Spring Vaccination Clinic

2010 has started off with a more enjoyable visit to the University of Illinois Large Animal Hospital. It was the Horse Vaccination Clinic.

Typically when I go to the U of I Vet Medicine school, it is late Sunday night and an emergency. I do not know why horses seem to pick that time, but that's how it happens.

As any one can tell you, going to hospital for an emergency is no fun. Picking up horses after they are all better is a more relaxing visit but then you also have to deal with the financial part so business cools the atmosphere.The vets at the college always go that extra mile and if I do my part by identifying and bringing a horse in at the onset of a problem, they are able to resolve the problems and return a healthy horse to me. I strongly recommend them whenever anyone asks about my experiences there.

My appointment was 11 AM, so I arrived about 15 minutes early with four minis in the trailer. There were about a dozen vets and students (I will refer to all of them as vets to keep this simple) outside waiting for the next wave of arrivals. It was amazing how many I knew by name since generally I do not see all of them in one place at one time.

I went in, visited with the staff inside and filled out the paperwork. They are always very pleasant, but when you are engaged with serious problems you are pretty focused on what you are doing. This this time the atmosphere was very upbeat and cheerful in spite of the fact they had to work on Saturday.

When I returned to the trailer there were more vets in the trailer than horses...minis seem to attract the attention.

The vets had already started the regular exams: checking temperatures, teeth and taking fecal samples.

Paperwork for vaccinations reached the vets and with two on each horse all the vaccinations were given, blood work for coggins were drawn and the event was over in record time. As we were finishing up the next wave of trailers started to line up and staff were already starting to work on the paperwork. The sun was out, the weather perfect and the whole event seemed to be well organized. Next time though, I think I might bring donuts for the gang, it was more like a celebration than business and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun

Thanks to the U of I Large Animal Hospital vets and staff.

The MiniVan

If you type the command "define:minivan" in Google it will show the definitions of the word after the colon. One of the definitions for minivan states:

• A minivan, multi-purpose vehicle (abbreviated MPV), people-carrier, people-movers or multi-utility vehiche (shortened MUV) is a type of automobile... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minivan

I think they overlooked one very important function: mini-mover...(see photo above). Toad Hill's Rusty Spot gets ready to go to his new home in Wisconsin.

And don't believe this is one time event...to right--> : like father like daughter.

Below is one of Rusty's fillies, Toad Hill's Run for the Roses, she just wanted to go for a ride with me and the grandkids.

But wait...Rusty's family of minis are not the only ones who enjoy riding..DQ (below) enjoys a riding now and again. When we delivered her and her foal to a friend in Andalusia illinois we took both her and her filly in the van instead of hooking up the stock trailer.

The first photo of DQ (black/white pinto) shows just her, but the second shows DQ with her blue roan filly.

Chariot Race Championships

Doing Anything the last weekend in February or later in March? Check these out.

http://www.goldenspikeeventcenter.com

Utah State Championship Chariot Races
Open Date: Saturday, February 27, 2010 Close Date: February 28, 2010
Location: Golden Spike Events Center, Weber County Fairgrounds,
1000 North 1200 West Ogden, UT 84404

Phone Number: (801) 399-8798
Alt. Phone Number: (435) 279-7999

Also World Chariot Races
Saturday, March 20, 2010 12 - 4 PM And Sunday, March 21, 2010 12 - 4 PM

Day at the U of I

Picking up Slate at the U of I, Picasso is going to Hals...Yeah!! It is really snowy but we all made it home no problem. Slate ran back in with his buddies and Picasso will be a pampered pony at the Bryants. In case you want to save his webiste it is at:
http://bryantsminiatures.bravehost.com/


Want to see what they do and what Picasso will be doing soon? Check out the Bryant's and their 6 miniature horse hitch. Picasso will be replacing one of the middle horses in this hitch and also becoming one of the Bryants' chariot horses.

Bryants Qualify for Nationals

Chariots in Sterling, IL?

I was sent an email that lead to a link on Horsemen's Council of Illinois...At the 2010 Illinois Horse Fair there will be a show: Tommie Turvey's Night of Amazing Horses Show.

Okay, so that's nice...but read on and you will see they have CHARIOTS!!! this is the first time I have heard of their troupe but sure plan to see them in person at Springfield, IL March 5th through 7th, 2010.

They also have a website here: Equine Extremist...Check it out. Their January 06, 2008 shows a post on a Discovery Channel project.

The photos on this blog post were taken from the North Dakota Winter Show posting from the Turvey blog.

2009 Get of Sire Top Ten All Stars

First in Get of Sire National Top Ten All Stars is this trio of paints sired by Toad Hill's the Great Gatsby. The black and white filly in front is Toad Hill's Summer Breeze (dam is Wind in the Willows), the second horse is the bay pinto Toad Hill's Mocha Jo (dam is Excaliber's Typhoon Queen) and the third horse is the black and white pinto Toad Hill's Slate (dam is Wind in the Willows).

2009 2nd Produce of Dam National Top Ten All Stars

Coming in second in National Champion Top Ten All Stars is Toad Hill's Wind in the Willows, the 2008 1st place winner. This year's team is pictured above: Toad Hill's Summer Breeze and her full brother Toad Hill's Slate.

The 2008 team was Toad Hill's Paint Me Picasso and Toad Hill's Kiss Me Kate.

2009 All Star Multi-Color Winners at Toad Hill

Coming in 3rd place in Multi-Color Stallion and Gelding - Over was Toad Hill's Slate. See other photos of Slate at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ToadHillMinis/StallionsGeldingsForSale#

Coming in 6th in Multi-Color Mare Over was Toad Hill's Summer Breeze, a full sister to Slate above.

Movies of Foals 2009

I will be the first to admit, my movies are really amateurish, but here are some of the Foals 2009. These were all taken Dec 28th. The foals are dirty from the mud that set after 3.5 inches of rain and then froze with below 22 degree weather. Each listing is a hyperlink to a YouTube video.
Foals 2009 Part 1
Foals 2009 Part 2
Foals 2009 Part 3

I tried to identify each foal in the video.
Slate is the second black/white pinto in this video. He is a little larger that Picasso and is for sale as well. Slate will be a 2 year old as of 2010 and has been shown last year. He is in Top Ten Multi-Color this year, and was one of two minis in Produce of Dam (placed 2nd Top Ten) and one of three minis in Get of Sire (placed 1st in Top Ten).

Miss Peach Meets Mr. Picasso

Picasso is one of my stallions. He currently shares a pen with two other breeding stallions (Rusty and Sid), three 2-year old stallions (Slate, Lincoln and Baldrige) and a "monster" sized miniature gelding (Stetson --can you say at least 42 inches--yikes!!).

Anyway, Miss Peach came for the day and decided she wanted to ride minis. She runs out into the pen with all the boys flapping her mittens held by strings connected to her coat. Needless to say it was quite a surprise for the boys and most of them headed for the the other side of the field.

Mr. Picasso, who loves attention, came up to be petted, and Miss Peach was put on aboard. Since I did not have a halter with me, I put my hand under his chin and we walked around the field until it was way too cold to stay out any longer. Miss Peach had decided I should bring Mr. Picasso up to her home in the big city and let her keep him.

Sorry Miss Peach, Mr. Picasso is headed to Hal Bryant's to become a Chariot Horse!!. Perhaps, Hal will let me drive him sometime. Mr. Picasso leaves in February for his new home.