Picture This

Sometimes I still watch the Golden Girls on their reruns.  One of the favorite characters in this series was Dorothy's mother.   She always had a story about her younger days and she always began her story with "picture this".

Today this is how I am going to begin my story.  I put a picture of Sky's on Fire first and then the picture of WOF Dock's Velvet.  This week we have been breeding Sky to Velvet.  I have put his and her colors in to  the color coat calculator to determine what color we might get from this breeding.  The main colors we can get is red chocolate, red chocolate roan, bay roan and bay.  There is also a chance, very small chance, of blue roan.  We are excited , of course, to see what this breeding will bring.  So this week I am trying to "picture this" new foal that will be born this time next year and what it will look like.

Pictured with Velvet is this year's foal born late October.  Her name is WOF's Lady Liberty.  She is by RHF Benjamin Franklin.   Ben is a beautiful black stallion owned by Van Bert Farms.  It turned out to be a very good cross.  She has a beautiful head.  He neck fits very nicely into her shoulders and her back end matches the rest of her body.  I think she is a nicely put together filly.

Speaking of blessing from God.  I have a favorite scripture.  It is Romans 8:28 and it says, "For I know all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose."  That does not say that everything is always going to go perfect for us.  It says that whatever happens, God will use for our good.  In that light, I am thinking of the new stallion prospect I bought last year.  I thought the stallion prospect, Black Jack was going to be the black stallion I would use for breeding my own mares.  He is absolutely beautiful and really put together nicely.  

Things happen and we decided to buy another black stallion prospect.  I liked him and I could see he was even better than Black Jack.  He is a younger horse.  Right now he is 18 months old and way too young to use to breed and certainly too young to put a rider on him to get him certified.  So it will be several more years before he is a breeding stallion but God sure blessed our farm with this stallion.  

The first picture in these three is Black Jack.  The second and third is of his half sibling, Ace's Pacifico.  Not a terribly good picture of Pacifico.  This picture makes him look high in the rear but he was standing on uneven ground.  The concrete was slanted to facilitate drainage.  

Since these pictures was taken back in October he has put on weight and his neck has gotten thicker and he is really taking on the look of a stallion.  So exciting things are happening here on Whispering Oaks Farm.  We are involved in a breeding program that will be of benefit to our registered  Rocky Mountain Horses as well as those bred that will go into the KMSHA registry.  There would be no point in breeding to just have foals on the ground just because we like foals.  And I do love the foals we have.

  I love the spring time when we go to the field and find new baby calves and have new foals.  It is exciting to see the new life springing up all around.

It is the way God has of telling us that He believes in His creation.  The grass springs forth out of the brown earth.  Cows start to put their young on the ground.  We see deer with their fawns.  Dogs with new puppies and cats with a new litter of kittens.   Occasionally we will see a coyote and her litter of pups.  We catch an occasional glimpse of a baby bunny or a female coon with her young.  In the farm stores, I hear the cheerful sounds of baby chicks and ducks.  

All of it tells us that life is being renewed everywhere.

Right now we are coming upon winter.  In fact it feels like winter here today.  The grass has turned brown from the cold that has brought frost.  The horses and cows are putting on longer hair to help them survive the bitter cold that is bound to come.  The hay stacks are piled high with the hay that will bring the horses and cows through the long cold winter.  The winter that we know will  pass and usher in spring.

  This time of the year reminds me that winter will soon come to our lives as well.   As I get older, I am reminded every day that my life is coming to a close.  It could be years from now but no one knows the day or hour of their own death.  But like life on the farm I know even after death there will be a glorious spring.  A spring that I can't imagine for the eye has not seen nor the ear has heard the glory of heaven.  I am just on a journey here on this earth for heaven is my true home.  

I think of the times when I am away from home.  Bill and I traveled to Germany, Italy and France when our sons were stationed overseas.  They were all lovely trips.  I go to horse shows now and stay in nice motels with clean (I hope) rooms and beds that are made up for me every morning.  Fresh towels hang in the bathroom and any thing we have left out of place is put in order but yet I am so happy to get home.  It is my home.  Heaven is my real home and  I sometimes think of the day when I will be home again.

Some say there is no God and no after life.  I am sorry for them.  I saw a picture of an basketball player with tatoos all over his arms and I guess anywhere else a tatoo could be placed.   He said it was his identity.  It is who he is.  That is really sad.  I don't have a tatoo nor will I ever get one.  I know who I am without it.  I am a child of God.  That is my identity.  I am not just Mary Lipginski mother of........, widow of......., daughter of......., sister of .............  My real identity is  child of God.  My Jesus died so that I can someday go to my home in heaven.  That is who I am.

