My name is Melissa. I live on my family farm in Tennessee. My husband and I board retired horses and raise natural beef. I am also training my two homebred Warmblood mares, Bonnie and Lexi, who both turned four in spring 2008.
We've had an abundance of new arrivals to the farm in the last few weeks - and not just horses! Our hen has three adorable chicks following her around. Unfortunately most of her eggs did not hatch but the three chicks that made it through incubation are super cute.
The hen with her three chicks in tow
We've also had an abundance of new arrivals around the pond. I had mentioned several weeks ago about our one lonely Canada Goose that had been hanging around the pond and often wandering through the pastures around the pond. Well the lonely goose had a mate show up finally and about three weeks ago we noticed they were floating around the pond with four goslings following them.
The geese with their goslings. You can see some of our other new arrivals behind in them in the first picture.
The chicks and goslings are adorable and so much fun to watch. However if we weren't already on nursery overload we also have a big flock of new baby ducks as well! They share the pond peacefully with the geese and goslings, and I often see all of them floating around in one big group together.
The new ducks floating around the pond
Last, but certainly not least, I've been seeing this lovely heron around the pond every day as well. He/she is very pretty and seems quite content to enjoy life on our farm with our wide assortment of residents.
Our resident Heron hanging out by the pond
In addition to having a great time watching our many new arrivals Jason was busy this weekend mowing pastures. For this job he uses the 100 horse power tractor and the 15' bush hog. When you have 140 acres to mow, even with this equipment, it takes awhile! Sitting on the tractor makes his back hurt after a few hours so he did a half day of mowing the last couple of days and has gotten a good start on this big job. Hopefully the mowing will be finished in the next few days and he can take a break from the tractor until the next round of mowing. He is mowing everything to a height of about five to six inches. It was nice not to be wading through waist high grass in certain areas anymore!
Jason giving us his best impersonation of an insect; I told him he looked like a bug!
Making one of many passes with the bush hog
One of the pastures that was cut this weekend; Clay and Snappy are our grazersBuffy, Missy and Harmony in the newly mowed pasture
We had the pleasure of welcoming a wonderful new addition to our family of retirees this week. Her name is MyLight and she is a thoroughbred mare. Her mom patiently waited for us to have room for her beautiful mare and I am so glad we were able to get things worked out! MyLight has been an absolute joy to be around from the moment she stepped off the trailer.
MyLight
Her name MyLight is perfect for her. She has this very understated elegance about her and a quiet, confident, yet very friendly personality. She has been as relaxed and happy as she can be since her arrival yet also curious and inquisitive about her new surroundings. I can tell that she is the type of horse that takes things in stride as I watched her flat out on her side napping in the paddock on her second day with us.
MyLight enjoying a good roll in the grass
Just like Elfin she sits up like a dog and then does the "dog walk" to roll on her other side
MyLight and her mom were partners together in the dressage arena for 10 years. Her mom had been leasing another horse that ended up going lame so she was looking for another horse to lease. MyLight had caught her eye several times and she'd noticed that her owner rarely came to ride her. She inquired about leasing MyLight and it some convincing before her owner finally agreed to the lease.
She made friends with the goats easily
Her mom said that after only a few weeks she was in love with MyLight. This comes as no surprise to me after spending a few days with her! She inquired about purchasing her and was given a flat no for an answer, that MyLight was not for sale. So she said she stepped completely out of character and kept asking about purchasing MyLight until she finally got a yes. She and MyLight never looked back and spent 10 great years together pursuing their love of dressage. MyLight's owner said that prior to knowing MyLight she was not a mare person at all, but after having worked with MyLight for so many years she now knows she really loves a great mare.
MyLight is all about living the good life. She is happy to graze, roll, nap and socialize. She's come to the right place!
Prior to beginning her dressage career MyLight started life at the track. She actually managed to win one race before retiring from the track after a very brief racing career. I've had the opportunity to watch MyLight trotting around in the paddock and she has a lovely trot that screamed dressage as I watched her. I have to say nothing about her said "speed" or "race horse!" I am pretty confident that she was happier as a dressage horse!
Showing me her lovely trot
Please join me in welcoming the lovely MyLight to our farm. I'm thrilled she is finally here and it was well worth the wait to meet her!
I realized today it has been almost a week since I updated my blog so this post got a bit long. Nothing out of the ordinary has been going on, just the usual level of busy. I hope everyone is having a nice memorial day and has taken a moment to think about and be grateful to the many troops who have suffered and died for us for many generations. Coming from a family with a lot of former members of the military (Army and Air Force) I like to take a few moments to think about the significance of Memorial Day.
