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Dec
25, 2006
|
December
25, 2006
Christmas is here. It
is a time to be thankful and a time that I cherish
all of the old memories I have of Christmas when I
was growing up. I can remember every year wanting a
pony for Christmas and the disappointment I had when
there was no pony under the tree. One year, I was
surprised when my parents took me out to the old
barn behind our house and in it was the most
beautiful Shetland pony I could ever imagine. Her
name was Ginger and she was about 7 months old. I
thought that I was the luckiest girl in the world.
From that time forward, horses have always played a
part in my life. I can remember going to college in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin so that I could take my horse
with me and keep her at the fairgrounds. It only
goes to show that girls who grow up loving horses
never get over them. I know that is true about me.
Horses have brought me
many friends through the years. I am so thankful
for both the old and the new friends that I have.
Every year, Ronnie Salmons calls me from Kansas on
Christmas. I just got off the phone with him. I
remember when Ronnie called and was going to bring
his mare to breed to Impressivist and he told me
that if he got here and didn’t like the horse, he
was taking his mare home. Needless to say, Ronnie
left the mare and we have been friends ever since.
My dear friend, Mary Simons always stays in touch
with me. She brought a home-made cheese cake a few
days ago. Mary and I traveled a lot when we were
young---of course, always to look at horses or visit
horse people. Sometimes I think I don’t tell people
enough how much I appreciate their friendship.
I have been thinking
about how the horse business has changed over the
years. In the old days, the shows had huge halter
classes. I remember when our Wisconsin Futurity
had over 100 weanlings in one class alone and it
would take a long time to judge it. Now, we are
lucky to have 10 or 12 in a class. I ask myself
what has happened to change all that and I really
don’t know. Some people blame it on the cost to
show, others blame it on the politics of the horses
shows, but I believe it is because the shows have
become more of a business instead of a time when
people get together to have fun and enjoy each
other.
I have also been
thinking about how our horses have changed over the
years. When I was growing up, our horses were about
14.3 to 15 hands and had a lot of mass. The hocks
on them were not posty and we very seldom had leg
problems. It was not unusual to see horses show at
halter in the morning and performance in the
afternoon. Now, it seems that we have to have
horses at least 16 hands tall and we tend
to overlook a lot of faults. Heads are no longer
important, nor are hips or straight legs. I have
been told that the head is "only a place to hang the
halter". I know what I like in a horse. Heads,
hips, backs, high necks and good hocks are very
important to me. In an age when a lot of horses are
cheap, I have found that the good ones will still
bring good money. I feel it is important to buy the
best you can possibly afford. Not only does it cost
the same to feed that horse, but you will find that
the return you will realize on the foals will be
much greater. Of course, a lot of the horse business
is a gamble as the same mare will have different quality
foals in different years sired by the same
stallion. Although that may be true, it is still
extremely difficult to raise a quality foal if the
parents aren't good individuals. I still believe
that your best chance is to try to match your mare
to a stallion that will “hopefully” improve her
where she needs improvement and not hurt her good
features. Enough said about that for now.
I hope you have noticed
that the “For Sale” page is up on the web site.
Along with the two mares on it, we also have the two
fillies that we have left for sale. They are
Frostie, who is NN and out of Miss Bunny Tardee and
Sherry who is NH and out of Phenomenal Affair. Both
are sired by Exceptionist. Rexine has also been
working hard on new graphics and I love the gray
mare head shots on top of the for sale page. Her
Christmas card is really neat and I love the bright
red color and the snow on the card. She has also
added new pictures to the “Winter Gallery” and I
will continue to take more pictures for it. We have
not had much snow or cold weather but I am sure it
is coming.
Foaling season is
coming fast. Angelica is due the 14th of
January and I now have the live foal cam
working. She should be on the camera very soon.
Kids Classic Style will be the sire of the baby and
your guess is as good as mine as to what color it
will be. I have been telling everyone that we are
starting a new color. I would appreciate any
opinions as to what color a gray mare and a buckskin
stallion will produce. I would imagine that the
graying gene will eventually prevail and the foal
will turn gray (but I don't know that) I have a
lot of new and exciting news to tell you but think I
will save that for another day. After all, it is
about time that I go in the house and eat some more
“sweets”.
Sandy |
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Nov
26, 2006
|
November 26,
It has
been such a long time since I have written news. I
hope that I can remember all that has happened, and
there has been a lot.
On
October 19, Mike, Dickie, Molly (the dog) and I went
to Mississippi. What a wonderful trip it was. We
went to look at the horses that our partnership owns
together. They were awesome and we decided that we
needed to bring the 2 mares to Wisconsin. One is the
June two year old filly by Shanes Bake and the other
is her mother, Shanes Lady Romantic. With all the
things going on at home, we decided to leave the
weanling Exceptionist filly there for the winter. I
will show you pictures of the 2 year old mare and
also the weanling filly. The two year old mare,
Twice the Romance, is NH and is absolutely awesome.
We will sell her and she will make someone a great
show mare and an outstanding broodmare. The baby
filly is something else. Talk about muscle on an NN
filly. Her nickname is Caroline, and wait until you
see her in the spring. The dam of both of these is
Shanes Lady Romantic and she is in foal to Golden
Gunslinger. If she crosses half as well with him as
she has with the other two studs, we should have a
great one.
