Nice weekend

We got to spend Friday night hanging out with my parents. Nothing major, but a relaxing evening. Saturday Mom and I made a trip to Sam's Club to stock up on a few items we needed while Will was working. After Sam's we went to B&B Reinebach. Tristan and I had riding lessons. It was awesome. I had so much fun. Tristan was a probably done after the first 30 mins, but I don't think he wanted to stop riding as long as I was riding. He didn't complain, just was content to walk Shadow and not trot or lope anymore. Needless to say, we are both getting a lot more confidant in the saddle.

I was stuck down with another migraine this morning. Time to get my eyes checked again? Not sure, but I am not liking how frequent they have become.

Sam and I ventured out to the orchard paddock. I turned him loose and took a couple of shots with my camera. Sam was having some fun. And I enjoyed the show.

Sam showing off his amazing mane

not the best shot of Sam, but loved the lighting

stretching his legs

 I pulled the other three into the barn and cleaned them up and checked them over.  I could have stayed out there with them all day, but it was SOOO cold.  Will and I put Palmer, Bella and Lemon Drop back in the pasture.  All in all a very nice weekend.

Sam

So life with Sam has been pretty good.  If you haven't heard about him yet, Scafellpike Southern Comfort (aka "Sam") is our Fell Pony Stallion we added to the farm in September.  He is a handsome 4 year old.  I have been horrible about blogging, so thought I would catch you all up.

Nevar went to his new home in September.  Congrates to Tami!!  I just received a text from her today that they are both doing great.  I am so happy for them.  Nevar is a wonderful young colt and I can't wait to see all the great things these two accomplish.

We have four working stalls now in the barn.  They are not completely finished, but since Will started working on the next overpass, well, there just is not enough time.  But they are usable!!  I will have to try to find some pics of the barn before we started working on it...  Needless to say, this is wonderful news for us!  So, we are happy for now.  Will did finish up the shelter in the orchard paddock.  It is nice!  Our horses will have plenty of room to get in and out and lots of shelter from the weather.
Airiah went to B&B for training.  She is now ridable!  Can't wait for some decent weather...  This beautiful mare is for sale.  (Visit our website for more information and pictures.)

Here are a couple pics of Sam not too long after we got him.  My sister-in-law Sam was helping me brush all the horses.  We had a blast that day loving on Sam (yes, this is REALLY confusing. Sam my sister or Sam our pony?!?)  Well, here are a couple of my favs from that day!

Sam and Sam :)

Jenni and Sam.  He REALLY likes to be scratched! haha.

This is one of my favorite pics of Sam so far.

Then I just took this one today as Will was bringing Sam back up from the orchard paddock.  

 Well, time to finish up dinner and spend some time with my babies.  Have a wonderful day!!
Please be sure to visit our website if you haven't lately.  It is "newly remodeled!!" and looks amazing.  Thank you John Wethington for doing such a great job.

Visitors

Isabella's Song (Bella) went to HorseMeister last week to be bred to Evan.  Evan's sire is the world reknown Friesian stallion Mintse of Friesian Connection.  Bella is listed for sale as a two for $8,000.  She is an smart, willing to please, kind and a trained mare.  She has lots of spirit and likes to go more than whoa.  This foal is going to be amazing!!  Here are a couple pictures Ms. Judy took of Bella.

 


Isn't she amazing?!  Such a pretty girl.  I really miss her, can't wait to bring our girl back home!
Will's brother Chris' family is here visiting for the week.  It is so nice to have family here.  Our kids are all playing so well together.  Tristan is the oldest at 5, Audrey is 4, Jayden 2 and Bryce is 18 months.  I am amazed that there haven't been any major issues over toys, etc.  YEAH!!!  Plus I get to spend some time with my sister(-in-law) Samantha.  :)
Big news for tomorrow, I am taking Tristan to register for kindergarten.  How did that happen?  Seems like just yesterday we brought our baby boy home from the hospital.  I think I am going to take his first day of school off so I can drop him off and then pick him up.  Maybe do something fun just the two of us since we don't get to do that much.  He is VERY excited about going to school.  YMCA Kid Care Station has preped him really well for school.  He already knows all his letters, colors, numbers, shapes, can do some adding, recognizes some words...  I just hope he isn't too bored!!

Short weekend

So much to do and never enough time.  We spent the majority of the weekend outside.  This weather is amazing, and I have the mild sunburn to prove it.  Saturday I did do a ton of laundry and house work, but I still have a stack of dishes that are screaming to get done.  Will's Dad made a surprise visit to drop off some off the stuff he had from Grandma Moser's home.  Will and his Dad went out and worked on fencing and in the barn while I got dinner thrown together.  Somehow, we managed to sleep til 9 am today.  Not sure what happened to both our cell phone alarms and the clock alarm, but we woke up to Jayden crying.  I looked at the bedroom clock and about fell over.  I found Tristan in the living room watching a movie.  We are normally up and going by 6 am on Sundays.  Needless to say, we missed church.  Not a good way to start off our week.  After breakfast, we did chores and started in on a couple projects.  Around 1:30, Ms. Paula, one of the kids' teachers brought her daughter and grand daughter out.  They helped me brush Lemon Drop down and put some braids in her mane.  Then I saddled her up and lunged her.  She was full of get up and go.  I was thoroughly enjoying watching her really pick up her feet, she even arched her neck real pretty.  I wonder if she was enjoying all the attention she was getting??  Needless to say, she was a beautiful girl!  Sandria (not sure if I am spelling your name right dear...) went first.  We stayed at a walk as Ms. Sandria has a broken arm.  Then Breanna took a turn.  We got into a nice little trot.  I was really happy with Lemon Drop's behavior.
They all wanted to see Palmer, so we took a walk to the orchard.  Sandria fed him an apple, being the gentleman he is, he nuzzled on them both.
Tristan told me Saturday that he thought Palmer was sad and lonely.  He "listens" to the horses by putting his ear up to their flank.  It is really cute to watch.  Maybe he will be the next horse whisperer??  I figured it is probably time to put him out with the rest of the herd since he is all by himself with Bella being at Horsemeister on her first date...  Palmer did well.  In fact, Nevar was chasing him across the dam, then Palmer chased him back.  Lemon Drop and Airiah were waiting in case they were needed.  Those two mares have really bonded.  It is nice to see Airiah developing such a strong friendship.
We are going to have a house full this week.  Chris' family is coming to stay with us while Chris is at a seminar for work.  The kids are going to have a blast chasing each other around.  Samantha and I are going to have our hands full! haha!!
Sorry,  this really isn't my best post, but I am so tired.  It has been a very busy weekend.   Thanks for reading and please let me know what you would like to hear more of!!

