Good News

Saw the baby and the heartbeat yesterday. Vet says one very healthy, strong baby in there. Go Friday!

Moments of Zen

Nothing is quite so relaxing to me as being astride a horse. It feels like home. The horse becomes an extension of my physical body and I feel in harmony. All horses are a little bit different, but I have felt a bond with every horse I have been on, even those who eventually bucked me off!

Learning to turn

Friday is a great horse to ride. She glides. Her gaits are so smooth and she is full of strength and power that she doesn't feel a need to show until it is required. She does not neck rein well yet, but is learning leg pressure and picks up on new things very fast. She listens carefully and tries to understand what I am saying. Her ears move back and forth as she concentrates on the lesson. When I ride her, time stands still. 

She still takes a great interest in other mares with foals. She will stare at them for long periods of time. I wonder what she is thinking. I can't help but think she wishes she had a foal this year. We are hoping that all goes well with this pregnancy. 

Smooth Moves

Smoky seems to be much more comfortable after the injections into his hocks. He is moving a bit better and is more playful. In these photos he is wearing a fly mask. His eyes get very irritated from the flies and the mask offers protection. This reminds me of a funny story. When I first introduced the girls to horses, Grace thought that the fly mask meant that the horse was blind. She had a lesson on a horse wearing a fly mask one day. Hours later, she told me that she would like to ride again but "next time I want to ride a horse that can see".

Smoky with his fly mask on

Smoky in the paddock he shares with Friday

OMG!

So much has been happening at the barn!


It is breeding season and so there are horses coming and going and lots of news. We bred Friday to Dusty's Best Effort. He is such a great stud! He has a great personality and is handsome as well.

Dusty's Best Effort, Quarter Horse Stallion and Baby Daddy

Dusty stopping for a pose

We had Friday checked by ultrasound on June 17th and she is pregnant (with one baby)! We are trying to contain our excitement until her next check on July 6th. On that date, the vet will confirm pregnancy and should be able to detect a heartbeat. Keep your fingers crossed!

Friday waiting for her exam

Our boy Smoky has been having a rough time. He loves to roll, and for the last month or so has been having some trouble getting up. During his struggles to rise he has cut up his legs pretty bad. I had the vet check him and he has very stiff hocks. The vet thinks that giving him injections in his hocks will improve his mobility. We are going to go for it. We want to keep the old man as comfortable and mobile as possible.

The girls are having fun at the barn. Lots of puppies and foals to play with!

Breeding Season at the Barn

Lots of activity at the barn these days. Mares to be bred, babies to be cared for, and stallions really, really interested in all that is going on!


Friday isn't pregnant yet, but she is going to be bred this week to Dusty's Best Effort. The vet checked her yesterday with palpation and ultrasound and she has several follicles ready to go. This means she will ovulate in the next few days. It also means we need to keep watching out for twins, so we can reduce the pregnancy to only one. We just can't go through the twin thing again! The vet says that sometimes when mares lose a baby it is so stressful that it is hard to get them pregnant again. We will give her a drug called ReguMate five days after her breeding until her next check which is sixteen days after her last breeding. If she doesn't get pregnant this summer, we will just ride her and enjoy her and see how it goes next year.


She looks fit and is prancing around these days. She has a huge paddock to herself and she is enjoying running around and kicking up her heels!



On the way to see the vet at the breeding shed.




Prancing. She still has the heart of a racehorse.




Waiting for the vet



We have had Smoky out although he is a bit stiff with the colder weather. He is so cute with the girls.



This quote always reminds me of Smoky...

Buffalo Bill's horse Soldier Boy speaking of a young adopted girl that lives at the post where the 7th Calvary are stationed.

"If I could have her it would be another matter, for I know all about children, and they adore me. Buffalo Bill will tell you so himself."

                                              Mark Twain, "A Horse's Tale"

Moving On

Well, after Wyatt died, I had a lot of trouble getting back to writing on the blog. We are slowly recovering from all of the trauma. It was very sad to loose all the foals, but at the end of the day, we have our mare Friday and Smoky, both of whom are doing fantastic.

