31 January 2007

PJP Baybee Doll 2 months

WH PJ Piglette & PJP Baybee Doll 1 day old

WH PJ Piglette

I have managed to finish one month and this is actually one that I shot today. Not much color in the sky and had a mixture of cloud and sunshine.

This mare is called WH PJ Piglette. I wont go into the history of how she got her name LOL but she is a rescue mare who we bought off a PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) Farm when they lost their contract with the pharmaceutical company for using the urine to produce oestrogen. When they started using a synthetic product for the oestrogen they cancelled their contracts with a lot of these ranches, a lot of which were in North Dakota and in Canada. They had hundreds of mares, foals and stallions on each farm and that flooded the market and a lot of them probably ended up in the kill pens. It makes me so sad to think about it. The horses on the farms werent always very well looked after and she was in pretty bad shape when she arrived here and she was in foal. She has the sweetest disposition but has obviously been abused because if she panics she is very hard to handle and is very wary about her head and ears being touched. The baby she had was a beautiful little bay filly which I called PJP Baybee Doll, I will include a picture of Baybee too with "Miss Piggy" which is what I call her, she does love to roll in the mud. I just wish I could have saved more of them. Baybee was a day old in this picture.

Still icy cold here, but there was no wind today which made it more bearable so I was able to put the horses out for a few hours while I tidied up a bit in the barn. I didn't achieve much as it is still too cold to spend long periods out there.

Hope you all had a good day.

Lori

30 January 2007

I hate these short days, just dont give you enough time for everything. It was absolutely freezing again today and windy and after I did it in shifts as I got too cold too quickly, I fed the horses, got two stalls out of 9 stripped and rebedded with new sawdust, and then fed them all again and the day was over. At least the days are getting longer again, just wish winter was over.

Soooooo that is my excuse for not shooting anything today again. Here is a picture of a strange weed/grass that grows in our garden in the summer. It is about an inch long and the bug is even smaller!! I used my 100mm 2.8 macro to shoot this one and got a few nice shots despite the wind.

The horse is my own filly who is a full sister to the filly that I sold a few weeks back (picture with my trainer riding) and the colt I posted the portrait of yesterday. Couldnt be more different in color could they LOL. My husband named her after me so her name is Lori, poor girl! She doesnt get enough riding time by any means as she has the smoothest trot ever and is just dying to have a job and go places. Hopefully next summer I will get more riding time in on the trails. She was 2 in this picture and is now 6 years old.

Thats my contribution for the day, willing winter to be over but we still have a looooong way to go. I am trying to get all my commenting caught up please just bear with me I will eventually get there.

Lori

29 January 2007

Same lousy weather today, cold, snow and wind so nothing achieved in the photo department and on top of it I had to go and fetch a load of hay. YUK. So here is another old shot and the story that goes with it.

This photo was my first stock sale. It was bought by a Veterinarian Association for their one newsletter/information brochure. The picture is of the first baby that was actually born here after I married my husband. When I arrived there were already 4 babies but they were already a month to 3 months old. So this baby was born two years later and was my first newborn. I called him Sonnys Anticipation because his momma is Sonnys Copper Gal and we werent sure when he was conceived because the stallion ran with the mares in the pasture that year so we anticipated his arrival for weeks. He was bought along with another filly of ours born that year by a chap (Stan) who has now become a friend, for trail riding. He has been riding them now for 2 years on the trails and I have actually ridden him twice. He is a star. When it came time to break him to ride he never bucked or put a foot wrong. By the time Stan had ridden him 4 times he had given him to his 13 year old daughter to ride because he was so well behaved and they fell in love with each other and Stan has never been able to ride him again because she is always on him! I feel honored that she let me ride him twice.

So that is my story for the day. I hope you all had a good one.

Lori

28 January 2007

Well I promise I will behave myself today and not post anything that grosses most of you out LOL, I just thought it was fascinating but then I am strange.

We had an absolutely freezing day today, woke up to 10F (-12C approx.) with a max of 15F

(-9C) and 25 mph winds which brought the windchill to -3F (-20C) Brrrrrrrr. I had a load of sawdust to unload in the barn from a trailer to make matters worse, for which I had to move all the babies outside so I could back the trailer into the corner where I keep the sawdust. They were not pleased as it was snowing and freezing LOL.