When we
got home, we had visitors from Lousiana and
Mississippi. Garrell Chiasson and Jimmie Allemand
came to Wisconsin and during the time that they were
here, we had the most miserable weather imaginable.
Now, in Wisconsin, we can have cold weather but this
was something else. The wind blew and we had rain
and sleet and I was amazed when they told me they
wanted to bring their wives back to Wisconsin. I
told them that we normally don’t have wind, but the
way it was blowing, I really don’t know if they
believed me. They left with a trailer load of
horses. They bought Mickey, Sadie, Benny and An
Exceptional Affair. Garrell made a great purchase
and bought Call Me a Renegade and he will leave him
here and we will promote him for the upcoming
breeding season. I intend to have his own page on
the website. Not only is this a wonderful NN
stallion, he has the sweetest disposition
imaginable. You will be hearing a lot more about
him from me in the coming weeks.
No
sooner had they left than Tom and Josephine Flory
called from Ohio and wanted to come to see the
mares. I couldn’t believe that they drove here
and back in one day. Well, we had no intentions of
selling PJ Prophets Cool Skip (Patty) but somehow
it happened. She has been one of our favorite mares
but she will have a great home with the Florys and
they intend to breed her to Carribbean Kid, who was
bred by my dear friend Carri Jones.
Next
was the trip to the Quarter Horse World Show. I
flew out on Wednesday and as usual had a wonderful
time. This time was extra special as Jackie
Hardwicke and her group from Australia were there.
I had never met Jackie in person, but she and I are
like sisters. We visit on the phone and on email so
much and meeting her was only the icing on the
cake. There were about 10 people from Australia
there and what wonderful people they were. Lanis
and I couldn’t get over the accent and some of the
expressions they had. It amazes me that Jackie and
I have the same taste in horses but I guess when you
visit as much as we have, that happens. The Florys
who had bought Patty were there, as were Dr John Tan
and his brother James. The filly that the Tans own
by Elusive Kid placed 4th in both amateur
and open and we were all so happy for them. One
evening we ate with the Australians and the Tans and
another night with the Florys. All in all, it was
such a great world show due to the people that we
were with. It was also a good time to get together
and visit with a lot of my old friends that I see
only once a year. Lanis and I decided that we need
to make a special trip to Texas before Christmas to
look at the stallions as we really couldn't make any
decisions at the show.
I got
back from the World Show on Sunday and Jackie from
Australia came to visit me on Wednesday. She brought
me a gift of an actual kangaroo hide. I will
treasure it. We took her to the Outback Steak House
that night. She told me they don’t have any of the
kind of food in Australia that they have here. It
was like telling a child that there is no Santa
Claus, now that I know that Alice Springs
Chicken doesn't exist. Lol Jackie spent
Thanksgiving with us and then on Friday afternoon,
Lanis and Monte May arrived from Mississippi with
the 2 gray mares. We all went out on Friday night
and then I took Jackie to the airport on Saturday
afternoon so that she could meet with her group in
Las Vegas. I really hated to see her go and
hopefully it will not be so long between visits
again. I would love to go to Australia and I guess
I just need a push to get me to do it. These
doggone horses seem to keep me at home.
Lanis
and Monte left for Mississipi this morning and they
took Daytona and A Legacy with them. Monte is a
wonderful horseman and trailer and the stud is such
a good moving horse, we decided that we would let
him ride him for a bit before breeding season
starts. We intend to turn Daytona out for the
winter along with the gray NN filly and bring both
of them back to Wisconsin in the spring. I forgot
to tell you what is going on here. Dr Katharine
Fox, our vet is going to run her breeding operation
out of our place. We have been rebuilding the
laboratory and now have a breeding dummy set up in
the arena. She is excellent at embryo transfer and
freezing semen and it looks like my life if going to
be busier than ever. I think it will be fun and
educational besides. Since we have only 3 foals
coming for next year, I will not be overwhelmed with
the foaling. We intend to collect and ship
outside stallions here. There are already 2
stallions committed that breed a total of close to
175 mares. I have expanded the recipient herd so
that we will be ready to do more embryo transfers
also. I don’t think my life is going to be boring.
Somewhere along the way, I forgot to tell you about
the new mare that we bought. She is a black 2 year
old NN mare and is double bred Mr Impressive. She
is close to 16 hands now and is really a nice mare.
Her name is Easy Off the Tee and I will show you
some pictures of her. She has winter hair but you
will see her quality. I intend to sell her, so if
anyone needs a black NN mare for Christmas, give me
a call. Seriously, she would be a great cross with
our modern day stallions as she has no Kid Clu or
Obvious in her bloodlines.
I think
I will close for now. I need to recover from a
month of overeating. I had been walking two miles a
day and really need to get back on track with that.
Our weather has been awesome but according to the
weather channel, it is about to change. Snow is not
far away. I will try to keep up to date better on
the news. Rexine kept telling me to do it, but as
time went by, it got harder and harder to do. My
resolution is to update it more frequently. I
probably forgot a lot of what happened at Ellis
Quarter Horses already, and if I remember, I will
include it in the next update.
Sandy |
Please click on each thumbnail
below to view larger.
