The Year In Review -- Your 2006 Changes?

[FFFoxyGal]

Well,.....I must say that this has been a "not so good,...but,.....sorta ok year " for me,.....

I was very lonly and missing my beloved Freedom eary this year,......and decided to find a little mini equine friend to love,....

Made several attempts to try to buy a little friend,.....but,......with no money and our finanical(sp?),....problems,.....nothing ever worked out,......

I was really bummed,.......Then in Febuary,.....I found little Foxy,.......I am embarrassed to say ,...the price was right,..for me ,..that is,....and she wasnt fancy or nothing,....but,.....I fell COMPLETELY in love with her!!

The words of encouagement,.....and remarks from my friends on here,.....made me feel so very accepted and loved,.....I think I started coming back to life ,...sooo,....to speak,......LOL

Then We all found out that my beloved Foxy,..might be preggie,......and WOW!!,....My days were finally busy,....I was soooo very happy,....and the JOY i felt that night when little Munchkin slipped out,...couldnt compare with nothing else!!!!!!

Then,.....I had sooo many things to do,...and you guys were all amazing!!!!

But,.....meanwhile,......my family was falling apart,.....I was having a LOT of problems with my oldest daughter,....and,...our finances were getting worse,....Fred got hurt at work and his boss told him that he was no good to him any more,.....and I felt so guilty about enjoying Foxy and munchkin with no money,....soooo,....I put them for sale,....They both went to a farm in Manitoba,.....and Foxy whinnied to me on the way out of the driveway that day,.....and the tears FLEW!!

It felt like I was losing my beloved Freedom all over again,.......

Then,....I stopped having interest in life,....interest in my friends,...,...never posted on here anymore,....I dunno,...It seemed like something died inside of me!,....

Soo,....Fred said,....""Wanna go back home??"",....They were the BEST words that I couldve EVER heard!!!

We had NO money coming in,..soooo,...We sold what we could and HEADED for home!!!

I had dreams of us coming home,..and everything would be as it was before,.....Well guys,...I guess,...FairyTales dont happen in real life!!!!!!

Cause ,....it certainly has been a struggle getting established again,......We are back at the same farm that we lost,....which is hard,...cause there is SOOO many memories here,.....We are finally going to have an income again,...

IF,...we EVER get ahead again,.....Will I ever have a horse again???,.....I dont think sooo,.....my heart has been broken too many times now from losing my babies,.....I honestly dont think I could,...but,...but,....sister in law told me last night,...

to leave my tree up untill AFTER NEW YEAR!!!!,.....she said that we are always having bad luck EVER year,....and It is because I ALWAYS take my tree down on Boxing day.

Soooo,..I will try to leave my tree up.

Thanks to you all for being there,......and Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all of you.

Your friend,......Terri

 

[appymini]

2006 had many ups and downs for me.Money was already tight from the year 2005,When hubby fell and injured his shoulders. And it got worse over the last yr. And real worse it this crazy weather,My health too is getting worse with the artritise and the Marie Charcott Disorder(Mussle). I have found I can no longer ride my Qh and have place him up for a new home this week.And because it was getting tougher to do chorses. I have decided to only go 100% into my true loves. Falabellas.Decided to sell all the minis that where not Pure.I had 5 minis, leave this week alone.And noticed my herd ever so small. :no: But I have to say I am very excited to see what foals we have next yr. I have 5 mares in foal.

:

 

[targetsmom]

Well, we started 2006 the same way we srarted 2004 and 2005 - buying a mini in January! This one is Cay Lees Omegas Champagne on Ice (Fizz) and has already had 2 foals. We spent most of the summer trying to get her and our 3 year old Cross Country Call Me Awesome daughter bred to 2 different stallions - one in MA and one in MD. We finally got Fizz bred and are expecting our first mini foal in Mid-2007!!! We havent given up on the other mare, and will send her back to Leesides Nantucket Blue for a 2008 foal.

We probably spread ourselves a bit thin on the show circuit, doing some AMHA and local shows in addition to all four New England Pinto Shows. But we had great success, including a Pinto Championship for our 2 year old filly Aloha Acres Fashion by Magic, and a Division High Point at one of the Pinto Shows for our gelding SRF Masters Touch. He is close to his Championship too - maybe next year. Our yearling stallion SRF Buckshot did pretty well too, in the few times we were able to take him out. The filly was High Point Halter Mini and Trail in Hand mini in New England for 2006, and is in the Top Ten for Pinto Miniature of the Year in both (like being on the Honor Roll).

