Winter Has Arrived

November 4th and it snowed all day, not that much accumulated but the temperature certainly makes it feel like winter. This morning dawned foggy and hoarfrost abounds on trees and fences, it really looks like a winter morning. I had to dig out all of my winter gear, work suit, boots etc.to go do chores! The horses were all eagerly awaiting their breakfast by the time of my arrival.

Jewel is away from home getting a months driving training, this is the first time in 12 years that we have been apart.It seems quite strange that she is not in her pen greeting me every morning. I can't wait until she can come back home!

York and Yeager, my 2011 colts, are now geldings, and with that task done I will finish off their registration papers and get them sent away.

There are some changes ahead for Diamond A, I will keep you posted! Enjoy the early days of winter.

Spruce Meadows Time

Wow, August just flew by, didn't it. Had a great time at a training Jumper show with Rose and Jewel, and Rose and I took part in her second 3 day eventing competition. Had a wonderful time, we need to improve our dressage, but she did awesome in her jumping, clear on both cross counrty and stadium.
Now it is is time for Spruce Meadows. Very busy cleaning tack and packing the horse trailer. Jewel is ready for her time at Spruce Meadows and we are proud take part in the Telus Battle of the Breeds, as part of the Canadian Horse Team. We leave tomorrow morning! Maybe we will see you there, cheer loudly for our Canadians!

Diamond A News

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated you all. So much has happened here, its hard to know where to start. Big plans for the Annual CHARMD Show were well underway and the day before we were to leave, Duc came down with our first ever major bout of colic. It was a very scary event, but after a trip down to a very well renowed clinic by Calgary, he made a complete and full recovery. I was very happy to get him back home where he belongs.

Even though I was very low on sleep and high on stress, Chelsey and I were able to make it to the show after all. We enjoyed two wonderful days with our fellow Canadian Horse lovers and ended up doing extremely well with our mares Jewel and Rose. Rose earned Top Mare of the Show and also garnered the Over-All Show Champion Award. Very proud am I! Jewel also performed very well and she has been chosen once again to be a part of the Canadian Horse team for the Telus Battle of the Breeds in September at Spruce Meadows.

The next weekend after the Canadian show, Rose and I were entered into her first ever 3-day event. Our Dressage test was so-so, cross country was amazing, she never faltered once and did a very fine job. As for show jupming she went clear as well and for our efforts in competing in our first event we brought home an 8th place ribbon. How awesome is that!
The rest of July was spent at home riding in between rainstorms, taking care of the rest of the herd and enjoying my horses.
August is a busy competition month but I will save that for the next blog!
Make sure you check out the "for sale" page on the website in the coming days.New photos and the new foals will be showing up on there as well.
Happy Trails....

Saying Good-Bye

Diamond A Duc Winsome left last night to her new home in Saskatchewan. Winnie held a special place in my heart as she is Jewel's daughter, and Jewel is my special girl. Winnie is so much much like her Dam in so many ways, I think her new owner should be very pleased with her. She plans to use her for both riding and driving in the coming years. I look forward to seeing future photos of her when she matures. Winnie is going to be a very big impressive mare. Happy Trails Winnie.

Three Day Event Clinic

Wow, what a great time we had at the clinic and learned a bunch too. Rose is my star, she did super good. No hesitation at anything, we did water, ditches,coops and logs and she loved it all! We are ready for our first competition this summer.Can't wait! Will post a couple of photos here and put the rest on facebook!

New Foals!

After a busy week and not much sleep, Diamond A welcomed two gorgeous new additions to the farm. Yeager on the left,out of Mystique, and York on the right out of Jeanne. Both foals are by our stud Duc. They are wonderful examples of our breeding program and they are proudly offered for sale. Visitors are welcome to come by and do a meet and greet!

Pedicures for the herd!

Great day yesterday, my farrier, Gordie was here and put in time on the horses hooves. Jewel and Rose now have shoes, so no more worries about riding on the gravel roads. The rest of the herd all received a trim, being the stallion of the barn,Duc was first! Of course he was awesome. Gordie does a fantastic job and is so good with all of them. Shim who does not have the best front hooves, bad cracks right up the front, he thinks he can get them fixed up for her.
On the weekend the horses all had a turn getting their West Nile vaccine shots. We are now prepared for mosquito season and I fear it could be a bad one. There is a ton of water laying around, perfect breeding grounds for the little buggers. So far they haven't been too bad,due to the fact the wind has been blowing gale force lately!
Going riding today and use those new shoes!

We're back!!

Oh my goodness, after some glitches, we are back on track and website is available to view once again. Yay! So sorry for being off line for over a week.

So much has being going on with the horses. Shim and Duc have had their first courtship already, if she didn't catch her first cycle she should be seeing him again this week.
Xade is now a gelding and has a much better attitude already.He is such a stunner, and has amazing prescence for a young horse.
The horses have been dewormed,the farrier comes on the 16th for trims for everyone and shoes for Rose and Jewel.
The Mane Event horse expo has come and gone for another year. The Canadian Horse was well represented(including Rose and myself) and we preformed a very nice Drill Team presentation.
This coming weekend I am off to Wainwright with Jewel to a driving clinic. Hopefully we have great success!

Busy Day at Diamond A

A spring day in April in Alberta, gorgeous out but then the wind started to blow and it wasn't quite so nice out anymore. I was a busy girl in the morning and gave the whole herd their 5-way vaccinations.This is the most horses I have ever owned(10) and it took awhile to get them all done! Everyone was very well behaved except Shim, and even she wasn't bad. She just has a phobia about shots, Jeanne was the same way when I got her too, now I don't give her time to think about what is about to happen. Its over before she has time to work herself up and then she gets a treat, and life is back to being good.

