Named and handled

I can't let the first day go by without naming a foal. I had several ideas which I rolled around in my mind to see what stuck. The registered name was fairly easy; all Beamer babies get either Midnight or Peppy in their names, and since she is red and was born in the morning, it would be a Peppy name. Then I wanted to pay homage to her pedigree. Jayne is registered as Zanits Miss Diamond, the Diamond refers to the female side of the great Shining Spark who is her grandsire- his mama,the equally great Diamonds Sparkle.

So meet DLH Peppys Diamond!

She does have a kind of diamond shaped star. (Foose on guard in the background!)

Her barn name took a lot more figuring. I wanted a name that started with D, to go with Derby's name of course. 

I originally thought Daisy, but it didn't suit. 

She agrees!

So- final choice.....

My name is Dally!

Dally inherited her mama's longer face and Beamer's shorter back. Overall she is a well balanced filly who will get cuter as she grows. Sorrel babies are tougher to call cute than black based babies because of the light skin around their eyes, but that will change as time goes by.

Whaaaaat? I think I'm cute!

She causes her mama some consternation when she gets to exploring her gears!

Jayne is a very protective mama. We have to halter her to handle her baby, which we did yesterday.

We also caught her last evening to give her an enema as she was straining to pass her first pooh once her meconium had passed. That actually went well, although Jayne still is standoffish at least she isn't threatening me anymore. She just herds her baby away from us if she can.

Really momma? I'm a big girl!

Sister

Yesterday morning- Jayne had wax. Halleluiah!

I watched her closely during the day and slept with my ears open. I did a few checks throughout the night but Jayne had that innocent "Nuthin' to see here!" look.

I checked about 10 minutes to 4 am, - nothing- and when I lay down I could hear her lay down, and some suspicious other sounds, so I got up again and shone my flashlight in the pen and sure nuff there was a second set of eyes glinting at me!

Well now that was quick miss Jayne! I watched for a bit, but Jayne was not happy with me being close and threatened me with her butt, so I wisely backed off. Not used to that, Belle was always happy to have me right in there. But I guess that's the difference with a mare that is used to foaling out in a pasture with other mares- she has to claim her foal right away.

It took a little while for the filly- yes FILLYYYYYYY.......... to find her feet but once she was up it didn't take much longer for her to latch on for her first colostrum. And yes, she is a sorrel- so that means Linda wins the contest, very fitting because it's Tumbleweed's birthday too!

The birds were serenading shortly before she was born, so it was a rather beautiful start to the day. You should have seen Beamer when he spotted his daughter- he was so excited, leaping and rearing and galloping along his fenceline. Silly boy! He does love the babies. 

Once daylight hit I brought out the Nikon for a photo shoot, while I watched to make sure mama cleaned and baby had her first poop. Both of which went like clockwork. 

Her only white is that little star- Beamer sure didn't hand out the white this year!

Yes, those are your legs!

Jayne takes a well deserved rest....

but she's not happy when she doesn't have eyes on her baby!

I have to get ready for church, but will post more later today!

Really, Jayne?

Well....

We had a Derby Day foal in little Derby so maybe Jayne is holding out for a Preakness foal?

She isn't too impressed this morning!

Oh look, pretty!

Figured I had better show you something pretty.....

Always the first iris to bloom here

because the hostage situation continues!

Breakfast please!

Every morning the local pheasant wakes me up; the cabin is next to Jayne's pen and he goes in there to clean up her grain spillage. His loud squawk is followed by the honking of a pair of geese who fly directly over the cabin, honking their beaks off, so sleeping in after a night of checking repeatedly on the mare is not an option!

So to keep it fun, lets have more guesses! Most of you are eligible to put in another guess, so fire away! 

Wordless Wednesday

Derby photoshoot

I'm posting a Derby photoshoot that Shayla took because... well...

Nuthin' to see here folks! So, Betsy, Carol, Whisper, Aurora, Cdncowgirl, Leslie, Frank, Lvmyhrs, Grey Horse and Linda, you are all eligible to put in another guess. It should be soon because her bag is right full and the nipples are full too although she hasn't waxed yet.

So anyway, here are some delightful photos of Mr. Handsome #2! Thank you Shayla for the photos! The cover photo was one of them.

I deliberately over exposed this one in editing as I may do a pencil drawing of it.

He has lots of room to zoom!

Maybe he wants to be a Derby Horse!

He has his daddy's eye

He's got those long legs figured out!

1 point landing

Didya get all that?

Just like daddy...

Sunday Stills- New Beginnings

Welcome back to the Sunday Stills Challenge! Long time blogger, who goes by Cdncowgirl, has resurrected the Sunday Stills Challenge. 

