A Name for Dolly's Foal

Dolly's foal is three and a half weeks old and growing fast.

 Another palomino! Just like Sultanna (although she had more red in her coat at this age.) I think he looks really nice.

When Tim found out that Lisa had shown pictures of the colt to her 4th grade class and that the kids had had some name suggestions, he invited Lisa to send him the list.

There are some unusual ones, that's for sure. You can see those 9 year old minds working! Newbery book characters, football teams, candy bars...

Snickerdoodle
Twix
Lucky
Andy
Silverback
Gold Beauty
Star
White Diamond
Ben 
Sam
Billy
Billy Bob
Buddy
Steven
Golden Pony
Milton 
Oreo (as in Vanilla Oreo)
Gold Star
Buttercup
Colts
Jackson
Sean
Winn-Dixie
Reeses
Butterscotch
Steelers

Tim selected the name that Lisa and I both liked best for Dolly's colt...

Snickerdoodle!

Dolly and Snickerdoodle are still out in Williamsport, an hour's drive away, so I have not yet met the baby. And Tim may not bring them home for a while as he is having Dolly bred again. I may just have to take a drive and go see them!

Time for a Trim!

I helped Tim trim Abby today. He did all the hard work; I just handed him tools and chatted with him while he worked.

I think Abby is so lovely - such a soft, kind eye, too!

Abby toes out and has a flare on her left front hoof. Prior to her rescue, it had grown out into a slippered hoof. The solution at the time was to cut it off - she limped for over a year after I brought her home. (Not any more, though!!)

Tim showed me how he was addressing her flare and how he would trim it. I have complete trust in him - he takes such good care of her.

 Abby is fond of him, too. She gave him a nuzzle while he worked on her feet.

 Filing and rasping after trimming.

 She's very calm and did not fuss or pull as he worked.

She wintered well and has shed out her heavy winter coat. Now she's very sleek and in good flesh.

The trim was over in about twenty minutes, and then I helped him vaccinate and deworm her. Again, no fuss, and she quietly walked with me back to the pasture and down to the old barn where the other horses were congregated when we were done.

Sure love this girl.

A New Colt!

Dolly gave birth to her second foal this morning, a beautiful colt!

His color reminds me of Sultanna's when she was born last year. I wonder if he will turn into a palomino like her?

No name yet, but I am sure Tim will let me know when that happens.

Welcome, baby boy!

Wildlife at the Barn

(Er, that's "wildlife" as in animals, not "wild life." Just being clear - aside from the occasional horse in the wrong pasture, things at the barn are pretty calm most of the time.)

My phone was tucked in my back pocket yesterday so I did not get a picture, but as I was visiting the horses, a large fox suddenly popped out of the brush by the fence and streaked across the pasture. I lost sight of him when he went behind the old barn, but knew I had not been seeing things when the tenants'  dog that was outside in his kennel erupted in a frenzy of barking.

Tim later told me that there is a den in the brush by the hay field, and he has seen both parents and the kits together.

(Image from online file of fox photos.)

Tim and I both hope the fox family survives the numerous coyotes in the area.

We also had a skunk in the old barn. Tim put out a live trap for it, and naturally the critter was caught when Tim was out of town. Brandon was able to throw a blanket over the trap, get it into his truck, and release it in an area farther away from people. (Without getting sprayed!)

(Image from online file.)

The barn is only about five miles outside of town, but with brushy areas, woods, a creek, and hayfields surrounding the place, there is a lot of wildlife. And if you're lucky like I was yesterday, you sometimes catch a glimpse of them.

Caught in the Act!

Hokey sure looks innocent, doesn't he?

He and Diablo have been squeezing through that narrow opening to get to the west field! I saw Hokey coming up today when I arrived to feed everyone, and so I hustled out into the pasture so I could see how he was getting in and out. He has pushed over a post that was there (and supported by concrete blocks).

Mystery solved!

They're Ba-ack!!

I went out this afternoon to feed and check the horses, wondering what I would find after yesterday's game of "pasture roulette."

Sure enough, Hokey and Diablo were back in the west pasture again! But Sultana was where she belonged, thank goodness. I think I know how the chain on the gate broke yesterday - she rammed the gate hard enough to do so. I saw her run into it today. It happened shortly after all the horses' heads snapped up and every one of them froze.

Sultana and Trouble

I suddenly heard a tremendous crackling sound in the underbrush north of the pasture and along the grain elevator property.  At that, all the horses bolted and galloped around in a frenzy, including Tanna who rushed the gate and rammed into it.

Out of the underbrush emerged one of the largest dogs I have ever seen, and it was loose.

His head was massive, and I felt uneasy and afraid myself. The dog pushed through the brush along the fencerow, making more noise and causing continued chaos among the horses. As the dog got closer, he paused, and eyed me for what seemed like an eternity. I turned and quickly hustled toward the safety of the barn.

A man at the grain elevator realized the dog was bothering the horses and called him to heel, then shouted an apology to me across the field.

While I am not happy to have a dog bothering the horses, especially one that large, at least now I have an idea of how Tanna got in with the other horses yesterday.

Now, if I could just figure out Diablo and Hokey's trick for getting into the west pasture...

Horse Wrangling

Tim's out of state, and I am in charge of the barn for the week. And wouldn't you know, there was a problem the very first day.

Sultana, Dolly's yearling filly, is home and in a separate paddock from the older horses to keep her from getting injured while Tim is gone. The other horses are in the pasture right next to her, so she has company and isn't alone.

Sultana

But, when I arrived this afternoon to check the herd, she was out in the main pasture with Abby, Trouble, and Persuasion. And Diablo and Hokey? They were in the west pasture that Tim has closed off so the grass can grow up.

Naturally, I was wearing a dress and sandals - I'd come straight from work and had thought all I'd need to do was throw some flakes of hay out and check the water troughs.

Slogging through the mud catching horses and switching up pastures was not on my agenda!

I went home to change and to recruit Craig to come back to the barn with me and see if we could get the horses juggled back into the correct pastures.

First, we got Abby, Trouble, and Persuasion out of Sultana's paddock where they'd gone while I'd been home. Craig held the gate while I led each horse through. Abby saw no need to leave - after all, she is usually my shadow, so why did she have to go?

So, she hung around and helped me repair the gate closure (the chain that holds it closed had been snapped in half - one of them must have run against it to do that!)

"We" worked hard to secure the gate with a lead rope, wrapping it several times around the post.

I sure love this girl! Even when she's more in the way than a help.

Next, it was time to go get Diablo and Hokey out of the west pasture. Just in case Tim had changed his mind and put them out there deliberately before he left, I checked the water trough. It had been scrubbed clean and overturned; no, he did not mean for those two to be out there!

With help from Craig who again did gate duties, I rounded the two up and shooed them into the right pasture. Craig closed the gate, and everyone was back where they were supposed to be.

But how did Diablo and Hokey get in the wrong pasture? I walked the fence line to find out. All the gates to the west pasture were closed and chained shut. All the boards were up on the paddock fence and in good repair. The high tensile wire up and in place. Everything checked out as it should.

So how did they do it??

I don't know, but it will be interesting to see if they're back there again tomorrow when I check the herd. Only this time I'll be ready and have barn clothes and boots in the car!