A Demon Waterer, Mares & a Special Birthday

Happy Tuesday everybody! I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far. It has been so busy here – with the -41 degree Celsius weather we're having, everyone has been on their toes since yesterday morning. We woke up to another frozen waterer and a frozen barn… Seems a breaker blew in the middle of the night. Lovely.

This one waterer has caused us so much grief this year, I've decided to give it a specific name. I'm sure it's possessed and takes pride in making our lives miserable. So from now on, I'm calling it the \”Demon Waterer.\”

And of course, we had a vet scheduled to come in yesterday morning, DNA samples to collect, snow to move, plus the regular list of daily duties to get through. It made for an interesting day… Some of our pastures are so buried in snow now, we can only see the tops of the fence posts. Needless to say, we can't keep horses in those areas anymore. And because of the Demon waterer which needed immediate attention (and also kept my husband out in the elements until 11:00 pm last night), I had to assist the vet along with Lacey, one of Clay's assistants.

Yeah… Handling yearlings is not really a task for a large pregnant girl at 27 weeks.

Lacey soon found herself doing my job, in addition to hers. Sigh… I had tried my best, but it's time to come to the realization that I need to back off when it comes to the horses. I had really wanted to be the girl who rode until 7, 8 or more months in her pregnancy, like many of my friends have done. But the truth is, my gigantic belly (or what it feels like anyways) would have been very limiting in a western saddle.

The broodmares however, are a different story. I am able to continue on with my responsibilities for them. I can check them each day to see how they're doing and ensure all the girls are up to date on their vaccines, according to where they are in gestation. Our first foal is scheduled to arrive March 11. We have two more foals coming after that, then I'm due, and three more foals should follow after the twins arrive. This is, of course, how it will all pan out in theory.

This weekend, we had a wonderful visit with our friends Phil and Sherry Menard of Legal, AB. It was so nice to see them as it's been a long time since we've all been able to spend some quality time. We usually all catch up after a busy show year in Arizona. Of course, this year they went – we didn't. So instead, Phil and Sherry came to see us in Regina. We watched the Superbowl together and P & S helped me with some photos, along with a maternity shot.

I've been really reluctant to post photos of myself these days. I mean, it's winter for one. And for two: doing my hair or wearing make-up seems pointless these days. For three: maternity yoga pants are a staple in my day-to-day wardrobe.

But my friends and family have been bugging me for days for one, so here you go – here's two. Plus, I figured I'd do it for my real mother, because today is her birthday. But she's not getting off the hook that easy because I found a picture of her I can post as well! So Happy Birthday Mom!