Rina: Our Blood Bay Barometer

What on earth is Squidoo you say?!? It is a community website that allows users to create pages (called lenses) for subjects of interest; they also split any revenue earned by lenses 50/50 with the author. I have been hard at work for the past several weeks to hit "Giant" status (50 or more lenses) which should give us more exposure, and more revenue (we hope). I'm not quite there yet (I have 9 more to go! :o)

I thought I'd post some of my horse-related lenses here for you to see:


I am definitely not professional writer, but the moment I saw the photos from that day the story just seemed to take shape inside my head. You don't have to know anything about horses to read it, although it may be funnier if...


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"So You Want to Own a Horse"

Since the ripe old age of four I have been obsessed with horses. Having passed the 40-something mark without losing interest (hey, I even kept all my Breyers :o), I think it's fairly safe to...


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"HIS: Horses in Scripture"

Why did I create this lens? Well, I suppose you might say I had a "revelation" of my own one Sunday morning. I was talking to some friends at church about how often horses (my favorite subject) were mentioned throughout scripture...


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"Coping With Colic"

Colic is a word that terrifies most horse owners, and rightfully so. While mild episodes of colic are fairly common and sometimes easy to treat, severe episodes can be life threatening. Aside from old age, colic is the number one cause of death among horses.




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"Body Language 101"

I'm not an expert by any means, but I consider body language to be the single most important thing we can learn when it comes to being around horses. Horses are inherently honest and forthright communicators and just as we expect them to learn to understand us, so should we make the same effort to understand them. It is the "failure to communicate" that so often causes problems between people and horses. By the time a horse kicks or bites, he has usually...


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"Friends of Sound Horses"

FOSH is an acronym for "Friends of Sound Horses". The organization is incorporated as a public benefit humane and education organization. Its purpose is to provide information to the public about the humane care, treatment and...

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"How to Host a Worm Paste Party"
Deworming your horse does not have to be a total "night-mare", nor does it have to be some stress inducing ridiculous undertaking (honest :o) With a few simple steps you can go from "It's kind of like doing aerobic exercise with a giraffe" to "Man, that was EASY".

This lens is primarily for horses that do not like worm paste (in other words, 99.999% of them...



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"Helpful Hints for Horses"

Horses can be very expensive to own, but there ARE some things you can do that will help save you some money. This lens contains some things I've discovered...

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"Personalities Plus"

It's hard to believe, but at one time I used to think that horses were pretty much similar to cows as far as personalities went, (although I knew there were some fundamental differences). I mean I could see that some horses were more...


Thanks so much for reading this far, and I sure hope you'll sneak some peeks at my lenses :o)

Some SUPERduper Supporters

Those two verses are one of the most foolproof weather gauges of all time, it's never wrong. I've used it for years and it has always held true; of course that was before we got our little four legged weather woman. While I am well aware that all horses tend to "take it up a notch" when there is a shift in the weather pattern, Rina seems to take it to a whole new level. She is, in essence, a panic attack looking for a place to happen on days it's going to storm.

The photo on the right shows her standing at full equine alert on one such day (she's 3 in this picture and still in her "gangly" phase :o) While she doesn't run around like a raving lunatic, she is definitely edgy and easily agitated. The full alert in the photo was her response to my saying her name softly; I only wanted her to look at the camera (Xanax anyone??)

You can see that the skies are clear in the background, although we did indeed have thunderstorms that day...she doesn't often miss.

To be honest, it took me awhile to catch on to the meaning behind the behavior. I spent lots of time wondering, what on earth is wrong with you today, Rina? As well as some personal eyeball rolling and thoughts like, you are such a total goose girl, sheesh!

The strangest day turned out to be the one in which Rina completely transcended edgy by plopping herself down on the ground in front of the water trough right at breakfast time; what on earth?!?

That was the day a tornado passed over our house, and talk about scary. God was very good to us; aside from a neighbor's metal arbor being squashed flat, there was absolutely no damage done here and yours truly developed a much deeper respect for Rina's forecasting capabilities.

This morning's breakfast report was pink skies and a pingy Rina. Hmmm...guess we're in for some stormy weather today, huh? :o)



If you are interested in exploring equine body language (I'm totally fascinated by it), please see my lens on Squidoo (it took me forever, but I think it turned out pretty well :o) http://www.squidoo.com/EpicFarmsBodyLanguagequidoo.com/EpicFarmsBodyLanguage Thanks so much for stopping by!

Epic Farms on Etsy

I've decided to continue with the Etsy theme this week, by publicly thanking two of our regular donors: Brooks Earth Farm and Little Studio Jewels...what would we do without you??

Brooks Earth Farm

Jenni makes the most wonderful handcrafted soaps using all natural ingredients like vegetable oils, fragrance oils and essential oils. She does not use rendered animal fats, detergents or artificial preservatives. Her handmade soaps also contain natural glycerin which is very good for your skin. All of the soaps are handcrafted and cut and labeled by hand. Brooks Earth Soaps come wrapped in rafia or ribbon and are ready to give as a gift or to keep and enjoy for yourself.

Since I have personally purchased and use her soaps, I can vouch for them honestly and feel comfortable enough to express my professional opinion: they rock! :o) A portion of the proceeds from every bar sold is donated to Epic Farms...thank you Jenni!

Pictured above are some of Jenni's lovely soaps from left to right: Arabian Jasmine is a moisturizing body bar with lots of luxurious lather; Woofy Wash is a fun all natural soap for your favorite pooch, it's available in a fresh clean fragrance or in oatmeal and honey for extra moisturizing; and Bulgarian Lavender and Chamomile is made with combined essential oils to create a soothing shower experience.

