Another Show

Chocolate Amigo. He will be going to Tn next week end. He is a 4 year old gelding. Absolutely beautiful. And more beautiful this year than in this picture.

I am so pleased to tell you in my post tonight that Wilda is home from the hospital as of yesterday afternoon. I know what it is like to get to leave the hospital. It can make one feel better by just being in their own home and in their own bed.



I was very glad to leave the hospital. You know there are sick people in those hospitals. I sure didn't want to be sicker than I was and I know Wilda didn't want to come home with anything extra. Seven broken ribs and numerous cuts scrapes and bruises are enough for anyone.



Next week end is the White Pines Tennessee show and I am sorry to have to miss this one too. My youngest son and his family are finally going to get to visit for a few days. He is Sr Chief Stephen J Lipginski in the Seabees. The Navy has him traveling a lot this year. Sorry if I sound like I am bragging on my son but yes I am and I am very proud of him. As a matter of fact I am very proud of all my children. I have two daughters that are about to start nursing school and two military sons. My oldest son just retired from the Army last year and his last promotion made him SFC Wm M Lipginski II.



I will not be going but my horses are. Van Bert Farms is taking my two yearlings and my 2 year old mare. Cool Shade is taking a 2 year old mare for me and my gelding, Chocolate Amigo.
I know they are all in good hands. I really enjoyed the show there last year. Even though my mare Mountain Girl dumped me in the middle of the practice arena.

I had finally gotten enough confidence to get back on her after a really nasty spill in December of 07. I was planning to show her in the Novice class. Stacie and Jamie had walked me down with Mt Girl to the practice arena. It is an enclosed arena and really nice. Jamie and Stacie were watching me ride and I was feeling so good on Mt Girl. I had ridden around the arena several times and her gait had gotten so much better than it ever had before. It was the best ride I had ever had in my whole life and I was feeling very comfortable and confident.

Suddenly for no apparent reason to me or anyone watching, she jumped sideways and off I went. The rocks in the arena were small and very wet and it was one of my better landings. But when I got up I had rocks all over me and I was wet too. Stacie caught and got on Mt Girl and Jamie walked me to the wash bay where they wash the horses off and helped me get most of the rocks offs of my clothes, arms and hands.

Poor Mt Girl. She shouldn't have to have to put up with such a terrible rider.

At the last horse show that was just held in Winchester, S T showed my yearling filly in the halter class for me. I had planned to show her but the night before I had leg cramps and ask him to show her instead. Larry had told me she was almost too well broke. He commented that she nearly went to sleep in the ring and she just didn't look alert enough to show good.

S T and Flair for Fury came into the arena and she didn't act like the same filly. She was dancing around and didn't want to walk by S T the way I had always seen her do and the way she had been walking by me. She got a little calmer as they walked but when they started to line up nose to tail she reared up a couple of times right in front of the judge. I was thinking that I was glad I was not showing her. And of all the times to rear up, did she have to do it right in front of the judge?

Out of three yearling fillies, she placed 3rd. Later I found out why she was so alert and frisky. To get her to be more alert, they had fed her a nice meal of grain. She was actually eating while they were grooming her for the show ring. So she was on a sugar high. We wanted her more alert but I think that was maybe too alert. So did the judges. So I am sure next time, there will no extra meal right before the class. Although there might be an extra meal in advance of the class. Another experiment gone bad. Something else to laugh about. It was a good idea but it didn't work out as planned.

There is always a good story, something to laugh about at the horse shows. That is one reason I like the shows so much.

I hope you find joy in life and a lot to laugh about. Heaven knows there is also plenty to worry about with out country in such a mess right now. But you know we need to pray about that too.

Have a good Sunday. Go to church and worship. Thank God for what he does in your life and praise him for his loving kindness and goodness to you as well as to our good friend Wilda and her family. God has truly blessed all who know and come in contact with Wilda by touching her with his healing power. I am so grateful she is better and improving.

God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Later

Mary

Update

For those of you who didn't get an email from Diane Wright, I will give you an update on Wilda's condition.