Timing is everything

We had church Sunday, and I am so eternally grateful that Will decided to fill in for me in the nursery.  Otherwise I would have missed THE BEST service I have ever been to.  I need to start carrying a box of kleenex to CBC with me.  I was sobbing tears of joy listening 9 people give their lives to Jesus, they ranged from 6 years old to 49 years young.  It was amazing to hear all their trials and how God brought them through.  I don't think there were many dry eyes in the house Sunday.  It was an exhilarating service.  Our Church is also going to be providing the music on August 2 at the Knox County Fair, there was the Sidewalk Vacation Bible school last week, VBS this week, the church picnic at our farm this Sunday.  There are so many exciting things going on at church!!

As for that whole, Timing is everything...  Apparently, I don't have the best...  Dr. Keller came out to ultrasound Bella to see if she was in season.  Tristan was helping me with Bella.  He was very interested in what Dr. Keller was going to be doing, but I figured it would be better for him to "help" keep Bella still at her other end that be right in middle of it all at other end.  He still decided that being a vet is NOT what he wants to do when he grows up.  Darn it!!  How handy would that be?!  But, he did really well, was quiet (amazing feat for Tristan), did what I asked, and didn't whine.  I was proud of him.  Sadly, Dr. Keller told me that Bella had just been in less that 48 hours ago.  Not the best of news.  We were hoping to take her to Horsemeister tonight to have her first "date" with Evan.  Now we will have to give Bella a shot on Monday to bring her back into season then a week from this Thursday she will go to Horsemeister.  

Horsemeister has three phenomenal stallions.  We couldn't use Valiant on Bella as they are 1/2 brother and sister.  Killian is so handsome.  We went with Evan.  I have seen him several times, but I am so ready to see him up close.  He is so impressive and hairy.  Which is good with Friesians.  ;)

Our friend/webmaster is working on a total overhaul on our website.  I am very anxious to see the outcome.  I really like our website now, but I think this is really going to be much easier to navigate.

If you haven't heard, I finally got our facebook page for the farm set up.  Send Hardenberg Friesians a facebook friend request!!!  I am going  to try to be better about posting on there.  Wish me luck!!

Grief, rejoicing and LOTS of manual labor

Last week, we decided there was no choice but to put poor Cutter down.  He was our 28 year old gelding that we took in this March.  I literally could climb on him with a halter and lead rope and ride wherever.  He was a gentleman, and easy to work with.  He was suppose to be for our niece Taylor and Tristan to ride and anyone else who came over to ride.  When I brought Cutter home, we kept him in a stall with his own paddock to let him adjust to his new surroundings.  He paced and paced, only time he stopped was when he was eating.  So, we put him out with the mares.  He did ok, but still the pacing.  Moved him in with Palmer and Bella.  That arrangement didn't work.  So, back to the mares he went.  The pacing continued and his weight dropped drastically.  We adjusted his grain ration and added a weight builder supplement, 6 flakes of hay PLUS all the grass he could eat.  Still his weight dropped and still the pacing.  Our vet prescribed a relaxer to stop the pacing hoping that would help him gain the weight back.   Seemed to help at first, but the side effects made him loose even more weight.  So, we stopped that..  He never went back to pacing, but he became so skinny we called Dr. Keller’s office again.  There just wasn’t any more to be done for him.  So, sadly we had to put Cutter down on Thursday.  This is the third horse that I have had to put down and it just does NOT get any easier.  But I am praying his spirit is in heaven and someone is loving on him and riding him and he is happy again. 

Thankfully, Thursday also brought some good news.  Lemon Drop had an ultrasound and was confirmed pregnant!  This was my first ultrasound on a horse.  Interesting experience to say the least…  I put her in a stall,  our vet sedated her, put a hay bale behind her back legs (JUST in case she decided to kick…) and waited for the meds to kick in…  Didn’t take long.  I was thrilled cause they did a screen freeze and I got to see the 20 day along embryo.  That was soooo cool!  Lemon Drop was calm, cool and the best little lady.  She is so much fun to work with!   Thus the rejoicing!  She, Airiah, Nevar and Shadow are all in the big section of the pasture now.  Airiah has always been the “Queen Bee” of Hardenberg.  She set Palmer and Bella straight as soon as she arrived and has never relinquished her position.  To say she isn't one for sharing her grain is putting it nicely.  So, I didn't really think it would be a problem to leave her in with Lemon Drop (LD doesn't get grain) when I gave Airiah her grain this morning.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I came around the side of the garden shed and saw Airiah allowing Lemon Drop to eat the grain Airiah had spilled out of her bin.  So, I guess my pretty ladies are now best friends!  YEAH!!!  But sadly, that is just one more step now in the morning chores.

So, on to the lots of manual labor...  As you probably know, we (mostly Will that is...) have been repurposing our old dairy barn into a horse barn.  It has NOT been the easiest feat to accomplish.  When we moved here 2.5 years ago, the barn was about 2-3' deep of "stuff" covering the floor.  Will managed to get most of that cleaned up the first 6 months we were here.  I was pregnant and then caring for a newborn at the time, so I wasn't much help.  We went from 2 makeshift "stalls" to now having four really nice stalls!!  Three have lime flooring with rubber mats on top.  Still have some finishing work to do, but they are usable!  The fourth one has an attached paddock that we need to break up the concrete floor and put lime in.  This one is our "maternity stall".  It has really been a process.  I am pretty thrilled that we (again... Will really) have gotten as much done as we have with both of us working full time, 2 small kids, etc, etc.   So, that is one of the reasons you haven't heard from me much lately.  Plus, we have been outside every night until 9pm, soaking up as much summer as we can.

Will and I decided that we are going to bred Isabella's Song (a.k.a. Bella) to Evan (from Horsemeister.com).  Really can't wait to see what this amazing foal is going to look like.  So, YEAH another beautiful baby to look forward to.  

Keep your eyes on the website.  Some changes should be coming soon.  Should be exciting!!  

