Fair Week Begins

Today I went to my horse Evaluation, it was fun. My goal was to lope without falling off. So I was
warming up, I was scared because I had NOT been loping for a while. After a while it was my turn, the judge was nice. I told her what my goal was, she said I am not going to have you do that here, because your horse keeps running away, so... I did a circle at a walk. I did pretty good. Well... got to go- see you soon!
(at the Fair!):)
 

Getting Ready for Fair

For the last month or so my mom and grandma have taken me to another club's sheep meetings so I could get help with Showmanship and learn more about sheep. I would like to thank Claudia Brush and the Vallivue 4-H club for letting me be part of their group! I have learned a lot. I learned how to set up my lamb. How to hold him in the show ring - without a halter! EEEK! And I also had fun.

Claudia and her husband also have a big scale that everyone weighs their sheep on. I weighed 61 pounds! I got to weigh PJ three times and Ruby once. Ruby was 120 pounds a month ago- she would definitely be big enough for fair. PJ weighed 117 the first time we weighed him- I was SO relieved! The minimum weight to sell at the fair is 110 pounds. I do not want to eat my bottle baby, Pepper Jack, so I am glad that I can sell him and not have to worry about my family eating him. Someone else will! : ( But it is also good because that means we can keep Ruby and breed her- she will make some really nice grass fed and all-natural babies that we won't have to pay $200+ for.

Here is a picture of Ruby in the scale.

Hard Work Pays Off

Last week I went to the State Horse Contest, it was fun but it was a 4 hour drive. When we got there I was sooo happy, I was sooo tired. When we got inside, the first thing I did was...I went to lay in my hotel bed, OH YEAH. But I was not tired anymore because we were going to swim. It was fun, we had a great time, including my baby brother. The next day my dad said, "WAKE UP! You need to get up" and I said "NO!" because I was sleeping ..but I got up anyway I got dressed fast as I could. At the Contest I was nervous, but excited too. Then it was MY TURN! But don't worry I made it! YAY!  Then came REWARDS! I was scared, my mom said "you might not place," but.........I DID! I got .......2nd PLACE! So like I said, I learned that hard work pays off.

Sheep Weigh In

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile! My family has been really busy so far this summer-  my mom had an emergency surgery a couple weeks ago, and also she went to Real Estate School. And I have been really busy taking care of all of the animals we have around here, plus going to horse camp!

I want to share some pictures with you from the first sheep weigh in that we went to last month. Both Ruby and Pepper Jack did great! Ruby weighed 90 pounds! And Pepper Jack weighed 74. Most of the lambs that came weighed between 80-95 pounds. The weigh in was on May 12. The final weigh in will be on July 21. At the first weigh in, my mom said that Pepper Jack would need to gain almost a half of a pound per day over the 75 days left to make weight at the Canyon County Fair. 110 pounds is the lowest they can weigh at the fair's final weigh in. We think he is still on track, but we will find out next week if he is doing well. We are going to weigh him at our next sheep practice!

I really hope that Pepper Jack will be big enough to sell at the fair.  I don't want him to end up in our freezer. He is my baby. If Pepper Jack makes weight my parents said I can keep Ruby for breeding and then I won't have to buy new baby lambs next year. If Pepper Jack doesn't make weight, then I will have to sell Ruby and we will have PJ sent to a butcher to be meat for our family to eat. I already told my mom I will NOT eat PJ.

These are pictures from the weigh in. They move the animals through pretty fast, so my mom couldn't get the best pictures.

Giddy Up

Last Saturday was my very first horse show! I had a great time. My horse, Bonita, and I looked  good. I made a new friend and so did Bonita. I also got lots of pretty ribbons.

My mom took this first picture on the left of me riding in my Western Equitation class.  The second picture on the right is a picture of us getting ready to go into the ring for Showmanship.

 

Introducing Ruby the Lamb!

My new lamb is home! We got her last week. Her name is Ruby. She came from a small grass fed, all-natural family operation in Meridian. My uncle Joey bought her for me- he actually won her in an auction for Calvary Christian School in Boise. After the auction he realized he didn't need a lamb, so he gave her to me. He is funny. She is a very well built and nice Ewe from Champion parents- we are hoping that PJ makes weight for fair so that we can keep Ruby and breed her- and use her baby (or babies!) for my 4-H lambs next year.

Milk, milk, milk!

Our family got our very first milk goat last week. She is a registered Saanen named Reba.That is her in the blue collar in the middle. We are going to feed PJ with her milk. : )

Blackfoot, Here I Come!

Last weekend I went to Emmett for the District Horse Oral Presentation Contest.  I was very nervous and messed up a little during my presentation, but all of my practice paid off- I got 2nd place.  My ribbon is beautiful.  Now I get to go to the state contest in July- it is in Blackfoot, Idaho.  Here is a picture of me right before the contest.

Yesterday my grandma came over and helped me give my horse a bath.  It was fun, she is a good horse.  Here is a picture of me scrubbing her.  She was very clean at first.... then she rolled in the mud today!

