Cold, Snowy Horses

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!!

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!.

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Welcome home boy.

Prayers For Ace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winter Is Here.

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

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

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

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

The First Snow!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He's Ba-aaack!!

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

A New Dude!

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

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

2nd Mare From Alberta Arrives!!

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

2 More Goodbyes...

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

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

First Mare From Alberta Arrives!

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

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

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


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

Surprise....

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

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

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

The Wee Ones Story

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

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

One More From Alberta!

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

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

A Gorgeous Girl!

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

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