Top row from left to right::
(pic 1) Legs, (pic 2) Legs lunging, (pic 3)
Legs,Monte, Jackie, & Lanis (pic 4) Lanis & Sandy at
the 2006 A.Q.H.A. World Show (pic 5) Rebecca
Second
row from left to right:: Pics 1-5 Easy Off The Tee, black mare n/n
Third row from left to right::
( pic1) duck in quarry ( pic2) quarry ( pic3) Monte (
pic4 ) Lanis (pic5) Legs lunging
Fourth row from left to right::
(pic1) Angelica laying in
straw (pic2) Caroline ( n/n weanling filly by
Exceptionist) (pic3)Twice The Romance (pic4) Twice The
Romance (pic5) Shanes Lady Romance
|
Oct
17, 2006
|
October 17
So much has happened
since I last wrote news that I hope that I will be
able to remember all of it. First of all, Carri
Jones and her husband Marcus and son, Dalton came to
visit us and pick up Coola. Marcus is the best
chiropractor I know---not only did he adjust Mike, Bob
and I , but he also adjusted some of our mares. Did
it ever make a difference on Rebecca. The next day,
instead of her normal slow walk when she got to the
pasture, she actually ran and bucked. I wouldn't have
believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Of
course we went out to eat both nights they were here
and we even went to a place that had a group called
the Kip and Tom show. Kip sings and plays the guitar
and Tom plays the stump fiddle. Well, they had Dr
Jones up there playing (no less) a garbage can. I
think that he could find another career as an
entertainer. I was surprised to see how much Dalton
has grown up. He looks like he is going to be a
fantastic football player. Mike was kidding him,
telling him that he wants to be his manager. I took a
few beautiful pictures of Carri and Lucy as she left
our place.
Our weather has turned
cold and our lovely foliage and flowers are gone.
It seems as though we went from beautiful summer to
winter----forgetting autumn along the way. I did take
a few pictures and will show them to you. One day it
was raining and then the sun came out and I was able
to get some beautiful shots of the rainbow. Another
day we went to look at trucks and saw some buffalo and
birds along the road. Then of course, I had to take
pictures of the harvest moon. Of course, Molly has
really enjoyed the weather with the leaves falling off
the trees. Mike throws leaves and she catches them.
I took a picture of her sleeping after 20 minutes of
"strenuous" exercise chasing leaves.
We
had made plans to go to the Congress this year. Well,
our friends, Larry and Ann Lemke went and it took them
2 hours to go through Chicago. I thought about it
and then looked at the weather forecast for Ohio and
decided that I would rather go south and visit Lanis
and Kathy and see Joanna Strickland and Monte and
Tisha May. So-------- we are leaving tomorrow. I
will take my camera along and take some pictures on
the trip. I will report about all the things I see
while I am there. Better close for now and start
packing.
Sandy |
Please click on
each thumbnail below to view larger. From top left -
Buffalo & Birds, Carri Jones and Lucy, Frostie, Rebecca (
neck and head ) , Rebecca rear, Rebecca front , Lucy head
and neck, Rainbow, Rainbow #2, Harvest Moon, and last but
not least Molly sleeping... |
Sept
18, 2006
|
September
18
It has
been quite a while since I updated the news and a lot
has happened. Cooleah, is doing great---she has
gotten some eyesight back in her eye. In fact, today
was the first day that I put her outside in a small
shelter. I also put Angelica in the same shelter so
that she would have a buddy and since both are
pregnant, it will make it easy for me to supplement
them. Besides, I figure she would be able to see a
white horse better.
We have
another stallion. Now, can you believe that? It
just happened that Jim Sancken wanted to sell his 2
year old NN son of River City Renegade and me being
“horse crazy” decided that he needed to be bought.
His nickname is “Larry” and he is really a nice horse,
both conformation and disposition wise. Before I got
him, he was leading the state of Wisconsin at halter.
He has 6.5 open halter points with 13 wins and 4
Grands and 6 Reserves. He is qualified for the World
in Amateur with 10 shows and 10 wins. I intend to
sell him and hopefully whoever buys him will let me
retain a few breedings to him. I have some mares that
I think he will cross really well on. If anyone is
interested in buying him, please contact me----you
won’t go wrong with this horse---he will pay for
himself in no time and I do not have him priced very
high. One thing that I forgot when I bought Larry is
that it is starting to get cold in Wisconsin and Larry
has a beautiful hair coat. I hope that he sells soon
as I am not good at working horses or keeping them
short haired. He is currently outside with a sheet on
him, but our nice warm weather is over I am afraid.
My good
friend, Carri Jones came to visit me over the
weekend. Carri talked me into selling her Coola---or
Lucy as we call her. Lucy is the 3 year old mare that
I planned to keep for a broodmare. She is from the
last crop of Ima Cool Skip and out of the Reserve
World Champion of Kid Clu that is now in Australia. I
guess if can’t have her, Carri is the perfect owner
for her. Lucy is such a sweetie and she is going to
think she died and went to heaven when she goes to
Rock Rapids Iowa. Carri bought her to breed to her
great young stallion, Carribean Kid and what a cross
that is going to be. She will join the other great
mares that I sold Carri in the past. You talk about
some great mares, check out her website
www.halterhorse.net.
and take a look at them. You will be impressed. I
sold her Miss Carri Clu, CJ Miss Cool Tardee, and Prophetic
Win and also raised Charismatically Cool. Both CJ
Miss Cool Tardee and Charismatically Cool are out of
Miss Bunny Tardee and Miss Carri Clu is out of a son
of hers. What a great family of horses that have
descended from the old Tardee Impressive mare.
