Guess again

 Aurora and Leslie, you can put in another guess on the foaling contest, Ms. Happy is still packing her wide load. 

Those of you who haven't entered but would like to, go to this post for details: Foaling Contest

No little extra feet this morning...

Her udder is filling up and baby is shifting a bit so hopefully it wont be too much longer! 

She sure is an easy mare to be around, so I am hoping the baby gets her good mind, size and bone. 

Those of you who follow our page on Facebook will see that Shayla has a Percheron mare who had twins, a colt and a filly. The filly was a bit smaller but not by much. However she has an interesting problem that I have never heard of before but apparently can be common in twins; she couldn't figure out how to get her hind end under her to stand up. So she was assisted by Shayla or her husband and  after 5 days of that she has finally got it all sorted and is getting to her feet without issues! 

She is the one with the star

It is always a worry when there are twins so we are all happy that this set is on the way to being healthy  and happy! Mama is a good mama too. 

Foaling contest time!

 Now that Happy is in the safe zone it is time to start the guessing game.

 

Here are the facts:

1st day bred was May 26 last year. Mares typically go 11 months and a week before or after  that , unless like Belle they go closer to a year. Since I have no history on Happy's previous gestation I cant advise on that. 

As far as color goes we know that there is a 50% chance of grey, however since grey horses are not born grey, we are going to take that out of the equation  and just take guesses on what the base color of the foal will be.  

Happy was born bay roan, so she carries a copy of black, a copy of roan and most likely a copy of red as she has had red based foals, and she carries a copy of agouti, which is the modifier that makes the color black turn to bay.  

The sire of this foal is sorrel, and he may also carry a copy of agouti which is not expressed on a red horse. 

So here is a chart with percentages of color possibilities:

So put your guess in -

~Colt or filly

~Date and time

~ color 

If the mare doesn't foal on your guess, you may put a second guess in. I will pin the guesses on a list on my sidebar so you can choose a combination that nobody else has. Family members can each put in their own guess. 

Then here is what I have for the winner....

A note pad and a list pad with my original drawing of my beloved Beamer peering out at you. 

At last! (Foaling contest time)

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting (Oops, remember my key word for the year- Patience!!!) for Velvet to show signs of  impending foaling. 

Other than needing a wide load sign, that is!

She finally started bagging up on the day of the full moon, Monday. I was a bit worried if she would come into milk, considering her age. But all is well! 

That's not much but at least the process has started. She is also getting the usual jiggly butt. So you know what that means, it's foaling contest time! Here are the stats:

Velvet was bred May 8th last year. So that means as of today she is at 325 days. The standard is 343 days, but as you know, mares have their own timetable. Belle would go nearly a year, her average was 352 days. And I have had foals as early as 320 days.  I have no history on Velvet's previous 9 foals, so any guess will do!

So- guess the date, time, the gender, and the colour. 

The colour possibilities are:

Sorrel

Black

Blue Roan

Red Roan

I will start a list at the top of the sidebar once the guesses start rolling in, so people don't pick exactly the same. 

And as promised, I have a really nice item to give to the winner!

A lovely steel mug (not a Yeti but similar) with our logo!

It doesn't matter where you live, this can be mailed anywhere, and those of you who are previous winners can definitely enter and try to win again.

Those people who send their comments via email can also enter, and I will put their guesses on the sidebar too.

I am hoping the weather smartens up because, yes, I will be camping out and keeping a close eye on Velvet. I hope she is the kind of mama that lets me handle the foal . 

I am, of course, hoping for a blue roan filly!

 

Oh look, pretty!

Figured I had better show you something pretty.....

Always the first iris to bloom here

because the hostage situation continues!

Breakfast please!

Every morning the local pheasant wakes me up; the cabin is next to Jayne's pen and he goes in there to clean up her grain spillage. His loud squawk is followed by the honking of a pair of geese who fly directly over the cabin, honking their beaks off, so sleeping in after a night of checking repeatedly on the mare is not an option!

So to keep it fun, lets have more guesses! Most of you are eligible to put in another guess, so fire away! 

