Going Forward

Yesterday I did not go out to the barn. I didn't want to see that empty nursery paddock and be reminded that we lost Little Feller. I didn't want to stand at the gate and cry again. I just didn't want to do anything.

But when hard things happen, you have to move forward, even if you don't feel like it. So later today I will drive out, take carrots to Abby and her pals, and walk past that empty paddock. I will probably cry again, but I still have a wonderful mare who looks forward to my visits. (Let's be honest; she looks forward to the treats I bring with me!) I've got the rest of the herd to brush and scritch. Sweet Sultanna to hug. I am blessed in many ways, and especially horse-wise.

Life goes on, and I've had my time to grieve, to try to come to grips with the "why did this happen?" I firmly believe that animals go to heaven, and that Little Feller is up there kicking up his heels and prancing around. That comforts me. I'm moving on and will be fine.

 Rest in peace, Little Feller. You will always have a piece of my heart. 

Grieving

Normally I don't have any trouble writing, but this morning I just can't seem to articulate what's in my head and my heart. I'll do my best to record the very short life of Little Feller and what happened to him.

Thursday morning, the day after he was born, Loni went out to the barn around 10:00 to check on Sultanna and Little Feller. Everything was fine, and she did not notice any problems with him. I was planning on heading out late afternoon or early evening. Tim was flying home that afternoon and I was looking forward to hearing what he thought of the colt.

Around 5:00 he called and told me that the foal was dead. It took me a moment to grasp that - I was shocked and speechless. I pulled myself together and asked what had happened. Tim replied that when he'd pulled up by the nursery paddock, Little Feller was lying in the grass of the round pen and dead. There was no sign of trauma or injury; he was just stretched out on his side as though he were sleeping but sadly, he was gone.

 Sultanna standing watch over her little guy.

While Tim had been traveling, I'd been keeping him up to date on how Little Feller was doing. He was up, he was nursing, he'd had difficulty passing his first poop but later ones were normal, he was active and inquisitive, walking on his hooves instead of his pasterns - all the things that you check when you have a newborn foal were fine.

Tim thanked me for all I had done and said that it was just one of those things that happens occasionally. I could hear the sadness in his voice, and I was in tears when we hung up.

I went out later that evening to check on Sultanna. She seemed confused and was happy to see me. I gave her some carrots and cried by her side.

Yesterday I went back out for my daily visit in the late afternoon. I saw that Tim had replaced the fence between the northeast pasture and the agribusiness next to it during the day and that the herd was now out in that pasture.

Sultanna was back with the herd, but she was keeping to herself. I didn't walk out to her nor did I call to Abby. I just didn't feel like it. Normally the barn is one of my happy places, but yesterday, the joy was gone. I just stood by the gate where we usually visit and let the tears come.

The nursery paddock, a place so recently full of happiness and hopes for the future, seemed empty and cold.

That's all I've got today, folks. 

He's Gone

Sultanna's foal has died. No signs of trauma; he was dead and lying in the grass of the nursery paddock with Sultanna standing over him when Tim checked them this afternoon. I will write more when I have had some time to process the news. I am just sick.

More Baby Pictures

Second post of the day.

Just some photos of the little guy to enjoy!

 With that big blaze and two high socks, I think he is going to be a gorgeous horse.

 He is inquisitive, active, and seems pretty bold.

And he keeps up with mama very well.

Tim gets home later today. I can't wait to hear what he thinks about his newest herd member.

The Herd Gets a Look

I went back out to the barn mid afternoon to check on the new arrival. Hokey had been promoted from babysitting duty and was back in with the herd while Sultanna and her son were grazing quietly in the nursery paddock. Although the gate to the south pasture had been opened up for Sultanna and her baby so they could graze out there, she and her son were still in the nursery paddock.

 He is an active little guy and constantly moving.

Except during snack time, of course. Sultanna is handling that very well, too. In the morning she was touchy at times, but I did not see her show any sign of tetchiness during this check.

