All the good news

 Today was ultrasound day for Gussie. And she is confirmed in foal to the palomino stallion! Due date is around the 1st week of May next year. 

I sure am happy that she is in foal, and no twins either. Also, she has come sound on that right hind, so she is rideable again. 

I have been making good progress with Rally; the last couple of days she has stood quietly while I run my hand down her front legs; yesterday I could pick her feet up for a few seconds and today I was able to use the hoof pick on them. Yay! I reckon tomorrow I will be able to start with the nippers to work on getting rid of all that excess hoof wall.  

I finally managed to figure out how to capture the Northern Lights with my cell phone, next time I should be able to do a better job. 

3:30 am, I almost missed them as dawn starts around 4 am. I had checked at midnight, but there was nothing. 

Gussie

 Yesterday was the day for Gussie, but first I want to show you what sleep deprivation looks like.  The head sinks quickly to the ground, and the front legs buckle while the hind legs remain locked like they are supposed to. Then the horse wakes up. Well, Gussie has taken it a step further. 

My apologies for the quality of the video, it was taken from my dining room window. In it, she is standing on a slope, and falls into REM sleep while standing. She rocked back and the front legs didn't buckle but stretched out as her head and chest went to the ground. I thought for sure she would fall over but she didn't. 

If anyone has any leads on anti anxiety supplements that could help, let me know! I have black cumin seed oil and passionfruit oil that are supposed to be calming but not sure how much to give and if they are safe for pregnant mares . Because....

She got to meet Leo yesterday, and lets just say she was interested.....

And apparently in full blown heat! The old boy (he is 25) did his job very quickly and got a really good cover. I should be able to bring her home in just a few days, then at day 14 have her checked for twins. 

Gussie is also a nervous hauler. as soon as she loaded she was shaking and sweating. When we got to the stud's farm, just over an hour drive, she was drenched in sweat. I think she worries that she is going away and never coming back to her herd, since that has happened several times in her life. It will be interesting to see how she does on her way back home. Silly old girl, wish I could just tell her she isn't going anywhere any more. 

Mares

 Sorry about being awol for most of this week. In my defense, I have had a cold that laid me low for a few days. (Not Covid!) It came with an awful headache.

Some exciting news- Mama Belle is very close to foaling! 

Udder is full including the teats

Muscle tone around the tailhead is jiggly and dropped

Historically she foals on or close to the full moon, which is Sunday night. From what Shayla says, she is most likely positioning the foal today; she walks around with her tail out and will probably roll a few times as the foal begins to enter the birth canal. From there it's usually within 24 to 48 hours!

Can't wait to see this foal! Here is a photo of the sire, Root Beers Boots

Isn't he a beauty!  Shayla is hoping for a buckskin filly from this cross. 

It does seem strange to not have a foaling contest for her this year. But feel free to leave a guess in the comments as to colt/filly and colour! Choices for colour are;

Offspring Color Probability

37.50% -	Bay
37.50% -	Buckskin
12.50% -	Black
12.50% -	Smoky Black

Jayne isn't far behind, she should foal within a week to ten days after Belle. 

Sophie came into heat this last week too, so we were busy trying to get her bred to Beamer. 

Beamer had a hard time covering her; she was pretty reactive and worried about his yelling and climbing on her, which leads me to believe that last year when she was pasture bred that's why the stallion couldn't get her covered. Ted was helping with her and he could barely hold her still. It took two days of failed attempts and finally on the last day of her heat, Beamer managed to get it done. 

I will check her back in 3 weeks but I'm really hoping we don't have to go through all that again! 

Having a bite of dandelion salad after the successful breeding. 

The farm is now listed for sale, and we have a showing on Monday, so I have been packing and cleaning . We still don't have a place nailed down to move to, but we have a contingency plan in place to put stuff in storage and stay in a holiday trailer at Shayla's until we find a rental. 

We had a garage sale last Saturday, very successful, and have enough stuff to do another one before we move. 

My Suzanna Magnolia is in full bloom, wish I could take it with me but probably won't survive the Alberta winters. 

Happy Beamer

Kind of busy around here, we got the trailer to the point where I can now use it, still need to paint and line the divider and install the puckboard but I can haul with it until Ted gets back. It's safe and sound now!