Before I brought them back in I snapped a few shots because they looked miserable and were covered in snow, they had only been outside about 15 - 20 minutes so it wasnt long. These were a few that I shot. Dee is yawning her head off, Dawn is licking at the snow and Dudette (the one from the rear) is resigned to the fact that she is there LOL).

Hope you all had a good day.

27 January 2007

My photo of the day might gross a few of you out but I use these opportunities as a learning curve so here are 2 photos taken today. I found a dead possum in our driveway this morning. It wasnt run over I am not sure how it died but anyway I took some shots (I always do in case I can use it for stock) and I noticed how it's paws looked like little fingers with finger prints on all of the pads. Possums are not good around horses because they can urinate and defacate on the hay and when the horse eats the hay it transfers a parasite to the horse which will lie dormant until it is stressed excessively. The parasite then becomes active and can cause semi paralysis amongst other things. The disease is called EPM (for those interested here is a site where you can read up on it http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/drfenger/ ).The possum female has a pouch which it raises its babies in, similar to a kangaroo, it can have pretty large litters.

Our old stud had it and at age 25 (3 years ago) we eventually had to put him to sleep becaue he had a semi paralysis in his hind quarters and was struggling more and more. His mind was wonderful but his body was giving out.

And for all the horse lovers, here is my horse picture for the day, not a new shot, taken a while back. This has its own funny story. This baby found the feed sack in the turnout and had to pick it up in his mouth. Of course his mother just about had a fit, couldnt figure out what this scary white flappy thing was and started running away. Of course the baby wanted to stay near momma and he ran after her just as fast which made her even more scared. They went round and round a few times. I ran inside to get my camera and snapped one shot before he dropped the sack, and unfortunately he was doing his business at the same time but I always get a laugh when I remember this shot. The mare was looking at it by this time with great suspiscion.

Have a great day.

26 January 2007

Okay who forgot Catblogging Friday???? I did until after all the horses had been fed and it was already dark, so I dragged the one barn cat in (his name is Sylvester after the cartoon character). He is my best barn mouser, will take on mice and rats with no fear LOL. Unfortunately my husband let him into the house recently and let him wander around and sleep on the sofa and now he thinks he is a house cat! Well I was interested to see how he would look against the black felt as he is black and white. He loves to stretch his front paws out as he walks around and whenever he sits, type of kneeding motion because he is such a happy cat. It wasnt easy getting him to stay in one place so I could snap a few shots but here is one of them.

And for the horse fix, here is an unusual shot of my hand raised baby called Wiggle (her proper name is DBD Indian Dreamaker) who loves to swish the water in the water trough with her lips.

This is an old shot of course. She is with the trainer at the moment seeing if he can teach her to be a horse. Because I hand reared her she has a bit of an identity crisis and thinks I am one of the horses and she can play with me the way she plays with the other horses. She weighs about 1000 lbs so it is not an option for her to treat me like a horse!!!! I just cant seem to teach her who she is as she does not respect me so I have had to send her to someone who can teach her the right way and break her to ride.

Hope you all had a good day.

Lori

25 January 2007

There are just not enough hours in the day, I keep saying that and unless my life slows down dramatically I think I am gonna have a nervous breakdown LOL.

A friend of mine gave me a nice big piece of black felt, well not huge, it is about 5ft x 5ft and I was interested to see how reflective it is. I have been wanting to buy a piece of black velvet for ever but living in the country I have to travel 22 odd miles to get to a Walmart (Big Supermarket/Superstore for non Americans) or fabric shop. Our little town just has our essentials nothing more. I hate shopping so I put it off for as long as humanly possible. Anyway I thought I would shoot something on it and see, I just used the on camera flash on my 20D and made up a makeshift infinity curve with it and put one of my husband's many indian ornament collection pieces on it and took a few shots. It isnt as good as velvet for sure but it can be sorted out quite quickly in PS. I need to find a willing model and take a few portraits on it using the studio flash. I havent shot that sort of thing for ages.

So this is my picture for the day. I have also included a horse shot to give those who want it their daily fix of horses. This is the Blue Roan filly BB who I shot the other day with her feet and nose in the ice in the field. She is 3 years old now and is gorgeous.

