Better than Christmas!

To me, the week before a mare foals is better than Christmas.  "Why?" you might ask. 

This is Tulah, Durkkhal x Malikat, here on a foal lease from Kelsey Kempfert.  She is due July 9th, but could foal anytime in the next few weeks.

Well, after doing this for almost 30 years (which is kind of amazing in itself), I've found that the week before the mare foals is full of lovely speculation...that foal is the right sex, the right color, has perfect conformation and is as healthy as can be.

Once she's in labor, the tension heightens;  "Will it be a colt or a filly?"  "Will it be buckskin/palomino/with lots of chrome?"  "Will the delivery be easy?". 

As the hours fly by and the dead of night approaches, some of your foaling buddies give up and go home.  Some stay.

This was a few years ago, from Monica's blog, Horsebytes, http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/ during foalwatch for Cady (a boarder), I think.  Note the helpful dogs as lap warmers.

 

Then, the excitement begins!  Usually a foaling is over within minutes after the water breaks.

 



 



Annie and one of her foals from the Horsebytes blog.  Maybe in 2010?  Is it a filly?

 

 

No, a nice colt. The foal gets up and greets the world, Christmas has come and all is as it should be.

 

This photo is from 2010, from the Horsebytes story "The Foaling Moon" http://blog.seattlepi.com/horsebytes/2010/06/02/the-foaling-moon/

 This is Miras, Annie's 2010 foal by Murgab.

 

Thinking Spring

Although it's kind of cold and dreary outside, I'm thinking spring thoughts. I just calculated Annie's foaling date, which will be June 20th. I'm really hoping for a filly, as always. I just ran the color calculator, and as Salam's colors haven't been done yet, if he's smokey black, we have a good chance of a buckskin (Annie is bay). If he's black, we have chances of bay, black and chestnut. So, a buckskin filly is possible! Of course, this is a large part of the fun of breeding- every foal is exactly what you want, right up until delivery. One of these days, I will have his colors run, but until then...buckskin filly!

I've also been trying to figure out my competition schedule this year. I have much less time for conditioning on the trails, so probably no 50s until at least late summer, but Galen and I have been taking jumping lessons! I used to jump, many, many years ago, but it's sure not like riding a bicycle so far. But, that is one of the great things about horses - there is ALWAYS something new (or sort of new) to learn. I won't say we'll be burning up the jumper rings, but perhaps we'll be able to negotiate a course by the end of the summer. We'll see.

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.

Scooter Picture

Busy Week!

Last week was quite busy here at CGAT. Annie was getting ready to foal and we were really hoping she'd do it in time for us to get to the Klickitat Trek endurance ride. My cut off foaling date was Tuesday, as we were planning to leave Thursday. So, on Monday, I checked her and things were very promising. Her milk was starting to become white and sticky, the foal was in the proper position and she was cranky. I turned her out in the grass field and within the hour she wanted back in. So, we did 2 hour checks all day and by around 4 pm, she had waxed up. Whoo-hoo! We're having a baby! Monica made plans to stay the night (her first foaling!) and we told Annie we'd like to be all done by 10 pm at the latest. Monica and I hung out in the barn until around 11ish, watching Annie have contractions, timing them, getting everything ready. At that point, I headed into the house and just peeked out the window every half hour or so. Around 2 or so (I think - I was pretty tired by then) Monica came in the house and I just kept looking out the window. At about 6 am, my husband was out in the front yard throwing a ball for the dog, when he yelled "I see feet!". Annie had tried to sneak it past us. There was a mad scramble out to the barn and Alex and I caught the foal, as Annie decided to foal standing up. While I'd been hoping for a buckskin filly, we got a bay or smokey black colt, with lots of chrome and a definite urge to get up. He scooted around the arena for a bit, until he figured out his legs and then we moved mom and baby into the foaling stall. Scooter has stuck as his barn name and I suppose I'll need to get moving on a real name soon. He's a nice little guy, very friendly, well put together and FOR SALE.

Annie retained her placenta (probably from foaling standing up!), so we had a vet visit that morning. That turned out ok, except for the bill and they're both doing very well. Annie has a date with Salam fairly soon and I'll do my filly dance again, as I'd sure like a buckskin filly!