In the afternoon the vet came and Xade had his big operation. He is now a gelding and feeling very sorry for himself! Was a bit of an interesting ordeal as he came out of the drugs a bit sooner than we had expected. As it was my job at his head with my leg putting pressure on his neck to hold him down. Well when he came awake,he thru his head up and his front legs came forward rather quickly.
Lets just say Karen received a very sore tailbone out the deal. I am hoping I can ride tomorrow.More Advil, please!

Another day of winter, although they are forecasting very nice temps for next week. I really hope so! Spent the day in Red Deer and as necesary as breathing , we have to make a stop at Greenhawk! Bought a pair of killer purple gloves for cross country,along with some other goodies. Rose and I are going to look great out on course! Purple being our main color theme!
Came home and gave Mystique and Jeanne their 3rd and final Pneumabort-K vaccine shot. They are getting quite the pregnant tummies.
Next month it will be time to give all the horses their vacciantions and deworming too. April is always an expensive month on a horse farm!

Its Time !

It's time for conditioning that is. With warmer temps and the ice mostly gone from the roads, Rose and Jewel are back in training. Hoping to get a steady month of conditioning on them and then get into some serious training. Rose is going to expand her horizon this year, taking part in an eventing clinic and compete in a couple of 3day event competitions. I am confident she will be jumping 2'9" to 3' in time for annual Canadian show.
Both, Jewel and I are learning a new discipline. How to drive a horse! Ground driving is going well, although Jewel can't quite understand about the blinkers attached to the side of her head.She's like, Karen ,I can't see a thing except straight ahead! I think that is the general idea Jewel! I'll keep you posted on our progress. Already have a driving clinic lined up to go to. Should turn out to be lots of fun. Maybe we will even be able to give cart rides to family and friends:)

Short, Sweet and Cold!

OK, it warmed up to minus 20 and I couldn't wait any longer. I had to go for a ride! Chelsey and I saddled up Jewel and Rose and ended up going on the shortest ride ever. We first tried the open fields, it was way to deep and hard, so we next tried the road. It wasn't too bad if you stayed right on the edge, but wasn't the greatest either. After just a quarter mile Chelsey had a big white patch on her cheek so with frostbite developing on her face we turned for home. The horses were like, WHAT??, we just got out here! It was still great to be out, there is nothing better than swinging your leg over a horse and feeling like you have come home.

We also fed a round bale in the pasture and bedded all the horses today and did a shuffle around of pens. Mystique is now in a seperate pen, so she can get extra groceries, she isn't thin but I feel she needs a little extra. Its been a long hard winter and I want her and her soon to be new foal to have the best start they can. No one else is in need of any extras though! Jewel, Rose and Jeanne are now in pen close to the barn and Shim and LaDiva have taken their place out in little pasture with the two year old fillies. They were very happy to have more room to run and put on a nice show for us. I was very impressed with how they move. Big floating trot, so beautiful to watch. I can't wait to get them bred and have foals out of them next spring.
Photo is of Jeanne showing off her fine figure. Does she look pregnant?!
Stay warm and keep praying for spring...it has to show up sometime!

Coldest February Ever!

After enduring a very cold and miserable February, I am hopeful that March might start to show signs of spring. Obviously not this first week, because the forecast is horrible, more minus 30 weather and snow flurries, but PLEASE let it be soon. I am anxious to start working with horses in preperation of the coming competition season, but without an indoor arena there really isn't much I can do. The footing is horrible everywhere,ice covered roads and deep crusty fields. I bought my lottery ticket once again in the everhopeful dream of building my own indoor HEATED arena!!!

The horses are all doing great though, just keep feeding them hay and they are happy and easy to please. The one water bowl was frozen this morning, but Tom was able to get it working again in short order. Of course it was the main water for all the mares and everyone was thirsty. Jewel is first in line, once she is done there is more competition on who goes next, interesting to see how they get it all worked out. Usually just a head toss or a flick of an ear lets them know who is next in line. Jeanne just stands in the back and waits for the commotion to be over, and then takes her turn. What a sweet mare she is.
I'll sign off with this beautful view of Waiamia Valley,Hawaii from our recent escape from the cold. When I get rich and famous we'll just move there with horses in tow!

Horses are enjoying the warmer weather.

We are all enjoying the warm up we have experienced lately. So much more enjoyable now to go out and spend more time with my herd. Yesterday Mystique and Jeanne received their second vaccination of Pneumabort-K. Only 4 more months and we will have little foals running around again!
I am taking advantage of the chinook and having the farrier come on Wednesday to give everyone a trim. They all have some pretty good growth to trim off, but no chips, those good strong Canadian hooves proving again how tough they are.
In the photo is LaDiva, looks like she is saying "Hi" to all of her new friends.

News Mares Arrived Safely.

Diamond A is very happy and pleased to share that two very special broodmares have joined our herd. They come to us from Cosyland Farms in Ontario, where they have proven themselves to be producers of some of the very best Canadian Horses and now they are a part of our breeding program. Very excited to see what we will produce when we breed them with Duc.
The weather is starting to moderate finally, we have endured huge amounts of snow, way more than we usually get, and cold...it has been in the minus 25 and lower range for quite some time now. I am so glad I have hardy Canadians, as long as they have hay in front of them and a wind break, nothing much bothers them. Bred to be tough they are!