Foal Friday

 I'm going back in time for a bit to get caught up.  

These pics take me back to the day Rip and his dam came home from the fancy maternity barn.  We brought them home on Feb 27 (I think) despite there being a nasty snow storm in the morning.  We checked the weather and it looked like it was clearing out by the time we left with the trailer.  Luckily the plows were out in full force, so the highway was in decent shape.

Rip and Lucy loaded up no problem and then we were on our way back home. I have to tell you, I was super nervous having a foal in my barn. I've never handled a foal that much and now I was responsible for one!  Yikes!  Lol. I think that first night I went out every 4 hours to make sure Rip and Lucy were ok!

Night check the first night - everyone is fine!

The next morning, I was texting my friend to tell her they were fine.  I shared every detail important to a horse person: eating, pooping, drinking.

Rip wondering who the human is that is looking in his stall every 5 minutes 

 

And most importantly, Rip was nursing no problem.

My friend came out later on day 2 and we wrestled Rip into a dog blanket and a halter. Lol Why a dog blanket you ask?  Well, my friend owns a pet store and she had these dog blankets with velcro straps and no clips.  We did have an actual foal blanket, but it was too big and we didn't like the clips on the straps. The velcro on the dog blanket would let go easily if Rip got stuck.

Who are you people and why am I wearing this outfit? Rip, probably

The barn was a bit cold in March, but with these 2 and Spunky, it never went below freezing inside, so that was good.  After the first week, I was starting to relax and only go out to the barn 4x a day instead of every few hours.  Lol. 

We also put up a board to divide the two stalls, so Rip could go over to his side and pick at some foal starter grain/vitamins.  We did this to a) not have to deal with the creep feeder that his dam was licking the pellets from and b) it gave him much more room to move around.

Ok. One Foal Friday post ready! I can do this!  It is fun going back through my pictures too!

Q1 Wrap-up and goals moving forward

Well, everyone's goals for 2020 have sure taken a hit, haven't they?  It is still to early to tell if there will be a show season here, but it isn't looking great and that is ok, since it is soooo out of my control.  With our weather, outdoor shows past September are pretty tough, as there aren't a lot of facilities with big indoor arenas set up for shows.   In fact, I don't think there is one in my region at all.

I've already had to pivot on my goals a bit and I added a couple of thing to the list.  Who knows what else will happen this year?  I'm not going to give up on my horse showing goals jussst yet.  We'll wait a bit and see where we end up.

So cute. Might not show this year. If ever...? lol

Q1 is usually quite slow around here anyway due to winter.  No shows, no real training, etc. happens, etc.  

I can't believe my 2020 horse goals didn't have the foal on there?  Sheesh.  That is one thing that (fingers crossed) is going well!And I have new horses goals to add for Q2 and onward.

Q1 Personal:

• read 45 books - I'm at 12 so far
• back up and organize photos (my computer is dying, so this is urgent!) - meh - this is ongoing. Does anyone have any tips on fun ideas with digital photos? I don't want stacks of prints lying around!
• volunteer somewhere horse-y - on hold due to coronavirus
• save $$ for foal hopefully coming in 2021 - this is going well, since I'm at home and not spending any money!
• exercise program of some sort  - started walking 3-4 times / week
• stick to a budget - this is one silver lining of the pandemic/SIP - spending is almost down to zero!

Q1 - Horses:  

• start working Fred in hand, where possible - I was able to start this in March
• Copper - stay healthy - CHECK!
• get Lucy in foal - CHECK!!  We had the 45 day ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and all looks good!
• New! find a second mare for my friend to breed and potentially ride 
• New! find a bridle that fits Fred properly
• New! get Fred more comfortable in a bit, if not try a hackamore
• read/listen to some horse training material - podcasts, youtube, books etc - hard to quantify, but I read a bunch of interesting horse books back in January
• clean and oil tack - um, no progress in Q1 - I have high hopes for Q2
• continue to declutter and sell unused tack - um, no progress in Q1 - I have high hopes for Q2 and the rest of the year

work on selfies should maybe be a goal?  lolz

I don't have much going on right now, but I do have my horses at home, so having some extra time at the barn has been a real important thing for me.  I have lots I can do out there and this type of stuff is what I normally try and get done over the course of the year, as I have time.  Now though, having a bit more time in one chunk had me starting an updated to do/goals list for the barn for Q2:

• clean and organize my hay storage area
• fix and bury fence ground wires - DONE!
• check pasture fence and come up with a plan to have fence fixed by mid-May
• source some 2nd cut hay
• clean and organize tack
• try and figure out a bridle/hackamore option that fits Fred
• repaint jump poles (note: not sure I can get any paint, so this might have to wait)
• clean and put away winter blankets
• put away the trough heater and extension cord
• clean the tack room 
• daydream about tack room renos/updates
• clean cobwebs/windows/shelves

Random Archie photo, cause why not?

I'm sure this list will evolve the longer I'm at home, but this is my starting point.  Nothing is urgent, but all these nice-to-haves will make the barn tidier and more organized.

What about you guys? Are you still hoping for some 2020 goals to work out? Have you made some changes?  

Still here...

I've been having a hard time sitting down to put together even a simple post.  I'm fine, my family is fine, my job is fine.  But the world as a whole - not so fine.  And man it is hard/scary/stressful/ etc etc watching things unfold. 

I'm trying to see this time at home as a gift and while I'm not up to any major DIY projects or anything, I've been spending a lot of time at the barn.  Which is at my house - don't worry - I'm not travelling to see my horse.  I'm torn up that so many people can't see their horses right now and I'm super grateful that I can.  I feel guilty and lucky all all at the same time. 

I've been doing a lot of stuff with Fred and even Copper has some news to share with you guys (he always tells me to not forget him on the blog! lol).

