quite a bit of news

Missy the Great Pyrenees is growing like mad and is a fabulous addition both in the paddock and in our home.  She is very versatile and knows the daytime she is allowed to come in if she wishes, but nighttime is her time to guard house and horses. 

My last 2012 foal is sold and with the money for the foal I invested in the future of my little barn.  Here is a 6 year old appaloosa mare who came from Ontario originally.  Shes a shy sweet little one.  She will be bred to Taylor when she decides the time is right.  I anticipate some colour out of her as I am told she throws VERY colourful foals. 

Life with puppy!

Well I have to say I was not sure if a new puppy was a great idea but I'm sure now.  Missy (our new Great Pyrenees) is awesome.  She is an independent, ADD little bugger but just so sweet and lovable.  She is already spending about 75% of her time outdoors.  She sleeps on our front stoop and on days when it is not raining she spends her time in her chain link fence 5x12 kennel inside the horses paddock.  The horses are adjusting very well to her and basically ignore her when she walks around them now.  That took a bit of time as my other two dogs are very nippy and irritating to the horses (which is why I have an electric fence system between them).  Here is our Missy.

Charlie and Kato have gone to their new homes and I only have Terre from this year's foal crop left.  I have been natural horse training him for a few weeks now and am so very pleased with his progress.  He is now leading perfectly beside me with no rushing or lagging behind.  He will put his front feet in a tire and do a 360 degree turn with only his back feet.  He is lunging nicely; but best of all his personality is so much calmer.  If he is still here in the new year I'll be showing him in halter classes and in hand classes.  He's got show horse potential for sure.

The foals for 2013 are making their existance known.  Both Nellie and Marcella's foals are now kicking at mealtimes in their momma's bellies.  So far three mares are confirmed in foal for 2013.  Fly turned up non pregnant so I bred her one time only in September and have not seen a heat since, so she may give me a late summer/early fall foal next year. 

That's all that is new in my world.  My two children and my hubby are all still attending college this year, so it is a hard year financially for us.  Hopefully next year, with both Mart and Lynds being done school things will return to normal.  It will all be worth it in the end.  :)

two more mares tested....

Tested Ladybug and Fly.  Ladybug is pregnant and Fly is not.  So Fly gets the year off, too late to breed her now.  One more to test next month.  So far, three pregnant out of 4, not too bad for my stallion who was only 1.5 when he bred these girls.  Can't wait to see what he produces.

The new Great Pyrenees puppy arrives tomorrow.  Got a crate ready for her and a new collar too.  It's been a long time since we've had a new puppy (11 years).  Looking forward to it.

Fall is in the air

Nellie has been tested and is confirmed in foal for 2013.  She is at day 135 today.  She is still for sale along with her last foal Terre.  Gonna have a barnfull if they dont sell, but the more the merrier I guess.  Here is Nellie's test , one line means pregnant!

And to help make my life easier and to allow me to leave the horses outside on fair nights, I have put a deposit down on a  Great Pyrenees pup.  Her name will be Missy and she will arrive in a few weeks. 

Meanwhile, Charlie (Buffy's foal) is being gelded tomorrow, Sept. 26th and will be going to his new home next month.  He is going to be a 4 H horse or a lucky girl in Antigonish.

Things are good here at the barn,  I remember to count my blessings and horses daily :)

foal kicking!

Marcella's foal has started kicking!  Felt it tonight at suppertime for the first time.  Good job Taylor, you're gonna be a Daddy!

Marcella is pregnant!!  One line means pregnant and two means not pregnant.  There is no doubt about this one, there is only one line there.  Makes sense as she has not been in heat again since April 16th.  I guess even though Taylor is young, he has what it takes.  Can't wait to see what he can produce. 

Nellie is coming up on being able to be tested in a few weeks and I will test her then.  Nellie is up for sale presently but if she does not sell before winter sets in, she'll be staying here and foaling out with me.  Gotta get her 2012 foal (Terre) weaned off her in the next few weeks too. 

Aug. 7th 2012 updates

Both Buffy and Carmel gave me gorgeous little pinto colts in June/July.  The top photo is Kato, Carmel's foal, for now he's a keeper until I see how he grows.  He's a small guy at this point.  something I like in a breeding stallion.

Charlie is the second photo (Buffy's foal).  He is already sold and will go to Antigonish in October. 

Charming has been sold and is now living in his new home.  He will be a show horse someday for Karen, his new momma and is a beloved pasture mate of Flash (a gelding mini horse). 

All the mares have been rebred except for Carmel who had a very difficult delivery (dystopia) and had alot of trouble shedding her placenta as well, so she will take the year off and I will think about showing her in Novice class next year. 

Daisy the new show horse is a keeper.  I have paid a deposit on her and will be paying the balance over the next few weeks.  I have shown her in 3 shows will wonderful results.  She seems to enjoy the games part of showing and is not fearful of anything that is asked of her.  I'm very pleased with her.

Sugarplum is now back with us.  I bought her back from the lady that had her for the last year.  She is back in show condition and has attending the last 3 shows with us as my daughters trusted show mare.  I'm glad to see her back in the herd and she seems to be happy too.

Have begun ground driving the stallion, Taylor since he has not much to do now that the mares are bred.  HE did well on his first lesson and I see lots of potential in him as a drviing gelding someday after I've got a few foals out of him.

Progress report

Wow, so much to cover. 

