So here it is, August 25, the summer, such as it is, fading into autumn. Bela has had an amazing recovery...until today, when she began limping. Could be just the hard ground and hopefully, nothing more that a day of stall rest won't cure. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so she and Honey can spend the day indoors and we'll watch her movement to see if we need to call Dr. Kelli. She's turning into a little beauty....well, not so little anymore. She's almost the size of Sooner, who's five weeks older. Registration is underway with the ApHA so Bela will be registered as Mighty Miracle Chip.

Dr. Kelli came to see Bela on Canada Day and pronounced her fit to go outside...in about a week, for about half an hour, once a day...to begin with. In a flat, grassy paddock where there's little chance of slipping and falling . So for the next while, this bundle of energy will be closely monitored as she's introduced to the outdoors ...for the first time since the beginning of June. More than half her life has been spent in that stall and she appears eager to get on with life.

It's almost summer and Bela and Honey are still stall-bound. Their stall has been extended to 12'x24' so there's enough space for them physically and mentally. Honey doesn't seem to mind nowadays since it's fly-free in the barn and she hates bugs. Give her feed and water and she's content. Bela's leg seems to have improved immensely, to the point where sometimes there's little evidence of a limp. By her antics, she's eager to get out in the wide open spaces, but that won't happen for some time yet. Luckily she probably doesn't remember being outside at all. So she's not missing what she doesn't know. We are now more optimistic for her full recovery.

Here's Sooner today, June 1, enjoying the tall grass with her mother. She's two months old and growing steadily. Still has a great personality, friendly and willing. She's bound for blue ribbons!

Bela update

It's June 1 and there's an unfortunate update to Bela's growth and progress. A week ago, she fell while acting the giddy goat and although innocuous at first, this tumble turned out to have caused what appears to be a break in a growth plate. To date, she's responded to the double-daily doses of pain, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer meds, and is able to get up and down on her own, but she'll require stall rest for three to four months and likely weaning much earlier than normal. If she does survive, it'll be a long and slow process. We're hoping her young age at the time of the break will be a positive factor in the healing process. Honey is getting a bit bored being inside 24/7 and tried to bite off my arm the other day. She got a mouthful of sleeve instead , but she's obviously ready for a good bit of exercise. And I think I mentioned before, she hates cameras, so it's almost impossible to capture any snaps of her baby.

This pic was taken sometime this past week...so Bela is less than a week old. She's frisky and headstrong but is well-mannered when it counts.

Although the day began cloudy with a strong breeze and the threat of more rain, the sun came out just after lunch, so we decided, even though the thermometer read only nine degrees, there would be no better time to introduce Bela to the outside world. She was willing to follow her mother, so it was easy peasy putting on a halter for the first time and directing her outside to the paddock across from the barn. 90 minutes of racing about and barging head first into the fence, and it was time to go back inside for a well-deserved snooze. Some initial grooming and mother and daughter were left to themselves, Bela nursing eagerly and Honey chowing down on second cut hay.

Honey is still protective but was willing to let us inside the stall to brush her baby and check there were no injuries from her headlong into the wire fence. Bela seems to welcome the attention so hopefully, she'll be as sweet-minded as her niece, Sooner.

It was just after midnight on May 8, we heard through the intercom, Honey straining to have her baby. We gave her the time she needed then went out to the barn where we saw the newborn, still covered in mucus and afterbirth, her mother busy, licking her baby clean. It was a while before we could see whether it was a filly or a colt, but after about half an hour, the baby found its legs and I went into the stall and applied iodine to the umbilical cord. Honey is an amazing mother and more than protective when it comes to her offspring, so it was a matter of getting in and out quickly before Honey pushed you out. Turns out this very tall and robust baby was a filly, and so wonderfully made, we called her Bela. There was really no question that she was beautiful from the get-go. Dark bay with one white sock, a snowflake on her hip and a defining blaze from forehead to nose. It took her some time before she managed to latch on and begin nursing but once that happened and she had her first poop, we were able to go back to bed, confident she would be fine. It was 3:30 am.

