In which Sammy meets a ground pole

Today Sammy got to meet a ground pole in the round pen. He's been walked over them before but somehow it's different with the long lines. I was grateful it has dried up enough to use the round pen.

He checked it out first to see what was up.

And then had to ask Allison for advice. Or maybe for rescue. It was harder to keep him from trying to visit with her than it was to get him over the ground pole.

He does love her.
Wow, momma.....that came up a bit quick. Do I jump it? What's the deal?


Ok, here it comes again.




ah, got it. It's no big deal.


We can walk over it, easy peasy.


And then just trot off. He was very proud of himself.


All right buddy, what about the other direction. Everything is new again. Let's think about it first. Allison is not going to help you out.

It looks so different this direction. Gotta jump it.

But please don't let it get my back legs.




Oh yea, you can just walk over it. He's good to go again.

It's been a while

May has been a very strange month weather-wise. First it was too hot, then it was too cold. It was very dry and we were under water restrictions. The grass crunched when you walked on it, not a good thing. We screamed for the rain....and then it came. It didn't stop raining for about 10 days and we got a months worth of rain and just a few days. Some places were reporting 2 feet worth. That's a lot of rain. So, the horses have been on the back burner a bit. But today was beautiful, hot, but not rainy so it was beautiful. This is how excited Lily and Sammy were to be outside without any rain.... Here's Lily, the mom.


And here's Sammy. Look at that blue sky. It seems like a very long time since it's been blue. Gray is what we've been having.....very gray and wet. So now the rains have tapered off a bit, the hot weather is back and we have the Florida Sauna in full operation.


But, after spending some time with them in the field, with the sunshine, I noticed Sammy has a dark spot on one of his legs. Lily has a couple of these dark greasy looking spots. I tried to wash them off of her for a long time before I realized they were really supposed to stay. And now, it looks like Sammy has one just sprouting. I find it hard to believe I wouldn't have seen it before now if it had been there all along.....it must have been hiding underneath all that winter hair. :-)



And I am dreading the day his light colored tail hairs are no more. They are so contrasting and pretty....I'd better get the hair dresser ready to put them back if they disappear.




Here an exciting action shot for you......the most I saw in the hour I spent with them. I promise I'll try again tomorrow.

Looking for that big action shot.

I have a good friend far, far away who has been my cheerleader/hand holder ever since I made that first decision to breed Lily. She doesn't know I'm posting this otherwise I would tell you her name and the breeding of her yearling, but...........isn't he really something???? She sends me this and I immediately think WOW. He gorgeous. Now I need a picture like that of Sammy......I think I must have been still asleep and dreaming.

It has turned hot down here so the turnout has switched around to everybody is in during the day and out at night. I worked some with Sammy (he's a very good boy by the way) and gave him a bath then let him eat his dinner. Then it was time to turn them out. AH Hah! They haven't been turned out all day, surely they'll be a little frisky and I can get some good action shots. So I armed myself with my mega lens and off I went. What action!!!

Ready for it????


Really, really ready????


Here it comes.....



And we're down.......but he does have all 4 feet off the ground.


And is really enjoying himself.............



And can flip all the way over too...........


and shake it all about.


Oh wait.....here come Vantage in the next field wanting to play. I know I can count on him to get things going.


Yep, there it is...Sammy's big rear that goes along with his big buck.


Um, Mom - I'm still hungry, could you fill up this feed bin?

Oh well, better luck next time I'm sure. If only I could take pictures and ground drive him at the same time...he really does look good.....and he actually moves forward, I promise.

not great pictures but...

they were taken with my Blackberry after all. Why do I do these things knowing I was without my camera? I decided it was time to see how Sammy would like wearing a saddle. I think after the surcingle, the nice fuzzy soft girth was ok. (and I can't believe Lily's girth actually fit him!) He really wasn't so impressed by it so off we went to the round pen to see how he liked wearing it while he was actually moving. As you can see, he was very bothered by it.

He was a very good boy and took my voice commands pretty well considering there were not any lines actually attached. The saddle at the canter bothered him the most as you can tell by this HUGE buck (come on Natalie, let us call this a buck, pretty please?)

But he walked, trotted and cantered both directions and then we were done. He stood by the mounting block like a good little boy while Linda climbed up and leaned all over the saddle bouncing up and down while she was there. He took it in stride so we're one more step closer.

But there's a part of me that's very sad that baby Sammy is no more. He is looking oh so very grown up now.

The Birthday Party

We planned and we planned for the big birthday bash. Carrot cake I said. Sammy and Vantage would like that. I had the bakery make their smallest cake and only put a very small crumb coat type of icing on the cake. Just enough to hold it together. They'll love it. Of course I had a much larger, fully decorated cake for the humans. The food was wonderful and plentiful. I think several attendees are now being fed leftovers for the next week! Sarah tried her hand at Pioneer Woman's Cake Balls.......some with rum and some with amaretto. The blender was cranking out the Margueritas.