While we wait

 Jayne is still holding her *ahem* filly hostage, so that means that Betsy in Wi, Carol, Far Side, Whisper, and Cdncowgirl can put in a new guess. 

I don't think baby has a lot more room to move in there!

Wide load!

I could see little flutters at the bottom center of her belly, and 2 nights ago Jayne was doing a lot of rolling, so I'm hoping baby is moving into the foaling position.

Meanwhile, Derby is getting his lessons figured out.

He looks good in green! That little halter should fit him for about 2 months. Yes he will grow into it in that time! I have 3 sizes of halters for the babies for the first 5 months of their lives.

You are doing great young feller!

The race is on

Yes it's Kentucky Derby weekend, but the race I mean is between Belle and Jayne! They are both at about the same stage even though Jayne was bred 18 days later than Belle. 

Jayne's previous owner checked but thinks she threw out the paperwork on Jayne's breeding dates, but said she thinks she went early. So with Belle always going long, they could well foal very close to the same day. 

Cdncowgirl, Aurora, Frank and Grey Horse Matters, you are all eligible to put in another guess as your date picked has passed for Jayne's foal. Feel free to leave a new guess in the comments on this post.

Whatcha lookin' at, Jayne?  When I rolled out of bed at a quarter to 6 this morning, I could see the horses staring off towards the pond area. Something had their undivided attention. So I took a look- and grabbed my camera and zoomed in to the max and managed to get a photo... sorry about the focus being a bit off, but this was worth it....

Yup it's an elk! I think a young bull but I couldn't be sure. The horses watched that area for about 10 minutes. There may have been another one following this one. So now we know we have deer, elk and moose on the farm- and lets not forget the bears, who haven't quite come on the property yet but I have seen their tracks a quarter mile away.

I finally got the design for the contest prize. It is a 9 x 4 zippered case, with our logo on one side and a picture of Beamer  and our brand on the other side. These photos are just a design mock up, not the actual cases. It will be about 4 weeks before I get them. Hope whoever wins likes them!

Guess what....

Yup it's guessing time again!

The mares are nicely bagged up, so it's time to start up the foaling contest. 

Belle was bred to Beamer on May 19 last year, and with her history of averaging around 350 days she should foal anywhere from May 1st  (347 days, that was how long it took Nitro to hit the ground) to May 16 (362 days, that was Eli). 

Shayla sent this photo today; she is carrying low again

You know the rules: Put your guess in for date, time, colour and gender, and I will start a list on the sidebar to the right so you can review other people's guesses. 

Belle is homozygous black and carries the cream dilute gene so the colour choices for Belle's foal are: 

25.00% -	Black
25.00% -	Smoky Black
25.00% -	Bay
25.00% -	Buckskin

Next is Jayne, she was bred on June 6th to Beamer last year. I don't know her foaling history other than this is her 7th foal. She started bagging up at the beginning of April and just started getting soft in the tailhead area, but with April 22 as the 320th day (that's the minimum gestation for a viable foal) I have a feeling she won't make it to her guesstimated foaling date of May 15; she may go earlier than that.

Where she goes, he goes!

The colour choices for Jayne are:

50.00% -	Red (Chestnut/Sorrel)
25.00% -	Black
25.00% -	Bay

I would like one just like you, Jayne!

Watch time

Belle is exactly 11 months today, so it is officially foal watch time!
Can you say, sleepless nights?
And days where I will be vigilant and stick around... not that I'm going anywhere much these days except short sojourns to the grocery store on occasion.

Baby is still fairly active, Janice came for a visit a couple days ago and got to see and feel  it bumping and dancing around in there . This morning there were a couple of big movements too. So a few days to go, and who knows with Belle it could still be a couple of weeks!

Belle has been very peaceful  with this pregnancy, I think she is saving up her energy to be able to deal with this baby!
If you want in on the foaling contest, all the info is in this post: The Guessing Game  . You can leave your guess either there or on this post; all the guesses so far are listed on the sidebar to the right . Please include date and time, sex and colour choice.

The guessing game

It's time for your guesses!

 Baby is growing and Belle looks like a balloon on toothpicks.