Jason and I have had a fairly quiet last few days together. There is tons of work that needs to be done around here, especially mowing the pastures. I have no doubt Jason will be horrified that I am posting pictures showing our over grown pastures. On Saturday as we were walking across the farm after we had finished feeding everyone breakfast he made the comment that the "place looks like a dump." Well personally I have to disagree. No the pastures don't look perfectly manicured but quite frankly I don't see any of the horses complaining!
We spent a few hours on Saturday afternoon visiting the Belle Meade Plantation which is located not very far from our farm. I haven't visited Belle Meade Plantation for so long I can't even remember when I was last there. Probably when I was in middle school? In Middle Tennessee there is no shortage of gorgeous old plantation homes to visit. Belle Meade is particularly interesting to me as the plantation was never a field crop plantation with cotton and the usual southern crops. Belle Meade was famous for their thoroughbred horses.
The main carriage house at the Belle Meade Plantation
Bonnie Scotland, considered to be one of the foundation sires of the thoroughbred breed in North America, stood at stud at the Belle Meade Plantation. Some of the notable thoroughbreds that would trace their pedigree back to Bonnie Scotland include Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Giacomo, Smarty Jones, Funny Cide, Barbaro and Mine that Bird to name a few. At its peak the Belle Meade Plantation was known as the oldest and greatest Thoroughbred breeding farm in North America. The beautiful main mansion presided over 5,000 acres devoted to breeding horses with numerous, impressive barns and outbuildings throughout the property. In fact the oldest registered racing silks in the United States belonged to the Belle Meade stud.
Jason in front of the Carriage House
We also had a new arrival join us for retirement as well. He's been waiting for several months and we were finally able to greet him last week. "Trigger" has a lot going for him in the looks department. He is a beautiful chocolate palomino with a blaze face and stockings on all four legs. Unfortunately Trigger has navicular in both front feet and was no longer staying sound for regular work even with all of the typical management approaches for navicular. So at the very young age of ten Trigger joins us for retirement.
These pictures do not do justice to his gorgeous color
Trigger had very limited turnout at the show barn he was previously living at and he was quite a handful his first day. I pretty much was simply an impediment in his way at the end of the lead rope as I walked him from the trailer to the barn. I don't typically use a chain over the nose when leading horses but I would have given a lot to have had a chain leadrope for that experience. I'm just glad I managed to hang on and get him in a stall! After he had a few minutes to drink some water and go to the bathroom I decided to put him out in my arena. He was still literally jumping out of his skin in the stall. We had another hair-raising walk from the barn to the arena and I did put a chain over his nose this time. As my dad watched me attempting to lead Trigger around he asked me if it was safe to be leading that horse around!?
Trigger and I made it to the arena and I let him go. Trigger put on a show of galloping, bucking, rearing, roll back turns and generally just going crazy like I've never seen. I even forgot to take pictures for the first part of the show, I just stood there watching him with my jaw on the ground! I was seriously wondering when the last time was that this horse had been turned out. I'm thinking it had been quite awhile. He kept it up for almost an hour before finally calming down. Needless to say Trigger has been MUCH easier to handle since he was allowed to blow off some extremely excessive energy.
These were taken after he had calmed down and was just running laps; at first he worked in huge, crazy bucks and lots of rearing in addition to tearing around the arena at Mach 10.
Otherwise we've just had our usual happenings around here. Gwen, our amazing farrier, was here one day last week. Horses were fed, some were groomed and/or bathed, stalls were cleaned, water troughs were scrubbed. Just another typical week at the farm!
Short video of Mina and Jo, world's cutest fainting goats, playing on the "stump complex." (That is what Jason calls it anyway!)
JoMina Redbird on the fence
Chili, Lucky and Slinky
Winston and Ogie
Faune (taking advantage of the fact that he is just shy of 18 hands) eating some leaves
Lucky on the left and Lightening on the right. Yes, we do have an Arabian retired with us - I didn't realize that would surprise people!We have had two other residents that were also Arabians but unfortunately they have both passed away in the last couple of year. Their names were Sultan and Magick and they were both gray as well.
Elfin on the left and Homer on the right
L-R Apollo, Ivan and Baby
Dustin
Faune, Asterik and Winston; too bad they were in the shade as they made a pretty picture but my camera didn't like the lack of sunlight.
According to Jason the overgrown grass makes the farm "look like a dump." The horses seem fine with it.
