J-BAR-L

NO NEW POSTS

2009-09-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

Due to no response there will be no further postings as it doesn't appear to interest anyone anyway and I have more things to do with my time.

Have a good day.

Did I leave us out???

2009-06-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ghee, I can't believe I left us out of the show results from Tyler!!!

Jim showed and Lady in Jr Mare and Dede in Sr. Mare twice each (once Open and once Amateur) and then we both showed them in multi color. We did pretty good and Dede actually brought home a first place ribbon! It was with me and my first time to show so naturally I was excited - okay so I teared up. :)

Another delight to us!!!

2009-06-17T13:15:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Gracie :) Her presence is sure to put a smile on your face. She is only three but such a big helper - if she keeps this great attitude she is sure to excel in life. We are so glad we have such great neighbors with such wonderful and loving children. This week she came over and helped me and Ben with planting the last three trees ... and then she did a most precious thing - she said "Grammy, I have to pick some flowers for mama!" and off she went picking Indian Blankets that grow wild in our pasture. She was more than willing to share her discoveries with Dede and Lady and they were all to ready to see what she had to share. Gracie - you are a true blessing to your parents, us and all who know you.

ABBIE'S RIBBONS at her first Miniature Horse Show!

2009-06-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

We were so proud of Abbie - she is a quick learner and is so willing. Her plans were to have a "big" horse but since being introduced to the mini's she has changed her mind - at least for now, so hopefully soon Abbie will have one of her very own. But back to the show in Tyler --- Abbie placed fourth showing Lady in Jr Mares and second showing Dede in Sr Mares. We still are working on getting the horses in better shape for show but they did pretty good ... and let me say again, "Abbie, you did great"! We are so excited about sharing this experience with you and your mom, Lisa. Next show coming up is in San Antonio. Wish her luck!!!!

Our New Novice

2009-06-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

Our new neighbor, Abby, who is eight loves horses. She has volunteered to help in the barn several times and has taken to helping with the mini's. So much so that this Saturday she will go with us to our Tyler show and join in the youth competition showing both Dede and Lady! Below are some pictures of her working the mini's but of her playing and controlling the new addition to the barn. Abby is doing a wonderful job and is a quick learner. We are glad to have her to share the horses with. We may just have to adopt her! LOL

Little Bit at 24 hours old trying to buck!!!

2009-05-28T16:16:00.001-07:00

This is so cute - I hope I can upload this video ...

OUR NEW ARRIVAL FINALLY MADE IT!!!

2009-05-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

Eleven months is a long time to wait for something - and spending the past two weeks at night in the barn for the occasion made it even more intense ... then naturally as soon as I step away to go to work ... Carmel has the foal!!!

World meet LITTLE BIT IMPRESSIVE ... J-BAR-L's first foal ... you must come see him ...

The pictures are in reverse order but hey, I got them posted :)

OUR FIRST SHOWS

2009-04-22T15:11:00.001-07:00

Both our shows were held in Glen Rose.

Jim showed Lady in March and brought home a total of 13 ribbons!!! Great going as there was a lot of competition.

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Then it was Linda's turn in April showing Bambi ... bringing home 4 ribbons.

Our hearts are heavy but we know it's for the best...

2009-04-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

The decision to break up our horses was not easy - it was heart breaking in fact. We've had them all three since they were weanlings - just 4 1/2, 5 1/2 and 7 months old ... they are all three now. But they were herd bound and would not allow another horse into the group. After realizing that I was not going to be capable of handling Rascal and Belle not being rideable we knew what must be done. So, after talking with a wonderful lady, Krysta and her husband - we made a deal for them to take both of them so at least they could remain together somewhat. Belle will become pasture mate to a 23 yr old mare and Rascal will get to do something we wanted him to be trained for all along - barrels. Yep, Krysta rides barrels. They have promised to stay in touch and said we are welcome to come visit them anytime. So, even though we were sad to let them leave we are happy for them to have a place where their presence can mean something. We've posted a few pictures of them leaving and at their new home - oh and of Krysta on Rascal before they left our home.
Congratulations Krysta and Brad - enjoy and take good care of our babies - we know you will.

Spring has brought other first moments ...

2009-03-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

This week has hosted some really pretty weather and being it was spring break - the Roots made their way out to the country and the kids got to ride Buck ... it was his first time to have children ride him - we were so proud of him - he did great like he'd done it lot's of times before!!!! For safety reasons since it was Buck's first time with children we wanted to take precautions so Jim used a lunge line with him except Brooklyn quickly showed her skills (since she has had riding lessons) and she rode Buck on her own! Nathan and Corban did great as well and it won't be long till they are pros at it too!!! Great going kids - hope you come back to ride him again soon.

Show Season is gearing up ....

