Summer lull

 I have flowers! Finally.... 

The one I want to share with you is an iris I brought with me when we moved from Creston 4 years ago. It didn't like the 1st location I chose for it- too much morning shade- so I moved it to a full sun south facing location last year. This year it burst forth in all its glory! 

The name of this iris variety is Starship Enterprise. My sister gave me the rhizome 6 years ago, it did bloom once in Creston and I am so happy that it is happy! I do have one more that I brought with me but it isn't quite ready to bloom this year. I am hoping it is orange, but more likely it will be purple- cant remember which one I brought with me.  

We had a little change of plans with Happy- I am still sending her to Shayla at weaning, but since she seems to be quite healthy other than the melanoma lump on her neck she is getting one more year at least. Shayla won a stud fee to a very well bred stallion called French Eye Candy who is a son of the great Dinero (aka PC Frenchmans Hayday) Barrel racing fans will know who he is. So Happy and Tuffy have been there for the last week; I should be picking them up this weekend. 

Interesting thing about this stallion, he had a color change from sorrel with a flaxen mane to dark chestnut with a darker mane. 

Yes it is the same horse, I checked his markings closely. 

I also have an update. Some of you may remember that Gussie had a foal from Shayla' s Percheron stallion Layne, and she threw a blue roan filly. That filly, Evie, is now 3 years old and getting started under saddle. 

Pretty girl, isn't she? Draft crosses are becoming very popular, especially as trail and ranch horses. 

I got all my hay in the barn now for next winter; I opted to buy last year's hay, same supplier, as it is going to be iffy for putting up hay without rain around here, and first cutting hay will be already over ripe and stemmy, which also means later cut doesn't give much time to put up a second cut. So I figured to get hay that I know is good, even if it is a year old. 

Now, some summer weather please, with no tornado or hail warnings, all of which have been ongoing for the last 2 weeks. 

Zoomies

 One of the fun things about a new foal is watching them figure out their legs and their instinct to run. And with all the speed in the genetics of this foal, he was only hours old before he figured out how to lope. He was born tippy toe like Pistol was, so I mixed up my tendon salve and put it on him twice at 2 days old and that fixed the problem. 

Standing on his tippy toes day 1

Today

He has a lot of speed and sometimes it is more than he can handle!

He wiped out twice, no harm done, all part of learning. 

A good slurp and recharged for the next round!

Today he and mama got turned into a bigger pen so she can have some grass along with her hay. Tuffy still has some unfolding to do on his left front so I want to keep them out of the big pasture until he is a bit stronger. I bring them in at night in the foaling pen though to be safe. 

Happy is doing well, she is a very good mama and makes sure he can navigate going in and out of the barn and through the 4 ft. gate. 

First time in the barn yesterday

She looks a bit thin, but is adding weight every day. I am picking up a special ration for her tomorrow for lactating mares who are hard keepers. 

His registration papers and disease panel test, along with the roan test will be sent off in a few days, I will wait until it is done before telling what his registered name will be- don't want it stolen as happened with Belle's first foal. I was going to test for grey, but that is redundant as you can see the grey circle around his eyes already, a sure sign that he will be grey. 

Wishes

 Sometimes you get what you pray for. I prayed for a healthy foal and a safe delivery for Happy and topped it off with daytime foaling. 

Wishes do come true!

Without further ado here we go:

2 feet and a nose, all good

Around 10 minutes of laying there while taking in the new environment

I did have to help pull, this is a big baby! 41 inches at the hip.

Getting all the mama loves

Standing fairly quickly

So handsome!

It is a chestnut colt, probably roan and born at 5:15 today, May 7th. 

His barn name is Tuffy. 

The winner of the foaling contest is Frank, who guessed red colt May 8, that was the closest guess. 

Being patient

 Happy is still hanging in there so if your guess date has passed, feel free to comment an update on this post.

Her belly is finally v'ing up, should be soon!

Happy looks a bit thin, I reckon because she is putting everything into her foal. She is on feed 24/7 and gets a supplement every morning. 

This is Jess Too Blue,  the sire of the foal

I think the baby will be gorgeous! It should have both speed and trainability.

This stallion's pedigree has top names in the running bred quarter horses as well as going back to a couple of very famous Triple Crown winners : Seattle Slew and the mighty Secretariat. 

