We Are Just Beginning! | Looking Back at 2025

What this episode is about

The content reflects on the significant events of 2025, highlighting a monthly recap that reveals a mix of personal milestones and memorable experiences, such as the arrival of new foals and the companionship formed between the miniature horse Gretchen and Seven. The creator shares insights and visuals from their journey, emphasizing the importance of community and growth throughout the year.

Key takeaways

• 2025: Year of the foals - more twists than a soap opera, yet cuter than a kitten meme.
• Tennessee's snow might be rare, but our mini cows in pink blankets are pure Instagram gold.
• Birthdays and bonding: Who knew foals could bring such drama? Huckleberry's mishap stole February's show.
• Amidst foing frenzy, there's always time for a cow makeover—proof that beauty knows no species.
• From selfies to snowballs, every month brings a new chapter in life’s adorable saga. Bring on 2026!

Who speaks in this episode?

• Katie Van Slyke (Host) · 29 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Huckleberry, Dallas, Gretchen, VS Code Red
2. 5:00 – 10:00: VS Code Red, Dallas, First Things First, Gretchen
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Avenue I Denver, Buttercup, World Equestrian Center
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Avenue I Denver, High Point Performance Horses
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Avenue I Denver, Huckleberry
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Avenue I Denver, Buttercup, First Things First, High Point Performance Horses

Notable quotes from "We Are Just Beginning! | Looking Back at 2025"

• The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, needed a friend. And so, we ended up sending Gretchen, one of our miniature horses to be a little bit of a companion for him. And so we got to watch them form a bond. Now, we were getting all these.

  about Gretchen · at 1:32

• But then on the 20th, Mr. Huckleberry, our next fo, was born to Annie. Annie is a mayor that we bred here at Running Springs. And so it's always such a cool full circle moment when those mayors.

  about Huckleberry · at 3:42

• Nashville. I had some meet and greets. We went to a concert. I went and saw Zack Top at the Ryman. just, some fun things sprinkled in through foing season just to get us out of…

  about Zack Top · at 4:58

• Things work. And we had the most precious Philly to end our 2025 foing season, which is Millie Happy, who was a resip and gave birth to Millie. Millie, again, a very…

  about Millie Happy · at 8:43

• Texas. We went and visited my stallion, First Things First, and VS Code Red at High Point Performance Horses. And while we were in Texas, again, we just needed to get out of…

  about High Point Performance Horses · at 9:30

• Trip. We went to WCK, which is the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida. We went to a horse show. Denver wasn't able to show at the horse show, but we still made the best of it. We made some educational videos while we were there.

  about Avenue I Denver · at 10:51

• Was born, ended up getting him and her settled and healthy just to be followed by quadruplets. Buttercup outd did herself. she had triplets the year prior and then quadruplets this year.

  about Buttercup · at 14:51

• Home, bottle feed him for a couple of days. We had some incredible cold weather. Moonpie was having some trouble with her milk supply. The baby was what we call a dummy calf.…

  about Moonpie · at 28:52

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Avenue I Denver — Person · 7 mentions · first at 10:56
• Huckleberry — Person · 4 mentions · first at 3:42
• Seven — Person · 3 mentions
• Gretchen — Person · 2 mentions · first at 1:35
• Dallas — Person · 2 mentions · first at 4:01
  Grandchildren. And so she had Huckleberry. and just a few days later, we had Dallas. So, Dallas was a very anticipated FO for me. he's VS Code Red, but then I bought an embryo from a really amazing man named Goody Gumdrops, and she.
• Buttercup — Person · 2 mentions · first at 14:55
• Zack Top — Person · 1 mention · first at 5:03
• Millie Happy — Person · 1 mention · first at 8:48
• Moonpie — Person · 1 mention · first at 28:55
• Emmit — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• High Point Performance Horses — Company · 3 mentions · first at 9:34

Products & tech

• VS Code Red — Product · 4 mentions · first at 4:07
  Later, we had Dallas. So, Dallas was a very anticipated FO for me. he's VS Code Red, but then I bought an embryo from a really amazing man named Goody Gumdrops, and she ended…
• First Things First — Product · 2 mentions · first at 9:32
  Could. So, we took a trip in April to Texas. We went and visited my stallion, First Things First, and VS Code Red at High Point Performance Horses. And while we were in Texas…

