Cutest little foals in the world!

The foals are getting frisky! They're jumping, bucking, trotting, galloping, doing spins, sliding stops, roll overs - in general, practicing for the reining ring  :)  They're running circles around their mothers and driving the poor mares frantic with their inability to stay put. 

If you're trying to match up the family trees and see who is related to whom, here's the scoop.

Firefly has two brothers - Flashy (2) and Hutch (5)

 

Flashman - love the hair :)  

    

Hutch - Mr. Reliable. He will boldly go :)

Friendly - check out the cool marking on her butt - it looks like a very portly gentleman with a rather large nose. :)

  Carling has a full brother - Corona (3).

Frisco's foal, Firefly, has arrived.

So, this was the scoop last night - bagged up, waxed up, moaning and groaning.  But, she held out until everyone was gone today to have the foal.   And what an amazingly cute foal it is!  She was born in the field with her mother and sister in attendance. 

We named her Firefly - in the tradition of having the baby's barn name start with the first letter of the mom's name - so you know whose foal is whose.

She is very curious of people - and everything in general. 

 And she loves every living creature - including the two nests of barn kitties that are currently sharing her stall. In the far right, you can see a pile of furry black bodies and one ginger coloured bum sticking out on the left :)

He's he-ere!!!!

I'm pleased to introduce Connie's new foal - Carling.  We're sticking with the beer theme - for the moment anyway.  He has an older full brother named Corona :)  His sire's name is Slide Over Hollywood - a very handsome reining stallon who goes by the barn name "Jackson".

Carling was born early this morning in the field and was up and sucking and trotting by the time Chris and I were on the scene this morning.  We got them separated from the mare herd after much excitement and they are now happily installed in the run in. 

Carling is already practicing his canter, spins, sliding stops and roll backs.  His mother thinks he's very advanced.

All bagged up and nowhere to go :)

This is a picture of Connie.  She is certainly not a happy camper these days as she groans her way around the fields and barnyard wearing a perpetual 'Who did this to me?' expression. 
Hopefully, her little bundle of joy will make it all worthwhile. :)

In other news, Flashman is getting incredibly handsome - in fact, we may have to change his name to Fabio.  He was having an exceptionally good hair day today and the wind was blowing it just right. :)

Starsky the Wonder Horse

Every now and then, you get a 'forever' horse. One that's so much fun and so nice to be around that you feel like you just found your next best friend.

That's Starsky. He's a Paint Horse. Tobiano. He's about 15.1 hands.  He has the cutest little trot -  that my husband says is just walking with style - but it's sooooo comfortable that I don't care. :)

He doesn't do scary things when he's scared - he waits for direction - which is wonderful. 

If you follow our website  http://www.starviewfarm.com/, he has a full sister named Cheyenne who will start training this year.  She's a gorgeous medicine hat paint.  I can't wait to see what she's like.  She's very brave and very smart - but then, I always did have a soft spot for mares...

Wait for it....

It's really frustrating to wait around for foals.  You breed the mare, you carefully write down the dates and calculate the due date and then, obviously, the mares NEVER read it. ;)

We are waiting for Connie (QH mare) and Frisco (APHA mare) to have their little bundles of joy.  I'm betting it's two fillies.  We shall see.

The mares have started to bag up, but although they're due almost a month apart, they look to be at the same stage or pre-delivery readiness. 

This is a very fetching picture of Frisco from last month.

Spring is coming!

We had some absolutely beautiful sunshine here today and the mercury managed to creep above freezing, so the snow was melting a bit too - always a good sign that the snowbanks won't stay forever.  The horses were just waking up from their 2pm nap when I snapped some pictures. 
Cheyenne turned 2 this year and she LOVES to have her picture taken.  You have to sneak up on her and snap a bunch, because once she hears the shutter noise, she wants to get really close and horses nostrils aren't as cute as the whole horse...

Flashman has grown up to be a very handsome man with a mane to die for!  It has this wild kink in it.

Have a great week! 

Holy cold riding!

It's that time of year when you sacrifice the feeling in your fingers, nose and toes for some time in the saddle.  It's been pretty icy up this way too - which doesn't help whether you have two feet or four.  Here's some inspiration for the intrepid winter riders.

New year - new babies!

