A Beautiful Day

Look what we did today. Sammy has been long lined before but he's really getting good at it. Linda is a pro at long lining and I'm very much a student. I got it in the end but I am much more comfortable just ground driving. Sammy is such a good boy and has caught on to that very quickly. Our figure 8's aren't perfect but we're getting there. Here's his cute trot.


And his canter the other direction. The saddle pad was a gift from my COTH secret santa a few years ago. He is anything but the hot chili pepper.

And then we moved on to the ground driving.



It didn't take long for him to get bored.


So we opened the gate to head out of the round pen.



We made it outside. Next time, we conquer the pond!


It's great to have T-Shirt weather back.

The Blankets Come Off

It has finally warmed up a bit and the blankets came off. Lily and Sammy went back outside after the farrier was finished with them. Sammy gave me this look and I knew he was up to no good.

He bugs Lily until she will play with him.....or she kicks him, whichever comes first.



I love this picture of the two of them together. We measured Sammy today and he is just a smidge under 15'1......and it's obvious with them together he has the longer legs. But they are so much fun to watch together.


Lily is airborn....and letting Sammy think he's winning.....but she is getting her nip in to remind him two can play that game. From the scrapes and missing hair, I suspect she is getting quite a few licks in.


He is so nice to watch in motion. Here's his canter



And his trot



And then I get pictures like this........what the heck?


And this......he's got some muscle going on.

But no matter what, he absolutely LOVES to have his scratches.


Allison is the one he goes to for nose kisses. He definitely prefers them from her than from me.



Hopefully my work life will be more settled and I can quit being the absentee mother. Hopefully another update sooner than a month.

Happy New Year - But what was I thinking?

2009 is officially here and the boys are now "2 year olds" although Sammy won't really be 2 until April and Vantage will be 2 in May. It's very hard to believe they are approaching that big milestone.

I had a very nice email from the surgeon that removed the chip from Sammy's fetlock joint back when he was a 4 month old baby. He wanted to know how Sammy was doing and if I had a recent picture (silly man). And then I did the unthinkable.....I emailed him back that Sammy was doing fantastic and as a matter of fact I hadn't had to call the vet out for him for anything other than routine matters in exactly 1 year. WHAT WAS I THINKING? The next day Linda reluctantly told me that Sammy was gimpy and looked like he was working on an abcess. I'm so sorry Sammy, I didn't mean it. Linda felt sorry for me since it was my first day back at work following my ear surgery on Monday so she soaked him and wrapped him and said not to worry. I went out to see him after work and he was a little limpy (is that a word) but not bad so I was reassured that it was probably just a bruise or an abcess coming up. I was very greatfull he was already wrapped and all I had to do was love on him. But today it was my turn to do the doctoring.

It started out a beautiful day. A bit cooler than it had been but not bad. I love seeing them out in the field when I drive up.

Hey Mom - look, my bandage that Linda put on is still there........sort of.


Linda (who is sick as a dog with the flu/cold/creeping crud that's going around) helped me do the doctoring. I AM just recovering from surgery you know. :-)

See Sammy Soak? He was a good boy, but gets bored easily and likes to play in the water. It's fun to splash folks.

But just like any toddler, sometimes he thinks he's a big boy and can do it himself. He much prefers to take the towel to dry his foot off. (Excuse the bad, blurry pics - we don't DO indoors!)


He's a good boy and tries very hard.


And tada........his foot is all wrapped. So back out he goes and I grab Lily who needs some attention.....at least that's what she told me.


As I hand graze Lily we can watch the pinto field in action. It's important to color code your pastures. There is a big size difference but the colors match after all. And Quinn can hold his own.




They are causing a ruckus and Sammy is out with just Misty and no momma....what's a boy to do? If you look closely, you can see his duck tape wrap is still there. And doesn't he look oh so lame?
And then this happens when I put Lily back..........sheesh, kids. Sammy - I am NOT buying Lily a new sheet this year......


