An Arena

This week has seen a new riding arena being built outside the barn to practice and to work the horses before venturing out on the farm on the horses. It is not as large as some I have seen but it is a size large enough to practice. The new colt is doing really well. We have put him and his mother outside in a round pen and he has started running and running outside.

The three boys who have been helping build the arena have been riding after the work stops in the afternoon.

It has been a very busy week. The family has been up from Ms this week. They have been on spring break and they come every spring during break whether my son can come or not come. He is overseas this year so they came anyway.

Dalton and his friend Shelton have been a tremendous help in building the arena. Dalton's dad has taught him a lot about building and doing projects around the farm. Mary Beth is the one who wanted to build the arena to have for us to ride. Her granddaughter, Melissa is riding and she wanted a place where she could be safe. Now her daughter Lucy is riding and it is going to be nice to have to start someone out riding. The arena is completely enclosed with two gates. A smaller one in front of the barn for the rider to come out of the barn to enter and a larger one for tractors and trucks that will have to bring rock into the arena for footing.

It has been a big job but with all the help they have had it has gone up pretty fast. Dalton has dug post holes and he and Shelton have tamped the dirt in around the posts.

This week they have been riding my Rocky Mountain Horses. Dalton rides Rosie, Shelton rides Rocky Top Rebel and Robert rides Amigo. They like to go out on the trails and ride the trails through the woods. The horses are getting familiar with all the ground around here. They have been over almost all the farm now with the horses.

The horses are getting better and better in the woods and going up and down hills. There are plenty of logs to step over as well as branches of water to walk through.

The boys had never ridden anything besides quarter horses but they are really appreciating the Rocky Mountain horses for their smooth ride and easy gait. They horses have taken them to places on the farm they may never have visited had it not been for the horses. They are teaching them confidence especially Dalton who had never ridden very much.

The little ones have had fun grooming the horses. Kailey, Stephen and Melissa were all surrounding my yearling filly named Celine and they were busy brushing and combing her. They were completely satisfied to get to groom the little filly and she was standing very quietly for them to groom her. Those three children are 6 and 7 years old. Celine was happy for them to be there and never offered to bite or kick. She stood even quieter for them than she does when I groom her.

Earlier today Kailey sat on Satin bareback and rode her. She has a very good seat. She held onto her mane while Uncle Bobby was leading her around. Kailey was very proud of herself for being able to ride the big palomino bare back.

So with so many people around the house and farm it has been busy and noisy. But aren't children a true blessing from God. When we say our prayers at night Kailey remembers her friend Elizabeth that has been sick for a long time and especially her daddy in Afghanistan. She prays God will bring him home safe and keep him safe while he is there.

With her sweet 6 year old voice it is precious to hear her pray for her daddy. She adores him and it is really tough on the whole family when he has to leave to go out of the country.

I pray every thing is well with all of you. All is well here and the horses are all doing well right now and we are loving the noisy peace and quiet of farm life.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards,

Mary

Bad News and Good News

Hobo and her new foal. He may be named WOF Saga of Snowy River. We are still thinking about the name. His grand sire on Hobo's side is Shepherd's Snowy River. He was only hours old in these pictures.

The sad news from here is that we had to put Cody down last Wednesday. The vet was here for shots and other herd work. When he saw Cody he called Gretchen and told her that it was his opinion that it was time to put him down. Of course we all cried. It was a tough day for all of us. We had been up and down over his condition. He was looking better some days and it gave us hope.

At Van Bert's last week, I was asked about Cody and I said I was cautiously optimistic on his condition. When I got home on Tuesday night everyone said he had worsened. He was not up as much and he was starting to injure himself when he was trying to get up. He was also getting sores from laying so much.

It was still hard to accept but Gretchen had given him a chance. She loved her old horse. He was born when she was 14 and she had been around him all his life. He was 18 years old.

Last Saturday, I had to go into town before feeding. When my brother, Bob, went to the barn he found that our mare, Hobo, had delivered her foal early that morning. But we had a problem. Hobo was so full of milk that she was hurting and she would not let the foal nurse. Well now have you ever tried to get a foal to nurse?

