Current News and Happenings!

2007

January    February    March  April May June

July August September October November December

January:

Jan. 6 - Here we are at the start of a brand new year...I'm hoping it will be a good year with plenty of great news to share here, and maybe some spare time here and there to be able to sit down and share that great news!!!  So far the year is off to a good start.  We have a barn full of hay, mild temperatures which is making that hay last, a forecast of some snow this week which has me hopeful (yes, I love snow...) and a good start on the foaling season - a healthy bay fewspot filly born on the 2nd to our fewspot mare, "Magic".

 

We are pulling things together to get our breeding season underway next month.  We're expecting a couple of mares to come stay a bit with us here, and working with a couple more mare owners in hopes that we will be able to help them get some spots on the ground next year also!  Not to mention our own mares are mooning over the fence at Al every chance they get.  The mild winter has insured that they are all still cycling...of course our luck that will change when we're ready to breed.

I'm hopeful that we will be able to make a few shows this year, though the limiting factor could be finances.  What with the gas prices and slow market...well, we can keep our fingers crossed.  At the very least may be we can hit a few open shows this year.

February:

Well we got the snow, and then some!  Between frigid temperatures, and horrible winds blowing the snow about, things have been crazy here.  The kids have been out of school a few days, plus Winter break, and everything is frozen solid.  The horses are doing well though, munching hay and the pregnant girls are getting closer to foaling.  We have decided to breed Magic to Chocklate Confetti, out in California, so we're working with Mellanie to get that done.  This is a cross we've looked at doing for several years and finally quit dragging our feet on, and I can't wait to see what she produces for us next year.  Al is thoroughly disgusted with having an in-heat mare in the barn and not being "the man" on call...poor guy.  But his time is coming, and we will be keeping him busy before too long.  Meanwhile Magic's filly is growing and filling out, she's quite the tank!  She's going to be tough competition in the halter ring. 

March:

March 13:  We have Rita under the camera and she's bagged up, and looking suspicious so we're keeping a close eye on her.  The weather is supposed to go from 60 today to highs in the 30's by Sunday so I would not be surprised if this weekend brings a spotted baby.

Meanwhile we're looking at reducing our numbers so I'll be reworking my webpages a bit here to try and best organize those that we will be selling.  If there's someone here that you are interested in, ask.  Some may not be advertised as for sale but could be sold to the right homes if the opportunity presented itself.  You never know until you ask!  

March 15:  We're getting close...Rita is restless and uncomfortable, has a respectable bag and looks like she could go any time...perhaps this big weather change will trigger something...

Other news:  We are converting to wireless and getting rid of our unreliable land line and dial up service.  So hopefully I'll be able to work the website a lot better with our new service.  I have changed the number on the front page, but thought I'd put a note here too.  Anyone wanting to contact us can do so at 585-752-1105.

March 17:  We have a colt!  He missed St. Patrick's start by a smidge but we dubbed him "Patrick" anyway.

April

April 5:  Our first Dream Aloud baby is here!  And WOW - the color stunned us!!!!  "Legs" could pass as a fewspot leopard but has NO leopard ancestory up close...I'm still hunting for answers to this one, LOL... But there's no doubt to his quality.  He was born standing 40 inches at the withers so he's no little thing.  So far he's shown an very inquisitive and friendly personality - much like his Dad.  Can't wait to see him fill out and show his stuff!

April 25 - Coyote finally foaled!  Another nicely colored baby to Al's credit.  A chestnut colt with snowflakes and the cutest face markings, and a show persons dream - NO white socks. 

May:

Wow - the year is flying...the babies are growing, we're trying to wrap up breeding season but it's been a long one.  Seems this year we either got the mare bred with the first breeding, or we had to wait until the third.  Don't know if 3 was just the "magic" number or if it was that 3 months down the road was late enough for the weather to straighten out and let the mare's get all settled into their cycles.  We're hoping to at least get enough done around here to be able to make it to our NAA show that comes up the first weekend of June!

We have stayed very busy this month.  Two more of our "babies" have left us for their new homes.  Tex and Prissy left to live with Rachel and Ricky Almendinger of Naples, NY and we wish the best for all of them.  We also had a last minute mare added to Al's little black book so she came for a visit, and cooperated fully, taking on the first breeding and heading back home.  One more outside mare to confirm pregnant here, and one more that's still up in the air that we shipped to, and we should be done.  It's going to be a very colorful year for us next Spring!

June:

June 4:  Here we are, almost halfway through the year.  We successfully put up a pasture of round bales without getting rained on in the process!  A first for us I think.  And we have now confirmed the other mare who was here visiting as pregnant and ready to head on back to her home where she has been missed, I'm sure.  And finally, we actually made it to a show - WHOOOHOOOO!  We took our yearling stud colt, Max, for his first showing.  We showed in FPD Stallions, NonPro Stallions, Open Yearling Stallions and both Open and NonPro Most Colorful.  We were really happy with how he did, as we knew that he physically was not as ready as some of those boys would be.  But he handled it all very well, and even came home with points in FPD so we definitely can't complain.  He's only going to get better as he matures, gains more muscle mass and levels out.

On the homefront, we had some unexpected surprises that have us scrambling.  It would seem that last summer, when Al, with Spider's assistance on a stretch of fencing, made a great escape into one of the pastures, was up to a bit more hanky panky than we had assumed.  Despite having seemingly gone out of heat just days before the great escape, and coming back in heat during the rest of the summer - fooling us into believing the best - Tempest and Pepper are quite rotund with baby now.  Both are starting to bag and while we don't have exact dates to his escape, I have a ballpark guess and from the state of their bodies, I'd say look for new baby announcements within the next couple of weeks for Pepper, possibly the same for Tempest though her momma was bad about going a full year.  While I definitely was not planning on these babies, and I'm not real happy with the situation for many reasons, it's still always exciting to see those babies come into the world.  As always - pictures will be up as soon as we have some to put up!

July:

August:

September

October

November

 December

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