Places & events

• World Equestrian Center — Place · 1 mention · first at 10:51
  The weather was warming up. And then to end April, we actually took another trip. We went to WCK, which is the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida. We went to a horse…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 I can't believe this is the third time we are doing a yearly recap here on YouTube. It's kind of insane the amount of things that have happened, the time that has passed, and I can't wait to kind of go through 2025 with y'all. So, that's what we're going to do. We're going to go month by month. I'm going to kind of give you the highlights. Obviously, we can't touch on everything. And honestly, I'm going to have to go through my camera roll for quite a bit of it to kind of keep in chronological order. But as we chat, we're just going to throw up some some videos and pictures from those time periods and just kind of relive 2025. It was a big year. It was a great year. So, let's start with January.

0:43 January is always a huge year for us during fing season. and it kicks that off. Usually, uh, for us in 2025, foing season had already been kicked off right after Christmas. So, we already had a F on the ground, which was Noel. So, we spent the first couple of weeks just taking pictures of her, videos, just kind of keeping track of her and Kennedy was kind of giving us a hard time. So, we spent quite a long time on full watch for Kennedy. I think we all stayed the night for 10 full days until Kirby was born. So, Kirby was born in the middle of January.

1:17 She was, I guess, technically our first FO of 2025 and then we had a little bit of a break in between her and the second two, well, full number three and four of the actual season. So, after Kirby was born, Seven, who was still at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, needed a friend. And so, we ended up sending Gretchen, uh, one of our miniature horses to be a little bit of a companion for him. And so we got to watch them form a bond. Now, we were getting all these videos from the University of Tennessee. So you'll see some of those on the screen. They had a really cute little friendship. She offered him companionship and kind of taught him how to be a little bit of a horse. And so they started their relationship. Now in mid January, we also had a little bit of fun with snow. We don't get a whole lot of snow in Tennessee. And so when we do have a snowstorm and we get a pretty white blanket on the ground, we

2:09 like to take advantage of it. So, we took photos and videos. Uh, got some of my favorite pictures ever of Noel and Erlene out in the snow in her little pink blanket. It was so magical. We had Pearl, Peanut, and Pepper out in the snow as well, the mini cows. They joined us in 2024, but we saw a lot of their baby stages in 2025. So, in between Kirby and the next two FOs being born, we had just so much fun watching those babies out in the snow. It was very cute. And then to top it all off, we had the birth of Ted and Ruby, just days apart. I mean, they looked identical. Uh, Ginger gave birth to Ted.

2:49 And then Ethel, who was a recent mayor, gave birth to Ginger's full little sister, Ruby, who was the spitting image of her. So, that capped off our January. It was action-packed, four foss. Um, it was a very fun month, but it kicked off the year in a good way. The first couple weeks of February were very much filled with the babies going out because we already had four FO in January. And so we had a little bit of a break in between Ted and Ruby's birth and the next one. And so they were all going out in the pasture together. We were doing photo shoots. We were trying to integrate them all together and have them live in harmony. And so a lot of, you know, sitting out in the field, taking photos, watching them run around with their moms. That was probably my favorite part of February.

3:42 But then on the 20th, Mr. Huckleberry, our next fo, was born to Annie. Annie is a mayor that we bred here at Running Springs. And so it's always such a cool full circle moment when those mayors have babies. Uh they're like my grandchildren. And so she had Huckleberry. Uh, and just a few days later, we had Dallas. So, Dallas was a very anticipated FO for me. Uh, he's VS Code Red, but then I bought an embryo from a really really amazing man named Goody Goody Gumdrops, and she ended up passing away. And so, I believe he was one of her last babies ever. And so, we we kind of had those two births at the tail end of February. And that all would have been amazing, fine, dandy, you know, six babies on the ground by the end of February, except for the fact that Annie decided to be a little clumsy. And in the dark of her stall, she did step on Huckleberry and caused quite the wound. And so they ended up having to go stay a full week

