MARTIN DRAFTS

Beginnings and Endings/ Happy New Year

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Dear Friends,

I want to start off by apologizing for neglecting my posting duties to this site. I got caught up in the "Facebook" socializing and updated our site thru there. But I didn't even keep that up as well as I should! So, one of my New Year's resolutions is to do better about keeping up the information on our sites. As my friends and members, you all have my permission to keep me on track and scold me as needed!! LOL!

Here is my attempt to get back on track. We have had a good bit happen around here since I last posted. We have met several new members and have done qiuet a bit of one on one training. It has been very enjoyable. We have met some really nice people that I hope we can continue to be friends with for a long time. We have also been downsizing some due to some health problems in the family. We still have a few more of the Belgians that need good homes if anyone is interested. But just because we have downsized does not mean we are getting out of the business! We are still training and taking the mules/horses and wagons out when asked. One of our many "parties" that we did this Fall was for a wonderful, fun packed afternoon for a Halloween/ Fall Festival for a family that we have known for a long while. The Matriarch and Patriarch had ALL of their children, (which are living all over the Southeast) in for the party, as well as all of the grandchildren, their friends, and surrounding neighbors to attend. They had a traditional old timey Halloween party! It was so much fun. They had bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving, sack races, and so much more.They have a gorgeous farm with several hundred acres to enjoy riding on. The weather was perfect. We took our newest, biggest team of black mules and pulled the crowd around in the wagon from lunchtime til after supper. It was an afternoon packed with fun, and we were TIRED OUT when we got home. But we enjoy that so much. A lot of the kids were "city" kids and had never seen a mule before. It is such a treat to introduce someone to the animals and teach them something about the older times. I have some really good pictures that I will post.

We have also tried to do a good bit more trail riding when the weather has been nice and we have been up to it physically. (I will try to get the photos of some of these rides on here also) We have a good size group that gets together at different places and just rides for the enjoyment of it. We would love to have others join us if anyone is interested. If you want to be notified of the times and places when and where we go, drop me an email and I will be glad to let you know. Now sometimes, it might be a spur of the moment thing. But no matter when or where, I will let you know by phone, text, or email and you are totally welcome. The more the merrier!!!! We have had some really great times and have seen some beautiful countryside. We have had such good weather this year. It has been not too hot, and not too cold... just right for riding. I know we are just now getting into the colder weather and we may not be able to go as much, but we will continue to go as long as the weather holds and as long as we are able.

A bit of sad news before I sign off. Back before Christmas, we had to put down the very first Belgian mare that we ever owned. She was 29 years old and her body just gave out. She was so full of love even to the very end. Athena had quite a history here and we were extremely sad to see her go. As I said, she was our first Belgian mare; she was the mare that kicked David in the heart and gave our family such a breathtaking testimony, and she brought joy to another family that had lost their first child by sharing a child of her own. That is a story within itself. One that I will share at a later time with you all. R.I.P. Athena and thank you for the many many memories...

As I have kept you forever trying to catch up, I guess it is time for me to sign off. I will do my best to not go this long again. I hope all of you keep all of YOUR New Year's resolutions and I pray that each of you have a safe, healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year!! GOD BLESS!!!!

Merry Christmas

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:10:00 +0000

Sorry that I haven't posted on here in a while. I have been updating facebook and I have let my webpage slide. I will post a new update on here after the Christmas rush is over. Until then, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Martin Drafts

We're Back!!!

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:25:00 +0000

We are back home from living Amish for a week in Ohio! We had a great time with our Amish friends as well as our other friends that we have met in our travels and our family members that went with us.Ohio is such beutiful place. The farms are breathtaking as is the rest of the scenery. The Amish life is so simple and pure. I would not mind living that way everyday. Yes, I am sure there are some things that I would miss, but I think I could handle it. The countryside is so peaceful and serene. It really is a joy to be there. I appreciate the fact that they have welcomed us into their homes and lives. They are truly special to us!

We saw some beautiful animals at the sale. The Mid Ohio Draft and pony sale is held twice a year, Spring and Fall, in Mt. Hope, Ohio. It is one of the bigger sales on the East Coast. They sell from Monday a.m. until Friday p.m. as long as it takes. This year they had over 1000 head of ponies, mules, draft horses, pulling horses, carriages, etc. There were mules, Percherons (some that were over 18 hands tall), Clydesdales, Belgians, Fresians, and every kind of horse and pony that you can imagine. It is truly a site to see. They sell carriges and euipment one day, sell ponies one day, have a pulling contest with the horses one day, and more. This year they even had a pulling contest for the little ponies! There is always something going on that will interest everyone. They even have an ice cream maker that is horse powered. If you ever get a chance to go, it is definitely worth the long drive.