Breeding date was May 19 2019

As of today, Belle is 314 days along. Given her average of 352 days gestation that puts her estimated due date at May 6. However, nothing is ever written in stone with mares!  Her shortest was 347 days (Nitro) and her longest was 362 (Eli) Edited to correct her estimated due date.... my math skills are lacking!
Colour choices will be :

As you can see, it's pretty even across the board. Her history shows pretty equal between bay(brown) and smoky black, so I think it's high time for either a true black or a buckskin! (one can only hope!)
So fire away with your guess - please include, colt or filly, date, time and colour choice.
I will start a list on the sidebar once the comments roll in.

Hello in there!

Belle's foal is busy in there! I will be holding my annual foaling contest at the beginning of April. Tentative due date is May 2nd, but that is if she goes her average of 352 days. Her history is anywhere from 347 days (Nitro) to 362 days (Eli). With the exception of Nitro, all her foals have been over 350 days.

Of caps and colts

Betsy! Your wait will soon be over, I finally picked up your hat - their embroidery machine was broken for a couple of weeks, and then the lady was away for a couple of weeks. So at last here it is- sorry, not green or brown so I hope you don't mind black. I'll skip across the border tomorrow and mail it, you should get it soon! Sorry for the delay, I haven't forgotten you!

Booncat is a month old tomorrow. I had been putting his halter training on hold as his mama was not too happy with all his antics as he tried to avoid being caught, but she has chilled out a lot now, even to the point where she will leave him sleeping and head a long way away for her feed. Then he wakes up and looks around- no mama- no problem! Until he spots her and then it's full tilt to investigate what she is eating. They are both getting more independent, which is good. I still have to catch him in the stall, just makes things easier. 

Shayla has sold Sassy, and she will be here until near the end of September. So that gives me lots of time to enjoy this little rascal! He sure is fun.

Eli meets his new person tomorrow, I'll be sure to get a photo shoot.

Hanging in there!

ENTER THE FOALING CONTEST BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK



Belle is at 334 days today.
Nat D and Emily in NC, the date of your guess has passed so feel free to guess again!

It's that time again!

320 days is the standard for days gestation for a viable foal. Today, Belle is 320 days. So far, she is her usual bigasahouse self, but no hint of bagging up.
She was bred on April 22 last year. I usually determine a due date of 343 days.... give or take a week or two! That would put her due date at March 31.  Belle has a history of going anywhere from 11 months 5 days to 11 months 20 days.

So- it's foaling contest time!
You pick: Gender, colour, date and time of birth.
To assist in colour choice, these are the only possible colours according to Belle and Beamer's colour genes:

Please note that Bay and Brown will be considered the same genetically at this time. 

So far, this match has produced 2 bays ( Sparkle and Nitro), 2 smokey black (Rio and Kai) and possibly 1 black (Stella Belle, who wasn't colour tested).

So- have a little fun with it! I will put a list on the sidebar for reference once I get a few guesses. Up for grabs will be some Diamond Lazy H swag- for sure a ball cap and maybe some other stuff too.

Trials and trails

ENTER THE FOALING CONTEST HERE


Kind of been awol here for the last few days.... had a very upsetting week. My dog Tess went off her feed last week; I gave it a few days to rule out tummy troubles but she literally quit eating no matter what I put in front of her. I took her to the vet on Monday and they did an emergency surgery to remove her uterus which had a bad infection. Apparently common on older intact females- so if you have a dog who is intact and not going to breed her again- get her spayed and save yourself a lot of trouble! Lesson learned. However- the next day she was not looking good, still not eating and her temperature dropped so I took her back to the vet where they did blood work and found that the infection had spread. Long story short, they put her on IV fluids and a powerful antibiotic, and a steroid shot to stimulate her appetite and she bounced back and I was able to bring her home today. Still undergoing treatment, but at least I have her home!

Got a really nice ride on Gussie today. Took Tay and went through the pond which is about knee deep on Gussie; Tay had to swim. Then to the river and back. In the video there is one section where Gussie is doing her little running walk, almost feels like she is gaited when she does  that it is so comfy to ride.