Both in the comments and in my e-mails people often ask me which gray horse is which. We have a lot of gray horses retired with us. I love it since I've never personally owned a gray but always wanted one. So now I "have" several! Today we're having a little primer on gray horses. Maybe we'll even have a pop quiz at the end to see who paid attention!
Cuff Links; Cuffie is a welsh pony and retired from doing the pony hunters Asterik; Asterik is a holsteiner and had a very impressive career doing both the big jumpers and the hunters as well
Buffy; Buffy is a thoroughbred mare and retired show hunter
Homer; Homer is an Irish Thoroughbred and retired show hunter
Ivan; Ivan is a thoroughbred and retired Grand Prix jumper
Harmony; Harmony is a thoroughbred mare and retired polo pony
Traveller; Traveller is also a welsh pony and retired from the pony huntersSebastian; Sebastian is a Connemara/Irish Draught cross and he apparently could do just about anything. Sebi was a fox hunter in Ireland and also here in the States and also showed in the hunters and the jumpers
Lightening; Lightening is an Arabian and retired trail horse from Colorado
And that is it for gray horses on the farm! I decided to be nice and skip the pop quiz at the end.
I had a very quiet weekend. Jason was away and will not be back for a few more days. We had light rain off and on Saturday so I had a pretty quiet day, just doing the basics of feeding, cleaning stalls, etc. Today (Sunday) was unusually cool for this time of year with a high of only 64 degrees and a brisk wind. I thought the horses would be really frisky and full of themselves at feeding times today but they were very copacetic and zen-like. I had a super exciting day scrubbing water troughs, replenishing salt blocks, grooming a few horses and rebedding stalls. I did manage to take quite a few pictures over the last few days which I will go ahead and share. My weekend was so quiet there just isn't anything else to say about it - not that I'm complaining about that!
Bubba the goat illustrating the fact that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Why he insisted on contorting himself under the fence to nibble at the weeds on the other side by the gate instead of turning around and grazing on the lush grass behind him is a mystery to me.
Quiet grazing; Faune, Winston, Sebastian, Asterik, TrillionSilky, Lucky and Snappy
Harmony, Buffy and Missy
Elfin and Leo were on the move . . .
. . . to a different grazing spot
Lightening, Clay and Teddy
Traveller in the front, Sparky in the back with O'Reilly, Bridget, Lexi and Bonnie in the middle
Sparky decided it was nap time
He heard me coming and sat up
Bonnie and Bridget
Happy group of grazing horses
I hope to have a retirement this nice
Levendi, Elfin and Dustin
Tony and Baby
Harmony found me very interesting for some reason; the horses usually ignore me unless it is a meal time or they see a plastic bag (treats) in my hands and neither was the case
Then she snorted at me and starting trotting around
Trying to get Buffy to understand what was so incredibly interesting about me
Cuff Links with grass up to his stomach; the grass (and the weeds for that matter) is getting very tall in places
Jason and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary today. After a few years of marriage we both still like each other a lot so I think we're on the right track! I wish he would pick up his dirty socks and he wishes I would shut up about it but all in all we don't have too many complaints. We had a nice dinner at Stoney River Steakhouse.
You might remember that we helped Jason's friend out by letting him film a portion of his horse nutrition video at the farm. As a thank you he gave us a gift certificate to Stoney River. A couple of months ago we finally got around to using our gift certificate . . . except we forgot to take it with us. However we did manage to remember to bring it along tonight.
This morning the chiropractor was out to work on Bonnie and Lexi bright and early. I thought it would be a good idea to have them both looked at and they were actually adjusted last week as well. They will be adjusted again in two weeks and then they should be fine to be on a six month maintenance program. I mentioned that Lexi had her left hind stifle injected a couple of weeks ago. Well, as it turns out her sacroiliac joint was out of alignment (apparently WAY out) so that was most likely a major contributor to her stifle issue. I wish I hadn't waited to have the chiro out. Bonnie's always been a lot fussier about her right lead than her left and there was a huge difference for the better after her adjustment last week as well.
Thankfully this week has continued to stay very quiet and hopefully that will continue through the weekend.
Amy leading Ogie with the rest of the gang following along
The rooster hanging out on Faune's stall door He was being extremely social and even let Amy pet him; we don't have the guts to try and pet the Don though
Lexi being adjusted
Buster thought the leaves were tasty
Buster is one big cow
Traveller
O'Reilly and Bridget
Winston loves having friends; Faune in the front and Ogie and Winston in the back
After what felt like days of endless rain the last couple of days have been wonderful. Mid 70's and sunshine, my favorite weather. I can tell the horses have loved it as well, they've looked even more relaxed and serene than they normally do. I've had some great rides on Bonnie and Lexi as well.
