Another fun week in the books and the first part of April.

We had a few late nights early on in the week, or really the whole week probably. Ben, Kaine and Kade continued to pack the trailer and get everything crammed in the nose. Including building a fan rack for the 4 fans. McCall came over Monday after work and helped Kade finish clipping his fall heifer. No new foals, Monday or Tuesday. Mom went out and helped us check the mares on Monday. Toni was preparing for a big hearing on Tuesday. Both nights we did normal chores, Kade rode Roanie, and we just got ready for our big trip. Roanie is for sale, and if you want more info go to our sale page.

The last of the trailer got packed to go to Reno on Tuesday. Kat came down and stayed the night so we could leave early from our house. Kaine got himself on the Ag Sales team so he was studying for that on Tuesday. His other option was go by himself with me to Angus Regionals in Madras, since it is finals week for Anna at school, and Kade and Jaxsen were already going to FFA State. I guess he did not want to have a road trip with me by himself…

I took the three big kids and left Toni, Mom, Dad, Ben and Kicker, and Jaxsen to do all the chores, foaling out mares and turning them out with studs. We were Reno bound and trucking with Kat and Kady Vejraska. Jaxsen had his last student led parent teacher conference in Jr. High. His grades are ok, he could do better, but has done worse. So I guess that is a win. Wednesday evening Emma came out and grabbed Boone to hypothetically use her for Wrangler girls. Last year she borrowed Kevin, so she is switching it up for this year. Boone loaded great and off she went for the rodeo season. Then Toni and Jaxsen started chores. They were way behind and couldn’t find all of the mares.

Thursday was a quiet day in Reno. The cattle were doing great and Kade did livestock judging. At home it was rainy and gross but that didn’t stop Toni from shipping out Rad and Gold Buckle to their new home. They did really well loading into a new trailer. Kendra came and picked up the foals for their owners and took them to Colville. Our farming operation started going full tilt on Tuesday, we sent out rebreed contracts for open AI mares, and had a super busy day. Once again Toni could not find 14 of the mares, which started to make her nervous. She called Ben and he was able to find them. Sagebug had swam the lake, which he has never done in all the years we have ran him with mares on the far side. Then he proceeded to gather up 14 head of mares and try to make them swim back to his side of the lake. None of the mares would go and he had them bunched up on a little peninsula that is  hard to get to and hard to find. You can drive out close to it, but it does require some walking and dodging of big sagebrush, mud holes, rocks, etc.

Friday was a decent day. Juan came over and picked up Buzzy the Bug. We are excited for Juan to have him. Juan also wants a mule, just like Kade does so Toni and Juan started talking mules. Then Jeana, Scott, and Jaycee came and brought their mare out to breed to MC. We called the mare Bay Mare, thinking that was her name the entire time we had her when we bred her to Gunner, but her name is Venus. She has a really neat Gunner colt so now they are going to breed her to MC to see what they get. Jaycee also went  ahead and jumped on Roanie to see if he might work for her little cousins. He isn’t a hard horse to ride, but is really big so we don’t think he is a good fit for little kids. For chores Toni and Marlo went out to try to remedy the Sagebug situation. They found mares scattered all over. Lura had just foaled, so fresh the foal wasn’t up yet. They drove all over and couldn’t find Sagebug, but did find all the mares he had originally taken and they couldn’t find nine other mares. They finally found Sagebug with the nine missing mares by the gate back into Sagebug’s pasture where he was driving to drive these mares. Again, he had them bunched into a small area but the gate and fence stopped him from taking them where he wanted the mares to go. Toni and Marlo tried to get the herd up to my house, but Sagebug wouldn’t let the mares go that direction and kept trying to drive them across the land bridge where he wanted them to go. Ben came to help and they all finally decided to leave the horses in Circle 3 for the night. When Marlo and Toni got back to Mom and Dad’s Lightening Bug was just foaling and they were able to get right out to the new filly. Mom was disappointed it was a dunskin/buckskin, but she is a big beauty so whatever.  Because the twins turned the big 25 on Friday, they got to name both of the new fillies. I don’t think we have had a year go by when they didn’t get a foal on their birthday or 2! In Reno the kid had showmanship. The heifers and kids all did great.

Saturday first thing Dad told Toni the colts were out. She got down to the house and the colts had knocked down a pole and Fire was out. She got the pole up and Fire in. Dad and Skip went in to the baseball game. Then Mom called that a stud was out. The gate to Cappy’s pen was not chained correctly so they were out. Mom and Toni put them back in. Cappy was acting like the young stud that he is but went back in fine. Then Toni and Jaxsen went out and walked up and caught Sagebug, long trotting him back to my house so we can build a fence and put him in a much smaller pasture. He really screwed himself with his behavior. I would say though that he was awesome to catch and take out of the mares, so that took way less time than scheduled. In Reno we had breeding classes. Kade showed Cookie and Blossom, Anna had Hazel and Kaine had Baby Jewel. Kady had Maddy and Laxy. All the kids and heifers did great. Kade was 4th in this class with Blossom.

Sunday Kendel called that we had a new foal in Circle 5 so Toni went down and Peanut had a Cappy colt. I texted that I thought Nutjob, yet I want to call him that, was beautiful. Toni ignored me. He is a big pretty colt. Everything on the desert was good for once and that was our only foal on Sunday. Toni did take my horse for a spin with her new halter our friend Suzanne sent. It is Toni’s color- leopard print. We got the cattle loaded and headed home from Reno after a great week. We needed to take Kady to the airport, so I thought we were dropping the trailer and then hooking it back up. Nope, Kat rolled through the airport with the Wilson and we headed home from there.

Another fun week in the books and the first part of April. Always exciting to see the foals on the ground and start breeding mares back. Soon we will be AIing mares on top of everything else. Spring is a hectic fun time. If anyone is looking for a Shadoodle Anna has Shadoodle puppies. Idaho Shagg x Mini Poodle.