Julie Laverdiere is an angel!!  Anyone who knows me, knows I’m hopeless with a camera and Glen, former photography teacher only takes pictures under duress.  I first met Julie at something horse related with Roxy Bell, I then got to know her better at some driving events with Kathy Helmig.  Julie is a nutritionist at the U, but an aspiring equine photographer.  When she volunteered to come out and take pictures of my horses, I had a hard time not following her around on my knees begging.  I’m going to try to get them all on the site somewhere.  So keep checking as I have to organize them and send them to Sylvia at Pondside, my web and all things computer guru.

Busy as usual.  We hadn’t planned a hectic summer, but it quickly became one.  Check out our events calendar.  Good news is that our son Greg will not be going to Afghanistan in the fall, so mother has some pleading to do to get him on some of her horses. 

Our little girl Tickedyboo got kicked or something and suffered some facial nerve damage that has progressed to Horner’s Syndrome, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping it rectifies itself, as it sometimes does; otherwise we will have a very nice pony broodmare.  The babies have all filled out in record time and growing like weeds.  With this cool spring and being so busy, I haven’t bred any mares yet so will be playing a game of catch up during the next two weeks.  But with the horse market the way it is, I won’t be too upset if we only have one or two foals.  It will help us catch our breath and concentrate on what we have.

 We have the phantom almost finished so the next project is teaching Illusion to mount it.  Rare Breeds Canada has invited Texas and myself to the Stampede for July 7 & 8, so we are thrilled about that.  We are working on the riding ring and will soon have it set up for free jumping, so hope to add free jumping videos to the sales page.

We have way too many horses!!  So we’ve had to make some hard decisions.  Check back to the sales page.  It sometimes takes Sylvia a few days to get everything up (not counting the time it takes me to get it to her).  We have some lovely young horses for sale.  We have decided to let our 2 year old star MH Cover Girl go; she’s a good one and I had hoped to get a foal from her.  I think she is be a national level open section 1 prospect.  Glen is taking her to a Josh Nichols clinic, so she will have some ground work and may be backed.  Dharma MH is also for sale.  She is a lovely sensitive yearling, she needs someone who gets sensitive horses to bring out her true potential.  She will go either dressage or jumper; tons of talent.  Electra and her mother Amore are also for sale.  Electra is amazingly bred and I think she is also a good one.  Lacey Go will also be for sale when her baby is weaned.  Kristull Goldmine has been gelded and is now doing ground work and will be in harness soon.  He is turning three in the fall.  He will be an exceptional small pony hunter.  We are keeping last years and this years pony crop.  We have also decided to keep Wynona as she is such an easy broodmare and the disposition and personality she throughs can’t be beat.  She may not produce wonderful horses, but her pony babies are super. 

Here is a quick sample of Julie’s eye and talent.  The rest of her photos will either be in baby pics, or sales horses, so keep checking back.

Left side of our gate.  We need a little more rock work

Its Kodak moments like these that remind you why you work so hard and suffer through the financial and emotional ups and downs.

Sunny(Soleil) Amy (Amore)Six Pack in his usual pose

Hanging out at the feeder

Lacey, our TB mare bred to Talib finally had her foal.  I guess you can’t manipulate Mother Nature.  All three mares were bred to Talib by AI on June 30, 2008.  There due date wasn’t actually until June 5th, but they started arriving with Wynona’s filly on May 12. 

We were away at a funeral in Calgary on June 4th.  We booked in some Anivac calls on both sides of the trip.  Consequently, we didn’t get  home until almost midnight.  I had just put the mares on grass and knew they would be at the back (our property is 1/2 mile deep).  I just didn’t have the energy to go check.  My mom had fed evening hay; she thought about checking the mares, but decided she didn’t know what to do anyway. 

I checked Friday morning and Lacey had given birth to a beautiful leggy filly.  So we’re three for three for fillies from Talib.  Good thing, as he now belongs to Brent Seufert and I can make a good start on my pony breeding program. 

By the steadiness of the filly, I think she must have been born sometime on Thursday afternoon or early evening and everything must have gone Tickedyboo.  So that is what we called her.  I checked all over for afterbirth, but I think that went the way of dogs or coyotes.  Lacey seems fine, except for meconium staining on her nose, so I know that happened too.  Lacey is an awesome mom for a first timer.  She has been waiting a long time, too.  She has tried in turn to steal all of the foals that came before hers.  I think, “finally”… would be her sentiment too, as she was so uncomfortable towards the end of her term.

BooBoo only has a few white tail hairs as grey markers, so she’ll either be black or grey.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for black, but if not, I’ve always been a sucker for greys.

 P.S.

Pinto filly name.  We waffled on Electra because we didn’t like they mythic connotations.  My next door neighbor does Body Talk and some animal communication.  She told me that the filly thought “Carmen” was a fine name.  So Carmen Electra it is, although she will be registered as Electra.  Being from the over 50 crowd, I had no idea who Carmen Electra was, other than having heard the name, but on “googling” it I found out the actress is a sex symbol.  Our Carmen is kind of sexy, so it fits.