ;) He is an 18 month old Quarter Horse Stud Colt. We are keeping him as a stud, so he can be our breeding stallion. He has phenomenal bloodlines and is gorgeous. He is a well behaved young fellow who does not really realize that he is a boy yet ;) LOL he will in the spring though! (We call him Jazz, it just suits him much better;)

He is arriving tomorrow. These pictures are from his previous owner. He is bulkier and has a fuzzy winter coat now. He should throw colour....buckskins, palominos, grullas, greys, blacks etc... and I already have 4 people who want to breed to him next year and he is not even home yet! I am going to breed Cricket and Misty to him next year as well, get a couple of babies off him of my own ;)
.
He is about the same size as Ace. It will be nice for both of these young guys to have each other to play with becauase the adults are BOOOOORING! lol. Ace loves to run around and be a little colt and now he will have another young fella to run with. Ace is a gelding, while Jazz is a stallion.

What A Messy Eater

2008-11-21T21:18:00.003-05:00

Ebony took quite the mouthful of hay!! Ha ha, she makes me laugh so much sometimes. She is a messy eater, takes huge mouthful of hay and then drops most of it on the ground!

Hehehehe, what a cutie!

Kiwi and Ebony have been using their shelter. YAY! I am so happy, it took a lot of work, time and $$ to make them a shelter that was horse proof yet accesible to them....so I am very glad they are using it :) The exciting thing is that they are LAYING DOWN IN IT! This was the first time they have done that. They must be feeling very comfortable now, Cricket is even standing in front of the shelter.

The First Snow!

2008-11-18T15:03:00.005-05:00

Well winter cometh!!! The first snow of the season fell today, and it was not just a few flurries but enough to settle on the horses and llamas as you can see from these pictures. I actually enjoy the snow..there are some challenges with snow and horses but there is lots of things about the snow I enjoy too. It is beautiful....the horses like to run in it....no bugs....no thrush....lol I have just always loved the snow from when I was a little kid.

Phoenix did not mind the snow one little bit...she just kept on eating. Buckleberry ran for the shelter at the first snowflake :) He really prefers the indoors to the outdoors.

Cricket, Misty and Ace just stood together and basically had a nap! I will be putting a blanket on Misty in the next day or two because she is thinner and pregnant and I do not want her to use up all her energy on keeping warm this winter. Plus she is not one who likes to go in the shelter, she seems to feel too confined.

Hehehehe, Ebony likes the snow, but did not enjoy the wind blowing it into her ears! She and her brother were very frisky when the snow first started, they jumped and played in it. Then Ebony decided she had enough and settled down for a rest by the hay.

It was quite a bit of snow for the first snow of the season, as in it did not melt as soon as it hit the ground....or animals. In other news, Misty and Ace (and the llamas) are now drinking out of the water tub (THANK GOODNESS). Phoenix and Buckleberry have been breaking the ice in the small pond and drinking from that....it will not last long though, soon the 'pond' will dry up and or freeze up and they will have to deal with the water tubs instead.

Its Hay Time!

2008-11-17T16:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we put out the big round bales of hay for the first time this year :) It is quite remarkable that we have been able to hold off so long without having to put one out. We have given them some small square bales in the past few weeks, but even then normally the grass is dried up and useless in August! Everyone was over joyed at the new fresh hay ;)

Kiwi and Ebony have fit in well with the herd of horses, they are even eating hay out of the balers at the same time, right beside the horses. Kiwi and Ebony also recieve a flake of Alfalfa hay and some grain in their 'llama lounge" each day. Not that they totally need it, but it keeps them interested in their home.

Misty, Kiwi, Ebony, Ace and Buck enjoy the new hay!

Ebony and Cricket are eating at the tope bale alone for now. There is too many animals to share just one bale and Cricket does not like to be crowded, but she is fine with Ebony.

The heaters have been put into the water tanks and the horses are scared of them. They think they are snakes. So it takes a very long time for them to build up their courage to drink. I have covered the wire with a blakc tubing and blocked part of it with wood, so hopefully that will help. It rained so much the other day that a pool formed in the corner of the pasture....and all the horses are drinking out of it for the moment.......silly horses.