4:40 in the hospital. And then um in the future, they were on stall rest for quite a bit. And so there was a the the littlest bit of drama in February which was Annie, you know, stepping on Huckleberry. But everything else in February was, you know, we went to NWTF, which is a local convention here in Nashville. Um I had some meet and greets. We went to a concert. I went and saw Zack Top at the Ryman. Uh just, you know, some fun things sprinkled in through foing season just to get us out of the house a little bit. We also had to have a little bit of fun in the barn that didn't involve horses. This was when Pearl, Pepper, and Peanut were still living in the barn. We were still bottle feeding, and we decided to give them a little bit of a makeover. We got the air uh the Dyson air wrap out. We curled their hair. We gave them full baths. It was very fun, very cute. So, in the midst of all the foing craze and

5:35 sleepless nights, we still found time to have fun. Okay, March, a lot happened. So, I've got my phone out here and I'm going to piece it together. I'm going to go week by week. The first week really was just babies going outside. I think that was when Annie and Huckleberry after his stall rest were able to finally go outside a little bit. Um, we had six FO at this point and so we were just, like I said, caring for them and turning them outside and making sure all of that meshed well. Um, a couple of the FO like Dallas, he needed some um, time in his stall because he had some lax tendons, things like that. But the rest of the month was a little bit crazy. I was visiting my young horse wheezy at training and riding her. We had another full birth which was Knox. So Gracie carried a full sibling to Ruby that year, which was also a full sibling to Ginger, one of the mamas. It was for Beyonce and VS

6:35 Code Red. Gracie was the only mayor to f in that entire month. So she had knocks in the middle. Breeding season was happening. So because horses have such a long gestation, it's like 11 months. You have to be breeding at the same time that you're folding. So March is a very heavy breeding season for us. And so we were in full chaos trying to put embryos into mare mayor's trying to rebreed some that had already fold. It was not going well. I'll just say that. But it was crazy busy. Um, we also added a new member to the family which is Opel.

7:08 So Opel hopefully will be used as a resip this year. She was purchased last year and we just ended up not needing her as a reset mayor and so she just spent the year getting even more healthy and we're hopefully going to be using her to carry a fo for someone this coming year. But she joined the family. We went to go visit seven at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and bring him home. And so we had a full day there of, you know, talking with the vets, seeing all the people that loved him and bringing him and Gretchen home.

7:38 And so, uh, we set up the mini barn. We had his big stall ready. We had a little pasture ready for him. And so it was really really a cool moment to to bring him home and get to spend a lot of time with him. And just as some new horses come to the farm and, you know, Seven and Gretchen coming back to the farm, we also had some leaving. And so we had had FO in 2024 that were mini. So Pico the miniature donkey and George the miniature horse. And they each had different homes to go to at weaning. And so they were weaned at the end of 2024.

8:10 And then by March of 2025 they both went to the respective homes. So Pico stayed here in Tennessee and George went to a show home in Canada. April finishes up foing season and we are gung-ho on breeding season. Again, you've got to have your mayor's bred within that same time frame to have a foing season the next year. And so, when things aren't cooperating, it gets a little bit stressful. So, we were in the throws of breeding season trying to make things work. And we had the most precious Philly to end our 2025 foing season, which is Millie Happy, who was a resip and gave birth to Millie. Millie, again, a very anticipated baby. She's by VS Code Red and out of the mayor, Marilyn Monroe, who I purchased an embryo from. And so, she ended out our our foing season and she needed a little help. She needed her uh she was so big and then she was so uh tight in that womb that her legs needed a little bit of stretching and

9:12 spinting. They're straight as an arrow now, but at first that was a lot of time and effort because we were so cooped up in foing season. Once that last baby of 2025 was born, we were out of here. We got out of town as soon as we possibly could. So, we took a trip in April to Texas. We went and visited my stallion, First Things First, and VS Code Red at High Point Performance Horses. And while we were in Texas, again, we just needed to get out of the state. We needed to leave. We had been sleepd deprived. We had been waiting on all these babies. We were lucky enough to get some lessons on raining horses and roping horses. So, we had these full videos, which was amazing, of like first time getting on this rainer and learning how to spin and slide. And um Casey Oorc, who is a fantastic trainer, gave raining lessons to us. And then Bryce Briggs gave us some like an incredible day of roping where we actually got to try to rope