I snapped
a few pictures of 4 sand hill cranes that like to
“hang out” in our field. They are huge birds but I
suppose they will start getting smart and going south.
soon. I also took a few really neat sunset pictures
which I will show you.
Sandy
we plan to pick Legacy up and bring him home. I am
hoping he hasn’t grown winter hair so that I can get
some new pictures of him to show you |
Please click on each thumbnail
below to enlarge.
Top row Sunset pictures, second
row Sand hill cranes, and Larry.
Third row Larry. Bottom row the
first three pictures are Larry and the last picture in
row is Lucy.
|
August
29, 2006
| Lanis and Kathy Noble, our partners from
Mississippi on A Legacy came to visit us last weekend. One
thing about Lanis, when he tells me he is going to do
something, he does it. They make fun of me because I keep
changing my mind and make reservations to go somewhere and
then cancel. Lanis had always told me that after Legs was
at the trainers for a month, he would come up and we would
go and see him. Well, it was not an entire month, but
Lanis and I got up early last Saturday and drove the 3
hours north to see how Jeff Emerson was doing with the
stallion. You cannot believe just how impressed we were
with both Legs and Jeff. In less than a month, he has him
riding with a great headset, backing, side-passing and
doing all the things a riding horse should do. I wanted
him broke to hobbles and he has done that also. I took a
few pictures of him riding and we decided that we would
leave him up there another month for more training. Jeff
intends to chase a few calves with him and continue his
education. I measured him at 15.2 and ½ at the withers and
15.3 at the hip. I believe he has quite a bit of growth
left in him as he is a late colt. It always amazes me how
much a horse changes when you don’t see them every day. I
knew the horse was good minded but Jeff tells me that he
is really an athletic horse also. I guess his breeding is
coming through for that.
Wisconsin is in the middle of a draught and everything is
brown. We are very lucky to have all the hay we do in the
barn. We also harvested our oats and we have enough of
them to last us throughout the year. Mike has not had to
cut grass for so long and it is difficult to take pictures
when there is no green background. The flies have been
terrible and the inside horses want to go out in the
morning but then are ready to come back in under their
fans and fly system within a few hours. I guess I
shouldn’t complain as soon it will be fall and then cold
will come. We like fall, as the Packer and Badger games
start and we are big football fans. Of course, what else
do you do in Wisconsin when it gets cold.
Last Monday morning while I was sitting in the office
before starting my chores, I heard horse hooves and saw
that the 5 horses we had in one shelter had broken the
boards and were out. When I went back there, the boards
were broken in 3 different places. They were not able to
get onto the highway as we have a fence around our
property and the gates were still closed. I caught them
and noticed that Cooleah (Olivia) could not see. I had the
vet come out and she is completely blind. We treated her
and a specialist from the Referral Center came and Tuesday
and hopefully we will be able to save her eyesight. It
would be terrible if she were blind as she is in foal and
I can’t imagine foaling her out and then her being able to
find her baby. I have been told that horses adjust very
well, but this is something that I just don’t need or want
to deal with. I will keep you up to date on her recovery.
After the horses got out, Mike decided that he needed to
build a fence within the fence down by the highway so he
and Bob built it in 2 days. Dickie painted it. I did not
think we needed it, but now that it is done, it really
looks nice and I must admit it is a safety factor. The
only casualties we had were that both Mike and Bob got
stung by bees. Bob’s hand swelled up and he had to take a
day off work and Mike got it on the side of his face.
Well, we did have one more casualty---that was Mike
hitting his thumb with a hammer and needing 5 stitches in
it. I keep telling him he needs to get his eyes examined
but you know men---can’t tell them anything.
Molly is back to her old self. She was supposed to stay
quiet for a month, but no one told Molly that. She is
chasing balls and riding with Mike on the gator again. We
are so lucky that she is still alive after the rat poison
episode. It was pretty lonely around here the 2 days she
was in the hospital. Since we don’t have any children,
Molly is like a child to us.
Sandy |
Please click on each thumbnail below
to enlarge it.
Top row is A Legacy aka "Legs"
Second row is Mike, Bob, Mike and Bob, and Bob.
Third row is Lucy and Janie, Angelica, Mares, and Phen and
Patty.
Fourth row is recipient mares, An Exceptional Affair and
Molly.
August
13, 2006
|
August
13
At
lot has happened in the last week.
Our dog, Molly,
who
is like our child, almost died.
We noticed on Saturday that she was lethargic
and sore in her hind legs. We thought that perhaps she
had eaten some of the rat poison that Bob had been
putting out but then
again questioned whether a dog would eat rat poison.
That night she seemed to drink a lot of water and when
I woke up Sunday morning she was panting heavily and
had a paunch hanging under her neck.
I
immediately
called our vet and he referred us to the
Animal
Referral
Center
which specializes in emergency treatments.