It's January of 2010 and the countdown to May has started. Conny (QH) and Frisco (Paint) will be having babies this year.

Conny was bred to Jackson (barn name for Slide Over Hollywood) a very talented reining stallion. We're looking forward to the first spins already :)

Frisco was bred to our stallion, Mojo (barn name for Smart Leo San Cita). This pairing has produced some of the sweetest horses you'll ever meet. If you're looking for a horse that acts like a dog - this is your lucky year :)

Subscribe to the blog to get the first pictures when the babies hit the ground. Happy trails!

Poor Mojo

Tonight, we put him out in a pasture where he can see the mares. I'm sure he'll be hoarse by morning (yes, pun intended :) He galloped up and down trying to look impressive, he started a manure mountain (must be a horsey thing) and he called to the girls with a toss of his head.

Some of them were absolutely smitten - they're probably coming into heat soon. Some of them just ate grass - they're not in heat.

We're also experimenting with having one larger herd of horses for the summer so they can use teh pasture more efficiently. We'll see how that goes.

Boy, oh boys!

Early this morning - I had just stepped out of the shower at around 6:50 a.m. when I got a call from our neighbour. He wanted to know if we were missing some horses because a bunch had just gone thundering past his house.

He lives about 1 km away as the crow flies, so this was no early morning meander...

I jumped into some clothes and went to find my husband - who had already noticed the horses were gone. He had ridden out on the stallion to try to find the errant boys. They were no where to be seen.

I flagged him down from the four wheeler - my hair was now completely dry and had that wind blown look - and we set off to the neighbours with a bunch of halters, lead lines and a saddle - and a half-baked plan.

Our wonderful neighbour had managed to corral the boys in one of his pastures and we were able to get halters and lead lines on the six of them. Then we started the trudge home. WAY more excitement than I needed before breakfast.

Thank goodness for good neighbours. :)

This is a picture of the sainted mare herd that stayed home.

Bitless bridles - Pepsi's verdict

I bought a bitless bridle at an auction sale in Listowel. Brought it home and eventually tried it. The first time, I tried it with a young horse that I've been riding and frankly, he was really confused. Going from a very simple western style headstall to head bondage was a little overwhelming for him.

So, tonight, I tried it with my faithful mare Pepsi. Pepsi was born on the farm 17 years ago - our first baby here. Her mother was a sorrel grade quarter horse type mare and her father was a bay coloured registered Appaloosa. We got a small black mare that has the energy of the Energizer Bunny and is willing to try just about anything - at least once.

She waited patiently while I got the bridle adjusted properly and really liked the fact that it's black, like her. She enjoys matching accessories. It took her a couple of turns and stops to catch on and then we were off on a trail ride. She loves the fact that when it's time to stop for a rest break and some grass, there's no bit in her mouth to limit grass consumption ;)

I actually bought the bridle for DeeDee, our minimal white overo mare, but she hasn't had a chance to try it out yet. DeeDee acts like her feelings are being hurt when you use a bit, so we often just attach reins to her bridle when we ride. (No, it's not her teeth - we have them floated :)

Anyway, I'll let you know how the next experiment goes :)

First turn out of the year!

The horses have been on winter paddocks up until now, but this weekend they are having a great time tearing around in the big fields, eating dandelions until their faces are yellow and playing games.





Here's Mojo posing for the camera between gallops up and down the field. He's pretty sure that this would be more fun with a mare to keep him company ;)










You can tell this is a real blog because there are dirty horses in it :) These guys have been rolling in every available mud puddle - and with the weather we've been having, there are lots of them.

The weaning has begun

The foals started the weaning process at the first of September. That's where we separate them from their mothers so they stop nursing. They're growing up so fast!

It's not a quiet process mind you - the mares and babies scream back and forth across the fields and just in case we aren't hearin them, the gelding herd gets in on the action too :)

Friendly and Sandy have been elected to babysit the baby herd since they are the only maiden mares around. Horses use babysitters just like people do.

Those babies are getting big!

The boys and their sister are getting big! They've gone from all legs and wobble to running fast as the wind, sliding stops and crazy spins. This crew has reining in their blood.

Cheyenne, the girl with the medicine hat is going to be BIG. She's only a couple months old and is almost as tall as our yearlings from last year.

