Here we are, past mid-December with Christmas approaching quickly! We have had a LOT of winter already with a long way to go until spring.....temperatures have been somewhat below normal since October, but nothing too serious yet. Still feel like we are playing catchup with winter hitting so early, but we are actually doing just fine. Only a few days left until the shortest day of the year and our daylight hours will begin to increase again, thank goodness. It has been far too gloomy and dark the past couple of months, in desparate need of some sunshine. Horses are all doing great, have sold |Kidd and Foxy, they will go to their new home in the spring once the weather is more suitable for a long haul. Sure am going to miss them but the people are getting two exceptionally nice saddle horses that should do the job they want very well. Looking forward to Christmas with the family, dinner yummmm and just good times together. It is so much fun having little kids around again for the season...they bring much joy. Till next time.....

Wishing all our friends and family all the best for this Holiday Season and in 2013!

UK Was a Great Experience

Kristin and Stars Red Hawk

 

 

Here is a picture of my daughter, Kristin and Stars Red Hawk in his pasture at Blaisdon, Gloucester, UK taken on the second last day of our visit. We had an awesome time. Helena and Kyriako treated us like royalty and were great hosts. Helena purchased Red several years ago from us while living in Athens, Greece. The family made a huge move last winter to England. Of course, Red came along as well as Jojo their big dog. The climate, vegetation etc. are all very different from what we have here in West Central Alberta. The humidity is unbelievable! Nothing gets dry....it even smells like a musty basement outside, everywhere you go. Very different from here with our crisp, clear air. Roads are so narrow, lined by tall hedges and in some places you have to back up if you meet another car. The River Severn is impressive and dangerous. Gloucester Cathedral is a must to see if visiting the area. It is so old, the architecture is beautiful. More a piece of art than a building.....more pictures to come as I get time to download and sort through. London/Heathrow airport is an experience in itself. It was so good to see our little Edmonton International Airport again, much less initimidating.

 

Gloucester Cathedral

Fall is here

 

View from the Bedroom Window

 

Enjoying the sunshine and grass

 

Stars Really Foxy & Me

 

Brothers - we may have a team!

 

 

Just some random pics taken on a gorgeous fall day on the farm. Needed the roundpen mowed so openned the gate for the gang. September was an amazingly warm and sunny month, enjoyed it a lot. October is starting out kinda wet and cool but should get nice again by weeks end. The foals have grown superbly well this summer, the two year olds are much taller and filling out. All are very sweet and kind. Will be weaning the foals as soon as I am back from the UK. Should have lots of pictures of that experience! We leave on Oct. 9 which is coming up very fast. Getting somewhat nervous and very excited, of course. Hopefully we will have our big yard lights up and working when I get home too, that will really be nice on these short and dark winter days. Had one of those black and white smelly critters come visiting a few nights ago - the house finally doesn't smell like a skunk! Little monster didn't like out motion sensor light very much.....

Summer is Over

 

Totie on pedestal

Totie learning to bow

 

One on one with Josh Nichol

 

Well summer is pretty much finished again! The time flies by so quickly it seems. I closed the season with a superb 4 day clinic with Josh Nichol at his facility in Meanook, AB. As usual, learned a lot and now it is to practice it all! We really ended the summer with a two day Trick Horse Training clinic with Jackie Johnson, also a super experience. Horses had a great time learning how to perform some fun tricks. Looking forward to clinics with both of these excellent instructors in 2013.



Stars Dreamwalker and Stars Tiger Lily playing in the daisies! They have grown so much with the nice green grass and mom's with lots of milk. We are very pleased with these two foals, great quality all round.

Summer is Here

                                                 

Stars Satinka



Stars Wildfire (sold)

Stars Fire Shadow

Stars Wildfire

Stars Smokn Hot and Stars Little Spot (for sale)

Stars Bright Eyes (for sale)

Just a few fun summer photos of some of our young stock. Most were taken by my daughter, she is doing some very good work! It is so nice to have summer again although it is a super busy time for us. Everyone looks so plump and shiny. We are working on these young ones training, some are being started under saddle and some are being prepared for the saddle and riding in another year or so. All have great minds and are so trainable....feels pretty good. They also have pretty good conformation too so we can expect longevity as the grandparents have displayed (Babe retired from riding at 27 and Scoot still main riding/lesson horse and going strong at 18). It will be nice though when the horsefly season comes to an end!

Foal #2

Foal #2 has arrived! A stunning black fewspot filly on May 23, 2012. WAR Skylark X Magic Snow Flake. We are very pleased with this five generation girl. More pictures once she unfolds and gets her legs figured out.

All the Little Children

Not bad for a three day old foal! He was fascinated by all the Playschool kids and walked right up to the fence for pats. What a guy.....the kids sure loved him. Momma didn't mind all the attention either!

First foal of 2012

Our first foal of 2012, gorgeous black leopard colt born May 5 at approximately 1:30 AM. He is very special to me - Starwalker X DREA Kemosfancyeagle so is grandson to Scoot and Babe.

Mane Event 2012

The Mane Event was a super great time as always! Got to see so many people that I haven't seen for a year and got caught up on news! The clinics I attended were very well done and learned lots again. Didn't shop a lot but did find a few things. Krissie bought Totie a beautiful hair piece for the WPY ride - he will look so handsome this year. Certainly came back home all pumped and ready to get into working the horses again. Now if only the weather would co-operate just a little bit........

Signs of Spring

The girls are getting close to their foaling dates, only a few weeks left to go! always a very exciting time. Spring is very slow to arrive this year, still a lot of snow and ice and lots of mud. More snowstorms today, big super fat snowflakes. Rain would be more welcome now. I am hoping that it is warm and sunny for the babies arrival.

Goodbye Little Friend

It's been a pretty rough winter here this year....we have had to say goodbye to too many of our farm friends. The latest is our little old Sparkie girl. She was old and just went to sleep. We got her about 12 years ago as a mature dog (don't really know her age), was only supposed to foster her until a permanent home could be found. She had been found far out in the wilderness by a cross country skier, in the middle of the winter. Just dropped and deserted, poor little thing would have died that night as the temps dropped to - 33 C. The lady who found her brought her to us at the Vet Clinic because we were housing the County Pound at the time. Poor little dog totally freaked out when we went to put her in a kennel so I volunteered to foster her at home. Well, as you see she never did go anywhere else! That was decided within 5 minutes of her arrival at the farm when everyone totally fell in love. Once the legal claiming period was over, we had her spayed and vaccinated etc. Sparks was always the most happy and loyal dog imaginable. Although small, she was game for anything especially trying to keep up to the greyhound X's! She loved nothing better than going for long horseback rides, never had trouble keeping up until the past couple of years when age and arthritis took over. So, we often would carry her in front of us on the saddle which was just fine with her. The only time she missed accompanying me feeding the horses was when I wouldn't let her come due to it being too cold. She was never very happy about that! She even eventually got over being afraid to ride in a vehicle and often rode with me on the quad doing farm chores. Spring was always an exciting time for her - almost never missed checking the mares with me and she adored the foals. It is rather lonely here the past few days without my chum, still look for her to come toddling up the hill to the hay yard but I will adapt eventually. Our puppy, Buster, is really helping fill the empty spot and he is a total sweetheart. So, goodbye my dear little friend and I hope you are having fun in doggy heaven with Ice, Shadow, Betsy, Pluto and Maddie.

Spotted Fun

Geldings, Little Spot and Satinka having fun.