September news!

It's been a busy month - and it's not over yet.

Dreamscape Acres welcomes Natalie and Gilligan (aka Gilly). Gilly is a very handsome gelding - at least that's what Soul and Scrappy say.

Jennifer G. has chosen to sponsor Delilah. Thank you, Jennifer G.!

Sponsors are always welcome to come out and pet, groom, and if the horse is broke and healthy, ride "their" horse. It's a great way to have the benefits of horse ownership without the unknown costs - you pay a fixed amount each month that goes to the care and feeding of that horse and frees up some more money for other rescues.


We picked up Dreamer (Dreamin' of Willy) on Friday. She was very pregnant - due anytime between now and the end of October. Her former owner, Caroline B. H., wasn't sure of her due date. This photo shows Dreamer's rear view - that bulging belly is all baby!

Dreamer has one and one half ears - no one knows quite how she lost the tip of her right ear. It could have been frostbite or an injury, but whatever it was, it's well healed and doesn't bother her at all.




Dreamscape Acres also welcomes Jennifer N. and Maggie. Maggie is a young Paint mare. Jennifer N. is also considering an on-property lease of Sneakers for her daughter to ride.

We got a great deal on a "floor model" wooden shed from Home Hardware. The shed will be our new tack room once it's insulated and we install saddle and bridle racks. That means that the tack will be close to the barn and I should be able to park my car in the garage this winter. Hurray!

Thank you to Mirka for donating (through FullCircles) several sheets of hardboard to finish the inside of the new tack room after it's insulated.

Thank you to Gabriel (Natasha's grandfather) for the round bale of straw that he delivered on Saturday - it came just in the nick of time!

The chicks will soon have all their adult feathers. As you can see, right now they're covered in fluffy down with their wing feathers. Some of the chicks have very tall tail feathers now, too. They love grasshoppers, leftover greens from dinner, and the chicken scratch that we give them every day. Daisy loves to stick her nose in the chicken pen as we feed and water them - we're not sure what she thinks they are, but she doesn't hurt them, not even when they get out of the pen.

Serge made great progress on the chicken coop - it's up, has a roof, walls and insulation, and even a trap door so the chickens will be able to go out into their run in the summer.

Thank you very much to John R., a certified electrician, for donating his time and some supplies to fix the electric in the barn, install lights in the outdoor arena, and wire the new tack room and chicken coop.

Jennifer L. brought us Levis - a 6-year old Quarter Horse gelding in need of some rest and relaxation to deal with some lameness issues. Natasha will do some light work with him on the trails.

The vet comes tomorrow to check Nikki to see if she's pregnant. While he's here, he'll check Gypsy, too. Elmer is coming to pick Gypsy up on Wednesday and mom would really like to know if she's pregnant before she goes.

Gypsy and Levis enjoyed riding on the new trail that goes around behind the race track. Gypsy is a kind, gentle mare - no saddle or bridle required with this horse! I hope she enjoys spending time with Queenie and Elmer at his place in Portland.









And finally, thank you to Dreamer for a beautiful palomino filly! Jigs Autumn Dream arrived this morning (Sept 22) about 2 am. She's gorgeous! She's about 6.5 hours old in this photo. Autumn, unlike Finn, had no problem finding the milk bar and needed a nap after a healthy drink.

Autumn will be registered as an International Spotted Horse. Although her mom is a registered Paint and it's obvious that Autumn is also a Paint, her sire is an unregistered cremello Quarter Horse stallion (Jigs). We plan to breed Soul to Jigs in the spring.


Upcoming Events:
Sunday, October 26 - Halloween Fun Day

Everyone is invited!

Bring your kids and your spouses for a fun afternoon at the farm.

There will be games and prizes for all the kids and "kids at heart". You can dress up your horse/pony or one of ours. Prizes for costumes on kids and ponies - and even pony treats for our friends.
Let us know as soon as possible if you're able to come so we can plan the games.


We'll have a potluck dinner at the end of the day and a bonfire. If the weather is miserable, we'll postpone it to the next week. Hopefully we'll have a glorious fall day!


Parking:

Lastly, a quick note about parking. We love to have you visit, but find it difficult to get the farm chores done if you park in the laneway to the barn or in the driveway. Please park up by the house on the lefthand side under the trees - we'll make sure that area is plowed for parking in the winter, too.

September days

Well, things are looking up. All of the indoor board spaces are filled - or are booked and will be by mid month. We can bring in one, possible two, more horse(s) on outdoor board. Call soon, or there won't be any room left.

Jennifer L. and I picked up a new pony at the Lachute Auction on Tuesday. Daisy is a sweet little pinto mare - a bit chubby - that will be a girlfriend for Spot (mom's little POA-type stallion) after her quarantine period is over. Once she's bred, she'll go to Jennifer's place for the winter and to be used as a lead line pony for her sons. Daisy (the pony) will come back when she comes close to her foaling date next August and stay until her foal is ready to wean.