10:10 live cattle. I mean, normally they don't let you do that for a long long time when you start roping. And so we got the crash course. It was a heck of a time. It was so fun. Um so that got us out of the house a bit. Now, I don't share much of my hunting journey anymore on social media, but that is still a part of my life. And so, April brings turkey season. So, we had quite the turkey hunt. Uh I don't even know if we posted it on here, but we have some of the best turkey footage ever. Uh it it was such an amazing hunt with uh my husband Jonathan, and it was just a great time to not be sleepd deprived, be outdoors.

10:46 Um the weather was warming up. And then to end April, we actually took another trip. We went to WCK, which is the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida. We went to a horse show. Denver wasn't able to show at the horse show, but we still made the best of it. We made some educational videos while we were there. We visited Chandler Marks and his miniature farm, which is where I've gotten all of my mini mayes. Uh, we got to meet some mini babies while we were there. And we met Coco for the first time. So, this was prior to Coco even joining the farm. She was still at his farm because she was being bred before she came to me. And so we got to meet Coco for the first time. It was amazing weather. It was still kind of cold in Tennessee, so it was great to go to Florida for a full week. We went to Universal, all those fun things. It was definitely needed after months of being on full watch. Oh, yeah. And we can't

11:36 leave out the fact that April is like peak babies playing in the field. I mean, romping and bucking and running and friendships and they're getting old enough to kind of play together instead of just being stuck to their mama's hip. So, the photos and the videos of the babies were just incredible. That is the time of year where it's actually nice to be sitting outside and it's not too hot. And so, a lot of our time when we were home, which wasn't a whole lot, was just enjoying the babies that we had worked so hard to bring into the world.

12:11 Now, May was kicked off with Coco actually coming home. So, we had met her for the first time in Ocala in April and then she got on a trailer and headed home. And so, that's what we kicked May off with was Coco joining the mini farm. Speaking of the mini farm, we did a photo shoot. So, we did the mini cows, we did the goats, we did the miniature horses, the miniature donkeys. They all needed updated head shots and beauty shots and all the things because it was green out. It was beautiful weather. And so, we got some beautiful photos of them. Now, at this point, seven had been on the farm for close to two months. And so we h ended up having uh the vets from the University of Tennessee Knoxville come out to do kind of a checkup on Seven. We did a full video on that just to see how he was handling being away from the university um to see how he, you know, was maintaining, if he needed any maintenance work, things like

12:59 that. And so they came out uh checked on him. A lot of that time period with seven was just allowing him to be a horse. So his daily routine was going out to the pasture, eating grass, taking naps in the sun, all those things that we wanted so badly for him. And so May gave him a lot of that. Because it was no longer foing season and it was not yet kidding season, we took advantage of that. And so we did a lot of fun things on the weekends like we went to the Renaissance Festival, we went to the lakehouse and and went and swam and you know, things like that. I spent a lot of time riding. So I even rode Kennedy with Kirby running around in the arena with us while I rode her mom, you know, things like that. So a lot of time was just spent riding horses, being outside, watching the babies grow up. Then we ended it by having another trip. We actually went not far, just to Kentucky to a horse

13:49 show. We went to the Kentucky horse park. We went to Keeland. We watched the horse show. I got to ride Denver a bunch. We made some videos with my trainer, Aaron Moses, that were pretty educational that I find to be super helpful for those that don't necessarily understand the type of writing that I do. Uh, so that's how we ended May. It was full of horses, sunshine, and good times, honestly. Now, June, while bowling season might have been done, that doesn't mean we were done with baby animals and sleepless nights and hecticness and all the things. So, June was my birthday.

14:28 So, I turned 29 years old on June 6th. We had our big party, our big crawfish boil, all the things. Well, two days before my birthday, uh, Blossom decided to have her babies and it was quite dramatic and one ended up not making it. And so we ended up having Sprout, which is Blossom's first baby, kicked off kidding season in a dramatic way. And so Sprout was born, ended up getting him and her settled and healthy just to be followed by quadruplets. Um, Buttercup outd did herself. Uh, she had triplets the year prior and then quadruplets this year.