Beamer has been a busy boy, much to his delight. He had a girlfriend from Alberta come over and both her and Coulee were in full standing heat at the same time, poor guy didn't know which one to talk to! The Alberta mare belongs to the good folks who already own 4 of his babies and they are pretty excited at the chance to raise one of their own. She will be heading home today.

 It took a while for Coulee and Chino to buddy up

Then next week the paint mare comes back- remember her? She foaled a perfect black and white stud colt last year.
We had a heck of a rain storm here yesterday- sure hope it hits all the areas that are tinder dry and/or burning.

Raining so hard you can't see past the paddock fence.

Family, and Beamer

Since coming back from Calgary it has been busy here. My sister came for a visit with her 3 daughters, so of course, they all got riding lessons on Beamer every day, then the raspberries are in full flush and need picking every day, we've been making jam from them and also had to pick the cherries and made jam with them too. 17 jars of jam put up so far! I want to get some apricots and make jam with them too- and maybe blueberry.
The kids went home - they live with their dad- and my sister is living with us now, and it sure is nice to have her here! She is my youngest sister.
Beamer had another girlfriend here, this time a Paint mare- this is Pepsi:

She has some good Quarter Horse bloodlines including Peppy San and Major Bonanza. A nice mare, who is being retired from riding because of allergies causing breathing problems when she gets to working.

Really looking forward to seeing that baby! I had to list Beamer with the Paint Horse association as a breeding stallion so that the  foal can be registered.
Meanwhile, Beamer sprained his ankle- I think he either laid down too close to the fence, or caught it when rolling, I could see a diagonal mark on the outside of his cannon bone. Cold hosing, essential oils and standing wraps and he is much improved today; he could barely put weight on it 5 days ago. He's on stall rest too, but he can move around as his "stall" is 20 x 40. The kids will be back this week so they will be disappointed that they can't ride, but I will teach other horsemanship stuff with them. They were doing great with haltering and leading Kai and Josie, so more of that, and I am teaching the oldest one how to longe- using Kai, who is such a sweetheart.
We worked an auction on Saturday and I came home with a brand new still-in-the-box ice cream maker for $20, we are making ice cream today! and we also bought a car, a 1978 Oldsmobile 98 in excellent condition: one owner and never winter driven. I love those big cars! Here she is:

She drives like silk! :)

Ignorance is not bliss.

I've been brewing this post for a month or so, while I decided what to do.
This spring, I was considering sending Beamer to a farm in Alberta to stand at stud for the season- it would have been a good opportunity for him as I sold all my brood mares last year. One of the requirements was that I get the 5 panel DNA test done that AQHA has for genetic diseases. I thought he would pass perfectly with negative results- but it turns out that he carries one copy of the gene for HERDA. If you read the link, you will see that  one of the horses there is a horse called Poco Pine who this disease traces back to- and he is in Beamer's pedigree. 
A horse that is a carrier, like Beamer, does not have the disease, but when bred to another carrier has a 50%chance of producing a foal with the disease.
Needless to say, I was pretty upset about this and seriously considered Beamer's future as a sire. Do I retire him completely from breeding? Or do I select mares that are not carriers or whose pedigree does not trace back to the horses Poco Pine or Poco Lena?
The issue there is that there is a 50% chance that Beamer could pass on the single gene copy that he carries.
I have made a decision- and that is that I will be selective, and breed only certain mares to him, and only if the mare owner is informed and willing to do a DNA test on the resulting foal to determine if it carries the gene.
I had Coyote Belle tested before I sold her and she was negative for all 5 of the diseases covered by the 5 panel test.. Once I found out that Beamer is a carrier, I tested Josie (Chickory's daughter)- and she is also a carrier.
I feel that I am being a responsible breeder, by making sure that there is no possibility of Beamer being bred to a carrier mare, and as each foal will be tested, the information will stay with that foal so that should any foals be carriers their owners and any future owners if the foal should be sold, will be informed and able to make appropriate decisions should they ever decide to breed. It also means that there will be very few future Beamer babies.
So now, let me introduce you to a mare who is currently in for breeding- a grey appendix mare with absolutely no traces to Poco Bueno or any of his get

She has Dash For Cash and Beduino on her papers, the owners are looking for a rope horse. I am doing a foal share agreement with them, I will get every second foal, and I'm thinking more along the lines of barrel horse.