Jasper gets bigger every day! He just about fills the big Lazyboy chair in the living room now. He likes to go for walks around the half mile track and play with Tink when she comes out to the farm. Daisy (the dog) is still top dog, though, and she doesn't hesitate to tell him when he's out of line.

Mom's working on figuring out how to put the website back up. A friend generously donated space on his server (http://www.canadianisp.com/ and http://www.pennypinchernewspaper.com/) so the website should be live again soon. Once we figure out FTP and whatever else we need to know, we'll update the photos and other information on the site - and keep it that way.

We have lights in the riding ring now! That means that we can ride in the ring after dark safely.

Natasha is out for the weekend again and giving every horse (especially her pony, Dash) a little loving and some riding time. Thanks, Natasha!

Mom photographed a neat spider when she was out last week. It appears to be a female Banded Garden Spider, Argiope trifasciata. It has a white, yellow and black striped body and is living in the cucumber plants. Despite her size (she's about an inch and a half long and about an inch across - and that doesn't include her legs), she doesn't seem inclined to bite. She's hiding under the leaves of the cucumber plant, perfectly camoflaged by the shade and bright spots caused by the sun shining on the leaves.

Summer's almost over

Wow! It's hard to believe that Labour Day is on Monday.

That means that fall is on its way and summer is virtually over. I hope the warm days and cool nights last well into the fall this year - we still have so much more to do!

A friend offered me a spare straw of semen from Outrageous Fortune, a chestnut frame overo Canadian Sport Horse stallion http://www.baystarfarms.ca/outrageousfortune.htm, so we gave Nikki (Maaks Nikki - a solid registered Paint mare) a hot shot to bring her into season and an ovulation shot, then had the vet come out and do the artificial insemination (AI). We'll have the vet back again next month to see if she caught. We've got our fingers crossed!

One stall is now rented for the winter, so there's only one left. We have room for one or two more horses on outside board, too.

Gypsy, aka Bugs Blue Chip (a registered Appy mare) is coming back to us. She was adopted by a family in the summer, but the teenagers' interests have changed and they're giving her back to us. The next time the vet is out, we'll have her checked to see if she's pregnant by Star and then decide if we're going to put her up for adoption again right away. We visited her today and brought a hen and eight chicks home with us.

We have a new mare coming to the farm mid September. Her name is Dreamer, aka Dreaming of Willy. She's a registered Paint mare, in foal to a cremello Quarter Horse-type stallion. Her foal is for sale in utereo for $300 and is due sometime between November and January. Since Dreamer is a strawberry roan overo Paint with a blonde mane and tail, there's a good chance that her foal will be a palomino Paint. Dreamer will be bred to Spook (Cool Blue Dream) next summer by AI.

Finn is settling in happily at his new home with Leisa near Smiths Falls. Delilah is happy again and regaining some of her weight - nursing Finn was taking too much out of her.

August activities

August is a busy month on the farm and away. It's fall fair season, and some of our horses travel to fairs to participate in therapeutic riding demonstrations with Willowbank Stables of Treadwell, On. That means trailering and that takes one of us away from the farm with horses fairly often. Sneakers, Reba and Nikki all spent some time at Ottawa Central Canadian Exhibition (SuperEx) this week.

Finn will be leaving us shortly. He started the weaning process and will be heading off to his new home before the end of the month. Delilah doesn't seem to mind the daily separation time at all. Finn has been eating hay and drinking water from the troughs and a bucket for over a month. He's growing so fast that Delilah is shedding too much weight even with unlimited hay and twice a day grain rations trying to nurse him. His curly black foal coat is shedding out gray (but still curly). He's going to be a handsome fellow! At 3 months, he's already close to 13 hh high. He sure loves his daily scratches and attention.

Natasha works with Dash regularly. She rides him and free lunges him - and introduced him to jumping while free lunging. He loves it and has great form. Dash accepted the harness and showed us that he understands driving as well as riding.

Natasha also rides Nikki and Mackenzie when she has time - and is learning to drive. We hitched Sneakers up and drove him all the way to the Tim Hortons in Casselman and back one day - Sneakers was pleased as punch. Several people stopped to pat him and tell him how handsome he is along the way, too.

Nikki didn't catch when we bred her to Beau, so we're looking for another stud for her. Since she's a registered Paint, that would be our preference. If we don't find the right one for her soon, we'll wait until next year and breed her to Cool Blue Dream, aka Spook.

Firecracker finally shed out her foal/winter coat and is a beautiful bay pony. She's about 12 2 hh now and should finish close to 14 hh. It's hard to believe that she's a year old already. Her mom, Beauty, is definitely in foal to Star and due in April, 2009.

Jesse and Deer are moving to another farm this month. It's been a long drive for their owner to come and see them. Hopefully their new home will be closer and their owner will be able to spend more time with them. We wish them well.

We have a couple of places open for indoor or outdoor board for September. Contact us for rates and terms at dreamscapeacres@yahoo.ca.