-- Silent Auction! Click to bid on a one-time breeding of a Friesian stallion. --

Okay... I cannot wait for the pictures but promise to send them by next week.  In the meantime, I have to tell you all what a great weekend we had at Illinois Horse Fair! 

It was balmy, with a 68 degree high on Sunday!  I didn't want to come home to the mud and snow, but knew it was inevitable.  As wonderful as the whole weekend was, it started out a bit shaky.  Irma, who helped out once again at Illinois Horse Fair, heard my tales and said, "You always seem to have stuff happen to you every year!"..... and my reply was, "Well, with five kids in the family I guess that is bound to happen!"

You see, Rachel (my six year old who is 37 pounds soaking wet) had a cough and cold most of last week.  Our local clinic discourages seeing little ones unless they have run a fever for three days, so I waited for the fever and it appeared on Wednesday.  We kept treating her symptoms with cough medicine, Motrin, and whatever else we could find.  Still, her cough resurfaced and became dry and unproductive.  By Friday morning I knew in my heart that I had better get her checked out before we left for Springfield, so off to a 10:00 appointment we ran.  Poor Rachel - she cried tears because she was so down and out - I could hardly wait to get help.  The pediatrician listened carefully to her lungs and listened again.  She referred us to xray, and poor little Rachel cried as her tiny frame had to hug that xray machine for her picture.  Back down to pediatrics to await the results.  The doctor came to get us and took us to the lighted area to read her xray... PNEUMONIA!!!!!!!!!     

How could I be such a bad mom?  The doctor said it was a good thing that we caught it early.  Zithromax was prescribed and she told me it was okay to travel, but no swimming until 24 hours had passed.  Rachel was completely wiped, sleeping away much of the weekend.  Her waking hours, though, she helped mom out with demonstrations on two days in the arena!  I surely appreciated that very much!

Getting out of the yard on Friday also meant a trip to the hardware store before our departure.  Haiaku has been popping one of the screws on his splint almost every day, and I didn't realize that Ace Hardware would have screws to fit.   A very nice man helped me find the right size and put the screw into the now-stinky splint.  We called Terry and Katie, our true-blue friends, who agreed to help us out by watching our foster son over the weekend and do chores.  My head was spinning in order to meet all of the demands of running ASAP.  Not only did I have the demo to prepare for, but there were four horses waiting to be picked up in Illinois - three at Balmoral.  Terry graciously offered to go and get the horses on Friday.  We figured that would be fine, as three horses at ASAP were scheduled to leave the farm over the weekend and open up space for them.  We agreed to go and pick up Cut Loose in Oswego on our way home on Sunday.  Aggie had to be moved, along with May, from their foster farm up on the ridge.  May needed to get to a new foster farm on Saturday, which worked out well but that left Aggie having to come here to be reunited with Bob's Fighter. 

It is amazing how much Terry and Katie did over the weekend!  Terry drove May 2.5 hours from this area to her new foster home in Cannon Falls, MN.  He not only had gone to Chicago on Friday to bring back three horses, but had gotten up at 4 am on Saturday to haul May to Cannon Falls!  That is such dedication!  The adopters for Bob and Aggie had wiring problems on their truck and were unable to come.  Sweet Billy N got moved to Minnesota to Linda B. of Northern MN Standardbreds in the hopes of getting him a home there more quickly than here. Jazz is still waiting to be picked up to go to Michigan...

Meanwhile, Jordan, Zach, Rachel, Craig and I loaded up the two dogs and the two horses Janimal and Alternative and headed to Springfield.  It was a peaceful trip down without incident - no flying luggage or lost kids or dogs - and we arrived to warm weather and set up our area.  It was beautiful, with donated lights made possible by our wonderful neighbors, the DeGarmos! We found our motel and ordered lots of pizza, then turned in at around 12:30.  I woke up without an alarm at 7:30, ready for the day to demo and show off our wonderful breed!  I was approached in the morning by Tracie Bowman, who was doing a demonstration in the dressage ring on gaited horses being used for pleasure.  She asked if I had a natural pacer along.  I told her, proudly, that Alternative (my horse of 15 years) was a free-legged pacer.  She asked if I would be willing to demonstrate that to the spectators.  That put us in the ranks of Missouri Fox Trotters, Saddlebreds, TWH's, Rocky Mountain horses, just to name a few.  I saddled up, feeling a bit unprepared as I am not a show horse person, but up to the challenge.  She called each horse by breed into the ring and asked them to walk, trot, etc.  When it was the "Standardbred"'s turn, out I went, knees knocking but thrilled.  Walk, trot, we went, before the crowd.  Trot... .trot... hard trot... NO PACE!!!!!!!! 

