Three horses sold and two more bought

This is Frankie the stallion I will breed 5 of my mares to this coming spring.

Well I found a wonderful home for my two little fillies that were born this year and I also found a lady very close to home who is now the owner of Sugarplum, my daughter's show horse. Lyndsay will still be able to visit Sugar and also show her if she wants to. But with all the extra room that freed up I decided to add a little black brood mare and her gelding son. Marcella and Flicka are my two newest horses. Marcella will stay and be a broodmare for me, and I am presently training Flicka in the cart. He is doing excellently and shows no signs of fear or stress about it all. He is a wonderful, friendly little gelding. Flicka is for sale.

So now I have 6 broodmares. One is in foal for March 2011, and the rest will be bred in April to a leased stallion Frankie. Frankie is a pinto, so my hopes are that the 5 mares I breed to him will give me a few pinto babies, maybe even one I'lll HAVE to keep for my own.

Fun times are afoot.

Only one foal due for next year.

Buffy is now 6 months along and I am beginning to feel the foal kicking. I tried to get all the other mares bred but it seems it was not meant to be. I guess God knows I only have so much room in that barn and I need to sell some before I bring anymore into the world. :P

I have gelded my stallion and started showing him. He got high point Pleasure Driving and High Point Overall in his first show since being gelded in Windsor this September. So with Orion being a gelding now, I have a outside stallion I think I am going to lease this coming spring to breed to my open mares. Looks like he'll be a busy boy as Carmel, Nellie, LB and Fly will all be ready to breed when the snow melts. This boy is a pinto so we should get some nice coloured foals in 2012 and I'm sure I'll get at least one that I MUST keep. :)

So for now, I am focusing on weaning and training this year's foals and looking forward to my one foal for next year which will be getting all my attention.

Final baby for this year

What a way to end the foaling season. This little one was also a red bag delivery, and when I pull her out..... Man oh man was I surprised and pleased. A gorgeous correct little pinto filly!! Here she is : Huybers Utopia Silver Penny. Named by my mom who is in palliative care in the hospital but always loved to see the new foals pics.

Penny

Baby has arrived!

Sherry was born on July 29th at 1230am. It was a partial red bag delivery in which I had to tear open the placenta in order for the foal to progress. But she arrived safe and sound and is doing great.

amanda

Wow, it has been awhile

Ok since I've posted her last I've had a beautiful little colt born from mare I bought 10 days earlier. That was a surprise to me, I had no intention of buying a mare, but could not leave this gal where she was. So glad too. She gave me the pinto colt I've always dreamed of owning. Life is funny that way, you just never know what God has in store for you

ANyways, Nellie is now at day 331!! Where did the time go. Her milk was testing at 10% yesterday morning and is at 40% today!! That's a fast change. I'm thinking I am pretty close here as her milk has been hard to express and I could only get a few drops but this afternoon I got two full streams! It has been my experience that when it starts streaming out, foaling is about 24-48 hours away. I will NOT be sleeping tonight, that is for certain.

Lady but has 29 days to go, but she seems to be shaping up for an early foaling. Too early to tell for certain on her though. Her milk is that of a non foaling mare, thank goodness. One bit of excitement at a time is enough for me. I"m getting too old.

Just enjoying the new baby and waiting for more

Ladybug's foal has started kicking, she is at day 201 today. Nelly is at day 240 (8 months!) Both are holding their weight well and starting to look very pregnant. All is going according to plan and hopefully at the beginning of fall we'll have two more healthy babies to play with until Christmas time. Anyone want to buy a mini? :)

one down, two more to go

WEll Buffy delivered a gorgeous little silver dapple filly on Friday, March 12. So now we have a bit of a wait until July when Nellie will be due. Tonight I was able to feel Nellie's baby kicking! She is at day 195 today, with about 135 more days to go. Plenty of time for me to rest up and play with the new baby.

334 days gestation

Well this is the night I believe. The test strips say her milk is ready and she certainly looks ready to go. Will be staying up all night, no sleep tonight for me. Wish us luck.

~331 days gestation

Well her udder is filled now and the milk is almost where it needs to be. The changes necessary are the kind that can take place in a day or less. So I am on high alert. I sleep no more than half and hour at a time at night and spend the times in between watching Buffy on our wireless barn camera. Not long now, I'm really hoping for the weekend as my daughter Lyndsay is leaving for United States for March Break and it would kill her not to see the foal before she leaves. I'm spoken to Buffy about this and she's taking it all into consideration.

