The other pup!

We can't forget the new pup I'm buying, even though things have been a-happenin' around here. Tara sent me these photos a few days ago, she is as chubby and cute as can be! I hope to have her home in 2-3 weeks.

Each'n' every one!

Here they are- girls 1 and 2 in the first two photos; girl3 below that, then girl4 and girl5.

Here are the boys: boy 1,2,and 3, then boy 4, and boy 5 (along with Tess's nose!)

Pup video

I'll be hearing a lot of this over the next little while.....

Pupdate

I'm happy to report that Tess is a good mother and all the pups are flourishing. Only one, a female, is marked like Tess, the rest are very traditional.

Since Janice came the closest with her guess of 8 pups, she is the official winner of my foaling-carried-over-to-whelping-contest. Which mug would you like Janice? And hey, everyone, Janice has a birthday on May 28, so guess what she's getting as a birthday present from me? Yup, a pup!

Here are a couple photos- the huddleuppy:

And these two are a couple of my favourites:

The one at the top was the one born at 3:45 AM and the other one was the second of the two born at 1 AM.

I'll have plenty of photos over the next few days to share with you all (was there ever any doubt?!)

Puppies!

And lots of them! Ten, to be exact. Tess started around 8 in the evening, and had 7 before midnight. There was a lull of about an hour so I went to bed, woke up around 1 AM to squalling and there were 2 more. Made sure they were all sucking good, went back to bed thinking that was it. Woke up at 3:45 to more squalling to find one more! 5 girls, 5 boys. Just a quick photo, I'll take more in a few hours- after I get more sleep!

Coyote, the movie star

Midnight Coyote

I have decided on a name for the little guy, I'm registering him as Midnight Coyote. (Beamer's registered name is Isle Be Midnight). His barn name will be Coyote. He is doing well, only thing troubling me is that his little wiener is retracted up inside his sheath, and he doesn't drop it when he pees. I'll be calling a good horse vet in Okotoks this morning to see if it's something I need to do anything about. Hope not. Update: the vet said not to worry as long as he is peeing properly and just to monitor him over the next week or so. The only concern would be if he is peeing through his navel, which he isn't.

His eyes are grey right now, but they will darken up. Belles eyes looked like this when she was born too, and they are brown now. It's pretty certain he carries the cream dilute gene, and I will have him tested so that it's on his papers.

Like father like son! Only, Coyote has no teeth to show off yet!

Tess is really close to whelping now, today is 60 days, with gestation anywhere from 60 to 63 days. VARunner mentioned a belly shot, so here it is!

Calling VARunner, Southview Lisa, Janice and Danni-

Still working on the winner of my contest, but I'm going to make more work for the final 4. VaRunner and Lisa (Southview Dairy) both got the date right, but got sex and color wrong. Janice and Danni got sex and color right but got the date wrong. So here is what you have to do ladies; guess how many pups Tess is going to have! She is due on or around Tuesday and could have them anytime, so get your guesses in quickly! This is open only to these 4 ladies. The only history I can give you is that Tess came from a litter of 7. This is her first litter, and also the first litter for her mate, Moss. She was covered twice. First come first serve on picking the numbers!

Hello World (Sunday Stills)

I haven't decided yet on the winner of my contest; two got the date right, and two got the sex and color right. I will draw a name later today.

I guess my Sunday Stills aren't barn photos as in the challenge - but it is what goes on in the barn! Coyote Belle started foaling at 10:20 PM last night, and this little fellow was born at 10:56. Everything went well, it is a smoky black colt, and a vigorous little fellow, as you can guess after seeing the videos from the other day. I was there when Belle's water broke, and called Ted so we both got to see the whole birth. In the photo below Ted is making sure Bell stays down for as long as possible as the blood passes from the placenta to baby through the umbilical cord.

Since the temperature was only a couple of degrees above freezing, I toweled baby off, which is always a good time to do a little imprinting.

Belle didn't mind our presence at all.

It wasn't long before he was standing. Here you can see his one sock and the little star.

I stayed up until 2:30, I had to make sure baby passed his meconium and mama passed the placenta.

The next two photos were taken at 7AM today. He has light grey eyes right now, and a lot of silver on his face and ears and his coat has a silver sheen to it. Smoky black for sure!

Here are a couple of videos; he was about two hours old in them.

They are a little dark, but fun anyway!

Not yet.

Blossoms and Belle

Our little peach tree is busting out with blossoms, they sure are pretty. I've never had a peach tree before. Lisa at Laughing Orca has blossoms too, and just got hit with some sleet and snow; I sure hope it doesn't harm her crop.

Coyote Belle has volunteered to stay in her foaling pen. She refuses to leave it. It's 20X20 so a good size, and I'm sure baby is hunting the foaling position- watch these videos and see if you agree. Still no wax though.

No foal yet here, but its a boy over at Prairie Ridge!

Hey everyone, pop on over to All These Pretty Horses and check out the foal born at Prairie Ridge Performance Horses early this morning! When you look at the photos, remember that mom is 16-2 and about 1400 lbs., so this is a big boy. Jury is still out on the color.

Belle is still holding out, but the other mare that Beamer bred last year has been waxing for days now, so she will probably foal very soon- I'll put photos up as soon as I get them.

Hey-update your guesses if your date has passed!

I have some baby pics of Belle that I'm going to scan and post, you'll see that she was a strange color then. And Tess is only 5-7 days away from whelping. It could get downright busy here soon!

