Looking out at the colts in the backyard pasture it is startling to see how big Chief is getting.  He almost could pass for Frosty from a distance!  Not as big as Rudy was at this age, I think, but big. If we still have them both next Spring it will be hard to choose one to maybe work with as a longe liner.

We ordered two new shelters for the west paddocks by the new barn and the bee pasture.  We have had more inquiries about boarding than we can handle, so if we convert a couple more turnouts to year-round pastures we could take on a few more *well-behaved* horses.  We built our own shelters the first time around and they are still serviceable, but we just don't have time to do that right now so we are going the commercial route.  When we penciled it all out it was not that much more money for the ready-made, steel-clad ones, and they deliver. Can't beat that!  They should be ready in about three more weeks.

Erika has started working more hours now that the weather is cooling off and fewer sprinkler systems are needed. (That is what she does in the nicer months - her dad owns the business.) Most of those additional hours will be riding our your horses to get them riding really well. Practice makes perfect and they are all pretty young.
Last week Bill went to Verona, Italy for the ApHC at the big Italian Horse Festival. It is huge. Much bigger than any he's seen in the US and it seems as big as Equitana in Germany which is for all of Europe. The big problem was that he had a booth, but no stuff. The ApHC had a little problem with the shipment (to put it nicely) and the materials arrived the day after he left! Luckily he was sharing the booth with the POA National club so the booth is not a total waste. The Italian Appaloosa Club was also there, but in a different booth. He spent a lot of time there also, but since Bill doesn't speak Italian, he couldn't really help much. In Germany many Germans speak English, but at this show very few Italians spoke English at all. One highlight was the Appaloosa Italian president took Bill over to a booth to show him something. Behind the booth was what looked like a bowl. He told Bill in broken English that he was from Parma. Bill didn't understand at first, and then the guy took a small shovel and chucked out a section of the inside of the bowl. It really wasn't a bowl at all, but a round of cheese, parmesan cheese. Get it, from Parma? It suddenly dawned on him that that is where that cheese comes from. It looked like a bowl because the middle had all been dug out. It was not grated as we normally have, but in nice chunks. Bill said it was the best cheese of any kind he had ever, ever had. It tasted like ours, only smoother almost like milk. He could have eaten there all day. The guy was so proud of it, and we don't blame him.

Thanks for watching.
S/B