The end of the year brought a diagnosis of cancer and surgery for me, and a reminder of what is really important in life. Our little herd of six minis has been a great comfort to me at this time, as have so many of the people we have met through the minis - many of them on this forum. You know who you are - THANKS GUYS!!!

Mary

 

[MyBarakah]

:saludando: Hi!

Cool Thread! Enjoy reading how everyone's year has gone for 2006! It went SO FAST!

Well....... It's been a pretty good year for me..... and this fall/winter has been LOTS of changes also!!!

Well..... I started the show season with my stallion, Barakah in May and ended it at Nationals! Nationals was SUCH A GREAT EXPERIENCE!! LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!! Met some GREAT people! And had a BLAST!!! I knew before I left Nationals that I was already coming back for next year!!!! lol! But going to Nationals and showing and having such a great time...... Well....... that REALLY kicked it in gear for my goals and what I want!!!!

I am VERY focused on the '07 show season with showing Barakah again next year, and then I "just" bought (still in KY) a outstanding 26" world show contender for the 28" and under stallions! Just wanted something that was going to stay small and do good in the show pen and help get my farm name out there! I am soo excited!!! So we will be doing both some A and R shows next year!!!

I also aquired a really nice, nice mare that will be bred to Barakah for a '08 baby... She's still in WI.... So I am excited!!!

I am also really happy with the one foal I raised this year, Marty. And am REALLY likeing how he's looking right now! Wow!!! REally debating wether or not to hang on to him a little bit longer! I think he will be a real strong national contender as a yearling!!

And I am ansiously awaiting 2 babies in '07 out of Barakah that should be VERY refined and very showy!!! One's due at the end of March the other the first part of May.... (This will be his FIRST foal crop!! Very excited too see!!)

I still have a couple I need to sell to make room for my new ones....

Oh.... and my last big quarter gelding I have, that I raised as a baby, Muddy, I have done dressage on, that I've had for sale... I have some people from MA that fell in love with him, flying out here to NE towards the end of January to see him/ride him to make sure he's the one! So I feel really good about that! I really think it's the perfect home for him! So I am very excited about that!

And my goals for '07 is to get my 2 AMHR mares hardshipped into A, and get my 2 new AMHA horses hardshipped into AMHR! And will be doing both the A & R shows and this next year I REALLY am going to try very hard to make it work to go to Nationals and the Worlds show!! And also meeting more really neat miniature horse people and learning more & more about these minis!

I have to show off my 2 new ones, which are also now on my website, but here they are!!! So exciting!!!

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

glad someone bumped this thread, as i was not on the forum when it was originally started.

with still a week to go i must admit i am afraid to jinx it but i will say that it appears we have met our goal for 2006 - no equine losses!! :bgrin :bgrin (although we did lose one dog this year

) 2005 was horrible for us, lost 5 equines and 2 dogs. i simply could not go through that again... :no: :no:

we don't show so not a lot to report, just continued improvements on the pens around the ranch, :aktion033:

finally got rid of our long-overstayed-their-welcome renters last week :aktion033: :aktion033: (a favor for an acquaintance, lettign them stay "the school year" - which turned into a year and a half!!)

did not add any new horses this year of our own, either big or little, but did find a new riding mare for my mom who had lost hers last year...

successfully bred our first miniature mule, and happy all went well with her birth as she came much earlier than we expected, :new_shocked: but mama did great on her own.

purchased 5 more mini jennets and a spotted jack, the two adult jennets are pregnant so 2007 will see the beginning of our mini donkey breeding... we are thrilled to bring quality from Texas to Arizona as there are very few breeders here in AZ so far...

and got two more dogs, a pup who was my "granddog" early in the year, and a little rat terrier for my hubby recently.

congratulations to all on their accomplishments and best wishes for a wonderful 2007!! :saludando:

 

[crponies]

Wow, seems like a lot of people have had a lot of changes. I've had a lot this year too. It started out when I had my two yearling colts and my 9 year old stallion gelding the beginning of May. Then later that month I found out I needed to look for a new place to teach. In the middle of June I had a new colt born, Jehonathan (gift from God is the meaning of his name). The end of June brought a very sad event when my former stallion died while I was away (I'd had him for 8 years, since he was a yearling).

