Scenes from a Spring Sunday

China's first turnout was Sunday afternoon. Look at that precious little face, could she be cuter?
Babies are so funny, they can go from zero to 60 in a heartbeat. Cash was very protective of her for her time out--she tried to keep her in the corner so no one could look at her.
But that was kind of pointless. There is no coralling a new baby who is figuring out how fast her legs can go.
Cash can chase with the best of them though--she was right on her tail as I got the second shot off.

I will have more pics of them soon. While she was out for her turnout, we discovered that she had some gastrointestinal issues of the sort that means something--not normal funny baby poop. That has had me on edge, the vet on consult and the fighting commencing to medicate her. Babies can turn from healthy healthy like she obviously is, to the verge of death in the matter of an hour, but it is also a very bad idea to use antibiotics when they are not warranted. While I could tell anyone else what to do in the same situation, I rely so much on Dr M to tell me when and how to start a particular treatment, because I know I am paranoid and looking for problems that may not be there. He told me exactly what I knew he would and I think I may have it under control. I so hope I am not jinxing anything by saying it out loud. She is still nursing and still feels good, so cross your fingers that we have avoided a potential disaster.
Also on Sunday, I fetched horses out of the back pasture that need to be up off of the fescue grass that is popping up--that was Diablo and Snap. It did not take D long to find someone to boss around, and I thought this pic was funny as it shows their pregnant bellies. Diablo on the left is due May 15--Gypsy on the right is due April 14. She is way bigger in real life than this photo shows.
I knew D would win that stand off--they looked like two studs posturing at each other. It was just a matter of time til one of them cracked.
This is Voodoo, he is supposed to go to training any day. However, in fetching him from the back pasture, it became apparent to me that the new hay SUCKS. They have been on it about three weeks and they all look terrible. This tends to happen as the new grass is springing up, but normally our hay is so good that they maintain better than this. OK, they stay fat. Our horses are always fat unless there is a reason like they are 150. But Voodoo here has lost his butt, a bunch of width in his chest--he just does not look good. In fact, Phoenix, the two year old filly that is the spitting image of him, has been in a different pasture for the last month, eating different stuff, and she has passed him in size, hands down. Voodoo is normally pretty thick, so this broke my heart.

I know we will get them all back in shape, and I knew it was bound to happen eventually--that we would end up with hay that does not do what it should--but it still makes me feel terrible.
On a good note, look at Tango's leg---the healing is amazing. You can see where the new baby fine hair is growing in--none of that skin was there even two weeks ago. The open area over her knee was as big as the palm of my hand, and now we have just a bit of scabbing, no swelling, not proud flesh to speak of--it looks really good. And she has still never been off on it at all. We must have some sort of special healing vibes around our place for these weird ugly should-be-catastrophic injuries, as they have all turned out so well over the years.

So that was part of my day yesterday, a sunny afternoon, good sun for pics, good things to take pics of and only the one crappy matter of the hay causing the horses to not look so good. Of course, that is the one thing I am obsessing about.

I should be able to get China back out in a few days as soon as I know she is going to be all right, so I can get some more pics. She is absolutely darling. Full of piss and vinegar, but darling