325 days and counting

Not much happening. Her udder started about 4 days ago. It is still not tight (which it will be when she foals) and the milk is not testing ready either. I'm thinking about one week or so and little one will show it's face.

320 days

Buffy is at day 320, no significant udder development yet. We still have a couple of weeks left by the looks of things. Here is a YouTube video of the foal kicking from inside momma. He/She is alive and well and just biding his/her time until the big day. Let's be honest, it's warmer where it is right now, I'd want to stay put too.

You Tube video of kicking
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQeZq3RI0mA

Belly has dropped

Buffy is at day 310 today and her belly dropped this week, so baby is getting ready. Udder has still not developed and milk is not ready yet, so a few weeks to go yet I think, but you just never know. She got her belly clipped so baby doesn't ingest her winter fur looking for the milk bar, and she was wormed last night. We are ready to go, but Buffy is the one making the decisions here and so we wait.

Milk is pale yellow!!

Well Buffy is at day 304! We are most likely 3 weeks away from foaling but slowly making progress in that direction. This morning we got yellow, slightly stickier milk. The milk will usually be extremely sticky and bright yellow shortly before foaling. So we have a ways to go but progress IS being made. Camera is not here yet, boy I hope it doesn't take too long. Makes me very nervous not being able to check on her in the middle of the night even though I'm pretty sure she is not ready yet. She's a girl of routine and she usually goes through all the traditional foaling signs before hand. But you know what they say " the only predictable thing about a pregnant mare is their unpredictability".

new barn camera on order

Well I had to order the new barn camera online, as the local Source store does not carry them. It is supposed to take 3-5 business days for it to be delivered to the store, so I sure hope Buffy doesn't get real serious about anything until at least then.

Feb. 4/10 Not much happening

I think everyone is way too cold to even think about foaling. Buffy's udder is still not developing (I'm not expecting it to for at least two more weeks, but you never know). Her milk is just slightly sticky and testing in the 40% chance of foaling range.

I learned a valuable lesson last night. Do not hold your wireless camera receiver too close to your tv screen. The static electricity built up on the tv screen, jumped out and sparked the receiver and my camera went dead. So now I have to go look for a new one today. Oh dear. Oh well, as with all technology it looks like I can get a newer, better one for less than I paid for my old one 4 years ago. So I guess it is all good. I'll hopefully have a better picture with infrared (can be used in low light) by later on tonight. That's if the Source has any to sell to me.

Off to work again

amanda

Jan. 31st, Good riddance to January!!

Buffy is at day 297 days today. Healthy miniature foals have been born at this gestation with no problems, so I up my observations at this point, and as of tomorrow the barn cam goes on at night and there will be hourly observations throughout the night for the upcoming month. Buffy has foaled previous foals from day 316-331, so I'm not on full alert. Her udder has stopped producing the opapue runny liquid from her previous pregnancy and begun the clear, thin slightly sticky liquid that is the very beginnings of the milk she will be making at foaling time. Exciting times are a foot!! Stay tuned for Buffy updates as she goes through changes in prep for the big day.

Nelly is looking more and more pregnant now, she is at day 150. I have been told by her previous owners that her weight will start to fall as she approaches 240 days gestation, so I am on constant alert about her body state. So far, she is gaining weight and showing no loss at all. I'll be watching her.


I have not felt any kicking in Ladybug yet, she should be at day 175 today and she has always had palpable foal kicks by day 185, so that excitement should be in our near future too.

Great fun for these winter days when spring seems oh so far away.

Happy foaling

amanda

34 days to foaling

Buffy is getting close. She got her tetanus booster today. It is given 30 days before foaling to ensure that the protection of the booster will be in her system long enough so that it is transferred to her foal through her colostrum (first milk).

Jan. 26, 2010

The girls are now at 292-Buffy, Bug-173, and Nellie-146 days! Boy time flies. Buffy's udder has started getting just a tiny bit puffier than normal and her milk is testing at 40% chance of foaling (up from 10% last week). She will need to be up in the 95% chance range when she foals. So not any time soon, but we are edging our way there. She is refusing to eat her grain in a timely fashion and so I leave it with her in her stall all night and she finishes it in her own time. She did this last year right around this time also, so I'm not concerned. There just isn't room in there for baby and a lot of food.

Nellie is starting to show a bit. She's a slender gal, so it is not obvious but I can see it.

Got the heat lamp and the barn camera set up this weekend in Buff's stall.

That's it for today, I'm off to work.