The new lease show mare, Daisy is working out wonderfully.  I showed her in Windsor at the spring Warm-up show in early June and she was wonderful.  She fussed a few times, but never acted frightened or freaked out.  I felt safe and in control at all time.  So I am pleased as punch with her. 

The four March foals are growing fast!  Hat Trick and Blossom are now sold and will go to their new home after Hat Trick is gelded and they are both weaned.  As of now, Charming is a keeper and Terre is still for sale.  All foals have had a bit of lead line training and have had their hooves trimmed twice.

Buffy and Carmel are about 14 days from foaling!  Both have substantial udders but their milk is not testing ready yet.  The next few weeks will be a busy time, as I have a wedding (nephew's), a horse show and these two girls to foal out.  What dont kill me makes me stronger (sure hope so anyways)

The new girl Daisy has had several online horsemanship lessons, which she took to like a flie to crap :).  We've begun ground driving, with focus on standing still when asked and backing straight and happily.  she shows no signs of resentfulness at all.  She seems pleased to have something to do.  She has made friends with Carmel and Penny in the paddock.  She has the kind of personality that just doesn't take no for an answer.  When someone chases her off, she immediately goes right back to that spot.  So far, so good. 

Wow, a little behind the times here.  Taylor has successfully managed to breed two mares, Marcella and Nellie.  And by success I mean he completed the task, whether or not they become pregnant remains to be seen, but Marcella was due back in heat mid week last week and has shown no signs of it.  So that is positive news. 

Since I did not have a show horse for this year I was planning on sitting in the bleachers and cheering on my daughter; but a friend of mine offered to lease a mare that I helped train to drive, to me.  I happily agreed and have started working with Daisy using Parelli and John Lyons methods.  She learns quickly and I have high hopes that I can have her ready for the summer show season. 

Buffy and Carmel continue to grow in girth.  Their foals are easily felt at meal times.  60 more days or so and we will get to see those two gorgeous babies.

The other 4 March babies are growing like mad.  Terre seems to be catching up to Charming in height and Hat Trick is turning out to be taller than I initially though also.  Charming and Blossom continue to be bright spots in my day, as I pay extra special attention to them as they are probably keepers.  All foals have had a small leading lesson, which is no ones favorite activity :)

That's it for now. 

Buffy and Carmel

So now that the March babies have all safely arrived, it is time to take a look at Buffy and Carmel. They are both fast approaching 8 months gestation. Both are of very nice weight, a little pudge is nice on a pregnant mare and are very healthy. Wont be long before we will be seeing their precious little one too.

Meanwhile my 2 year old stallion, is chomping at the bit to be allowed to 'visit' with the girls. So I am setting April aside for him and the March foaling mares to have some alone time. He's new to the game, so should be interesting to see if he has any success.

Way overdue for updates.

It's been so busy foaling out the 3 mares and getting the little ones used to our usual barn routines that I have slipped up a bit on updating the blog. So here are pictures of the little ones.

The first one is Blossom our pinto princess. She is around 23 inches and will finish up at 34 or a bit better in height.

The second picture is of Hat Trick, a black colt. 19 inches at birth, will finish up around 31 inches.

Next picture is Terre, he was 22.5 inches so will end up under 34 most likely around 33.

All foals are double registered and the colts will be for sale. I will keep Blossom until Buffy and Carmel have their foals and then I will decide who I will keep.

1 down, 3 to go for March

Well Marcella's milk tested positive at 10pm on March 1st. By 12am she was down and pushing. Foaled out a lovely long legged little colt - Huybers Utopia Prince Charming, at 1212am March 2nd. He's good and healthy and has two descended testicles. Can't ask for more than that.

Now for a filly..... I continue to wait.

Update on foaling mares

Here are the updated udder pics of the 4 mares that are due in the next two weeks.

Marcella update, Feb. 19th, 2012

Although her udder is staying much the same (pretty full), her milk is hard to express. I can only get a drop or two.

She is out in the paddock in the sunshine today, rubbing her butt on anything that she can find. I even saw her straddling a tree stump in order to get a real good belly rub. Her belly is huge and dropped, her vulva is looser than normal but not OMG loose yet. I'm thinking a week? But there's no real way of knowing till you see two hoofs and a nose. :)

Marcella is getting serious

All four mares have started making decent udders, but Marcella is in the lead at this point. She does not have much milk as of right now, but she is changing fast so I'm keeping a close eye on her. This picture is her udder this morning, Feb.18,2012

Wow, Fly's getting serious

Morning picture and 4pm picture

My little maiden mare has gone from not much udder to a firm fairly large one in the last 8 hours. Going to have to keep a close eye on this one from now on. She is at day 294-310. She was bred for two sets of breedings, two weeks apart, so there is a bit of uncertainty which heat she took in.

Everyone has started a little udder.

Right on target for late Feb. - early March babies, the mares have started making udders. We've a ways to go yet, but progress is being made.

We've got a bit of uddering

Fly, the maiden mare is the first to make significant progress in the udder area. It's not much, but it is the beginning. Woohoo!!

If you'd like to watch the mares foal

Here is the website. Cam are on at night and off during the day until we get closer.

http://www.marewatchers.com/cam/huybersutopiaminiatures.htm

And 5 months along for Buffy.

Here is Buffy at almost 5 months pregnant. She's the one with her bum to the picture. The other little girl is my yearling filly, Penny.

9 months along for these girls.

As you can see, the girls (Fly, Lady bug, Nellie and Marcella) are getting wider and wider. Babies are kicking around and easily seen moving around. No uddering yet, things are progressing just as we want them.