Forgot to mention in yesterdays posts, we've a horse in for a week that belongs to a client. Very nice, well built Paint Gelding. He is 15 HH, 10 years old. Very good trail horse. He's been with them since this past August- they want to find a large gaited horse instead. This is a 'husband safe' horse. Asking $1200.

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Good day! Lots of horses worked- even with the heat. Lori came for a visit- got to see her Tappy work. Stayed to see several others go as well. She happily departed with her new round pen!

Scratchy continues to do well. Erin gave him a 'butt bath' this afternoon- just to help keep him clean- this last bout of the scours got him a little messy. In a few minutes Robbie will be heading down to the barn to give him his evening batch of mare milk formula. He is eating and drinking well- so with luck he will continue to thrive.

Luck- that is the wrong word. I was told ( again- as I've been told this several times before ) yesterday that I was lucky to have what I have here- lucky to have done so well in the horse industry, lucky to have stayed busy and productive in this down economy. I will admit that I have been very fortunate in all of this- but it isn't due to luck. Hard work ( a.k.a. many wet saddle blankets- literally and figuratively ) is the key to the success at RO-NO. Luck insinuates that it wasn't earned- that it just happened. We all work hard here, we try our best to make sure our horses are properly cared for, properly trained. I go out of my way to help my clients, and to try to find new ones. It isn't luck- it's persistence and hard, hard work. And having a wonderful crew here sure doesn't hurt! :)

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Busy weekend!! Kerry and I both had competitions to prepare for on Friday- along with all the regular work. Kerry had a good show- first time out on her Zip and she placed well- I'll have to get some photos to post.

Cardillo, Touche, Robbie, Nicole and I hit the road early on Sat. morning for our Mounted Shooting Competition in Conn. All went well ( other than a bit of construction in Conn. ) Cardillo

took everything in stride and improved as the day went on. People at the match were very friendly and helpful- and they all thought he did quite well for his first time at a competition. We certainly didn't win any prizes- but I was very pleased with his performance.

Scratchy continues to do well, though he does have the scours again. Yesterday Erin and I got him, London and Charlie out onto the grass in a good paddock and let them run for awhile. Boy did the babies have fun!! It was great seeing them out there stretching their legs.

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Just a quick post his morning. All continues to be well on the baby front. Carbi and her little black colt ( Royal Flush Lightning Bolt aka Lightning ) continue to thrive. They will get to venture outside this morning. Wish I could be there to see the little guy run.

Scratchy continues to do very well also. Still eating like a champ. Erin and I hope to get him out of his stall for a bit today- not quite sure how we are going to manage it- but we will figure something out. Want to let London and Charlie out to run also-we'll see how it goes.

I've been letting Scratchy stay in London/Charlies stall a bit longer every feeding. Trying to get him playing with Charlie, and getting the mare more used to having him bouncing around her. Still hoping that I can get her to accept him as her own.

Cardillo did well with our shooting practice last night. Robbie rode Touche too, and did some dry firing from his back. Touche does well with the gunfire, but we have yet to shoot from his back- maybe later today. I'm planing on bringing both of them to the shoot in Conn. on Saturday.

Touch will return from New Bolton tomorrow. Rhonda took him there to have a growth on his eye treated. It did turn out to be cancerous- but they say that it is very treatable and the prognosis is good.

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What a couple of days we've had!! Scratchy, the orphan foal, is doing very well. He is eating/drinking his formula like a little trooper, and we still put him on London ( the nurse mare) 5-6 times a day. We call it 'releasing the beast' when we open the door for him to go to her to nurse- he dives right in and goes at it- he knows already that he has a limited amount of time to get his fill from her. She has her own foal- and she still is not totally on-board with this whole ideas of adding a second foal to her care. He has been on Zantac, Pepto and Pro Bios, and as of last night he started passing some solid manure instead of the scours that we had been fighting. Each day that goes by feels like a mini-victory to us. I'm planning on adding some hydrated alfalfa pellets to his diet, along with the fol lac pellets.