CBC Trek

Sunday was a whirlwind.  We made it to church, raced home, ate a quick lunch and outside we went. Our awesome AWANA Jr. high group and the Sr. high group were coming for a bonfire and s'mores fest at Hardenbergfriesians Farm.  It was pretty exciting for us.  We raced around finishing up a few small chores.  I made several attempts to get Jayden down for a nap, but she pulled out all her tricks on me.  Tristan of course was not a problem.  He doesn't want a nap, but he is out about as soon as his head hits the pillow.  Will finally got Jayden to lay down in our bed with Cinderella on.  Five minutes later, she was out.
Once the group was there with our friends (and youth group leaders) Katy and Alex, we got to cooking the hot dogs over the fire.  S'mores were made... And then the rain came down on us.  It was pretty funny watching the kids run here and there for cover.  The rain let up and we pulled Palmer and Bella out for a Friesian parade.  They were led all over the place, down the road, etc.  They behaved very well.  Such good babies.  I am pretty upset with myself...  I need to somehow attach my camera to my head so I don't miss another photo op.  what is wrong with me?!
Mom and I went to Jo-Ann's Fabric in Galesburg Monday night.  We bought some material to make costumes for the costume class at the Galesburg shows.  I can't wait.  Guess I am still a little girl at heart.  I LOVE to get dressed up.  My Mom is the greatest!!  I know she isn't really crazy about sewing, but I almost think she is as excited as I am.  Haha!!
We found a couple bales of grass hay, but we are still looking for more.  Ms. LemonDrop can't have the alfalfa rich hay that we use for the Friesians.  If you are local and know anyone with good quality grass hay, please let me know.
Sadly, it is time to get to bed.  Chores are taking 1/2 an hour even with Will and I working together.  Maybe cause I spend to much time loving on them?  But how can I not??

Trail ride and a new addition!

So, lots of news!  Nevar is growing tall, yes, I think his ears are over my head already.  He is such a handsome boy.  We have been using the Clinton Anderson methods on him and he really is coming along nicely.  And so sweet.  He is another wonderful Raven baby, running to greet you at the gate to say hello.  One of the many things I love about the Friesians.  Beauty, brains and a huge heart.

Will and I actually had a "date night".  Tristan and Jayden went to stay at Nana and Papa's while we braved the crazy weather last weekend.  We took Palmer and Bella to the St. Jude's Saddle Up Trail Ride at Jubilee State Park.  This was our first trail ride with them. Friday night, we got there, unloaded, threw tack on.  Brock and Ellie rode them around the camp sight to make sure they wouldn't act their age.  They did just fine.  Curious, a little nervous, but they didn't act out, didn't buck, etc like some young horses might.  Will rode pretty miss Bella and I took my steadfast Palmer.  We rode around the camp several times with no incidents.  Trucks and trailers pulling in, generators running, dogs, other campers and horses everywhere.  So, we went with another of B&B's group for a short trip on the trails.  Again, no incidents.  YEAH!!!  The next day, Brock took us and a couple others on a 20 min trail ride to make sure that our horses weren't going to give us any problems.  They passed Brock's test!  We ended up riding Saturday with one of Palmer and Bella's half siblings, Mercedes.  She is a gorgeous girl!!  It was a great date for us.  And now we know that our young horses are trail ready.  Hopefully we can do that again soon.  A huge thanks as always to B&B Reinebach for inviting us and ensuring that we all had a great time. Can't wait to see the group pictures.

I confess, one of the things that drives me crazy is being so short and having to practically use a ladder to get into the saddle with Palmer or Bella.  So, taking Britney's advise, I starting thinking about getting a pony that I could ride as well as Tristan, Jayden and our horse crazy nieces.  This past winter, I happened across an article about the Fell Ponies.  And beings they look so much like a Friesian, I was smitten.  So, being the researcher that I am, I searched and searched for a Fell mare that was trained to ride.  Well, lets just say that there is not a huge selection.  But in my searches, I came across DreamHayven Farm.  And there was Bella (Fell Pony, not our Bella. hehe).  And it was love at first sight.  I have been stalking DreamHayven's website and doing lots of emailing back and forth.  Will and I decided to take the plunge and get Bella.  We have had her now for for three days and we LOVE LOVE LOVE her.  If you know my kids at all, you know they are anything BUT quiet.  This beautiful mare stands calmly while my two kids are carrying on like they do.  Tristan is absolutely crazy about her.  In fact, Thursday night when he met her, he wouldn't leave her until I told him (at 9:30 pm which is WAY past bed time) that he HAD to go in, take his shower and get to bed.  He was completely comfortable being in the paddock with her.  He and I decided that since we have a Bella already, we were going to use part of the pony's registered name as her call name.  So, LemonDrop it is!!  I can't even tell you how exciting this was/is to me that he is this excited about a horse.  

Friday I decided it was time to take our pony for a ride.  I didn't even have to tie her up for saddling.  She stood calmly while I saddled and bridled her.  Sadly, with the English saddle, I couldn't reach the stirups STILL...  So, out came the 5 gallon bucket and off we went.  She was good as gold.  Since it was getting dark, we just went down the road a bit and came back.  Tristan wanted to ride her too, so I threw him up on my saddle (and darn if his legs almost didn't reach the stirups...).  B&B have trained him well.  He didn't have a problem with her at all.  I of course held onto her just in case...  But they did great together.  

Today was not what I had hoped, as in, no riding today.  It would rain, then clear up, rain, clear up...  UGH!!!  But at least it was not hot.  Not even in the least and with the nice breezes, the flies were MIA.  That was wonderful.  We did manage to get the little garden at the Y in the drive cleaned up.  It was a little crazy/wild/ugly hot mess.  We have plans to put up a sign for the farm there.  That will be nice.  I am hoping at some point to get some different plants in that area.  Those crazy rose bushes that are there are not my cup of tea.   To high maintenance for me.  ;)

We are going to have to do some major updating to our website with the addition of LemonDrop.  She is expecting a foal next year, so keep your eyes out for that!!   

Loving these kids' excitement.  

Horse Show??

Of course...  It's me, so I have a funny story about the horse show.  We went!!  And we did sooo good.  Have everything load and on the road (kids and all!!).  And we got there and realized I had forgotten the coggins papers for Palmer and Bella.  Talk about being disappointed!  But, bless my husband, the ever patient man that he is.  He never got upset, and we ended up laughing about it.  We did discover a few things that we wanted to do before we attempt another show.  Like some bling for our tack.  GESH.  We could not get over all the fancy tack and this was just a local show.  So...  We need some bling.  And I need a cowgirl hat.  Any suggestions?!  Man this stuff is expensive.  :)  Good thing we both love it.
I snuck outside to check on the horses and give Airiah some hay.  So, I took the opportunity to take a couple pics with our new camera (new to us that is...  Ebay is a great thing!).  He is so handsome!!  And growing like a weed.  Enjoy the pics!!  Have a great night and promise more another day!
We have riding lessons on Saturday with the trainer to prep Palmer and Bella for the shows.  And Shadow will go on Monday to the trainers for ground work.  All very exciting.  :)

Handsome Nevar

Airiah and Nevar.

