From this to that

Can you believe that this baby boy above--Foxy's son at 4 days old--

will turn into this, before we know it? This is Hawkeye. He is 4 (and for sale, by the way, if anyone needs a do anything sort of horse). Not a full brother to Foxy's baby boy ( as he is at the trainer) but a half brother, as Sly is the daddy of both. I realize this is a crappy picture with all that tape wadded up there, but he was standing so pretty in the corner where the temporary fence hooks into the regular fence line that I took the picture anyway.


This is Foxy's baby boy on the day he was born. I am posting this picture--which shows how rough Foxy looked on the day she foaled--last Wednesday--to illustrate a point. Someone commented in the comments on a previous post that she had often wondered about mares looking a little ribby after foaling, and I had explained that sometimes that happens when they just get a little sprung from carrying all that baby around in there. So this is my second "from This to That". You can also see how much babies can change in the space of a couple of days--they fill out and don't look so awkward.

Poor Scrawny Foxy on Wednesday. Not only is she ribby as hell, her butt is all caved in from foaling. You can kind of see that she still has a belly
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This is Foxy on Saturday. Three days after foaling, and two days after going outside of the barn get some exercise and some fresh air.

In case you think I am hiding something--here she is in a different view. Clearly this is not a mare who needs to gain weight--if anything she needs to lose 100 pounds or more.



This is Foxy on day 4 post-foaling. It gives you a better shot of her side, so you can see that she is not only not thin, but is pretty round. She could look better on her top line, and she will as she gets more exercise chasing baby around, and she is 15 years old, so not a really young horse.

When I was choosing photos to post, I had to cull out some cute ones of babies, because mama was in the background looking rough. I know that is normal--not every mare does it, but a lot do-- but not everyone knows that. So instead of hiding it, I decided to use it and explain it.

It also serves as a reminder that pictures are just a split second in time. They can make anything look good or bad but that does not mean that is reality--it just means that at that split second in time, that was happening. I think of the blogs where people are shredded on the basis of one picture, and while many times it is warranted, we cannot possibly know as much as we think we do from looking at one picture. Or even ten pictures. I hope this "From This to That" about Foxy demonstrates that. She went from looking like death warmed over to way too fat in the space of THREE days. Someone looking in from the outside could see the pics of her looking awful and think I was starving her. I know I am not. She knows I am not. God knows the elevator that sells me grain knows I am not. On the other hand, I can think of some people who would lecture me over her being too fat--and they are probably more accurate than anyone.

Perspective and context can change the whole story, can't it?

The back pasture

This evening, while I was feeding and watering and dealing with the farrier, I had time to play with the boys in the back for a while. Mostly that means I watch them harass each other. These three are Target, Boogie and Radar. Normally, Hawkeye would be with them, but for some reason, he has moved to another pasture.They are all 2005 geldings--and all for sale by the way. Hint Hint. We kept them all to see what they would become--they were Sly's first foal crop of any size, and we wanted to see what they would turn out to be. Now we know, so they are ready for new homes. It is interesting to me how similar they are in some ways, yet completely different in others.
Target busied himself pulling leaves off of a tree--why I do not know. He would pull so hard that the limb would droop and pop him in the face. He just kept at it though.
Meanwhile, Radar chewed on Boogie's tail. That solves that mystery I guess. Boogie was chewing on some part of Rad too though.
It is hard to believe that brand new baby boy --who went out for the first time this evening--will be all grown up like those boys before we know it. It seems like time crawls when you are waiting for the babies to come, but the next thing you know, they are adults. Right now, this little man's full brother Voodoo is at the trainer, getting along quite well and being a good citizen. I cannot wait to get him back to ride him myself, as I have never had the chance to keep a Foxy baby long enough to get them broke. If he is anything like her, he will be a fun ride. I also saw his coming two year old sister in the back pasture tonight and she is turning into one sexy broad. She is going to be awesome too.
Anyway, I got lots of photos of babies of course, but the most interesting ones are of baby boy hopping over his mama as she had a nice roll in the grass. Check him out, launching over her like he is more than two feet tall and he is so not. Well maybe a little. But not much
See--he cleared her!

In other news--there is still no news. Barry has heard nothing about his work, so has no idea if he has a job or not, after tomorrow. I just cannot fathom such a situation, it is all so hard to believe it is happening. Then again, with some of the craziness of my job, you would think I would be well-adjusted to peculiar behavior and situations--yet I can still be confuzzled by events as they unfold.

The yearlings got their feet done tonight, and Echo appears to be working an ouchy on her front right hoof. It is always something, isn't it? She is three-legged lame. I was so proud of her though being such a lady letting us work on her even when it obviously hurt her--she kept that hoof in the air for a solid twenty minutes as the farrier worked on her. I need a new tube, which I will pick up tomorrow, to start soaking her in epsom salts to get to the problem and fix her up good as new. Just when I thought I would be down to only one horse in a stall, BAM--plans change. I will be shoveling shit until I am 157 years old.