While I was there, the herd came up. I don't think that this was their first time to see the foal (I know it wasn't for Abby) but they were still very interested nonetheless.

Sultanna let them have a peek and then took her baby back into the paddock.

Then she brought him back to the fence and sniffed noses with the other horses.

Finally, she let him get close to Trouble, then herded him away and trotted off into the south pasture. I love how everyone comes trotting up and Sultanna just tosses her head and heads off into the pasture leaving them all behind!

Mama and son.

Stay tuned for more baby pictures later today!

What?! There's a Baby??

(This is the third post of the day, but hey, we have a baby!)

After I had checked Sultanna and her son over, I left the nursery paddock and went into the adjoining pasture. Abby saw me and came up for a carrot and a scritch. She hung out with me for about ten minutes before she noticed that there was someone new in the nursery paddock. I happened to be taking videos of the baby and caught it on camera.

Sultana is turning out to be a very good mama!

Look Who is Here!

I went out to the barn early this morning and look what I found!

 Sultanna had foaled several hours earlier and has a beautiful colt.

 She was happy to let me come see him and didn't object when I handled him and checked him over. Neither did he.

He's the same color she and her full brother, Snickerdoodle, were when they were foaled so I expect he will grow up and be a beautiful palomino just like his dam and sire.

He's got the biggest white blaze - he's going to be a stunner when he grows up.

Sultanna may be the lowest of the low in herd pecking order, but her maternal skills are in full force.

 She sniffed noses with Abby but made sure her foal was protected.

I'm so glad he is here, I could turn cartwheels!

Three Checks and No Baby

Yesterday morning I went out early in the morning to check Sultanna. She and Hokey were grazing together in the nursery paddock when I arrived.

I went into the paddock and checked her - no milk was leaking yet, 

but she was very wet under her tail. I checked Abby and Diablo to see if maybe it was just sweat, but neither of the other mares had that wetness there.

Sultanna was also very restless, walking up and down the paddock and occasionally nipping at her sides. (Hokey was not nipping at his, so I figured it was not fly irritation.)

 She was cranky, too - for the first time in the six years I've known her, I saw her pin her ears and warn off another horse - in this case, poor Hokey. (He drew babysitting duty because he is so sweet and gentle.)

I decided to hang around for a while and see if anything happened. Two hours later, she had settled down and was standing in the corner.

Since Sultanna had settled down, I ran home, grabbed some lunch, walked Pepper, and then returned two hours later to see how she was doing.

There was no change in her behavior. Still calm and quiet, no pacing or restlessness, and the nips to her sides had stopped. She was standing in the shade relaxing. I stayed and observed her for a half hour, and then went home again.

At the end of the day I took a third trip out to check her. Again, there was no change in her behavior so I sent a quick text to Tim to keep him updated on her status and returned home.

Today I plan to again make several checks on her. That foal's got to come sooner or later! I have my fingers crossed that it is sooner.

We are Getting Close

Tim texted me last night to say that Sultanna was beginning to bag up and so he had moved her to the nursery paddock. 

She's got Hokey with her for company. If you look closely, you can see him on the left in the loafing shed. (Still can't see him? Look at Sultanna's forelegs - you can see his two white hind feet behind them.)

 She continues to be very calm and quiet, and was happy to see me and have a few pats and a scritch.

After I had visited with those two, I hiked up through the northeast pasture to the old barn to see my girl. That pasture has really grown up - when Tim finishes building the replacement fence, the horses are going to be very happy to wade through all that forage!

Abby was waiting for me at the gate and enjoyed the carrots I brought her. 

She has shed some of those longer hairs and is looking sleeker as a result.

Tim thinks there's a good chance that Sultanna will foal in the next day or so. I am really getting excited!

Incomplete Shedding

Shedding is complete and the horses are sleek in their fresh summer coats.

