Buckskin Filly

The vet came out yesterday to preg check Annie and YEAH, she's pregnant. I'm sure Salam is a bit miffed that he doesn't get to try again, but I'm sure thrilled. This will be baby #10 for Annie, so she's certainly doing her part to keep the Teke breed going. Happily, all her offspring are very nice, useful, athletic horses, so that is OK.

I just got back from Michigan, where I spent a week with my folks. I brought Seattle weather with me (2 days of rain and thunderstorms!), but we had a lovely time overall. Of course, now I'm catching up at home, for even though the kids and my husband (and boarders) all pitch in when I'm gone, things do pile up. Makes me wonder what will be waiting for me when I get back from Kentucky in October. I'm going to set up and host the Akhal-Teke Breeder's Co-op booth at the World Equestrian Games and expect to be either on the road or in Kentucky for almost a month. If you're interested in that, we have a website at www.akhaltekebreeders.com

So, not much else, but I just had to share that we'll have a foal coming next year and right now it's a ...buckskin filly.

Breeding is hard work

My vet was out yesterday to ultrasound Annie (Anastasia) to make sure she was ready to breed and that her uterus looked good. As Annie is 19 years old now and this will be her 10th? pregnancy, I want to make sure everything is perfect before breeding her. The vet gave her a big thumbs up and said "Breed her NOW". Salam, was, of course, very enthusiastic about this. I drafted Monica to help me and got all the equipment ready. Now, usually when one breeds horses on the farm, it's a pretty simple operation. Unfortunately, Salam broke his neck several years ago and while he's servicably sound, there are certain actions he has a hard time doing, including live cover breeding. So, we opt for the safer, less frustrating ground collection and insemination. He was taught very well how to ground collect (it's just collecting without a phantom mare, with the person handling the AV standing next to the stallion) and within 30 seconds or so, we had our breeding dose. Monica did a great job handling him, although he's such a gentleman, I'll probably be able to do this without a second person sooner or later. Then, Annie was inseminated and the deed was done. Scooter thought the whole thing was pretty strange and that we were really neglecting him, but he got some neck scratching when we were done.

So now, we wait for approximately 14 days and we'll have Annie ultrasounded again to see if she became pregnant. Right now, it's a buckskin filly....

Trail ride with my Husband

Yes! Larry has been taking lessons for about a year now (thank you Kay!) and this is our second trail ride in the last few weeks. He has gone out before on Maz, but Maz is only up to a fairly short ride, so now he's riding Taz, Wendy's QH x Teke cross. Taz is pretty well conditioned now, as Monica has been riding him and has done a few rides at our Endurance rides on him. He's also a really good boy!

So, Friday morning, we hooked up the trailer and hauled up to Mann Road. Last time we went to Lord Hill, which is a lovely park, but Larry wanted something a bit wilder. So, Mann Road it was! We got there around 11 and were the only vehicle in the parking area. Got all saddled up and headed out. Lar and I had agreed we'd do around 1 - 1 1/2 hours, as his longest ride has been a hour. No problem, I don't want to scare him off!

Mann Road has a variety of trails, from pretty easy ones to pretty tough ones, but I picked some nice, reasonable ones for us. We went down to the Snohomish River and I got a bunch of photos of them there. We then came back and went over a few bridges, up and down some creek sides, through some creeks and down a steep hill. Taz and Lar did great. We got back to the trailer at right about 1 1/2 hours ride time, which was just enough for Larry. Nice weather, not to hot or cold, no bugs, no other people. Not bad. Then, we headed out for lunch at a lovely little restaurant in Sultan we had never tried before. Wendy had recommended the Sultan Bakery and it sure was great. Really good sandwiches and the baked goods looked fantastic (but we declined). Taz went home with Wendy for the weekend, as she's hoping her honey goes riding with her.

I'll have photos when we find our camera cable to download them!