Venable Valley has upgraded from our past message board to a blog website. The recent change was done due to issues with spam being posted to the message board. In order to stop spam from being posted to this blog any comments / stories will be approved prior to posting.
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 10, 2006.
This web site is all the hard work of my daughter Amy, who lives in Texas. She had come to Arkansas for a visit and began playing with the idea of creating a web site so we could share our many adventures with friends and family. Now it is beginning to take shape - and I know it won’t be long before everyone will be able to enjoy Venable Valley with us and make it a favorite place to hang out now and then. For a retired couple - living the good life on this beautiful place sometimes turns into a three ring circus - where there is never enough time, endless chores to be done - but when it seems like it’s just too much - - we can stop and remember when we were working hard at our lifetime jobs and dreamed how wonderful it would be if all we had to do was clean the barn - and love and take care of a herd of horses. Well dreams do come true - and here we are living our dream come true. Naturally my dreams and my husbands dreams are not always exactly the same-he loves his cows - oh yes he loves the horses - but I LOVE THE HORSES. And our love has to be divided and shared with dogs - a ferrett - a cat all of who have their stories - and over time you will grow to know all of them. So Welcome To Our Valley - Kick your boots off - - strecth out and stay awhile ! -Kathy Venable
Comment posted on April 17, 2006:
Hey guys! I love the site it’s awesome! The pictures are great! Very nice. Wow those are some nice horses….
love, BlaireComment posted on April 18, 2006:
Your website look wonderful! Great job, Amy!
I will be checking it often to see what’s going on in Arkansas! Miss You! Love, BeckyComment posted on April 24, 2006:
As one would expect, you guys have done a great job with this site. Very representative of what you see when visiting Venable Valley. Look forward to seeing ya’ll early summer. -James
Comment posted on April 25, 2006:
Well thank you very much James. Hope that one day we will have lots of visitors on our page. It’s fun to share all the going ons around here and there is always something to share that’s for sure. Looking forward to your visit - talk with you soon. -Kahty Venable
Comment posted on April 25,2006:
Dear Kathy! Amy sent me the address to this website. I`m impressed! What a lovely ranch you have in Arkansas. I would love to visit you one day, maby me and Amy can come see you next time I go to Texas. It has been so many years since I last saw you. I really enjoyed this website. Lots of love Siren
Comment posted on April 25, 2006:
Hello Siren! So great to hear from you all the way from Norway - - Amy tells me whats going on with all of you now and then. So happy ya’ll have stayed in touch. It would be very nice if you and Amy could make a trip up here someday. Tell everyone hello for me - stay in touch. -Kathy Venable
Comment posted on April 28, 2006:
I saw your site on your sale sheet and visited it. Now I am hooked to see what is going on each day. Thanks for sharing your stories, I don’t own a horse but feel close to yours. - Kim
Comment posted on April 30, 2006:
Thanks for helping me find you site, I enjoyed seeing you horses. Its a cute site! - Tyra Alley
Comment posted on August 2, 2006:
Well I finally remembered to check out your web page. It is really nice and I really enjoyed reading all the messages you have shared you are a great writer they were fun. I will be visiting often it’s almost like having a horse myself, maybe one of these days. Take Care. -Brinda Newell
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 17, 2006.
Now that our web site is getting more organized - I can now share some of the day to day going on’s of what is happening with the horses - cows - dogs etc.