Jan. 22,2010

Time is flying along. Buffy is 41 days away from her due date. Her udder is not filling yet, but her milk is slightly more oily than usual. Milk goes from watery and clear, to oily and clear yellow, and then to sticky, thick and opaque yellow. When the milk is very sticky, thick and the test strips are reading in the foaling range, we will have 12 - 24 hours to foaling. Of course that is the normal progression, but there are always mares who dont want to follow the rules. Last year Buffy followed all the rules perfectly, so here's hoping she does again this year. It makes it much easier to go to work if I can be sure she is not going to foal while I am away. Only missed one day of work last year.

Test Results are in!!!

The urine test arrived yesterday and I ran them right away. As expected Liberty and Sugarplum are NOT pregnant. Nellie and Ladybug are. As the detection limit of the test is 120+, I can assume that Ladybug is 160 days pregnant and not the 96 days. (She had a odd heat after the first breeding that obviously was not a real heat). So the counting begins in earnest, with baby number one due to arrive in 48 days!!!

January 1410 Pee mission accomplished

I've finally gotten my last pee sample! Liberty saw me coming in this morning and squatted to pee, thank you very much. So now I just wait for the samples to arrive in the mail. Come on Canada Post.

January 9th, 2010

Gestational Count: Buffy 275 days, Ladybug 94 or 157 days, Nellie 130 days

I've been spending my time trying to catch the girls peeing so I can collect the urine for the upcoming pregnancy tests. I've caught Sugarplum, Ladybug and Nellie so far, so just have to keep watching for Liberty. No, I'm not standing around waiting with the container all day, but I have it in my pocket (along with a clean syringe) and if I am in the barn with them and hear someone peeing I run to see who it is. If I hurry, I can easily syringe enough pee off the floor and into a vial. So I've got three pee vials in the fridge and one more to collect. Does the fun never end in my world. LOL. I live for this stuff.

Sugarplum

I've been looking at my daughters show horse lately and thinking she getting quite a gut on her for a non-pregnant horse. She's been bred every year since I got her (5 years ago) and never taken so we just assume she isn't. So I have a pregnancy test coming to test her also. The tests are due to come hopefully next week and then I'll have some definite answers about who is and who isn't pregnant here at my barn. I'll also be testing my show mare Liberty as she also has been bred for 5 years and never carries to term. She has been pregnant several times but never holds on for a full term. Liberty is the black one, Sugarplum the sorrel (almost looks palamino)

Jan. 08 2010

Well we are at day 274 for Buffy,
129 for Nellie
93 or 156 for Ladybug
And I've been noticing lately that Sugarplum is putting on some belly. I will test her next week.

I'm just heading out this morning to feed and put everybody out for the day. Will do an udder check on Buffy and will update if there is anything happening there. Last pregnancy she did not start uddering up until day 319, but you just never know with these mares. I also have milk testing strips which I will use once her milk udder starts to develop and we get closer to the due date. On day 300 I turn on the barn camera and start watching her through the night. That's when the fun begins. Try only going on 30 minutes of sleep/30 minutes of awake all night for a month and see where your brain ends up. LOL. I've done it for two years now and the reward? I've been there to help at all three foalings and I wouldn't have it any other way. There's nothing in life quite like the birth of 20 pound teddybear size horse in the wee hours of the night when it's just me and my horses and God. Just can't wait!!!

The Daddy of them all

This is Orion, my AMHA registered Silver Dapple Stallion. He is 32.75 inches tall. He has sired two other foals for me in the last two years, this year we hopefully will add 3 more to his total foals sired. The other two were very loving correct foals. So far, I'm very pleased with what he produces.

Ladybug

Ladybug was bred to a pinto in early spring but aborted. She came back into heat in June so I rebred her to Orion. She came into a so-so heat (not very strong) a few months later and I rebred her again. So Ladybug is either 91 days pregnant or 150+. I will be testing her next week to verify if she is 120+ (that is the detection limit of the test). If she tests negative I will have to assume she is either 91 days or not pregnant at all. A bit confusing I know, but it will all be clearer in a week or so.

Nellie

Nellie is my newest mare. I bought her in August 09. I quickly got her bred to Orion and hopefully she is now slightly more than 4 months pregnant. I will be testing her next week to confirm the pregnancy. She is not showing yet.

Buffys Pregnancy Journal - day 272

Well, Buffy is at day 272 now. She is my miniature mare. She is a Blue Roan Appaloosa. She was bred to my own Silver Dapple miniature stallion, Orion.

She is definitely showing her baby belly. There is no sign of udder development yet, which is good because it is too early for that and it would be a sign of Placental infection. So everything is going according to plan