When we got back, we gave the neighbour kids a ride. I love to see happy smiles on them!

 One ride wasn't enough so they each got two!

After that I worked with ponying lessons with Mesa. First leading both horses from the ground and then riding Gussie and ponying her.

The goal is to get her going well enough to be able to pony her on a few trail rides. This fall I will be doing a lot of ground work on her to prepare her for her 2 year old year; the more I can do this year to expose her to many different things the better.

Belle is in heat, I have been taking her over to visit Beamer. Not breeding her this cycle but with the crazy weather this year many mares are late cycling, some haven't even started, so I want to get her in the rhythm so to speak.

Beamer thinks that's just fine. I have also been letting Gussie visit him just to socialize, but I won't do that while she is in heat because I am not breeding her .

She just visits and then walks away. It's good for the ole boy to have some time with the other horses.

So in case you missed it, or haven't entered yet, I am running my foaling contest. Click on the link and enter your guess in the comments!  It's a lot of fun seeing what the guesses are. Don't worry about entering if you live far away, I will think of a nice gift that I can send, maybe something that can be ordered on line. They don't call it the world wide web for nothing! So enter up!

Riding day 22

What'll it be?

Here we go- contest time! Below are the possibilities for foal colour- I marked them both as non agouti carriers which eliminates bay and buckskin since neither of them have black points.

Offspring Color Probability 

12.50% -	Palomino
12.50% -	Grullo
12.50% -	Red Dun
12.50% -	Black
12.50% -	Smoky Grullo
12.50% -	Red (Chestnut/Sorrel)
12.50% -	Dunalino
12.50% -	Smoky Black

Her supposed due date is May 12. I would think the range of possible dates for foaling would lie between the end of this month and the first few days of June, depending on if she goes early or late. And this year, mares are all over the place time wise!

So give it your best guess- Colour, sex, date and time! I will start a chart on the sidebar as usual so you can see other people's guesses.  Winner will be sent an appropriate gift!

Winner!

It has been fun getting to know a bit about my readers, especially those who are new commenters.  I thank all of you for following along on my equine journey and I plan to continue.
So I wrote everyone's name on a slip of paper, folded them up and put 'em in a hat (I don't like on line random generators)

and pulled out a name....

I guess I'd better get up to her place for a visit, as she lives close enough that I won't have to mail it! Congratulations Janice, I hope this gives you a happy on this soggy foggy winter day!

Too hot! and still no foal.

A lot of places are stuck in the heat wave- at least we aren't as hot as they are in Arizona, but this is Canada fer cryin' out loud, and 34C (93F) is August weather, not June!  We get up to about 30% humidity with that and it's just stifling.
It's been too hot to do much with the horses other than mucking and feeding. I did manage to trim Rosalee's front feet the other day, she has some separation between her hoof wall and white line and had gravel packed in there, so I got that dealt with; an hour of dripping sweat pouring into my eyes wasn't much fun.
Today while filling the water trough, I tried spraying Rosalee off when she came up to investigate, turns out she loves it. So then Mesa came up to see what was going on so I discreetly managed to get a bit of spray on her too. She wasn't sure what to make of that!
Then she started to get itchy when it was drying off, must have tickled. It always amazes me how flexible horses are.

She is doing well, comes up to investigate me when I'm in the pen and I finally got her to stop presenting her butt first by refusing to scratch it and going to her shoulder and neck for rubs and skritches instead, and now she approaches me nose first.

Thea is really good with her, Mesa comes up to check her out and Thea just ignores her- which is mostly because she is focused on Rosalee all the time, but it's good that Thea doesn't snap at her like some other dogs I've had.

Beamer isn't quite as flexible as his daughter. No, Beamer, flies don't move when you just look at them!

The horse flies are here now, and Belle just hates them These are the big black ones with the white streak on top.They are nasty! I've killed a couple of them on her as I dodged her efforts to get away from them. She still does not have a full milk bag, so she probably has at minimum a few days to anywhere up to a couple of weeks or more before she foals, so those of you whose guess has passed, feel free to enter again with an updated guess.  Go to this post to enter another guess, or just amend it here in the comments if you remember all the info- and new people guessing are welcome!