God bless each of you who read my blogs and happy trails to you.  And may you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Mary Lipginski

Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  

In Psalms it says that a fool has said in his heart that there is no God.   

 

Sky's on Fire Continued

The first pictures are of Sky and Guy the first day we let them out of the barn.  It didn't take them very long before they realized that they were in an area larger than a 12x12 stall and they made full use of their new found freedom.  It was a very foggy morning in December for their first day out.    Tuff Guy wasn't as thin as Sky but his looks started to improve right away and by the middle of the summer Tammy was riding him and had him doing everything she ask of him.  He is a really beautiful gelding and a real sweet heart.  

There is a video on www.trailhorsecentral.com of Tuff Guy on the trails with Tammy.  Check it out.  He is a very brave horse.  And really a beautiful animal.  

Some call these two horses "rescues".  I'm not sure they fit the actual definition of "rescues".  I did pay for them.  It has cost me a pretty good amount of money to get Sky where he is today but it is my belief that Sky will be contributing to the Rocky Mountain and the Ky Mountain Horse breeds for years to come.  He has definitely added a wonderful element to Whispering Oaks Farm.  I want to thank his breeder for allowing me to buy him.  

I want to say that I do not accuse his owner of abuse.  Sky is such a sweet stallion and I don't believe he has ever been physically abused.  Sometimes people get in situations that the minimum is all they can do for their animals and he took the right steps to get these horses good homes and do better by them.  So I do not want my blogs to insinuate that this person is a bad person at all.  I admire him for putting them up for sale when he knew he needed to find them homes.  He definitely has a good eye for breeding.  Otherwise these two horses wouldn't be as well bred as they are.  Sky's breeding is exceptional and he is an exceptional horse. 

I can't say enough good about either of these horses.  They are sweet and kind and willing.

Yesterday I was with Chris and Stacie at Cool Shade.  Sky allowed me to pet him and be in his face.  He was good about me petting him and rubbing his face.  No meanness or attempts to nibble like some stallions.  He is such a joy to be around and it is such a pleasure to watch him under saddle.  

I hope you have enjoyed the first chapters of Sky and Guy's lives.  I look forward to the future when there will be more stories of Sky with pictures of his foals and of Guy when he finds the perfect home.  

God bless you all and happy trails to all of you.  Thanks for reading my blogs and for your kind remarks and comments.  

Mary Lipginski

Pleasant word are sweet as an honeycomb, sweet in the soul and health to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24

Sky's on Fire

I have been asked by several people to tell Sky's story.  So here goes.  I hope I can tell it in a way to do him justice.

It was early December and we had an important errand to run.  First we had to deliver Velvet to Van Bert Farms for her date with a stallion called RHF Benjamin Franklin.  We left her  in capable hands and headed for the hills.  Actually the foothills of the Appalachians in Eastern Kentucky to look at a couple of horses a man had for sale.

After a about forty five minutes we arrived at the barn where the horses were stalled.  We met the owner's wife and were soon in the barn looking at the two horses we were there to buy.  The sun was bright for a December day but when I opened one of the stall doors it seemed dark.  Behind the closed door I could still see a horse that surprised me for the amount of bones I could see throughout his skinny body.  It was hard to tell what color he really was.

In the meantime the other stall door had been opened to a expose a very thin chocolate gelding.   The horses were led out to let us look at them in the sun light.  Both seemed very sweet and very willing to to do as asked.  I liked them but I just wasn't sure about what I was buying.

The check was signed, the horses were loaded and the papers were signed over.  We were on the road with the horses and on the way.  On the way home I stopped at the Park's Equine Clinic.  I had the two horses examined from head to hoof.  They pronounced them in good health all though very thin.

Late in the afternoon we got home with the two new horses.  We put them in stalls and looked them over.  I was still wondering what I was doing with two horses that looked like that.  I buy good horses that are beautiful and look like they are ready to go into the show ring or will be ready to show soon.  Or horses that I can get out on the trails.  These two looked like buzzard bait.  Poor things but the people at Whispering Oaks Farm love horses and will do what ever is necessary to take good care of any horse that comes to our farm.