 Abby licking the fence, just to be sure she got any peppermint or carrot drool that may have gotten on them.

But even though shedding season is over, Abby has retained some of her winter coat.

 There are long hairs under the lower part of her neck...

... and on her chest and upper forelegs. 

Saturday while I was brushing her, I worked on those areas. They should have pulled right off, but they did not. They are firmly attached.

Several things could be causing parts of Abby's winter coat to linger. A horse's general health and nutrition are tied to a healthy coat. She gets high quality hay and pasture and has access to both salt and mineral blocks. Age is another factor - older horses tend to take longer to shed and, while I don't know Abby's real age, her teeth say that she is about 18 - 20. 

Exercise is another component that is thought to affect hair and shedding. Abby is free to come and go across acres of pasture so I have no doubt that she is moving around. 

A more serious cause could be Cushings Disease. Usually that's seen in older horses with a tumor in the pituitary gland. I'm not making the leap to Cushings yet but I do have a plan.

First, I will keep my eye on her and keep working with the shedding blade and brush on those long hair areas. As for exercise, I have no plans to put her on a longe line or to work her in the round pen to up her movement, at least not yet.

Fnally, I will bump up her nutrition in a way that will most certainly please her - more carrots! Vitamin A levels drop in hay as it ages, and a couple of large carrots contain 10,000 to 20,000 units of vitamins A. She loves carrots, and she's going to be getting more of those. 

If I don't see improvement in Abby's coat, then I may pick up a bag of Horseshine to up her essential fatty acids, amino acids, and lysine, all components of nutrition that are related to hair health.

I'm really not worried about her, but I love her and want to be sure she is in good health. We'll see how she does. 

Pandemic Shopping

Like many people, I have been staying home during the COVID-19 pandemic and using some of that time to find new pieces for my collection through online shopping. I've been rather successful, if you know what I mean!

Actually, the first is something that Craig ordered online, not me. My Mother's Day gift!

He was a little sheepish when he told me on Mother's Day that my gift had been delayed but would be coming. Seamus was worth the wait - I love the Clydesdale mold! (Seamus is the fifteenth piece in my Clydesdale conga.)

I also love the Running Foal, so when I saw this piece in an online auction, I bid and won it for a really good price. It's part of the Sears 2000 Mustang Stallion & Foal Legacy III Gift Set. The shading on it is gorgeous!

Breyer has had a few sales recently, and I used my Collectors Club discount to add two pieces to my collection.

 I'm not a Stablemate collector but I do love Kathleen Moody's G2 Thoroughbred.

I also got a BreyerFest 2018 leftover Equestral Crystalworks Home Straight. I was a little surprised as I thought it was a Stablemate sized piece, but it's more Little Bit sized. (I've heard unconfirmed rumors online that they might bring them back; wouldn't that be great?)

Now I need to go rearrange a few shelves to make room for the newbies.

A Sultanna Update & the Wisdom of Tim

Sultanna keeps getting bigger and bigger, but no foal yet.

She continues to do what she always does - graze, drink, come up for a visit, doze, and repeat.

Yesterday when I went out to see how she was, Tim was there and we had a chance to chat. 

Craig and I have a mutual friend with Tim and Loni. She is elderly, a widow, and lives alone. Tim checks on her fairly often to be sure she is okay. He told me that she had had a bad fall recently necessitating a trip to the ER and stitches in her face. A few days later, she fell again and is covered in bruises.

A big part of her problem is that, although she has one, she refuses to use a walker, and so when she loses her balance, down she goes. Tim told me about the "lecture" he gave her to get her to use that walker and protect herself from future falls. I'm paraphrasing, but here's the gist of it:

"I told her, you know I'm a doctor, right?" In an aside to me, he added, "Now, I'm not a medical doctor, I'm a doctor of entomology (insects) but I still know what I'm talking about."

"Now, have you ever watched a beetle fall down when they are walking? Of course you haven't because they don't fall down - they have six legs. Even if they lose one, they still don't fall down."

