Update on mini barn!

Yay! We now have a roof, 2 walls  put up and everyone will have their very own window in their stall when completed! Today the cement will be going in the walkway and the first layer of limestone will be put into the stalls. The two donkeys will share a stall.  They are too attached to eachother be separated.  Everyone else has their own 8X8.  We took a little break from barn building
with all the holiday BBQs, wedding, graduations parties, baby showers, and birthday parties that have been going on the last 6 weeks but now we are
back in full force to get this barn done by the time our next new arrival comes in a month!!

They had been staring at this barn for a long time!  We fenced around it and let them come in.

Now they NEVER leave even when we have the tractor in there and nail guns sounding off!

And why would they?  They have shade, protection from any rain, and all the yummy grass in there they can eat... well at least they did up until last night lol! 

3 hours after letting them go inside.... Flynn is STILL in there!!

It kinda reminds me of an exhibit at the zoo or something like that!
Appartently Fairah was thinking the same thing.

After the fence post in removed this will be the view from the barn door

Cowboy finally left his new barn structure just long enough to have some dinner.

Sorry Nadia!  No doggies in the barn!

Introducing the newest members to our farm.......

Missy and Feather!!

Missy and Feather are half sisters and are 10 and 11 months old.. They are mini donkeys.

The two are inseperable as you can see from the pictures they never leave eachothers side.

They are both show donkeys and we hope to get them in the ring sometimes next year.

The boys were VERY excited to have new friends and were a little pesty at first but have been very kind and willing to share their space with these two girls.



Checking out the new grass!




Not too sure about getting out of the trailer



Heading out to the pasture to meet their new roommates

Two New Additions Are Coming Soon To Join The Mini Clan!!

The boys will be getting not one but TWO new MINI surprises soon in the next month!!

To be revealed at a later date!!!!

Bringing The Boys Home and first bathes!

Moving day was a breeze and the boys have seemed to fall right into their new

schedule and pasture with ease!

Walking Flynn around the new pasture to get him familarized. He is such a good boy and

 handled everything beatifully. I was like he had been living there all along!

The new sign for the front pasture gate.

Of all the new loving family members surrounding this little horse he seems to have put all of his trust and respect into this little girl!  He follows orders for her with the zero resistance and with the greatest of ease and confidence.  It is an unspeakable bond that has been created in the short time since he has been moved out to the new pasture. It funny... Here is this little 3 year old girl, who expects nothing from this horse yet he gives her everything.  He can be so stubborn for me to work with and sometimes to just get him to move.  But he never fails to do so with her!! All those days I was out at the boarding stables with him without my daughter because it was raining, too muddy, too cold, or too snowy and he STILL chooses her!  All the times I fed him the treats, removed the knots from his hair and cleaned the dirt from his eyes and hooves.

 It is funny.... the lessons you learn in life!

I guess it is true...

"It isn't the person who seeks the horse it is the horse who seeks the person".

FINALLY!  Warm enough weather for a well needed soapy bath!!

Drying out after the bath

She HAD to show the horses her ballet recital costume to see what they thought of her!

The Beginning Of A New Chapter

Fairah

I welcomed in my 28th birthday this year with the completion of our pasture! The rain held out just long enough for us to finish with all the work that was left to do. Still not as flat as I would like it to be but it is far better than it was a week ago and I just have to except that not everything can be perfect. 



View from the gate


Our little stable barn is also on its way and should be completed within the next couple of weeks for now the boys will take shelter in a run-in and they have alot of tree covering as well out in the pasture.



Got the bone for the barn almost all up



Next weekend is moving day and we will say goodbye to the boarding stables

and all the friends we have made hooved and all...

Only a week later than we had orginally planned so I think we did pretty well as far as finishing it on time considering all the bad weather we have been having.

Road side view of the boarding stables

Our next big job is finding the perfect show filly to go along with our boys.

It has been difficult so far deciding if we want a weanling or an older filly.  The only problem I am having with a weanling is that we wont get her until the end of summer and you never know exactly how they will turn out.  It is a gamble for me.  Even with good bloodlines they may not end up with the best conformation or even stay the same color.

Giselle
"The face of a true cowgirl"

We are thinking about getting a solid colored filly that is eye catching a dark palomino, black, roan, silver dapple, or buckskin or if I got lucky and found a reasonably priced filly with a nice looking appy blanket I would consider that too since the boys are both pinto we thought the filly shouldn't be. We considered going out of state about 4 to 5 hours or so to look at some falabella purebred but they always carry a VERY heavy price tag and I really don't know alot about the falabellas and what makes them so special.