She's here!

I introduce to you.....

Midnight Mesa.....

Bay filly, born May 13 at 1 AM. 

Which makes Sahara our contest winner! 

I did a foal check at 11 PM, Coulee was a bit restless. I woke up 2 hours later at 1 AM to a lot of horse talk, and baby was standing and wet- I just missed the birth. Coulee foaled out in the pen, so I herded them into the foaling shelter. I wasn't at all sure how Coulee would do as far as letting baby nurse, so I stayed with them for a couple of hours. She was a bit touchy and squealed a few times. I milked her a bit and smeared it on her teats- maiden mare teats are so small! Finally, baby latched on and had a decent drink. Ted helped me by holding Coulee backed into a corner while I pointed baby in the right direction. By 3 AM I was happy that it was all good. I was a bit worried that baby wouldn't get her colostrum in time; Coulee was actually cooperating once we got her to stand still. 

So it looks like she has mama's star, daddy's hind stockings, and just the cutest little triangle shaped snip on her upper lip.

I have them confined to the foaling shelter for the morning as baby has wobbly back legs. Hopefully will be able to turn them out into the attached pen today, as the other mares are quite excited and want to meet her!

Gimme shelter

Be sure to ENTER THE FOALING CONTEST- CLICK HERE
The prize is a $25 gift certificate to either The Frosted Butterfly or Cowgirl Tack,

The mare shelter is shaping up!

Here  the guys are trimming the last board for the inside reinforcement. Today we are getting some gravel to fill in the floor- you can see the uneven ground at the back corner, that will all be filled in both on the inside and outside.

Here Ted is taking a break before rounding up the last of the tools for the day.Inside is sheeted and a rub rail is in place at the top, I think we will add another one halfway up the plywood. Maybe. Ted is picking up the roofing screws today, so maybe we will get the tin on the roof too!

Meanwhile, mama Belle sure is looking good. She hung around all day, I think she wants to claim the shelter 😏

I only have 8 entries in the foaling contest- c'mon I know how many of you read these posts! If you don't comment because of my settings, shoot me an email and I'll put your entry in. diamondlazyh641@hotmail.com

Easter Ride and the Prize for the Foaling Contest

Click here to enter the foaling contest!

What a beautiful day we had for Easter Sunday! I hope you all had a wonderful day too. Beamer got the call for Day 9 of the 100 Day Challenge. He has been giving me the eye lately, poor guy is being teased by the mares across from him. First Loretta was in heat, and now Rosalee is. Also Coulee is very possessive of him and calls to him a lot especially if one of the mares comes to the fence to flirt with Beamer.

If it was a younger stallion I would certainly electrify his fence, and I will keep an eye on him just in case he gets to pushing too much on the fence.

Anyway, we headed out- straight down towards the river from the alleyway in the photo above then along the dyke heading east until we hit the cross fence, and looped back. Perfect ride!

Thea is getting better to ride with- she quit diving at the horse's tail and nose. 

One of the beautiful cedar trees along the ride.

The turn around point.

The river is still running clear, which means the high country hasn't started to melt fast yet- when it does, it will get high and muddy.

Today is all about getting back to work on the shelter, Ted has a crew coming out and we hope to get the roof sheeted in and the new plywood on the sides. A couple of days ago, we got the framing done for raising the angle of the roof on the front of the building. 

It's Rosalee approved.

Now....

On to the prize announcement......

There be choices.......

A $25 gift certificate to either of two businesses from a friend of mine, fellow blogger/long haul truck driver/ all around lovely lady, Sarah. You can go on either of her Facebook pages to view her hand made scented candles, or her Plunder Jewellery  for some lovely jewellery adornments.

The Frosted Butterfly for the candles

Cowgirl Tack   to tack yourself up!

You will have to contact Sarah through Facebook messaging to order your selection. If you are not on Facebook, send me an email and I will give you Sarah's phone number, or you can email her at clearcreekpaints@gmail.com 

Of course, you are welcome to peruse either site and order stuff anyway! I firmly believe in supporting home based businesses.