Farm News, Sunrise Estate Miniature Horses, The Peters, AMHA

Here we are in another New Year. (the Season of cold hands & warm hearts) We wish each and every one of you all the best in 2004. We had our family home for the Xmas season and enjoyed watching the Grandsons in the sled driving Lightening. I think Lightening enjoyed the excursions as much as they did.

Big brother giving the Twins 1st sled ride

If you are involved with a miniature horse farm, you always look forward to the New Year because that means the babies will start arriving soon. We are expecting quite a few foals this year. Some will be Prime Time's first foals and we look forward to seeing what this awesome little guy will produce. It is always exciting when a new stallion is added to the program. We never tire of the wonderful experience of being present when a new foal enters the world. I will keep you up to date on our new arrivals so please check back often.

The New Year has brought some very cold weather and a fair amount of snow to Manitoba. With the wind chill it has been in the minus 40's for awhile now. Hopefully it will warm up a bit by the weekend. Actually we quite enjoy winter, with the beautiful crisp days in the sun and not having to deal with mosquitoes. Each season certainly has it's pluses.

Feb 3rd - Gosh, our schools have been closed three days in a row due to the extreme cold weather (over - 50 degrees with wind chill) I don't ever recall them closing schools in the past. For those of you not familiar with metric, - 40 Fahrenheit and - 40 Celsius is the same temperature in both systems. It is much too cold for people and animals but we do survive! The horses have nice wooly fur coats now and they enjoy laying around in the sunshine even though it is so cold. The sun is actually starting to get quite warm and it is amazing how much warmth you can feel on their coats.

George got the new harness he had ordered for the team so he has been "playing around" driving the boys using the sleigh but he can't wait for the snow to go so he can get around to more serious driving with the wagon.

We have had quite a bit of snow in the past week but it is sure starting to feel like Spring. Reva just gave birth to a handsome little black and white colt tonight (March 4th). We are especially excited because this is our first Prime Time foal. It was a textbook delivery. Check him out on the foal page.

March 10th - Today we lost a little palomino foal. Mom had it about a month too soon and the baby was breach. It is always sad for the mare and also for us to lose a foal but that is life and we have to accept that these things sometimes happen. Hopefully we will not have to deal with any more sadness this foaling season. The first born "Magnum" is doing great!

March 29th was a great day...our little Justabelle was born. The Mom, Silver Belle, was a maiden mare, the Sire is Justin. Justie, as she will no doubt be called, is very cute and has long legs. She looks like a little race horse at the moment. It is too soon to tell what her color will be just yet.

We have a few horses under camera so hopefully I will have more babies to report soon.

The weather is very nice and the sap is running so today we started boiling down sap for our Maple Syrup. If you would like to read more about making Maple Syrup press here.

April 9th was our Anniversary and also the one year anniversary of enjoying the companionship of Annie our golden retriever (you can see why we named her Annie). If you remember, she showed up at our place, not in very good shape, with no clues as to where she came from. Despite our trying in all media to find her home, we received no calls or inquiries, so Annie became our "outside" dog. We put her on glucosomine and then MSM to help her with her obvious aches and pains (she is an older dog), along with two good meals a day and what a transformation! She is a wonderful pet and we are so happy she found us.

April 21st...Well, I have good news and bad news. We lost two beautiful little fillies but we have also gained two. It is heartbreaking to lose them but these things can, and do happen. See the foal page to view the newest arrivals from Tut and Lucky.

April 22nd...We are delighted that our little GemStar gave birth to a nice little filly tonight. Gem was a maiden mare and her milk didn't come along with the birth so George has been "Mom" all night and kept busy every hour feeding the little one. During this time our Honey gave birth to a filly also so there is a lot of action in the barn. All is well with both of these "pairs" now. Hopefully George will be able to get some sleep. We have a mare at 361 days today (23rd). Hopefully she will get the hint as she is in the stall between these two latest foals.

April 29th...Well Joon finally had her baby ....a pretty little filly. The little one was so cramped for so long she needs a bit of exercise and fresh air now. All is well. I will post a picture on the foal page soon.