There Is Always Light

2008-11-13T21:38:00.008-05:00

Well along with the exciting news about Misty's pregnancy we have had some sad news as well. Very sad news. Cricket (the paint) has only 1 eye. The other eye was removed a long time ago. Well the one eye she still has was leaking a lot and she kept it closed a lot so I had the very look at it and she has moon blindness. She is going blind in the one eye that she does have. We were very shocked by this information and very upset. Right now I am putting gel in it 4 times per day....moon blindness is kind of like a recurring infection and each time the infection comes back it damages the eye more, until eventually the horse loses the sight in the eye. Moon blindness also makes the eye sensitive to light. Normally with a horse who has another eye, you would cover the eye when there was an attack to keep the light out, but since she only has one eye that is not an option. Eventually she will have to live with just one other companion horse (who would be wearing a bell..so she can always hear where the other horse is) in a smaller paddock so that she is always aware of her surroundings, once she can no longer see.

Then we learned that Misty has Navicular disease, which is another degenerative disease (like Moon blindness) but Navicular affects the feet. The horse foot has a Navicular bone and and Navicular Bursa which acts like a cusion for the Navicular bone to glide over the Cannon bone. With Navicular disease either the Navicular Bursa shifts or breaks down or their is a crack in the actual Navicualr bone, either way the horse is in a lot of pain and can no longer be ridden and in some cases can hardly walk and must be put to sleep. Misty is sore at times, and is now retired from riding. She gets along pretty well out in the field and with special shoes. She is sore when ridden and thus is retired. She is generally not lame at pasture and has joined the ranks of broodmare. She will become Crickets companion because neither of them eventually will be able to be ridden and they are both gentle, and as a bonus they seem to be getting along well :)

Right now only Misty has been retired from riding, Cricket is still very rideable and will be ridden until her sight (or age) prevents it. We are hoping with diligent care we can keep her sight for 4 -5 more years at least.

My girls have both been dealt hard blows but I will do everything in my power to make sure they live out thier lives healthy, happy and pain free. They will be cared for with compassion, dignity and respect and they are truly loved, and I know they both know they are loved and love us back.

The light in this is the fact that Misty is expecting a little one next summer. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Flying Ace!

2008-11-13T21:28:00.003-05:00

Ace had a lot of fun today racing around the field! He is a pretty fast guy and recently took to jumping over a 4 foot gate and escaping into the sheep field.....well I fixed that problem by putting an electric bungy gate above the existing metal gate and he no longer leaves the field :) He does however race around a lot which is great, fun to watch and good exercise for him.

He will be a lot of fun to ride, he has really nice movement. Very fluid.

Youngsters are so much fun to work with and to watch. Ace will be two next year and there is one foal due in May and one foal due in July so we will have lots of young ones in the summer. With any luck there will be 3 due the year after too ;) Next year Ace gets to begin his work under saddle and we will both have lots of fun doing it!

The Llamas Figure it Out!!

2008-11-13T20:43:00.007-05:00

Well at first the llamas were nervous of their shelter, because in their opinion they thought maybe the horses would be able to corner and trap them in it. So they only went in it to get grain and spent their time outside, sleeping in the rain. So I decided to get them used to it by putting really nice alfalfa hay in it. (Note: the big buckets they are eating out of are full of the alfalfa hay...when I put it on the ground they fought over it, when I had two seperate piles they walked through it and this attracted the horses....the horses DO NOT get alfalfa hay).

So by putting the hay out for them I was able to get them into the shelter for a long period of time.....but how do you teach a llama that they are indeed safe in the shelter and that the horses cannot get in under the bar?!?!?!?! Incidently, the horses themselves taught the llamas this very important lesson!

The horses were attracted to the shelter because of the alfalfa hay.....so they hung around it....

At first this scared the llamas because they felt that they could not get out with the horses hovering in front of the shelter....