Nothing too exciting has gone around here the last few days - just the way I like it! We have been integrating Winston in with his new roomies and he has settled in with them beautifully. From start to finish I think I heard one squeal, the whole process couldn't have gone any better. That is the most interesting thing that has happened this week. Hopefully the rest of the week will continue on in the same way.
Winston and Faune
Baby Baby on the left, Elfin in the back, Homer in the front
Levendi
Apollo and Levendi up front, Dustin, Tony and Ivan in the back
Tony and Dustin
Leo
Lucky, Clay, Lightening, Chili, Teddy
Lucky and Chili grooming each other
Buffy
The goats; Billy and Bubba in the front with Jo and Mina in the background
I've managed to give myself a head cold and lose my voice crying off and on over Poco the last few days. I have to be honest in that I'm surprised at how hard this one has been for me. I've certainly been through this before and Poco and I very much had a love/hate relationship. Poco was ALL pony and quite the little stinker to deal with. He never seemed very appreciative about his sudden reversal of fortunes on that fateful flea market day. Rather he seemed to think it was about time that someone had finally begun supporting him in the manner he felt he deserved. I guess it is that he had the biggest "larger than life" personality I think I've ever experienced with any horse or pony. There was nothing meek or submissive about Poco!
Thankfully I've started coming to terms with the situation and hopefully I'll get my voice back soon. I think Jason has at least enjoyed the silence if not all of the circumstances leading to it. Sparky the donkey does seem to be having a difficult time with things. When we've had horses pass away (this is a retirement farm and it does happen unfortunately) the horses left behind never seem overly bothered and just carry on with the rest of their gang. However Sparky was extremely devoted to Poco (and vice versa) and he is definitely grieving. We're trying to decide what the best course of action is for Sparky. In the meantime I am optimistic that hopefully Sparky will bounce back in the near future.
Today (Sunday) was Jason's birthday. I felt pretty bad that after the way this whole week ended up going I had done NOTHING to prepare for his birthday! Jason thankfully saved me from looking completely uncaring by saying he wanted to go to a nursery and pick out a tree or shrub to plant for his birthday. The outing did me some good as well, even though when Jason would ask me questions about what I thought of different plants it was hard to answer when you've lost your voice. Jason really enjoys horticulture and landscaping and had a few ideas of what he wanted and we ended up coming home with a crepe myrtle tree. It looks like we'll be going back to the nursery to get two more of them later this week.
Planting the tree was a bit more challenging than it should have been. We managed to pick a spot that was apparently all rock. Many places on this farm you can dig all day and never hit a rock but you can also pick the wrong spot and we managed to do that! Somehow Jason managed to dig through it all and make sure there would be plenty of room for the roots to grow as well. He definitely looked like he had been working after planting his crepe myrtle though. At least all of the rain has the ground soft and it made the digging easier.
Otherwise things have been pretty quiet and routine around here the last few days. Gwen the farrier was here on Friday and Amy and I had another bath marathon day as well. Yet again we both looked like we had been in the shower as well!
Jason thought this sign was funnyDigging the hole
Jason looking pretty tired and Bear looking pretty perky
Today we sadly said goodbye to Poco. My parents spared no expense and gave him every chance they could, and the vets spared no effort and exhausted all of their resources. Poco began to exhibit severe neurological symptoms in addition to the mystery breathing issues we had been trying to treat. His liver had basically stopped functioning as well. The decision was unanimous between myself, my parents and his attending veterinarians to humanely euthanize him today. I am very appreciative to the entire staff at Tennessee Equine Hospital for their thorough and loving care of Poco.
Poco had been a part of our family for nine years. My dad was making a quick trip to a Tractor Supply Store and noticed a thin, unhappy pony tied to a rusted out trailer at the flea market across from the TSC store. He said he could not leave the sad little pony behind and purchased him and paid a delivery fee to have him transported to our farm. My mom and dad both spoiled him rotten with their constant treats and rare reprimands of his very "ponyish" behavior. I was the bad guy in Poco's life since I expected him to at least partly behave himself. We know nothing of his history prior to his purchase as the sellers offered no information and we don't know his exact age either. We think he was young, in his early teens, but that is a guess from his teeth.
Poco had a great life here at the farm with his best buddy, Sparky the donkey. He was adored by many of the horses who also always tolerated his ponyish ways and never made him mind his manners. I was always amazed at what the horses would let Poco get away with.