Wordless Wednesday

My pup

Tara sent me some new photos of my as yet unnamed pup, so here she is, and please give me some more name suggestions!

Cows!

Yesterday some of the cattle who are spending the summer here were trucked in- much to the delight of my horses. Chickory and Velvet were on high alert as the cattle were released;

and of course it was a grand excuse to zip around and strut their stuff.

Even Coyote Belle got in on the action, doesn't she look wonderful for a mare due to foal any day?

And I couldn't resist a photo op with one of the little calves; mama was a little concerned though.

Sunday Stills

Today's challenge is "Potluck- anything fun and interesting" so here is my take on it.

Where I work

My custom horn cap

Relaxing with candlelight and sherry

The brilliance of the tulips at our church

Two inquisitive fillies

And you knew I'd have Beamer in here didn't you? He's both fun and interesting!

Some food for thought

I had a great email from lvmyhrs as a response to my post below, "Working Chickory". I have her permission to post it here- and I will have to find the book she recommended.

Hey Shirley, your post on Chickory hit a few chords for me.. Have you ever read the book The Tao Of Equus by Linda Kohanov? if not it's a very good read and would suggest it to anyone with an open mind to feel their horses.. anyway, to the point I had a mare in last summer for training similar to Chickory and was having the same ups and downs and I was at the time reading this book and had a "ahh haa" moment. Your sentence is pretty much exactly true "I swear this horse can read my mind, because she only gives me her trust when I realize just how much she has to teach me." and here is why I say this.. the mare I had in came to me as a 5 year with a bucking problem, she would panic and buck . lucky for me she didn't have a lot of buck but enough to unnerve you! You could handle her any way you wanted do anything to her including all the Walt Vermatal stuff and she would just panic for what seemed no reason now and then and I could for the life of me could not figure out what would trigger it because it was so sporadic.

So here's the "aahh haa" moment it wasn't what I was doing to her that would trigger her reaction it was where my mind went! So then I realized when I was working her and was 100% there and 100% honest with her she was a sweetheart.. So this is the neat thing she taught me.. She didn't mind if I was grouchy, tired, lazy, nervous so long as I didn't try to hide how I was feeling from her.. Because when we hide this stuff from our horses they just see a mask cover us and we become predator to them there for they act out.. That mare taught me so much about not hiding what I am feeling from our horses that I in reality will never be able to pay her back for the lesson she taught me... I was honest with her from that day forward and even though the odd day I would think she's gonna buck as long as I didn't hide it she didn't buck, the dumb days that I reverted back to myself and hide those feelings from her she bucked..

So it even has turned to my everyday handling with our horses, we got a new little mare this winter who was hard to catch and we just kicked her out with the herd and I said to Bruce "No matter, when I go out to get her I'll simple walk out and be honest with her and catch her" she now follows me around the pasture and I haven't had a hard time catching her! I no longer think "This is going to scare this horse" I am simply honest with the horse in my mind, think about what the object looks like in my mind let my horse see it first through my mind and body and wa la it didn't spook that horse simply because I didn't freeze in my head that it was going to spook them.

I took on a job early this spring for a cutting barn near by.. they had 34 wild yearlings that needed handled.. I halter broke, taught to tie and trimmed 34 yearlings in 2 weeks and 3 days.. and I didn't not rush one colt, they just did it because they believed in me.. Even the ones that sold two days after bringing them in wild, they jumped right into their new horse trailers behind me no questions asked.. I schooled a young girl working at the barn with them whenever she had a spare moment and she is now able to walk out and catch whichever one she wants so long as she stays honest to them.

So just food for thought, because Chickory has always been jumpy you have that in the back of your mind so I am sure you get in a mind lock now and then and boom she reverts back because she cannot trust a creature who is trying to hide!

Remember that if you are not able to release all of your pre-conceived notion about her at least acknowledge them and don't try to ignore or hide them because she will know!

Working Chickory

We had a beautiful warm day today, just right for working Chickory again. We reviewed all the things from our last lesson, and added the saddle. I worked her first, unsaddled, with the rope around her rump- she was ok on the left but really worried on the right. I had my trusty bosal on her again, and I got her to stand still while I rubbed the rope around her hocks, then actually led her with the rope while it was there. It took a while but she settled down once she realized it wasn't a horse-eatin' rope. With the saddle, was worried about the cinches dangling on the right side, didn't want me there to let them down so I could do them up, so I let the saddle fall off on her right- she didn't mind that at all, go figure. She longed well, and we finished off with more rope work on the rump. Then I had Ted hold her while I jumped up and down and put weight on the saddlehorn and stirrup, on each side. She didn't mind that much either. A couple more sessions like this, then I will try ground driving. She is a strange one; sometimes I think that I'm not getting anywhere with her because she has become hard to catch- almost like she thinks if I put a hand on her I'm going to bite her like Belle does. So I have to resort to the grain bucket, which I hate doing, but it's better than chasing her, and it gives her a reason to trust me; catching equals reward. I swear this horse can read my mind, because she only gives me her trust when I realize just how much she has to teach me. It's an interesting journey.

Meanwhile, there's not much change in Coyote Belle, she is 11 months and 6 days from the first day she was bred, and her udder still isn't full to bursting, so there is still plenty of time to get in on the foaling contest. Click on the link on my sidebar to enter!

Wordless Wednesday