The next morning we led the two horses out to the arena to let them get some exercise.  We were all watching to see what these two horses were going to do.  We didn't know how long they had been stalled up without being turned out   I did know that Sky had been shod back in the spring of 2011 and that he had lost his shoes in the stall.  His feet looked like they hadn't been trimmed since that time.  It was December of 2012.

They just stood there for a long time.  Sky and Guy were at their new home but they didn't seem to know what to do with an area larger than a 12x12 stall.  Finally Sky decided he would take a little run.  Guy just stood there and looked at him.  Finally he decided he would like to try that too so he started to run too.

Both of them stopped and sniffed the ground.  There was still some shoots of green grass.  Sky started picking around to grab a few bites.  Guy didn't know exactly what to do with it so it was sniffing around on this strange stuff on the ground.  Finally he too decided he might try it.  And he liked it.

More running, some grazing and some more running.  They were beginning to enjoy their new found freedom.  Then they rolled and rolled.  They were loving these "open spaces".   They went back in the stall that night while we were thinking about how to handle these two horses that hadn't had exercise for however long.  And we didn't know how long it had been.   The main thing was to make sure we didn't work them too hard, too fast.

After a few days we decided we would put them out with the cows.  This seemed to be a good idea.  They had to walk up the hill to eat the hay and back down the hill to get their water.  We also fed them by the barn  so they had to do some more walking to get there.

In February I thought I needed to take another course of action for Sky.  His mane had been combed out and a lot of mane had come out.  It was barely long enough to know he had an actual mane.  The farrier had been here and he and Guy each had a new hoof job.  Chris and Stacie had done his teeth and found he still had wolf teeth although one had been broken off.

So in February I loaded him up and headed to Chris and Stacie's stable.  This started the new chapter in Sky's life.  In the meanwhile, Guy stayed here to get his training under saddle here.

At that time, we were having show committee meetings every Tuesday.  I made it a point to leave early so I could go see Sky.  By this time, Chis had decided his name should actually be Darrell Strawberry because of his color.  He soon shortened it down to Strawberry.  And that is his barn name.  Every week it was thrilling to see how Sky was changing.  Stacie had already started with a daily routine of grooming.  His mane was still very short but it seemed every week, it had grown a little more.  She had his tail looking shiny and clean.  In the meantime, Chris was working on his diet.  He was gaining weight.  He was even putting a little muscle on.  They were putting him on the hot walker every day and riding him lightly.

Chris had started him out to make sure he would be ok for Stacie to ride but soon Stacie was riding him almost exclusively.  All the time, he was getting fed three times a day.  He was getting groomed and having the best of care.  He was getting basic training.  And most of all he was getting loved on and brushed and bathed every day.  He was rapidly responding to the special care he was getting every day.

Now let me say this about Sky, he was a sweet horse from the first day I laid eyes on him.  He had the most wonderful disposition I have ever seen on any horse.  But he bloomed under the care that Chris and Stacie have given him.  We decided that Sky would not be used for breeding until we got his mind straight about being ridden.  He was a six year old with a two year old mind as far as riding him.

Spring turned into summer and though Sky was making stunning progress yet we really didn't think he would be ready for any of the International or World Shows.  But still, here we were the end of August and Sky was in the show ring at the World Show in the conformation class and he won the reserve championship.  Under Saddle class saw Sky again getting a lot of attention.  No ribbon but we were all so proud of him.  All of what he was experiencing was new to him.  He had left the farm where I bought him, taken to WOF, then to Cool Shade and now to the World Show.  I can't tell you how proud I am of this horse.  And how thankful to Chris and Stacie for the care they have given him.

Every week brought new changes to Sky and his looks were improving every day.  By the time the RMHA International Show came around we were really excited about his progress.  Once again, he walked into the show ring and came out with the Reserve Grand Championship for stallions 6-9 years old.  Then he went on to win his under saddle class as the International Grand Champion Stallion in the 6-9 age group.

October came and he was in a totally new arena again at the KMSHA International Show.  No ribbons this time but he sure got a lot of looks.  Everyone loves his color, his disposition and his gait.

Today I took two mares to Cool Shade.  Both are going to be bred to Sky and I am very excited about the prospect of having two babies on the ground for him this time next year.

Sky's on Fire has a story like a fairy tale.  I am so bless by God that I have been a part of Sky's story.  And we are all a part of His Story.  We can find His Story in a series of 66 books.  These stories are found in the Bible.  Where do you fit into that story?  Read the book and find where you fit. I am happy to say I already know where I fit into the story. 

God bless all of you and happy trails.

Mary