Well Vanilla - had her foal about 3 weeks ago - Seeker - and he is a little tank - just might be her best yet!! She will be visiting Dr. Randy this week to see if she is ready to be bred AI’d - back to Perpetual Husker. That means loading her & Seeker into the trailer for his first trip to town - we could just encourage him to follow Vanilla - but we like to just start putting a halter on the foals ASAP and getting them used to being led - pretty easy to do this way - amazing that once they realize that you have control of them they pretty much go along with the program. Seeker was actually the easiest to work with ever - we just start in the stall - slip our arms under his neck and behind his rump- standing right next to his Mom for security - sometimes their might be a little struggle - but they get used to being “held” close to you and they actually melt into you-we do this as often as we can from day one. There is something about them being held close to your heart - really - that they like. So in a day or so one of us holds and the other gently slips the halter on with a lead rope and just let him get used to this new thing being on their little heads - and then let them feel a gentle pull to get them to turn their head left and right and lots and lots of rubbing. Seeker was a little champ-so we led Vanilla out of the stall and just let him walk along with us holding his lead. He just moved along - he finally wanted to take off - and he realized that the halter had a hold of him - a little rear - we just go with him and start over - he figured he would just stop and not move - a little push on his rump and he started moving again - it really is amazing how quick they realize that you have control of them and start to just cooperate. We do this every morning and every evening and the next thing you know they are happy to go where you want to explore and just let Mom stand and graze. Today - he’ll have his first experience loading into the trailer - we have an open stock trailer - with thick mats - which works soo nice they actually feel like they are just going into a stall - it’s just getting used to the noise - Mom goes in first - with the foal right behind her - usually they jump right on in - so much noise scares the heck out of them - we let them nurse-a little confidence break - and do it a couple of more times and then they are a pro. So tomorrow will be his big day - His first trailer ride to Dr. Randy’s to see if it’s time to start planning on making his new little brother or sister! -Kathy Venable
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 19, 2006.
Whew-yesterday started early and ended late. We had to take some older calves to the sale barn in town. Sale Day-is just a regular weekly event in country towns. You know what day of the week it is just by all the cattle filled trailers heading down the road. Where we’re at we can go Tuesday’s or Thursdays, you haul them in in the mornings and the sales start at noon. You pull up into the loading area, some workers close the gate behind you, open your trailer and push the cattle out and into a pen iside the sale barn. The place is filled with noise, cows mooing, the rattle of trucks and trailers, men shouting HEY COW HEY COW as they push them along, and the smells-cow smells LOL. I watch the men and they are all smiling and joking, filled with the excitement of Sale Day. Each rancher no matter how small or big needs the money they will make off these calves to pay for all the expenses to operate a ranch. And with the drout last summer and the horrible shortage of hay - farms had to buy hay that was going for a premium this whole winter. No rain not only meant not enough hay out of the hay fields but also that ranchers had to start feeding out hay earlier making their supply even to get them through even shorter. Then the old supply & demand kicked right in - a round bale of hay was selling for up to $65 where $30 is average. We only have 40 mamas 1 big bull & misc. calves so generally put out 4 bales every other day 16 a week-that adds up to almost $1,000 a week on hay if you had to buy it - and that’s not including horse hay! The County Extension agents held meetings to give ideas how to make it through using bulk feed, selling calves off at lighter weight so the mamas wouldn’t eat as much hay trying to nurse babies and encouraging people that might only grow hay to not sell out of state so local farmers would have a source. Well, money talks, and all winter the semi’s loaded with hay went down the highway to Texas & Oklahoma where all the fires had wiped them out, burning pastures, big hay barnes and thousands of head of cattle. The shortage got so bad here that people were buying year old hay that was more dust then hay. We did fairly well, only had to buy about 60 extra bales, but we fed 200 lbs of grain every other day. You just got to the point with each feed bill you paid that you no longer hoped you might show just a little profit for the year when you sold your calves but that you would make enough to just break even. I could see this is the faces of the men unloading their calves-over and over the painful joking comments - Time to pay the feed store! Now there is the worry that what the weather men are predicting might happen - suppose to be another dry hot summer - pastures are still trying to recover from last year - we need rain to grow enough hay to get us through the winter. If it doesn’t come this time ranchers will be forced to reduce their herds - which means they won’t have calves to bring to the sale barn. But this is ranch life-ranchers large or small or a tough breed - they go through hard times and come back. They know how to roll with the punches - pick them self up and keep going, they don’t have much of a choice. They don’t just do one thing for income but many different things - they work hard - and that’s all they know. These are real country people-they don’t have a lot but they find ways to make ends meet. That point was made crystal to me once when I was buying eggs & fresh milk from the old lady down the road - she was in her kitchen canning some of the vegetables she had picked out of her big garden that morning-her cabinets filled with jars of everything you can imagine. I complimented her on her hard work and she simply said - we have to grow what we are going to eat through the winter - cause we can’t buy it from WalMart-we have to pay the feed bill. You and Tim ranch for a hobby-we do it to stay alive. She wasn’t being mean - just stating a fact. Tim & I can do this as long as we want to do it-we can do just the parts we like-I don’t like to can-Tim doesn’t cut timber, raise chickens or pigs, and when we decide we don’t want to “play rancher” anymore we can quit - retire again. But people like that old lady will have to keep on - to have enough to eat and survive - they are Real Ranchers. -Kathy Venable
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 19, 2006.