This week the theme is New Beginnings. Now I was, of course hoping to have a cute little 4 legged creature for my post, but Jayne is still holding her hostage, so I went with some of my up and coming flowers.  First up is a lily my sister gave me last year, she wasn't sure if it was going to live as it was just a dried up pot of not much, no sign of life, but you can't keep a good lily down! I am excited to see what kind of lily it will be.

 

Next is a new-to-me variety of petunia, I think it's called Crazy Tunia. First photo is a macro of a bud opening and then a close up of the petals fully opened.

I love the white tips. I have another one of the same variety that is called Midnight Gold, very dark purple with yellow tips.

All photos taken with my cell phone.... my big camera is residing at the barn awaiting baby photos!

End of an era

It has been a pretty tough week for me. As most of you know, Tess was diagnosed with a bone tumor at the beginning of April, and I chose to medicate her for palliative care as long as possible. 

It was obvious that she was going downhill rapidly at the beginning of the week, so I took her to the vet for x-rays. The tumor had weakened the bone and it broke completely; the x-ray also showed tumors spread throughout her gut.

So... yes it was time to make the call.

I had prepared her grave ahead of time, and lined it with a blanket and magnolia blossoms, and I spent an hour with her, heart to heart. She never took her eyes off me and pretty much told me she was ready. 

Those sweet sweet eyes told the story. No longer bright and full of the spark of love and life.

This is the end of an era for us, with both Merle and Tess gone in the span of less than 3 months,  no more dogs for us. They were our heart dogs - even more so than Reba, Tess was special to me. 

Perfection can't be replaced.

I reckon Jesus the Good Shepherd needed a little help rounding up all the strays who have left the flock these last few years.

While we wait

 Jayne is still holding her *ahem* filly hostage, so that means that Betsy in Wi, Carol, Far Side, Whisper, and Cdncowgirl can put in a new guess. 

I don't think baby has a lot more room to move in there!

Wide load!

I could see little flutters at the bottom center of her belly, and 2 nights ago Jayne was doing a lot of rolling, so I'm hoping baby is moving into the foaling position.

Meanwhile, Derby is getting his lessons figured out.

He looks good in green! That little halter should fit him for about 2 months. Yes he will grow into it in that time! I have 3 sizes of halters for the babies for the first 5 months of their lives.

You are doing great young feller!

The waiting game

Well.... no foal yet! That means Teresa A, Leslie, Grey Horse, Linda, and Betsy in Wi are eligible to put in another guess!  Meanwhile, there is this li'l rascal:

Derby is in getting his first halter lessons. 

Nuthin' to see here folks! She has not waxed yet.

I finished my hotwire pasture, we put in some permanent posts and I strung 3 strands of electric tape; this is now Beamer's turnout pen so I can have both horses in grassy turnout pens during the day.

Lookin' for Jayne

You can see the difference in the pens!. Beamer is very respective of fences, as I heat up even the wire, so if he is across the fence from another horse, he never pushes on the fence line.

But he still has to show off! Then the siren call of all that grass takes over;

Mmnomnomnom!

And so, the waiting continues!

Baby pics!

Derby you are so adorable!

Once again, mama Belle outdid herself. 

    

Love that little wrinkly nose! And that perfectly centered swirl which feathers out, a sign that he will be very friendly and easy to train.

Shayla found the perfect itchy spots 😊

Yes mama you did good!

Not a lick of white! Sometimes a solid colour is as eye catching as one with chrome. That black coat is going to live up to his name.

Sorry about the fuzzy photos, they are sent from an iPhone to an Android and then to my computer and sometimes the devices don't mesh. They look nice and clear on her phone!

Fuzzy or not, he sure is photogenic already! Shayla and Blake managed to get a hair sample today for his dna test. I hope he is homozygous black; I think he is a non fading black like Beamer. Moondance is a fading black.

Derby

Well my horse I picked to win the Derby didn't have a good trip but what a great story on the horse who won! I was going for Rock Your World, but he couldn't get out of the pack and get a clear run. The winner, Medina Spirit was bought for $1000 at the yearling sale- what an incredible race he ran! And competing against colts who sold for over a million bucks. Gotta love an underdog with Spirit- well named horse 😎

Speaking of Derby....

I would like you to meet DLH Durashine Peppy, aka Derby. 

Yup! Belle graced us with another colt on Kentucky Derby day. Interestingly enough, Belle's sire, Durable Shine, was also nicknamed Derby, so it is a fitting family name for this black colt- who has no white on him at all.

I have a bit of a dilemma as to the foaling contest as nobody got it really right. Carol was closest with day and time, and Frank had the closest guess of color and gender. So I think they both get a prize! 

At first I though smoky black, but I think he is just black like Moondance.

More pics and videos to come tomorrow as I am waiting for Shayla to email them. He is so adorable!