15:04 And thankfully it was such a blessing. She took care of all of them. She had no complications. They were all healthy. Um and so those babies were born. And so we had Sprout and then Bloom, Brier, Basil. We called them Basil and Bean. Bean and Basil. Anyway, so many baby names. Then I decided, you know what? We're going to go on this trip that we had planned for a year. uh even though Bella still hadn't had her baby. So we went on our honeymoon that we had been waiting for five years to take. We went to St. Lucia and while I was in St.

15:42 Lucia, Bella had her baby. So Bella had Emit. Uh just one singleton, one big old baby. And everything went well. It was great. Kidding season was over. It threw us for some loops. But within that month when I got home, we welcomed Ricky, a new mayor, to our program. uh she was super super exciting to find out about and to have the opportunity to purchase. She is pregnant for this coming folding season. And then we also got to interact and watch some of the FO from previous foing seasons go to horse shows. So, we went to a local horse show and not only did I get to ride wheezy, who I still own, but we also got to, you know, see Petey and Finn and other FO that now have new owners uh from past years being ridden and and seeing them grow up. So, that was also fun.

16:36 To start July off, I do think we need to show some photos from the full photo shoots and kid photo shoots that we had. They were so unbelievably amazing with the green grass and the sun and just like that summer energy. So photo shoots were happening of the FO. We're just watching them be friends, frolic, uh, grow up with their mamas. There's nothing stressful happening with them. It was all great. Again, the first part of that month was just basking in the joy of those babies that we worked so hard to bring into the world. So with the kids, we were just hanging out with them, playing with them. A couple of them I did try to supplement with bottles, but didn't honestly need the help. Uh we would go out and just watch the foss be. Uh we did end up actually welcoming a new baby in July, which was Jack. Uh we tried our best to balance our farm and then like travel life. And we went to the lake and

17:33 Lindsay, who had been working here for all of five minutes, ended up being the one to be here when Janice had Jack. And it was it was a surprise, but luckily all was well and we came right home and Jack entered the world and joined our family. And if July wasn't crazy enough, we took a trip to Canada and we went fishing for a full week. Uh I didn't really catch a whole lot, but it was a good time to have some family time with my, you know, pap and my mom and my dad and Jonathan. And we went fishing and, you know, just had some remote time away from everything. We took another trip to High Point Performance Horses in Texas.

18:10 So, we went and rode Denver. We went and played with all the exotics, you know, the capy bars, the tapers, the giraffes, all of that good stuff. So, we spent some a few days there um just trying to assess if I was going to show Denver or not or if we were going to kind of hold off. Um we wanted to make sure that his NSBA World Congress and World Show was successful. So, we were just trying to come up with a game plan. And so, we made that one last trip in July. And to top July off, because we weren't just having a hard time with regular horse breeding season, we were also having a tough time with the mini horse breeding season. And so, we ended up having a male suitor come for Regina. His name was Maddox.

18:51 He came and stayed for a month. Turns out he didn't need a month. He only needed two days, but we got the pleasure of his company for a full month. So he joined the farm for that, you know, little period of time and we got to meet him at the tail end of July. The first half of August was spent riding horses a lot, being just kind of in the midst of summer, right? We were trying to be outside all day. We were trying to enjoy the warm weather and the animals to their fullest. So all the baby goats were still, you know, with their mamas and running around and being the cutest thing ever. All the FO hadn't been weaned yet. Um, but you know, there was also this this point where we were trying to enjoy seven to the fullest. We were trying to again allow him to be a horse and to enjoy that sunshine and the grass and being out in his pasture and having, you know, his little mini friends. And we did that

19:48 until it was time. There was a mixture of reasons why, but one day seven was collicky. He laid down, was rolling, seemed like his belly hurt, just wasn't himself. He had been very perky the day before. And we had known that something like this was going to happen. And we knew it was going to happen sooner than later. And we all made the decision, uh, us as a family and then with our vet team as well, that that was just the time we we had made a plan to allow him to have the best life he possibly could. And as soon as it wasn't fun for him, we weren't going to make him suffer. And so um seven was laid to rest in August and that was kind of just like a low point of the year and we had a lot of feelings and emotions of around that. Um a lot of conflicting emotions and it was a little bit of whiplash having to go from that to like I think it was only a couple days later that we were leaving for the

