Puddles is here!

Mom got her wish: Puddles is a filly! She's about 16 hours old in the picture.


Born at 2:10 am on Sunday, May 29, 2011, Puddles is a big bay filly. She has a star in the shape of an apostrophe, just like her full brother, Pebbles.

Mom hasn't completely decided on her show name, but is leaning towards Rain Dance Dreams as it was pouring rain when Puddles was born. We both got to see the whole birth, thanks to the wonderful people at Mare Stare who called me. Mom watched from home, and I stood by in the barn in case Beauty had a problem. I have a video of the birth and more pictures on FaceBook.

After an exciting night, Serge and I showed in our dressage classes at Forever Green Stables. Serge rode Raven in the Senior Walk/Trot division and did very well for his first ever English show - and we're especially proud of him since he's only been riding Raven for 3 weeks! I earned two 2nd place ribbons on Porto in the Senior First Level division, and a 1st place ribbon on Reo in the Senior Walk/Trot division.

Silver was a very good boy for me in the Senior Walk/Trot division, scoring just over 50% even though he was scared. He tried very hard to be a good boy - and got 7s for his halts. It was his first time at a show since we've had him, and may have been his first show ever. I'm sure he'll do better next time.

All in all, we were very pleased with the results of our first show of 2011.

Porto is home for the summer now, and I look forward to riding him regularly.

This Thursday, Lorraine and I are going to head off with the trailer to pick up a pair of Bashkir Curly mares. Lorraine's daughter is allergic to horses, but shows no reaction to the hypoallergenic Curlies. They'll be bred to Silver, and we hope that they'll have beautiful Curly foals next year.


EastWind Pony Club news

Pony Club meeting at the farm on Sunday, June 5th, at 1 pm. It's mom's birthday, so we're having cake for a snack. We may also have a potential new member visiting.

Bring your helmet and boots as we may ride (PPG practice) if the weather is good.

We're still watching Beauty on Mare Stare. :)

http://www.marestare.com/fcam.php?alias=dreamscape

Her udder is full and the fluid is now whitish, so we're hoping she'll foal soon.

Otis has a new home. He has two little boys (3 & 4) to love him. They were very excited about their new pony! Otis went to his new home in Brockville on Sunday. Mom microchipped him with a Can-Trac microchip before he left, so we can track him - and identify him - if he's ever adopted by a different family.

Christina's family is having a garage sale to help raise funds for the farm. It's at Forest Valley Elemantary School, in Orleans, on May 28th from 9 am to 3 pm.

Come on out and buy something!

Mare Staring

We're watching Beauty on the Mare Stare camera: Check out her link here.

Silver's identity confirmed!!

I received this message from the American Morgan Horse Association today:

"the DNA results for your horse and they have confirmed that the horse you took the sample from is CW'S TOTALLY SILVER #163246. This new sample qualified to the sire and dam as well as matched the existing DNA type on file."

I sent his owner a message via Facebook and left a message on her home phone with the results. Now we just have to negotiate the transfer fee for his papers!

Hurray!

Happy Easter!

Don't forget to get your photos in for our Easter/Spring online photo show. To enter, go to our FB page and become a member, then post a picture of you and your equine dressed for the season. There's no entry fee, but there are ribbons (handcrafted by Mom) for the winners at each level.

April is halfway over!

Life is busy, and updating this blog seems to be near the end of the ToDo list some days.

The American Morgan Horse Association sent me a DNA kit, so we're now waiting for the results to come back to confirm that Silver is truly CW's Totally Silver.

Even if he isn't, he's a lovely pony, and we'll have a few foals by him next summer.

He and Jasmine shared a stall for a few days last week, so we're expecting a March foal out of her. He's a very kind and considerate horse to breed, either in-hand or freely. Even with several mares around in season, he behaves well on the lead and can be ridden.

We love Silver!

I celebrated my 30th birthday in March. Mom baked and decorated a birthday cake. Daphne, Christina, Lori and her children, and Mom were here for a spaghetti dinner to help Serge and I celebrate. Granny and Grandpa took us all (Serge, Mom and me) out to the Rideau Carleton Raceway for dinner on the Friday.

Thank you all very much for making my birthday special.

Patricia brought a new pony home to use in her equitherapy lessons: Paddington. He's here on a lease and is only being used for ground work right now. He loves to be brushed and petted.

Susan B. bought two more equines: Sweet Pea, an older pinto pony, and Nikitah, an older Thoroughbred mare. She gave me Sweet Pea for my birthday.