Rest in peace Poco, we all miss you.
One of my favorite videos of the farm because it captures the carefree life of the horses who live here. I have posted it before but here it is again. Poco and What playing and racing through the field in fall 2007
Poco attempting to steal Faune's feed bag; I've posted this picture before and my comment was that Faune would have a "come to Jesus" talk with anyone else about this. He let Poco get away with it though.
He had any number of cute and adorable expressionsPoco grazing with What
Poco declining to have his medicationone January morning; I finally got it in him after a little Poco/Melissa rodeo. Biting Gwen on the arm while he has his feet trimmedA lazy afternoon in the shed
Another lazy afternoon with a big yawn Poco out in the pasture
It was a pretty quiet weekend on the farm. It started raining very early in the morning on Friday morning and has basically rained off and on since then. It is raining again as I type and is supposed to taper off tomorrow (Monday) morning. There were plenty of periods where it did not rain for several hours at a time and I could have ridden, but I just couldn't motivate myself to do it. I had myself convinced it was raining even when it wasn't. The horses seemed to really enjoy the warm rain and I think I saw one horse in a shelter for a few minutes this weekend. They seemed to alternate between covering themselves in mud by rolling by the gates and then looking clean again after the rain had washed them off.
Winston sporting the muddy look; he looked clean again a couple of hours later
I had told myself that I would not complain about the rain and mostly have stayed with that plan. Jason on the other hand . . . ! I did get so wet a couple of times that I literally just had to take my clothes off as soon as I came in the house.
This week I need to get the chiropractor out for Bonnie and Lexi. I have to say Jason is perpetually in the running for world's greatest husband. He hasn't complained about me having the chiropractor out this week, in fact asked if I had made the appointment. When I had Bonnie with a trainer and was paying for full board and full training for a few months he did not complain despite the fact that we have a lovely farm and a gorgeous arena. I had the saddle fitter out last week and he was fully prepared to hear that I would need a new saddle or two. He actually didn't hear that but he was going to be ok with it!
He didn't say anything when I ordered the DR Power Grader. When he sees another box from Dover Saddlery he actually seems to like watching me open it to see what comes out . . . he doesn't inquires about the cost but since all of our accounts are joint accounts he knows anyway. I think he's finally learned that asking about costs in relation to a horse is always a bad question! He didn't even raise his eyebrows when I found three bridles with the tags still on them in my tackroom (I could open my own used tack store I think). He doesn't say anything about lesson costs and show fees and even offers to drive the trailer to out of town shows.
When I wanted fainting goats he groused a lot but then found a breeder and drove with me to get them. He then built them their own pen, built them a teeter totter to play on, and has bought them various toys. He didn't complain when I thought Jo's breathing was too heavy and I had the vet out and had a chest x-ray done on her (we already know I need to go straight to the loony bin so I'm not exactly ruining my image by revealing that tidbit).
As I started typing out that I was going to have the chiropractor out for my girls for some reason I started thinking about all of the stuff that Jason puts up with. He mentioned once a couple of years ago that I could be a high maintenance person and I vehemently denied this. After all I go outside and work on the farm when it is hot, cold, raining, etc. without complaining. But after a few minutes of self reflection while typing maybe he is on to something with that high maintenance comment, especially since I don't remember Jason ever spending any money on a hobby. So for whatever it is worth Jason needs some public recognition of his support and his tolerance!
Hopefully we will dry out over the next couple of days. All of this rain has certainly made the grass grow! The poor lawn mower is going to have to mow through a jungle once it is dry enough to mow the lawn again. I guess Jason the wonder husband will be in charge of that too!
Jason giving Mina and Jo some raisin treats; Jo especially loves her raisins and recognizes the Sun Maid raisin box
The Don in mid crow and looking a bit soggy Bugle hanging out in the flower bed in front of the barn; the rain definitely did not bother the dogs
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Making one of many passes with the bush hog
Buffy, Missy and Harmony in the newly mowed pasture
Buffy, Missy and Harmony in the newly mowed pasture
Her mom said that after only a few weeks she was in love with MyLight. This comes as no surprise to me after spending a few days with her! She inquired about purchasing her and was given a flat no for an answer, that MyLight was not for sale. So she said she stepped completely out of character and kept asking about purchasing MyLight until she finally got a yes. She and MyLight never looked back and spent 10 great years together pursuing their love of dressage. MyLight's owner said that prior to knowing MyLight she was not a mare person at all, but after having worked with MyLight for so many years she now knows she really loves a great mare. 
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