So after we took that load of cattle into town we had to come back and Tim got the pleasure of spray washing the trailer out from the remains of those calves and letting it dry. I cleaned Vanilla up, brushed little Seeker and slipped his little halter on and told him he was going for a ride. We hadn’t had time to practice walking into the trailer, we were running behind for our appt, so we needed to get them in and pull on out. Tim walked Vanilla in, I had Seeker moving along right behind her, but when Vanilla stepped inside and it got noisy, he made his mind up that he didn’t want any part of that thing eating him alive. Tim tied Vanilla facing the back so she could see what was going on-we scooted Seeker up to the edge, linked our arms behind his rump, a little push a little helpful lift action and before he even could figure out what was happening he was inside the belly of the beast next to his Mom safe and sound. Now our trailer is a stock trailer, but we have thick nice mats, with a divider in the middle which we close so there won’t be any sliding around, but it is open and cool, and they can look around and see the world. We went on down the road to Dr. Randy’s - he was ready and waiting for us, so now was going to be Seekers first time to figure out how to jump down out of the trailer. We do allow the horses to step out frontwards since the trailer is so big, but we do train them first day - you stop, wait, and step down quietly. So I took him right to the edge, stopped, and putting my arm under his neck helped him down to the ground nice and easy. Tim led Vanilla into the vet’s stock inside and Seeker followed me on his lead like a little gentleman - walked right inside the building and stood quietly with me next to his Mom, actually I think his little brain was on over load. Dr. Randy shook his head and said - Darn he was born half grown - Kathy- he’s nice! So he checked Vanilla to see if we would be needing to order Semen - she’s being bred back to Brinda Redwine’s - Perpetual Husker. But nope not even close - so he gave us a shot to take home to give her and we will take her back next week. So now it’s time to load again - this time the back of the trailer is higher off the ground, at home we park next to a slope. Tim walks Vanilla in, with me walking Seeker close behind. She goes in, but Seeker still isn’t enthusiastic about getting back inside for the trip home or not. We link arms behind his rump, it’s amazing how a colt can scrunch his body together and not move an inch. We’re talking back legs touching front legs. I turned him around to try again - Vanilla is talking away to him - he really wants to be with her - but he just can’t figure out how to accomplish it. Tim lifted one front leg up onto the floor of the trailer - a gentle push and lift on his rump and he went right on it. He stood there with this look of - now had did that happen and went straight to nursing. Now when you live out away from town you learn to make EVERY trip count so off to WalMart we went. Seeker got to see the world while we picked up a few things-great exposure for him. We came back out and all was just fine-and since our day had started so early we decided we needed food. We pulled on the shady side of the restaurant - opened the divider so Seeker could move up front and take a little nap if he needed it and went inside to eat. When we came back out a old couple were peeking inside with big grins across their faces - he had indeed stretched out up front and was napping away. We reached through to get him to get up so we could close the divider back for the trip home - but he would lift his head and look at us then flop back down. I pulled his leg - Tim pulled his ear - nope - the little fart wanted to nap. We had to get inside and make him get up and back with his Mom. Back home he unloaded nice and easy - we turned them loose and boy did he run and buck. Now Tim and I could start the chores that didn’t get done that morning so finally at 9:30 pm I walked in the house - a very long day done. I took a bath - dove into bed - set my timer for every 2 hours - turned on the monitor to watch PREGO KATIE and fell asleep for 2 whole hours - timer beeped me awake - studied Katie - all was well - shut my eyes for 2 more hours - beeper - watch - sleep etc until morning. The peaceful morning was blasted by the mournful sound of cows mooing for their calves we had taken to the sale barn - I hate that part most of all. But there was the one moo - that was meant just for me - my Little Orphan Annie - wanting me to bring her her bottle - so I got up to start another day. For now - each day outside begins and ends with giving Annie her bottle. -Kathy Venble
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 21, 2006.