(At this point, I was wondering how on earth this applied to our friend. I was soon to be enlightened.)

"How many legs do you have? Two! That's right, just two, and if one wobbles, you fall down."

(I still wasn't sure how he was going to connect this.)

"You have two legs and your walker has," and Tim pointed at the ground with his finger for emphasis, "One, two, three, four legs. Two plus four is six. Use your walker and you won't fall down."

Brilliant! And it made me smile (as I am sure it did her.)

Now let's hope that she takes his sage advice.

The Quiet Book is Finished!

This is a non horsey post. (Sort of. There is a horse in it, so maybe I should remove this disclaimer? Haha!)

Finally, after two months, Melissa's quiet book is finished! I started it March 15 and would have finished earlier, but I interrupted that project to sew masks for people to wear during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it's completed now and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Beach Son Kyle asked for a sunny theme since he and his family live in Florida. The fabric of the cover depicts things found in the ocean. (I always ask my kids what they'd like to see in their kids' quiet books.)

 I made each page separately on felt squares to give the backgrounds interest.

This pretty fabric is very sunny, but it also has apples on it. That's a nod to the orchard that my family owned and where Kyle and his siblings spent many happy days with their grandparents and aunts and uncle. (This is an in-progress photo - I cleaned all those loose threads up before putting it into the book.)

I could not believe that I could find an appliqué of a beach chair. Ya gotta love Etsy!

This one I drew and stitched directly into the book. My mother drew the palm tree years ago, and I wanted to put a little bit of her in the book since she used to enjoy making them with me. There are some little treasures inside the chest and the monkeys are on velcro and can be moved around.

The flowers can be picked and the snail's shell can be laced/unlaced with the green cord. This is a new page for me. I saw the idea online and adapted it. The pompom grass is leftover trim from another project but it adds interest and is tactile.

 Not only can you braid the princess's hair, but you can put her sparkly hair clips into your own hair.

This was one of my kids' favorite pages when they were little. Kyle's kids requested that I put it in their sister's book for her.

 Another idea I saw online and adapted for my own use. The orange and blue ribbons represent the University of Illinois (my alma mater and where our kids grew up; they're big Illini fans), the blue also represents Brigham Young University where Kyle and Ashley went to school and met, and the black and gold are for Purdue, located here in our hometown and where Craig got his degrees. (I did two years as an undergrad at Purdue and then a certificate beyond my Masters so I root for the Boilermakers, too.)

When you are making a quiet book for a toddler, you have to be very careful that there are no choking hazards. I double knotted these large rings to the ribbon "tentacles" to keep the beads from being pulled off.

The horsey page - at last! And I am so excited about it. I saw a giraffe idea online and changed it to a horse,

 one that eats the same treats as Abby - carrots and candy canes!

The dog's ear is free and flops around so you can put earrings on it or take them off, put them in the bling basket, or even put them on your own ears. (You can put the princess's hair clips on the dog, too.)

I designed this one for Lukie a year ago and have since used variations of it for Cowpoke Susie and now Melissa.

 Color changing sequin fabric is fun, relaxing, and even mesmerizing.

 Another pattern that I drew. I saw the fabric in JoAnns and bought it, not knowing what I would use it for, but determined to add it to Melissa's book. (I've learned that when you cut it, you end up with sequins all over the floor! I am still picking them out of the carpet.)

More orange fabric to reflect the team that Kyle grew up with and has rooted for all his life.

Because the pages have so many three dimensional aspects to them, they do not lie flat.

 Assembling the book can be a real bear as a result.

It won't lie flat, that's for sure! But who wants a flat quiet book? The fun is all the surprises and manipulatives inside that give it that lumpy appearance.

Melissa at home in Florida playing with her siblings' books. (Hers is the twenty-first quiet book that I have made.)

I cannot wait for sweet little Melissa to see it.