Both Sweet Pea and Nikitah are well-trained, obedient equines, and both are delightful to ride. Sweet Pea is only suitable for young children or really skinny teenagers as she's only 10 hh, but Nikitah can be ridden by adults on a hack or in the ring. She has some age related issues that mean that she can't be jumped, but she does walk, trot and canter just fine.

Both Sweet Pea and Nikitah will be used in Pony Club practices for the summer.

For personal reasons, Susan B. surrendered Nikitah and Otis to Dreamscape Acres. That means that Otis is available for adoption or sponsorship again. Until he's adopted, he'll continue to be used in equitherapy and the Pony Club practices.

Dreamscape's Delilah has been adopted!

She's come so far in the last 3 years that she was ready to be adopted. We'll miss her, but know she has a good home as a warmblood/Canadian Sport Horse broodmare at Westbound Stables in Orton, Ontario. We trailered her to her new home on Wednesday and they were delighted to meet her.

Delilah wowed them with her huge floaty trot in the arena, and was happy to let them smoosh all over her. We can't wait to see her foals in the next few years - she'll be bred to top notch warmblood stallions and should produce more huge, gorgeous babies.

I have a new website for the farm. Check it out here: Dreamscape Acres Stable.

We sent in seven entries to the International Spotted Horse Registry Association (ISHR) first quarter online photo show, and Jasmine placed third in the Solid Colour category, and Spot My Dream also place third, but in the Spotted category. Each of them will receive a certificate for their record pages.

This quarter is the Foal to 2 Year Old online photo show, so we'll be taking lots of pictures of Beauty's foal when it arrives, as well as Breezy and Pebbles.

We're also looking forward to the Summerfest Breeder's Show this year - and plan to fill the trailer with ponies!

Patricia has a webpage for her equitherapy business now. Check it out here: Stable Foundations.

She's planning to be a full-time therapist come the fall.

EastWind Pony Club news

Our last meeting was all about Quiz. Every one of our members will be participating in Regional Quiz for the very first time. We practiced some of the games that will be played at Quiz and everyone did quite well.

Not only are all the members going to Quiz, we have at least three volunteers going to help out. Thank you very much for being so active in Pony Club - it's as good as you make it, and by volunteering, you help keep the costs down.

Daphne and Christina will be on a Level 3 team with a member from another branch, and Miella, Emma and Kaitlyn will be a Level 2 team. Good luck everyone!

Halfway through March!

Well, life has been busy!

The vet came out and did teeth at beginning of February. He floated and inspected a lot of horse teeth, and pulled two rotten teeth out of Sneakers, and one out of Beauty. Mom saved the teeth for our collection, and put them in the corner cabinet in the kitchen for safekeeping - and so Jasper and Rusty don't eat them like the caps off Spook's teeth. Christina, Daphne and mom came to watch and take pictures - and hold ponies. Pebbles was also gelded that day - and the girls were a big help holding his legs. Thanks, Christina and Daphne! I'm glad your parents let you come out for the day!

Bobbi (Bobbing for Dapples) has a new home. She came from Aspen Creek Stables in the hopes that she would be another large pony for the girls to ride, but she just wasn't suitable. She's better off being a one-family horse than ridden by a wide variety of kids. Her new family loves her to bits, and she'll be a great "backyard" pony for them.

Peanut came back to visit for a couple of weeks with his buddy, Allie (a minature mare) while his owners were on vacation. They brought Peanut and Allie over in their minivan, and picked them up a couple of weeks later. He's really grown! Allie is cute, but bossy, so she had some extra manners work done while she was here. Pebbles was glad to see his brother again.

Breezy, Firecracker and Delilah are available for sale/adoption. We thought that Delilah was going away on a breeding lease, but those plans fell through. Hay is so expensive that we can't keep all the wonderful ponies that we have, so we need to downsize.

Cinder, one of our rescue ponies that was adopted last year, had a beautiful colt this weekend. Her new owners sent us pictures. Even though she's a bay, her foal is a pinto - and awfully cute.


Puppies!

We have puppies! The Lake of Two Mountains Hunt had some 'oops' puppies (Patterdale Terrier and Foxhound mix) and we agreed to foster/adopt them to help them all find new homes. There are three: Rusty, Rufus and Jewel. Rusty is ours, mom is fostering Jewel, and Sue B. is fostering Rufus. They're all adorable!

If you are interested in adopting a puppy, please contact me at the farm, either by phone or by email.


EastWind Pony Club news

Christina did her presentation for her Breeds badge at the last meeting. She chose Westphalian as her breed, and did a great job of putting together a poster and oral presentation for the branch.

All of five our members, plus two chaperones (Lorraine and me), spent the first weekend in March at SLOV Winter Camp at McSkimming. Mom was a clinician in the crafts area on Saturday. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we had a great time.