All I can say is thank goodness for Barn Cams! No more hourly trips out to the barn to stand in front of a stall to check on a pregnant mare. Now we just set the camera on their stall and watch comfortably inside the house. I have ours set up for best reception in our front guest room right next to the bed where I sleep until all the babies are born. That room is also my little TV nook where I can watch the programs I like, but keep an eye on the small portable watching Katie’s every move in her stall. And watch I do - I have a timer that you can set for 3 differnt times - 2hrs-4hrs-6hrs through the night, and like tonight since she was moving about much more they were set for every hour and a half - YAWN. The timer beebs - I open my blood shot eyes stare at Katie for any tell tell sign that somethings happening - BUT NOOOOO - she things she can just change her mind and not be pregnant - I keep telling her - go on just stand there all big and pregnant and see if you don’t POP and just fly into the air and spin around the moon. She was a little more restless last night - thus I’m a little more restless - who needs a timer - I’m just staring at her on the monitor willing her to give me a sign - a little stomp, some pawing, pacing, swish your tail girl - let’s get this foal born so you can rest and I can sleep in my own bed-so my eyes don’t look like a druggie’s anymore. It’s so quiet and still - a bug flutters past the camera - sometimes one of the horses outside of the barn wanders up and stands by her window-but the rest of the entire world is sleeping but not me - oh no - I’m on Mare Watch-just me all alone - Tim is asleep - Taz doesn’t even wake up anymore when I stir around - Cookie is snoring away in the living room - Sparky Kitty crawled up in my lap for a few minutes but he finally went back to bed somewhere. Morning is coming now-another night without a new little foal. I will check on her all day long - and tonight - hey maybe tonight she’ll have it-surely tonight she’ll have it. But just in case - keep an eye on the moon!
- Kathy Venable
Comment posted April 21, 2006:
I can’t wait to see this new baby! Last year I went to visit mom. On Mother’s Day we took Katie and her filly “Flower” in to see Dr. Randy. It was time to breed Katie. I got to see the process of how AI is done once mom picks up the FedEx Package. Flower was pretty cute trying to see what everyone was doing in the clinic. I have been waiting for months to see this baby! - Amy Trabue
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 22, 2006.
Yes she did - bless her heart - and Thank You Jesus!
