Horse Hitches in Arthur, IL

Late April we traveled to Arthur to visit friends. It was time to start working the fields so we drove around to see what was happening. As we drove around we saw a 7 horse hitch disking in a field. We were pretty impressed until about 10 minutes later we saw the hitch on the right.

Not impressed? Well, you really can’t tell much from this angle with the horses all lined up in the diagonal row…so I walked around the back and snapped the photo below.

Count them!!!

YEAP, Eight rumps!!! Could not believe this so I walked around to the front to count noses...still eight!!! What was even more amazing is these horses were not two rows of four but eight across.

It sure is interesting what you can see if you just travel around a little.

Phantom Has Arrived!!!

Phantom left for Utah on Wednesday at 5 PM. He arrived Saturday morning, Below is the email I received from the new owner:

The boy is here and all is well. Thank you Thank you!
He came about 11:30 this morning and was alert and curious and just as cute as pie. I let him trot down to his pen and all the other horses were just all eyes. I had a flake of hay and fresh water but he wasn't hungry. The driver said he was an easy traveler, that he slept and licked the mineral block and ate and drank. I definitely recommend the HauledWright service. He went over to see Fury through the fence and stomped his right foot to let him know the boss had arrived. Fury was doing that funny mouthing "I'm just a baby" thing. Within a half an hour, they were grooming each other's neck and shoulders. My thoroughbred put back his ears standing at the fence and Phantom reared up at him. Oh, when he first came, he rolled. And rolled. And reared and kicked and just loosened up. He has had four visitors who think he is just stunning. I left to do errands for a few hours and he had eaten most of his hay when I got back at 6:00. I gave him another flake and put half a scoop of probiotics in a little crimped oats to help him get over the stress of traveling. He seems to be doing great. He has met the three big horses west of him, the three of ours to the north, and Fury to the east. Two that are just loose came and visited on the south. He seems very confident. I bit some pieces of two baby carrots for him and they were a big hit. He is so beautiful! And he has beautiful movement. Fury has been highly anxious all day so we gave him some probiotics, too. It looked like rain for a while, and we have a stall space fixed for him in the barn, but I'm glad it cleared up so they can be out. About 55 today, 40ish tonight. I will take pictures. I think that in a few days, if they continue as they have started, Phantom will be ready to start his reign.

I have not used HauledWright previously as a transport service, but I will admit both the new owner and I were very satisfied with their service. The lady driver, Frenchie, seems to be efficient and all business. She arrived with a clean trailer and stall already for Phantom with fresh hay and water. She called about an hour before arriving and although she was running a little late coming to pick up Phantom made it up and delivered him earlier than I expected.

Toad Hill's Slate

Let's start by saying: "Can you say Multi-Color Champion 2009?" That's what I was thinking when I saw this new foal who is 2008 model born to Willow this morning. Willow is a consistant producer of color and was last year's National Champion in Produce of dam.

So what about the foal? Born May 24 over Memorial Day weekend. There's a name in there somewhere, just haven't figured it out yet. Anyway I suspect he (most likely) will be a dapple grey like his big brother Phantom.

Kiss Me Kate and Paint Me Picasso are also out of the same dam and were the two shown in the produce of dam class.

So give me a day or two to really get to know this colt and I will write more.

Mom (Willow) below is having a bad hair day in the photo below, but how many moms look this good after giving birth to a 40 pound baby that morning?

Toad Hill's Sandy Beach

Toad Hill's Sandy Beach is a 33", AMHR registered sorrel filly born 7/7/05. I kept her until now because her sire is Toad Hill's Ivanhoe, the sire of T H Stormy Weather, another mare I showed in 2007. Because I am really into showing black and white pintos, Sandy just does not fit my breeding program. Since I showed four horses in 2007, she did not make the show circuit.

Sire: Toad Hill's Ivahoe by Spragues Buckeye (30.25") who was sired by NFC Yankee Clipper (28") out of 4 GS Hemlock ABrook Silvr Jane (33") Ivanhoe's dam Koch's My Angel Baby (32.5")

Dam: Klavohns Oreo Delight (32.50") sired by HCM Navajos Bold Innovation (32") out of Klavohn's D. Q. Double Delight (31")

To the right is a photo of T H Sid... and Sandy.