Diane visited with Wilda and H T at the hospital today. She was pleased to report that Wilda had been out of bed with the help of a therapist and walked to the door of her room and back to a chair. H T and Wilda were both all smiles.

She is still in a lot of pain from the broken ribs and she stated that the horse had stepped on her and that is how she got the broken ribs and the collapsed lung. She had a CAT scan last night but there was no report from that yet.

We still need to keep praying for her and the family. Wilda has a lot going for her. She is strong and determined plus she is physically fit. And we will not sell short the prayers of many friends, family and prayer warriors from all over.

This is all good news and I hope the good news keeps coming.

While I am on updates, I will brag on our garden. It is the first garden we have had for several years on the farm. Thanks to all the rain this year, the weeds have really gotten ahead of us. But despite all the weeds, we have had a really good garden. We now have squash running out our ears. Speaking of ears, our corn is going great guns. We will have corn on the cob to grill next week. The beans have been delicious. We had ripe tomatoes on the 16th of June. Our potatoes are very large. The pumpkins are growing like crazy and we have some nice size watermelons now.

So if you get a chance, come on by. I am sure we can send some vegetables home with you.

Later everyone

God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary

Why Won't This Horse......?

VBF Blue Ridge Mountain Girl 3 year old conformation class.


Why won't this horse approach the gate. That was the question on H T's mind when he was practicing for the trail obstacle class.





H T walked into the barn with sun glasses on and asked for his horse Dressed for Success to be saddled and made ready for a trial run through the obstacle course. I am sure he encountered someone with whom he had a chat while waiting for the horse to be ready.





Eventually he mounted and headed for the obstacle course. As luck would have it, he dropped one of the reins. He was having a time with her until Judy came along and handed him the rein. H T walked her on down to the obstacle course and every thing seemed fine. But he still wondered why his mare would not neck rein when he needed her to do it. Now he wanted to practice getting her to go over the bushes that were part of the course. She had not walked over bushes and he wanted to make sure he could get her to do it in competition





She was very reluctant to step over the bushes at first but soon he had her stepping over them just fine. After she started to step over them, he kept practicing and practicing with her until it was second nature. They approached the bushes, she stepped over and on they went. Finally when H T was convinced she would do it during the competition he let her stop.





A lady had been watching H T practice with the mare and she asked him how he would open the gate on her. He and Dressed for Success had done it many times on their obstacle course at the stable so he was confident he would give a nice demonstration on how to open a gate from horse back. But this time the horse refused to go near the gate. H T had almost decided his horse just didn't like the white gate (at home it was red). The lady suggested perhaps his horse didn't like the blue flag by the gate. H T looked down to see what blue flag she was talking about. That was when he noticed that the horse he was on had white around the coronet of one her front hooves.





Dressed for Success, a mare H T had trained and ridden numerous times, had no white. That is when he realized, he wasn't riding Dressed for Success. Back he went to the barn and asked just who he was riding. Then he found out he was riding 2 year old Rockin Andi. And he had never been on her before. Both horses are chocolate with very light manes and tails. They obviously look a lot alike.





I have often had some embarrassing moments when I didn't recognize my own horse. Now I don't feel so bad. H T had a lot of fun telling this story about being on the wrong horse. And how he could not get her to go anywhere near the gate.





It reminded me of an incident that happened last year at the World Show. Tristin Curtis was 12 and she is an extremely talented rider. Wilda has been working with her and she is already a very capable rider. She needed a horse for one of the classes in the show and I offered her the use of my mare VBF Blue Ridge Mountain Girl.





As luck would have it, Mt Girl had been taken back to Van Bert's barn but Tristin's Dad, Robert,


took a trailer and his truck and went to the farm to get her. It was after dark when they got to the barn to get Mt Girl. The barn wasn't well lite but they went to the stall where Mt Girl was kept and put a halter on, loaded her and went back to the show grounds. They put her in a stall. The next morning when Tristin was getting ready to practice, she and her dad went to the barn had the mare saddled up and went off to practice.





