Where the Fun Begins!

As always, I look forward to the new foals every spring. We are currently waiting on an ASPC foal from our Harbrook’s Mo-Mischief daughter and sired by our Junior Stallion, Outlaw’s Thyme for a Surprise. This will be the first time for this cross and our 2nd foal from both “Sur” and “Lexy”. So far “Lexy” is showing no signs of being ready to foal so I suspect we could be going past the due dates I had marked.

Our other ASPC mare, BC’s Lucky Dancer, doesn’t appear to be in foal. We are watching for signs of heat but it’s seems to be an odd year & no one is cycling yet. So in the meantime, she is away from the other mares, just in case.

We actually had a first for us this year. One of our younger maiden ASPC mares, Outlaw’s Twice the Appeal, accidentally got bred when one of the stallions got out last spring. I knew the stallion got out, thought I knew the mares that were in heat so watched them closely for signs of a goof-up, but somehow missed the one mare that he did manage to breed. So it was actually March before we realized that we had had an ‘oops’ & since the year was so busy, I hadn’t written the time on my calendar when the stallion got out, so had no idea on an exact foaling date, just a guess. Well, the little guy arrived on April 26th, healthy & doing well. He’s a solid bay & since he was an ‘oops’ we had already decided we either had an Ooopsy Daisy or an Ooopsy Dudley so his name will be Outlaw’s Dudley O. He will be gelded and I think he is going to be a sharp little guy for someone to have a lot of fun with. Of course, he was born on a nice day & then it started raining & is cold, so he’s not got out to run & stretch his legs yet. I have a BIG calendar in the barn this year so I am writing down everything, even if I think it’s insignificant!

Our foaling season ended on Mother’s Day, May 10th. We had four foals this year – 2 colts (already gelded) and 2 fillies. Three of the mares were first-time mares and they are being great moms! The older mare had the first foal from our Junior Stallion, Outlaw’s Thyme for a Surprise – Sur to us. We love the colt and are excited to see more foals from Sur in the future! The two colts – Tango & Boogie – have been in the pasture together for a couple of weeks now & they are having fun running & playing with each other. It can be very entertaining at times to watch them! Our first foal of the year, Outlaw’s Emilia Bey, was born weak and had a slow start but she is doing good now! She’ll be out on pasture soon along with the newest filly and we’ll see what the boys think of that! Foaling season is always one of my favorite times of the year and this year was certainly fun to see the results. Watch for pictures!

It’s been a really busy fall, winter, & now spring for us! We moved…..and simply put that is no easy task when you are moving horses, equipment, tack, portable buildings, fencing, haying equipment, tractors, shop stuff, an entire household etc. etc.  Finally as of the April 1, everything is moved! We have some temporary stalls set up for the bred mares and the babies have started to arrive. Our first foal was born April 7th, an ASPC/AMHR red & white pinto filly by AE Bey Star and out of Outlaw’s Tara Rose. The filly was a little weak when born & got a slow start but she is looking better every day. The 2nd foal was born the next morning, April 8th, an ASPC black & white pinto colt by D&S Tom Collins and out of BC’s Lucky Dancer. It’s always fun to see the crosses and watch as the foals begin to develop. We have 2 more mares due to foal this month and then our foaling season with be over. I like keeping the numbers small these days……not sure if that is an indication of age or wisdom.  🙂

Well, foaling season is over with for another year & it was finished within one week. I like it when it goes quickly! Our two shetland mares we were anticipating foals from came up open this spring so our two foals for 2014 are from two of our ASPC/AMHR mares. The first foal arrived on April 26th, a beautiful day, & then the weather turned crappy and the poor little guy had to stay in the barn for almost a week before he got to romp outside. Between the inclement weather and the wind, it was just safer to keep him inside where he could stay dry and warm. This is the fourth foal from our breedings of AE Bey Star to a D&S Tom Collins’s daughter, hence this foal’s name had to start with a D.  (It’s a way I established for myself to keep track of these particular crosses. All of our Bailey offpspring have ‘Bey’ somewhere in their name & by following a certain system that yes, probably only makes sense to me, I can know what cross it was from hearing the name.) This foal is a bay colt, very nice, & I’m delighted with the results. The dam, Outlaw’s Tru Picture, is solid bay so the color didn’t surprise me but, up until this point, Bailey has always thrown a small amount of chrome with his offspring. I guess this was the year for ‘subtle’ because the next foal was a solid bay filly. Her dam, D&S Sands of Time, is a solid chestnut but we have three full siblings to this filly and they all have chrome – socks and some white on the face. The filly is a little more refined than the colt, has wavy hair which is really cute, and is just a little taller. Both will mature in the 36″ or above range.  Both are also entered in the AMHR futurity. It is going to be fun to watch them grow and develop.  Watch for pictures as we get more into summer!

Well, the mares are settled in close to the barn during the day and in their stalls at night so the waiting game begins. 🙂 Foaling season has always been one of my favorite times of the year. As breeders we can study bloodlines, pick out strengths and weaknesses,  and have a basic understanding of genetics but the final moment when the foal arrives,  is still a miracle to me, and still a guessing game. Color is not an important factor to us so color is always a surprise although alot of times it is the color we suspected it could be. But color genetics are way over my head so knowing the combination of letters to produce such & such is beyond me. Color is what it is. We are striving for a horse or pony with good conformation and movement so it’s those factors that we look for in our breeding stallions and mares. We don’t always get it right either but it is the challenge of working toward the miniature or shetland that we feel fits closest to the standard that keeps us intrigued and keeps us in the game in small numbers. We’ll post news as soon as the first foal arrives!