2009-03-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

As spring is popping out all around - the horses began to blow their coats ... and suddenly it's time to clip the mini's in preparation for show season. It is amazing how different a horse looks with their winter coat and when they are first clipped - the difference is almost like different horses! After a few weeks of re-growth the normal color reappears. I'll give you, as best as I can since we didn't think of before and after pictures - starting first with Dede now and before, then Lady now and before, - then here's a picture of our little "mama to be" Carmel - will she make it to July??? I'm thinking a June baby! Last but not least is Bambi now and before.

Birthdays after Christmas

2008-12-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

Some people feel cheated with a birthday on or near a holiday especially Christmas. It tends to get lost so maybe it isn't the luckiest time to have a birthday. I can say that from experience since my birthday is on Valentines' Day but this is not about me ... this is about Christmas birthdays, a co-worker's birthday is on Christmas Eve, my own father's birthday was the day after Christmas as is my boss' mother's birthday the day after Christmas ... and very special little girl, that I get to borrow and do grandmother things with, our little neighbor, Gracie, just turned three the day after Christmas. Well this year will be different for her - it is one to be remembered ... she gets a miniature horse!!! Below is a picture of Gracie with Yoko - the pictures need no explanation really - ... there is nothing like the relationship between a girl and her horse :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRACIE - looking forward to doing things together with our miniatures :)

Forgot to Post Group Picture from Thanksgiving!

2008-12-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Grandkids Having Fun Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-08T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving. The kids really seemed to have enjoyed it and we loved watching them!!! They rode the four wheelers and played with the mini's. Adiah seemingly loved her first encounter with a mini!!! :)

United States Map

2008-11-04T13:26:00.001-08:00

A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl, Shelby. She wanted to know what the looked like.
Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to and said, 'Go into the other room and see if you can put this together. This will show you our whole country today.'
After a few minutes, returned and handed him the map, correctly fitted and taped together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. 'Oh,' she said, 'on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus . When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then our country just came together.'

Buck in Training

2008-10-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well as most of you know - Buck is away in training. He has been there two weeks and we miss him as does Belle and Rascal but especially Belle. Here are some pictures we took yesterday.

Now Buck is a fair size horse ... but the horse next to him is no small fry!!! He is a quarter horse also but a really big one --- in this picture the tall one is obviously to the left and Buck is to the right - it is hard to really see well but look at the difference in the height of their rear ends and the fact that the big horse takes up most of his stall whereas Buck doesn't! You'd have to have a step ladder to get on him. LOL

We are anxious to see how it goes with Buck and being able to ride him - but he probably won't be home by Thanksgiving - we'll have to see but doubtful.

IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

2008-09-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

WITH MUCH PRAYER GOD PROVIDED US A WAY TO GET ...
You got it ... a T-R-A-C-T-O-R ... Jim is so excited and loves it. Guess I can't get him that tee-shirt for Christmas that says "Where's my tractor?" LOL Things will be so much easier around the place now.

2008-09-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Just as Important ...

2008-09-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

... Lady's grooming was addressed today also. The sun had done a number on her mane and tail - so we freshened them up - course there isn't much we could do about the body color now but clip her - you can really see her spots! She is mostly buckskin not white much to our surprise. She is now protected with slinky's from head to tail :) and looks like a little silver medieval horse! LOL She is pretty much set for AMHA WORLD - hope to see you there!!!

All Hooked Up!!!

2008-09-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today was Bambi's first lesson under cart for driving and it went excellently. She took to it very well only giving a slight bucking a couple of times. Our trainer, Bethany Franke of the Circle K Miniatures, said we will do this several times - where we work with her walking beside her before actually getting into the cart. It is very important to have great control over her before mounting the cart as you don't have the leverage once sitting in the cart as you do standing on the ground. But I don't think we are going to have much trouble with her in that regards since she has taken to this so well but of course we will work hard to be sure that she is safe as well as us - after all one day we will be taking precious cargo onboard -- our grandkids!!!

AMHA WORLD SHOW

2008-09-15T15:22:00.001-07:00

This is it guys/gals!!! World is here and we have been working hard and preparing Lady to go! Hopefully we will have photo's of her to post next weekend as she goes to get all prettied up for it!!! Papa Jim will show Lady early on Friday morning - October 3rd - if you can be there to cheer them on we'd love it ... otherwise I'll be posting pictures after the event. We will be at the show from Wed, Oct 1 through probably Sun, Oct 5th the final day. If any of the grandkids want to go (like Emily went with me last year) let us know and we will see what can be worked out. Thurs & Fri nights we will actually be staying in a hotel over in Ft Worth to be nearby. Let us know if you want to meet up with us.

Warning - graphic pictures!!! Don't look if your squimish.

2008-08-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

CAN YOU SAY OUCH?!!!

Jim's surgery was a week ago now. It was rough at first but he is tough and doing much better now. He wears bandages until next week then they will put him into a cast for a month. One of the toughest things for him is remembering he isn't allowed to do a lot of things he just normally does.

Here are pictures of his battle wounds .... you know what they say about nurses and doctors

being patients! ... he just had to take the bandages off and re-dress it. We pray the surgery was a success and he will be all the better for it once the healing is compete.