After a few minutes Tristin told her dad that Mt Girl was not acting right. So they took her back to the barn thinking they had the wrong bit. The first person they saw was Ernesto. They ask if Mt Girl had the wrong bit. He looked at the horse and with a surprised look on his face told them "this is not Mt Girl". We had a lot of fun over that. I teased them that they had stolen a horse and it was the wrong horse. As it turned out, someone had switched stalls for Mt Girl and the other horse.





Robert and Tristin had as much fun telling how they had borrowed the wrong horse as H T had telling about his horse that wouldn't approach a gate.





Life is full of enough sorrow and heart aches. When we have a chance to laugh over something silly that we have done or has happened to us we should by all means do it.





Tonight as I write this, my heart is heavy because a dear friend is in the hospital suffering. I talked with Vera today. Wilda is still being closely monitored. The doctors are working on her to get her lung filled with air once more. Her broken ribs have her in a lot of pain. I don't know if the extent of her injuries is fully known. H T is in agony because his wife is suffering. Her family is worried.





I know none of them are reading blogs today but I encourage those of you who are reading this to keep Wilda and her family in your prayers. I am praying that the Lord God of the universal will touch Wilda with the healing in his hands and restore her to good health. I pray that God will guild the decisions the doctors make and that each decision will be the right one for her situation. I am praying these things in Jesus Holy Name and I invite you to also do the same.





God bless you and keep you in his loving care. And may God bless and keep the Derickson family close as they work their way through this terrible event in their lives.





Later,





Mary

In Need of Prayer

My post will be short tonight. I do want to let you all know that Wilda had a riding accident today and is in the hospital in Lexington. Let us agree to pray for her. I do not know the extent of her injuries but she was having pain when she was breathing.

To those who would say that riding is dangerous, I will say so are cars, planes and motor cycles.

So more posts will follow soon and by tomorrow, I hope to be able to report more on Wilda's condition.

Later everyone

God keep you in his kind and loving care.


Mary

Please Bring a Desert

Don't we all love pot luck? That is my favorite get together. We recently had a pig roast and pot luck dinner. I can not say enough about the good food we had. Almost all was home made and delicious. My granddaughter, Lucy, made broccoli casserole. It is always requested when we have a family meal together. I make a good one but Lucy's is the best. The table was loaded with good things to eat and we had a feast like it was Thanksgiving in June. I can't say it often enough. I love pot luck. And we should be just as thankful in June as we are in November.

When we were planning the pig roast and deciding who in the family should provide what, I was assigned the desert. The family said, "And of course you will make banana pudding." This has become a dish that everyone loves and asks me to make often.

I promised Cheryl Moore that I would give the recipe on my blog. Mike Brummer had told her I have a good blog and gave her the address to follow it. I want to thank Mike for his kind and encouraging words to me about my blog. I was humbled to think anyone thought it was that good. But thanks Mike, I truly appreciate the encouragement.

Here is the recipe. It was on the can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk about 16 or 17 years ago and it is a favorite everywhere I take it even to the point some people want to hide it and not share. I won't embarrass Wilda by telling that she would not serve it at her barn party last year and she and H T did not even leave Jamie a bite of it. I believe her exact words were "will you shut up about the banana pudding" when I reminded her that it was in the refrigerator.

1 (14 oz) can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 c cold water
1 (4 oz serving size) package of instant vanilla pudding mix
2 c of whipping cream
36 vanilla wafers
3 med bananas, sliced and dipped in lemon juice


In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and water. Add the pudding mix and beat well. Chill 5 minutes. While it is chilling whip the cream. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled pudding mixture. Next spoon 1 cup of the pudding mixture into a large serving bowl. Top with wafers, bananas and pudding. Repeat layering twice ending with pudding. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on the top. Chill until ready to serve.

It is best if prepared and served the same day. Preparation time is less than 15 minutes.

Please, if you decide to make this recipe bring some to Jamie. He really got left out.

I want to congratulate all the winners from last week end's State Show held in Winchester at the Equine Center. It was a good show and so many good horses there. I especially want to congratulate Em Dee Mountain Horses and Cool Shade for the great show they had. I am so glad I have my mare already bred to their stallion Venture's Black Fury. I am afraid the breeding fee may go up. Fury had a great show and won a truck load of first place ribbons. Michael is going to have to build Judy and Fury a new trophy room. They also placed 1st in the Yearling Colt class with a colt out of Fury. Two of Fury's offspring placed 1st and 3rd in the Yearling Filly class.