In July I decided I was headed for California and needed to sell some of my herd. I sold one of the yearling geldings and a 2 year old filly I hadn't really planned on selling and found a place in Idaho that was willing to do a free lease with my sister's mare and yearling gelding which had been part of my herd. So, that brought me down to 6 instead of 11 that I'd had at one point in June. I bought a new 3-horse slant load Circle J Runabout and made the move to California in August. Yeah, it definitely was a year of big changes!

Here's my new guy:

 

[Candice]

Its been a year of BIG changes for us. This is the year CN Miniatures was born. :bgrin We actually started adding horses in July and August. 4 bred mares and 1 older stallion.

: They quickly devoured every blade of grass in their paddock turning it into a huge "sand pit". :no:

Our efforts at the moment are getting the barn finished. (hubby is building stall fronts and doors now). Electrician was here and put in electric last weekened. Once the stalls are complete we can contain the little termites and get some grass growing again. I absolutely HATE the sand. (They don't think much of it either).

Our loss for the year came on October 30th. My beloved Nicki dog

: (13 1/2 yr old Cocker Spaniel) and my very best friend. I am still so lost without her.

Our goals for next year:

Get this place sold.

have 4 beautiful healthy foals on the ground.

Have both barns finished (re-building QH barn).

Purchase our own trailer (won't have to keep borrowing our friends).

To make it to more shows and meet more wonderful people. :bgrin

 

[Hosscrazy]

2006 was a really good year for me!

: I had a wonderful driving mare who I wanted to sell, and found a terrific home for her - could not be any happier for her and her new mom! My mare Poppy had a beautiful baby boy, who I just sold to another terrific home - just received updated photos of him and boy, is he one lucky little guy!!! :aktion033:

I have one pregnant mare right now, I bought another young mare who is the silliest little thing I have ever met! She was allegedly pregnant with I bought her (she is 2 1/2) and I am pleased to find out that she is not pregnant. I'd rather wait until she is a little older before I start breeding her.

:

So all is good at my place!

Liz R.

Oh, and I have recently returned to riding the "big" ones, too!

 

[Ashley]

Well this year was a different kind of year for me. I made some changes in my program and sold 4 horses. 3 went to one home where I sold previously to and the other went to a forum member. That then put me down to my 2. But of coarse I bought a gelding to be at nationals, a mare I traded for a weanling filly and a weanling colt was given to me. So I was back up to 5 again.

Well times changed, lost my job this fall and all the horses are forsale now. I am disapointed to say the least as I had big plans of finally getting to show next year more since i bought a truck and trailer over the summer. I also had a couple awsome show prospects.

So for now, my future looks to be with out horses for the time being.

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

[SIZE=10pt] No buying OR selling this year. I have one almost two year old filly for sale but will NOT be sad to keep her a little while and show her. She is beautiful. [/SIZE]

My daughter is now 19 years old and my partner in minis. We usually fight like cats and dogs, about showing, I don;t know why!!! But the high point for me was seeing her win a reserve champion neck ribbon at our only AMHA show! Seeing her against trainers was something special. Usually you go into the class and walk out again with nothing. (photo in avatar!!!)

I was lucky and found a used cargo trailer that is outfitted for minis. I LOVE it! And Hilary and I both bought ourselves our own easy entry carts. I won a harness at one of our AMHR shows. So we were very lucky.

We bred three maiden mares to our stallion, and have NO idea if we will be blessed with foals this year. Nootka has two foals coming by our stallion and we may have to live vicariously through her! If we aren't lucky enough to get some foals, we have the means to travel farther for shows now! YAY!

Hilary and I have made the decision to sell both of the horses that mean the most to us. So we will be looking for the perfect homes for them. They are family to us. And I am hoping to add a nice upright light boned mare for our herd. That would have us down to 6 minis and that is a great number for us.

Happy New year everyone, and hope luck is with you all!

 

[Miniequine]

WOW, this has been a busy year!!

We had our first ever foals.

I can't wait to unwrap my filly....

:

Attended lots of shows all over the east coast.