We got some great colour this year and a beautiful black colt from Pepsi - everyone loves Black Beauty :)

These guys have amazing personalities and now that they've figured out that people know how to scratch where it itches, they have developed an abiding love for things on two legs with fingernails.

If you want a colt to start, give us a call.

June 16, 2008 The last wait begins

The last wait begins. Conny, Chris' Quarter Horse mare is the last one due. She always goes over - most time by around a month. Her foals are well baked :)

She was bred to a Palomino stallion this year, so we have some hope for an interesting colour. Of course we do - we specialize in Paint Horses!

We'll keep you posted!

Conny's baby is the last one!

Chris' Quarter Horse mare, Conny (Docs Continental Gin), will be our last mother of the season. We're expecting her baby in about two weeks. Her baby from last year, Corona, was not the most attractive fella as a young foal. I called him Donk (short for Donkey) for quite a while. ;)

He's getting better as he gets older.

We're holding onto the slim chance that she may have a Palomino this year. She was bred to a Palomino stallion who has thrown some interesting colours.

Foal number 4!

Pepsi had her foal this morning. I went down to the barn to feed everyone and the mares were standing behind Pepsi calling to me and she wouldn't let them come to the barn. This is not that unusual for Pepsi, she's lead mare and is a bit of a control freak. ;)

Then I saw what the hold up was!! She had a very new foal beside her who wasn't co-operating with the whole idea of following his mom around. It was pouring rain and there was the little guy prancing around in the mud trying to figure out where a guy could get a warm meal.

Luckily, our mares are very tolerant about having people around when they have new babies. I was able to help Pepsi herd him into the barn and get everyone else settled with their breakfast. Pepsi is black and always has either a black foal or a black and white tobiano. We're going with the Black Beauty look this year :) I can't decide whether to stick with the idea of starting the foal name with the mom's first initial and call him Pedro, or go for something different and call him Zorro. Suggestions welcome!

May 17th - still no foal from Pepsi!

We're waiting and waiting - an really, is Pepsi's bag gets any bigger, we'll have to borrow a milking machine if this baby doesn't come soon! :)

Every evening, we check her bag for signs of waxing and her ligaments for signs of softening. There was a bit of wax but it doesn't show in this photo and her ligaments are quite soft today - see the photo with my hand in it :)

Ah well, maybe we'll have a little surprise on Sunday morning :)

May 16 - the wait continues

I love it when they start groaning their way around as they walk. It's almost like a horse song - and they're not great singers :) We've seen some waxing on Pepsi's teats, but nothing truly spectacular yet. Talk tomorrow!

May 15 - Still no foal from Pepsi

Well, the weather is warm and sunny today, so she'll probably wait for rain and mud to have her baby. I'll try to post some photos of the ever-enlarging bag and maybe a short video showing how her ligaments are getting soft.

Cold Dreary May

Somehow it feels more like April than May! High of 13 today. Hope the sun isn't too long coming out.

DeeDee's new foal was supposed to get out in the fields with the other foals and their dams today, but he's not following his mommy around well enough yet. They get another day of seclusion in a warm dry run-in.

His name needs to start with a 'D'

We have a bunch of mares and every year, they have a bunch of foals. Sooo, to help us remember which foal goes with which mother, we try to give the babies a name that starts with the first letter of the mom's name (or the first sound). For example, Dee Dee's foal from last year was called Dakota. Now, we're on the hunt for a cool D name. We're toying with Dillon and Dallas, but I'm not really keen on people names... Suggestions welcome!

It's very funny in the first couple of hours when they're trying to figure out how the milk store works - is it at the front? at the back? How far do I have to bend down to make this work??

He's He-eerrrre!

Dee Dee had her foal today! A big boy (colt). He's a minimal white overo - just gorgeous!

Dee Dee is going to pop soon!

Our Paint Horse mare, Sonny Dee Made looks like she's going to explode! According to the calendar, she could have had this foal last week, but she's hanging in there - groaning and uncomfortable.

Her baby from last year was a minimal white sorrel colt (for the unitiated, it's mostly brown with enough white to be in the colour registry :)

When a horse is going to foal, their bag gets VERY extended and their teats exude this waxy stuff (the term is waxing up). Check and check. Dee Dee has done that.

So, we'll see what tomorrow brings - maybe a new picture for the foal watch!

Til later!