We also got off of our barns painted and back into shape. Well not all of them. The old outhouse had a little issue when the tree fell over next to it. It pulled out of the ground and is now resting a little sideways. The birds don’t seem to mind.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

The horses were great at the show. Matilda ended up not showing because of her abscess. By Friday she was getting better, but with all the time off we weren’t sure we should push it. Marla was able to ride her a little over the weekend and she behaved great even with all the flags and people flying around. Roxy and Spanky were the biggest hit of all the appaloosas. Spanky was great at the breed demo on Friday she acted perfectly following her mother and letting me lead her well. Saturday however was a different story. Roxy having not been out since Thursday wanted to run once she got in the arena. This I could control of course, but her being excited got Spanky excited and before long, Spanky was running around Spice on the leadline while rearing up and down. This was what everyone loved. Like watching a hockey fight, as long as you are not in the middle of it  you don’t mind watching. Well Spanky never did anything bad, didn’t flip over or rear near me or Roxy, so all in all I have to say it went pretty well. The most amazing part for me was how well they were behaved in the stall with all of the people stopping and taking pictures of them through the weekend. As time went on they got more and more used to it. Great training over all for a weanling that is for sure.

When the show was over I had to take Spanky and Roxy and my booth home Sunday and I went back today to get the RV and do a BarnCam quote for a customer near there.  They have a farm they just built. Actually it is an old dairy farm and they converted the barn to a house. It is very cool as they did all the insulation and metal cladding on the outside, so the entire inside looks just like ours only clean. LOL. The people live in Madison and go out to the farm often to see the Scottish highlander cattle they are raising. Those are the cows with the big long horns.  After that I finally got home with everything safe and sound. What a little adventure.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

When the weather is nice the horses just love it. Almost every one of them a week or so ago was laying flat out in the sun catching some rays. It is a little scary at first as you do not expect to see three horses laying next to each other looking like they are dead. Finally when you walk up to them they get up and look at you and say,”What are you doing waking me up? Can’t you see if is 70 degrees out?”.  Anyways that it what it looks like they are saying.

There has been a great deal of posting on the appaloosa message boards about letting “Cropouts” into our appaloosa registry.  I actually voted against this rule, but the idea was that there are now some registered quarter horses that are coming up with appaloosa coat patterns. They are registered and have paperwork and even are genetically verified as full quarter horses, yet they look like appaloosas. The motion was made at our last board meeting that since we are allowed to outcross to quarter horses anyway and they have the correct markings, we should allow them into our registry. This has made alot of people mad as the only way to get an appaloosa is to have the appaloosa genes in the horse. I voted against this because I realized that somewhere no matter how far back these horses pedigrees are incorrect, and we should not want to allow incorrect information into our database, even though genetically they are probably not very different than our true appaloosas.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Speaking of good pictures. I need to get some more pictures of Angel before she leaves for Germany this month. Yes Germany. We are very excited as though we have had foals in Europe before using Zippy’s semen, this is the first horse that we have had exported. She will leave here to Oklahoma at the end of the month and thenafter the quarentine period she will fly to Germany. I can’t wait to go visit her.

Marla has been working with Matilda and both of them will be attending the Midwest horse fair this year. They will be riding in a competition that involves a wide variety of differnt events. Kind of a skills test for horses. Matilda is kind of young for this competition, but she is doing very well. Here is a link to a video where you can see her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCWgXErLUHk

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Fanny was amazingly fit and not even a tear after the tough delivery. Bigger foal, two weeks late – and the rough pulling didn’t do any damage. The vet said there was some very typical bruising and she looks great. She also has all good vitals and was calm and accommodating about the guys handling her baby. Good girl!! Thsi new vet I am lking. He believes less is more, and does not give a shot to clean out the mare, nor penecillin to the foal as a safety measure. He talked about studies that show it may do more harm than good, and from a customer’s standpoint, he is also advocating a less invasive – and less expensive! – way to go. Very different than past vets who wanted to do everything, all the time.

Here is a little video of her…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTWbRdkXKtA

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Dr. Schmidt is predicting a filly for Fanny and colt for Roxy. We are planning to bring one of these pairs to the Midwest Horse Fair in April. Hopefully at least on these will have color. Roxy has had Spice and I am sure Fanny could produce a solid foal. We need a colored one if we want to go to the fair so keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Thanks for watching,

S/b

Thanks for watching,

S/B