Smoky has recovered from all of his cold weather stiffness and we are all enjoying riding him this spring. He lost a bit of weight during the winter, despite having supplemental grain, but otherwise appears unchanged. He continues to be his same old dignified and stubborn self, never too afraid to let you know how he thinks things should go. He is 29 years old this year.

Taking Smoky on a trail ride.

Friday is doing fantastic and the vet told us she was good to be bred back this spring. I hope to breed her to the same stud. Dusty's Best Effort is not only handsome, but has a wonderful temperament. I have been riding Friday and working out some of her previous career (horseracing) quirks. She is doing beautifully under saddle and is so eager to please and understand. I love working with her.

Wyatt

We only had to go out the barn one time today. Wyatt is nursing whenever he is awake now and his watery diarrhea is going away (I am convinced that I will never rid myself of that smell). With the help of several folks at the barn, we took Friday and Wyatt out to a large paddock for some exercise and fresh air. Wyatt was ready to go. He even tried to run a little bit!



Walking in the sunshine




Loving mom




Got Milk??




Sunbath



Audrey taking Smoky for some exercise.

Sad, Then Happy

Our poor girl. I received a call about 11pm the other night that Friday had stillborn twins. Mares are not made to have twins and so it did not go well for them. We are just so thankful that we did not lose Friday as well, as this can happen quite easily. We had our tears and we all moved on. I went out to look at the twins. One was very small, too small in fact, and was not mature enough to breathe on her own. The other had a premature separation of the placenta (placenta abruptio) and was also born dead.

Friday looked good physically, but was sad and the barn manager said she was very upset when they took the bodies away. She was eating and quiet when we saw her. I called the vet to let them know what was going on and to get her postpartum check scheduled. I asked if they had heard of any orphan foals. They said that they knew of someone that had an orphan foal they had been feeding since he was born (six days ago).

About an hour later I got a call from the owner of the orphaned foal. He is a local Quarter Horse breeder who had a mare die when the colt was born. The foal was born breech (backwards) and had a lot of trouble. They were not having a lot of success trying to feed him. We knew it was a longshot, but we agreed to meet at the barn and see if Friday would take the foal.

Audrey, Grace, and I went to the barn to get Friday ready. I washed her udder and gave her a nice grooming and treats. I took a towel and got the scent of one of her dead foals on it. When the orphan foal arrived, it was quite an event. There were our barn people and their barn people. Lots of activity.

I held Friday in the corner of her stall so I could intervene if she showed any hostility to the new foal. She heard them bringing in the foal and she went crazy. They put the towel over the foal and carried him in. She nickered and whined and wanted to get right to him. I think she thought that we had finally brought one of her babies back to her. She licked him and kissed him. I was able to let her have her head since she was not acting threatening. The groom that brought in the foal helped him to start nursing and Friday let the orphan colt nurse! A big step.

The colt (boy foal) was weak and stressed, but we decided it was going well and he would stay with Friday. She kissed him and loved on him and became very protective. Our biggest hurdle was that was being bottle fed and did not know how to nurse. I talked to the colt's owner. He was still pretty heartbroken about his mare and the fact that he might lose this colt too. The orphan colt comes from a long line of talented racehorses and his arrival was much anticipated.

Grandma Judy and Dee came and got Audrey and Grace to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa. To make sure that things went well I stayed with Friday and the orphan colt (we call him Wyatt). At first, we had to stand him up and drag him over to Friday and try and get him to nurse. When he stands up he looks Bambi on ice. Friday was so patient and such a trooper. She never gave up. By 10pm we I had him starting to nurse a bit on his own. I went home for a couple hours of sleep and Brooke, one of the trainers, got up at 1:30 am to help him nurse again. I came in again at 05:00 am. Wyatt was already looking stronger. I helped him stand and pushed him toward Friday and he nursed. Yipee!

By 10:00 am he was standing on his own and nursing. In between nursing he was sleeping. The storm was raging on and he started to shiver, so I put a blanket on him. He had a good day after that. Friday is a fantastic mom, and kisses and licks Wyatt constantly (see video). He is a fighter and we are hoping he will do well. Looks good so far.

Wyatt with his blanket on.

Thanks to everyone for your heartfelt condolensces. It has been a difficult time for us. I am exhausted and hoping to get some good sleep tonight. We will check on Friday and Wyatt in the morning and see how things are going.