Hope you all had a good day, we got a bit more snow and the temps are dropping tonight into the single digits F so the cold has finally come. Keep well all.

Lori

24 January 2007

I tried to make some time to shoot for a few of the challenges today but the conditions for outdoor shots arent good at all, so I have posted one of my efforts which failed for what I wanted it for, and to make the day's blog more interesting I included a picture of Blue's (the stallion I featured yesterday with the feed sack) first baby who was born in March last year. He was about a month old here and I had just turned him and momma out into the pasture and they were having a blast! His name is Blaze and he is the most laid back clever quiet baby I have ever bred.

Hope everyone is surviving their respective crazy weather patterns. Will check in on everyone tomorrow to comment etc., have to get my beauty sleep, and believe me I need it!!

Forgive me again. I just dont want to miss having at least one picture posted each day even if it isnt that great.

Hugs

Lori

23 January 2007

I have had a really busy day again so am going to have to cheat and put in a previously shot picture of our four year old stud colt. We have one baby on the ground from him, born last year and hopefully one more this year and are going to breed four mares to him this year for next year's crop. He has such a love of life this colt and will amuse himself for hours, running and playing with whatever he can find. I nearly lost him two years ago (he was 20 months old) when I found him hanging by his one front leg which had slid between two panels of the roundpen. He had obviously got his legs over the top and one had slid into the gap and couldnt come all the way through and he had lost his balance. Fortunately he was really calm (which I cant say I was, I was hysterical) until we got some friends to come and release the panels and get his leg out. We had had 8 inches of snow the day before and I couldnt pull the pins out of the panels myself because they were frozen and I was more concerned with keeping him calm. The injury was really bad and the vet really wanted to put him down immediately. He told me recently that the only reason that he didnt was because he knew I would be diligent and look after the wound until it had healed, most people here wouldnt and the horse would probably die of infection. I washed and dressed that leg every day right through the coldest winter we have had since I have been here (1st morning after the accident it was -8 F and the next day Christmas morning -6 F) for 4 months until it had healed. I kept a photo record of the progress, taking a picture every week from all four sides as the cut went nearly all around the fetlock joint (narrow part just above the hoof). I really bonded with him too because even though he was a stallion he was a dream to handle, just stood and let me do what I had to with no problems. So far he has not taken a lame step so time will tell if the leg will hold up to riding, if not he will become my lawn ornament because I wont part with him because I know he will be sold to places I dont want to even think about.

This is a picture of him making a game out of a grain bag. I have a whole series of him pouncing on it, shaking it, throwing it etc. but I liked this one. His personality has carried over to his son who is one of the most laid back colts that I have ever bred. He will do anything calmly and without hesitation.

So that is my little story of the day. This stallions barn name is Blue because of his blue eyes, he has been in many DPC challenges so some of you may recognise him.

Hope you all had a great day.

Lori

22 January 2007

Today was much the same as yesterday and the day before, overcast and dull but the snow is still on the ground.

My trainer came today and took my 8 year old stud to see if he can make him into a cow horse (roping, reining, cutting). He has led such a solitary life because he cant be turned out with the other horses and desperately needs a job. He is a gorgeous horse and I think he is going to do well. He was broke to ride at age 2 so he shouldn't be too much of a challenge, it is just a matter of finding what he is good at and enjoys. My three year old hand raised baby went too because she has become too much of a handful for me, thinks I am another horse and I cant get her respect. She isnt mean just thinks that I am another horse and she can play with me the way she does with all the other horses whch is not a good idea as she weight about 1000lbs to my 141 lbs. He also took one of the babies, we did a bit of a trade for the training and he seems to be hapy with that so we are optimistic. Sad to see them go but I have two stalls less to clean and one less baby in the bottom of the barn and I know they are with someone who cares and will look after them.

So here are is a pic of the one baby running in the snow today and the one stud colt chewing the top of the typing post, they are really enjoying the snow. I really must start trying to shoot something else or you guys are gonna get sick of seeing hundreds of variants of my horses LOL.

Hope you all had a good day.