Our foaling season lasted 2 1/2 weeks so it was short and sweet although it seemed longer than that because I started watching them closer about 2 weeks before the first mare actually foaled.  And for some reason they all decided to foal during inclement weather so there were extra checks in-between to make sure everyone was doing fine and staying warm.  Our spring weather has been a little odd this year with snow still arriving May 1st and it was cooler than usual for this time of year. One mare foaled outside in the snow because she showed no signs of foaling when I turned her out that morning. Another mare foaled outside on a blustery, windy day for the same reason. Both of those were our maiden mares. The older mares showed impending signs so they were inside the barn but they too foaled just before a crappy spell so the foals didn’t get out to sunshine for a couple of days.

It was our year for boys but we feel we were blessed with exceptionally nice boys and we are very excited about their future. We have 3 ASPC colts, all sired by AE Bey Star, and 1 ASPC/AMHR colt, also sired by AE Bey Star. The ASPC colts will be gelded at an early age and we will leave the ASPC/AMHR colt a stallion for now. We have always believed that a great stallion prospect makes a fantastic gelding and these boys deserve to be shown and used. They are all flashy colts – Bey Voltage has a small star and socks, Cosmo Bey is a prettily marked bay & white pinto, Bey Mayhem (who’s barn name will be Hemi) has 4 high white socks, some wild markings, and a blue eye, and the chestnut pinto colt has a white tail and I believe 2 blue eyes. I will try to post pictures as they grow over the summer months. Each one is already developing a personality of their own so it’s going to be a fun summer watching them grow and develop. We missed having the filly fairy make at least one appearance but these boys are so nice that we are not even complaining!

Well, the mares are settled in the barn and actually seem happy to be there. 🙂 We are now 2 weeks away from the first of our foaling dates but it’s not unusual for our mares to go early so we are prepared. The mares came into the barn earlier this week thanks to our lovely spring weather of rain, ice, & then snow. But I think they are enjoying being pampered because at night they are lined up at the gate of their dry lot waiting to be taken into their stall whenever they see me come out to do chores. That’s OK, I love spoiling them during this time. 🙂

Our first foal of the season arrived this week  -born early Tuesday morning, the 10th, was a red/white pinto filly! I was quite surprised by the color – dam is a bay/white pinto & sire is a bay with socks. But in thinking about her geneology I realized her grandsire on the dam’s side was a red/white pinto so then it made sense. But as to how all of those color genes mix & match totally baffle me. Anyway, the filly is doing great. Of course weather has not been the best since she was born so she’s only been out of the barn a couple of times to stretch those legs. And today (Saturday) is pretty stormy so don’t think she will get to run today.  I’ll get some pictures taken of her and posted at a later date so keep an eye on the foal page. Our next foal isn’t due for another month so we’ll just spoil this one for awhile. Her name will be Outlaw’s Bey Blitz. Since the dam is Tap Dancer I wanted a dance name for her so I ‘googled’ dance names and came up with a pretty long list. Blitz seemed to fit since her color didn’t match her sire and dam. Her sire is ASPC/AMHR and her dam is ASPC but we do have AMHR hardship papers on her just haven’t sent them in yet. It looks to me like the filly will be close to 38″ but time will tell.  I’m just thrilled we started the season off with a filly!

Well, the first mare due to foal has been brought into the barn & is handling it pretty well. If you have been reading any of my posts you’ll know that this mare doesn’t like being stalled so I was a little nervous about bringing her into the barn in preparation for foaling (she’s a first time mare) but I certainly wasn’t comfortable leaving her outside to foal either. Our weather has been absolutely beautiful so temperature isn’t really a problem this year, I just feel better having her in the barn. Anyway, I brought her pasture buddy into the barn with her and have her stalled right next to her & all is going well. Actually, I didn’t realize the two were such good buddies. I brought our 2 show mares for the year  in at the same time with the intention of stalling the younger mare next to the bred mare in the barn & leaving the older show mare outside in a pen next to the barn for a couple of weeks yet. I got the stalls ready, put the young filly in & the bred mare in & thought we were all set. But the mare outside is whinnying & the bred mare is whinnying so I switched & took the younger mare outside & brought the older mare into the stall next to the bred mare & everyone was happy.  So all is going well and now it is just a waiting game. The mare’s due date is April 6-7 so we are about a week off and she isn’t showing any signs at this point of speeding things up. Hopefully though by next week I will have foal news to report! In the meantime I love hearing about everyone else’s new foals and seeing the pictures posted. Happy foaling everyone!

Foaling time is drawing near and as always, I am anticipating the arrival of our first foal of 2012! I love foaling season! Our first mare is due around the first part of April. She is our ASPC mare, Outlaw’s Tap Dancer, a daughter of D&S Tom Collins and out of our Michigan bred mare, Kamelot’s Dancing Ballerina. This will be her first foal and also our 2nd cross with a Tom Collins daughter bred to our other Senior Stallion, AE Bey Star. The poor girl is as broad as a barn and honestly I’m not sure if she will fit through the side barn door that I usually use. I might have to open up the big doors to bring her into the barn. She also doesn’t like stalls so it will be interesting to see if she is feeling too fat to argue with the stall or if she’ll throw fits being in a stall. I’ll have to keep a close eye on her that’s for sure. Her foal will be our only April foal so of course, it will be spoiled. 🙂 Did I say that I love foaling season?