She's Still a Little Angel...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

To Miss Joie (Joie de Victoire) who is 45 days + in foal to Tycoon Ruler. As you can see Miss Joie is enjoying the pick!

Jimmy: An Update

Jimmy had his first official jump out last week and from all sources, he went well. We have been very lucky in that our co-owners, The Koch's took the following video of this - many thanks for that guys, its greatly appreciated!





Go Jimmy!

After the Storm

I only managed to get home, get out and give Pip her antibiotic paste and get back inside before the storm hit on Thursday.

Gale force winds which resulted in the ultimate demise of our feed shed, and the garden shed in the house paddock and rain that fell like sheets of steel pounded Massie Lodge for at least 25 mins.

It was a case of battening down all the hatches and hoping for the best.

Funny to think that there was only 16mls in the rain gauge after the deluge.

Typical that it was after a bandage change on Pip!

Many thanks to those who came and helped us mop up afterwards.

It always astounded me that after throwing something so nasty, Mother Nature sends an apology in the form of a rainbow.

Prior to the storm (about 20 mins)

Welcome Back ... Dirty Girl!

It was lovely to see Dirty Girl (Dirtierre) back at Massie Lodge when I arrived home from work.
Dirty is in foal to Over and looks positively blooming!

It must be Monday!

How wonderful was it to go wandering through the paddocks over the weekend and having to actually trudge through the long grass? What a weird but wonderful experience that was!

All the Massie Lodge residents are certainly enjoying themselves (Joie is pictured above with her mate, Maddey), spending the long summer days picking and wandering through their paddocks.

This place of ours certainly is very diverse with it's weather. On my way home from the farm last Friday I had to pull over and let a storm pass as the rain was too heavy for me to see anything in front of me. Usually when the car is pointed towards home, I dont usually stop for anything, however, this afternoon I didnt want to chance it with the poor visability.

While I think about it, let me give a "Bucket" to the Independent Petrol Station at Eatonvale who had closed both chains across the driveway to stop any cars coming in for respite during this heavy storm. Boo Hiss Boo.

Both Evan and I had a very busy weekend with visitors from Sydney who were to arrive on Saturday afternoon, arriving a day early. Still, it was lovely to see both Bob and Kim who stayed with us until Monday morning.

The end of the year certainly starts to wind us all down and hopefully things will start to calm down a little bit at the farm. I am hanging out to have a bit of a break after the end of the month.

Pip continues to need a bandage change every 3-4 days, however, its plain to see that the healing process is well on its way - mind you, with the extent of the injury its going to take quite a while for the skin to heal over the exposed bone. She is sick of herself and the dressing procedure, however, she is quite a good girl while its being done. The back of her foot is now uncovered and is drying up nicely.

I want to know how come it rains after every bandage change? lol

*Yawn* ... its time for me to hit the sack ... I still need to go out and tuck the mares in (with some hay of course ... Gossy insists on it!) - I always feel better knowing that they are all ok before I go to bed.

Until next time, adios!

Creds

Sweetie and Katie

Trix and Daisy

Congratulations!

To one of our favourite long time residents, Why For Not (or otherwise affectionately known as "Nottie") who is now 14 days positive to Mustineer.

Nottie is still at Wattle Brae with Another Southern who is being most stubborn and will not cycle!

Hopefully both girls will be back home soon.

Diary of a Broodmare ... Cont.

Hoof Date: Saturday 13th December, 2008

Dont you just love how a social occasion has been made out of my misfortune? Everyone smile at the camera while I am standing here with the insects flying around my leg annoying me!

I have to tell you that Iam over the bandage changes. I am over Mamy's new filly and the fuss made over her - what about me and my most deplorable injury? Its healing slowly but Iam so over the big to-do made about changing the bandages.

Am I coming across as a whinger? Hmmm.

Mum, can I have some more hay to ease the pain?

She's Just a Little...

Angel ...

How Green Is My Valley?

Pretty green. We have had another inch or so of rain over this weekend and the place really is blooming.

How nice is it to look out my study window to see rolling green paddocks? After being so dusty and dry, it certainly is a complete turnaround and both Evan and I are very happy!

Its been a great weekend this weekend. After the birth of little Angel and Gossy pulling through it so well, both Evan and I have gone back to "normal" sleep patterns and both of us certainly made up for the loss of sleep over the weekend. Today I slept in until 9am ... never heard of! But man, did I feel better for it!

Im still doing one last check before I go to bed to "tuck them in" so to speak, but its so nice to know that regular sleep can begin again!

Creds Gets A New Job

With it being early days with little Angel, Gossy has gone off on maternity leave as one of the Massie Lodge Lawn Mowers and while she is looking after her bubs, Creds (Credentials) has the task of being the other Lawn Mower with Miss Pip.

Creds has settled in well here at Massie Lodge and as you can see, is enjoying her new job. She is fascinated with Gossy and her baby and will spend hours just watching Gossy and Angel - mind you Gossy is very protective of her baby and wont let either Pip or Creds anywhere near them.

Diary of a Broodmare ... Cont.

Hoof Date: Sunday 7th December, 2008.

Yeah so she had the baby... everybody fussing and frothing all over her. Bout time I say ... we were all getting mighty sick of the nightly visits from the missus and the master with the torch and no hay in hand!

I had a wonderful week. Bandage Change. And then another Bandage Change. And everyday antibiotics and the green paste. I am so over the pastes.

Actually the baby is a bit cute. I didnt say that.

Little Angel

Today's Angel photo! What a sweet child she is. She loves to be cuddled, loves to have lots of attention and loves to make mum chase after her.

Trix and Daisy

These 2 young ladies (and I use that term quite loosely about Daisy!) have certainly bloomed since being put in the big paddock down the back with the big dam and both are coming on in leaps and bounds.

