Jaimie Tausch

 Winter is going to be here way before I even realize it. Kill me. Actually, I would give anything for the ground to freeze and the mud to be no more! I shouldn't say that though, because I'm really not ready for it to freeze yet. I am sitting here looking at 2 loads of limestone, and 1 load of gravel sitting outside. The limestone is for another drylot, the gravel is for the driveway. We had 5 loads of gravel brought in yesterday, and this one is the lasssst one. Since we ran the trench across the driveway for water to the barn, the driveway had turned into a muddy, bumpy mess. It's much better now, and the water in the barn is wayy worth it 

The limestone loads are going to make another drylot. Right now I have enough room for my 5 horses to all be outside, but I need room for 2 more horses to come home this winter. If you can't tell by now, I am WAY anti-mud. I hate my horses standing in mud, I hate cleaning mud off, I hate being muddy, I hate walking through mud. I hate everything about mud. So, I am very proud of my drylots. If done correctly, a few loads of limestone can keep mud at a minimum all year long. If you don't put enough down right from the beginning though, the horse's foot will go right through the lime and bring mud back up, mixing in all your limestone and wasting your entire load. I put limestone down right from the very beginning, and usually I add a load per paddock once a year. Keeping manure picked up in the paddocks is important also, but really simple and quick to do if you make it part of your daily routine. The pros of a mud-free facility are sooooooo worth the small effort required. We have a box scraper, so it's very simple the spread it out as well. I love my limestone 

The horses have been off the pastures for awhile now. It hasn't been dry for weeks. Ryan is out in the fields with the Combine today. It isn't dry enough, but at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to get any drier. The farmers can't wait on the weather. This is going to be a bad year for the crops. Yikes.

Pikzee and Rosie (the broodmares) are doing great. They are fat and sassy. Actually, they are almost due for their next ultrasounds. Guess I better call the vet. I adore my vet. He is a repro specialist who really knows his stuff.  It is so important to have a good reproductive veterinarian when breeding, and I am very lucky to have found my guy since I moved here. I trust him completely. Both girls were a little difficult to get in foal this year for their own reasons. Plus we were racing the clock, since they didn't even arrive here in IL until June. So I was estatic when both girls checked in. Now I'm just hoping both babies are still cookin' in there!

Sully, Rico, and Daisy are just hangin out. Sully should be schooling FEI by now, Rico should be in heavy training, and so should Daisy, but right now there are other things that need my attention unfortunately! Someday their time will come! haha. I love them all, they are very important members of my family, so it's ok. Ryan and I enjoy having Rico and Daisy here to trail ride, so I guess that's their job. 

Ryan and I made a checklist of things we need to accomplish before winter. It ended up being about 5,000 pages long! Hah! No, really we're getting close to being set for winter....but there are still several things left to get done. I need sliding doors on the barn. The wind out here gets strong and makes it bitter cold inside. I need to finish this new drylot, but actually, it's a better idea to wait until the ground is frozen (or at least DRY!) to spread the lime. That way the big heavy tractor won't make a mess.  We did get electricity in the front part of the barn, where Sully's stall and Daisy and Rico's run-in are (YES!) but not the back yet. The back of the barn is where Rosie and Pikzee's run-in and huge drylot are. There are also 2 more stalls back there. (One is the goats' new home). The other stall needs rubber mats, then it's good to go. I wanted to clean out the hayloft and redo the floor, but I don't really know if that will happen. We were planning on cleaning it out and plowing the old straw under when Ryan plows the cornfields, but it's getting so late already and they're just starting to harvest. We'll see!

Besides the ponies, all the other critters are just dandy. The goats have totally settled in and dig it here. They are still behaving, so they still have freedom to roam where they please. They know to go into their stall once it gets dark, and if we're a little late for feeding, they've already put themselves away and are already curled up asleep by the time we get there. They are super sweet and friendly. They come right up to us for scratches and attention. We feed them black oil sunflowers as a treat, and they love them! The doggies are all curled up around me on the couch. They troop it out and stay outside with us still, but the temperature won't have to drop too many more degrees before the Italian Greyhounds demand to stay inside, warm and cozy! Ellie is the epitome of a farmdog- if we're outside, she's outside. We bought her a fabulous doggie coat for the colder weather from Foggy Mountain Dog Coats. They make AWESOME horse-style dog blankets that fit super well, are really durable, look adorable, and are affordable! We bought a coat for all 4 of our dogs. Dogcoat.com is the website. If you're looking for a coat that actually keeps the dogs warm, that's your place! Ellie really needed one though, as silly as it seems. She'll stay outside with us even in 0 degree snowstorms, shivering away but happy to be helping. And the Iggies, of course they needs coats. The Iggies are pathetic little shivering babies. Speaking of which, I just learned how to play with Imovie on the Mac, so I made a video of our doggies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AKC_e9FmR4    Check them out!

Well, I better go switch laundry around. I hate doing laundry. Then soon it will be time to go bring in and feed the horses. Ahhh....I love my life on our little farm. Halloween night will be our 1 year anniversary living here. I'm really excited for year 2. 

 Sooo...lots to update on! First off, we got our goats! We chose 2 - a brother and sister. They're both dehorned already, and the boy (Harvey) is castrated. They are Nigerian Dwarfs, and they are precious. They were born in May, so they're around 5 months old or so. We've had them a week today! So far, we've been able to give them run of the farm without any mishaps yet. YET. haha. I have had plenty of warnings about how much trouble they can get into! So, I'll keep my eye on them. The first time I catch them on top of my car, thats it! haha. They are very sweet and fun though. They let us pet them and love on them, and we can put them on our laps and they fall asleep. My Thoroughbred thought they were tiny little aliens when they came home. I don't think he's ever seen goats before! It didn't take too long for them to warm up to the little critters though, and now they all graze together and are fine. 