There are still several horse sales and events left on the schedule this year. Check out our calendar for upcoming events here at the farm and otherwise. It is still perfect riding weather, so get out and enjoy it!

Time slipping by....

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Dear Friends, I so apologize for getting so behind in keeping everyone up to date! I have taken on too many projects lately, and I have let this task get behind. I will try to do better in the future!!! I hope everyone is staying cool, wherever you are. We had a heat index of 115 degrees yesterday, and I know the real temperature got over 96 or 97 degrees. It is dangerous! David and Winn were in the hay field this week and they haved had to be super careful not to get overheated! Be sure to know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion vs. heat stroke! On that note, be sure that you are keeping your animals well hydrated and giving them a place to get in out of the sun. They can overheat just like we can, so be sure to keep an eye on them for signs of getting to hot. It is also time to update their worming and vaccinations. This goes for equine and for dogs and cats. Make sure to keep all water fresh, and pour all stagnant water out so that mosquitos will not have a breeding ground. Our animals can get West Nile just like people can! Prevention is the key!!! We have had a lot going on in the past couple of months! We have had the pleasure of meeting several of our members and have made some good friends. I hope that we can meet more of you at some point in time. Maybe we can all start a riding group (when it cools down some) where we can meet at different members homes and go on trailrides together. It would be nice to ride in different areas, ride new trails and meet new people. If anyone is interested in getting this group together, let me know and I will start making some plans and arrangements for this! We also had the pleasure of having a special group of kids visit us from Commerce Elementary Special Education just before school let out for the summer. We so enjoyed having the children, teachers, and parents come and spend the morning with us. They went on wagon rides, played with the baby goats, the baby mules, and the bigger horses. I think they really had a good time... I know we did! I hope they will come back again sometime and visit with us. Maybe next time they can have a picnic down at the lake and go fishing. Let's see.... what else has been going on.... Holly and I went to see the Draft show at Chicopee Woods May 21st. There were some beautiful animals and alot of talent there. I took pictures and videos, but mine didn't come out well. I am going to have to break down and buy another camera, I guess. Holly is supposed to send me what see took along with Hunter in his t-shirt that he won, so as soon as I get them, I will post them here for everyone to enjoy. We also got to enjoy 2 whole weeks with our grandson, Dylan! That was a rare treat. He usually has to go home after just a weekeknd or a couple of days, so I was really tickled that he got to stay as long as he did. I was hoping he would get to come back again before school starts back, but that is brginning to look doubtful. I am going to have to have minor surgery the first week of August and I really wanted to get Dylan and Kaitlyn both for a few days before then.... I am going to pray that it happens! I am so proud of my friends Tony and Jenny Murphy! They are doing so well with their life right now. God is truly blessing them in many ways. Just please keep them in your prayers. If you haven't already, please check out their website: www.adrian'swall.org . They ssuffered with the loss of their 2 year old son to a drowning accident and in his honor, the mission team from their church is building a wall behind an orphanage in S. America between a river and an orphanage to keep other kids from drowning. They are selling TShirts, hats, laser paper weights, and taking donations. Pray that Jenny and Tony will be able to get time off of work and raise the money for the wall and for them to be able to attend the dedication. I keep telling her that we have to pray it into being. So please keep them in your prasyers. I also have the t-shirts and hats and stuff if you want to place an order with me and I will make sure that they get the money. Even a donation would help, no matter how big or small. Every penny adds up!!! We are getting more and more members every day for which I am truly thankful! Please continue to tell others about us, if you will. Remember that when you sign up to be a member, you have to fully complete your profile or you will not have full access to the site. We want everyone to be able to get all the information posted and be able to post your own info and pictures on here. Check out other members' profiles and request friends. You might find someone near you or someone that you might have something in common with that you might want to keep in touch with!!! I have kept you long enough for now. I will do my best to keep you updated more frequently and not get so far behind. Remember to stay cool and hydrated and take care! Be sure and get back with me about a riding "club". Give me your thoughts about this. I look forward to hearing from everyone! Until we speak again, keep riding and be safe! Clara and David

THE GIFT OF LIFE

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:33:00 +0000

This is a hard month for me. We have had many blessings this year with the birth of our new colts and meeting new friends, but we have suffered some loss, also. This past Sunday, we had a beautiful 3 yr old maiden mare that went into labor. We could tell she was stressed, so thinking she was having a breech birth, we called the vet. After 4 hours of me, David, Winn, Hunter and the vet working as hard as we could, we lost both mother and baby. Then Monday morning, David went to the barn about 5 a.m. and found one of the Percherons that we had been watching closely, had lain down in the stall right against the wall and could not deliver her baby before it died of stress.So this has been very hard on us. It is so hard to loose an animal, no matter how old or young they are. I pray the rest of the birthing season goes off without any more problems.

