Foaling Contest 2013

Oh yes.... it's that time again!
The mares are feeling good, shedding like crazy, and pretty lazy- until I make them go out into their paddock (They have 24/7 access to it but prefer to hang out in their big shelter where they get fed).

A little persuading, a little attitude, and off they went. 

Say, mama Belle, this isn't try-outs for the rodeo! That lump on her belly is the milk vein, by the way.

Belle is not convinced that she shouldn't be doing rodeo moves when she is due to foal in the not too distant future.

Belle keeps two feet on the ground, but Gussie shows her how to fly with all feet off the ground!

Yes- the ladies in waiting are in fine fettle!

Excuse the dirt- I did brush them both, but of course that's just an invitation to roll.

Anyway- back to the purpose of this post: The Foaling Contest!

Here is how it works:

1. Guess colt or filly

2. Guess the day and time, make sure you say AM or PM on the time.

3. Guess the color.

The person with the closest-to-correct guess wins the prize! Up for grabs is one of my hand made rope halters.

 First winner gets the pick of camo or blue- and if the winner doesn't own a horse they can choose to give the halter to someone who does, or I will send them a surprise prize. 

Here are some helpful hints for your guesses. The average gestation for mares is 11 months and 5 days- give or take a week or so! Since both mares were bred on the same days, the foals** should** be born really close in dates.(Ha!) The last day they were bred was April 18th last year, so averaging it out the date should be March 23rd. (Again- Ha!)

Coyote Belle is homozygous for black, which means she cannot throw red-bases foals such as sorrel, chestnut or palomino. She carries the dilute gene, so her foals can be black, brown or bay, or the dilute variations of those colors: smoky black (Rio and Kai ) smoky brown, or buckskin. Her first foal, Sparkle (aka Jazz on Own a Morgan & QH blog) and her last foal Nitro are both brown.

Gussie has thrown two blue roans from Beamer. I don't know if Beamer is homozygous for black as I have never had him tested. So there is a possibility that she could throw a red roan or a sorrel.

So- fire away with your guesses! Please read all the comments so that you don't make the exact same guess as someone else. I'll pin this post and make a list on my sidebar once the guesses start coming in.