Lobster Red

I have to say, this has been an AMAZING day.  Will worked outside this morning while I did some laundry, dishes and general house work.  The kids were playing great.  We did snack time, worked on numbers.  Then Tristan, Jayden and I went outside, sorry house chores, you will have to wait!  It was beautiful out.  I have waited all winter for this!!  So, flower beds were cleaned out, we moved Airiah and Nevar into the orchard paddock (maybe we need to start naming the paddocks so it isn't so confusing?!?! NAH!), cleaned water troughs.  Sounds boring, but I was loving it.  T & J were so good.  We had a quick lunch, the kids went down for their naps without a fuss.  So, we took advantage and saddled Palmer and Bella up.  Didn't go anywhere but around the house.  BUT, here is the kicker....  Will and I have waited 4 LONG years to be able to ride our horses together.  We had a great time.  We even talked about how when the kids are older, how we will be able to do this together all the time.  Now, some people are probably thinking, these two are crazy/weird/strange/etc.  But this is what we love, being together, working together, taking a break to ride the most beautiful horses in the world and to top it off, we are doubly blessed with two wonderful kids who seem to love the horses just as much as we do.  I have to say, other than the day we got married and the days our kids were born, today was the best day ever.  I am a very blessed woman to have a husband that is as horse crazy (or at least close!!!) as I am.
We also got another side of the "orchard paddock" shelter done today.  Only one more side to go!!
For any of you that are in the area, we are hoping to go to the Galesburg Boots & Saddle Show tomorrow (weather permitting).  Starts at 9:30 a.m.  Have a great night!
Almost forgot...  yes, I am burnt, thus "Lobster Red".  But it is well worth it!

Lots of work

Nevar is two weeks old today!!  He is such a handsome little man.  He has been purchased by a young lady that I am sure is going to love him as much as we do.  It is bittersweet to sell him since he is the last Raven baby we will ever have born at our farm.  But we are confident that his new owner will take very good care of him.  He will go to his new home in August after he is weaned.  I promise to post a video of him once I can get the files to our IT genius.
Shadow turned one yesterday.  Gosh, all the "babies" are growing up.  I have literally spent hours brushing her to get her "Wooly mammoth" winter coat off.  I can see the beautiful black coat coming through.  And the feather...  Oh my goodness this girl has LOTS of it.  She is quite impressive.  I think after I get her a good scrub down and brush her again, she is going to look like the princess she is. ( haha.  Sorry, that is one of Jayden's favorite words to say right now.)  Will has been working hard on a shelter in the paddock by the orchard.  He is almost done!! So we will be able to move Airiah and Nevar up there during the day and bring them back to the barn in the evenings.
Tomorrow is going to be a wild one.  After a long day at work, Will is going to softball and Tristan and I will be going to riding lessons.  Jayden gets to hang out with her Nana and Papa for a while.  Should be interesting as Will seems to assume that I am going to be fine to hook up the trailer to the tahoe( never done it myself before...  I have helped, but that is not the same), pull it out of the shed without demolishing the trailer or the shed, get my tack loaded, get Palmer loaded, get Tristan and I changed and on the road by 6...  Considering I don't get off work until 5, have to pick up Tristan from school, and then a 20 min drive home.
I will let you know how it goes.

Lots of news!!!

So, I have to apologize.  I have been horrible about posting lately.  But you will see why soon.  We went to a wedding in Kentucky for one of our friends.  It was a beautiful day and great to see some wonderful friends again.  We also went to Arkansas to see one of those should have been my sister type of friends.  Misty I love you dearly and miss you terribly.  We then went to Will's Uncle's celebration of life.  That is the second celebration I have ever been to, and they are just awesome.  Maybe because Will's Uncle was such a great guy?!?  He is going to be missed for sure.  In between all that, we have been working on the barn, potty training with Jayden, Jayden turned 2, moving Jayden up to the toddler room at daycare, dogs took off more times than I care to count, Bella finished trainined, went riding at B&B's, Tristan turns 5 years old today ( We love you SOOO much buddy!) oh and we had our full time jobs too.  AND last night, we had a new colt born by Raven out of our mare Airiah.  YEAH!!  And thanks to God (first of course), our vet and to Ms. Judy (and Karin for calling and checking on us), he and Airiah are doing GREAT!!!  He is PURE black and legs....  Oh the legs on him.  His face is so perfectly shaped.  He is one of THE LAST of the Raven sons...
Ms. Judy was out today to help me get the new baby to latch on.  She is just amazing.

Airiah and her colt (born 4/30/13)

Isabella's Song & Jenni

My handsome Palmer

Amarah's Dark Shadow & Jenni

Amarah's Dark Shadow's feather

The beautiful Amarah's Dark Shadow

So, please, please forgive me for not posting.  It has been crazy busy.  And this weekend isn't going to be any better!  haha.  We are having the kids birthday party on Saturday.  So, family and friends...  My house is a DISASTER.  Please go out and admire the horses and enjoy some good food.  haha!!

PS- if you have any suggestions for this colt's name, let me know.  My mom had a GREAT idea!! (Go MOM!!) But waiting to hear back from Will if he likes it or not.  ;)

Happy Easter!

A little early, BUT tomorrow is a wonderful day!  What a blessing Jesus is!
I spent about 1/2 an hour reading Tristan's Bible that his Sunday school teacher Ms. Vicki gave him last night before bed.  His choice!!  He loves to hear the stories.  And tomorrow we will go to Community Bible Church and hear Pastor Jim's amazing sermon.  Yes, I already know it will be amazing!! haha.  Then we will head to my cousin's house and spend the day with the family.  Looking forward to a relaxing day with family and wonderful food.
Will spent a huge chunk of the day working in the barn.  Yes, he does a LOT of that.  If you would have seen this barn when we bought our home, you wouldn't think it was the same barn!!  It was a disaster...  I am very proud of all the hard work he has put into it.  We now have two functioning stalls and two more on the way.  (I say functioning mostly cause Will is never done.  He is a little bit of a perfectionist!!)  It is going to be so nice to have four stalls soon!!  
Once the kids were down for their naps, I ran out and joined Will in the barn.  We groomed Shadow up, took some new pictures and video.  She is a wonderful filly.  We are thrilled with how she is growing and her willingness to learn.  We have only ever had her in a stock trailer before, which was never a problem for loading her.  Since we had her out and working, we thought we would load her in our 2 horse straight load.  She wasn't real keen on it at first, but we didn't give up.  Patience is a virtue with horses!!  She loaded and we rewarded with some hay in the trailer.  She was calm as could be.  We backed her out, Will walked her around some and then brought her back to the trailer.  This time, she walked right in.  Shadow is so smart!  Just look at this pretty girl!