On a happier note, we got to spend a wonderful day with 2 of our members from down in South Ga! We were treated doubly when our oldest son and wife and our grandbabies got to come and visit for a while, too! We all went out to eat and had a great time of fellowship.When we got back home and to the barn, we played with the animals and Karen and Cleve ended up taking one of our mules home with them! They took Miss Lucille to go with them on trail rides and they have decided to keep her. Seems they went on a trail ride for about 4 days last week with Lucy and Karen's mule, Molly, and they had a wonderful time! I am so glad that they are enjoying her and having such fun. We have had to warn Karen about the treats, though! :) (you hear me,Karen? Even the graham crackers! HAHA :-p ) Karen and Cleve are wonderful people and I hope that our friendship lasts a long time.

I hope you take the time to check out our photos and videos sometime. I am posting some of the funny ones that we took while we were in Ohio with our friends and they had their Amish Charm days. They had obstacle courses, and shovel rides , and all kinds of fun. They had David play "Hooie" the clown and it was quite funny. Then I will also post Hunter (another good friend tht we have just met recently along with his wife Holly) playing with Agustus. He has been riding him a good bit while training and they have both made such progress! Poor Holly tore her ACL while mounting up a couple of weeks ago so she has been out of commission in the riding department. But that hasn't kept us from having a really good time hanging out together! I can't wait til she can ride again, and I know she feels the same way!

This being the month that we celebrate Easter, we celebrate the death and life of Jesus Christ. This is the most precious gift that we have ever been given; the fact that Jesus died for us so that we would not suffer in Hell for eternity. BUT, You have to accept Him as your savior. It is not just about the good works that we do on Earth. That is great , of course, and you will be rewarded for those good works, but only if you have confessed your sins and become a Christian. If you do not know how to become a Christian, Call me or a pastor in your area,and we will be glad to help. If so, I will find someone that can direct you in the ways of being saved. It is our gift from God....Don't refuse it. It will be the very best gift that you will ever receive. I Promise. Find a good Church and find out all about Him. He will bring you joy when nothing else can.

Don't forget to check out our calendar for some really good upcoming events and auctions! I am sure that you will find something that will be of interest and fun for you and your family! I would love to meet some more of our members and that is a good place to meet if we cannot get together otherwise! If you would like to, of course, you are always welcome to come and visit us here at the farm! We would love to have you! I hope you all have a wonderful Spring, enjoy the beautiful weather, and ride when you can! Until we talk again!

Clara P.S. I cannot load the funny videos for some reason. If anyone would be interested in seeing them, I will be glad to send them to your email. Also, We had a winner for the contest for a "design a shirt" contest! Hunter Whitlock was the winner and we will have his picture posted on here next week modeling his new shirt! THese will be available for purchcase, as well as hats, denim shirts, and other items. I will post a price list along with pictures of the items within the next week or so. Congratulations Hunter!!!!!

NEW ARRIVAL!!!!

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:12:00 +0000

We want to share our joy in welcoming a new member to our horse family! This morning about 4 a.m., our Belgian mare Athena gave birth to her first baby. Athena is the very first Belgian that we aquired and she is the one that kicked David in the heart. We have been trying for 5 years to get a baby from her. We were beginning to give up and had already talked about just putting her out to pasture when she checked positive this time! This cute little guy is a strong one and is running laps around his mother as we speak! I have the "miracle of birth" on video for anyone who would like to see it. I am not going to post it due to some people being squeamish about such stuff. But I will be glad to send it to anyone that requests it! I WILL post his picture on here in a little bit. We still have several more that are due, so I will keep you posted about our maternity ward.

I enjoy writing these newsletters - and sharing all this stuff with you all. But the fact is, it's also a way to help us stay connected with "customers". So I really, really like it when someone new stumbles upon the newsletter and is excited to "discover" our website and the services we offer. I try not to send more than one a month unless there is exciting news or something I think you might be interested in. I DO want to ask you all if you are intersted in starting a "discussion" page. A question and answer type forum for those who are new to the horse owning business or even for us "old-timers" that have had horses "forever. There may be problems we are having that others might have solutions to..... What do you all think? Anybody interested?