And then they're off.....my poor cripple horses. Sammy with an "abcess" and Lily with her osteoarthritic stifles..........don't we feel sorry for them? Lily can still get some air time. They lapped the field a few times at a much greater speed than was good for my heart.


Horsing around along the way......and no wrap when he's done. But, whatever, I sincerely doubt he needs it at this point. Thank you for our first miracle of 2009.

But he is starting to look older............and I'm sure someday he'll act it!

Happy New Year everyone. May 2009 be a wonderful year full of fulfilled dreams and wonderful surprises. And we are making a pact.....we will not let December bring us down this year.

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful and safe holiday season.
Noah, Lily and Sammy. (Noah wins the Mr Photogenic contest this year)

When I arrive

When I arrive, Lily usually notices my car pull up. I love the fact that she usually will drop what she's doing and come to greet me. She is doing such a good job keeping Sammy in line these days. His attitude has been adjusted and life is easier on the farm. Lily has seen my car.


So here she comes.
And Sammy is doing what Sammy does best.
Um, Sammy, Mom's here.
And Sammy just follows in her footsteps. Goliath will get out of the way pretty quickly.

Sammy is used to intimidating the bovine species on the farm.
I love seeing this face coming to greet me. What a wonderful mother she is.

A Mother's Job

A mother's job is never done. Sammy and Vantage have decided that neither one is allowed to go through the gate ahead of the other and have been making it difficult to safely bring one in. Ok - Sammy has been a real pain in the patootie. So, it was time for his mother to explain things to him. Out he went with her and her friends. For 2 days they ran and played - ok Sammy ran her ragged and tormented her. Then today, she had enough. She must have explained the situation to him because he is sporting a couple of hoof prints on his chest and now, seems a little bit more respectful of her and of us. Thank you Lily.

If we had any doubts he has grown and would be a bit taller than Lily, all we had to do was look at them turned out together. Thank you Escapade for adding some height and legs to our boy.

See, He's all sweetness next to his momma....and Linda
And doesn't every mother recognize the look on Lily's face........would you PLEASE BEHAVE....we're getting our pictures taken here! Yes ma'am.

See, all it took was a mother's love. Good as gold. He may turn out ok after all.

And so another sun sets on learning day for Sammy. This is the Vilano bridge today on my way home. Some days the sun is rising over the ocean when I go to work, and sets over the intracoastal on my way home. There's something wrong with that I think. (Don't think you'll ever see the sunrise pictures here........I'm not that organized.)

Not much new to report

Not much going on these days. This is Florida's version of Fall Foliage! The trees are absolutely loaded with fruit.....and Noah loves tangerines.
The ball that the boys are supposed to be having a great time with has been abandoned by them. Who knew that the cows were the ones it was really for. I think the girls are tired of waiting those last few weeks before their babies arrive. This is Beth, who thinks we aren't watching.


Who knew she has such a playful side? I suspect it's hard to pick up and throw the ball around if you don't have any top front teeth. But she does seem to enjoy it never the less.

Quinn gets a few hours a day out with the little boys. (Actually the little boys are much bigger than Quinn but don't tell him that.) They thought he would be a great playmate but he quickly made them think again. He can't go out on lush grass so he has to take advantage of the little grazing time he can get now that the grass has quit growing. He doesn't have any time to play with kids. And he does not hesitate to explain that to them very clearly.


This is a picture taken exactly 1 year ago. Look at how much smaller the boys were than Masquerade.
Now, they are the same size and approaching the same height as Lily. I thought I was pretty good at hiding and they were just running around playing so I thought I could get some good action shots. The moment my camera comes out, here's Sammy. (Christy - I left Lily in the picture just for you!) And please notice he has Lily's slick winter coat. Thank you.


Sunset this time of year can also be pretty dramatic. We don't get the leaves changing but the sky does what it can for us.