We rushed her there and on the way I really
didn’t think we would ever bring her home alive.
A dog’s blood is supposed to be 40 and hers
was 22 when we arrived and within 10 minutes it had
dropped to 13.
They
told us that she was very critical and was bleeding
internally from the rat poison. They told us that if
she made it through 4 hours she may make it and she
did. We went to
visit her Sunday evening and on Monday night we were
able to bring her home.
It was a big lesson for us----no more rat
poison where the dog could possibly get it.
We are thankful to have Molly back and normal
again. Of course, she is supposed to stay quiet for 4
weeks and she is already running around and riding
with Mike on the gator.
Yesterday,
A Classic Edition, the 2 year old filly that we called
Buffy was named Youth World Champion 2 year old mare.
What a thrill it was watching the class on the
Internet. Now
I know why I don’t like horse shows----each placing,
starting with honorable mention, made my heart
skip
a beat. However,
it was so exciting when her name was called for World
Champion. Her
owner, Travis Sancken did a great job of showing her.
It is hard to believe that little Buffy has
matured into that big gorgeous mare.
I will have win pictures of her on the website
as soon as I get them.
Paula Warner must really be pleased as Nickie
is a full sister to her. They are by Kids Classic
Style and out of Cooleah.
This mare has really crossed well with Kids
Classic Style as her other foal by him was Australian
World Champion last year.
Cooleah is one of the few mares that I have in
foal for next year and she is bred back to Kids
Classic Style.
I
was thinking about the foal crop that we raised that
are now two year olds.
Three of the 5 colts that we had that year have
been World Champions. The other two were Champaign and
Janie. We lost Champaigne as a coming yearling and we
still have Janie and intend to use her for a
broodmare.
Third
cutting hay is now in the barn and we have enough hay
for the year.
If
we get some rain we may get another cutting. Of
course, there is not room in our arena for anything
else as it is full of hay. Mike won’t be able to
complain about the number of horses we have now as we
have plenty of feed to take care of them.
Mickey
is sold. He
is the NN stud colt out of Miss Bunny Tardee by
Exceptionist.
He
is going to a great family who are building their
ranch in
Mississippi
.
They
currently live in
Louisiana
and are in the process of bulldozing trees and
building facilities.
Mickey will be their future stallion.
What better bloodlines can you get than
Exceptionist and Miss Bunny Tardee.
I am looking forward to meeting them when they
come here to pick him up in a few weeks.
Sandy
Click on
each picture below to enlarge it. |
From left to right below, Molly, Molly in hay, Molly rest,
Bob and Mike, and Mike.
August
3, 2006
|
August 3,
July is gone and what a
hot month it has been. I don’t know how horses in
the South can handle this heat and humidity. Perhaps
our horses are babied too much but they want to go
outside in the morning and then about after 3 hours
they are ready to come back in under their fans and
fly system. Now, most of the mares live outside and
we decided that we would put basket fans on the ends
of the shelters to give them some air and to blow the
flies away. Well---what do the horses do but stand
out in the hot sun and let the bugs bite them. I
always thought they were dumb, but this is really
frustrating me.
I was so happy to hear
that Western Sundown was Reserve World Champion at the
Palomino World this year. Talk about a pretty
stallion. I am excited to try him on some of my mares
next year as he will certainly put the pretty on them.
Congratulations to the Sartains---they are really
promoting “Trigger” and I look for great things from
him.
Legacy has gone to
“riding school” Lanis and I thought it would be a
good idea to get him broke to ride. He is very
athletic and has such a good mind, we thought it
would give him a few more manners to prepare him for
the next breeding season. At least he is not flunking
this school like he did “ breeding school” this year.
Jeff Emerson from Hixton, Wisconsin has him and poor
“Legs” is really learning to rough it. He went from
a life of leisure to having to work. I never dreamed
we would have heat like this when Mike and I took him
there. He is tough and he will survive and I am
sure come back and appreciate the good living he has
here. I talked to Jeff and he is already riding him
and he tells me that the horse in very smart and also
very athletic. I am so happy that I found Jeff and
his wife, Norma, as I think this is the type of
breaking that is good for a stallion. He will ride him
in the hills after his basic training and this is the
type of training we wanted for him.
I have done some horse
trading and have Benny back. Benny is the first
embryo this year out of Miss Bunny Tardee and
Exceptionist. I love him for all the muscle he has.
He is definitely my kind of horse and with the
pedigree he has, he will certainly be a breeding
horse. I have been trying to take some pictures of
him despite the heat and humidity. Rexine will have
them on the foals page but I will show you a few of
them on the news. He will be for sale but I
definitely want to retain some breedings to him if he
is sold. I think he depicts what I am breeding for in
my program.
Sandy |
Click on
each picture below to enlarge it. |
"Mares"
"Trigger &
Terry Sartain
"Benny"
July
9, 2006
|
July 9
What a week!! I have been
trying to finish taking new pictures of the foals before I
wean them. I am down to one foal and hopefully I will be
able to take pictures of Sadie tomorrow and then wean all
of them. Rexine will have them on the foal pages
soon---all I need to do it send them to her.
