Vet prep

Tomorrow is the big day for young Hammer--we had totally forgotten that we even had a stud colt out there. Thank goodness I remembered before he realized he is a boy.

The big day is tomorrow. Because of this, I told LeaAnn last week to get him fetched up to be cleaned up and ready, and have whatever handling he would need to be ready. As you may recall, Hammer hates Barry but kind of made friends with LeaAnn when she first started. He has been turned out ever since though, so who knew what we had on our plates. For some reason, he did not come in, and he also did not come in over the weekend when I told Barry to be sure to get him in while I was gone. Again today, LeaAnn could not catch him, and I do not really know why, unless it was just a lack of creativity.

So after work, I went off after him, and it took all of fifteen minutes to get it done. Now of course, I did not just march back there and halter him up. I did not march anywhere, as it is still muddy, so I had to be careful to try and choose dry spots across a 25 -acre section to get to them, but I still lost my Crocs a few times. Because his group was in the back pasture, I opened the gate to the hay field and brought them all up front and let them out to choose a stall. Of course, I hoped that he would be the only one to come, but I think the weekend's chasing had him suspcicious, and I ended up with virtually all of them milling around the barn making nuisances of themselves.

Since I had them, I decided to give them all a quick groom, weight tape them, put the height stick to them and and dose them with a hit of ivermectin. It is amazing to me how the light bulb just goes on for babies, each at their own pace. They were all very easy to deal with, pretty much well behaved, and led amazingly well for babies that have really not been taught to do anything yet. With the exception of one, none of them care about the height stick, which I have seen scare the bejeezus out of grown horses for some reason. Of course, they have been measured before, but not a lot.

Here are the results--an odd range of heights, or so it appears at first glance, but since I know their parents, it is not really that strange.

2006s
Ding A Ling--soon to be renamed, and moving to Canada: 13'2" at the withers and 13'3 1/2" at the hip, and 747 pounds. Bigger than I would have thought, considering how tiny she was when she started, but if Midget can grow, no reason she could not too I guess. I bet she is going to be just fine when it is all said and done--she was a very late baby, so has several months to go until she hits a full two years old.

Voodoo- 14h at the withers, and 14'1 1/2" at the hip. 796 pounds. About what I thought, but that makes him already taller than his mama, and right on top of his brother Chief. I think there is something to this relatively early gelding business. As usual, I ask you to ignore that hideous trailer in the background--its days are numbered! But until then, these after work shots are just likely to have the trailer in the background, as that is when I get the best light in the evening hours. Embarrassing, but there you go. In any event, here is Voodoo. I really kind of like this dude



The only other 2006 I have is Mojo, who is in the other pasture and thus did not participate in today's game. He is significantly bigger than Voodoo.

2007s

Harley 13'1 3/4 at the hip and 13'3 34". 554 pounds. She is in a growth spurt and kind of lanky. Odd, her sister Slygirl who is 4 is only about 13'3"

Phoenix 13'1" at the wither and 13'3" at the hip. 623 pounds. She is really thick and I was surprised she sticked that tall.

Squiggy is short and fat. She looks like a pregnant pony mare. She is 12'1 3/4" at the hip and 13h at the withers and weighs 535 pounds.

Vixen is 12'3" at the wither and 13'2" at the hip, and also weighs 535 pounds. She does not look like a pregnant pony mare but the not quite a year old child she is.

CC is 12'1 1/2" and 13 h and the hip. She also weighs 535 pounds.

Cricket is still a little munchkin, she was a first foal for her also little mother. She is 12'2" at the wither and 12'3 1/2" at the hip and weighs 457 pounds. She is also quite a bit younger than the others.

Riot is 12'3" at the wither and 13-3/4" at the hip and weighs 554 pounds. She is one of the most level, but is still close to 2 inches off between front and back

Hammer is 13'1" and the wither and 13'3" at the wither and weighs 636 pounds. I think most of it is in his chest until I see his fat belly. Round bales will do that to a fella. I guess he will be a bit lighter tomorrow!

Oh I forgot one--the Midget. She is 13'3 3/4" at the wither and 14' 1/2" at the hip. I never thought I would see the day that happened considering she was less than 40 pounds at her birth. Man, is this an ugly photo of her, and she really is cute in person. She has so many of Sly's mannerisms it is eerie because she does not really look like him--there is still a resemblance. When she sheds off and I have more options than losing my light and the meth trailer to work with for locations, I will do better on photos of her.

The great event of the night was Hammer's behavior. His behavior in the past was deplorable. He hated Barry and the feeling was pretty much mutual after Barry exhausted all his tricks trying to get through to him. Today he acted like a civilized horse, gave Barry no issues, and even was sweet to him. I was so floored, I must have checked his package 5 times to ensure it was really him (he was the only boy of that foal crop, so that would be the definitivee way to tell if it was really him, or another one of our many Doppelgangers)

It was a pretty long evening, I left there a little after eight and I am exhausted. Of course I am, I have to get up early to get to work early so I can fit in the gelding over lunch--and maybe ride Slygirl as well. It is supposed to be in the 50s. I am hoping to let Mel and baby play during the gelding so I can get some shots of squirt playing outside--she is really filling out and getting pretty