Judy was also very successful with Legendary Lady.

Van Bert Farm was as always well represented in the winner's circle with their outstanding trainers and horses. The yearling filly that took first place was shown by Jamie Derickson for Real Horse Farm. And S T Tipton won with their mare Mercy Me. Vera's mare won or placed high in her classes. The team of S T Tipton and Vera Patterson won the Pro Am class on Autumn Venture.

Van Berts had too many winning entries for me to remember all of them but you can go to the UMH web site later and see all of the placing for Van Bert's as well as all the others at the show. And congratulations to all of these talented riders and horses.

I appreciate the work that Jamie and S T have done with my horses this year. My 2 old filly place 3rd in the Pro Am class with Jamie and Wilda riding as a team. Jamie has done a great job with Rockin Andi. To have 2 year old filly and to come in 3rd was a real honor. To make it even more remarkable was that Wilda had never ridden Rockin Andi until the moment she got on her in the show ring. That makes her disposition and training outstanding. Wilda is of course a very talented rider as well.

I will have more from the horse show in coming days. Until then,

God bless you and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary


Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.
Proverbs 16: 3

The Little Things

Pictured is S T Tipton with WOF Mountain Spirit. Spirit is a colt out of my mare VBF Mountain Wind Socks

and by Sudden Impact. Spirit is about to go into the yearling colt class at the Stanton Horse Show where a weak link in his chain broke and he was free to run around the arena for a couple of minutes. He gave me some anxious moments but some of the crowd found him very entertaning. A little link, a small thing.

I am happy to report we, Eleanor and I, were able to make the horse show this past week end at the Equine Center in Winchester. The weather turned wet and chilly for our 4th of July celebration. I don't know if I have military people who follow my blog but I want to thank our military both past and present for allowing us to enjoy this holiday in the land of the free another year. Thank you all for the selfless sacrifices you have made for us. And if you know military people remember to thank them for their service.

The horse show was so much fun as usual. I think mostly because I don't do that much. I just enjoy watching and meeting new people and visiting with friends I have made along the way. This show we made a new friend, Alice. She was very sweet and friendly and nice to be around. If you are following the blog Alice, welcome and I want to tell you how much we enjoyed being with you during the horse show.

So what are the little things I am talking about? One is making a new friend and visiting with friends we have made during the time we have been involved in the horse shows. Yesterday, I saw a young girl, I think Kaylee is 11 do an act of kindness that looked like it was just natural for her to do. Eleanor was getting chilly. I had brought her sweater out of the truck and she was already wrapped up in it but still acting cold. Kaylee Tipton pulled her jacket off and wrapped it around Eleanor without any hesitation and insisted that she was not cold. That is how I know that all the younger generation is not selfish, self centered and lazy. I have watched and admired Kaylee for a couple of years now and she is such a nice sweet girl. Her family is doing a great job of raising her. I can't say enough good about her. Oh and besides that, she is a great rider. I wish I was a tenth as good as she is.

Friday at the horse show Larry was very confident the filly from his barn and trainers would place higher than my filly that is trained by Stacie and Chris Tipton. He kept picking at me. It is all in good fun and I love it. He kept telling me their filly would beat my two year old filly in competition. It was a 2-3 year old Country Trail Pleasure class. The class started and they were both making a really good show. I really don't know which would have placed higher but all of the sudden their filly tossed her head a couple of times and my filly ended up placing one place higher than theirs. It is the little things. Larry always says "Pay attention to the little details".

This morning when I checked my horses, I saw that Once a Hobo was limping and holding her foot up like she was in real pain. I walked across the field and picked her foot up. A huge nail was protruding out of the frog of her foot. I pulled on it and came out really easy. It had penetrated her frog about 1/4 of an inch. Nothing real serious but we got advice on treating her foot anyway. We treated her and she still favors it but it is not serious. Tomorrow she will get a tetanus shot. In a few days she will be better and walking normal again. It is attention to the little things. A small injury today could have been worse tomorrow.