It was a letter perfect foaling and post foaling-this is what mare owners pray for, not like last year when things got really bad from our first time to experience a problem from fescue - but - this year if I hadn’t been watching her every move for soo long on the barn cam I may have not picked up on her clues that she was in labor. She was moving about a little more, but she would go back to her corner and stand still for a long time, the clue - the occasional little glance at her side - no pawing - no rolling - just a little turn of her head for just a second or two. I went into the kitchen to get something to drink - told Tim - Katie might be trying to go into labor-all I got was a muttered I sure as H— Hope so and he was back absorbed in his Friday Night Sci Fi LOL. I settled back in my chair and watched-now she started lifting one front leg out - just straight out - no pawing. I started getting excited she hadn’t done any of these things - and hoped that she wasn’t just stretching. I just felt like this was it. I drug Tim in-told him you come and see what you think-we just sat and stared-I KNEW THIS WAS IT- was excited that he was here this time. She finally laid down - just slow and easy - didn’t roll - just laid down and the occasional look at her side. Tim said well she might be trying but it would be awhile yet - she stretched out flat on her side - no straining - more of a nice stretch-she laid there a minute and got up and there was the bag hanging out! A nice white bag not like last years ugly red bag. Lord you talking about 2 people grabbing clothes and shoes-we flew out to the barn. She nickered a stressful little nicker as I gently slid the door open - and began to circle - and now I could see one little hoof sticking out. We moved quiet and slow - spread straw out in her stall so the new little baby would have a soft dry place. Katie laid down now for just the 2nd time - started really pusing - we could see both legs and the nose - it was in the right position. Whew- such relief - a white bag-foal positioned right - come on Katie Bug push. Tim started helping pull with her contractions - letting her rest when she needed to catch her breath - by now she was hot and sweaty - but still calm - a couple more hard contractions and with Tim pulling - out SHE slid. We backed away and let them lay - Katie was making that beautiful low quiet gentle nicker to her baby-that sound always brings tears to my eyes. Well everything else moved along just text book perfect. The little filly started trying to stand didn’t take too many tumbles and she was finally up - - in about 30 minutes she was nursing - which helped Katie expel the placenta-there now girl. The little foal made her first poop-which is very very important. Tim slipped in after a few minutes and started a little inprinting - rubbed her all over - played with her ears her mouth. All was well - Katie is such a calm mare with her babies - not like Vanilla that is a hormonal wreck for a few days. We dimmed the lights - and said good night - Take care of your sweet little girl Katie. This morning I put them in the small grassy pen so the little filly can get used to her legs and get them nice and strong - it’s amazing how fast they learn to run & play - she loved the feel of the morning sun. All the horses lined up around the fence line to study the new kid on the block - another foaling season comes to an end. -Kathy Venable
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 25, 2006.
Well yesterday was a busy day - Dr. Randy came out and pulled all of the coggins - whew - 17 horses now plus all 4 dogs shots. To accomplish this means bringing all the horses in from all the diff pastures into the barn. All the stall get filled-the work area in the back of the barn and even the outside corral. Whew makes me tired just thinking about it. Everyones blood got pulled without a hitch. Dr. Randy is a big man but he is so quiet and gentle that even the youngest yearling was easy to handle. All the dogs got their shots without a fuss - Taz of course being the smartest remembers him - - and just trying to duck behind my legs - oh no not me!!! When he was getting into his truck I said - ok - see ya tomorrow-but had to remind him that we had an apt to check Vanilla to see if she was ready to AI. So at 10:00 this morning we loaded big ole little Seeker & Vanilla just as easy as pie - and headed for town. I am always so proud of how nice our young colts behave. I just lead him right out of the trailer and right into the building-it’s then I realize how big they have grown in the past 4 weeks - and wonder what will he look like in 4 months - or as a yearling. If he is this nice now - he surely will be nice. Looking forward to showing him. Oh - yeah - Vanilla - well she’s always a good girl too - LOL - and the ultra sound showed that she was ready to breed. Timing is everything when you AI - the size of the egg determines when you are ready. So we ordered semen that will be collected from Perpetual Husker tomorrow morning - arrive at Dr. Randy’s Thursday - and we will insiminate Vallina and hope to start making next years foal. And so the cycle begins again and before you know it we will be eagerly watching the barn cam - waiting and watching her every little move for when she goes into labor. But until then we will enjoy watching Seeker Grow! -Kathy Venable
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 25, 2006.
