Oh Happy Day!

Life on the farm just got sweeter! Last night Gracie and I witnessed our first foal of the year come into the world, and what a blessing she is! I walked to the barn around 10:30 last night to check on my expecting mare, Karma. Upon arrival I noticed she was dripping in sweat and pacing. I looked at her milk bag, but no waxing or signs of milk. After watching poor Karma pace for another 5 minutes or so, I checked that milk bag again and low and behold...we were suddenly dripping milk!

I ran to the house and woke Gracie up. We anxiously awaiting the big event, and at around 11:00 pm on March 13, 2011, "Oh Happy Day" (who we will call "Hope") came into the world!

I have chosen the name "Oh Happy Day" because this filly is a granddaughter of the great Secretariat. If you remember in the movie, this great song played as he barreled down the home stretch to win the Triple Crown. It makes me tear up every single time I watch that movie! I will call her Hope, because after the past 3 agonizing years of what seemed like more bad than good, I looked at this little life last night and thought "There's always hope". How can you not feel that way when you see new life come into the world.

My affection for Secretariat comes from the partnership I had with my great jumper Kaiser Fritz. I found Fritz in someone's backyard when I was only 13 years old, and on a "gut" feeling I talked my dad into buying him for me. I found out he was a grandson of Secretariat and out of a Quarter Horse mare. Long story short, Fritz turned out to be one of the greatest jumpers I have (to this day) ever known. The horse could school a 5' course with room to spare. He would jump anything in his path. I showed Fritz at local and "A" shows til I was about 18. Fritz died of cancer on my farm in 2003. I have included a photo of us showing in 1991 in this blog.

Once Fritz passed away, I went on a hunt to find a sibling. After several years, I came across this mare, registered as "Hands on the Wagon" with the Jockey Club, and bought her sight unseen out of Texas. She and Fritz have the same sire, a Secretariat son named "Bandwagon", who is now deceased.

I am so delighted to have this gorgeous baby! I think it's amazing that I was with my friend Fritz as he was put to sleep many years ago, which was so horribly painful as it was the first horse in 26 years of owning horses that I had lost. He died of cancer, and it broke my heart. But just as I was there when Fritz left this earth, I had the privilege of being there when his niece came into the world. So amazing!

Hope's sire is my APHA stallion "Rivermont Hidengoseek", also known as "Twister". Yes, "Twister, the horse who plays ball". Twister is 3/4 Paint and 1/4 Thoroughbred. I owned his dam for years and got some incredible foals out of her that were jumping fools! Based on family tree, this filly should be very talented in the jumping department! :)

Enjoy the video of Hope coming into the world! It's not often we are able to catch this miracle on video! :)

A river of tears, and then a God wink!

Yesterday was probably one of the hardest days of my life, and I've face some doozies in my day! I left home at 6:30am to purchase the much anticipate iPhone for Verizon. I had waited for this day for a long time, and was so excited to get my hands on that phone! As I backed out of my garage, I saw my old Jack Russell friend, Spud, walk out of the garage onto the snow covered grass to "do his business". It had snowed once again night before last, leaving abo ut an inch of that cold white stuff on the ground. As I watched Spud my dad asked if I was going to wait for him to go back in the garage and close the door, but I told him no...that I was in a hurry to get to Verizon. Spud would do his business, and I felt certain due to the cold and snow he would hurry back inside and curl up in his w arm little bed.

A few hours later we returned home with my iPhone in hand. Spud wasn't in his warm little bed though, however I didn't worry too much. He liked going to the hay barn and snuggling up in warm hay. I came in the house and sat down at the computer, where I began to figure out this crazy phone. All of sudden my dad began frantically beating the window by my desk. My desk overlooks the front porch of my house and a beautiful little gold fish pond I build with my own two hands last year. It's what I look at every day, most of the day as I work at my desk. Dad beat on the window yelling, and it suddenly sank in what he was saying. "Spud fell in the pond!". I jumped to my feet, ran out the front door, and there was my sweet baby of 16 years dead by the pond. He was blind in one eye as he was aging, and apparently while I was gone he must have stumbled off in that cold, icy water while "doing his business". My heart dropped right along with my entire body as I fell face down on the snowy concrete and just wailed, uncontrollably. All I could think of was how scared he must have been, how cold, how he must have been desperately looking for me to save him...and I wasn't there. I was shopping for a stupid phone.
I will never forgive myself.

