Out & About

Well our little baby is growing like a weed! She is 1 week old today. She is a very busy and very cheeky little girl!

She is learning to wear her halter and to stand quietly to have it put on. She is not too fond of wearing it yet, but she will learn that its all part of being a horse! She is pretty good at having it put on for the most part, but sometimes she can be silly about it.

Pheonix used to be an overweight mare.....not anymore! Her little one is keeping her on the move! Phoenix has never been a fan of exercise, especially running, but she is doing a lot now! She actually looks very good and has slimmed down a lot.

More exercise. And they are not even out in the BIG field yet! Oh boy is Pheeny going to hate running around the BIG field after her little one! This weekend hopefully we will have it set up for them to go into.

After all that work its time for a snack. Pheeny is very protective of her food and shares with no one....except her baby :) The little one has a couple front teeth now so she is just learning to eat hay and grass and the occastional oat. It is an incredible amount of work raising a young foal and at times they make you want to pull your hair out! But for the most part it is fun, exciting and rewarding. The next little one is due in 6-8 weeks....

First Day Outside!

Pheeny and her little filly went outside today to get some fresh air and grass. Pheeny is very protective of her little girl, which is a good thing right now. The little baby, who still is not named yet, found her legs today and had a great time racing around!

Time for a little nap with mommy close by.

She had figured out how to get up and lay down now. It took her a while to figure out how to lay down!! LOL

On the move! She is very active and moves around a lot.

Well it has been a hectic few days and I am very tired, but it was well worth it for the little girl. She is so sweet and quite a character.

We HAVE A BABY!!!

Phoenix gave birth this morning around 10 am!!! She had a gorgeous Bay and white tobiano filly!! (Girl).

Phoenix was very fussy last night in her stall so I definitely thought she was in labour, but no baby came so we let her outside for some grass and some air and about an hour later she gave birth outside in the front yard!!! The filly and mom and both doing well!

We have not named this little girl yet. She is quite tall and already has to bend down to nurse from mommy. The vet is coming out this eveing to make sure everyone is well and to give some vitamin shots and do blood tests.

Will keep you posted, but just wanted to show some pictures of this lovely little girl! I could not be more pleased with her. I expected (and wanted) and bay and I love the Tobiano pattern so I am very very happy!

Waiting, Watching & Wondering...

Well Pheeny is close to delivering her foal! Her official due date is tomorrow and we are starting her foal watch tonight. She will be checked on every hour. She is showing signs that the foaling is near...full udders, big milk veins, relaxed muscles, being off alone etc... and we have being doing milk tests and it is indicating that she should foal within the next 48 hours, so the foal count down is on!

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Hopefully she will foal tonight!! I'll keep you posted.....

Linus & Lucy

The kittens have settled in really well. They now have names! The little male is called Linus and the little female is called Lucy.

Lucy checks out the world outside of the stall for the first time. I have just begun letting this wee ones outside into the barn for the day. I don't want them outside yet, as I want them to be very secure with this as their home. They are so very little!

Linus and Lucy rough housing again!

Nap time! They love to curl up together and have a nap and they are so cute when they do!

Out in the BIG field!

Well we put the horses out in the summer pasture and they are absolutely loving it!! There is so much space and they can run and frolick. The little ones especially love it. They have been racing all over the place. They still have to come up to the barn for water but it is so healthy and nice for them to be out in the fields.

The whole group of them went racing past me the and I captured this great action shot of Ace. He has great movement, and I love all the bright green grass and trees!

Pepsi and Tia went for a run. They were all a little nervous at first but have quickly settled in, they love all the grass too!



Even Misty got in on the action. She and her very pregnant belly went for a canter around the field too :)

Kiwi and Ebony spied me from across the field. They are loving all the space too. Ebony in particular is investigating everything.

Kiwi and Ebony on their rounds :)

Ace and Misty surveying all the space.

Kittens!!