20:46 NSBA world in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And that was such a set in stone event that we couldn't just push off or we couldn't reschedule like we had to go. And I'm not going to say it made it all feel better because it didn't. Again, it was very conflicting emotions. But going to this horse show then was a bit of a spirit lifter. You know, I had people around me that were that were bringing such joy. We got to watch Denver show and show well and win. Um, it was the culmination of a lot of different things and working pieces that just ended up being fruitful and having having this huge milestone and win for not just Denver, but it felt like a win for like the home team, you know, and and so that, you know, August it had a very highs and also very lows. And I I don't know how much more I can explain other than August was a very conflicting and whiplashing month with our our emotions. And then we ended the month

21:52 with again it's like a long journey of foing season and then watching them grow up all year and the first half of the 2025 fing season was weaned and they had each other to lean on. But that's that's how we ended the month. September is always kicked off with the dove hunt. September 1st is opening day of dove season every single year in Tennessee and that is a huge day for us. Not just for the hunting, but for the camaraderie and the fellowship that comes with it. We always host a big shindig. So that's what we did. And September was filled with a lot of just horseback riding and trying to, you know, bask in the last bit of summer and the hot weather and being outside. And half the babies hadn't been weaned yet, but then the other half were leaving to go to their new homes. And so, uh, Ruby left in September, and we did go to a horse show one weekend. Now, I didn't show, but my best friend's little girl

22:50 wanted to show one of my horses. So, she showed Ethel, and I got to go just be a groom for the weekend at this show. And so we spent the first half of September like I said, just being around the horses, uh, fellowshipping, having some parties and things like that because we knew it was about to get crazy with CVing season. CVing season arrives in September as well as our cattle sales. So that last two weeks of the month are kind of crazy with tons of births. We had I don't even know how many. I think like 10 or 12 babies born.

23:24 like it felt like one right after the other and then we were getting ready for our cattle sale and the cattle sale, you know, we're supposed to be selling at this thing and I think I I did the opposite. I brought home, I think, 11 new cows. Uh so that was a little bit unexpected, but it was still a fun month. October, like pretty much all the other months, was hectic. Uh, calving season still going on. Calves being born left and right. Huckleberry and Ted went to their new home in Pennsylvania. So, Ted, his owner, was so gracious to allow Huckleberry to stay with Ted and hang out until his 2-year-old year because they are both going to the same trainer in North Carolina. I was asked to go to New York City. I went there for the very first time. We went to Broadway.

24:13 We saw Wicked. We went and, you know, walked around downtown. Uh, I was asked to go by Facebook. And so I spoke on a panel there which was really exciting. And then I think the big the big thing in October is the congress, the all-American quarter horse congress. We were there for I think nine days. Uh Denver showed three times and so he won the No, he showed four times. He won his Western pleasure class. He won his open halter class. He was reserve overall and winner of the limited division in my halter class. So, I became a Congress champion and then he showed in the Western Writing for the very first time ever, which for the Congress to be his debut in the Western Writing is a little crazy, but he did phenomenal. And so, that was a really exciting show. I don't think I've ever had a Congress quite like that one. Um, so that took up a big chunk of the month. And then we came home, like I said, it's still CVing

25:10 season. And so, we were in the throws of CVing season. throw we got to throw some pictures up because we did do some photo shoots of the calves and the mamas and everything. It was very fun. Um there's not really ever a dull moment in between trips here at the farm. So the rest of the month after Congress was a little bit of a chill time before November. November was kicked off with traveling and so we went to Texas two high point performance horses for their stallion showcase. Now this was really fun because I got to see Adios Pantalon in person before he went and dominated at the NFR this year which was so fun to watch having a horse the stands at the same stallion station as mine. Say that five times fast. Same stallion station.