Pic taken at 7hrs.

This big guy is All Eyes on Chip, a registered four-year-old Appaloosa whose grand-sire is pleasure sire, The Miracle Chip, one of the best-moving western pleasure horses in the industry. He's the sire of Honey's (King's Honey Twist) foal, who was due late in April. ..and we're still waiting. With Zippo Pine Bars bloodlines this baby's got a winning head start.

All Eyes On Chip

So, as the snow melts and winter finally turns to spring, Sooner begins to eat hay, become interested in what's in the water trough and enjoy being groomed from golden head to poopy tail, where her mother's nine-day heat has produced diharrea that gets spread across her baby backside with every swish of her tail. A quick cleanse and an administer of zinc ointment, soothes the savaged skin and sends this little tornado off on another belt around the paddock, hooves barely touching the ground.
Before the end of this month, her grandmother should give birth to her aunt or uncle, and before long the two foals will be cavorting together, causing I'm sure, all sorts of ructions. Wait for it.

On April 1, the weather improved enough for Sooner to go outside and frolic with her mother. She is definitely independent and scampered around the paddock with Charlotte in pursuit, until she tired and collapsed in her mother's hay. 40 minutes was enough to tire her completely.

Radical Revolution

Not being the type of folk who do things by half measure, last year we bred two of our mares. This might not sound like a big deal to some, but to us, being on the threshold of retirement, having two youngsters to deal with, is a somewhat major event. Usually, in the spring, we welcome a single addition to our small stable, but not this time.

So yesterday, at 10am, Charlotte (Mighty Awesome Miss) gave birth to Sooner, a stout little palomino filly who greeted her world with monumental spirit and appetite. She was six days early, hence her name. Of course, Charlotte being the typical protective mother wasn't interested in papparazzi getting their first snaps of her newborn, so she neatly positioned herself btween the baby and the cameras. However, perseverence will pay off and if you come back, next time there should be some pix for your viewing enjoyment. In the meantime, Sooner's sire is the good-looking guy up top: AQHA World Champion Stallion, Radical Revolution.

Top left is a photo of Charlotte with Sooner's half-sister, Lola (Mighty Zipn Awesome) taken in 2007. Lola's sire is World Champion Producer, Zip'n To Paradise. He's the guy on the left whose color is like the Milky Way.

Once upon a time, before there were such things as blogs, we moved from the city to the country. And at that time, letters sent through Canada Post, conversations on the telephone and messages sent via dial-up email were the only forms of non face-to-face communication we had with the outside world. Until blogs came along and well, now here we are.
And lo, this city mouse quickly became a country mouse and found, not only were there fewer country mice than city mice, fewer raccoons and fewer skunks, less noise and less traffic, there were other things one discovered living in the middle of nowhere. Here are a few:
1. Pets can be livestock but livestock cannot be pets.
2. Barn cats are not pets
3.You don’t name an animal if it isn’t a pet.
4. If you name an animal that isn’t a pet, it will die one way or another.
5. Your pet dog will probably not die if it eats dead things.
6. Your pet dog will definitely stink for days if it rolls in dead things.
7. Country mud will suck the boots right off your feet.
8. A boot room is the most useful room in a country home.
9. Do not install laminate flooring in a boot room.
10. No matter what you try, nothing deters cluster flies.
11. During their giddy season, said flies enjoy swimming in your coffee mug.
12. When the forecast calls for a chance of rain, it really means 100%.
13. Unless you want it to rain, in which case it won’t rain at all.
14. A few mice will invade your house sometime around October/November.
15. If you live anywhere near hay or straw, fleecewear is not your friend.
16. You’ll really believe there are four zillion stars in the night sky.
17. Either a delinquent or the snowplow will batter your mailbox at least once.
18. You can trust your neighbour to return your mail that’s strewn down the road.
19. Sometimes the snowplow actually clears the end of your driveway.
20. A road that is a school bus route should be plowed before one that is not.
21. Your newspaper will invariably be tossed in the snow and consequently shredded to bits by the snowblower.