We have had Mike’s relatives
in town for about 10 days. It has been very hard on my
eating habits as there has been something to do every
night and staying home is not an option. We had a big
party out here on July 5. The weather couldn’t have been
better. Dickie cooked brats, hamburgers and hot dogs on
the grill and we had around 40 people here. There were a
lot of children and they had fun riding on the gator and
the golf cart. I took some pictures and will show them to
you. The sunset was gorgeous that night and I was able to
get a picture of it also.
On July 5, I also took a few
pictures of Rebecca (You Bet Im Cool) and her 20 year old
dam, Miss Bunny Tardee. I think they are the laziest
horses in the world. I bet Rebecca knows that the old
mare is her mother because she can’t stand not to have her
in sight at all times I will show you the pictures that
I took of them and also a few new pictures of Frostie, the
NN filly out of the Tardee mare. She is really coming on
after being weaned---getting more and more body right
along. I think she looks more like the Tardee mare at the
same age than any of her other foals have. The old Tardee
mare has certainly been a great producer. I am sure you
have seen pictures of the young stallion, Carribean Kid.
He is out of a full sister to Rebecca---both sired by Ima
Cool Skip and out of the Tardee mare.
Last year I told Tom and
Crystal Woiderski about a Paint stallion that my good
friend Ray Ramarus owned. They bought him and he was just
named World Champion Amateur Aged Stallion. What a thrill
it must have been for them. It couldn't happen to nicer
people either. RR Ratchetts Clu is sired by a stallion
that I bred, The Clumanator. He is sired by Clueman who
was a World Champion son of Miss Bunny Tardee.
We are finishing our
second cutting hay and that has been a major project. I
think we have enough hay in the barn to sustain us for the
year and we still have third cutting to go. The
weatherman has been very unreliable. We watch the weather
and it says the next week will be sunny and then we cut
hay and it rains the next day. Mike says that he could be
a weatherman as all you have to do it guess at what is
going to happen. I am beginning to think he is right.
We are planning a trip to Mississippi next week. It will
be nice to get away for a few days and see the
horses that we own together. I will try to take some
pictures of them for you. Lanis is such a wonderful host
so I don't imagine my diet will do very well. Oh, well,
after all it is a vacation and what else are you supposed
to do on a vacation but relax and enjoy yourself.
Sandy |
Click on each picture below to enlarge
it. Top row is You Bet Im Cool "Rebecca" , next two rows are
party pictures, then next to bottom row is "Frostie", then
bottom row is Miss Bunny Tardee.
Picture below is RR Ratchetts Clue
"Chance"
June
28,
2006
|
June 28
Summer is going too fast. I
can’t believe that July is almost here. This weekend all of
Mike’s relatives will be here and that results in days and
nights of getting together. I will probably gain 5 pounds
during the visit. We always have a picnic at the farm for
them so I am hoping that the weather will be fine on July
5. If not, I don’t know what we will do as there are too
many to have it inside.
The babies are doing great.
Frostie weaned really well. I can’t believe how the
Exceptionist babies keep improving for the better. They
just seem to get more and more hip on them. Let me tell
you, if you like them while they are on their dams, you will
love them a few weeks after you wean them. The time is
coming to wean all of the others except Sadie. I normally
wean at about 4 months and July will be that time. It will
be nice to get the mares out of the barn. We have two
really good stud prospects left. They are both NN and both
will make someone a great stallion, both conformation and
pedigree wise. Bucky is by Kids Classic Style and out of
You Bet Im Cool. He is going to be huge and have a ton of
muscle. Mickey is no slouch either. He is by Exceptionist
and out of Miss Bunny Tardee. He is not hurting for muscle
either. I am trying to get caught up on new pictures of
all of them and if the sun would cooperate, I would get it
done. Mickey is a full brother to both Benny who is sold
and Frostie, the NN filly that I do have recent pictures
of. If I were looking for a stud prospect, I would
certainly consider these two colts.
I am anxious to show you
pictures of the fillies. Both Sherry and Daytona are going
to be huge. They are finally shedding but now they have
long light hair on their legs and the rest of them is dark.
Not good for pictures. Hopefully I will be able to take
some soon.
We are finally finished with
our first cutting hay. We have had a lot of rain and cool
weather in Wisconsin and we have been trying to get it baled
between rains. Fortunately the quality is good and the
only rain we had was on the hay that we finished yesterday.
Mike was in Madison meeting with the governor so our friend
Dickie, baled it for us. He has been a big help around here
and can do just about anything. When Mike is gone to Madison
and Bob is working the wrong shift, I can count on him to
help me get the mares and colts in the barn in the
afternoon. He is going to paint our barns this summer and
boy, do they need it. The blue has faded over the years and
it will look so nice when it is dark blue again.
Jackie, my friend from
Australia, sent me pictures of her two Exceptionist filles.
They are both NN of course, as they can only have NN in
Australia. It seems strange that they are weanlings but
as you know their season starts in August so these fillies
will be yearlings then. Jackie is planning to come to the
United States for the World this year. She is bringing
about 20 horse people with her including her mother and her
daughter. They will spend a week at the World and then
Jackie will come and visit me. We are such good friends and
we have never met in person. It is amazing how much we have
in common regarding our ideas on horses. She owes me about
20 milk shakes for bets I have won with her, so I will
probably put on a few pounds then too.
