Busy Beamer and chiro for Sparkle

Sunday was a busy day for Beamer. After Coyote Belle was bred (she was better behaved for him), he had a little rest, then I brought in the mare we have in for breeding, Honey, for him to tease. Last year she was really easy, but this year she is rather crabby with him. I'm pretty sure that it's because she is fixated on Coyote Belle and her baby;she spends a lot of time gazing at them over the fence, and gets upset when she can't see them, even though she is pastured with Chickory. She came in heat on Saturday night, but it took her about 10 minutes of teasing for her to display to him. Poor Beamer! He is really having to work with these mares this year. In the evening, he got to breed Honey, but again, had to tease her for a while before she showed that she was ready. I'm so proud of my boy, he is doing a great job. Not every stud can be used for breeding and teasing both, and he is being really well behaved. Good boy!

In the evening the horse chiropractor visited the farm to do another mare that's boarded there, so I had her look at Sparkle. If you recall, Sparkle was dropped on her head during foaling when the mare stood up after passing the shoulders, and poor little Sparkle landed in a heap on the stall floor. So we found that her neck needed adjustment, and that her hips did too.

I usually massage her neck a little every day, which she loves, and that helped this feisty filly to stand still for her treatment.

Sparkle seemed to enjoy the treatment for the most part, but she did stamp her front foot a few times. Did I mention she's feisty? We'll do a follow up next Sunday, and meantime I'll continue to massage her. We'll have to change things a little when we breed Belle this morning; instead of tying Sparkle to the post, we'll build a small pen in front of mama to put her in, so that we don't undo the good we did on her neck.