Sorry I've been missing in action. Im getting over a cold, and just about everyone horsey is away at Congress. Good news is that a kid I used to teach (whos now an amature, yikes) horse made the finals in the 3yo HUS Open, and a girl that stabled across from Lucas and me last summer made the finals in the Novice youth showmanship! This weekend is a busy one for the kids with the NYATT classes, and most of the Amature stuff goes next week so hopefully we'll have more great finishes!
In Lucas news, I drove up to the barn he's at and had a great visit with him. (and no tears!) Hes happy and well looked after, which is the most important thing. Lets hope we can find a great home for him.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Lucas up-date
So Lucas is doing good at the old boss' place. They call and give me an update every couple of days and hes getting lots of cookies from my friends. They have a couple of good leads, but he isnt sold yet. The really good part is that the Boss is riding him a couple of times a week to keep him tuned up, so that even if he comes home he will be an easier horse to ride.
Things are good at the barn, very quiet now that most of the horses are off on the Autumn vacation. Seems like everyone is off to Congress in the next week or two, makes me miss going and showing but atleast you can watch online.
http://envisionfilmvideo.com/live.html.
Things are good at the barn, very quiet now that most of the horses are off on the Autumn vacation. Seems like everyone is off to Congress in the next week or two, makes me miss going and showing but atleast you can watch online.
http://envisionfilmvideo.com/live.html.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The dairy world and 4-H
I was very lucky when I was growing up to be in a fantastic area for 4-H. In our county of NS we have some of the top breeders of Holstein, Ayrshire and Jersey cattle in the world. With my Dad being the only guy in the area that knew how to do artificial insemination and embryo collection (at the time he was the only one, although its more common now for the farmers to do it themselves.) I grew up visiting farms, and farmers that are famous in the dairy world.
Believe it or not, I am actually a better judge of dairy cattle, than horses. Ive won more awards and trips with cattle judging than horse judging! This all came to a head one winter in 1997 when visiting a farm with a top breeder and judge of Holsteins. He asked me what I thought of one of his bull calves in a pen. I (being the outspoken brat that I was) told him it wasn't good enough. The farmer snorted and walked away. My dad ripped a strip off of me when we got back to the car! He w.as a good guy though and he and dad had a good laugh over it the next time we visited
Two months later its 4-H judging time, we go to a different farm and the judge who will be hearing our results is the same breeder that I ticked off a couple of months earlier! So I place the cows, walk up to the Judge and give my reasons and places. He smirks a bit during my results but no big deal.... Two months after that we receive our placings at the local exhibition.
I won.
Out of all the farm kids, who live on farms I won and had the highest score in the county. Turns out that bull calf wasn't good at all, and I placed the cows exactly the same way he did during the competion. And the farmer got a hoot out of it, he now calls me George, even years later, said I needed a real farmers name!
The real reason I'm writing this is that one of the breeders I showed for recently had some significant success. One of his cows Pine Haven SSM Marmie, is the 2011 World Dairy Expo Grand Champion Jersey cow! She won over 360 other Jersey females to win this honor.
For dairy breeds this is the equivalent to winning the grand champion at the AQHA world show.
Eric still donates calves to all of the 4-H groups, and has had several bulls selected for breeding.
Believe it or not, I am actually a better judge of dairy cattle, than horses. Ive won more awards and trips with cattle judging than horse judging! This all came to a head one winter in 1997 when visiting a farm with a top breeder and judge of Holsteins. He asked me what I thought of one of his bull calves in a pen. I (being the outspoken brat that I was) told him it wasn't good enough. The farmer snorted and walked away. My dad ripped a strip off of me when we got back to the car! He w.as a good guy though and he and dad had a good laugh over it the next time we visited
Two months later its 4-H judging time, we go to a different farm and the judge who will be hearing our results is the same breeder that I ticked off a couple of months earlier! So I place the cows, walk up to the Judge and give my reasons and places. He smirks a bit during my results but no big deal.... Two months after that we receive our placings at the local exhibition.
I won.
Out of all the farm kids, who live on farms I won and had the highest score in the county. Turns out that bull calf wasn't good at all, and I placed the cows exactly the same way he did during the competion. And the farmer got a hoot out of it, he now calls me George, even years later, said I needed a real farmers name!