25:57 And so it was fun to get to cheer them on. Um, we went and visited BS Code Red and First Things First and so many people that came through. It was so enjoyable to meet fans of the Stallions and get to talk breeding with so many people, but also just get to um, you know, put faces to names and things like that. So, we started off with that event. I got to take my best friend with me this year, Rebecca. So, we spent a couple of days after that event just kind of hanging out with the giraffes and things like that. And, of course, through all of this, regular farm life is happening.

26:29 So, you know, the chiropractor's coming out. We're still doing Ixie rounds. We're, you know, obviously done with breeding season, but we're starting to think about cattle breeding season. We're still in CVing season. All of those things are being mixed in with the travel and with the sleepless nights of kidding season and folding season, all those things. So, in November, um, you know, we started planning out next year's folding season, next year's cattle breeding season, all those things. But I think the big trip of November was the world show.

26:58 So we went to Oklahoma City. Denver showed in the western riding for the very first time. It was incredible getting to watch him and we had a couple of, you know, different events there. I sponsored quite a few classes while we were at the World Show. And so we drove the coffee car and again got to just talk with people that um I don't normally get to see. And we got to watch Denver be absolutely incredible. We are so excited for his his breeding season this year and to meet his very first babies. Um we have his very first babies coming in 2026. And then I'm looking through my pictures other than you know some personal things like you know spending time with family. The only other big event was the addition of Buttercup. So Buttercup joined the family in November.

27:42 She is going to make a fantastic addition to the broodmare band. And now Sophie is not the only buckskin. So we have two buckskin mares now. And then December, honestly, December was supposed to be chill. It was supposed to be an easy month. Uh we had a trip planned. We went to Antigga for a week because we decided, hey, we need to go out of town before foing season locks us down again because here we are again ready for more FO. Saying all of this whole year uh as like a little wrap-up session makes it feel like it went by so fast. It feels like it was yesterday, but here we are ready to start it all over again. Uh, so we went on a trip this this month. We went to Antigga. It was amazing just to have some relaxation prior to 2026.

28:32 But of course, our animals can't let us have a relaxing time. They've got to throw a couple zingers in there. And so my blue ran heer pie ended up giving birth to a bull calf. And he is blue and he's gorgeous, but he of course had to have some kind of drama. And so while we were gone, my mom and dad had to actually take him into their home, bottle feed him for a couple of days. We had some incredible cold weather. Um, Moonpie was having some trouble with her milk supply. The baby was what we call a dummy calf. And so he's all good now, but it was a little drama and a little uh touch and go there for a second. And we have now ended 2025 cving season. We have one more blue heer, which was really fun to see. Um, cving season is kind of not over because we have some in January, February, and March.

29:20 But for the year, for 2025, we are concluded on our CVing season. Everybody is safe, sound, healthy, happy. We are full of anticipation for the 2026 foing season. And it's just insane to me that this is the third year of me doing kind of like a a year wrap session like this. and all the things that have happened and the blessings that have come and even when we do have hardships, you know, I I have such a good team and family surrounding me that we we can get through it. And so, thank you so much for watching, for supporting, for loving my animals the way I do. And I just couldn't I couldn't imagine all of this happening 5 years ago. So, thank you truly for helping make my dreams come true. I look forward to 2026 and hopefully we have as good of a year as we did in 2025. Hope you enjoyed. Let me know if you have any questions and stay tuned for the next year fun.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "We Are Just Beginning! | Looking Back at 2025"?

Katie Van Slyke (Host).

What is "We Are Just Beginning! | Looking Back at 2025" about?

The content reflects on the significant events of 2025, highlighting a monthly recap that reveals a mix of personal milestones and memorable experiences, such as the arrival of new foals and the companionship formed between the miniature horse Gretchen and Seven. The creator shares insights and visuals from their journey, emphasizing the importance of community and growth throughout the year.

What is mentioned in this Katie Van Slyke episode?

14 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Avenue I Denver, Huckleberry, VS Code Red, High Point Performance Horses, Seven, Gretchen. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "We Are Just Beginning! | Looking Back at 2025"?

The episode runs 30 min; the transcript is about 5,923 words in 39 timestamped sections.

More from Katie Van Slyke

• All analyzed episodes
• People mentioned on Katie Van Slyke
• Topics mentioned on Katie Van Slyke