a baby is born

Friday March 23 my mini mare Lily had the cutest little foal.  I wasn’t absolutely sure Lily was pg.  I thought she looked fat but then again she seemed to get fat every winter.  I thought she was getting a “bag” several days before but Steve just laughed when I told him that because he has heard it before.  The last 2 winters I thought she was pregnant and I was wrong.

Thursday evening I was watching her graze and I thought she sure looked like her udder was swollen but I kept my mouth shut.   So I wasn’t totally surprised when I went out Friday morning and she didn’t show up to eat.  I went looking and found her by the pond with the little long legged cutie.  It had rained a little overnight but he looked quite dry and was already frisky.

We had Chance with her all last year but he is the little stud that is about 6 inches shorter than her and has crippled hind legs.  We were told that before we got him he had been with several mini mares and larger mares for 4 years with no babies.    Well love finds a way.  He was with her when the foal was born but she didn’t want him near and we moved him to the pond pasture and put her and the baby in the pasture with the run in barn, which is close to the house.

 Lucky’s legs look fine, he has a black mane and tail, reddish body color with lighter muzzle and legs.  He may be a dun, or maybe a bay, color is hard to determine this young.  He is hard to catch already, I want to handle him each day so he is fairly tame but he really knows how to get around.    My legs are so bad right now it’s hard for me to catch him.  I am going to sit in the pasture tonight when I bring Lily her feed and hope he comes up to me.

 I feel bad now that I had Lily on such an austere diet all winter of 1st cutting grass hay and carrots or apples.  She had foundered last year on alfalfa mix hay.  I gave her no grain all winter.  I ran out and got some sweet feed for her and started giving her a small amount and she is very happy.  I’ll get some mare and foal supplement soon.   She looks thinner of course now that baby long legs is out but she doesn’t look too thin.  Grass is starting to get good so she will be able to eat to her hearts content and I won’t have to pen her up to keep her from foundering on it this spring.

It’s amazing that Lucky is already tasting the hay and grass and getting in the water bucket.  He runs circles around mom then ducks under her belly and comes out the other side.  Lily is still a little protective; when the horses across the street come over close to the road she takes Lucky in the barn or way out in the pasture.

 Chance has been hanging out on the other side of the fence gazing wistfully at them.  He isn’t being too bad now about trying to get through but I wonder what will happen when Lily comes into foal heat.  That usually happens 10 days after they give birth and they will re-breed if you let them and supposedly are very fertile then.  I don’t want her to re-breed at the beginning of April because the next foal would be born in early March and our weather might not be as nice next year.

 I should have Chance gelded.  All last summer I kept saying that and because of what happened with Charlie I put it off. (Charlie was Lily’s son who died after gelding.) He wasn’t too obnoxious with us - probably because she got pg in April last year.  I know they can still have sperm for a while after gelding too.   But maybe he would get along with Lucky better. 

 Because Lucky is a boy he will have to be sold.  If he was a filly I would have kept him with Lily and gave Chance away.  But after the Charlie experience I will sell this guy off as a yearling, if we can get him and Chance to be friendly that long.  People tell me studs can be left with foals they fathered, along with the mares, for a year or so, but I am a little leery.  But our fences aren’t the kind that will keep a stud away from a mare in heat and horses don’t like to be alone.  So the next month looks a little bumpy for us.

 This is the first time we have had a foal born here.  When we bought Lily Charlie was about 6 weeks old and I thought he was small.  I did not do a good job training Charlie, he was spoiled so I hope I do better with this one.  I had been seriously thinking of selling the horses, they are expensive little buggers and a lot of work.  I just have this thing about having all this “pasture” and nothing eating it.  Then winter comes and you have to buy hay and haul water.  And there is fixing fences and catching loose horses and getting burrs out of manes and all that good stuff. 

 But then there is watching a little cutie racing around the pasture and mom lovingly nuzzling him  and watching sleek, healthy horses eating green grass and well…..