This afternoon we walked the field with a magnet and picked up nails and all sorts of metal. Just before we had the pig roast, I had hired a bull dozer to push the remains of a trailer together and dispose of it. Nails and metal had been left in the horse pasture. I am sure that is where Hobo had picked up the nail. With the magnet and picking up other debre, out of the field we filled a wheel barrow. I had not paid attention to the small things in that field. One of my horses had paid a price. If it had been more serious I would have paid a bigger price and so would she.

It is little things. Little things that can cause big trouble. Little things that can make someone smile and feel good. Little things that can make the difference between being cold or having an extra coat to ward off the chill. Life is so seldom made up of big events. The wedding, graduation from college, first job or winning that big class in the horse show are all big things but it is the little things in every day life that makes us the happiest. A smile from the most important person in your life, a compliment from a friend, a pat on the back by the boss. Any number of little things that make life interesting and pleasant.

May you have days and weeks be full of little things that will make yours a big successful life.

God bless and keep you in his loving care.

With kind regards

Mary

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. Jeremiah 29 11-12

Hay Update

Pictured is my two year old filly Rockin Andi
Andi is proving how willing to work she is by
walking the obstacle course for her rider. This part of the course is the seesaw. She will walk until it thumps down and then she will calmly step off.


If it can go wrong it will. We started mowing hay on Monday. My old White tractor was really humming along. The disc mower was throwing out hay in it's wake and life was good. I really love mowing the fields whether it is for hay or just to knock down weeds and small brush. Larry, the hay guy, as he is known around here had walked over to where I was mowing and ask how it was going. I said great. He had just had a break down on his tractor. So he was walking a short distance back to his truck. He offered to mow but I was enjoying myself too much to get off of the tractor.



He no sooner walked away until my tractor died. We had some trouble with the tractor last week but Mike, my son and mechanic, thought he had it fixed. I tried and tried to start it again. But to no avail. Larry walked back over to the tractor. He couldn't get it started so although the fuel gage was registering better than half a tank, he measured the fuel. Empty. He put some fuel in and still no sweet hum of the engine.



So yesterday morning Mike once again worked on the tractor. All it needed this time was the lines bled to get the air out. Well gee, who knew you had to refill the fuel tank ever so often. I guess I do now.



Anyway, we are working on the hay field and it is not yet ready to bale because it is still too wet. It is thick and tall. So not until tomorrow.



I was hoping to be leaving home about 1 o'clock tomorrow for the horse show and to get settled into our motel room and get a good night's rest before the start of the busy week end. But now it will be late at night before we leave home. Eleanor will once again be going with me to the horse show. I think she feels it is her duty to keep me out of trouble. You know the older sister thing.



No really, she loves the horses as much as I do. She hates it if we miss a week going to Stanton to the Van Bert Farm and to Cool Shade. She would feel totally left out if I went to a show without her. So as long as I can get her home on Saturday night so she can play the piano on Sunday morning for church, she is with me all the way. So we are looking forward to a nice weekend of watching my horses as well as all the other favorites we have. She loves Toco Dawn and Mercy Me. I love Mercy Me too.

Mercy Me is a mare that is owned by Stephanie Moore and I love the big heart that little mare has. I love to yell "Mercy Me what a mare" when she is in the show ring. Stephanie always gets a big smile when she hears me. I love to see her win because she just seems to put her whole heart into the show.



We also love Venture's Black Fury. He is a nice stallion and he loves peppermint. Eleanor keeps them in her purse just for Fury. She loves to see him eat them. He never loses even a tiny piece of peppermint. So we love the show and the interaction with the horses as well as seeing friends we have made there.



I hope you all get to the horse show this week end. I am expecting to see Jessica there. She said she would be coming in and be staying over for the show. I will have to ask her how she and Mr Twister are getting along. That is her horse in training at Van Bert's and he is a beauty. I think he will be a great horse.

So until then





God bless and keep you in his loving care.





Regards





Mary





For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16