Trix (above) is very friendly and always comes looking for a pat and some attention. Daisy, well Daisy makes a fuss and comes looking for you but when you start to talk to her and want to cuddle her, she says, "Nope, well maybe just a small one ... dont get too excited!"

She is just a strange filly - very pretty in looks and certainly has the pedigree to be able to run. Its just her personality that needs an overhaul! lol

Miss Joie

Miss Joie who is on her way to being 45 days pregnant to Tycoon Ruler (around December 15 will be her next scan). She is very different since becoming pregnant and she is certainly blooming.

The Connie Boys

Time really does seem to fly when I stopped to spend some time with Harry and Jack over the weekend. They both seem to have lost their babiness and now look like young men growing up.

Butter wouldnt melt in their mouths! Hah!

Welcome to the World!

After many sleepless nights on foal watching, Gossy (Local News) delivered her Hidden Dragon foal at 5.45am on Friday morning.

Gossy being the professional that she is, laid down rolled and moaned twice and then started to deliver her baby, without any fuss or bother.

Angel is a sweet little filly and is good tempered and very curious of the new world that she has entered into.

24 hours on, both mum and bubs are doing well.

Welcome to the world little one!

What Im Listening To ....

The Rouseabout
by Rachel Treasure

Once again, something very different and I was very skeptical about it before placing the first CD into the player.

However in saying that I am half way through listening to it and I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Its the story of Kate Webster who lives in Tasmania but is working on the mainland in Orange. Kate plays hard with a bit of a devil may care attitude. She is a single mum to Nell and really struggles with her life before coming back home to Tasmania and "Bronte" the family property.

Kate's mum died and her father remarried to a most unsuitable city woman whom Kate does not get on with.

The story is narrated by Miranda Nation and I have to say that I do struggle with her interpretation of the story, probably because she sounds too young. I find with audio books the narrator plays a very important part in the story - if you cant believe them telling the story, the story gets lost. Still, I am enjoying the audio book and am very keen to get to the end of the story.

Absolutely worth listening to or reading.

What Im Listening To ...

When I put the first CD in the CD player to listen to this book I thought to myself "You have got to be kidding" - however, once it got going I became addicted.

This is not an airy fairy book about nothing in particular, although that was my first thought. As the story goes on you really have to feel for Libby (the main character) who has a Degree but never used it because the needs of her family came before hers. The fact is that she is stuck in a huge rut with 3 demanding children and a husband who cant and wont do anything for themselves and her whole life is to do for them.

That is until she finds out that her life is just as important and theirs.

I could of throttled her eldest daughter, Phoebe who is a real bitch to her mother.

After listening to Libby's story, I can understand why she paid credence to the attentions of young Daniel, although I dont necessarily agree with her actions.

Worth a read I think.

DVDs

With foal watching comes the pleasure of being able to sit down and watch something that will keep you awake and interested.

Knowing that even though we have over 300 channels on Austar, there probably wont be a decent movie to be seen anywhere, so I took out a few movies over the weekend to keep my interest and keep me awake!

One of the movies that I took out was The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian. One of the greatest joys of my childhood growing up were the books of C.S Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia - (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle).

The story goes a little like this (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Completed in the autumn of 1949 and published in 1951, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia tells the story of the Pevensie children's second trip to Narnia, during which they discover that Miraz, uncle of Prince Caspian, had forced him to flee into the woods and usurped the throne, declaring himself a king. Once again, the children set out to save Narnia, aided by the Narnians and ultimately by Aslan to return the throne to the rightful ruler, Prince Caspian. This is also the last time Peter is featured until The Last Battle.[Susan was only talked about.]

While Evan really wasnt interested, I loved it - these books never age and it brought back many lovely memories of first reading the book!

Gossy Keeps Us Guessing

Waiting, waiting waiting ... Gossy continues to make us wait until she decides, or in fact its until her foal decides that she has had enough and wants to make an entrance into the world.

She has the udder the size of which could feed half a dozen foals, her stomach has dropped and yet she continues to cross her legs and say "NO" to delivery.

Watch this space!

Me and Pip

I have to say that I love Miss Pip ... she and I have developed a wonderful relationship over the 2 years that she has been mine - coming from a place where she didnt know much love, she certainly enjoys to receive it now in the form of lots of hugs and cuddles, which she readily responds to. She would of been a gorgeous filly and I sometimes wonder what happened to her during her time before coming to us at Massie Lodge.

I have to wonder how the hell she ripped open her leg last Sunday night. Evan and I are still in a quandry as to how she did it and we cant find any evidence anywhere and she was in a yard where she couldnt possibly have done what she did to herself.

Guess again.

I usually go down and check on the ladies (Pip and Gossy) just after tea and you can imagine my horror when she came limping up to me with her leg wide open exposing the bone all the way done the front from under the knee.

Horror doesnt cover my reaction. I was mortified.

1 week on and the healing process has started (as you will see from the photos below) and we are going to incur the National Debt in vet bills.

*Sigh*

Diary of a Broodmare ... Cont

Hoof Date: Sunday 30th November, 2008.

Thank God that its day 45.

I am over the crush. Iam over having a hand and/or an object up my fanny while Iam standing in th crush. I am over having my leg dressed by the person in the blue car.

What did I do to my leg. I cant tell you. I cant tell the missus. All I can say is that I have shifted the focus of attention away from the fat mare who refuses to deliver her baby because she the weather is either too hot, too cold or too wet.

Mamy, Im over your baby. For goodness sake deliver it so that we can all get a good night's sleep.

So what, I am officially pregnant today.

I'm excited. (Where's the hay?)

Miss Katie