Toad Hill's Run For the Roses

Thursday morning (May 1, 2008) I had to leave early since I was to attend Lincoln Examiner training about two and a half hours away. At 4:30 AM I stumbled into the barn half awake to feed the mares and found that one had foaled. No, it was not the one that we were waiting for, it was her neighbor, the mare I had put in the stall next to Kibbles so that Kibbles would not be lonely.
High Octane had given birth to a medicine hat, pale sorrel pinto foal (best guess about 4:00 AM). This was High Octane's first and at first glance it looked all bones and legs. I did a quick check-- colt and finished chores, got to the meeting by 8:15 AM and had decided to name him: Baldrige. (For those of you not aware of the Baldrige Award, it is an award for excellence for companies. That's all I plan to say about it--check it out in Google for more info.) The Lincoln Award is the state equivalent.
By the time I got home that night, the foal looked more filled out and pretty cute. Naturally I did a second check..oops, girl. Now that great name got wasted and I had to start thinking about a new one. What to name her now?
Too late folks...her name is Toad Hill's Run for the Roses. Why, the Kentucky Derby is this weekend. I did not select May Day, or even Take Me Out To the Ball Game (today is the 100 th anniversary of the song).

So Friday, I go to work and tell everyone. Come home early and..oh my, another hatchling. Finally Kibbles had hers. Guess High Octane's foal inspired Kibbles.

I will be checking this later, but this one is a colt (99% sure, that's better than Six Sigma folks). Somehow, I don't feel like this one is a "Baldrige." Got to start thinking about another name.

Below is Kibbles and Bits with her new foal.

Toad Hill's Lincoln Award

So the long awaited foal arrived. He was mentioned in the previous blog, a day after Rosie was foaled, He and his mom are the last photo in that blog.

Mom, Toad Hill's Kibbles N Bits, is a 33 inch, dun pinto mare foaled in 2003. This mare should have been registered AMHA too, but I decided at the last minute not to bother registering her. This colt is her third foal, the first is Toad Hill's Grapenuts and the second was a sorrel colt named Brownie by his new owners. The sire is Toad Hill's Rust Spot (Pedigrees at end of this blog.)

For now I am calling him Lincoln (Link for short). To the right is the photo that will go with his registration papers. Seems like all the foals this year are very friendly, coming up, wanting to chew on me and be petted. Link reminds me of another horse we own, Stetson. Like Stetson, Link is very a very flashy dark sorrel.
Link is a long legged colt, but with a sire who is 32 inches and mare at 33 inches, he should stay in that range when fully grown.
He is bright eyed, curious, full of energy and a lot of fun to watch as he chases the other foals around the pasture.
Kibble's Pedigree:
Sire: Spagues Buckeye (30.25", buckskin, AMHR/AMHA) by NFCS Yankee Clipper (28.00") out of4 GS Hemlock Brook Silver Jane (33.50")
Dam: Koch's My Angel Baby (32.50", chesnut pinto, AMHA/AMHR) by Little Hoof's Midget Mite (29.75) out of Koch's Little Brandy (36.00")
Rusty's Pedigree:
Sire: Toad Hill's Oreo (Black pinto, 32.0" AMHR only) by WF Flashy Boy (sire: Rainbow Ridge's Starburst Cody, dam: Cirlce S Missy)
Dam: Toad Hill's Neon Echo (30.0", sabino overo, AMHA/AMHR) by Colorworlds Neon Knight out of Mini Bucks Painted Princess)

Updates-Phantom, No Foal Yet

First thanks to everyone who made suggestions about a barn cam. We may be purchasing one in the near future.

No, Kibbles has still not foaled yet, she is probably waiting for the most inconvenient time to foal, or waiting for me to go somewhere over the week...then she will sneek it in. Right now it is chilly, slight drizzle and she is out with the other mares munching on grass.