May 5th...It has been an interesting foaling season. The mares are certainly not having their babies in the order we have expected them. This morning our Primrose gave birth to a strong little filly. Perhaps our Sweetheart was watching closely (she's in the next stall) and will do likewise before the day is out!

Well, Sweetheart took note and gave us a very nice tri-colour pinto colt. See the foal page for picture. We can now get a few weeks of welcomed sleep before the next two foals are due.

May 11th, 2004 will be remembered for an unbelievable snow storm/thunderstorm/wind, etc.etc.etc.!! We certainly broke records. We have a lot of huge old maple trees and unfortunately the weight of all that wet snow broke some of the branches. This one was over a foot in diameter. Fortunately the only thing it broke was the fence....we were lucky.

May 14th was a very sad day at our farm. The day before we noticed one of our little yearlings was very lethargic and not eating. We moved her into a comfy stall and the next day found she had really

Sunrise Estate Miniature Horses - SUNRISE ESTATES SILVER CHARM

gone down hill quickly. Needless to say we were shocked when the vet came and advised that the prognosis was very poor. She had developed pneumonia and she did not make it. The fact that she was in a weakened state and the extreme weather all played a part. We will miss our little Charm, but we know she is playing with others in a wonderful sunny pasture at Rainbow Bridge. Charm was 8 months old.

We have been having a very busy summer - lots of company and things to do. It has been a challenge to get outside work done since it seems we have more rain than sun this Spring.

Donna gave us a beautiful little colt on June 4th. He is a real little sweetie. Pictures of our little Mr. Snippet can be seen on the foal page.

June 10th - I can't believe we just planted our gardens today. It is so much later than we would normally do this, but because of the moisture (we got 3 1/2" of rain the other day) we couldn't get it tilled or planted. Hopefully we will start having some nice hot days and it will grow quickly.

The mosquitoes are unbelievable this past week. Good job the horses have all had their West Nile shots.

We should be having our next foal in a couple of weeks...will keep you posted.

Our weather has been very cool and wet .... we are starting to wonder if we will have summer this year. The mosquitoes are out in full force too so one has to keep covered, that's for sure.

Well, this has been a great week. Monday evening (June 21st) Brandi gave birth to a wonderful little mahogany pinto boy and Tuesday morning (22nd) Lady Ketreina had a petite red and white pinto filly. All are doing well. These little ones are just adorable. I will try & get some pictures on the foal page as soon as I can.

Sorry folks, I have been so lax at updating here. Summer (if we can call what we have had this year summer) is always a busy time for us. Yard work, gardens, extra horse activities etc. all take time. We do love it though.

We got to enjoy the Grandsons for almost 2 weeks this summer. They are sure growing up quickly. My goodness, the twins will be 2 in September and it seems like they were just born! I will be adding some new pictures of their first horse rides etc. on the photo pages.

We have broken records here in Manitoba for having the coldest, wettest summer on record, but we have been very fortunate that, other than a week or so of mosquitoes, we have been pretty well mosquito free. This is very nice for us and the horses. It is such a treat to go out and not have to be covered in spray.

George has participated in a number of parades with the team. We are very pleased with how well they did in their debut year....just like they've been doing it forever. It never ceases to amaze us how smart these little horses are!

Lady is expecting her foal in a few weeks so that will be an exciting time. Seems we always have one late foal to spoil :-). (He won't admit it, but I think George plans it that way) I will post the event here when it happens.

October 9th - Lady waited for a beautiful Indian Summer day to have her little one. He is a delightful little colt and its so nice he is able to enjoy the lovely weather we are having in Manitoba right now. I will post details on the foals page as soon as I get a picture taken.

Sorry folks, I am just so far behind in the news around here. We have had a number of our little ones go to new homes this Fall. We sure do miss them. Three of our horses are presently in quarantine in preparation for their journey to Belgium. I believe their flight to Europe and their new home is scheduled for early January 2005. We hope they have a safe journey...it it so far away!

It is hard to believe it is December already. At this time we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may all your wishes come true in the New Year.