Our herd has grown to 17 horses with the addition of Charlie, a fourteen year old Appaloosa gelding. Charlie is having a great time getting to know all his new pasture buddies and learning the herd’s daily routine. We thought we might have to keep Charlie separate for awhile so we could slowly introduce him to the herd, but he ran up to the fence and met everyone without any of the typical biting or kicking, so we let him in the pasture and he has fit right in.

Charlie is a red roan, meaning he has red hair flecked in to a mostly cream colored coat. His mane and tail are a strawberry blonde color. Yesterday he came up to the fence and I hardly recognized him – he had rolled in the mud, then let it dry, and it was caked on him – he was completely brown! We had to hose him off to be sure it really was Charlie underneath!

To meet Charlie and all his friends, come on out to Seventy-four Ranch.

Our annual July 4^th picnic at the Seventy-four Ranch was a wonderful time for our whole ranch family to get together and enjoy each other and the animals and the great outdoors.

The festive mood started with the flags lining the driveway and draping the front porches of the house. Just look at the picnic table loaded with everyone’s favorite dish.

My favorite was the beef, peppers and onions slow roasted over an open fire by Menny – the savory smell had everyone standing in line as soon he rang the dinner bell!

The kids rode horses, and even the youngest wranglers got in on the ranch activities. I think we have a budding cowboy learning to rope cattle before he even starts kindergarten.

All the dogs joined in the fun, and Annabelle, our 4 month old calf, drank four big bottles of formula. Our fireworks were spectacular – Larry made a special trip to South Carolina to stock up so that everyone would remember this July 4^th for an entire year.

We sure hope everyone had as nice a July 4^th as we did.