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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