Current News and Happenings!
2004
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
It is Winter here in the Northlands! Normally a time to just sit in front of the fire and work on websites but we've been busy despite the freezing temps. Despite wooly winter coats and lots and lots of snow, one of our babies found herself moving to Maryland and will soon be traveling to North Carolina for training. We want to congratulate Suzanne Murphy on her purchase of Moonshine and Magic. "Maggie" will be in training with Martha Houston and we can't wait to see them in the arena!
You can find Maggie at her new home at Winton Farm and while she's in training she'll be at Houston Farms in North Carolina. Maggie is Suzanne's first app, and we wish them the best of luck together, Maggie couldn't have lucked up into a better home!
Meanwhile back on the farm, we're gearing up for show season and breeding season. Though we no longer have T here, and Zack is not quite old enough to be dating just yet, we do have foals arriving and mares to breed. Zack and Pepper are up in warm, cozy stalls with lights and snuggly blankets in hopes that we can lose that winter wool before show season gets started. Haven't set in stone which show will be our first one this year, but I'm looking forward to getting back out there with these two!
Will it ever stop snowing??? We set a record snowfall for the month of January up here near Rochester, over 60 inches of snow. And we're getting more...oh dear! We're staying busy though, a couple more weeks will see the coats shedding off of Pepper and Zack if my lights have worked like they should. I suspect they are, as Pepper has come into heat. My sweet, mellow, darling little girl has turned into raging hormones on legs. She has become a teen. Zack's not doing much better, he hasn't figured it all out by any stretch but he does think he's one hot stud muffin (especially with snow all over his face...).
This month is seeing another one of our babies off, also. Ellie is heading back down south, to Florida, where her new home will be with Garry and Rosemary Connors. I'm really excited to have her going to what sounds like a great new home where she'll join their herd and be a future broodmare for their Dreamfinder stallion. Her breeding should compliment their program well. I'm sure Ellie will enjoy the Florida sunshine after having dealt with a couple of rough winters here!
And just for fun, some snow pictures taken here and there around the farm to give our fellow southerners a taste of what they are missing way down there!
Husband "playing" below...that's the alleyway between a tree line and our first pasture there and yes, the snow really is that deep! He's plowing his way back from being stuck behind the pastures, you can just see the truck stuck back there in the picture above!
March has sped on by here!! Almost didn't get in an update. We have been so busy getting ready for Spring and it seems as if its finally getting here. Ellie has headed on to her new home, with a training stop in Ohio before she heads down to sunny Florida. We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our foals and Red has held on to the last moment, cooking those spots on good! Her filly was born around midnight, March 31...talk about the last minute there! She's just a day short of April fools...
We've been looking into potential stallions to breed our girls to and have it mostly narrowed down and decided, just trying to put together the funds. Chris has been taken care of though and we have bred her to Karen Grimm's black stud, The Quest! Waiting for pregnancy confirmation but at day 9, Travis was pretty sure she was bred. Thanks Karen!!! We're really excited about this baby! We're trying to get our act together as far as starting to prepare for show season too...but nothing major in the works yet. Been too exhausted from foal watch to worry too much over it!
***Back up update!*** Shows how tired I was that I forgot to include this...Our 2 year old T baby, Moonshine and Magic, went to her first show of the season down in Florida with her new owner, Suzanne Murphy and her trainer, Martha Houston! She placed first in Open halter under one judge and 3rd in Most Colorful under one judge, but it was evidently not as big a show as one would think it would have been. But she is officially pointed in Open Halter now and I suspect she's only going to get better as she gets more fitting and more experience under her belt!
April 15th - Half way through April - Happy Tax Day!!! I can smile as I say that since I was up till KC foaled around 12:45 or so the other night trying to do ours, and still ended up spending most of yesterday working on them! They are done though - for better or for worse. April is going well enough, very busy! Two foals already this month, Magic's and KC's with one to go, and Misfit is bagging up. Everyone is running a bit late this year. We had a scare with Magic's baby when she developed severe swelling in her legs a few hours after birth but she's fully recovered, all the swelling went down and she's a normal, healthy and very spunky little filly.
All our snow has become rain and mud, lots and lots of mud! But we're supposed to have temperatures in the 70's this weekend and SUNSHINE!!! Oh happy day! Meanwhile we're really starting to get ready for show season which will be gearing up here. My daughter has taken to Pepper and they go for morning walks together, don't know which I'm more proud of, Emma for her desire to work with the horses or Pepper for her gentleness with the kids!
Still not set on which show will be first...let me get this last foal safely on the ground and I'll look up from there!