Rexine has really done an
outstanding job on the webpage. Her talent amazed me. The
web page is so nice, I can hardly believe it is ours. I
hope you enjoy it and we really would welcome any advice
you could give to make it even better. I need to finish
taking pictures for the foals page and then do new pictures
of A Legacy. I think you will be amazed at how he is
coming. It is too bad he wasn't mature enough to breed
this year, but I certainly wouldn't want to hurt him for the
future. Lanis and I are seriously thinking of sending
him to someone to break him to ride. He is a gorgeous mover
and this person would trail ride him . I think it would be
very beneficial in the years to come. I would like to have
a video of him on the site. All we need is some nice
weather and some time to do it. Keep checking for the new
foal pictures---I promise as soon as we get some sunny days,
I will take them.
Sandy |
From left to right below, "Frostie" , Dickie, "Fe", and "Mia".
Click on the thumbnails below to
enlarge.
|
June
13,
2006
June 13, 2006
I have so much to
write about. Lanis and Kathy Noble came to visit us on June
9. Our weather was perfect for them----cool and no humidity.
Coming from Mississippi they loved it and I think if they
didn’t have plane tickets they would have stayed longer.
Kathy is an antique collector and she found some real
“treasures” in Wisconsin. Of course, one of the items is an
ornate wood burning stove and either we will deliver it or
they will have to come back to get it as there was no way it
could go on the plane. Lanis seemed to love the horses and we
went out to eat both nights they were here besides stopping at
our little neighborhood bar and grill one afternoon where Lanis
and Mikey, the owner, talked Brett Favre. Lanis went to
Southern Miss where Brett graduated and both he and Mikey are
real Packer fans. I am sure that Lanis and Kathy will be back
for a Packer game this fall.
On June 9 the
peony bloomed!!! I don’t know if you remember but last year
we had a gorgeous filly that we named Polly. She was out of
PJ Prophets Cool Skip and by Kid Clu. I loved the filly and so
many of you followed her progress on the website.
Unfortunately she had a terrible accident and slipped on the
mud while playing in one of the pens. She fractured her leg
and we had to put her to sleep. Everyone was so wonderful and
sent me condolences. Roseanne Albert, from Connecticut had
adopted Polly after watching her birth on the Internet and she
sent me a beautiful peony plant from Connecticut. She told me
it should bloom at about the same time that Polly died and low
and behold, on June 9 the peony bloomed. Polly died on June
10. I will show you pictures of the beautiful plant that we
named “Polly Peony”. I am so thankful for all the wonderful
people that I have met through the Internet.
Both Benny and
Nickie have gone to their new homes. Jim Sancken took Benny
to Ohio to Randy Jacobs to be fit for his show career and
Nickie left yesterday for Oregon. It was sad to see them go
but I feel confident that both will make me proud. Paula
Warner will love the filly and she will have a great home with
her and she will eventually make Paula an outstanding
broodmare. I have retained breedings to Benny as he is out
of Miss Bunny Tardee and by Exceptionist. Jim Sancken is
also the owner of Buffy who is by Kids Classic Style out of
Cooleah. Buffy is qualified for the World in both Amateur and
Open and Travis Sancken will show her at the Youth World. The
Sancken family is very horse oriented. I can't believe how
talented all of them are. I will show you a pictures of
them.
The website is
coming along nicely. Rexine is working on the mares pages and
I have to take new pictures of the foals so that we can get
them updated. We have been baling hay for the last week and
that seems to take up most of our time. Mike has been in the
field every possible minute so that we can get it in before it
rains on it. We should finish first cutting soon and then
there will be a break. Please check the website often as I am
trying to take more pictures while the weather is nice and
cool. Do you believe that we had our fireplace going
yesterday? You can never tell what Wisconsin weather is going
to do.
Sandy |
Below left to right , Lanis and Legs, Lanis and
Kathy, Lanis and Mike.
Click on each thumbnail below to enlarge
Polly Peony ( In Memory of Kid Clu Filly "Polly")
Click on each thumbnail below to enlarge
"Polly" May 2005
Click on thumbnail below to enlarge
Sancken Children
Click on thumbnail below to enlarge
May
30,
2006
Memorial
Day---May 30
Do
you remember when I was talking about how cold it was
here----well, that has changed.
It has been hot the last few days and the horses are not
used to it at all. We
tried to put the mares and babies outside, but the flies
bothered them so bad that they got all sweaty and we had to put
them back in the barn under their fans.
Now, do you think I spoil my horses?
My breeding program is fast coming to a close.
We will do embryo transfers on the last two mares next
Friday and then I am calling it quits for the year.
Hopefully we will get some as I probably won’t even
need the cameras next year with only one pregnant mare.
I guess I shouldn’t say that as Lanis and I have a mare
in foal to Golden Gunslinger in
Mississippi .
On
this Memorial Day, I am taking some time to reflect on the past.
I know that I have told you about how Dudley Pillow
influenced my breeding program and that I am happy that Lanis
and I have two daughters of his stallion, Skips Shane and also
the young stud that he waited so long for and never got to see
—A Legacy.
Dudley
was not a Kid Clu or Obvious Conclusion fan----he loved Ima Cool
Skip and his whole program was built around him.