Saturday went to Arthur, IL and picked up our "school bus." Phantom, if you recall, is the 2006 National Multi-Color (All Stars #1 -Top Ten). The family took great care of him, he was fit, in good flesh, feet neatly tirmmed, and (I hate to admit) cleaner than some at my house. I did a little clipping on his mane and neck...he was totally calm, even when clipping around his ears. Then I turned him over to the kids.

It was something to see him being harnessed and handled by the little kids. There were at one time as many as eight youngsters (the neighbor kids came over to visit) scurrying around him. Most of them could barely see over his back (35.5 inches), but they got him harnessed without dad's help and they took him to the front lawn where we took movies. First the five girls drove him around then the three boys took their turn. As I mentioned previously in the blog he takes three kids to school and back twice a week, 2 miles in 20 minutes. After the cart, the kids took Phantom back into the barn, took off the harness and put a saddle on him. While they were working on finding the correct girth (do not know its proper name) a litte four month old baby sat on Phantom's back on the saddle. No one was holding the baby, he had his feet around the front of the saddle and Phantom stood perfectly still, the baby was having a lot of fun. Now here is a little horse that can be trusted with kids!!!

We brought two other minis down to do a trade out. Gatsby, Phantom's sire, was left for "school bus training" for next year and we also dropped off Stetson for "summer camp." The kids will have another steed to ride around the farm, and Stetson loves the attention. We will pick Stetson up in the fall, unless they decide to move him also into "school bus rotation."

As for the movies, I have put them on this blog for a short period. I knew nothing about how to move the files off the tape I used in the camcorder to the computer and on to a DVD, but finally figured it out. As you will see, there were times I took movies of the grass. Since these kids are Amish I tried not to take images of their faces.
I have redone the videos and saved them at a different download speed.
First one is the girls.

The next one is a close up of Phantom.



Last one is Phantom being ridden.



So I guess you can say I am not ready to quit my day job and become a movie producer. It took 4 hours to figure out how to save these files, upload them to YouTube and put them in the blog (that was the easy part).

Barn CAMs Anyone?

Kibbles and Bits is due any day now and I find myself looking for a Barn Camera. I want something that is wireless from the barn to the house. It ultimately should connect to the computer and then out to the internet for a service like MareStare.

I bought a little setup at Wal-Mart, and I figured it would not work...but it would allow me to at least experiment. I suspect it may actually tranmit between the house and the barn, but I have to move the car at the very least. It does block line of sight.

Something with an external transmitter on the outside of the barn would probably help a lot. This one has an itty-bitty antenna on the camera. Probably not the best.

HELP Out there...anyone have makes and models they can recommend??

Award from Midlife Mom!!!

My blog has been a substitute for the standard website I used to keep. However in the world of bloggers, it is the custom to honor a blogger with custom awards. I am delighted to announce have been selected for the: "Excellence in Equine Care Award" by Midlife Mom. Stop by her site and see what a real blogger does.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Midlife Mom!!!

2007 National Champions - Multi-Color

Well it was a long summer, but we were on a mission. Our mission was to win National Champion All Stars in each of the four multi-color classes that AMHR offers. I don't believe anyone has ever done it. The ad at the right appeared in the April 2008 issue of the AMHR Journal.

We ended up with three firsts (National Champions) and a 2nd in Top Ten All Stars...so it was close. So my question is: "Has anyone come so close before in sweeping this class?"

As a bonus we won All Star National Champion in Produce of Dam ... we figured out half way through the season that two of the horses were from the same mare...and started entering in that class as well.

Would we try winning National Champion in the four multi-color classes again...probably not. First you have to have four horses, each in a different category: stallion over and under 34 inches, and mare over and under 34 inches. Then there are other factors to consider...you have to enter lot of shows, (we showed every weekend for three months straight) and did I mention cost...there are entry fees, gasoline, hotel, food and equipment costs. It was a lot of fun, we met a lot of nice people and saw a lot of central United States...but I think in 2008 it will be one horse and fewer shows.