In all my efforts to make the newsletter interesting and forward-worthy - it never occurred to me to JUST ASK you all to share it! Duh. Sometimes the obvious is elusive, I guess. So here goes - my request to ask you to forward our email newsletter to your horsey friends. All we ask is that you please be judicious and only send to folks who might be interested. Otherwise we are no better than the millions of "jokes" and stuff that we forward because we think we are supposed to. Click the Share email link to get started, and if they like us, maybe they will join our little group. (please note - using this form does NOT subscribe anyone to our list - it is a one-time only forward).

By the way, if you haven't already, check out our claendar for some of the upcoming events that might be of interest to you. There are some really good shows and auctions if anyone is interested! Maybe we will see you there! Once again, I thank you for taking the time to "visit" with me. Happy riding!!!!

New Beginnings

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:19:00 +0000

Here it is already March! Can you believe it? Time is passing by so fast. I know my grandparents always said that the older you get, the faster time goes, and I see that now. It will be Christmas again before we turn around! Isn't the weather getting to be so pretty though? Spring is definitely in the air. The flowers and trees are beginning to bloom and there is new birth all around us. We have been having baby goats born for the last week and we have quite a few down at the barn.I think we have about 30 so far. We also had our first colt of the season born. A beautiful champagne colored belgian filly. But where there is birth on a farm, there also comes death. We lost her about 3 days after she got here. She was so weak from the time she was born; we don't know what the problem was. We have also lost 2 or 3 baby goats. We have had mama goats having 3 and 4 kids at a time this year and it is hard sometimes for the mamas to feed that many. So nature takes care of its own. If you have animals, sooner or later, you will loose some. It is the way life is, I know, but it does not make it any easier. We have 15 more mares that are due to have babies between now and May, the way I have it figured. I pray that they all born healthy and strong. We just have to wait and see.

As for other new beginnings, we have had several of our horse family to go to new homes! Banjo, Scarlett, Shadow, and Ginger,have found other families to love them and take care of them. We will miss them, but we know they will be well taken care of. David has been giving driving lessons to a lady that has mini horses. Tosha shows the mini horses and wanted to learn to drive them as a team. She has done really well. It won't be long till show season, and I am looking forward to seeing her perform with them. We have also had a couple that has now been introduced to riding mules. Hunter and Holly may be converts!!! They were very surprised with the difference in how a mule rides verses how a horse rides. Bless her heart, though, Holly started up on one of the mules the other night and tore her ACL in her knee. So I am afraid she will be out of the saddle for a little while. We wish her fast healing!!!!

We have a wedding coming up in a couple of weeks that we are looking forward to. It is always a blessing to us to have a part no matter how big or small in starting a couple on their new journey together in this world. I pray that they have many happy years together. With their permission, I will take photos and post them here.

We continue to have new members for which we are thankful!!! WELCOME to all of you! Please continue to tell others about us. Word of mouth is the best advertising! If you do tell someone about us and they decide to join, please tell them to email me and mention your name. We shall see what we can do about giving you something in return for your kindness. By the way, check out the Cafepress Shop. We have t-shirts, mugs and other things for sale there. I need some suggestions for designs. I only have the one design on there now, but I would love to have some input from you all to see what we can come up with. Tell you what, let's make it a contest and whoever has the winning design will get the product of their choosing from CafePress (our site,of course).

I have kept you all long enough. I hope that you can enjoy the weather and get as much riding in as possible. This is my favorite time of year. I love to get out and see all of God's glorious gifts to us. I love the smell of the spring rains and the bright green of the trees and the flowers pushing their way up towards the sun. Like I said before, time is flying by so take every opportunity to enjoy the beauty around you. Until we meet again......:)