21 January 2007

We had three inches of beautiful snow this morning, yay at last. Not too cold but still in the 20sF. I opened the barn and let the babies see their first "real" snow and they were fascinated. I have posted 2 shots, the lighting was very flat so they would probably make better B&W pics. One of the first things that they all did was push their noses into the snow and swish it around. I think this might be a bit too close but I thought it was cute. The other is of two of the stud colts getting rowdy with each other. Brats!

Nothing else too exciting to report today, caught up on a bit of work and am watching the Colts Patriots game which has just started. GO COLTS!!!

Keep well all.

20 January 2007

Hey we are still going strong, 20 days and I am still here LOL.

Today was cold and sunny so I put most of the horses out and gave Gee a turn in the bottom of the barn to run. Didn't get any pics of her other than this one of her and one of the babies (his name is Blaze) touching noses over the barrier with their breath steaming in the cold. The steam makes it look out of focus but I thought it was cute.

I also have put in another one of my Blue Roan three year old filly, her name is IMA Blue Dudette (BB is her barn name). BB derived from the fact that when she was born we knew she was going to be a blue roan color (they normally have solid black heads and the bottom 3/4 of the legs are black too but with her being a paint her legs are white) and she was huge so BB = Blue Baby, Big Baby, Bad Baby, Bully Baby, Brat Baby, Beautiful Baby or whatever else! Here she is breaking the ice that was on the lake at the bottom of the field looking for water or grass. The water has seeped away leaving just the ice suspended and of course mud.

We have a storm moving in tonight which should bring 2-3 inches of snow by tomorrow evening. Everyone here in Indiana is gearing up for the big American Football playoff game between the Indiana Colts and New England Patriots which is going to be held in our indoor arena at Indianapolis. GO COLTS!!!!! Sorry had to get that one in.

Have a great night and day everyone.

19 January 2007

Here's to catblogging day for those that are participating. Here is another of my barn cats trying to get a drink from a frozen puddle.

Not much happening today, pretty cold and expecting 4 inches snow on Sunday (I'll believe it when I see it).

Hope you had a good day, I gotta go shopping which I hate then finish cleaning stables which is just about as bad LOL.

18 January 2007

Surprise surprise, ANOTHER picture of the baby horses!! The older horses are wise to me and hide when they see the camera LOL.

Cold again today and it started snowing quite big flakes for about half an hour. I looked outside and saw that the babies had actually moved outside and were enjoying it so I rushed out and took this photo quickly (along with a few others).

At least tomorrow you can look forward to a catblogging picture, give you a break from the horses! Dont forget the Friday catblogging guys!

Oh well I suppose I better get out there and clean the stables, UGH! On the upside our trainer has agreed to take one of the babies, my three year old hand raised filly, and our older stud to give them some training so we can try to sell them. I am going to get six horses back from Iowa in about August/September, so I am desperate to sell some of these horses to make room. Just wish I could guarantee good homes for all of them.

17 January 2007

The cold arrived but no more snow, the ground has finally frozen. What a joy not to have to walk with your boots sinking and wanting to be suctioned off at every step LOL.

This is the coldest it has been this year and will continue to stay under freezing for the next few days at least. Maybe snow of Sunday but then these guys are hardly ever right when they predict things long term.

This is one of the babies pottering around outside with some others in the background. I kind of liked the effect.

16 January 2007

Woohoo we had about an inch of snow, but the downside is it isnt cold enough to freeze the mud so all it did was make a white and brown mess when i let the horses out. I had to do that because they were bouncing off the walls from being stabled for so long without exercise. I am glad we avoided the ice storms and severe weather that was experienced further west of us but we had that two years ago, beginning of January 2005 had a dreadful ice storm which left some of us without electricity for over a week. We were very lucky as we only went 16 hours without because we are on the main town circuit even though we are in the country, and with my husband's condition and having an air matress that needs constant air running so obviously needs electricity, it would have been a real problem to get him to somewhere that could accomodate him. Anyway that is another story LOL.

So here is my offering for today, I have three that I like, the lighting is very flat and boy are they muddy (of course the first thing they did was roll and there wasnt enough snow to prevent the mud sticking to them). Two are of the babies (one when I opened the doorway and another of three of them running) and the other is our one brood mare. Her Name is Lonsumcatbar, I call her Kitty Cat, my filly is behind her. You can see that half of my field is still under water too. Thought I would do three to make up for not shooting the last two days.