Here is the way to get a calf to nurse. You straddle it's neck and push it's head under the cow. A cow has bigger equipment and it is easy to get the calf to start sucking. The problem with mare and foals is that the equipment is shorter and the foal does not like to put his head down. So it is harder. I could not straddle his neck (too tall) so I put his head down under her udder but couldn't get him to get hold of the right equipment. So I started milking the mare. That's fun---not. Like I said she was sore so she kept kicking at me. Finally I started getting milk and put it up to his mouth. He started getting a taste of milk from my hand.

It took some time to get his mouth in the right region but he still was not actually nursing. I got tired and he looked tired so I let him go thinking he wanted to rest. But as soon as I let him go he immediately put his head down and nursed. It was a sweet moment. She had some relief by my milking her so now she was letting him nurse. I had to tie her up one more time after that to get her to stand still for him to nurse.

This is Hobo's first foal and she did not know where the relief from a full udder came from. She sure has a lot of milk. He starts to nurse sometimes and milk squirts out of her. He will grow good if she keeps producing milk like that.

Show season is going to be here very soon. We are nervous but looking forward to getting started showing. Bob is riding Satin and she is doing really well. She has such a nice trail walk and has settled down. Our two yearlings are looking good. It is amazing every time we look at Blaze. We can hardly believe how tall he is getting.

We are working hard everyday with Blaze. He is a lot of colt to handle.

We had a lovely day when Kelvin and Dolly visited us last week. Kelvin likes my gray yearling filly. It had already been a busy day but I was so glad to see them. It is always lovely to have visitors on the farm and especially when they are admiring our horses as Kelvin and Dolly did.

My vet loves my yearling colt. He even asked me about a price the first week after he was born. I am looking forward to getting him into the show arena. I am eager to see what the judges think of him and do they like him as much as I do. He is really a big boy and so full of himself. He knows he is a colt and he really likes the mares.

I think I need to turn him out with some of the mares with babies. I believe they will put him in his place in a hurry.

My daughter decided at Christmas that she would give me an arena for Christmas. This is the week the arena is getting built. This has turned out to be a family project. My daughter-in-law and grandchildren are here from Mississippi. They are on spring break this week and she comes every spring during spring break. Her husband, my youngest son, is in the Navy and right now they are deployed overseas. As it happens this is the week the mares are due to foal. We have two more to foal this week. (According to the calendar) The book says 11 months and 5 days. If the mares read the book and were on the right page they will foal this week.

But back to the arena. My daughter, Mary Beth wanted to build the arena the week the mares were due to foal. Mike has been drilling the post holes. My grandson, Dalton, took over that job when Mike had to leave for work. Robert, a nephew, has been here helping with the project too. Also a friend of the family has been here too. So there has been plenty of help on the arena and it is coming along with it.

It has been fun to have them here and they have worked hard.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the warmer weather. The kids have taken advantage of the better weather and have been riding the horses as well as working hard on the arena. Tomorrow there will be pictures of the arena.

God bless you and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary

A Tough Decision

I walked into the barn about an hour ago, around 10 pm. The smell of sweet alfalfa hay greeted my senses. The lights were already on in the barn for the visit I knew I would be making late tonight. The horses were all calm. The pregnant mares were still munching the hay we had fed them late this afternoon.

Satin was in a separate area with the two yearling fillies. She was munching on hay as well while the two fillies were already laying down for some rest. The barn was calm and quiet except for the sweet sounds of horses chewing their hay.

My eyes searched out the horse I was looking for. His herd mate, Thunder was outside the gate that divided Cody from him. Thunder was waiting for his friend to return to the pasture with him to go back to the bale of hay for the night.

But Cody wouldn't be going back out tonight and maybe he will never be able to join his buddy in the pasture again. The next few days will tell the story.

Today started out with the temperature outside being bearable. As the day wore on it became colder and colder. Eleanor had come to help groom the horses. On her recent visit here she noticed that we went to great length to groom the horses in the barn. We tie each horse and put their feed out to them. Then we start to groom each horse as it eats. Then they get their hay.

