NEW ARRIVAL!!!

Bought a new horse and she arrived on saturday. She is a GORGEOUS black and white, Reg. APHA, Tobiano paint mare. Her barn name is Cricket! She is a gentle, wonderful girl.
As you can see, Cricket is much smaller than my other mares! She is only 15.1 hh while Gracie is 17 hh and Dyna is 18.1 hh. WOW, Gracie and Dyna's heads look HUGE!
Can't wait to get out riding her. Cricket is missing her left eye, so she needs extra time to get used to her surroundings so she can see everything. She will be in the barn yard with the other animals for a few weeks still before I put her in with the big girls, they are so big she is so small...........

winter? spring?

so we went from this...

to this??
... in the span of 3 days! HONEST!........... I am certianly not complaining....:)

...we have been having +10, +12 weather and all the snow has melted. I had to take the blankets off the horses or they would have been way too hot and sweaty.
She's feeling good....OH she's definitely feeling good! Gracie has been enjoying this warmer weather. She thinks that spring is here.....it has made her very hyper and she spends lots of time running and bucking!


Gracie and Dyna running around their pasture. They are having so much fun out there, they will be so sad when winter rears its ugly head again.....I could stand for this weather for the rest of the season though!

New Babies!

Awwww! The baby goats have finally arrived! They are both boys, both soft and both so cute!
aw...! its nice that they were born during this warm period. The snow is gone and its jan 9th. I can handle this for the rest of the winter...
I LOVE THEM!

Gracies farm!

Gracie decided to help out with the farm chores today. Actually she decided to be the supervisor...
"do you guys know what you are doing?...DID YOU BREAK IT????????? that tractor brings my hay!!!"
"wait a minute...are you sure?.... here let me take a look"
"bring 'er in......over...over...easy does it..."
"whew! all that work, I need a break! time for lunch"

Just another day at the farm

Banjo was very curious today to see what Little Mr. Ginger, the resident barn cat was upto. Banjo followed Mr. Ginger for about 10 feet until they moved too far from the rest of the herd, then Banjo ran back to Muffins side. What a suck!
The hay was being loaded onto the tractor to be delivered to the girls' pasture.....they were intently watching to make sure that no morsel was left behind. Don't they look cute in their new bright halters?!?!?! Now we will never lose track of those two....:)

Just another day at the farm...

Merry Christmas

This cooler weather has made Gracie into a very active girl! She runs around more than I have ever seen her do before! I think it is a combination of the cooler weather is more enjoyable than the oppressive hot summer weather, so she is happy and hyper and on those freezing winter mornings she runs to keep warm!
Gracie is in the christmas spirit. I think she is fantasizing about apples and carrots! She is so laid back , she lets me dress her up for all sorts of fun photo opportunities.

Keeping warm in the cold

Winter has come in full force these past few days, and poor little Blaze has been partially sheared due to his ringworm. But the little guy has two nice warm blankets (so we can put a fresh one on each time we treat him with fungicide). He also has a nice new purple halter that looks good on him.
He sure is growing, getting so tall now! I am anxious to have him come home, but I realize its best for him to heal up well before I put the added stress of moving on him. But we are ready and waiting for his arrival in the new year...!

Knock on wood

Blaze is looking better than he has in a long time. His hair is filling in on the sides, his butt and legs look much better. He has a bit of ringworm on his face still, but hopefully with this colder weather we are seeing an end to this now.
Dyna has ringworm as well. I think someone touched Blaze and then touched Dyna and now she has it. I shaved her and she does not have too much, so hopefully her case will be a quick one. She looks funny with these shaved spots, but in due time they will grow in. She is a big strong girl, so hopefully she can fight this quickly.

Knock on wood, cross your fingers, Gracie (who lives with Dyna) has not had any ringworm. Hopefully it stays that way!

Cold and dinner

Everyone was pretty hungry today, I think it has something to do with the cold. Gracie chowed down with a vengence.

It is so cold out these days, it takes forever to get ready for the barn, the car is icy, the hose is frozen, your fingers freeze but those little or not so little faces keep you going. They all depend on you for their very lives and trust you will look after them to the best of your ability. That is a promise you must make to any animal you bring into your life. And then you have to keep that promise. But those little and not so little faces make it easy.
Dyna eats a lot, but she is a very big girl! Even from this picture you can tell this is a huge horse!
Blaze loves his hay. The grey horse on his left is his 'nanny mare' Jill, she takes such good care of my little guy. In fact I think I will have to wean him from her too!

New Goats!

There are some new faces at the farm! Muhammad added two pretty goats to his crew, and they are so cute! They are pregnant, one with twins (the grey) and one with triplets (the brown). Baby goats at the end of december, yay!
The little brown one, she is not very big, I love her. No name yet that I know of.
She is a cutie, I love her too!....I want goats!