A NEW YEAR! 2011

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 20:26:00 +0000

WOW! The NEW YEAR of 2011 has been here almost an entire month I am already behind! So Happy Belated New Year!!!
This year has already started off with us busy ,busy ,busy. I guess that is a good thing. I would hate to be sitting here with nothing to do! We are getting ready for foaling season and have started bringing the mares in every night to get them on there feeding schedule and to be able to keep a close check on them. Good Lord willing, we should have 16 Draft mares to foal between now and March. That is not counting the quarter horses and all. We should have mule babies, Belgian babies And Percheron babies this time! I am really excited to have the draft babies born this year. If you remember, we had one "surprise" belgian born this year and she is a dream! I cannot believe her temperment and how much she wants to please.
We have had several "consultation" requests that are very exciting and I pray that they work out. They will be very good for our farm if they do. I'll not say more so that I do not jinx anything! We have also aquired some new members to our equine family! We have Agustus, a red mule and Jonsey, a red Mammoth jack! I have pictures of "Gus" but I haven't gotten around to getting pictures of Jonsey, yet. We are also thinking of downsizing some of our quarter horses. If you know of anyone interested in any kind of quarter horse, from yearling to grown horse, to stud horse, let me know and we will see what we can work out!
I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but I have added a link where you can buy Martin Draft t-shirts, mugs, and stuff. I only have one design on there now, but I plan to add more as I can. If anyone has any ideas, I am always receptive!!! I always love feedback and others opinions and ideas! Ya'll are smarter than I am and have better ideas than I do alot of the time! I appreciate every response that I get, whether it is naming a horse, proofreading my pages to keep me straight, design ideas, or just to talk and tell me what is going on in your life!! Does anyone like the articles I have been posting? Is there something in particular you would like more info on? Does anyone even read them or are they a waste of time?I don't want to have things on here that are not of any interest to you..... What do you like most about this site? What do you like the least? Or do I bore you to death and it is just another piece of junkmail in your mailbox? If that is so, you can unsubscribe at anytime and it will not hurt my feelings in the least!That will help give me a feel for what should be published.
I want to remind each of you that under your member page, you have your own place for blogs, upcoming events, and other stuff! You have to complete your registration, and have your own password and then you can tell all of us what is happening at your place! I am not sure if you can post it on the main calendar or not, but I wish someone would try and let me know. That would be wonderful feature of this site!
It is time to go feed up, so I'll let you get back to your chores! Happy Trails til next time!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:02:00 +0000

Just want to go ahead and wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!! I pray that everyone stays safe and that everyone's dreams and wishes all come true!!! Just remember the true meaning of Christmas and that without our blessed saviour, we would be nothing. So,Happy Birthday Dear Jesus!!!!

We have had several new members join lately and we are very pleased to have you!. If you haven't already, please taake a moment to fill out the "about me " page, so that we can all get to know you. Post pictures of your family members and pets, too if you would like! We always lke to see new pics!

If anyone is going to any shows or contests in which you dress up your horse or yourself, send those pics too! It gives us all a good lugh, which we all need!!!! I KNOW i have been slow and let a few areas get behind lately, but I plan to catch those up as quickly as I can. I know you will enjoy the funnies section that I have planned and also the "Bad Horse" section that is coming. If you have anything that you are interested in seeing here, or learning more about, please let me know. I would rather post items of interest for learning than to have something here that you really don't care to see. ALL ideas and input and criticisms or praise is accepted equally with a smile on my face. I want you to be truthful with me about everything!!

Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!

LOVE FROM David and Clara and the rest of the group at MARTINDRAFTS!

Rainy Day Blues of December

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 01:47:00 +0000

It has been a while since we last spoke and for that i apologize. I have locked myself out of my computer and I need a computer hacker to get me back into it! I am having to borrow my son's computer to write this until I csn get mine up and running. Also, i took a fall last week that would rival the most awesome slip and slide ride ever was. I slipped on a puddle of water in the kitchen and went sliding thru the kitchen floor on my side and almost broke my hip. They actually thought I might have broke my hip or pelvis for a while. So I have spent most of last week in and out of the hospital and doctor's offices getting xrays made to make sure that I have no broken bones.

As for horsie news, David, Scott and another horse rider went to Statesville on Thanksgiving and spent the weekend, while my son and I went to Jockeylot in Anderson,S.C. They saw alot of horses and carriages and a LOT of people there and they had a good time. It has been so cold and rainey here that we haven't been able to ride or anything, just do chores, but that is the way it is part of the year. The babies are due to start to being born right after Christmas, so next time we talk, we may have new additions!!!

Until then, have a safe, blessed,happy and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

check out cindy's newsletter for some cold weather tips for your mule and this wonderful little receipe for yummies!

http://www.everycowgirlsdream.com

Wonderful Yumyums For Your Mule

1cup flour

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1cup sugar

Grate/chop your choice of apple, oats, carrots, peppermints.

Preheat oven for 350 degrees F. First, mix sugar, flour, and crushed/grated goods. Then add liquid goods. Stir until well blended. The mix should be sticky, but not too runny. If it is too runny, add flour, if it is to thick, add a little more molasses and oil. Cook for 10-15 min. Apply more time if it's necessary. they should be crunchy when you are done, let cool in fridge