April 28 - Where do the days go?? Here the month is almost done and I feel like just yesterday it was still March. No baby yet from Misfit but she is definitely getting close. Had another cold spell and our northern neighbors woke up to snow accumulation but we lucked out (?) and just got rain! But the warm weather is back for a few days and we've been out trying to make the best of it. Chris did not take with the first breeding so we bred her again and keeping our fingers crossed this go around. We also bred Red to the Quest and should find out tonight if she took...assuming I can get the vet out to ultrasound after supper. You know the saying about the car mechanics car? Yeah, try living with a vet...We also bred KC on her foal heat, to Pleasant Dreams and I have got every finger and toe crossed on that one hoping she took. I have always wanted a PD baby and was absolutely thrilled when Karen was able to send me semen for him. Meanwhile, though Misfit is still holding out, we had some "grand kids" born in the last couple of weeks. Our last T baby arrived up in Canada, a gorgeous leopard colt. His owner, Lorna Rutherford, seems really happy with him and we can't wait to go up and see him in person!
And then I got an email the other day from Cathy Williams down in Florida who bought our AQHA stallion, TVF Jag Bar Cody, from us last Spring. He's a new daddy now of a beautiful chestnut filly! It's just wonderful to hear back from folks with our babies...
And speaking of babies! One of our T babies stepped out into the limelight again this past weekend, Moonshine and Magic, aka Maggie, went to a show with her trainer, Martha Houston, in Tennessee. She placed first under all 4 judges in FPD halter, placed 2nd under three judges in HIH, and placed 4th, 5th and two 7ths in Most Colorful out of 13 horses. So she now has points in Open Halter, HIH and Most Colorful - way to go Maggie!!!! She's out there proving our breeding program - beautiful horses that don't just look pretty but move pretty too!
May:
May 13 - Wow, Spring is flying by, but then it doesn't really feel like we had much of Spring here. Close to 90 today, seems we went straight from winter to summer but the lilacs are in bloom along with everything else and its just a beautiful time of year. Of course we've been running the lawn mowers steadily it seems and will be cutting hay probably next week...I already need a vacation!!!
Finally had that last filly though, and despite her lack of spots, she's a nice one! Misfit did good :) Haven't come up with a name for this one, still trying to come up with just a barn name for her. She went out with the rest of the mares and foals yesterday and didn't know what to make of the big world!
We also had some ultrasounds and Red is confirmed bred to the Quest, KC is confirmed bred to Pleasant Dreams and Magic is bred to Bubba! Should be a nice varied foal crop next year. Chris was open yet again, and we're trying one more time, don't know why she's not taking as that's just not like her at all. But hopefully the third time will be the charm. Then Misfit will be bred next week back to Bubba.
On the show scene, looks like we'll be taking Pepper and maybe Zack to NAA in Syracuse the first weekend in June. Tex isn't ready and still needs his papers upgraded which with all the mottling and white hairs he has this year should happen. I'm thinking of going ahead and taking Spider too, just for fun and showing her in Most Colorful...she has shed out to this amazing pattern!
Other news, Maggie took home a Reserve Grand as well as two seconds in two year old fillies at a show last weekend, she's just racking up the points as she goes! Hopefully her sisters will follow in her footsteps, well, and her brothers too for that matter!
Well our first show is now under our belt and wow, what a great one! We had so much fun, though it wore us out completely! Zack was the star of our crew, placing 1st and 2nd (out of 7) in FPD Stallions - who would have thought our yearling had it in him? Then he trumped that by placing 2nd and three 3rds in HIH, also out of 7 horses. He also pulled off one 3rd out of 7 in NP Stallions and one 4th out of 8 in Yearlings. Wow Zack! Pepper and Spider also did well but I don't have all the placings and will have to look into that. Spider showed with a new handler, Katie Nolan, who we're trying to convert to spots :) They both still have some learning to do but by Most Colorful, they were standing out there well!
July:
Whew...almost didn't get in here to do an update! Trying to get hay baled and put up between rain storms and of course trying to keep everything else going while we're at it! So much news though...
First and foremost, we have a personal announcement to make :) Come 2005, we will be adding a new little spottie lover to the World, as Baby Yates the Third is due the 25th of January!!! And while its a very exciting time for us, it has necessitated some changes, reorganizing priorities, etc. Not to mention morning sickness really set us back on the training around here! And for the sake of simplicity, we're not showing as heavily as I had originally planned, and we're putting a baby or two up for sale that we weren't originally going to sell.