Hope everyone is well.

15 January 2007

I am taking the easy way out again today, nearly up to date with all the barn work and we still havent got the ice, snow and cold, maybe tonight, dependable weather forecasters!!!

Thought I would finish the Monarch butterfly story. Here is a pic of the butterfly, a pic of the milkweed plant with a flower and the caterpillar. Quite a colorful bunch.

Promise I will be back to the horses and shooting tomorrow, especially if it snows, the babies should be quite excited to experience their first snow, they love to run and roll in it.

Hope you all had a great day.

14 January 2007

I have just had the most apalling day, rain, mud and having to slog through it to get the stalls cleaned and dump the resultant "manure". It is almost impossible to push the wheelbarrow out of the barns the mud is so bad. Had to put planks down so that I could wheel them out and dump the contents away from the barn, will worry about moving it later when it freezes and I can get a loader in.

The cold should start to move in tomorrow, and the temps will drop below freezing, I can't wait LOL. So forgive me guys I havent picked up my camera today but i needed something bright and cheery to post to cheer me up so found two flower pictures I took a while back.

The one is the blossom on the white potato plant, I never knew what they looked like til I grew some a few years back and they are quite amazing little flowers, about 1cm in diameter.

The second one is a close up of the milkweek plant flower. This plant is the diet of the Monarch butterfly lava and because of its bitter flavor it makes the caterpillars and butterflies unappetising to predators, so if you see one of these plants dont dig it out remember the monarch butterflies, without them they wont survive. If anyone is interested I can post a few more photos of all the stages of the plant and butterfly. The only one I dont have is the pupa stage.

So that is my story for the day, hope you all had a great one. I will catch up on everyone else's blogs tomorrow, I am pooped LOL.

13 January 2007

This is one of our nine month old babies, a filly called How D Miss Stetson (Missy is her barn name) I had stripped the barn area where all the babies are yesterday and put down a good layer of sawdust and a few bales of straw because it is going to start getting cold and she decided to have a nap in it. This is a real sweet filly, she has a bit of a strong personality but would be wonderful for an experienced horseperson.

Hope you all had a good day. It is still overcast and we dodged most of the bad rain thank heavens, one more dark dank day then the temps will fall quickly and winter will be upon us.

12 January 2007

I have looked at so many blogs today and can't remember who said that Fridays were catblogging picture days, so I decided to do one of the barn cats. We have 4 neutered males in the barn at the moment, at one time I had 12, living in the country they just turn up one day and stay, lots of mice in the barn because of the grain. Anyway it seems that Feline Leukemia is a big problem with feral cats and I am afraid I lost them one by one including many litters of kittens along the way. I have pictures of all of them though. These are the only four left now and this shot is of the one I have had the longest, his momma just dissappeared a few months ago she was the first one to adopt me. I wanted to get a nice eye shot but it is overcast outside so I had to use flash which has washed out the yellow in his eyes a bit, but here he is. His name is Wild Cat LOL, when he was a baby the litter had badly infected eyes and I had to bathe them a few times a day, he fought me tooth and nail and I know it was him because he has a tiny tuft of white on the tip of his tail.

11 January 2007

Well it is my birthday today but nothing changes I am afraid, it is just like any other day LOL. I had to go to fetch straw for the foals so I can bed them down well as we are expecting very heavy rain over the next three days and warmer temps then on Monday the temps will be dropping below freezing and probably staying there. On top of that I got a load of sawdust which I had to unload the hard way (shovel and muscles LOL). I put a bunch of sawdust down for the 7 babies who share a 32 x 40 ft area in the bottom of my barn which leads outside to a small paddock where they can exercise. With so many babies in the same area and the mud it is very hard to keep the area clean and dry.

I decided to put Gee the Thoroughbred out there while I had the chance (I close the babies outside and then she can use the 32x40 area to play a bit. Boy did she play. I couldnt choose between the two shots so here are two for today.

These were shot using available light at 1600asa.

10 January 2007

It was very cold this morning and the ground finally froze so no more getting my boots sucked off in the mud but it wont last as we are expecting heavy rain from Friday through Sunday and then the temps will fall again and maybe snow.

