Scout

Marie's new hunter/jumper - Scout. Thoroughbred. 8 years old.

 

New family members

We have some new family members to share with you (Some of them we would REALLY like to share with you! I'll point out which ones along with their pictures).



This is Jasmine. Marie bought her from friends of ours. She will be Marie's second lesson horse. Now she can have two students at once. We think she is a Shetland/Welsh mix. She is a sweetie.





Jasmine and Scotty are pasture mates for now. And for those of you who know the history, Scotty is still on the bottom of the pecking order!

Now - on to the feline additions. Marie's cat, Saphire, had her second litter of kittens in August. (I know, I know - there is something you can do about that. It's a long story. You can ask Jeff why.) Anyway, this second litter consisted of SEVEN!!! kittens. We are down to four. Marie is keeping one of them so three of them are looking for homes (thus the sharing we would like to do with you!).


We call this one Sable although you can feel free to change her name! She looks like her mom. Beautiful blue eyes! She has a half tail (probably some Manx in her. The neighbor's cat also has a half tail. Hmmm.) Actually, I say "she" but we're not sure about any of them. Marie says to tell you that Sable does a good job of keeping her(him)self clean.


This one is Pearl. This picture does not do her/him justice. She/he is a beautiful, all white cat with her/his mother's beautiful blue eyes. She/he looks like she/he might be long haired but will probably not be. Her/his mother looked like this too when she was a kitten and now she has a smooth coat. Pearl's coat is kind of "wire-ry". She's not really "soft". Pearl stay's pretty clean too. Pearl has an independent spirit.



We call this one Seven. Why? Duh. Seven also has a half tail like the neighbor cat. She/he is the most playful of the bunch. Seven will climb in your lap if you sit down. If you don't sit, he'll sit on your foot until you pick him up.



Last but not least, this is Gino. This is the one that Marie is keeping.

All of these kittens use the litter box. They will follow you around like puppies. Friends of ours who took kittens from the first litter and three of the ones from this litter tell us how wonderful they are. Great natured and very gentle. One of them walks their cat on a leash. Just let us know which one you would like to add to your family! They needs homes this month!!

Family Pics

We spent the weekend with my brother in Nashville a couple of weekends ago. He is an amateur photographer with professional equipment. Thought you all might like to see some of his work!

Natural Horsemanship

Marie passed her level 1, Parelli Natural Horsemanship assessment this past weekend in Tennessee. She was very excited to reach this milestone! She is now moving on to level 2! This is a pictures of her and her horse, Scotty and Sam Beechboard, the instructor that did her assessment. Scotty on the platform is not a level 1 task but they have been working on it for about 2 months. She was able to get Scotty's front two feet on the platform and then could lift one back food to the platform but she couldn't get him to get that 4th foot up there. Mr. Beechboard helped her accomplish the last little bit of the challenge.

This summer, Marie has two jobs. Not bad for a 13 year old! She is working at the barn where she rides as well as giving riding lessons at home. She has 10 students ranging in age from 4 to 13. She designed a 10 week course for beginner riding lessons. Each lesson has a Biblical application. She and her students are really enjoying the lessons. She was recently asked by a couple of adults if she would give them lessons. I guess all of those years of lessons are paying off! We are very proud of her and the work ethic that she is displaying.

Snow Horses

We wanted to share some pictures of our horses in the one and only snow we had this year. It was the best kind of snow - ONE day snow. On Friday, March 14 it snowed between 8 and 12 inches. We woke up Saturday morning to a winter wonderland! By Sunday afternoon, most of it was gone. It was beautiful while it lasted.

Resurrection Kittens!!

Marie's cat, Sapphire, had five kittens the night before Easter at eleven o'clock p.m. They're resurrection kittens! We got Sapphire from our friend, Wendy. Linda was in the dining room and heard a whining sound in the garage. She went to investigate and saw that Sapphire was having her kittens. She had already had two of them and Linda helped her with the third. She had two more later on and does a wonderful job of taking care of them. Sapphire was extremely tired after the last one, however, and needed some encouragement to clean the last baby. She did it though, and is being a wonderful mama. She was supposed to be fixed before she got pregnant with kittens, but we just never got around to it! These are some pictures of the babies. There are three gold kittens and two gray kittens. They are less than one day old. Sapphire takes care of her babies but you can tell she is very tired. I guess anybody would be with five babies to care for! If you would like a kitten just let us know and we'll reserve one for you. They'll be ready to come to your home by mid-May. They're going fast so make your reservation for your very own resurrection kitten right away!