We finished another 2.5 acre pasture this week - yesss. The horses were grateful. They got to use it all week, but now it's been raining nonstop for about 24 hours, so no pasturetime for awhile      I am very strict about my pasture management. I don't have enough acres to let a single blade of grass get torn up in bad weather. I think I have about 4 acres of pasture now. I have one more acre or so in front to do, then everything available here to fence in will be done. I am hoping to have it done before winter, but winter feels like it's coming quickly. Yikes!

The horses here are good. Ryan and I have been riding down the road to the pond and woods quite a bit. He rides Daisy, my 3yo buckskin QH. I put about 60 days on her this spring, so she doesn't have much under saddle time, and he has really no clue what he's doing, but she takes care of him. What a good girl she is.  And the sweetest little doll ever. And pretty! Rico is my 5yo Hanoverian. He is such a clown. I wasn't sure what to expect from him out on trail, but he is soooo perfect. He really relaxes and seems to enjoy just strolling along. It's really good for him to get out and see other things besides the dressage arena. He will be a well-rounded young man! 

 I went to Jay Stables today, which is the Andalusian barn I work at in the mornings. I hate mud. By the time I was done turning horses out, throwing hay into the paddocks, and finished with stalls, my feet were completely soaked, and my jeans were covered in mud up to my calves. uuuuuukkkk. I don't mind the cold, or the hot. I don't mind snow. I mind rain, and I really mind mud. Oh well, tis the season! I keep a couple of my training horses over there, so once I'm done working I get to work my own critters. I rode Trinity today. She was a very good girl! She's actually learning really quickly. Trinity (Fatrinita) is a 5yo Hanoverian mare (by Walk On Top, out of a Bolero mare). She's here with me to be sold. She's cute as a button, and really fun to ride with nice, comfortable gaits. I'm liking her more and more every day. She's actually the half sister to my leased broodmare Rosie. They are out of the same mare.  Their owner lives in Ohio. She only does the breeding end, and rides for pleasure. She sends me her older horses to start and sell. I bought Rico from her when he was a weanling in '04. 

After I left the barn, I had to come home, take a fast shower, and then head out to the vet with Ryan and our doggies! $500 later, everyone has negative heartworm tests, rabies shots, and all their vaccinations. Ugh. These animals sure are expensive! Now, I don't want to do anything. It is cold and muddy and I don't wanna go out there again! But I have to go do my own stalls, and soon it'll be time to feed. I can see everyone through my windows right now, and nobody seems to want to be outside. Rico and Daisy are standing in the doorway to their run-out. Pikzee is outside though. She is always outside, no matter what the weather is. Weirdo. She likes the rain I guess!

Ok well I'm headed out. I'll update again soon!

So, this will be my very first actual post about life on the farm. This is my very first time going public with the thoughts and experiences that I write about, so bear with me as I learn how to do this!

Today is another cold, almost-winter feeling type day. It's only October, but it already feels like November here in northern IL. I've been tempted to blanket my wimpy Thoroughbred, Sully, the past few nights, because it's been getting down into the 40s already. Sully is the only one that needs a blanket yet. The Hanoverians and Daisy the QH have nice thick coats. Soon they'll look like wooly bears.

Ryan is at home installing a water hydrant for the barn. For the past year we've had to run a hose from the hydrant at the house, out to the barn. I am VERY excited to not have to carry buckets of water to all the horses now! I am also being spoiled with electricity. No more feeding my horses in the dark, holding a flashlight in my mouth to see! It's funny, you never think of how nice having water and eletricity is until you go a year without it. So, maybe if all goes smoothly, I will have a well-lit barn sometime next week. It will still be a big ole barn with holes in the roof that needs to be resided, but at least I'll be able to see inside!

Ryan and I are going to look at Nigerian Dwarf goats today. My boyfriend once upon a time attended University of Illinois and had big dreams of living in the city. Now, he's excited beyond belief to go meet some baby goats and pick 2 of them out to bring home. He also has been getting pretty excited every time we drive past a field of corn or beans that have already been harvested. Ryan has become a full-fledged farmer, and I think it's the most adorable thing. I think I'll bring my camera and get some pictures of the goats so I can post them up for everyone to see. I have never had any goats, so this is going to be a whole new experience. I'm a little nervous, if I'm being honest! Anyone have any goat tips for me? We have a 10x15 stall in the barn for them. I figured straw is probably the best bedding for the little critters. And Ryan has big plans to build them a sweet pen with tractor tires and picnic tables and all sorts of things for them to climb on. Yikes!

As far as my horsies go...they're pretty much just hanging out right now. Rosie and Pikzee are busy growing their babies in their bellies. Rosie is due June 29th and Pikzee is due July 30th. Rosie is a black Weltmeyer daughter out of a Bolero mare. She is bred to PRE Andalusian stallion Heroe MAC. He's a 16 hand grey stallion with fantastic gaits, conformation, and above all, the BEST personality you could ask for. I spent several months riding him. He is extremely powerful, very talented in collection work, and has very expressive natural gaits. My other Hanoverian mare, Pikzee, is a bay Palladium daughter out of a Pik Immer mare. She is also bred to Heroe MAC. These babies will be registered with IAHLA as Half-Andalusians, and will be eligible for Iberian Warmblood registration. Check Heroe MAC out at jaystables.com. I cannot give that stallion enough compliments. I was never an Andalusian person, but after working with him I had to have my own. That's why I bought Aliyana. Hopefully she has her daddy's talent for Dressage!

Ok well it's time for me to go see some goats!!! More later...