This is a picture of a Thoroughbred mare that I board in the off racing season, so she spends the winters with us. Her name is Geared and I call her Gee. She has the most amazing temperament I have ever encountered in a Thoroughbred, laid back, loving and easy to handle. Considering I dont have anywhere to let her out to run because she can't be turned out in the pasture she copes really well with spending most of her time in her stall. I hope when he retires her she will come back to me, I love her personality.

I have started replacing the wire between my stalls with metal bars so thought this looked quite funny, behind the bars.

9 January 2007

I have been trying to get a good picture of a cardinal for over 5 years and never seem to succeed. They are very illusive and by the time I have fetched my camera they are no-where to be seen. Got a quick shot off at this one this morning, not the sharpest image as it was at the long end of my 80-400 lens. To cap it all the Cardinal is the Indiana State Bird! I will keep trying, they look wonderful when it snows, red on white.

Got some more muddy horses shots so decided to go this route today. Windy and very cold here today so I am staying inside as much as possible LOL

8 January 2007

I was looking through some of the other shots got this morning and rather liked this one. This is more of the type of shot that I like to get with this type of lighting.

8 January 2007

Horses again folks. I love to use the early morning light coming into the barn to take rim lighting shots, especially in the winter as it allows me to get the right angle to catch the light but have a black background because it is dark inside. The babies all compete for the area that is sunny when it is cold. I put their hay into cut off barrels and the chaff (small leaves etc.) falls off into the barrel and they love that so will burrow down to get it. I didnt get a rim light shot today, besides they are the worst I have seen them, absolutely covered in mud head to toe because they like to play in it!! Should all make good trail horses LOL, but I got one of the one filly shoving her head into the barrel.

7 January 2007

What Greets Me Every Morning!

I keep hoping that my life will slow down so I can at least take a few photos a day but before I know it it is dark, chores still aren't finished and it is time for dinner and my list of to dos instead of getting shorter has gotten longer!

The filly we sold went this morning and is happily esconced in her new home so that is a relief. We are still under mud, it is still overcast and it is getting colder, winter is very late this year. Expecting a bit of snow tonight and tomorrow.

So this is my picture for today, it portrays my day to me, mud and work! So nothing exciting, I wanted to take a shot of them half buried in the mud but it is too dark now LOL.

6 January 2007

Muddy and awful this morning again, periods of sunshine this afternoon. The babies were playing today especially the stud colts who can play a bit rough. This is two of them having a mock battle. Looks better in B&W.

Expecting snow maybe on Monday/Tuesday, I hope so that will make everything look nice and clean again instead of this dull brown mess.

5 January 2007

Woo hoo we sold the filly I posted the pic of two days ago. Vet checked and went through with flying colors, they are planning on collecting her on Sunday. Of course I will be crying all the way as she drives out of the driveway, these horses are like my children, but I know she is going to a great home.

Brought out the Tungsten lights today as it has been raining solidly all night and all day, it is absolutely dreadful outside. I dont have any flowers in the house because I dont have green fingers and the plants all usually die because I forget to water them. Anyway this plant is called Angel Wings and has been grown from a slip from a plant that belonged to my husband's grandmother. I noticed its leaves were semi transparent so I back lit it and put a black background behind it and voila this is what I came up with. Not my usual horsy pic for sure!

4 January 2007

Still hanging in but didnt manage to get the camera out today at all with the work load. I really need to set up the studio lights so I can do some indoor shots when I run out of time. Same old same old, rain and overcast all day, cleaning stalls, riding the horse that we are selling.

So forgive me but this is one from two days ago.

Another Mundane Photo

I nearly ran out of time today, I was just going outside to find something to shoot when my blacksmith arrived (early) and the rest of my day until 4pm was taken up with shoeing horses and getting a filly that I have sold ready to go to her new home. She has not been ridden much and her new owner is a novice too and wants to do trail riding with her so I wanted to expose this filly to as much as possible before she leaves. She got her new shoes and then went for her maiden voyage out into the wild blue yonder!! Has only been ridden in an arena so far. She did real good. So this is a picture of my trainer Shaun after their ride. Sorry nothing more exciting but that was my day LOL