I met Spud as a teen ager. My mom had purchased him for me as a 2 day old puppy in Fort Walton Beach, FL. I remember being so excited as I drove down that Thanksgiving to visit my new puppy. By that time he was only 3 weeks old. I begged the lady to let me go ahead and take him, which she did. I bottle fed him until he started eating solid food. Spud went to every ou t of town horse show with me. Slept in my bed for years. He even went on our beach vacations. He was there when Gracie was born and adored her. He was a huge part of my heart, and always will be. He was not a wild spastic Jack Russell. He was very laid back, and beautiful. He produced puppies that I shipped all over the country, so hopefully his legacy lives on forever.

Please pray for my family as we miss our boy. One cool thing God did for me though, as I cried all day yesterday I turned on my favorite preacher lady...Joyce Meyer. She preached on how Job and Joseph really had a hard time, but point being God blessed the second half of their lives more than the first. How God gave them "double for their trouble" and made the second half of their life better than the first. She said "I beg of you, those of you watching on tv, you must say I don't
care how I feel, I will NOT let this ruin the rest of my life, I'm releasing this to God and I'm going to trust him to do something with it!". Then, the next thing I saw on the TV screen was ME! Without even realizing it, this was the episode of the conference I had attended last April in Chattanooga. Now, if that wasn't God himself making a point directly to me, I don't know what was! God is so good. I paused the TIVO and took a picture of what I saw. Yep...surprised me too! What were the odds that the very episode of the conference I had attended LAST APRIL, would have finally aired yesterday. On a day I had cried out to God, and basically told God I hurt so bad for so many reasons...I was tired of going on. I believe this was like a hug from God...think of the odds that this would show along with that message at that moment. What a cool God wink! ;)

And it snowed...again. Seriously.

The weather man called for rain last night. That's what I expected, so I was slightly surprised when Gracie called me as she was leaving school yesterday to inform me it was snowing...again. Seriously. Some of the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen in my life. Within a few hours we had 2" of snow, again.

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, it began to rain after dark. This morning I woke up to white slush, pouring down rain and about 33 degrees. That made for a miserable day of feeding horses, and what seemed like cleaning stalls all day long. The horses were in the barn, warm and happy though!



In other news, Gracie is pictured modeling one of our new Rivermont Horse Show sweatshirts! :) Have a good weekend, friends!

Rivermont Farm Horse Show T-Shirts Now Available!

Several people have asked for them...and we finally have them! Rivermont Horse Show t-shirts! They are available for purchase on my website at www.rivermontfarm.com for $20, or you may purchase them at any Rivermont horse show for only $15! They are available in adult and child sizes. They are 100% Pre-Shrunk cotton.

Hope everyone is staying warm...as I see snow flurries falling outside my window! Spring...where are you???

SNOW SNOW SNOW!

I remember when I moved here in September of 2003 I assumed we'd see lots of snow in the winter. After all, this was considered the "North Georgia mountains", however it was 7 long years before we saw a single flurry. Last winter we had 2 decent snows. This year has changed all of that though! Of course on Christmas Day we were blessed with a good 5" of snow or so, and last night the skies opened up to another major snow event for us! We awoke to a good 7 or 8" of snow! It's so beautiful! Gracie and I spent the day sledding, making memories that will hopefully last a lifetime!


The last few months have been so painful and challenging for me once again. I won't go into details, but trust me when I say...I didn't think I'd make it. I'm trying so hard to keep my chin up and know that God only takes things away from you when He has something better. Still, it hurts.

Please remember me and my family in your prayers. I believe in the power of prayer, as we serve a God who loves us unconditionally! For those of you in the south, have fun playing in the snow! :)

Sponsorships and Advertising for 2011

2011 is here already amazingly enough! The first Rivermont Farm horse show will be February 19th. I can't believe this will be our 7th year hosting horse shows! We are looking for sponsorships and advertisers for our prize list, so please consider supporting us so we may keep our cost down for 2011. Complete information, including a class list, is available on my website at www.rivermontfarm.com.

Email me at rivermontfarm@gmail.com with any questions. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! We had a beautiful White Christmas in Georgia and spent Christmas and New Years with the ones we love the most, so we are blessed.

Thanks and Happy Horse Showing!