The real reason I'm writing this is that one of the breeders I showed for recently had some significant success. One of his cows Pine Haven SSM Marmie, is the 2011 World Dairy Expo Grand Champion Jersey cow! She won over 360 other Jersey females to win this honor.
For dairy breeds this is the equivalent to winning the grand champion at the AQHA world show.
Eric still donates calves to all of the 4-H groups, and has had several bulls selected for breeding.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Pictures!
Not the pictures by my friend, but some very nice ones put on facebook by a friend of a friend.
Getting ready for showmanship (I love this photo of him!, And I dont look too huge!)
HUS class, I dont know what I was doing, look at the face on me!
Lucas sticking his toung out at a walk like he likes to do (we have a 3yo gelding who's mother is a 1/2 sibling to Lucas that hangs his out all the time)
Turn in showmanship (and we finaly had a back to the judge and set up for inspection like we've practiced all year!)
Halter set up for the judge
Trot in for showmanship
Getting ready for showmanship (I love this photo of him!, And I dont look too huge!)
HUS class, I dont know what I was doing, look at the face on me!
Lucas sticking his toung out at a walk like he likes to do (we have a 3yo gelding who's mother is a 1/2 sibling to Lucas that hangs his out all the time)
Turn in showmanship (and we finaly had a back to the judge and set up for inspection like we've practiced all year!)
Halter set up for the judge
Trot in for showmanship
Waiting for placings
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Alot has happened
Well alot has happened since my last post, Ive almost been to busy to write about it. I saw my RA doctor on the 23rd and shes decided to hold off on changing my meds for a bit. She is worried about the level of damange the RA is doing to my hands and my right ankle, but those are the worst, the rest are not as bad. So I have x-rays to be done on hands and ankles and then we go from there.
I ended up taking Lucas to our fun show at the barn (not like we needed to trailer to it!). And he was a super star as usual. We won our Halter and Showmanship classes, blew a lead (surprise) in the stake, and got second in the HUS class. I did well until that last class, and then I cried like a baby the entire second direction. We did ok but my lack of concentration hurt our placings. Thankfully my best friend only brought her barrel racer to the show and had time to get me sorted out before our Trail in hand class. So we ended up getting 5th out of 25 in the in hand trail class which I was impressed with as this was his first trail class. I will have pictures, my best friend took a ton as she knew how special and how hard that day was going to be.
The very next day I received an email from the former boss saying that he has some clients that were interested and asked me to send him up for a couple of weeks. So Lucas left on Thursday night for some time at his place, the old boss is going to ride him some and tune him up and have some of the kids that are looking ride him as well. Hopefully he will find a home up there as I know they will take care of him and show and enjoy him. I thought that I would want to go up with him but decided that I should just let him leave without upsetting us both. I have plans to go up next weekend to see him if hes not sold... Two good friends that have horses in the barn are taking him treats, and sharing some love with him until he gets a new person or comes home.... Im still not sure which would be better.
I ended up taking Lucas to our fun show at the barn (not like we needed to trailer to it!). And he was a super star as usual. We won our Halter and Showmanship classes, blew a lead (surprise) in the stake, and got second in the HUS class. I did well until that last class, and then I cried like a baby the entire second direction. We did ok but my lack of concentration hurt our placings. Thankfully my best friend only brought her barrel racer to the show and had time to get me sorted out before our Trail in hand class. So we ended up getting 5th out of 25 in the in hand trail class which I was impressed with as this was his first trail class. I will have pictures, my best friend took a ton as she knew how special and how hard that day was going to be.
The very next day I received an email from the former boss saying that he has some clients that were interested and asked me to send him up for a couple of weeks. So Lucas left on Thursday night for some time at his place, the old boss is going to ride him some and tune him up and have some of the kids that are looking ride him as well. Hopefully he will find a home up there as I know they will take care of him and show and enjoy him. I thought that I would want to go up with him but decided that I should just let him leave without upsetting us both. I have plans to go up next weekend to see him if hes not sold... Two good friends that have horses in the barn are taking him treats, and sharing some love with him until he gets a new person or comes home.... Im still not sure which would be better.
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