I remember when he bought Sonnys Red Lace. She is a over
16.1 hands and a daughter of Sonny Go Dell out
of a Skips Squire mare. This mare sold twice for
$100,000.00 in her prime years.
He told me that he was naming her Julia after Julia
Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman.
He said that the mare would not have to “whore
around” anymore with those Kid Clu horses as she was going to
be the “wife” of Skips Shane.
Unfortunately the mare had a torn cervix and he never was
able to get her in foal to
Skips Shane. I
remember him being so excited about
Shanes
Bake a son of Shane out of a great daughter of Ima Cool Skip. He
named him after himself as his nickname while he was growing up
was Bake. He
told me that he was going to run “Julia” with “Bake” all
year and hopefully he would be able to get her in foal, as she
had some age on her and was very navicular.
He
was soooo excited when she became pregnant but unfortunately he
died of a heart attack before the foal was born.
I think he would be happy that Lanis and I own the horse
that he worked a
lifetime for. A
Legacy is appropriately named as we intend to have him carry on
Dudley
’s legacy. The
only obstacle that we encountered this year was the fact that
“Legs” is a late foal and very immature.
I took him to the vet clinic twice to learn how to
collect, but he “flunked” breeding school.
Dr Fox told me that he is just too immature this year and
that she is sure there will be no problem next year.
Well, the way the breeding went for me this year, he will
have a lot of open mares to breed next year.
In
thinking of
Dudley
, I also think of the other wonderful horse friends that were in
our little
Dudley
circle. He would
always say kiddingly that he was “one of the girls” as the
rest of us were girls.
There
is Joanna Strickland who owns Casino Cool and
Dudley
would spend hours visiting with her, discussing their breeding
programs. I have
become very close with Joanna and wish that we would live closer
together. She has
some great mares and her NN stallion, Casino Cool is as good an
NN stud as there is in the country.
Joanna had the privilege of living close to
Dudley
and they could visit in person.
Then there is Jeri Harmon.
As you know, she manages James Kifer’s program and he
really admired her ability to pick a horse.
The testament of her talent is what she accomplished with
Mr Yella Fella, taking him to the top of the halter producers.
Last and definitely not least is Grace Berton.
I remember the first time Dudley and I met Gracie.
She was selling colts at the World Sale and as usual she
had the best colts there.
Dudley
had so much to do with Grace’s program also.
In fact ,he is the one who told her that she needed to
breed to Ima Cool Skip and he even kept her mares at his place
in Mississippi until they were in foal.
The resulting foal out
of
one of them is Sir Cool Skip.
You all know how much he has influenced our halter
horses. Grace
always remained very close to
Dudley
and when he died she bought both Shanes
Bake and Sonnys Red Lace from the estate.
Unfortunately she was unable to get “Julia” in foal
so the only foal out of her from
Dudley
’s program is A Legacy.
Give me two years and I will show you the result of
breeding him to some great mares and proving what
Dudley
believed he could produce.
He will mature at close to 16 hands and being NN and with
his conformation and disposition, he should make us all proud.
It gives me something to look both forward to and still
reminisce about the past.
Sandy
Click
on each thumbnail below to enlarge
|
Dudley
"Bake" Pillow
 |
Dudley & Shane |
|
Skips Shane |
Pictured below left to right -
Sonnys Red Lace & Gracie Berton, Sir Cool Skip & Gracie
Berton, and Shanes Bake.
|
Sonnys Red Lace |
Sir Cool Skip & Gracie Berton |
Shanes Bake |
"A Legacy"
Sire :: Shanes Bake
Dam :: Sonnys Red Lace
May
26,
2006
May
26
I
have finally decided to quit with my breeding for the year.
The last two mares that I put semen in ovulated last
night and we will flush them next Friday and then I am through.
The mares just don’t want to cooperate and
to be honest I am burned out. I
have been thinking that perhaps I need to sell some of my mares.
This is a very hard decision if I decide to do it as I have
worked so hard to get mares that I really like and that produce
babies that are marketable. I have been
trying to take updated pictures of them and have been working my
way through them. I
still have a few to go and Rexine is going to update the webpage
and make new mare pages.
Right
now, she is checking on new graphics and when she finishes , the
new site will be
really nice.
Jackie
called me from
Australia
to give me the results of the second largest show in the
country. Just as
they did at the “Nationals” the Exceptionist
offspring won everything.
In the weaning filly class, Frank foals were first and
second and in the yearling filly class the yearlings
were
also first and second.
Then
the Exceptionists were
Grand and Reserve Champion mares.
In the stud classes, both the weanling and yearling
classes were won by Exceptionist colts and they went on to
stand Grand and
Reserve Champion. The
babies born in the states look really good and I need to find
time to take updated pictures of the ones that I have and get
them sold.
Since
we have had such beautiful weather, I have been trying to take
pictures of scenery around our farm.
It is really beautiful in
Wisconsin in the spring and early summer.
Right now, we have no bugs and we could use a little
warmer weather, but I am not complaining as it is going to get
very warm in the next few days.
I suppose you all will want to come to
Wisconsin after you see the beauty here.
(Only kidding)
Sandy
Mike, Molly, and scenery pictures from
around the farm.
Click on each thumbnail
below to enlarge
Click below for old news from Ellis Quarter Horses
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