Other good news, Rose's mare Carbi FINALLY foaled- and all is very well. She was horribly overdue- to the point that the vets were pretty sure that she would have a stillborn foal. She was producing absolutely no bag/udder- that and the amount of time she was overdue were both signs of a problem that some mares can get ( from ingesting a plant with a certain type of fungus on it) that can cause them to have an overly thickened placenta that prevents a normal birth and causes still born foals. We had been very worried about her- and it's been a couple of long. frustrating weeks waiting for her to foal. The vets said to just wait, inducing really was not an option- so wait we did. Yesterday morning I got the call at about 6 a.m. that the mare was foaling. I never showered and dressed so quickly in my life. She is over an hour south of here- but after all the waiting and stress I just had to go to help with any needed follow up. I arrived to a barn full of very excited people- half of which were in the mares stall with her. Carbi was a bit stressed out by this- so I ( hopefully politely as it's not my barn ) kicked them all out. Rose had still been at work in Philly and was on her way, so I got folks to calm down and quiet down while we waited for Rose. With all the people out of her stall, Carbi settled down and started taking interest in the new arrival - and after about 15 minutes he ( gorgeous and refined black colt with a lighting strip down his face) began to nurse. She passed her placenta a few hours later and all has gone very well. So glad this is over- she was so overdue that we were concerned about her own safety- 373 days!!!!!

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Sadly, we sent Misty to the big horse pasture in the sky yesterday afternoon. When she was down we could see just how badly her shoulder had been broken- this wonderful, strong old mare had done her very stoic best to stay up and eating to give Scratchy a few more days of her milk. I then spent a very long ( and frustrating ) night last night trying to get the colt, Scratchy, settled and eating. He went nearly 13 hours with no food. Refused to nurse from a bottle, refused to drink from a bucket, refused to swallow when I used a large srynge to put formula in his mouth. I read countless articles online, have been given great advice from dozens of colleagues and friends, all seemingly to no avail. He simply refused to eat. Finally this morning ( after what was basically a sleepless night) Erin relieved me of foal duty ( I really needed a shower- had been doused in formula numerous times throughout the night) After a bit ( much to the relief of all of us ) she managed to get him to drink some formula. I decided to bring London and her foal Charlie down- I just had to make sure that we would be able to get enough food into little Scratchy. We got them into the stall with him and restrained her so that he could drink. He took one look at her udder and was on her lickity split. We did end up having to tie, blind fold, twitch and tranq her for a few hours- but then could relax a bit. Thee is not a lovely temporary partition up in the foaling stall. 5-6 times a day we will let him in to nurse off of her ( she still has to be pretty strongly restrained) but he is also eating the formula very well- so things are looking much better than they did at midnight! Well- I'll post more later- for now I need to head back down to the barn to feed him, and I'm going t0 try to get some rest- did not get but 2 hours of fitful sleep last night!

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We have sad news here. Misty, my wonderful old brood mare, is not going to be with us for much longer. Several months ago she lost her eye-sight, but she successfully made it through foaling last Thursday. She has been dealing pretty well, though every day she has had a new mark on her face from running into the arena wall and such. It has been miserable to see her dealing with he lack of sight, and I knew that she probably would not make it too long before a decision would have to be made about her. Well, the decision has been made. Yesterday morning when I went to give her her morning water ( we go to her about 5-6 times a day to hand offer her water as she hasn't always been able to find it herself now that she has a foal to tend to ) I found her standing in the corner of the arena favoring her front left. Looks like her shoulder is broken. We will try to keep her up and comfortable for a few more days ( at most ) to try to give her colt, Scratchy, a few more days of having his mom, a few more days of natural mares milk. I'm absolutely devastated about this. Misty is one of my first Paso Fino horses and she has been a wonderful horse, plus she has given us some fantastic babies.

If anyone has knowledge of a nurse mare please let me know. I am planning on bringing Rose's mare Kat back in from the pasture to see if she will take the foal- it's going to be a long haul- raising an orphan foal is no easy feat. Any advice from you all will be very welcome.

Another bit of news that hopefully will not be bad news, Rose's mare Carbi still has not foaled. She is several weeks overdue. She is absolutely huge! with foal- but is showing no bag yet. Hopefully she will foal very soon and not have any problems. She will be having an ultrasound on Tuesday- or possibly sooner- to see if there are any problems.

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Here's some pics of the other two babies- Itchy and Scratchy. All three are doing very well. Let London and Dually outside yesterday afternoon- brought Maribelles crew in early. The mama's and foals have spent the night out ( and of course it had to pour last night- but we had left the breezeway open so that they had plenty of shelter) I'll head up early this morning to put them back into the indoor with Misty and her foal. I'm hoping to be able to move them hope and put them to pasture in a few weeks ( before the next batch of foals arrive!)

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Excellent weekend- and even though it's going to rain most of the week- I think it is going to be a fantastic week. Definitely missed having both Erin and Julie gone- but we managed to get everything done.