We have CARMEL now :)

2008-08-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

Meet Carmel - she is almost identical to Bambi without the blaze!!! Notice her long, long tail - it drags the ground.
Papa Jim is standing with them - Bambi on the left and Carmel on the right!!! Kind of like with Buck and Belle - one is lighter sorrel than the other.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACK!!!

2008-08-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today Jack is FOUR years old. Wow!!! That is so hard to believe. For those of you who did not know - we hand raised Jack - his mother died when he was born. Bottle feedings ever two hours - baths like his mother was cleaning him! We carried him with us when we went out - one of my favorite memories of him as a baby was when we went out to eat with Gina and family ... their first time to see Jack ... we had him in a carrier much like a duffle bag and she had her hand stuck in there - well, most of the time and the waitress would look at her as she passed and Brooklyn would smile her little bashful smile. Nothing was ever said.

Then as he got older he was a little more brave and this picture of him poking his head out the pet door actually won two contests!

Then he grew up! He has a sweet disposition and is quiet for the most part but he is our house protector and will bark only when you enter until he realizes who you are.

I guess because of his missed his mother he has one big habit that sometimes proves annoying -- he sucks - when he was little it was stuffed toys but since Jill and Jenny always took them away from him and destroyed them we stopped buying them and then he turned to doing what he does all the time now ... he sucks on the ball!!! Yes, Amy, he still does it - sorry.

Praising God for our R-A-I-N!!!

2008-08-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

and singing "Raindrops keep falling on my head" as we were definitely thanking God as the rain came down ..."THANK YOU, GOD". We needed it so bad. We have now decided that we need rain barrels so that when it does rain, we can collect it and use it for the trees, grass and plants ... go GREEN.

The channels that Papa Jim made worked great and there were no leaks in the barn!!!! YEA

... and it poured - what a happy sight. Definitely worth leaving the horses stalled up today.

we showed having 1 and a half inches of rain although our neighbor's website said that we got a total of 2.98 - I don't think we got that much but ours probably isn't correct either as it is near the house and I believe is shielded from a true reading - but at least we know it was at least 1 1/2.

The Barn is Almost Complete!!!

2008-07-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Papa Jim has worked so very, very hard (and I've helped the best I can) to finish the barn before his surgery. Looks like it'll be complete soon. Pretty much all the siding is up - just like some of the trim and a little paint (my job) on the doors to finish them out. We will wait until it warms up in the spring to put up the turnouts for the mini's.

And then there was Lady

2008-07-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Who stole our hearts!

She is definitely Papa Jim's ... she has bonded to him and I think the feeling is mutual :)

Course I can't say much - I think she is a sweetheart but we really gotta work on the clipping.

Just look at how tiny her hooves are beside Papa Jim's foot - hey, look at it this way - less injuries ... (sorry Jim, just had to say that).

Adiah's 2nd Birthday

2008-07-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

It was fun watching her open presents and get excited. And the one that scared her was loved by Hannah!

Glad we were able to share in her birthday celebration and look forward to many more years of joy to come.

But the Elmo dancing was too cute! Wonder where did she learn to twist like that? LOL It was precious to watch.

Then there was the cake that she was too dainty to destroy or mash all over herself much to her siblings disappointment!

What do you think they are doing, Belle?

2008-07-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Just grooming, Rascal! But they are so little ...

Seriously, several have asked if we could get pictures of the "bigs" and "littles" together - well, this is the best we can do for now.

This past weekend we worked on getting the fence "hot" again since our "bigs" are starting to lean over the

fence. We also put up the round pen - wow what a difference that made to the appearance of the barn once again!

Sunday afternoon, Jim worked with Dede and Lady in the round pen while I worked with Bambi in her pasture. We feel we accomplished quite abit with them - especially Jim made lots of headway with Lady --- to bad I didn't have the camera to get some really great shots - they were face to face and Lady didn't freak out!

Dede is just mellow and easy going - whatever. But she loves to eat - which she does slowly! Not that she can't have that spoiled kid attitude though! LOL

Poor Lady - when we clipped her a couple of weeks ago we could not complete the task as she was so scared - bless her heart she looks like she has the mange or something. Hopefully that will change soon! World competition is in a couple of months.

New Beginnings ...

2008-07-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

First, let me say a big THANKS to Gina for setting up this beautiful blog for us. We are excited to share some of the happenings around our place and hope you enjoy it as well. Your all welcome and encouraged to come visit anytime.

Our first blog is to update you all on the training we are doing with the mini's.

Here are a few pictures of us doing just that - being trained on how to train - how's that for a play on words! While Linda/Grammy works with Bambi - Papa Jim is working with Dede and Lady. We'll see how it goes but right now - I'll be showing Bambi in driving carts and Papa

Jim will show the halter class - although I'm sure we will both want to do both.

Check us out - we look like we really know what we are doing don't you agree?!!!