Gracie's Story

The day Gracie was rescued from the meat auction. Underweight, wormy and scared. Her mane, which is now so long and beautiful had been roached off. I am eternally greatful to S.A.D Horse Rescue for saving my girl. She is so special. She is 'Amazing Grace'. Note in this picture she was almost 5 months pregnant. It is amazing that Blaze was a big as he was a birth, because Gracie was starved for the first part of her pregnancy.

Here is Gracie after her assessment and rehabilitation, and after I oficially purchased her :) She was out in the snow with her friends Pat and Sunshine. You can see how much bigger she had grown (In hind sight because she was preggers) after having access to good quality hay.

She looks very pregnant here! I guess this is why Blaze was such a big baby! its amazing the difference in her pictures from the day she was saved and the day she came home.....
This is the first picture I saw of Gracie and this is the image of her that I fell in love with. She looks (and is) so gentle and loving. She just wants attention, a nice grooming session and someone to love her. I fell in love with her when I saw this picture, not just because of her beauty but because of her prescence.

When I went out to the rescue to meet her she was everything I imagined and more. After I had walked her and groomed her I took off her halter so she could go back and eat. Well she did not leave, she stood right by my shoulder as I spoke to the owners of the rescue. Gracie chose me as much as I chose her. The owners told me later "Grace generated a lot of interest with her beauty but it has never felt right until you came along". Thank you A&M for saving my girl, and thank you Gracie for choosing me.
About 5 months after I bought her she had a beautiful colt. No one knew she was pregnant, in fact we did not find out until 5 weeks before she gave birth. Blaze is wonderful too, he is like his mama and I am so lucky ot have them both in my life.
Gracie today. She has come so far. There have been hard times, good times, stressful times and wonderful times. She and I have grown together and have both learned about life, love and believing in someone. My farm is going to be called "For the Love of Grace Farm" and it is my tribute to this wonderful horse whom I love dearly and will be with forever. Gracie has found her forever home with me, and I am so lucky to have her in my life.


And thats the story of how Gracie came into my life.

Blaze aka Patch

We haven't seen Gracie's boy Blaze for a while, so I was looking through his pictures and found some very cute ones of him that I thought I would share. He looks so cute here. He is different looking now, he will ALWAYS be cute but now he has a lot of bald patches thanks to the ringworm. I am thinking of calling him 'Patch' :) He is hopefully over this now, and I am looking forward to having him home in the spring.
You can see here how he was beginning to go grey already, well now a few months later he is REALLY going grey. He is going to be dappled like his mom. I love this picture of him, it is a picture of his personality if you will. He is so curious, and playful. Now he is not, becasue he is feeling ill, but he will be again.
awwwwww.....I miss you baby.

Llamas to the rescue

This pic was taken the day Muffin and Banjo were introduced. So with the donkeys busy meeting each other and getting aquainted, Kiwi and Ebony took the sheep down to graze. It is wonderful to see the llamas taking such good care of the sheep. Ebony loves the sheep, and is a very good guardian. Kiwi is ok at guarding, but is a little self-absorbed :) Llamas to the rescue!
Banjo and Muffin finally made it down to the pasture where Kiwi had to thoroughly inspect the newcomer to make sure that he was not a threat. Kiwi and Ebony are so curious, they remind me of giant cats.

In other news, I just heard that Blaze is doing well, and has not had any new spots in a week. So I am knowkcing on wood and keeping my fingers crossed.

Winter cometh

Its been pretty busy out here, winter is on the way and there is so much to get ready. The girls have moved back to the llamas farm with Banjo the donkey. It is much easier for me to have all my animals in one place. Then I get to spend more time with all of them. The girls are settling in well I think. Banjo is out with the other donkey and the llamas, as these big girls pictured above are too big and rough for a little donkey weanling. I think Dyna kicked him, he was pretty sore on his back 2 weeks ago. He is much happier with Muffin the donkey.


The snow has arrived, but that does not stop Gracie or Dyna (pictured above) from digging and eating the grass. Dyna has ringworm right now, so we are in full biosecurity mode, I do NOT want the llamas to get ringworm...oh the nightmares of having to catch and treat them each day....**shudder**

Blaze is not at the farm yet, he will not be arriving until spring. Poor guy, he too has ringworm (I think he passed it to Dyna) and thrush and has just generally had a very hard time of things lately. But he is a fighter like his mama Gracie and I am confident he will be joining the girls at the farm in the spring.

Banjo!!

Banjo's first day on the farm went well, he is so cute. He likes his hay!
He is sooooo fuzzy and soft!!!