The presenter was giggling that this free-legged pacer was not pacing, and commented that he was too relaxed in the ring.  I went around for what seemed a million times in my endeavor to get him to pace, but pace he would not.  My one comment to the crowd was, "And people worry that their Standardbreds will pace when they ride them!" which only goes to prove that many do NOT.  Proof given!

In the afternoon we got all dolled up and our plan was for my son Jordan to wheel Rachel into the coliseum in a wheelchair.  He would go to the middle of the arena and wait for us.  Irma, riding Spect's Solution, rode in with me and we trotted around and showed off our Standardbreds under saddle.  Spect even showed the crowd his cantering ability!  When I heard the announcer say, "What else can a Standardbred do?" it was my cue to park Alternative next to the wheelchair and have my son Jordan help me lift Rachel side-saddle into the saddle and demonstrate my wonderful horse as a therapeutic riding horse.  Rachel knew the routine and mounted with her leg swinigng over the saddle horn.  We then had Zachary on Janimal next to Alternative and demonstrated therapeutic riding techniques.  When we stopped our horses and Rachel demonstrated "around the world" on Alternative, everyone just clapped and cheered.  Then I walked in front of my two sweet Standardbreds and asked the kids if they wanted to trot.  I let go of the leads and "kissed" as a cue to the horses and they kicked up a trot and followed me like dogs in a circle around the arena.  It was so good to see the horses working together and doing so well with the small children!  Meanwhile, Irma was riding Spect around too, looking beautiful... Spect got a little excited over the crowd applause and started a bit of bucking bronco, but Irma quickly got it under control!  While we were on the inside ring, the harness racers were in the outside ring going around... Marcus Miller and a trainer by the last name of Rogers were lookin good! 

We are so grateful to have the opportunity to work with John Cisna of ISOBA and Erv Miller and Heidi and Marcus and their daughter.... and the other people in the industry!  We always are priviledged to be around people like the Erv Miller family! On Sunday we repeated our performance and it couldn't have been better.  We were relieved after the long weekend that we didn't have to rush and meet any deadlines, and were looking forward to shopping and just "hanging out".  We left Springfield around 4 pm and traveled to Oswego to meet Cut Loose and bring her home.  Bruce Grider met us outside and we talked for some time. 

As the temperature dropped and the winds kicked up, we knew it was time to go.  The thing that meant the most to me that day was a sincere hug from Bruce Grider and a big "thank you", he said, not only for picking up Cut Loose, but also for all we do for the horses in harness racing.  That one hug meant everything - made everything we do worthwhile! We departed and decided to take I-39 up to Rockford.  Uh oh.... big mistake.  We came to a sudden halt about 20 minutes from Rockford due to a semi-truck / car collision up ahead.  It was a very bad accident, and we were stopped on the interstate for one hour and twenty minutes!  We jokingly said it gave us more "bonding time" with each other, and cranked the stereo up to classic rock tunes and watched the guy in front of us get into his horse trailer to go to the bathroom.  My funny 15 year old son (NOT) decided to flip the guy the brights on our headlights.  I was so embarassed and shouted "Jordan, QUIT IT!" and ducked down under the dash.  After a moment the guy emerged on the other side of his horse trailer and stepped a couple of steps back to glare through our windshield. I told Jordan he may get hurt someday if he did that again! 

Hopefully no one was killed in that accident up ahead, but we finally were able to continue our journey home.  When we arrived at 2:30 am (sigh), one horse had kicked boards off a stall door, and a gate was kicked off the hinges.  Craig was too tired to care, but I couldn't let it go, so I was nailing up the boards and tying the gate the best I could until morning.  Tilly the donkey was being terrorized by Aggie Phase and Bob, who clearly HATE her and was braying for help.  Tilly is still not able to be in her turnout because of those mares.  She will be happy to be safe in her paddock once Aggie and Bob get on their way.

Over the weekend, I looked long and hard at expenses... Terry and Katie hauling: $600 Respite for Torre:  $50 Pay for someone else doing chores:  $60 Our lodging :  $250 for the weekend Shipping:  $150 for Cut Loose Gas, mileage:  $200 to take horses to Illinois So, in one weekend, it is easy to see what expenses can be and why we are always in need of your donations...

We are also currently needing vaccines and deworming paste for incoming horses.  Because of a new outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus in some states, we are seeking EHV vaccines to give all horses coming into ASAP to prevent this new disease. If you can give anything, to either Terry and Katie or to ASAP, please send a much-appreciated donation in any amount.  Also, if anyone can foster a horse it would be much appreciated! I hope you enjoy the pictures when they come, and we'll talk again soon!

Susan

Read past farm updates