Dallas and Rex

 Thursday I hauled Dallas up to Shayla's. She loaded and hauled well. She was turned out into a very large pasture, and then Shayla sent Rex in.

This is his first mare of the season, so he was quite pleased!

Dallas knows all about stallions, so she made him keep a respectful distance. 

Rex: "Are you sure?"

We noticed that she didn't put the boots (hoofs?) to him so figured she is close to coming in heat. 

Rex doing Rex things

That stride though!

Dallas is shedding out to her black buckskin summer colour.

After a bit of sorting out and exploring the boundaries of the pasture, they settled down and the show was over. And then today we heard that Rex covered her already! So we were right that she was close to being in heat. 

As far as the red mare goes, I got her panel test results and she is clean on all counts, so tomorrow I will be talking to her owner and see what we come up with. If I go ahead with her, she may well be going to this stallion:

Sunday Silence

 

Fitting in

 There were three landmark things I was looking for before full time turnout in the herd for Dallas.

First was her being comfortable in the herd where she can totally relax and not be on guard constantly. 

Check.

Next was being able to have Velvet as her buddy as Gussie is so food dominant and bosses Dallas at feeding time. 

Check. 

Third and most important was seeing her drink from the waterer. To facilitate that I had Ted undo the rusted bolt that held one of the gates shut, and with the gate tied open there was a place to drink that allowed an escape route if one of the other horses came up behind her. 

Also check. 

That only took 3 days. Today, Dallas is quite relaxed, even went to the waterer where it is closed in a corner (on the opposite side of where she is drinking in the photo) so I know she is quite at home and has the herd dynamics all figured out. 

Good girl, Dallas. 

The only thing I have to work on with her is catching. I can catch her if she is in the smaller pen by herself, but out in the herd, not so much. She is wary; lets me stand next to her but doesn't care to be touched unless I am quite polite and wait for her to acknowledge me. It will take time. After all, I'm not a horse. 

Dallas

 The herd dynamics begin! Last night, at feeding time, Gussie was quite aggressive with Dallas, so I opted to close her in the foaling pen again overnight.  Traditionally, Gussie has always been the enforcer, protecting her favorite buddy, who is usually the #1 mare in the herd. With Dallas, it went beyond stink eye and pinned ears and she actually chased Dallas away. I kept an eye on them, and they all hung out together at the fenceline . This morning I fed in a bigger area with widespread piles of hay; that worked quite well. 

Dallas finding her spot

Dallas was allowed to eat next to Velvet, with just a token ear pinning. And hey- is that a baby belly on Velvet? I sure hope so!

Dallas has the cutest ears!

I opened up the gate to the pasture which is about 5 acres. Gussie was bossing Dallas out of the hay pile, and Dallas spotted the open gate. 

And off she went on an exploratory tour. The other mares kept eating their hay .

Checking all the smells....

and finding the perfect spot to roll....

Then she stayed out there and went to pawing and eating. The other mares joined her after a bit and harmony ensued- nothing like having lots of space and not being crowded.

After a couple of hours, I checked on them. This pen has electric rope fencing, and I don't know if Dallas knows about electric, but apparently she is happy enough just to hang with the herd. 

All is well so far! I will probably measure Dallas tonight when I bring her in for one more night in the pen by herself. She should be close to 15 hh, but looks can be deceiving. 

The buckskin

 The new horse is a buckskin mare, who is a half sister to Drifter- same sire. I will be partners with Shayla on her, sharing the foals. Her name is Dallas and she is 10 years old as of April 1st. I picked her up today- she loaded well and hauled well.

She is quiet, so far, a bit shy with people, but not spooky, just reserved. 

She is well balanced, all black feet even with the white on her back feet as she has ermine spots all along the coronet band. 

She squealed once with Velvet, and that was it, no drama. 

I love that black nose! 

For those interested in pedigrees here is her link on Allbreed. 

https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/hunters+yellow+rose

We look forward to seeing what she produces for us!