October Photos

October 1st, Hubby and I went to the Arbor Day Farm with Micah, Jacob, Amber, Caden and Tyler. The 1st was also Sara's birthday!

 There were lots of hands on activities for Caden, while Tyler got pushed around in his stroller.

October 2nd, the mares and babies were in the lot beside this tree area.  The babies got used to traveling between trees and brush, getting ready to be trail horses.

 Lots of areas to zig zag around and logs to cross.

The babies had a good time playing in their, loping all over the place!

I finished decorating the main bathroom.

I just love my horse towels!

The spare bedroom is ready for the grandkids to sleep over, and their horses are waiting on them!

Meanwhile, the toddler bed is just as cozy!

The leaves are beginning to turn colors by the end of the first week of October,

Tyler is  6 months old! He is really beginning to laugh and coo!

The 2nd weekend in October, I had a Centered Riding Clinic in Kansas. I changed so much about my riding, and have been practicing in a new "used" dressage saddle. I'm working hard on trying to certify from Level 1 to Level 2 Centered Riding Instructor.

We took Caden to the Pumpkin Patch.

Which pumpkin to pick?

We found a pumpkin for Grandma, Caden and Tyler!

 Pop and Caden loved the cut-outs!

Showing off the pumpkins with Pop.

Caden loved the bounce house!

 Then talking with the lonely rabbit!

Caden spent the night, then we took him home. He missed his baby brother!

Pop and Tyler

 Tyler is really starting to slobber! Those teeth must be coming!

The leaves have really changed colors by the end of the month,

We did need to say goodbye to one of Micah's beagles, AJ, this month. I think we gave her a really nice final resting place.  We left her collar on her. She needed to have something of Micah with her.

Micah had a birthday this month too.

I had a CTR at Whispering Pines, Missouri,

It was a lovely area,

Savannah is turning into a great CTR horse, but I'm looking for that Arab,

We weaned the foals,

and the mares are in the lot where I can see them from the living room window. I just love this look.

  Pop relaxes with Tyler any chance that he can get, on the recliner!

Halloween ends the month. The boys are super-kids.

I wished I had pictures of Makenzie too. She was a princess and Sara made her a lovely dress. I'm sure I'll be taking photos of her in her dress when we see her at Thanksgiving!

And that was my October, and why I wasn't blogging much. Winter is coming, so there will probably be too many blogs soon!

Weaning Time

Weaning was Saturday!

 

Dove is 5 months old and Fawn is 4 1/2 months old.  Fawn is a little younger than I would have liked to wean.  But they were born a little later than I would have liked also. 

They are drinking water well, and eating hay and grain, so it's time.

They  have Bob, an older gelding as a pasture mate to distract them. And right across their fence line is another group of 6 horses.

I really want them separated for a few weeks, before the mares need to come back to the lot beside the foals.  I want to get this done before I'm breaking ice in the water tanks, since where the mares are now, I don't usualy put a water heater.

This morning, waters had a fine layer of ice, so I better get those water heaters into the other horse water tanks. I just hope I don't have to break ice for the mares too many mornings.

 The mares are doing fine. Starlet could care less where her baby is.

Goldie has been walking the fence line for the first 4 days.

Then a baby whinnies,

 and Goldie is listening!

Most of the time, they have been content eating hay from the round bale and getting to know their old friends again.  I figured Chick and Dixie would keep the 2 mares from whinnying for the group of horses.

Isn't this pretty?  This is my view from my living room picture window. I can look out and see my mares and make sure everyone is ok.

I am pooped! Literally!

Can you guess what I have been doing lately?

Yes, cleaning horse lots!

Tractor with bucket and blade is ready!

Other tractor with the manure spreader is ready.

One horse lot is clean!

Now for the large pile that has been composting since last year. We didn't get this spread out in the fields last year, and then we added this year's manure. 2 years worth to spread on the fields this year!

Imagine this pile twice as long! This is going to take forever!

Especially when you only do one load every 15 minutes! The neighboring farmer allows us to spread our manure, but this year, it is 2 fields away!

Imagine that the manure spreader holds 6 or 7 loads from this bucket.

  The horses are wondering when we will be done!

We worked since last Thursday! Thursday and Friday, we only did 5 loads each day, as something needed to be fixed on the manure spreader each day. The chain broke. Some boards broke. The smaller chain broke yesterday, but luck was on our side. Hubby had ordered that chain 2 years ago and the old chain was replaced within the hour!

 

Hubby only spread a few loads, when I went to the restroom or made sandwiches. Do you know how many loads there were? 60!!!  I counted the rows out in the field!

I had a lot of time!

Imagine what else I thought about. Post to come on that! LOL