It will be interesting to see what we end up with!!

Me and Giselle with my 28th birthday Barbie cake! 
Only took me 28 years to finally get a Barbie cake!

Updates On Our Mini Project and Playhouse Project!!

Pasture fence up *Check*
Removal of Chokecherry trees *Check*
Removal of rocks *Check*
Gate up *Check*
Weed removal *Check*
Stump removal *Check*
Root removal *Check* (well most all of them)
Ground racked with tractor - Tried but ground mostly too wet and tractor sunk
Holes all filled in- Everytime I turn around there seems to be another one that needs to be filled in
Ground rolled out- Tried but the ground again being so wet makes it difficult
Barn built - The frame is up!!



On top of our "mini project" we also have some other small and large projects going on which include my husband helping my grandpa rebuild his deck and reshingle his pole barn.  We also have a beautiful little playhouse to finish off for my girls which by far has been the most fun of all our projects.  We have some shelving to still put up on the inside of the playhouse, the deck to finish and stain, putting up this adorable mailbox I found at a local craft store, finish the garden path that leads up to the playhouse.
So far though we have managed to make curtains for the windows and pillows, drywall and paint the inside with an accent wall of pink and lavendar strips, add carpeting, electricity with light switches and 3 outlets, I slipcovered a childs chair to add inside as well, we moved the girl's play kitchen inside, framed and hung some pictures, painted the outside a bright sunny yellow, added windows boxes, and painted the mailbox!  and lots and lots of PINK, PINK, PINK!  My dream is to add on a sleeping loft sometime in the next few years for the girls to enjoy backyard sleepovers.
Cant wait to have our first movie night in the playhouse!!
Still needs the perfect name for the playhouse!

 Here are some pictures of our work in progress......








"Before"




"After"

 

Kitchen area view from front window




Playhouse birdcage hanging light with my talented husband's beautiful stripped paint job

 



One of my favorite parts of the playhouse... The mailbox!  Can't wait to have it up!



Gotta have a nursery area for your playhouse!
Which also ahs a baby changing area and drawers for baby diapers and clothing
which wasn't adding in the picture



Mr gnome hanging out in one of the window boxes

My slipcovered chair






Shinning up those pennies!!

How do you keep others from eating your food??

Take a nap on it!

Going to be talking to the boarding stable owner about them maybe getting too much hay lol!

They sure do love their grooming time!

These boys are such a MESS!!  I really don't think they had seen a brush in a very long time but they sure do look forward to it now! I have been grooming them almost everyday for weeks now and am just starting to see the fruits of my labor. Mane and tails are looking healthier and they are loosing alot of that scruffy winter hair and I cut some of the hair that had begun to mat on their bellies, neck and between their legs. I clean their feet everytime they get groomed too which is getting them more used to being messed with and building confidence.  Flynn is a little funny about his back hooves and tail being touched.  I really think it scared him because he was gelded shortly before I got him and was messed with alot "back there" before he came to me. They poured ice water on his suture area multiple time a day for 2 weeks to keep swelling down!  If that doesn't some horrible in itself the temp. was topping out no more than the mid 20's at that point in the year here in MI!  Can you say "frost bite" OUCH!!  I think I'm gonna let their manes grow out some.  They were obviously shaved down last summer.  I'm not a huge fan of the half shaved mane thing that seems to be the trend for the mini  horse show ring.  A "bridle/halter path" I can understand but I feel like when you shave half the mane off them it looks a little silly and takes away from that natural wild beauty that horses have.  This is just my thought so I hope I don't offend anyone! I picked up some MTG by Shapley's I read alot of reviews about it and people just seem to rave about it so I thought we would give it a try and see if it speeds up the mane and tail growing process.  Plus, Flynn has been doing some tail rubbing I've noticed and I don't want him to start rubbing the hair off!! I should be getting the braided tail socks that I ordered by the end of the week and the goal is to maybe get some nice long bushy manes and tail that maybe drag on the ground a couple inches! Then, IF it ever gets warm out shaving these big wooly pony coats off!! I am very excited to see them look less like furry mules and more like horses!  This will be the first time I will have seen their true colors and markings!  It will be like unwrapping a Christmas gift!!