She hung around the house with us all day and finally left to go home about 5 PM. Bob had already gone to the barn to start the feeding and I soon joined him after she left. He was watering the horses and I walked over to talk to him. We were chatting when he suddenly said, "Look at Cody. Something is terribly wrong with him." I looked and sure enough. He was walking around but he looked more drunk than sober.

I rushed to the house to call Gretchen who owns Cody. I did not get her at first so I left a message and called the vet. Gretchen soon called me back and I relayed the message from the vet to her and suggested she call him directly to get his assessment of the situation. It was decided that Dr Thompson would need to come to see him. That is exactly what I would have done.

Dr Thompson drove up to the barn and we entered the barn as he was examining the patient. It was not good news. It is the vet's assessment that he has picked up a disease that horses get from possums. It is very serious and the treatment is iffy and expensive. So Gretchen is struggling with a decision tonight. Does she spend the money to "try" to save her 18 year old gelding or does she say "good bye".

When I entered the barn and walked around to where Cody was stalled tonight, he was standing but he was weaving back and forth. Doc had given him a shot of anti inflammatory and hoped that would give him some temporary relief. He is not in pain but his back legs are weak and it causes him to wobble.

Cody fell while Bob was leading him to the barn and again when the vet was trying to halter him. It is so pitiful to see. He is a big strong horse and I have feared his back feet from time to time. He kicks at the other horses over feed sometimes and once he kicked out at another horse and threw mud on me. That was too close for comfort. But to see him standing in the stall weaving back and forth breaks my heart.

Gretchen ask me what I would do. I could not tell her. I do not know if I would let him go or spend the money to try the course of medication that would in all possibility will not cure him.

It is an option we will all have to face one day. I have already faced it with Holly although that was much more clear cut than this one is. Worse yet, Bill and I went through the same thing when he was sick. Although there was no option for him, good or bad. He had a condition that ran it's course and took his life.

It is a situation we will all face one day in one way or another. Because of the fallen state of man, we will all face death. Sometimes it will be a beloved pet. Other times it will be a faithful friend that has carried us through trails and over green pastures. And then there will come the times it will be a good friend, a close relative and then our own turn to face the end of our time on earth.

It is something we don't want to think about but sooner or later we must.

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who are saved and those who are not. Have you decided which one you are? If you are, you know it. If you aren't sure then you aren't. What are you going to do about Jesus? You either tell him yes. Or do nothing about Jesus and you are telling him "No".

May God bless you and keep you in his loving care. I pray you will seriously think about where you will be spending eternity.

Regards

Mary

For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3: 16

More Snow

Bob on Venture's Golden Satin and me on J R. on one of our rides in the snow. Shown with me is Erica, my two year old lab. If we ride 2 miles, she runs 6. She loves the trail rides.

I think everyone around here is getting pretty tired of the pretty white fluffy stuff that has been falling so regularly from the grey skies. The days are so bitter cold and the wind adds to the misery.

However, we have found a few days recently that were nice enough that we saddled up horses and rode in the snow. I invited a friend out a couple of Saturdays ago for a ride in the snow and she was thrilled. Sheri rode my gelding, Chocolate Amigo. She has taken him on trail rides before and he is an amazing horse for trail rides. He is afraid of nothing. He does stop at times and check things out such as the creek.

The next week we went for more rides in the snow. My nephew, Buddy, and his two sons have been working on cutting trails through the woods so we can have more territory to ride once crops are planted this coming spring. We rode in the woods for a short piece. Bob on Amigo and me on J R. They had not cut very far into the woods so we only went a short distance in. They had started a new path from the opposite side of where they worked yesterday.

We rode on around the fields and Bob rode down the hill to check out the path they had already cut the day before. Amigo got to the creek and didn't want to cross. The problem was that J R and I had not gone down the trail and Amigo didn't like being separated from J R. Horses are such herd animals and have such herd instincts that they do not really like to go off all alone. So rather than force the issue and take a chance on a spill in the creek, Bob brought him back up the hill.

Later he did cross another creek. He has been crossing the creek that we ride through to come back to the house. But this time he was in a strange situation and it was uncomfortable for him. So rather than force the issue and have a long wet ride home we saved it for another day.