SO CUTE!!! We got 2 little barn kittens today. They are so soft and adorable!!! We have alot of mice so we needed a cat so I thought I would get 2 so that they can be friends.

These guys are a brother and sister and they are 8 weeks old. They have settled in well and are very very friendly and sweet. No names yet, but I will let you know. These little babies will soon be joined by the first foal baby.


The little solid grey one is male. He is curious and friendly.

This little white and grey one is the female. She is very cuddly and likes to be held. She is so sweet.

They like to sleep curled up together and it is adorable. It has been a long time since I had a kitten and I have never had 2 at once, so this is so exciting!

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Ebony will be so happy when she gets to see the kittens, she loves kittens!

Randoms

Here is one mommy-to-be. Phoenix is doing well and is in the last week or so of her pregnancy. If you keep your eye on the 'Pregnancy Countdown Page' you will be able to see how close each Mom-to-be is to her due date. Phoenix is 9 days from her due date. The page will be updated as each female is bred so keep your eye on the page!

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Misty is doing well too and is very big. I will have to take a picture of her and post it. She is due in about 3 months, and the last 3 months are when the foal does %70 of its growing so Misty is going to get very big!

Cricket and her 2007 foal Tia have a little meeting over the fence. Cricket is currently in with the stud and should be bred soon. We have been out riding Cricket a lot and she really seems to like to get out. She is currently stalled at night to keep Phoenix company. Phoenix is stall in the 'birthing suite' so that when she does give birth it is in a quite and controlled environment.

Foxy and Jazz both thought there might be food in the tub. There was not. However these two get along very well....not many horses would put their heads in a small space so close together.

Bucky boy surveys the land. I have been riding him almost every day and it is doing him good. He is much calmer and settled when he is ridden regularily. Gets all the high jinx out!

Tia and Ace want to know if there is any food in the barn? Can we have some? We know its in there!!!

Riding & Training

Buck and I were just playing around and I decided to see if I could get him to walk on the bridge and then stop. It is harder than one might think!! First off some horses are afraid to even approach the bridge. Buck and I did get on e the bridge and stand there, I was proud :)

This was our first attempt...almost on but the back feet are off. A good try though.

Foxy and I went for a ride and had a lot of fun. I have been trying to get out riding at least once per day when the weather is good. Today I had Buck out and we had a great trail ride, he was sweaty when we were done and I hosed him off.

Foxy and I playing in the fields.

The time has come to start training the youngsters. We have begun working them in the round pen. Right now I am just working on getting them to move in the direction I ask them to. They are all doing really well.

Jazz takes his turn in the round pen. He is such a nice fella especially for a stallion. I have seen him messing around with Cricket and Foxy so hopefully he gets them bred this year and we will have 2 little foals next year, the first foals from Jazz.

Tia did well too. She is a little more uncoordinated right now, but she is in a growth spurt and is very gangly. She has very long legs and is going to be tall! Pepsi was in the round pen too but I did not get a picture of her.

Look Who's Home!

Ebony is home!!! She arrived Sunday from the Stud farm. She is pregnant and now all we have to do is wait unti l next April for her little baby to be born....that won't be hard at all....NOT. I am excited that she is pregnant and happy to have her back home.

Kiwi and I were taking a walk around the house and yard a few days ago before ebony got back. He seemed to really enjoy getting out and seeing things and of course he loves posing for the camera!!

Tia got a little frisky and decided to chase Kiwi.

This is one smart llama!!! He wanted the grass on the other side of the fence...lol we all know that story!....and so he simply laid down and stuck his head under! I had to laugh when I walked upon this scene!

Back together again! Here is a picture I took just an hour ago, its been one day since Ebony came home and she seemed a little nervous....because remember we moved while she was gone so she has never been to this farm before....so I let them out onto some nice pasture, it is the summer pasture and we are still waiting for some fencing before we let the horses out but I thought I would let Kiwi and Ebony out for a little while so have some nice grass. Welcome home Ebony! We missed you!