Conditioned my own little mare, got

my first Supreme and several Grands and

a Top Five at the World Show.

Actually sold 3 and bought 0.

)

I do have 'some things in the works' that I am

OH, so excited about, but I don't want to junx it .. LOL

And,,, Little John is FAT! hahahahahahaha (He's very Happy!!)

~Sandy

I hope all you guys have a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!

 

[HGFarm2]

Not too many changes for me in my small herd.... I did decide to add one mare and purchased a mare from Six Gems- a daughter of the black leopard Hot to Spot. Also I sold my '06 leopard colt and have one left to sell.

Not much, but it took me a long time to find a mare I wanted to add. (Next year I will be adding another!)

Oh, shoot I forgot!! My daughter, who always thought Minis were just a 'yard ornament', broke down and got a couple of mares! One is an R Appy mare and the other a brown A/R mare (this one originally from Mona's farm). The A mare is learning to drive and doing great. My stallion is under harness training now too.

She is not brown, she is smokey black. She is only sun faded on her yak fur to look brown. Yes, I never thought I would do it. I am a die hard big horse fan but have opened my heart and horse pens to a couple of little guys. (I still have a my two big girls too) I have broke my first driving horse and she is doing well. She is still green and has not been driven in a month and went out and at it like a pro today. She is such a good girl. Both will hit the show ring in 2007 and will be bred for some 2008 babies. My very first of this size! Can't wait to see how things go for 2007!!

 

[gatorbait4sure]

2007 has been a whirlwind, wonderful year full of fun and blessings! My daughter, her girlfriend and I showed in New England, and at the Regionals in Ohio this year, learning, winning, or losing, but having FUN the entire time! :aktion033: Molly and Triple became best buddies and placed third in two classes at Regionals...all this from a girl whose VERY FIRST CLASS was at Regionals last year with a FAT gelding and no training. They placed 11th out of 11 last year, and have rapidly moved up!

We made TONS of new friends and travelled to the AMHA Worlds (found out I could drive to and from Texas in a day and a half on two hours of sleep! And never believed I could sleep with my knees on the floor of the front seat and my head on the seat for those two hours!....This from a woman who goes to bed at 8 and gets up at 5)

Laughed myself silly a number of times, learned more about trust and love, and friends! (though I STILL have not met Flat Lotto!)

Found out at the Ohio Regionals that women don't merely glow, they CAN sweat! And I'll always travel with my big stand fan for Jody and Triple!

August brought a LOVELY mare to our farm who was rescued from a horrible place where the horses were starved in Upton, MA. She is Royally bred, and will soon make a wonderful driving mare.

We are expecting 3 new babies this year, so will again be doing the Hytide Farm mare stare, where my husband grouses about the lost sleep and TV in the bedroom, but is first to brag to ALL the world that "HE" had another baby!

For Christmas this year, the man who once told me "There would be NO horse things in the house", gave me a STUNNING Carlos Estevez horse sculpture that was painted to look like Lyric, My Heart horse!

We bought yet another cart and harness for Triple so he and Molly could train for Driving Obsticle next year. (That makes 4 carts, two of which are hidden in the horse trailer so Bill doesn't see them...shhhhh!)

Here's wishing you all the best the world can offer you in health and happiness! Bless you all!

 

[FoRebel]

This past year, we got into the minis. In April I put down my Arab mare. May we got a colt, jack and a mare from Runaway Ranch and a stud from an auction. June we got 2 mares, 1 filly, 1 jenny, and another stud from Marnie. We also ended up bringing home a mare heavily in foal from Qtrrae. Also in June, we ended up having a stud colt born at our place from a mini mare we've had for the last 3 years. The colt's father was killed in January in a barn fire. Someplace between May and June we got a yearling filly from FMA Miniatures. In July the mare we got from Qtrrae ended up foaling out a gorgous filly and I brought home a yearling arab filly. The end of July I ended up putting down my TB gelding. September we brought home another stud colt from Amy's Critters that we had put money down on in June the day after he was born. We also brought home an Appendix gelding for me. We also ended up with another mare and 3 fainting goats from Runaway Ranch too.

So I think all in all our mini heard has been established and we've added a couple more than we were planning. Looking forward to the New Year and 2 babies in the spring!

HAPPY 2007 EVERYBODY!!!