The day came last week when Buddy got through cutting the trail through the woods. He came the next day and brought his oldest son. This was the day we were going to ride the new trail through the woods. There were five of us so it made a very nice group of riders for our first ride on the new trail.

It is a very nice trail. It has enough down hill places and up hills. Some flat spots and branches to cross. In fact we cross the branch about three times. With snow melting the branch is running pretty good. J R stopped for a good long drink of water. My two labs were with us and of course they both had a good time in the cold water.

I appreciate my nephew and his sons coming here to cut trails through the woods. It really makes a nice ride. It is a lot more fun that just riding in the fields all the time.

But Buddy assures me that he is not finished yet. He has more trails planned and intends to lengthen the trail he has already cut. He also has a favorite spot back on the trail. It was his get away from it all spot when he lived here on the farm. He has plans for a wooden bench and rail to tie the horses up. Then he is going to fix up a mounting block. It will be an awesome place to stop for a lunch or just for a short rest. It is in front of the babbling brook. A lovely spot to rest.

We have gotten several good days of riding in recently. It has been so much fun. Although I have been riding J R a lot, I finally graduated up to a more lively horse and I am now riding Amigo. Eleanor has been here a couple of days to ride her horse, J R. Bob has been riding Satin and various ones have been riding other horses.

It has been a lot of fun riding in the snow but I am glad to see it leaving. However, now we have a lot of mud to contend with.

Tonight we were checking the pregnant mares. They are getting very close to foaling. All three are beginning to make bag so the time is getting close. They have been in the barn through the worst of the weather. They are on a ration of good alfalfa hay and grain. They have a good life. Today though it was windy and not so good outside, they had enjoyed rolling in the big stall with all the fresh shavings.

May God bless you and keep you in his loving care.

Regards,

Mary

A Birthday, A Weddings and Snow

Jamie Dickerson on Venture's Golden Satin.

Shortly before my birthday I acquired Satin. She is here on the farm now and is doing well. She has had a period of adjustment as she searches for her place in the herd. This morning she was shivering and seemed really cold so we brought her to the barn and put a blanket on her to warm her up. Tonight she is stalled in the barn with the blanket still on her.

We had just fed the herd some hay and she didn't want to leave the hay to be led to the barn. She really tried and tried to get away from me. But when we got her into the barn she found out we were not trying to take her away from what she wanted but to give her more of it in a better place with some grain to go along with the hay.

It occurs to me that we are like that with God. God wants to lead us away from what seems like some really good things in our lives. He doesn't want to take the good away from us but he wants to give us something more and better. Yet we often balk and think we are losing out on what seems really good to us. We can't imagine that there is more and better for us when we follow God. He doesn't force us into following him as I forced Satin into the barn this morning for more hay, a warm blanket and some good tasting grain. Once there, she understood I was doing her a kindness. And once we are following God and doing his will and obeying him we find he is doing us a kindness.

The first picture is of my best friend, Donna and me celebrating my birthday. Donna is facing surgery and is in a lot of pain but she celebrated my birthday with me anyway. We have been friends since before we can remember.. Our parents took us to church and we met each other when we were still babies in our mothers' arms. My birthday was last Friday and we spent most of the day together just talking and laughing and reliving old times as well as catching up on what we had each been doing since our last visit.

The bride and groom are my grandson, Edward Zinsius and his bride Jennifer Warden. They are making their home in Dayton Ohio. This past week end Mike, Natalie and I traveled to Gatlinburg to attend their wedding. It was a good week end. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was beautiful. The groom was very handsome and everyone had a great time. The evening was filled with good food and fun as we celebrated the union of this special man and woman.

One of the fun parts of the evening was that most of the guests were thrown into the heated pool in the hotel. It is a tradition with the bride's family that the groom gets tossed into the pool during the reception.

I noticed everyone had gone to their rooms and changed into jeans and t shirts. I wondered why until I found out about the tradition. Thankfully the bride and groom had also changed into more comfortable clothes by this time. The bride also went into the pool. Almost all of the guests did as well.