Please visit Brooks Earth Farm and check out her lovely soaps ~ they make great gifts too!


Little Studio Jewels

Meghann's shop is home to some of the loveliest pieces of handmade jewelry I've seen, and she is as gracious as she is talented. I bought a pair of the earrings pictured below, and they are absolutely gorgeous. I also have a beautiful silver ring from her too, but I'm still lusting after the bracelet :o)

Her jewelry is exceptionally well crafted, and most of her rings are easily and cleverly adjustable although they don't look it. Meghann has named Epic Farms as her charity of the month for September and also has several pieces throughout her shop with a portion of the proceeds designated for the farm. Thank you Meghann!


Pictured left to right: Fleur Ring is a thick non-tarnish silver plated wire with a Fleur-de-lis design on either end and a lightly hammered the shank for a strong, yet adjustable ring; Copper Celtic Swirl Earrings are made using hand-coiled and hammered natural copper wire and suspended in two swirly links to create a fluid and sophisticated pair of earrings; Mathair Pearl and Ceramic Bracelet was created with hand painted ceramic beads, white Swarovski pearls, and silver spacers. It is finished with a hand-crafted clasp and small pearl dangle (mathair is Irish for mother; Meghann created this bracelet with her mom in mind).

Please visit Little Studio Jewels to see the rest of her magnificent pieces ~ she has something for every budget (even one as microscopic as mine :o)

Thank you ladies for all that you do for us, we are so richly blessed to know you both!

WOOT*WOOT Here's to the final inSTALLment :o)

I was taking some pictures of my latest creation for our Equine Etsy shop when it suddenly dawned on me I'd never done a post about it (and a great big duh for me :o) I thought I'd rectify this terrible oversight by posting one today with two of my favorite woodburning pieces.

These are the first two pieces in a series on carousel horses; I have always been captivated by their elegance and always thought it would be awesome to own one (they're just a teensy bit out of my price range though).

"Filly in Flora" is pictured here on the left and on the right is "Native Dancer". These pieces take quite a bit of time to create, as the tiny details must be ever so carefully done. If the woodburner becomes too hot, it can scorch the wood (not mention your fingers!) and must be turned off to cool down a bit. It is also much harder on the hands than a pencil or pen and requires frequent breaks to prevent cramping.

Both pieces come with a hanger on the back to display on the wall (photo below right), or they can be placed on a bookcase using a small plate stand (photo below left):


At the time of this posting, both pieces are still available. All proceeds from purchases made in our Etsy shop are donated back to the farm. The shop is strictly horse-related items and has an eclectic (my favorite kind of shop) selection ranging from scrapbooking die cuts to cards and gifts.

I hope you'll come and visit us...we just love company :o) Click here to see the shop and as always, thanks for reading this far!

The next inSTALLment (new digs for The Girls :o)

TaDa! I'm so excited...the girl's stalls are DONE! They've actually been finished for about a week now, but because the completion of this project landed right smack at the beginning of school (and our daughter's senior year no less) it took me a bit longer to get around to posting it. Aren't they wonderful??

Actually, I just noticed the protruding 2x4 s underneath the roof on each end (those still need to be cut off). The girls are very happy with their new rooms, although for some reason Lady and Rina are swapping out the first and second stall with regularity. They both seem to like the second one, so it's been on a first come first serve basis. Lady copped it this morning at breakfast, much to Rina's frustration (although Rina beat her to the punch at supper last night...)

I would also like to say a special thank you (again :o) to Meghann of Little Studio for nominating us and one to Etsy for Animals for selecting us as their Charity of the Month in May of this year. Hopefully you guys like what we did with your donations.

Thank you for reading, and we'll catch you next time!

The votes are in

Believe it or not, this small "pile" of metal in the back of this truck constitutes 1.6 TONS of metal roofing material (wow). Rickey made the haul with the farm truck, and though it won't win any beauty contests - can you say RUSTY?? - at least you know we're not spending people's donations on a luxury vehicle for us, right? (apparently not :o)

He was a little leery about hauling it in the back of the truck, but made the trip without any trouble. We were very blessed to have gotten a great deal from the sheet metal manufacturing company by being willing to use a discontinued color that they had leftover - works for me!

Before we could start putting the roof on, however, we had to run some lumber across the frame to anchor it to...

After that, we were ready to start putting on the roof - hooray!



I think the name of the color was light bronze, although I'll be the first to admit it looks more like a light taupe to me (but who cares about the color anyway? I'm thinking the girls certainly don't :o)

There was a bit of a hiccup getting it started (apparently the frame is not quite square so a few adjustments had to be made before they were off and running, or should I say roofing?


Of course "you know who" just HAD to come and park herself right smack in the middle of everything to see what was going on...

Once they got going, they made fairly short work of the first run. Looks pretty darn good so far, doesn't it?






Thank you so much for reading about our progress...See you next time!

Well, the votes are all in, and we got our feelings hurt just a little bit by coming in dead last but I guess somebody had to do it, right?

Although we didn't win the $3,000 donation, it sure did go to a worthy cause; Marine Parents won by a landslide (with well over 5,000 votes). This organization funds programs for U.S. Marines - a care package program for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, support to the families of Marines (including those of soldiers who were killed or wounded serving their country), and Operation PAL (Prayers and Letters) sending comfort to our injured Marines, to name a few. Congratulations to Marine Parents for a well deserved victory!

We did, however, get some great exposure for our organization and two wonderful lenses were made for us by members of the Squidoo community:



Horse Themed Gifts was created for us by Crystal, and Epic Farms Donations was made by Holley to help us further our cause, isn't that great?

Thank you so much for taking the time to make us these fabulous lenses (it certainly made my day! :o)