Amarah's Dark Shadow

Jenni giving Shadow a little affection.

We are anxious to see Bella again!  I need to get ahold of Brock and Britney to see about visiting her soon.  I can't believe she has been gone almost a month now.  Time sure has flown by!
Well, I am going to bed.  It has been a busy weekend!

Taxes

Finally, taxes are done.  What a huge relief to be able to say that.  I have been working long hours at night trying to make sure I had everything done and done correctly.  This is not an easy feat to accomplish when you work full time, you spouse works full time, trying to "repurpose" (my new favorite word) our dairy barn, spend time with our kids before we blink and they are teenagers, and MAYBE spend an evening together relaxing.  Oh wait...  That last part, does that ever really happen?!?  Nahh!  But it is so worth it.  Here we are, enjoying living in the country, we both have wonderful jobs with people we care about, we are so blessed with our family who have been nothing but supportive of us, we have a wonderful church family, two amazing kids, two sweet dogs, a cat and our beautiful horses!  Is the relief of the taxes being done going to my head?  Maybe just a little.  

Will brought home a very large truck bed full of square bales tonight.  We were really hoping not to have to buy more hay, but the weather is no helping at all.  So, more hay it is.  Hopefully this load will be the last until fall??  

I have been carefully watching our mare Airiah for signs that she is getting close to having this foal.  The poor thing looks miserable.  She is just enormous.  Friday I had checked her bag, but as I expected, it hadn't changed at all.  Yesterday afternoon, the bag has started to fill.  So, it will again be ring around the horsey, moving everyone around to get settled for the arrival of our new Raven baby.  Tristan asked me tonight what we are going to name the new foal.  I had a list of potential names, but Will wasn't real keen on any of them.  So, back to the drawing board.  If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.  

My thoughts keep going back to Bella.   I must confess, I can hardly wait to bring her home.  We are going to be hiring babysitters once in a while now so we can get out and ride!!  Fingers crossed this is going to be a great summer!

Jayden is crying, refusing to go to sleep, so I have to sign off.

Snow?!?

Rachel (www.momentscapturedbyrachel.com) posted the pictures she took of my baby girl Jayden.  I am struggling to pick which ones to get.  I have several that I know without a doubt, but then there are so many that I like, I am just not sure.  Rachel really caught the true Jayden; the sweet side, the tom boy side and the complete onry side.  Needless to say, no matter which ones we get, they are going to be awesome.  Thank you Rachel!!  I promise to try to make up my mind mind in the next day or two.

Wednesday night we had AWANA.  They were very talkative.  We had some lively discussions   But it was a good night.  We have one more night to teach this coming Wednesday, then a week off and then carnival night will wrap up this year.  This was our first year teaching AWANA.  It has been an honor being a part (even if it is a small part) of these kids lives.  Kids are such a blessing, we just pray that we can help them and be the best example we can possibly be.  

We had the pleasure of our beautiful 9 year old niece Taylor spend Friday night with us.  What a great way to start our weekend!  Tristan, Taylor and I drove down to B&B's Saturday morning to see Bella being trained.  HOLY SMOKES, that girl is amazing.  They pulled her out of the paddock, saddled her up, and Brock climbed on.  No lunging.  She was very impressive.  Mind you, she has only been there for two weeks and three days as of today.  Brock is so impressed with the Raven babies and how easily they train.  They are just smart.  Brock was using a bitless training bridle on Bella.  He had her spinning in circles.  I think Brock was half joking, but he asked if I wanted to ride her.  Like I am going to turn that opportunity down!!  So, I tried to climb on, but me being a whole whopping 5'2" (with boots on...), I still needed the mounting block.  Brock said she has never seen one before, but she needs to learn. So, I grabbed the mounting block, stepped up and I was on!  She didn't even flinch.  I was SOOO excited (seriously, having waited for her birth, then caring for her for the past 3 years. It is like having a kid that is completely potty trained ( I would say graduating from high school, but I haven't had the experience yet, so potty trained is one of our biggest accomplishments. haha)).  I walked her for a bit, then moved to a fast walk, then a trot.  She shied sideways in her trot coming next to the wires for the practice cutting cow, but I pulled her to a stop, recollected and then we took off again.  I felt pretty darn comfortable riding her.  In fact, so comfortable, I think she is going to be a keeper.  She has the Raven smarts, the beautiful think long mane and tail, thick feather on the backs of her legs, the sweetest face, not to mention her personality.  She loves people.  But she also has the get up a go from her dam's side.  She is going to be so much fun.
We have been dreaming the last year or so of having her and Palmer trained to drive as a pair.  Their strides are so in tune being full siblings, they would make a stunning pair.  We are also going to see about having Airiah trained to drive.  She looks 100% Friesians, is a very tall, well built mare.

While we were at B&B, I had them add Shadow to their list for ground work training.  We need to get her started with some basics.  Like her dam, she is going to be a huge mare!

I was really hoping to get out and ride today, but that is not going to happen.  It is pretty cold and the snow has been coming down all morning.  Didn't I see that we had the first day of spring last week? I am SO ready for warm weather.

Well, off to get some house work done.  I thoroughly cleaned this house all day Friday, but it looks like a tornado went through here, ate a bunch of food and left a huge mess in my kitchen, not to mention a ton of dirt dishes.  How does that happen?!  UGH.