Beyond that, the next big news is that we're heading to the LCAC show this weekend! Our favorite show of the year next to Worlds I'd say, and this year we've chosen to support our club by donating a breeding to Eagles Tardee Tribute. The resulting foal will be eligible for their new futurity, and the raffle tickets to enter for a chance at winning the breeding are only $10 a piece, or 3 for $25! No hidden fees - we're donating the collection, shipping, mare care...whatever! But you have to buy a raffle ticket or you can't win so contact Bridget at hdcapps@yahoo.com and she'll get your tickets!
Of course I'll update after the show on how everything went! Until then...
Aug 1: Here I thought I'd get an end of the month update in but it's already the beginning of a new month! Summer is just flying right by. LCAC was awesome! As usual, fun was had by all and we came home with a few more points. We only took Zack and Pepper. I'm all for simplicity and getting two ready is about my speed these days. Zack was not on his best behavior but then again, he is just a yearling so these things are to be expected I guess! We started out fine, but in the outside arena, which he'd never been in, there's the announcer's booth halfway down and I guess there were horse-eating dragons in there that I couldn't see. So the first time around it was an honest spook, but of course then his focus and will to pay attention were shot. After that, he goofed off in every class, except Grand and Reserve - amazingly since we were set right beside the announcer's stand... HIH he totally blew, acting up and being a royal brat...but he was bad enough that I got onto him in the ring so I don't think we'll have a repeat. He's a smart one...didn't act up outside the ring nearly as much as in it so it shocked him a bit to get in trouble in the ring. Sometimes these things have to be done!
However the judges seemed to overlook some of his goofiness in halter, and he took all three 2nds in Yearling, earning points there, and I want to say he placed fairly well in NP stallions, though not in the points. In FPD there were only two of us, and we took second to Bridget's really nice 3 year old, An Angel's Quest so I wasn't disappointed. If anything, I was still surprised over the 2nd places in Yearling!
Pepper was great, behaved herself and stood beautifully. She's going to make such an awesome youth horse when she gets some more maturity on her. She placed well too, just out of the points. I thought we had gained a few points in Yearling but according to the official results, there were less in the class than I thought, so our 3rds didn't get us anything. I think next year when she has filled out and grown up a bit more she'll be the tough one to beat!
On the home front, we've weaned Scarlet and Shadow. What a nice, uneventful weaning that was! They were both more or less independent of their mommas and didn't have any problems adjusting to living with just each other for company! I've sent their papers in for registration and hope to show them both at the Cowboy Classic in September. Scarlet will also go the following week to the Ontario App club's Futurity, with Pepper and Spider.
Our next show is EAA next weekend. Zack and Pepper will go there and show in Halter on Friday and Zack will be in Hunter in Hand on Saturday. Then Zack will return to Syracuse for the State Fair on the 24th.
Last but not least in this update, we finalized the "bred mare count" giving us 4 bred mares for next year. Chris and Red are bred to The Quest and Misfit and Magic are bred to Bubba. KC evidently reabsorbed her pregnancy and is open, which was very disappointing but we're already looking ahead to having her open to breed early to Zack next year!
Aug 16 - Halfway through August...and so much has happened! August is notoriously a long, uneventful month but this year seems to be an exception to that rule! We have sold three horses. Bubba has been sold and will be staying out in California under his new ownership. Suzy, aka Missy now, has been sold to Sawyer Creek and was weaned with Tempest, and moved the next day! And last but not least, our AQHA mare moved on to Maine with her new owner.
EAA was disappointing, but that happens. Zack placed well in FPD and NP, despite his increasingly bad behavior throughout the day. The following day in HIH he showed well, spooked at the first cone but so did most of the class, but did not place under 8th in a class of ten. Don't know what they were looking for, and there was a lot of grumbling about the placings in that class from others...that's showing I guess. Pepper on the other hand wasn't feeling herself, wouldn't trot and was just plain mopey, so we scratched her from her last two classes and she's just the other day started perking up and acting like herself...some bug or another I'd guess. So needless to say we were less than thrilled with the show, but enjoyed visiting friends all the same.
August 25 - Back from our State Fair show and what a turn around from EAA! I worried and fretted that Zack was just going to be worse but he again surprised me and stood like a pro in NP stallions. It was a much smaller show than we have gotten used to and there were only 4 in the class, we took 4th but I was so happy with the way he was behaving it didn't matter. Not to mention I knew we were up against some tough competition what with Zack growing again, his hip is a good inch higher than his withers and he's lost some weight, or rather looks like he has though he's actually probably steadily getting heavier! But then we got a pleasant surprise in Yearlings, placing 2nd out of 3 under both judges, earning another point in Open Halter for him! HIH went well too, placing 5th and 6th. Oddest thing was the judge that placed us 5th, placed us over the horse that won 1st under the other judge. Guess I'm not the only one that isn't real sure what they are looking for in that class! Seems to be some confusion on the judging too!!!