Classie went home on Saturday- Bonnie went home as well. ( We got two good breedings in on Bonnie- Lori will have her ultra-sounded in a few weeks- fingers crossed. We have two mares here due to foal with Pastor babies- first one is due in early June.) Starfire and Toy- the new mares in for training- are both doing well. Bristol will be back soon for a 'spring tune-up' and Mayo comes back soon as well- have to get ready for Lexington.

Rob, Jim and I worked on getting the 'breeding dummy' put into the arena on Saturday. Both posts are set in cement- dug the holes down about 3 foot. Hopefully we can work a bit more on it during the week.

Sunday morning went by quickly. Kerry, Robbie and Jim were all down at the barn helping to get chores done. Nicole and her Dad came in late morning. We all worked together to tear down the paddock on the hillside- and got it moved out back to some better grass. I took off then to get ready for Rachel's baby shower ( which was a huge success ) and by the time I came home Robbie and Jim had all the chores done! What a treat!

Mares and babies are all doing well- we are going to bring Maribelles guys in a bit early today to let mares and foals outside. Misty and Scratchy will stay in the indoor- but at least the others can get out and about.

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So here is the first foal born here this season- we have barn named him Charlie-his registered name will be RO-NO's Makers Mark Black. He is a lovely dun like his mom London. ( he's a half brother to beautiful Achilles )I'll try to get pics of the other two foals ( the pintos ) up soon. ( we're calling them Itchy and Scratchy! )

Misty is dealing pretty well with things- eating her grain great-we have to follow thru and make sure she's getting enough hay- and I bring her water 5-6 times a day. I think this morning I'll let all three mares/foals loose together. We've been keeping one set stalled every day so that there wasn't too much stimuli going on with Misty- but things seem to have settled nicely.

Yesterdays e-news from the PFHA had a section up advertising/promoting the National Show in Memphis. They are putting a lot of emphasis on the Specialty type horses and there on the page was a picture of Nicole jumping Cardillo at last year5s National Show!! Very cool. If anyone wants to see it let me know- I can forward the e-news to you.

Picked up a new training horse last night. 4 year old paint mare. Rachel and I started her mother 5-6 years ago. I love getting repeat clients!! Had another training horse come in as well, an older but lovely mare that simply needs a months tune up to be a more enjoyable trail and ring mount for her owner.

If anyone is looking for a nice 3 horse slant trailer I have one advertised for a friend. You can see pics of it and details on the sales page of my web site. Tack area in rear, unfinished living quarters/dressing room up by the gooseneck.

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No more foal watch! :) At least not for a few weeks. Misty is dealing very well with having her foal and not having good eyesight. The first few hours were a bit dicey- she would get nervous if she couldn't immediately lay her muzzle on the foal ( who is a loudly colored chestnut and white pinto colt- pics soon I promise) but now she has settled and is dealing with motherhood well. I'm glad that she is an experienced brood mare-I'm sure that that makes this easier.

Dually is also being a natural- for a first time mom she is just perfect- I'm very pleased with my little herd of brood mares and babies. We are calling them Charlie ( Londons foal ) Itchy ( Duallys foal) and Scratchy ( Mistys colt )

Am picking up a new training horse this evening, a nice 4 year old paint mare that we will break in to be a trail horse. Classy goes home tomorrow, and today Sandy B dropped off one of her horses from home for a months tune up. Busy are we!!

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Dually foaled out at 11 last night. She has a beautiful pinto- very high whites in the back, 1 high white in the front, one full sock, white on rump, white on shoulder, small spot on other shoulder. Yeah!!!! Maribelle walked into the barn just after Dually had foaled, its legs were still in the amniotic sac. Maribelle called me and I went right over. We left them once mama stood up- looked like it would be a bit before the foal would nurse and mama was quite content to stand licking at the baby so I knew all would be well for a bit. Lisa J had come by earlier in the evening, she had to take a horse to a hospital and had a problem with her trucks brake line so she came to get my truck. She said she'd check in on them when she came back- and texted to let me known that the cute little critter was happily nursing away. I went to check on them at 4 this morning- no foal for Misty yet- but Duallys little one was eating away and mama looked quite happy to have a baby of her own. ( she has been mooning over Londons foal )Sp just one more to go for now- the next two mares aren't due for over a month.

