SEPTEMBER 2019

Lunch today with Friend Sherry. We always seem to find plenty to talk about.
Today's weather started out gloomy and foggy, but has turned out to be a super nice day. Now, it's going to get hot and humid again.

I'm excited and getting organized and packed to go back to Lexington again in a few days. It's really going to HOT and HUMID there, but we'll have fun anyway.

Here's something different:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?comment_id=2291986464256531&v=431122814277453&notif_id=1568861548452624&notif_t=comment_mention

ELLEN:
Have lots of fun in Lexington!! We have your cool and gloomy weather here today, it has been glorious. The heat will return in a couple of days. We are so in need of rain.

RICK:
Well, that was interesting. I have actually done that, but with goats and not when I was 3 years old. We had an intercom system in our barn at our old place. I went to check on my very pregnant goat and found 3 legs sticking out of her, not from the same baby. I let out a big shriek, which Donnie heard on the intercom. By the time he got to the barn, I had twins sorted out and born.... That kid was calmer than me!

Today was Ivan's 15th birthday! He celebrated by eating and resting in the shade all day. It's a good life if you can get it....

Rick, that is really cute and full of hope.............

Prayers for the Houston area......the rains are a bad as Harvey................

Hello all, September has been a hectic month. I've been really busy, but I can't tell you what has kept me so busy. Pathetic isn't it. I had to pop on and tell this story as you all are the only people I know who can truely appreciate it. I've been riding Tiberius off and on this summer as time permits and he has been doing well. I'm really proud of him. I haven't been able to ride him in September because other things kept getting in the way. Wednesday night I somehow managed to get everything done I needed to get done and it was early so I decided I'd go for a ride around the block. My block is about 3 miles total. We started off down the road with just a little bit of extra energy but not bad and we come to a big sign advertising an upcoming auction that wasn't there the last time we went out. SNORT. I convinced him to walk up to it and sniff and then he was ok. We continued on our ride and he settled into a nice relaxed walk. Everyone was out enjoying the evening. We saw walkers, bicyclists, people zipping around in golf cars and all was good. UNTIL.... we heard the goat and saw the chickens (also new since our last ride)... WHAT the HELL? He instantly froze and swelled up twice his normal size! Ears forward, neck arched, eyes wide open. Fortunately there weren't any cars coming. The owner of these terrifying creatures was hooking his boat up to his truck in the drive way. I was able to ask him if it was ok if I walked Tiberius down his side yard (His property is next to a hayfield that is on the property of a little private air strip.) We were able to stand in the hayfield and watch the chickens and the baby goat. He never tried to bolt. He mostly just stood there and stared. And quivered. I don't think I have ever been on a horse before that whose entire body just quivered. The wife came out and we chatted a bit while Tiberius stared at the creatures. At one point I had the thought that it would truely be interesting if the rooster crowed or if an airplane came in for a landing. I let him study the chickens, they were more scary than the goat, until he started to notice other things and at that point we continued on our ride down the road. Let me tell you, that boy can gait when he wants to. We never did get back to a flat footed walk until we stepped onto our home driveway. The good news is he never did totally freak out. I had a lot of fun on that ride, but it definitely looks as if I have a big hole in our training. Chickens, who knew?

INDY, Tiberius made me laugh........I'm sure chickens & goats will soon becomes friends.
He's a horse, of course. Have many good rides...........

LOL

Whew! Home again, home again.....
It was once again, a very busy weekend. I've never known anyone before who could make one day seem like three.
Friday, when we got there, the first thing was a visit to Woodford Reserve Bourbon Distillery. They took us through all the ancient buildings to show the distilling process. The buildings have been there and been in full use for 200 years. All the Woodford Reserve Bourbon comes from that one place. They showed us how to taste it, but I must not have done it right because I decided that I will definitely not become an alcoholic on bourbon. The old buildings and machinery were very interesting. Seeing all those barrels stacked up while they age was neat too.
Then, it was off to the Keeneland Sale barn, where three of the Silver Fern/Airy Mount yearlings were sold. The other 19 had sold earlier in the sale.
The next stop was WinStar Farm where they are training and rehabbing about 200 horses. They have ALL the latest and greatest technology to prepare and repair horses. The barns are beautiful, and amazingly cool. It was 90° outside, but they have some "Big Ass Fans" above the aisles. Yes. That is the brand name of the fans. The fan blades are about 10 feet long, and they run completely quiet. There was a continuous nice breeze, and it was only about 80° in the barn.
The manager of that part of the farm is a young Oklahoma cowboy who really knows what he's doing. He rides and ropes, but also knows how to get the most out of young race horses.
The setting and scenery around is simply gorgeous.
Supper at an old railroad station turned restaurant finished off the day.
Saturday,
Saturday was a bit later start for us, but we went back to WinStar to watch them work some of the babies on their track. There are dozens of people working there. At least a dozen riders, many more grooms, stall cleaners, and every other kind of job you find around horses.
WinStar is a true business and has an owner who requires accountability from the managers, but provides them with everything they need to be successful.
Then, a little drive took us by a little old country deli where they have GOOD sandwiches. The place was FULL. We were FULL when we left.
The next stop was a farm called Old Friends. It is a place that takes in retired race horses to give them a comfortable life when they can't race or breed any more. Silver Charm and War Emblem are both there, among the 164 residents.
By that time, we were beginning to drag a bit. Brandi and her husband went to their son's college soccer game for a while. The rest of us took the opportunity to just hang out on the patio, overlooking the beautiful farm around us.
Pizza was next and last on the agenda.
This morning, we all loaded onto the Kabota for a tour of the whole farm. There is a lot of it, and ALL of it stunningly beautiful. Much of it remote and so peaceful. Horses all around.
A short gab session, and then we headed for home. Tired but very happy.
I dropped off three of them, and came on home. VERY tired, but very content. Tomorrow, I go through my pictures and try to get them posted where you can see them.
ZzzzzzzZzzzzzZzzzzz ni-night

