We decided to set up this blog to chronicle the pregnancy our new mare, Friday. We have had Friday since September 2010. She is a sorrel registred Quarter Horse mare (her registered name is "Nob", but the kids could not tolerate that and renamed her). She was a racehorse at two and won two races. At times, she still thinks she is a racehorse, but I often remind her that she is now 18, and a mother, and has no time for such foolishness. She usually ignores me.
Friday is a sweet girl. When I could still ride her I was starting to teach her neck reining and she was learning fast. She loves to be groomed and is very fascinated by Grace. The one time I helped Grace onto her back I think she thought Grace was a jockey. She tried to bolt, but I hung on (and so did Grace). I finally convinced Friday that we were going for a walk, and not a run. She calmed down, but by that time Grace wanted off.
Friday's main passion in life is food. She spends most of her time searching for food or gauging the time when the next food will arrive. She can be placated by treats, but really is interested in hay (lots of it) and her special mare food (lots of that too). She knows when she is being fed (morning and night) and is very displeased when she is forced to leave her pen at these important times. One day I put her on the hotwalker and she saw her penmate approaching her feed bucket (a bright pink bucket). Friday went wild. She bucked, kicked, snorted, and basically had a horse "fit". When I finally untied her from the walker and let her back into her paddock, she raced around to make sure that the other horse was not eating anything. Only when she was sure there were no morsels of food, she calmed down and began to mark time until the next feeding.
She has also been rather ill tempered for the last couple of months. Her antisocial behavior is limited to other horses, and she still hold us humans in high regard (something to do with food, I am sure). She has a particular dislike for our other horse, a gelding named Smoky. Friday pins her ears back at the sight of him. Smoky, however, is in love, and would like to spend more time with Friday. This will not be happening. For now, Smoky will have to settle for gazing at her from afar and neighing affectionately (which always provokes a pinning of the ears episode).
