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.