And that one horse in a stall is still Diablo--but thank goodness, this morning she had heavy-duty wax. Surely this baby will come soon, and then D can get out of the barn herself-I know she is going stir crazy in there. It should not be long now. Snap is now at 348 days I think, and still showing no sign of foaling. Gypsy got her Lute shot tonight for her pending breeding to Pepto Taz which should happen mid week next week, if all goes well. I am anxious about proceeding with these breedings under the quirky financial circumstances we are in, but the breedings are paid for, non transferable and only good for this year. To not proceed with chute fees and vet bills is throwing away a lot of money already spent, so I do not know what to do. I am going ahead, but I am sure not enjoying it like I normally do. That makes me sad.

New policy though--no wallering, it just makes things worse. I am going to make the best of things, and hope good things happen. We need to sell some horses to take some pressure off, Barry needs a new job which I am sure he will get as soon as he gets home and gets time to look for one, and we need to get through this. I know we will.

Tomorrow I have pre-baby dinner activity for Jackie near St Louis, and it is Jenna's birthday. I am going to enjoy my friends and not think about the rest of this.

Finally, the prince has arrived

Man was I excited about this one getting here! And looking at Aries at 7:30 tonight, in this condition, I knew it would be tonight. Poor girl. I went home, started dinner, fed the dogs and tried to watch the ER Finale. I should have known she would pick now. Once I decided her fidgeting was for real, I shut the computer off, put it in my bag and drove here--I swear, no more than 5 minutes passed. When I got here, he was already born! She was up standing over him and he was totally trapped in the bag, making goofy noises. I broke it open and saw the sweetest little redhead I have seen in a long time. At least a few weeks!
Then Aries laid down with him. She loves being a mom, but we did not get to see her with her first last year--just found that all was well in the morning, so I assumed they got there peacefully.
This one is kind of pissing her off, and I am not sure why. They are working things out though, thank goodness. I spent most of my time in there doing the doctoring, the ProBios, the e.coli endotox, treating the belly button...I passed on the seramune, as this is such a high dollar investment for us that the vet will come probably on Saturday to check antibodies and if they are not just right, the baby will get a plasma transfusion to help him along.
Look at that sweet baby face! I was in there too much and he started following me around, instead of his mama. That made me get out for a while.
But not before I got this different twist on the first mama/baby hug photo. I might work on it when I get time to make it better, but I wanted to share it while I still had it on my mind.

What a relief that he is here, and all appears to be well. When he gets the all-clear from the vet, I will really be able to enjoy him. I cannot wait to call his daddy tomorrow, to let him know he has arrived. You can see him at Buffalo Ranch, under Meradas Blue Sue. My next call will be to her next kissing lover, Sophisticated Catt, who you can see at Brightstone Ranch

Leave it to Xanadu

to pull a reenactment of Mel's untimely foaling---this one in the aftermath of the flood. There were no signs that she would be foaling soon as of last nite--and why should there have been? She usually goes pretty close to 340 days on the dot and this was 329 days----that soft nasty mud must have been too tempting to resist, and she spit out this red dun boy child out in the middle pasture amidst all her buddies.





Evidently, even Xan knew that they were filthy as one of the first things I saw when we went out to fetch them from the pasture, was Xan cleaning baby boy up with her tongue. I love photos like that, even though it makes me sad to know that the poor kid was born in the filth. Then again, for all I know, he was born on high ground far from mud. I think I will choose to believe that!




A good meal, a nap for mama and baby, and as much grooming as I had in me short of using the power washer on her had the pair feeling and looking much better by after work photo time. I cannot wait until it is bath giving season--these horses are filthy like I have never seen before.

Don't ask me what he is doing in this photo with his eyes closed and the delirious look on his face--he was sniffing hard and looked so content. He was kind of nuzzling up against her with his neck and head, but not scratching. He just looked so peaceful to me, I was glad the photo came out















I cannot decide whether he is a little swollen in the left rear fetlock or it is a trick of the eye as the white stocking runs right around it. There is no heat or squishiness, so we will just watch it really closely. I suspect, if anything, that he may have strained something in the mud before he came in. We will probably keep him in a while as his tendons could relax just a hair anyway.




His big sis in the stall next to him sure wanted to see what he was about---she was carrying on like a loon as we tended to him. Madison took her and Mel on a workout to distract her--more workout for Mad than anyone else I suspect, but it take some of her oomph out of her--and she sure needed it. I am glad the new boy came early as they are only 19 days apart instead of a full moth and will be able to play together and be more evenly matched while they wait for the others to arrive