INDYAPP:
Good for Tiberius!! He didn't die or kill you!! I had goats and chickens for years, so mine are pretty immune....until my flock of guineas flew in formation down into the pasture. Then it was every horse for himself. I went on a ride with Ivan once with a friend, we came upon a pair of donkeys. Ivan ignored them, he lives with one, but the other horse freaked out. Ivan did freak out over a turkey a couple of years ago, though. It was eye level on a bank we were passing. It fluttered its wings trying to escape thru a fence and Ivan lost his mind. I saw it before him, though, and knew what he would do, so I survived without dying. Good for you for being so calm! Tiberius will get used to those creatures....eventually....

ELLEN:
Welcome back! Wow, what a jam packed weekend you had! It sounded like a lot of fun. Did you go with the group to WinStar Farm during the KY FoopFest? I was thinking you did. We only really saw the VERY fancy stallion barn, but I'd love to see the rest of it. Glad you had a good time!

Donnie got a bad cold mid-week, I tried not to get it....and got it on Saturday. It's a doozy. I went to my friend's husband's funeral on Friday and Donnie didn't go because we didn't want to kill anyone with that cold of his. There must have been 200 older people there, the fellow was pretty well thought of. I'll let you know if I survive his cold...

Ark, Brandi and her husband have bred many mares to WinStar stallions, and currently have Red Ruby there for rehab, hoping to race her again next year.  She won the filly Preakness last year.  So, she has connections that allow her to pretty much go wherever she wants to go.  So, it was just her and the 4 of us friends who went.

The stallion barn that you saw is now a facility for more serious rehab horses.  They have a new stallion barn that houses about 24.  It is even more elaborate than the one you saw.  We were there last year when Justify was there.  Because there were prospective breeders looking at the stallions, I couldn't take pictures of the inside.
If I remember correctly, WinStar Farm is now about 3500 acres.  They provide nice housing for some of the employees and their families. I don't know how many people they employ, but it's a LOT.

Hubby and i were riding when we ran across a flock of turkeys gobbling. Some took flight making a racket...others were running around near the horses. They stood still and took it all in. We thought the worse of course.
On down the toad a flock of chickens were running around...we thought this would be fine.....nope...both horses started snortin and dancin with some bucks thtown in! Wow! We were in total shock and surprise. Next day we had chickens for the barnyard....they never minded them again.
Ellen busy trip but sounds like fun.
Get after those colds....3rd person ive heard from today that has a cold.

Here is a link to some pictures. I THINK if you click on a picture, you can see the caption on the upper right. Please let me know if it works.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOXU3IGHy-SfIdM4S6tr6UaTA3EKPBG0fhcQu0i0bG3FBuCv2kDKHb8REvknzPv0w?key=elV4Tmt2cjJ4QjV0bXN6WUJtRkNBVF9IMkVvaEZR

Beautiful photos ELLEN. Thanks for sharing.........

Thanks. I'm glad to know the link works.

Oh my gosh, it's almost the end of September where did this month go?  Just wanted to check in and say hello everyone.  I'm still around just running running running in circles it seems lately.  I take time to read the forum to see what everyone is up to.  In the middle of crazy things there was a great experience yesterday.  I did grandparents day with little Bailee.  What a blast that little girl is, she is in first grade this year.
Hope everyone is enjoying the nice fall weather, it's my favorite season.
Love & prayers for all...

ELLEN:
Those are great pix! I loved the dry stacked stone wall. I imagine slaves built that. The 200 year old house and the 200 year old log cabin sure showed relative amounts of wealth. I really like that region. We lived in Lexington for a few months after college before we moved to Virginia.
Thanks for posting the photos! I enjoyed your trip.