Jayden and the rocking horse

Saturday we took Jayden to Rachel (www.momentscapturedbyrachel.com) for her 2 year pictures.  Rachel is AMAZING.  Will has known her family for a long time.  We had her take our wedding pictures and all of Tristan and Jayden's pictures.  We were changing a prop and she spotted this really cute rocking chair Rachel had.  For the rest of the shot, that is ALL she wanted.  I didn't know if we were going to be able to leave the rocking horse without a complete meltdown or not!  She did fine though.  But I think that was only cause she got busy saying goodbye to Rachel's next clients that she forgot about the rocking horse.  I think we have another horse lover on our hands!  Rachel did an amazing job as usual.  I am not sure how we are EVER going to pick.  Two of the pics are my favs already and I have only been able to look at them once.
Yesterday Tristan and Jayden spent the day with Nana and Papa while Will and I went with Brock and Britney to a tack auction up north in Genoa.  Holy cow, that was a drive!  And then to sit on these REALLY hard chairs for hours. It was a really long day, but well worth it.  We purchased a very nice saddle pad, yearling halter, leather cleaner/protectant and something else that escapes me right now.  (Sorry I am still trying to wake up.)
We are hoping to go see Bella in training this week.  Brock said she is doing very well, attributing some of it to the Friesian breed, but mostly to her being a Raven baby.  She has only been there a week and a half and Brock has already ridden her several times.  She is going to be phenomenal.  I can't wait to ride her.  We are still trying to decide which stallion of Ms. Judy's to use when we breed her.  Evan or Killian....  Tough choice.  So, I need to get ahold of Britney today to see about going down there this week to see Bella in action.
Anyway, time to finish getting ready for work and get my babies up and ready to go to day care.
Hope we don't get the snow they were calling for!

Videos

If you haven't seen our videos of Palmer and Bella, you have to check them out!!  We need to get some new videos as they both have grown a lot since.  But make sure you watch the very end of Palmer's video.  It is awesome!!
I also wanted to thank Steven Marchal for showing us Star this weekend.  We will be in touch.

What a day!

We had such good intentions…  We knew that it was daylight savings, but I thought, my phone will automatically adjust and my alarm will still go off at the right time.  Not sure what happened, but my alarm never went off.   Sunday school starts at 9:30, it’s a 12 minute drive from home to church.    Not the best way to start our morning, but we raced and got there… late.  Our class read about King Xerxes and Queen Esther today.  We are using the teen version of The Story.  It is amazing!  I highly recommend it for anyone trying to teach a junior high age group.  Our students love it.  Our church family had a great surprise for our youth leaders who are expecting their first baby in just a couple more weeks.  Pastor’s wife unveiled a huge stack of diapers and wipes.  Our awesome youth leaders were speechless with surprise.  It was a great moment! 

Once home, we had leftovers for lunch.  I attempted to get the kids down for their naps, attempted being the key word.  Jayden decided to get out of bed, run to the door, throw it open and start yelling whatever came to mind.   At some point during all the chaos, Will left for the Easter Cantata practice.  After several failed attempts of getting Jayden down, Tristan gave up on his nap and came downstairs.  I put him on the couch with a movie playing quietly.  He laid there with his blanket though the entire movie.  I lost count of the number of times I went upstairs, but eventually Jayden fell asleep for two hours. 

Once peace was restored, I was able to work on book keeping for the farm and organize some more of the paper work I need to process.  I kept the laundry going and Tristan helped me make a venison meatloaf.  I still have a bunch more bookkeeping to get done, hopefully tonight.  But the majority has been accomplished, just a few more hours and I hope to have the farm books ready for taxes.  Let me tell you, this last year has been overwhelming.  Between bucket feeding Shadow, then Shadow’s broken knee issues, two small children, Sunday school, AWANA, help with horse chores, work full time, and one big kid (I mean husband), cleaning, laundry, cooking and trying to learn Quickbooks… I am wore out!  But hopefully at some point, it will slow down.  At least that is what I tell myself.   

Isabella's Song goes to school

What a phenominal day yesterday was!  We were all very excited.  My Mom was taking Tristan and our friend's daughter that is at the same day care on a field trip.  They are "boy friend and girlfriend."  We joke with our friends that they are going to get married when they grow up cause we all get along so well, we thought that would be perfect!!  But anyway...  So the field trip.  My Mom said Tristan and his girlfriend were holding hands while they should have been walking single file and they got in "trouble".  I just have this visual in my head, and it cracks me up.  Then after the field trip, Tristan and Jayden were going to spend the night at Nana & Papa's. Yep!!  A night without kids.  This is a very rare treat for Will and I.  So...  What did we do?!  We got the horse trailer out and a couple of horses,  Palmer first.  I lunged him a little.  He was feeling a little frisky!  Then brought him up to the trailer.  He needed a little encouragement, but he went in great.  Then Ms. Isabella's Song (a.k.a. Bella).  She will be three the end of this month and bless her heart has only been on a trailer once when we moved the horses from my Aunt and Uncle's, who were kind enough to allow us to keep the horses at their place until we found a home where we could have them there.  So, Bella, being a true Raven offspring stepped up, put her front feet in, checked out the trailer a minute.  Nuzzled her brother, and then walked right in.  Honestly, I just can't say enough about how amazing the Friesian horse is, and then throw in the Raven blood line.  Well, you just CAN'T go wrong with these horses. 
We got to Brock & Britney's place, unloaded and took them in the arena.  Bella was nervous, but was a very good girl, she didn't bauk, she didn't protest, she was asked, he waited a beat, and she did what she was asked to do.  Brock took her in the riding area, led her up to one of the monster balls the horses play with.  She wasn't real interested.  Brock walked her around a bit and then put her in a stall.  She hesitated, but then again, she went right in. 
You see, Palmer is usually pretty hard to get into a lope when we are riding inside.  He just doesn't want to do it, he is pretty laid back, and would rather be lazy.  But once he gets going, he has a "wild" lope and then usually just stops dead in his tracks.  Will had been giving me grief about it that I can't get him going.  So, I figured it was high time he rode him to see the challenges I have been dealing with.  My beloved husband is just kinda one of those naturally good at just about everything.  So, he rides pretty well, of course...  Well, Palmer showed him.  Brock gave Will pointers and finally Will was getting him into the lope.  Meanwhile I was riding Brock and Britney's horse, Thunder.  He and Palmer could pass for twins.  They look so much alike.  I love to ride him.  I saw Will having success on Palmer, so I wanted to see what he would do if I was riding him.  He of course gave me a little more trouble, but I got him into the lope multiple times.  The start of his lope is really rough going, but once he gets going, wow...  Palmer was sweating up a storm by this point, so I walked him around.  Without my leading, he walked up to one of those monster balls I mentioned earlier and started pushing it around.  He was cracking me up.  He just had this great workout and he still wanted to play! 
Anyway, it was a great night!  We really enjoyed it. 
A HUGE thank you to Brock and Britney again for everything!!

