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. :)