I have good news about the second lamb I am getting.  My uncle found her for me.  Her name is Ruby, she and her mama have only been fed grass.

This is a rhyme I made up about Ruby and Pepper Jack.

Pepper Jack and Ruby sitting in a tree.  

Wagging their tails and drinking their tea.  

What a lovely day to be drinking tea.

We will be getting Ruby the Suffolk lamb next week.  We are also getting a milk goat next week so we can stop buying milk for Pepper Jack.  The goat we are getting is a pretty white Saanen named Reba.

Good News, Bad News, Good News

Good news, I finally named my lamb. I named him Pepper Jack, but we call him P.J. for short. Some other great news is that he now weighs 48 lbs, which means he gained 13 pounds in 12 days. My mom says that is really good. He will probably weigh enough for fair.

Now for the bad news. On Saturday, my cat Prince got hit by a car and passed away. We had a funeral for him, and it was a sad morning. He was my very best friend. Prince was a beautiful cat, I had him since he was a very young kitten. I could hold him like he was a baby and he slept with me every night. One night he ate my hair and woke me up! I was so sad that he died, I cried all day. My heart is heavy from now on. Here is a picture of me with my sweet Princey.

I know Princey wants me to be happy, so I thought he would want me to get a new kitty to sleep with me and snuggle with me so I wouldn't be so lonely. So some good news is that my mom and dad let me get a free kitten to help my broken heart. He is very cute, very small, and his eyes are the cutest eyes you've ever seen. Here is a picture of me playing the piano for my new kitten (he is a very sound sleeper and he loves me to play with the black keys only).

Love Bugs!

I love my lamb, he is my little buddy because I feed him a bottle. It is soooooo fun! You should see it. I love my little lamb, and he loves me! Today he ate some grass for the first time ever, he thought it tasted good.  

 

  

Best. Day. Ever.

Today we picked up my first 4-H lamb ever.  We drove 3 hours and 180 miles (one way) to pick him up. My mom worked really hard to find a place to get my 4-H lamb from- one where they are raised all-natural and fed grass. It was not easy to find one that would be big enough for our fair, my mom had to call a lot of places. We finally found the perfect place- Lava Lake Ranch in Carey, Idaho. They were so nice to us. We were wanting to buy my 4-H lamb from them and they decided they wanted to give me my first 4-H lamb for free! When we got there, they let me visit with lots of baby lambs, and Phoebe even let me hold one. The sheep foreman, Pedro, also helped me pick out a really good lamb for my 4-H project.

Here are some pictures from today!

  

Picking up a new lamb for the first time!      Visiting more cute babies!

 Picking out which lamb I wanted.

Pedro, my new lamb, me, and Phoebe.           Feeding my little guy a bottle for the first time!

I got a little boy lamb. We weighed him when we got home and he weighs 37 pounds. I don't have him named yet, I'm waiting for the perfect name. I also still need to find one more lamb to get, in case this one doesn't get big enough for fair, I will post more pictures of him soon!

EXCITING NEWS!

You know that post about my lamb field trip? I am going to get a bummer lamb just like the little lamb Junior in the picture. We just found out today that we will be traveling to pick up one of my lambs next weekend. It was born in January. I can't wait to feed it a bottle! I was thinking about names like Patrick and Wilbur or Chip and Dip, since I am getting two. I LOVE lambs.

We get to go to this beautiful place to pick it up. I can't wait to meet my first lamb!

My First Red Ribbon

Today I went to a Horse Oral Presentation contest, I got second place. Now I will get to go to District. If you do not know what District is, it is the next level after the county contest. I worked super hard on my presentation for many days, nights and mornings so I would be really good at my contest. My hard work paid off. My presentation was about horsenalities (horse personalities). There are four basic types- left brainers and right brainers and introverts and extroverts. You should have seen it! Here is a picture of me giving my presentation.

My parents are going to record my presentation at the District contest and they are going to put it on YouTube. I will share the link with you later.
Thank you to Debbie Lowber for helping me practice my presentation.

Mani-Pedi Day

Today our horses got their mani-pedis. Bonita loved when her "nails" got filed. She was a good girl.

I like the lady who trims my horses feet. She is quiet and is a nice horse whisperer. :)

Here is a picture I took today of my baby brother's very first horse ride!

I might enter this picture in the fair this year.

4-H Lamb Field Trip

Yesterday I went to a lamb and goat farm.

One of the lambs I met was a bummer lamb. He was a triplet and his mom could only take care of two. The owners fed him a bottle, that is why he is called a bummer lamb. His name is Junior.

I can't wait to get my lambs!

Sunshine in February

Since today was such a nice day outside, I rode my horse, Bonita, in my grandma's arena.

This was only the second time I have gotten to ride her without my mom holding her rope. It was so fun. I love riding my pretty horse.

Happy Valentines Day

Today my brother and I went to an Assisted Living home to deliver the Valentine's Day cards our 4-H club made for the residents.

The people who lived there were so happy to see us. They really liked the cards we made for them. Making them so happy was the best part.