I have a couple of cute names picked out which I will tell after the foal is born. 

Dally has settled in well, she is now out with the old girls on pasture. She is the kind that follows me around just like Velvet does, and she is easy to be around, loves brushing and oh my she has a long thick tail that goes to the ground. 

However, she has Beamer's thin mane, darn. 

I have a spy cam on my foaling pen so this year I don't have to sleep in the barn. I have solar lights set up that have a motion sensor on them, they get bright when she walks past them and dimmer when all is still. It helps me be able to see her at night without even getting out of bed! If I see no movement and she is not visible I can shine my flashlight from the mud room in the house and see what she is up to. No more sleeping in the barn- yay!

This is the view from my camera, it does have night vision, and I can zoom right in from my phone. Very handy! But I still wake up every hour or so to check. It is hard to be patient!

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. 

Beautiful day!

 Since my photos from yesterday were rather poor, I brought out the real camera (Nikon ) and took advantage of a day that actually feels like spring. Most of the snow is gone, except for shaded areas and places that snowdrifts built up. I tried river shots of the Common Goldeneye duck but my focus was off. I did, however manage to capture the mating pair of geese as they flew overhead. 

Love that blue sky and the snow eating south wind we have today. I inspected my flower gardens, and the shoots in my previous post are tulips that my niece gave me last year, and I planted the bulbs last summer after the flowers died. Also surviving the long cold winter are dianthus and at least 1 of my 2 irises. Still waiting to see if the butterfly flower, roses, and clematis made it. 

Happy is doing great- baby has stopped bouncing around, so has probably grown enough to take up most of the room. Her udder isn't quite full but it is getting there!

If you look behind the curve of her jaw, that is the melanoma. It doesn't seem to be bothering her at all; not sensitive to touch and she doesn't react at all when I touch it. So hopefully it will just lie dormant for a long time. 

Cell phone photo

Happy is 21 this year and she looks great. As far as I can find out, this is her 13th foal. Previous owners say she has no trouble foaling, so hopefully that will be true for this one too. 

If you are wondering about that funny looking mark on her side....

it is a patch of hair  in her original color, bay. I think it looks like a cross or an arrow. Or both! 

Stay tuned, I will do the foaling contest post in a day or 2. 

Shuffle

 Today I did some shuffling. This morning Gussie got snarky with Happy and as she jumped out of the way she skidded on some ice so today became moving day for her. She now has access to the foaling pen which includes barn access, as well as the adjacent pen which has access to the automatic waterer. 

She was quite willing to go in the barn and check it out. 

Awful photo, sorry!

Gussie and Velvet have full access to the shelter and the winter pasture and the other side of the waterer. They also have a brand new  round bale to eat. However, they are Not Happy that Happy has their favorite pen!

Happy is quite unconcerned with their drama.

 

Wide load! 

She is starting to bag up and baby is still quite active so she is on track to be 4 to 5 weeks away from foaling. 

She seems to be quite content to not have to deal with getting chased out of the hay. 

Velvet is the most emotional about being separated from Happy. I reckon she will just have to get over it. 

Marching on

 March has been rather lion-y all month. We just had another blast of snow and cold (-17C this morning) and I sure hope it will be winter's last hurrah and spring will get sprung!

This morning's chilly sunrise

The last weekend I had family over, and my sister from the coast picked up the last kitten from the litter, Minou. I had her in the house for a month socialising her, getting her to the vet for spay and vacs. 

It was a wonderful weekend with more family visiting on Saturday. Sunday we drove my sister and Minou to the Calgary airport. 

At least the weather cooperated that weekend. The river went out just before she got here. 

The geese are winging their way back too. 

Happy is getting pretty big now, her 320 safe date is about April 11th. I had the farrier over yesterday to trim Gussie, and Happy just hung out with us. She really is a sweet mare. 

I have a name for her foal, which will fit if it is a colt. We will be doing a foaling contest again as soon as she is a bit closer to foaling. 

I am so looking forward to April and an end to the cold and snow! So I am enjoying vicariously all the spring photos you all are posting, especially the flowers. I am itching to go to the greenhouse to get some more daylilies and some annuals for my potted flowers.