Sammy loved having all the visitors - along with any and all treats. Peppermints, baby carrots, apples. He had to inspect everybody's feet. He has a thing about feet. As a baby, Sarah exposed him to her toes all nicely painted and he's been searching for toes ever since! No foot went uninspected (or shoelaces untied) but nobody had pretty toes like Sarah's. Although Peyton did insist on wearing a pretty party dress and pretty pink shoes to match.....he was looking for toes.

We had such a great groups of friends and family, some who had not seen Sammy or Vantage since they were wee little ones. The kids that attended were well behaved, no screaming and no one went swimming in the pond....wading maybe but Wyatt swears he had to get the baseball.

All the other horses got their fare share of the loot. Carrots and apples for everyone.

There was no missing the gate to the farm.


Noah was working it trying to get the carrot from Peyton.

Peyton was fascinated watching him eat an apple off the ground. Isn't it fun to expose little girls to horses???? Maybe the next generation coming along.


Sarah's cake pops were a big hit.

And the boys get to eat cake....except.........




they didn't like it. We all figured that Vantage might not eat it, he has a more discriminating palate than Sammy.


Sammy thought it looked interesting............



but really........did he have to make such a face? He thought we had done something awful to his carrots..........like mix them with brussel sprouts or something.

But, he tried to be polite and say no thank you.



Thank goodness for Annie.......she's my hero. Of all the horses, she's the only one that would eat it......so let her eat cake....for a week!

Happy birthday boys. This should be a really fun year for us all.

A Big Day for Vantage

Vantage has had some visitors the last few days. A father and son team that use Clinton Anderson techniques to teach respect and to actually be the first ones on his back. Young kids bounce so much better than older adults. I missed the first 2 days due to work but was there for the big day. Here is the son (who is in 8th grade) taking that first big step.

After all the other work they had done with him, Vantage didn't seem to mind this at all.



And before you know it the boy is in the saddle and the dad is controlling Vantage from the center of the round pen. No reins, just the halter and a Dad in the middle.



Next step was to give the boy the reins. His goal was to keep them wide and low and not ask for anything but movement.


No posting allowed but the kid looks pretty good.


And then it was Linda's turn.


She has waited a long time to be able to do this.



And what a good boy he was.

You couldn't wipe the smile from her face.


And where was Sammy while all this was going on? Need you ask? He was exhausted for his friend.


See most everybody on Sunday for the big birthday bash.

Has it really been two years????

Ok, lets think back. Where were you 2 years ago?

I was watching Lily like a hawk but convinced she'd never deliver her Escapade baby. It was my first and her first but luckily, not the first for Linda and Malcolm.

It was March Madness season and the Gators were in the running.

I was avidly watching MareStare in hopes of watching a few foalings live on the internet before I got to witness Lily's. Suerte from Glenhill had sucked us all in and we were anxiously watching her for weeks. She had fooled a lot of experienced breeders into thinking that she was going into labor, only to sit back and laugh at everyone. I was convinced Lily had been getting lessons from her. Of course Suerte decided to have her baby after I'd moved into the camper for my own mare stare adventure so I missed it on the live cam.

Allison was living in Ft. Myers undergoing her first fieldwork and having just a wonderful time!!!

This is what Lily looked like at the beginning of March 2007. We could actively feel the baby moving but could not get any milk to test. I was so wanting to test that milk, the chemist in me NEEDED to test that milk. But...nothing doing.
And then I moved into the camper that Vicki and Bruce so kindly lent me. I was really roughing it then. I had to watch Lily all night from here...


With the Lilycam set up so all I had to do was open my eye a bit to see what was going on. I didn't get a lot of good sound sleep but I was most definitely comfortable. Oscar didn't see me for weeks other than when I made it home to do laundry, change out clothes and take a nice hot shower.

And the rear window of the camper was back right up to the lovely foaling stall Malcolm had set up just months before the due dates.



But sometimes I felt that Lily was watching me as I was watching her. Perhaps she felt I had actually provided her with some entertainment, a human aquarium........or is it a terrarium....or maybe just a flat screen RV.....um TV.

The final night of the NCAA tournament I had come home from work to find Lily dripping milk. That night Allison was on the phone keeping me updated on the Gators and I would let her know how many figure 8's Lily was making. This really looked like she might be serious. I called Linda and we both kept an eye on her. The Gators won and then ..... we saw and heard Lily's water break and we were there in a flash. There wasn't much to do but stand back and watch. We knew the front feet had socks and then the beautiful white blaze showed up. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to call Alicia until the foal was fully delivered so I could let her know the gender....ooops. Sorry Alicia. But this is right after I called or maybe right before.


And it's a boy. I had already decided on names....Espionage (no matter what color just to confuse Natalie) with Sammy as a barn name.
And Lily was in love.....and so was I.


And now, here he is almost 2 years to the day later. What an absolutely wonderful experience it has been every day, from the moment we first laid eyes on him.


Thanks Lily, Escapade, Linda and Malcolm for giving me such a wonderful gift.