All in all we had a wonderful time, so much easier when your horse is behaving! We got to talk with friends and watched a few other halter classes - a luxury we don't usually have because we're either in them or getting ready for them. Saw Missy and her new owners, as she was there to be CPO'd so hopefully we'll be seeing her again at the Cowboy Classic. Just got to get Scarlet and Shadow ready for that big day!
Did have a small unexpected setback when Rita came back home to us. Not sure what's going on with her, something in her stifle, so she's back out with the girls and will winter over with them until we can do a bit more with her in the Spring. We have had some interest in her as a broodmare but its disappointing that a mare with so much athletic potential may never be able to be ridden now!
And we're cutting hay again...so keep your fingers crossed for us that it doesn't rain and that we can get all the equipment to work for us long enough to get bales in the barn!
A little late getting here...wow has it been a busy year! We actually did get hay up before the rain, Travis finally found the magic chants to get the baler to tie knots and you've never seen two people so excited about hay bales!! Nice when things work like they are supposed to!
We made it to the Cowboy Classic also. Zack is just getting better and better, and I thought he looked the best he has all year. Apparently though the judges didn't think so and our placings were all over, and never in the points. I was disgusted with some of the placings to be honest...but that happens.
Scarlet and Shadow on the other hand really caught the judges attention. For their first show, it was a bit frazzled, but Shadow stood very well for Travis - much better than I had thought she would. Scarlet on the other hand was the one to pitch a fit, having a strange horse come up behind her and people walking all around her was just too much too fast. We went to the back of the line though and she settled down and stood. Scarlet came home with two Firsts and a second, Shadow took two seconds. So they both earned points. We were really happy with their placings as the third filly in the class was a nice chestnut.
Back home we have started getting ready for winter. All the fillies have all been turned out, and Zack is waiting to be turned out with the broodmares. I want to be sure no one is cycling any longer before putting him out there, I don't need any fall babies! The plan is to have everyone out being horses for the winter and to be brought back up after our baby is born and breeding season is upon us.
I'm steadily trying to catch up! Here we are at the end of the month and I haven't updated here in forever. It's been a busy time of year, but not really on the horse side of things. Zack went out with the broodmares last weekend. I really held my breath when we turned him out but he proved himself to have seriously matured and gained a bit more brain power in the last year. It didn't take him long to figure out that staying beyond the reach of a mare with her ears pinned back was a smart thing! He's now very content with his "band" and looks a bit like a Mongolian pony with the mane growing out like it is!
I went out this morning while the sun was trying to shine - a rare occurrence lately - and snapped some pictures of the herds. They are all fuzzy and covered in mud and burdocks, but boy are they happy just being horses!
Nothing like the promise in those pregnant bellies...reminds me that foaling season is just around the corner.
The "youngsters...", well, all except Coyote who isn't that young, but we won't tell her that!
We haven't had any sure-enough cold weather yet but its getting there, won't be too long before snow flakes will start falling! All the horses have developed some really thick coats, foretelling a long hard winter ahead.
November was nice and quiet - the way we like it around these parts! We're steadily working to get things battened down and ready for winter but other than that, there's really nothing to report on. We've had a couple of snow flurries, but nothing that stuck around, and the horses are all out enjoying the mild weather.
Here we are, just short of Christmas, and it's rained all day, melting all the snow we had finally managed to accumulate! But all hope is not lost yet, we're supposed to be getting right chilly here this evening with some more snow on the way...at least that's what the weather people are trying to convince us of!
Meanwhile, we've moved all the horses up to closer pastures where they can get in under the hay barn or into lean to shelters when needed. So far those haven't been used all that much, as the horses tend to be pretty happy out in the snow and cold. The mares are getting huge bellies full of foaling time promise. Zack is quite content out with his girls though they do remind him when he gets a bit full of himself that he's really not all that he thinks he is! The weanlings have put on a lot of growth, and will be some tough yearlings to beat next year. Pepper has been putting on some height too finally! So we're looking forward to a great 2005.
We also ventured over to Syracuse the beginning of the month to sit in on the Territory VI meeting with Wayne Hipsley, our new CEO for the ApHC. It was a very interesting meeting and we left feeling very optimistic about the future of our wonderful breed. I'd advise anyone who loves our spotted critters to step on up and become active within the ApHC and regional clubs and associations! You never know when you might be able to make a positive change.