 

[whitney]

This past year has been FANTASTIC! Both Tweet and Dusty finished their jump training. Dusty was hooked to the cart for the first time, he did GOOD! To top off the year my good friend Ginny and Ed came and helped me wire my barn and brought this little incredible ball of yellow fur to me. It's been over 3 months now,and I love him more now than when he stepped off that trailer.

 

[Magic]

2006 was a big "change" year for us. We had our dream home built on our newly purchased acreage, and a nice big BarnMaster barn too, and then we moved (what a huge job that was, with all the horses and their stuff and our stuff, lol!). Our oldest daughter and her husband bought a darling house just about five minutes from our place, and we get to see them and our firstborn grandbaby whenever we want. There is another grandbaby in the oven too!

:

I didn't get to show AT ALL this year, which was very strange for me, but with the move, we lost our wonderful "caretaker" of the horses for when we were gone, and hubby was working out of town, so it just wouldn't work. I plan to do some showing this next year, if at all possible.

There was lots more, but that is the gist of it!

:

 

[RockRiverTiff]

2006 was a complicated year for us. We've been making a lot of changes in anticipation of my move for school, but of course some things you can't prepare for, and in March we lost our oldest homebred mini, Fibber Mc Gee. He was as healthy as ever the night before, but at 6am the next morning he was gone, so the vet believes he went in his sleep, and you can't ask much more than that for your old friend (sure wish we could've said good bye tho). We also lost our 15+ year old barn dog Pepper, and in absent-minded moments I still find myself looking for both of them.

The reduction continued and we are now down to 11 (from 30 two years ago), half of which are retired lifers. We had our first bred, born, and raised Rock River foal in five years (his dam was our last one) who's claimed my avatar and my heart ever since. We sold our last homebred QH mare, I leased out my good old Arab show gelding, and we retired the remaining two biggies to the easy life of pasture ornaments.

As the move got closer, Grandma announced that she didn't want to hire a caretaker. She wanted to do it herself. Since having both knees replaced, she's finally been able to enjoy the minis again, and now when I come home we fight over who gets to feed and groom who. My brother also moved closer to the farm and took over the esteemed (or perhaps e"steam"ed) position of winter poop scooper.

We have one mare confirmed in foal and one maybe. We also have a fabulous new farrier, and our vet promises he won't be retiring too soon, so 2007 should be a good year.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

We lost my mom's old Arab Bo in November 2005 and it took all of us, horse and human, a long time to get over the loss. He was almost 31 and had been with us since he was 5, making him by far the longest resident critter. (He'd been in the family longer than I had!) The place does not seem the same without him. I worried about leaving Spyder (my Arab) home alone when I took Kody to shows this summer but he was surprisingly philosophical about the whole thing and doesn't seem to mind as long as I bring his buddy back.

Kody and Spyder have bonded this year and now we have this odd trio thing going on where they love each other but neither one of them is happy if I'm not around. I guess that comes from having bonded with Spyder one-on-one for a long time, then done the same with Kody at the shows for two years. They both want my attention and yet they don't get jealous of each other! It makes me shake my head at how in-tune they are with each other and with me. What's spooky is they even strike the same poses and have the same little white stripe across their bridlepaths behind their ears! :new_shocked: Go figure that one.

:

I haven't done a full show season since my Arab retired himself in 1997 and this time instead of local shows every weekend it was 5+ major CDE's in a two-state area as well as the occasional AMHR show or LB beach drive.

: It was a whole new ballgame to be driving myself nine hours to an event with no Mom and no backup, knowing it's all on you to do it right. It was sort of liberating, actually! :lol: I felt like I finally finished growing up.

Kody made some tremendous leaps this year in both his training and his outlook on life and has apparently decided that I'm his person and maybe, just maybe, it's okay to like me and do what I say.

: Actually I'm really proud of him for finally relaxing some of that angst and harnessing his energy in a mature way. He's quite the little guy!

I love my horses and the only thing I'd change at this point is some of my driving equipment. I want a lighter cart to use with steel wheels for the higher levels and a nice hat to use instead of my helmet during dressage. I swear, this is going to FINALLY be my year to look professional! LOL

I also want to try and attend the Oregon State Fair with Nootka and Susanne instead of my local one-day mini show at the Evergreen State Fair.

Leia