This morning during the height of the snow storm here on the farm, we drove up to the back part of the farm. At night we often hear coyotes howling. It is a hair raising sound. It causes us to be concerned for our livestock. We keep enough horses in each field together to protect each other and themselves. On Sunday night we noticed the dogs had found a calf skin. It appeared to be from a small calf.

The next morning Mike went to check on our cows. All the cows and calves were accounted for so we knew we had not lost a calf. We heard a cow from the neighbor's farm bawling for her calf and we knew where the calf hide had come from. Coyotes are a recent inhabitant of our farm and county. They have multiplied since their first introduction into our region to where they are a danger to all livestock. There were a few here back in the nineties. But now, one can hear howls from all directions.

This morning we saw tracks where they had crossed the field but did not see any. Our horses shy away from a little house that sets in one of the back fields. They do not like that area and always act a little silly around there. It is our belief that coyotes must hang out around that area of the farm regularly. And my son in law has seen coyotes near the house.

All our horses even J R gets a little silly near that house. That is another clean indication they are in that area regularly.

As we were driving down from the back fields Bob captured the picture of the barn and silos during the worse of the snow storm this morning. It was a lovely picture.

May God bless and keep you in His loving care. And may He give you a good and peaceful night's sleep.

Regards,

Mary

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

Isaiah 26: 3-4

Rosie Had a Tummy Ache

This is Blooming Rose. She is known on our farm as Rosie. Rosie teaches us about God and our relationship to Him. She teaches us about trust and today she taught us about faith.


The phone rang early this morning. Bob had already gone to the barn to catch Rosie and Rocky Top to saddle up and ride. I found Bob on the other end. He was worried about Rosie. She had laid down when he put the lead line on her to take her to the barn. I looked out the kitchen window and there he stood in the field and Rosie was laying down beside him. I saw her get up and walk with him toward the barn.

We knew something was wrong. Another call to the vet. My vet loves me. He is already thinking of which Ivy League college he will send his pre-school son to when he is out of high school. As long as I have horses, he will be financially well off. I am laughing and crying both.

The vet arrived within an hour. He examined her and said "Colic". This can strike fear in the heart of a horse owner. It can be anything from a farm call and some icky smelling medication to a surgery that would cost up to $7,000. Icky smelling medicine was the route we went. The vet kept saying "This may work." He also said I could bring her in to his facility and he could load her with fluids and work out the impaction that way as well. ($1100)

Of course, I was very worried. But I kept praying for God to intercede in her care. Now God has not given us a spirit of fear so I had faith that God would take care of Rosie just as he had last week when he took care of J R. As you may remember, J R was the horse that helped himself to the feed in the freezer. J R is doing well and took me on a good trail ride yesterday.

Dr Thompson left me with the suggestion that Rosie could use some fresh grass and offer her plenty of water. The impaction was probably caused from Rosie not drinking enough water because it has been so cold. So I spent most of today outside with Rosie. I walked her all over the field letting her graze at will. I tried to encourage her to drink more water by offering her warm water with sugar. She just put her nose in it and splashed a little. "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink"

About an hour after the vet left, Rosie presented me with a nice little pile of manure. It was my first signal that she was going to be alright. I kept walking her around and letting her graze. I was really cold after a while and I tied her in the barn and came to the house for a little while. I was soon back in the barn and found that she had once again left a little gift which Annie had already cleaned up and it was another good signal that things were getting back to normal.

More walking and later some more manure.

It is funny sometimes that the manure is our lives mean so much to us. I guess you want an explanation on that one. We all have manure in our lives. I know we can all agree to that. But as it was today, manure is not always a bad thing. If things always go smooth, if the water is always calm, if the sky is always blue, would we appreciate it that our lives are going smooth. No it would just be another day of sunshine. We wouldn't appreciate the smooth water or the blue skies.

We don't really learn lessons when things are going well. But when the fires get hot, we are being purified. Gold is purified with heat. Steel is tempered when a fire is put under it. We don't know what God will do for us without the storms in our lives. Our faith in God does not grow when everything goes smooth. When things are really going good, we go on auto pilot and have the attitude, "OK God, I can take it from here". No it is through the trials and hard times that our faith grows and develops. We grow and learn more about God when hard times hit.