Amazing weekend

I know, I know.  Sounds cheesie,  but yes it really was a great weekend.  Will and I took Tristan and Jayden to Springfield for the Illinois Horse Fair.  We wondered around a little, found HorseMeister, Inc and their beautiful stallions Valiant and Evan, and several of their mares.  They also had their vaulting team there.  We hung out with them for a while.  They were super busy, so we moved on to see what else was there.  None of us had ever had the chance to go to the Horse Fair before.  We walked through the for sale barns.  Saw one pretty grey we all liked and then a pure bred Friesian mare that Will and I loved.  She was spectacular.  Needless to say, we didn't have the trailer with us.  Probably a REALLY good thing!  haha.

We made our way to the coliseum to watch Ms. Judy's horses perform (video).  Oh... Words escape me.  Tristan and Jayden were pretty much DONE with the parade of horses at this point, but the organizers knew what they were doing, they saved the best for last.  Both my two legged kids sat and watched the "Evil Queen of Maquon" rode out pulling the Lady of the Lake.  It was beautiful.  I think the kids would have watched a much longer performance.  I know I would have!  

We walked over to the barn Ms. Judy was in and congratulated them on a beautiful showing.  

The sale barn was calling to me, so we walked through again.  I think next year we will be taking our foals we have for sale.  What a great opportunity to meet people and show the beauty of the Friesian breed.  

Amazingly, in such a huge crowd, we ran into our trainers, Brock and Britney.  It is always good to get a chance to chat with them.  We are looking at taking Bella to them on Thursday to start her under saddle.  I can hardly wait.  She is going to be a knock out!  

This morning we had a fantastic group for Sunday school.  They are so much fun to work with.  We are so blessed.  Church service today blew me away.  We had the "electric service".  I haven't ever had the chance to go when they had this service, so I was excited to begin with.  They band and the singers gave it their all.  My Mom had my niece Taylor there too.  So, my kids were loving it.  Tristan was singing to the songs, Taylor was clapping and dancing with Jayden on her hip.  And Jayden was loving every minute of her Taylor time!  It was a fantastic service!!  Thank you to those that made it happen today. 

To top it off, I got outside this afternoon and spent two hours with my four legged babies.  We got a little video of them all playing in the pasture (or should I say mud pit???).  Hoping to get it cleaned up and posted here in the next couple days.  So, check back on our website please!  I took a couple pictures of them, but they are so dirty.  I will post them anyway, just so you can see updates on them.

I will try to get them loaded soon.

Freedom!

Those of you that know Amarah's Dark Shadow's history can skip through most of this, but for those of you that don't...  Here it goes.  Will and I purchased Airiah in April 2012.  She was about a month away from having her first foal, a Raven baby.  We stalled her every night, until May 12, which was still about 2 weeks before she was due.  I was running getting the kids ready for bed and Will did chores, but decided not to stall her.  Needless to say, the next morning when I went out to see her, I thought, man, she doesn't look pregnant???  But, no baby was at her side, so we went in, got ready for church and off we went.  That afternoon it was still eating at me that Airiah didn't look pregnant.  It was a very hot May 13th, and Mother's Day to boot.  So, Tristan (just turned 4) and Jayden (just turned 1) and I went for a walk in the pasture.  Will was mowing, so we stopped to say hi to daddy and kept walking.  I wanted to find the horses.  We came up the hill behind the orchard.  Just at the top on the other side of the electric fence was a pair of ears sticking up over the tall grass.  My first thought was a deer, but the ears were pitch black.  I KNEW immediately that my instincts had been right, Airiah wasn't pregnant anymore!  We had a foal.  Once I finally got Will's attention to come over, we worked to get her up and on the right side of the fence. Airiah became very hostile.  She wouldn't let the baby near her, in fact she seem scared of her foal.  They had become separated and never got to bond.  

The troops were called for support, and we were more than blessed by all those who came to our aid that day.  Thank you to Judy Sceggel and Karin Meister (HorseMeister, Inc), Brock and Britney Reinebach (B&B Reinebach), Joe and Kim Groeper and of course my mom and dad.  

The next day Karin drove me, Airiah and Shadow to the UofI Large Animal Hospital.  Again, another huge thank you to their team!!  Our girls spent the next two weeks there.  I heard from Dr. Eva Christina Schliewert at least twice a day with updates.  In the end, we had to bucket feed Amarah's Dark Shadow (aka - Shadow).  She was such a sweet baby.  And Airiah's motherly instincts kicked in.  

Things went so smoothly, we moved the girls into the paddock with Palmer and Bella.  One beautiful July day, Will was out working in the yard next to the barn and watched (in that lovely slow motion that kicks in when something really bad is going to happen...) the "herd" come running at a gallop across the damn toward the barn.  This wasn't anything unusual, in fact they did it all the time.  But this time, Shadow went down hard on her front right knee, slicing it open.  We called a vet, who came out and advised us to wrap it.  Shadow's knee wasn't getting any better, in fact I thought it was much worse.  And the morning she wouldn't get up when I went out to feed her, we called Dr. Keller.  He came out right away, did xrays and determined that one of the bones in her knee was broken.  He advised taking her to UofI where we could get the best possible options for her.  We borrowed Ms. Judy's trailer and raced Shadow back to UofI.  They did more xrays and decided the best option was to put a cast on her leg and keep her stalled for 6 weeks.  Shadow did amazing through all of this.  She was not sedated for setting the cast OR taking it off (can you believe that!?!  Dr. Keller used a small electric saw of some sort.  She took it all in stride!)  The Dr's decided that Shadow would probably not be able to be ridden, but she would be able to be a brood mare.  Will and I were just thrilled that this amazing foal had made it through so many trials and came through them all so well.  And oh...  She was so beautiful and sweet.  

So, evey since the end of November, Shadow has lived in a paddock by herself, able to reach across the fence to her mom and Palmer and Bella.  She has a large stall she can get into any time she wants, but she doesn't have anyone to play with.  This was weighing on me.  

Today, Dr. Keller came to give Airiah the Pneumabort shot.  While he was there, I asked Dr. Keller's opinion about when he thought it would  be safe to move Shadow in with Airiah, Palmer and Bella, so she could socialize with horses.  He said we might as well move her now.  Her knee is as healed as it will get.

FREEDOM!! So today Shadow gained her freedom and moved in with her mom and half brother and sister.  They ran and played as siblings do.  It was a great sight to watch, and even better, Shadow didn't show any signs of her knee bothering her after all the running.  We tried to get some video of them playing, but you know...  Just like our two legged kids, the minute you turn the camera on, they stop doing whatever it was you wanted to record...  We will try again tomorrow.  

It's COLD outside!