TRUDY:
I bet you had fun with your granddaughter! We are having a rare cool day here today, but the 90s will be back in a couple of days. We actually got a few sprinkles last night, felt great, but left the grass begging for more.

CB:
How are your new horses working out?


Anyone going to see the new Downton Abbey movie? I wanted to go last weekend, but our colds didn't allow that. We don't want to kill anyone. I hope it stays in the theatres long enough for us to see it.

The hay guy brought 200 bales of hay this morning and will bring another 100 tomorrow morning. Hay is going to very scarce this coming spring. I want to get another hundred bales just to be sure we'll have enough until next cutting, but may have to search further afield to get it. The hay guy's partners may end up building our new hay building since our still absent carpenter (three weeks so far) has not shown back up. I hope they do it. They are retired and do odd jobs.

Ark, did you get more hay today?

It's been a very quiet day, which is the usual for this time of year.
My lawn tractor transmission seems to have died. Motor is fine, but it won't go. We'll get it on a trailer and I'll take it to the guy I bought it from 3 years ago. Either he will fix it, or I will trade it for another used one.

Tomorrow, I have to make two gallons of ice cream for a neighborhood party on Saturday afternoon. That'll keep me busy for a couple of hours.

ELLEN:
 Yep, I have about 500 bales now stored and another 100 reserved  for when I get space.  We should be good for the year.  All the hay people are saying that hay is going to be very scarce after January or February.  It is a relief to have ours arranged.  We should have a little extra in case a neighbor needs a bit.
The hay guy's helpers have agreed to build the new hay building in about a month. Donnie and I will probably finish the arena fence since it has now been a month since our carpenter has bothered to show up.


Yum, homemade ice cream!!!


We haven't mowed our yard in probably 6 weeks.  It is so dry here, it isn't growing.  We may go over the yard one more time just to trim things up before winter.

Tomorrow I have bookcases arriving from the furniture store and the farrier coming in the afternoon.  Busy day coming up....

I'd like to ask for prayers for Neighbor Pirkko. She has had a meningioma for a couple of years that they know of. It has been growing more rapidly, so they have decided to do surgery and remove it on Tuesday. She's been through a lot in the last year. I just pray this goes well for her.

Prayers from here ELLEN.............

Poor Pirkko. I hope it all is removed and she becomes perfectly healthy.



My bookcases arrived today. They scratched the bottom of them while moving them in the truck. They were going to take them back, but I asked if I could get a discount on them instead. The company gave me $50 off each. Donnie fixed the scratches in about 30 minutes. We already had the stain and varnish here.

The farrier came after that and did the big horses. Donnie will do the little guys' feet.

Tomorrow we are going to try to work on the arena fence.....busy, busy....

This afternoon, we had a neighborhood get-together at a house 3 houses down from me. The hosts were running golf cart UBER service. LOL I had a cooler of ice cream to haul down there, so it was nice to have a ride. We have lots of good cooks in the neighborhood, so there was plenty of good food. Nobody left hungry.
We had a belated surprise birthday party for Pirkko and she was declared the queen of the lake. Then we all sat around the circle visiting and having a good time. The wind came up, so Ed started a fire which felt good. Finally, about 9:30, I decided that I was cold enough and was ready to come home. Once again the golf cart UBER came into play, so I didn't even have to walk home. I left the ice cream and the cooler will be returned later.
I really love the people in my neighborhood.

Ellen its nice to have a good neighborhood...help when needed...feel safe....thats the way it is in rv parks too. You get together and do things....we had a gaming group of 20 to 30 people...went to events together....exploring together....and when we came down with bad colds found care packages on our front step and offers of grocery runs
For us via text. I couldnt blame old folks for not visiting as no one wants to get sick but they were there by text if we needed help. It was a good feeling. I will miss that group of oeople. Keep in touch with many of them. We are stuck here for winter this year. Bah humbug. But i have my horse. I got a saddle yesterday at the horse auction we went to...lightweight cordura. We had sold everything horsey.
Ark...its good you have your hay...and good deal on the shelves.
Trudy...the helicopter crash at the fair made national news...glad it was just injuries...whew! I miss the fair.
Well its time i get my butt moving....
Mornin all!

CB:  It's not the same fair that you remember..it's so expensive, I don't know how people can afford to go and everything inside is expensive too.  People have been complaining and not attending.  This was the second helicopter accident, a couple of years ago the pilot was killed when he walked into the rotating blades.  Pretty dangerous activity.  We haven't gone to the fair in years.  Attendance was down again this year except for Senior citizen day.

I'm off to my favorite place today.  The dentist...just to have my teeth cleaned and talk about getting a new mouth guard.  Grinding my teeth again and my old guard doesn't fit.  I tried one from CVS...what a waste of money that was.  Oh well...

Trudy, how did the hearings for Gemma go?

Time to change the calendar. Go to:

https://horsefriends.forumotion.com/t98-october-2019#12122

or go to "Basket" and click on "October 2019"