So, seeing as how this one won't have a lot of substance, I'm just going to do a list with a few pictures and notes here and there.

1. My friend was able to have the vet out for the 45 day ultrasound on our mare.  The vet confirmed everything with the foal is looking good!  Woot.  300 more days to go? 

2.  Fred managed to hurt himself and got a big cut/puncture wound on his jaw. I tried cleaning it thoroughly, but it still got infected.  *sigh*  He was due for his vaccines right at the same time, so at least the vet call was 2 birds with one stone.     It is fine now and all scabbed over and almost healed up.

**  warning - gross photo **

ewww...it was about the size of my thumb

2.  With spring arriving in these parts, we also get a lot of birds. Geese move in to the back pasture and we can hear wild turkeys all over the place, but rarely see one at my house.  Well, I can now scratch that off my list! A lone turkey wandered in to the horse's paddock and Copper ran it out of town!  lol  I was scrambling to get my camera, but didn't make it in time. 

The turkey came back the next day, but all it took was a glare from Copper and the turkey gave him a wide berth and kept moving on to greener pastures. 

That's right buster, keep moving. Copper, probably.

3. I went to Costco for supplies and they had a lot of cheese balls.  I took this picture for Stacie!

tasty pandemic snacks!

4. I took some time to get copies made of memberships, registration papers etc and put it all in a binder so I could find it.  I also cleaned up a lot of random papers and finally finished my taxes.

2020 calendar with shows...hahahaha...sob

5. I've been working Fred almost every day since I've been working at home.  We started with handwalking up and down the laneway and some lunging now that my ring is allllmmmmooooossst dry. 

Checking out the hood

The fun adventure has been taking Fred for walks in our neighbourhood.  I was a little worried he would be spooky, but since there is almost no traffic, he has been great.  We do 3-4 kms a few times a week.  

6. Cat pictures. Cause I got nothin' else! lol

A boy and his cat nip stuffed corn chip...

toe floof maintenance

I hope everyone is staying sane during this tough time!

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Yahooo!!!!!

This:

Plus this:

Equals this:

Yasssss!!!!

And now we wait and cross our fingers that all goes well.  I'm not good at waiting.  

via GIPHY

Halter horses - On Breeding and choosing a stud muffin – part 2

Continuing on from part 1 of my halter series, this post goes a little more into why we are choosing to breed and what we hope to achieve with the foal. 

I will admit that I'm a little torn on the whole breeding thing.  There are so many horses out there that need homes and breeding your cute mare to a nice stud usually isn’t the best choice.  I can tell you that if I was looking for a riding horse, I would not be breeding.  That being said, owning and training a foal has been on my bucket list for eons, so having a chance to potentially cross something off my bucket list is pretty exciting.

Totally me...

Our decision to breed was based on a few factors:

• Major bucket list item for me
• My friend has the mare and wants to take care of the breeding, I want to show the foal and she doesn’t, so it is a good split
• We have help from “The Boss”, our halter guru and good friend
• A crappy exchange rate on the US dollar – that ruled out buying a baby from the US (taxes, shipping, etc. on top of the purchase price make this a tough option).  Although, our stud is in the US, but we just had the flat rate stud fee in USD, so that was manageable.
• No high quality halter AQHA/APHA breeders “locally” – which to me is within 8-10 hrs drive
• Lots of breed show class options for weanlings – 3yos without worrying about under saddle training
  • halter
  • longe line (APHA)
  • In hand trail (APHA)
  • Showmanship

I don’t have a lot of science to go on for choosing a stud, but more about the general principles we used.  Keep in mind we also had a very experienced exhibitor and breeder (aka The Boss) guiding us.  I don’t know that this is something I would tackle on my own without extensive help.

The mare we are breeding has a few criteria that are important to us:

1. proven broodmare
2. 5 panel negative (HYPP N/N in particular)
3. halter bred w/ good bloodlines
4. local show record

Baby Mamma

There are many theories to breeding and choosing horses that will produce well and as a newbie, I know very little about this.  Do you pick something that is similar in quality to the mare and hope she produces higher quality?  What about a stud that is known to throw a specific trait you are looking for – ie – height? Or do you choose the best quality stud you can afford and cross your fingers it all works out?


In my opinion, we are starting with a good quality mare, not a superior quality mare.  So, we are hoping for a foal of high quality, by choosing a stud that is superior quality.  Our plans are to show locally and maybe hope for something that could be competitive in provincial/state futurities. 

Our specific criteria for the stud fluctuated a bit and we both made up a short list of our top 5 choices.  In the end, we went with one that was on both our lists that was made a bit more accessible by the Boss and someone she knows.  Our criteria were (in no specific order):

1. tall – at least 16hh - and known to throw height
2. good conformation
3. overall “wow” appearance
4. proven halter bloodlines
5. proven show record – in this case, we were looking for Congress and AQHA/APHA world show wins, not local shows
6. proven offspring – in this case, futurity halter wins (over $100K US in 2019!) and APHA world show wins
7. 5 panel negative (HYPP N/N in particular)
8. optional – double registered AQHA/APHA (for more local show options)

The stud we choose hit all the criteria except #8.  He is APHA only and AQHA does not recognize APHA studs on AQHA mares.  APHA recognizes the reverse, but that isn’t the case for us. 

Image from an ad online

Many halter horses are N/H (they tend to gain more muscle if they are N/H) and many breeders still don’t see it as a negative thing to perpetuate that trait. I am not a big time breeder or a vet, but I feel that my part in not furthering the issue is important, even if small.  I sort of see it as the same as reducing my plastic usage – I can’t save all the turtles - but I can sure do my part.

My fingers are crossed that all goes well and we have a healthy foal! Only 16 or so months to go!

True dat!