Since my last posting, we had a busy weekend. Will's brother, sister-in-law and our beautiful niece and nephew came for a visit. It was so nice to catch up with and relax on Saturday. Will, the kids and I went to church Sunday morning. Pastor Jim hit another homer. How DOES he always seem to know exactly what I need to hear?! After church we raced home to get ready to hit the road for our riding lesson. I made grilled cheese, we all changed, putting lots of layers on since it is bitterly cold here. Tristan rode his favorite, Pipi a pretty pinto pony. This mare has it all. She is gorgeous, smart and can move! In fact, I love to ride her too. She has a nice trot and great lope! Tristan had a fantastic ride. He was hooting and hollering cause he got Pipi into a trot. Mind you, Tristan is almost 5, is over 3ft tall but weights 34 lbs soaking wet. He looks so small, even on Pipi!! I was super excited as this was the first time he wanted to go "fast". Normally he is perfectly content to just walk in circles. The smile on his face was enough to bring tears to my eyes. That was Sunday and he was STILL talking about it tonight. He is ready to go back! I rode our almost 4 year old gelding Palmer. Brock is pretty sure Palmer has grown since the last time we brought him in to ride. Guess we will have to measure him again!! But I think Brock is right cause he lookd just as tall as Airiah now. Well, that and I really needed the mounting block to get in the saddle! haha. Palmer did well, but I had a time getting him into a lope. We just have to keep riding. I wish that we had an arena so I could ride at night after Tristan and Jayden are in bed. Some day... In the mean time, COME ON SPRING!!! Well, it is past my bedtime, so I am signing off for now.

Long time, no talk...

So it has been ages since my last post. Well, let me tell you about it. Winter (crazy Illinois weather that is) AND small children. What a great breeding ground for illness. So there you have it. I have been cleaning up after my poor babies (the two legged ones that is) for four days. Bless their hearts, they were soo sweet throughout it all, but oh the horrible messes. Trust me, I will spare you the gross details! Thank the Lord above, I think we are all healthy again. I did manage to get some book work done for the farm while the kids were napping. But I really think I should have napped too... Meanwhile, Will has gotten a lot of work done on the barn!! He pretty much has the birthing stall done. Once the work on the floor and it should be ready and we will move Airiah over. She will have her own stall and a nice little paddock all to herself until the baby gets here. Will started on the next stall putting the walls up. It is amazing how much he has gotten done. The tack room is looking great too. We even have a window! Will took in 3 saddles we had for various repair work. The gentleman told Will it would be a while. So, I figured several months since he would be tearing them down to make sure they were structurally sound, giving them a good cleaning and then making any repairs. It has only been a couple weeks, I think since then?? The gentleman called this morning to say the were done!!! Some great news. We will pick them up Sunday after our riding lesson. Will got a call from one of his aunts yesterday saying that his uncle passed away. I only met him once unfortunately, but he seemed very kind. I know he is going to be missed by a lot of people.

Rain Rain - GO AWAY!!!

Although the temperatures are wonderful being 60 out today, the rain has turned everything into a muddy mess.  The pasture is, well, just plain gross!
Will bought more 2x12s today.  Work on the next stall is on the to do list!
This last week has been so busy.  I scheduled an appointment with Ms. Rachel to take photos of the horses.  We had some good friends over Saturday.  We went to church on Sunday.  It was a wonderful service!  Our Jr. High Sunday School class had a new student.  We hope she will be back this coming Sunday.
We had the vet out to give Airiah her shots.  She has about 4 more months to go.  We can't wait to see this next baby.  If this little one is anything like Shadow, we will be blessed!
My to do list tonight (yes 8:30 pm and LOTS still to do...) includes chores, some bookkeeping and emailing our trainers to check on when we can get scheduled for our next riding lessons.  I still have a little research to do online and then the never ending piles of laundry and dishes.
Life doesn't get much better than this, does it?!
Tomorrow will be a late night with the kids.  Will and I help lead the Jr. High AWANA group.  If we could only bottle some of their energy.  It is amazing.
Jayden is ready for bed, so off to snuggle with her for a bit and then get started on my long to do list.

Farm Name

We have had a ton of "Where in the WORLD did you come up with Hardenberg?"  Well, let me tell you, cause it is a cool story.  My great grandpa Carl was born in Sweden.  He moved to Denmark during the famine.  Carl ended up working as the head Shepherd at the Hardenberg Manor in Sakskobing, Denmark.  There he met my great grandma Anna Marie who worked in the manor.  They fell in love and moved to America.  Skip ahead...  When I was 8 years old my family moved to Knoxville (IL), my grandmother Edith (Carl and Anna Marie's daughter) thought it would be nice if I wrote to my cousin Jessica from Sweden.  Jessica and I wrote back and forth for years, then emailed.  We became fast friends.
For my thirtieth birthday, I decided that I was going to visit Jessica and try to find the manor, just like my grandma Edith did when I was about 2 years old.  So, Jessica did some digging on the internet and found what we hopped was the location of the manor.  We had a GREAT trip and yes, we made it to the manor!  It was a great day that I will never forget.
Anyway, when Will and I were trying to come up with a name that would have some meaning to us.  Finally it hit me upside the head when we were planning on some things we could do when Jessica came to visit.  Hardenberg Friesian Horse Farm was created!  I knew it was the right choice when I told my Grandma.

08/06/2007 me and Jessica

1/12/2013

1/12/2013

What a busy weekend this is!  We made a major purchase for the farm.  Hardenberg finally has a trailer.  It is a very nice two horse straight load with a tack room.  We are very pleased with this addition.  Now we will be able to take the horses to Reinebach’s for training, attend some horse shows and hopefully go for a trail ride or two.  We can’t wait to use it for the first time.

Will did chores this morning.  Everything is a muddy mess right now.  The horses have about 4.5 acres to run on in this paddock, but they like to congregate around the water trough and the barn and turn it all into mud and well…  Pooh.  J 

Shadow is in her own little paddock and stall that we will eventually have to move her out of once Airiah gets closer to her due date.  Until Shadow is a little bigger, she will have to stay in her own little area. 

We are on the road again to the Champaign area.  This time to go to our niece Audrey and our nephew (Audrey’s little brother) Bryce’s birthday party.  We can’t wait to see them all, but are bummed we don’t get to see our other nephew Max today too.  Hopefully soon!

Tomorrow we need to measure the horses again to see how tall they are all getting.  I can tell Palmer, Bella and especially Shadow have grown.  They all need to be brushed up and new pictures taken.