But those nifty llamas very quickly figured out that the horses COULD NOT get in past the bar! The horse (in the above pic Misty) would come up, look in, stand around for a few minutes, realize they cannot get in and leave. Well this taught the llamas that they were indeed safe!

"And stay out!" So after all the horses and llamas learned from each other. When I left for the day, the llamas were contentedly munching on their hay with their rears facing the horses who were croweded in front.....a big deal in itself.....a llama will not turn thier backs to a threat and definitely will not eat if it is scared....so the llamas must have been feeling pretty content in their llama lounge of luxury!

Soggy, Soggy, Soggy

2008-11-13T18:51:00.002-05:00

Well it was a wet fall day our at Acres of Grace today. The horses were soggy, the ground was soggy, the hay was soggy...I was soggy. Quite the day, at least the temperature hovered around +10 so it was not freezing out.

Misty is slowly being incorportated into the herd, specifically with Cricket, as Cricket is very quiet, calm and gentle. Misty is a nervous horse. The vet was out yesterday and confirmed that Misty is indeed pregnant and surprisingly Cricket is not. Two babies on the way next year :) We'll give Cricket one last shot to get pregnant next spring.

Everyone running around, maily because its dinner time!

Little Mister Ginger decided that at least soogy hay was warmer to sit on than soggy ground!

Llama Games

2008-11-02T11:10:00.004-05:00

Kiwi and ebony are very very frisky right now...they love the cooler weather and are having lots of fun wrestling with each other. Before it was always Kiwi picking on Ebony and she would run away but now that she is 3.5 years old she is really getting into the game and at times chases Kiwi!
Kiwi is trying to bite Ebony's legs as she runs by. They both really seem to love these games, they play them a lot, they are both willing participants and the like to chase things or be chased, because they often play a chasing game with Ace too.
Ah the neck grab.

Ebony is really getting into this round of games.

Yep, never make a llama angry! "Take that big brother!"

Cujo Visits Again!

2008-11-02T10:58:00.004-05:00

Cujo came back for another few visits to the farm. Actually other than this weekend he has come out every time we have gone out. I am trying to get him used to all the animals on the farm. Here he see's the chickens.....however I think he would like to be chasing them!

It was pretty cold out a few days ago so when Cuj came out he got to wear his new winter 'farm' coat. At home he ususally just wears a sweater coat when I walk him, however because of all the snow (it will come) and the cold wind he needed a much warmer and water resistant coat to be out at the farm.....Lucky dog!

That is actually Ace's toy ball but Cujo had lots of fun running around with it.

Fun times at the farm!

Fall is Here...Winter is Coming

2008-11-02T10:42:00.002-05:00

Buck Decided to have a little nap in the sun yesterday. Everyone has been moved up to the winter field until April. They all are doing well, considering they are in much closer quarters. Ace has jumped over a 4 foot gate twice now, so we had to run electric wire all around the perimeter including across the gates. It is a little annoying now, having to undo not only the gate latch but now also the electric wire running across the top of it, but its better than Ace jumping out and escaping or hurting himself or the sheep. He jumps out because he likes to chase the sheep.

A day before we moved them up to the winter field. Misty is looking for he last few dregs of grass. I love the summer field, but when the weather is cold I am glad that they are up top and much closer to the house.

Ace man watching me.

Everyone out eating whats left of the grass.

Barrel Racing Cow Horse!

2008-10-20T22:55:00.005-04:00

Buck is quite the horse. He is very well broke, I know that. He rides really nicely, fast but nice. I emailed his previous owner the other day just looking for a bit of background on my boy. I was just curious as to what Buck did when he was younger because he is a very interesting fellow.

I found out he is quite the guy! He was used extensively to train racehorses for the track. He trained young colts barrel racing and he worked cows. He has lived a very active and interesting life! He has a phenomenal pedigree and a lot of speed. He watches the sheep move about a lot, more than any of the other horses, I suppose because of his previous cow work...sheep are kinda like cows I guess to a horse!

A Pregnancy Mystery....That Drives Me Crazy!

2008-10-19T22:25:00.007-04:00

This is Cricket on Feb 25th of this year. About a month and a half after I bought her. She is a very lovely, very pretty horse. She has had 11 foals and is 16.5 years old.