Everyone should be practicing for Quiz (April 17). Our next meeting is on April 10th at 1 pm - the week before Quiz.

End of January

Time flies when you're busy!



Butterscotch



Kathy and Donna



We have a new pony: Butterscotch. She arrived on Friday. She's a half Arab, about 26 years old. She needs her teeth floated and her feet done, and lots of loving. Kathy D. has offered to sponsor her as well as Donna - thank you very much!


Peanut (Rock My Dreams) is sold. He's leaving today. He's moving to the farm behind us to be a friend for a 3 year old boy. They're looking for a companion for Peanut, too. Pebbles (Dreaming of Chocolate) is going there for a few days to help Peanut settle in. Peanut and Pebbles went to Peanut's new home in the back of the mini van. Talk about riding in style!

The girls came out to ride this week - they're done their exams for now. Back to school again on Monday, but we really enjoyed their company (and all the work that they do) this week!

We had great news about Silver. The woman who owns him has confirmed that she believes the horse in our photos is her stallion and is willing to sell us his papers. All we're waiting for now is confirmation from the DNA registry that he is CW's Totally Silver, and then we'll be able to market him as a purebred Morgan stud. He's such a sweet stallion! I hope to get him ready to do Training level dressage this summer.

Delilah is being considered for a breeding lease. She's a Canadian Sport Horse approved broodmare, and we found someone who would like to lease her to get a nice Sport Horse foal. If things work out, she'll go live at their farm to be bred and only come back after her foal is weaned next year.

Serge is making great progress on the tack room. Soon, we'll have an enclosed room for tack storage. We used Air Miles to get Rona gift certificates to pay for a lot of the materials. If you don't already collect Air Miles and would like to collect them to help us purchase more materials for the farm, please let us know. Mom can order more cards with the same number so that they all accumulate in one account. If you have Air Miles that you would like to redeem for certificates to donate, we'd love that, too. 375 Air Miles can be redeemed for a $50 Rona gift certificate - and that can buy a lot of fence wire, isolators, or wood for stalls and the tack room.

Thank you to all Mom's friends who keep donating shredded paper! It saves us a lot of money on shavings, and composts really well in the manure pile.

The vet will be out for "teeth day" on Thursday. Several horses need their teeth checked or floated, and Beauty (Beautiful Dreamer) needs two extracted. Pebbles and Peanut may also be gelded that day - the vet will let us know if it's the right time.
The farrier was out last week to trim hooves. He did about half of the herd and will be back next month to do the rest.


EastWind Pony Club news

We're up to 5 members this year: Miella, Emma M., Kaitlyn, Christina and Daphne. We have a couple more people considering joining, and Emma H. and Dawn C. are still considering renewing. Four of our members have signed up for Winter Camp in March already.

We're practicing for Quiz now. Quiz is in April, and all of our members will compete at the "entry" level this year. Mom found some old Quiz tests and we'll work through them in our meetings, as well as practice possible games. We're also practicing parts of the bridle and saddle and Pony Club grooming.

January news

Serge rode Donna for the first time since she came to the farm!



We know Donna was broke sometime in the past, but she'd only been a broodmare for years before Sue B. bought her at the Galetta auction. Now that Candy has been weaned (and sold to Christine Allard), it's time to get Donna back into shape.

You can see by Serge's huge grin that he's thrilled to be on Reba's granddaughter, Donna.

The vet will be out sometime this month to do teeth. Silver, Beauty, and several others need regular dental work to deal with hooks and other issues. Regular dental check ups and care ensure that the horses and ponies can get all the nutrition out of their food that they can.

Our Pony Club, EastWind, has five members so far this year. We encourage all members to spread the word and see if we can add even more members. Dawn and Emma H. have not yet renewed their memberships, but we hope they decide to come back, too.

Winter Camp is coming up soon, and if you'd like to attend, you need to be a fully-paid up member (Pony Club and OEF).

Sad way to start the new year

We lost our dear little blue puppy, Jesse, on New Year's Day. He was out with us when we put out the horses, but for some reason, he ran to the road and was stuck by a passing vehicle.

We didn't see him get hit, and the driver didn't stop. We don't know why he ran on the road as Jasper stayed in the back with us. Serge found him on the side of the road, unconcious.

We rushed him to the Alta Vista Emergency Clinic on Bank St., but although they did their best to save him, his internal injuries were too severe for him to survive. He never regained conciousness, so we hope he never felt any pain.



I hope there are plenty of places to explore, chickens to herd. and cewy squeaky toys for you on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. You weren't with us for long, but you'll be in our hearts forever.