Do you remember the scripture in Acts chapter 8 that documents the story of Stephen? As you remember, Stephen was the first Christian to die for his faith. Things were going along pretty well in Jerusalem. The apostles were preaching and people were being filled with the Holy Spirit. People were being saved and baptized. Then along came some persecution. Why did that have to happen when everything in Jerusalem was going so good?

God had a plan. I don't believe that God wanted that to happen but He let it happen. And He used that event to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. If Stephen hadn't been stoned, the apostles would not have scattered. Phillip wouldn't have gone to Samaria and people would have not been saved there. They would not have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of the stoning of Stephen, Christians took the good news outside of Jerusalem.

What they were experiencing was a lot of manure in their lives. I don't think that is the way any preacher would express it but it fits with my thesis for today. Would I have had so much gratitude in my heart for God tonight? I would have been grateful for a good day but I have learned that God cares about the affairs of man. And the affairs of a woman who is trying to walk in His will and follow His guidance. I know I can't make this operation a success without God's leadership and without His giving me the wisdom to make hard decisions.





May you always turn to God to give you wisdom in all your decisions.

And may God bless you and keep you in His loving care.





Regards,





Mary





For I know all things work together for those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose.





Romans 8: 28

Riding in the Snow

Welcome to Judy and Mike who have signed up as followers to my blog. Judy and I are old friends from High School Days. This year will mark the 50th year anniversary of our graduation from High School. Where has the time gone. Anyway welcome to my son Mike and my friend Judy to my blog. I hope you enjoy my blog.



It is my humble attempt at writing something someone else would want to read.



Today was a better day than yesterday was. Yesterday, it was -2 when we got in the truck to go to church. It was really bitterly cold. The snow crunched under the tires as we drove down the mile long road from my house that takes us to the black top road. The trees were bright with crystals of ice that gave them a fairy tale appearance as the sun gave them a life of their own.



When we got home from church Mike was just finishing with feeding the horses for me. He said it took him some time to thaw the water hose to run water into the tanks for the horses. It did not get very much warmer throughout the day.



This afternoon the sun began to warm the landscape and I could see little rivers of water as they scurried down the hills on the start of a long journey that would take them all the way to the ocean. The sun made little shiny gem stones like crystals on the fields that were still covered with snow.



It was in that setting that we went to the barn and got three gelding ready for a ride. J R did some little snorts and throaty sounds as we picked our way across the snow and up the hill for a mid winter ride. The snow still covered the fields and once again I noticed that the sun made sparkles in the snow that make the landscape look alive with all colors of the rain bow. The fields looked like God had thrown hand fulls of precious stones on the snow. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds were all sparkling in the snow as our horses' hooves left their trail in the undisturbed snow on the pastures and hay fields.



The dogs were running and chasing and tumbling over each other on their quest to be the fastest and the first to arrive at an unknown destination. Amigo wanted to pick up speed and get into an easy gait. Annie would have let him except for the two riders with her. She was waiting for the two slower horses. J R and Romeo, Natalie's horse, was not in a hurry to do anything. J R does not get in a hurry for anything other than his feed bucket. Romeo only gets in a hurry to get back to the barn.



We rode saying very little. I think the other girls were as much enthralled with the beauty of the snow covered fields as I was. Natalie said at one point that she had been wanting to ride in the snow. It was I who had suggested the ride this afternoon for that very reason. I wanted to ride in the snow too. It looked like a fun thing to do. And it most definitely was.



We rode a couple of miles and brought J R, Romeo and Amigo back to the barn to put saddles away, brush down the horses and feed the horses for their night time feeding. It was almost 5 o'clock when we got in from our ride. The pregnant mares were not so patiently waiting for their hay. The yearlings were impatient for their grain and our three geldings were nosing around for their hay and grain.



It was a good day. A day with God's blessings written all over it. A wonderful ride, beautiful landscape and the temperature was mild (in the 30s) and comfortable. And those wonderful, beautiful Rocky Mountain Horses. Thank you God for those magnificent horses. One of your greatest creations.



My God bless and keep you in his loving care.



Regards,



Mary



Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God



Psalms 147: 7