She was sent to the stud farm and the first time she was bred she came back into heat so we bred her again. Now we had her checked after the second breeding and the vet said that she was not pregnant. I accepted this as a fact and planned on breeding her for a last time next year before she retires. I did not think much of it after that. However, as I have been watching her over these past few months and also watching Phoenix because she was bred at the same time too, I have noticed Phoenix growing a baby belly (as noted in a post below) and incidently I am noticing that Cricket seems to be gowing one too?!?

This is Cricket a few weeks ago....Look how big her belly is getting. It would not be huge yet, as she would only be about 3.5 months along...but am I wrong? is she not beginning to look pregnant???

This is Cricket last week. She would be almost 4 months along. Her belly is taking on a noticeably round shape to it.....If you look at the first picture of her and look at this one she definitely looks pregnant. The stud owner believes she is indeed pregnant...she is so sure that she entered Cricket into the stud books for this year. I find it hard to decided if she has just gained weight or if she is indeed pregnant. Usually if they are just gaining weight and getting fat they gain it all over, just not in a round belly. And when they do have fat bellies its not ususally so round and low.....
Above is Phoenix and Cricket. Phoenix is 19 days along in her pregnancy. And Cricket has not been bred yet.

This is Phoenix about 125 days into her pregnancy and you can definitely see a baby belly on her. The picture of Cricket would be about 110 post-breeding and does she not look remarkably similar to Phoenix???

Boys

2008-10-19T22:18:00.002-04:00

After we went on a lovely trail ride and I spent lots of time grooming him and making him shine, Buck decided to roll in the dirt!

Ace followed suit and now both boys are dirty! Ace rolled in a llama mud bath, so esentially a big hole filled with dirt!

My LIttle Boy is Growing Up!

2008-10-19T22:02:00.003-04:00

Here is my little Ace man now. He is 16 months old and growing into quite a handsome guy. Now that winter is on its way and he is growing his winter coat he is turning a beautiful deep sorrel color :)
The other day we were having some fun in one of our training sessions and I had the saddle on Ace for a bit. He looked good so I took some pictures. When I loaded the pictures on the camera and compared them to a picture I took of him with the saddle on when he was almost 13 months I could really see how much my little guy has grown!

The saddle almost swarmed him here, but above he looks good and it looks like it fits him! He is going to be a handsome trail horse.

The Llama Lounge

2008-10-19T21:22:00.003-04:00

Kiwi and Ebony are spending the winter out with the horses in the horse field as I have said before. Well we had to build them a shelter becauase the horse one is just not big enough for everyone to fit comfortably...HAHAHAHAHA isn't the little llama shelter so cute next to the giant horse one!?!?! The boards across the horse shelter is to keep the llamas out so they learn to use their own shelter. The horses are not in the field yet.

We added boards across the front, even more since this pic was taken, so that it is too low for the horses to get in. We thought it might be hard to teach the llamas to duck, but they figured it out in no time...."Give us food, we will duck"

Kiwi has no problem using his shelter. Llamas are very clean animals and they pick a spot in the field to use as a communal toilet and never foul up their living space....they shelter will be so claen in the spring...unlike the horse one!

Ebony survey's her surroundings. The llamas are fairly new to this field, they were in it for a few weeks in April but have spent the past 6 months down below.
"Hey where you going? WE WANT MORE CANDY!"

OOPS!

2008-10-19T21:00:00.003-04:00

Well at some point the horses got a little rowdy and someone ran into or was pushed into the fnce and knocked part of it down. Actually the post was broken right through. That would have hurt whomever it was that hit the fence. Now I have my suspicions, I think Misty hit the fence, because she seems stiff today, but I think one of the others, namely Phoenix or Buck chased her into it..... Other than some stiffness, Misty has no cuts or marks and neither does anyone else.

The fence that was knocked down is an interior fence...it just divides up the walk way from the fields where they all graze, so even though they knocked the fence down, no one was able to escape.....lets hope they don't make knocking fences down a habit!