Off to do teeth this morning- then back to the barn to ride. Worked with Cardillo last night with the mounted shooting- riding him in my new saddle!! I'd stopped by Ralph's yesterday before picking up feed- and my saddle was all done- I cannot express how excited I was to see it all put together- he did some amazing work. Rode in it for about an hour and a half and it was great- fits Cardillo beautifully. I'll get pics of both the saddle and the foal to post soon.

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Saturdays Paso Fino demo at the Waverly Country Club went very well. It started out a bit rocky, problems with parking and pouring rain, but God stopped the rain and Deb got Eric Trump to fix the parking issue!! ( stopping the rain was a much more impressive feat! ) Cardillo and Pastor were feeling their oats a bit- but still put on a good show. The stars of the day however were Pam and Sneak!! Pam was decked out in hat and skirt and Sneak didn't mind that at all- they went gaiting off over the grass, skirt flowing gently over Sneaks rump and they looked fabulous.

Lori trailered Tappy and Bonnie back over on Saturday- Tappy for training and Bonnie for a little 'meet and greet' with Pastor. Hard to believe that we are already getting ready for out next show. Looks like we'll have a full load at the show.

Also busy getting Cardillo ready for his next event, a mounted shooting competition on May 28th. It's going to take a lot of work to have him ready ( spent a good hour with him last night ) but we'll give it our best.

No more foals yet- the mares were checked at 8:45, 11, 1 and 4:30. I'm looking forward to some solid nights sleep!

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London had a lovely dun colt at about 12:30 this morning. Dually is totally smitten by the baby- I ended up having to separate them as I was afraid that London would get no rest trying to keep Dually away from her new baby. I can already tell that this foal has his father hair gene- his tail is huge and long for a new foal. He is a solid, but a beautiful dun color- just a bit lighter than his mom. No more babies as of 5:40 this morning- but both Dually and Misty are totally ready to go, so looks like they will be keeping me up for another night or two. Carbi is making Rose crazy- she is well overdue and seems to be keeping her legs crossed.

Had an interesting day yesterday- took JQ for a nice trail ride with Jim and Jose. JQ was great- this was just his second time out and he acted like an old hand. We had stopped to clear a lot of windfall branches from the upper side of Maribelles hay filed, he was good with that- then later he stood quiet while I reached down to the ground ( while still mounted on him) to grab up another big branch to remove it from the hay field. He also stood quietly when I rode up to the mailbox to get the mail out to check it. Very pleased with him. Jose was very good too- this was just his second time out this spring. Jim then took him back into the arena and worked on Jose's newest trick- stepping up to the mounting block and standing on it with rider aboard.

Jen was here- I rode Grace first and then Jen rode- the mare was very settled- very well paced. Pam was here too, as was Forest- everyone had a good ride. Deb came for the day to help get us all set for going to the Derby Day celebration today- we will have Pastor, Sneak and Cardillo along.

Now for the interesting part. I had gotten a call late morning from a woman who wanted to come see Jubilee. She really talked a good talk- seemed very interested in the mare- we had a long conversation on the phone going over what the woman was looking for- going over the mares pros and cons ( I always try to give people a good picture of the horse they are coming to see- and I want to get a good idea of what they are looking for so that no one wastes their time.) The woman showed up pretty much on time- and she didn't mind that I was mid-way through bathing Cardillo. Erin took that job over and I went to tack up Jubilee. I did tell the woman several times that Jubi was in roaring heat- she said that was fine- she was used to mares. Jubi proceeded to ride absolutely beautifully. We went w/t/c both directions, executed several very nice turns on the haunch, trotted over a series of ground poles and so on. The woman said she liked the mare, but didn't want to ride her yet- wanted to 'run her hands over her'. I reminded her again that Jubi was in heat- and we had already discussed that Jubi could be cranky about it. The woman ( who was dressed in britches and boots and said she was an accomplished horsewoman) walked up to Jubilee- and pressed her hard in the upper loin behind the saddle- right where a mare is sensitive when in season. Jubi very calmly cow-kicked the woman. Hit her in the belly- not very hard. I felt bad reprimanding the mare 'cause I certainly didn't blame her- it was a stupid thing for the woman to do. After I asked the woman if she was ok, the woman said-" yes' I'm fine. This mare is lame! I'm not interested in her"- and she left. I tried to talk with her- but she started yelling at me telling me that I didn't know what I was doing- riding a lame horse and so on- called me a nut job- got in her car and left the farm. And she seemed so normal on the phone..... Well- at least Jubi got in a good work- she gave me a lovely ride and I was very pleased with her.