Just down the road is another farm - Fourche Valley Farms - they have a very nice dun World Champion and some really nice mares. They have an older mare that had a problem last year foaling so this year decided to induce labor as soon as Dr. Randy determined that it would be safe to. I’ve never got to see a mare induced so asked the trainer Ted to give me a call when they were going to start. Now you know how it goes when you put any number of horse people together - we are just going to have a good time. The owner Jimmie Williams, Ted & I sat in the barn just talking about the colts that we have had - they are 4 for 4 studs this year - ugh - were really hoping that this mare would break the pattern. Dr. Randy & his wife Kita drove up - he checked the mare and gave his approval to go ahead and induce labor. It was very interesting to get to watch - he started at 7:00 and said she should foal within an hour, and by 8:00 pm there was a new little stud in the barn - everything went just fine - Mother & Son doing great. It is really nice when you have friends you can share these special moments with - I know I have shared two special moments with Ted - very special - sharing them in the wee hours of the night waking him with a cry for help - - and he has got out of bed and drove to our barn and helped pull 2 foals without hesitation. They have one more mare to foal in a couple more weeks - but for now I know that they are all sleeping good tonight !!! -Kathy Venable
The following message was originally posted to the message board on April 27, 2006.
Well - everything went smooth getting Vanilla & Seeker to the vet. Again absolutely no problem loading them in the trailer and unloading once there. The semen was waiting - all was good - until he did the ultra sound - she had already ovulated - now there is a chance that she could still settle if she hadn’t ovulated to long ago - but most likely she won’t. We have to wait 14 days and if she isn’t well we will just try again. And maybe just maybe she will be pregnant when we check. So I pulled them back home unloaded Vanilla - Seeker jumped easily to the ground took a couple of steps and just laid down! I thought well he is a tired boy - and tapped him with my toe to get up and follow his Mom into the barn. I put them in the stall and he just dropped down and rolled hard got up was kind of sweaty - dropped down and rolled hard some more - - I took them back out of the stall and walked slowly in the hallway - he laid down and kind of moaned and pushed around in the dirt. Well you can believe I was on the phone calling Dr. Randy. He said I could go ahead and give him some Banamine and see how he does. Gave him his shot with no fussing - then we walked slowly a little more and then I put him back in his stall. He seems to be doing ok - - I put him where I could see him on the barn cam and will watch him during the night. Geeze - - he’s only a month old - nursing - have no idea what was wrong. He wasn’t the least bit stressed at the vets - was just checking everything out. Maybe he ate a little too much green spring grass. Hope he doesn’t have any more symptoms !!!! Keep ya’ll posted. -Kathy Venable
Update posted June 6, 2006:
Vanilla Doll pregnancy check!
This morning we had to get up and take Vanilla in for her pregnancy check. This time we put a halter on Seeker so he couldn’t take off on his own and go exploring like his previous adventures and he was just the little man. It was kind of neat because Dr. Randy had 4 second year vet students from OSU visiting for the day. He started the ultra sound saying - now we really want this mare to be pregnant as the owners do not want to breed her again this year it being so late. He started explaining exactly where he was with the ultra sound and as he started moving it I spotted just what I wanted to see - a large round black dot - I clapped my hand and said BINGO - we’re pregnant !!!! Yeah - - so then Dr. Randy says to the students now that we have found success we always check the other side of the horn to make sure there are no twins - BINGO - another round dark dot - - TWINS. So he talks with the students - - this is very common in mares to be pregnant with twins - normally they will absorb one with no assistance. If we were to have found this in the early part of the breeding season you could decided whether to just abort both of these and just start over or to try and pinch one of them off especially since one is in the left part of falobian tube and one in the right. However, when you do this her body flushes all the fluid surrounding that part away and will often cause the mares body to think she is no longer pregnant and cause her to abort the second egg as well. To prevent this from happening you have to give her Banamine for aprx 7 days and some hormones to keep things level where she will not lose the other egg. Since it is so late in the breeding season he felt the safer decision was to let nature corrrect itself on it’s own and just wait 2 weeks and check her again to see if she has absorbed one of them. In fact the egg on the left was slightly less round on top suggesting that perhaps it was already dying off. So in two weeks we will go back and see what is what. -Kathy Venable