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Maribelle checked on the mares at 11, I checked on them at 1. Dually was laying down, breathing hard, and lifting her head to look at and lick her side. Then she stood up and just stood there staring at me. Then London laid down- so I went back to bed- thinking that when I came back to the barn at 4-5 that there would be a foal or two. Nope- nothin! I could see this morning that Dually had been up and down a lot, and she has been licking her side- so I may end up leaving the mares in the indoor today.

We so enjoyed the beautiful day yesterday, and so far this morning things are looking nice too. Today I'll run to town in the morning, run some errands, check on Cardillos saddle ( I'm so excited about it- the last time I was at Ralphs he had really gotten so much done on it- can't wait to see the latest progress. ) Kerry and Erin got a huge load of hay in yesterday- and Bobby brought a full hay wagon to Maribelles, so she is set for a good bit again too. Angie and rode up, Angie on Maribelles Tatiana and I on Sneak. ( I'd hiked out across the swamp to catch Sneak- the herd was all the way out back. Sneak came running when I called, she's always good about that, but when she and the rest of the herd got close, they did their typical swerve up the hill to avoid the swamp, so I had to hike after them up the hill. Grabbed Sneak, undid the fence up by the road, and rode her bareback in a halter up to Maribelles as I'd heard Bobby honk his horn as he came through with the load of hay. Saw Angie headed into the woods and followed, which was good as she got lost and needed a hand finding her way.)

Julie and Jubi got a good workout yesterday- not sure which one of them worked harder. JQ went for his first solo trail ride and he was very good. Cardillo worked well also- I'm trying to get him very tired for our Derby Day Demo tomorrow. Angie had ridden her Azi over on Wednesday- nso she and I took him and Jose for a trail ride at noontime- it's been so nice having Angie ere working/riding- kind of like the old days!

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Still no babies. Last checked on them at 3 this morning, and now that Robbie is up to keep an eye on Hunter I am going to run up to check on them again. It's amazing how excited I am to see foals by my favorite horse. ( I call him my favorite- rode him yesterday- realized that I've probably only ridden him twice since the World Equestrian games- poor horse)

Long but good day yesterday- we got a lot of critters ridden. Today should be more of the same- Bee's owners will be here again, and today they will be loading the mare up and heading off on the long drive home to Illinois. We've really enjoyed having the mare here- she's been fun to work with. Looks like we will actually see some sunshine today- not sure if we will know how to deal with it.

Here's a pic of Kerry and Zip. So far he has been working out well for her- and she's gearing up to be able to show him later in the month.

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No foals yet. I last checked on the girls at 4 this morning. All three mares just looked at me as if they were thinking 'Really- you're checking on us again?' Either Maribelle had turned on and left n the lights in the indoor- or one of the mares must have played with the switch. Made my checking on them a lot easier than having to use a flashlight. Everyone is excited to get to see a Calif baby.

Spoke with Robin Ratliff yesterday about how well all the horses did at the show. Many of the horses we had there were either purchased from Greener Pastures or were bred from horses from there. There's quite a few pictures from the weekend posted on facebook. Jenna and Jess were the ribbon girls for most of the show- and they got to take a lot of pics from inside the ring.

Here is Nicole and Pastor- hows this for a neat shot! There are plenty of other pics as well- you can get to them by going to the RO-NO Ranch facebook page.

Bee's owners are here- they got to get a lot of riding in on her yesterday. They will have today and tomorrow to come and have us work with them/with her before they load up and take her back to Illinois. She will be missed! Diesel and Apple go home today as well. Both Tappy and Mayo are having a little break at home, and then they will be back as well to start getting ready for the Lexington show.

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Dillsburg was awesome! We had a fantastic group of people and horses- and things actually went pretty smoothly. Got on the road Friday morning by 11 ( which was pretty amazing as I really did not have a lot of time to geteverything organized- many thanks to everyone who pitched in to get everything ready to go) We had four trailers loaded down- and all the critters traveled very well.

I'll post more soon about how everyone did- fun was had by all and we are already looking forward to the Lexington show.

Had 17 riders in the Extreme Cowboy Race on Saturday evening- that was definitely a hit and I have been asked to host one at Lexington as well. Already have a few good ideas about some obstacles.

I'm off now to go check on the broodmares. They held off on foaling- so I know that they will now be disrupting my evenings. Went to go check on them about 1/2 hour ago- but Hunter woke up and Robbie wasn't up yet to watch him- but now he is so I will go look for Calif babies.

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