Wednesday, June 17, 2015

There's No Place Like Home

Friday we made the uneventful drive to Indiana to visit Roscoe and deliver his next batch of food. Plus there was the new foal to play with. As we pulled into the driveway, my boy was on his way to the turnout. A month at boot camp definitely made him more obedient and manageable. He must be hard to catch, because she leaves a halter on him. I guess the girls keep his attention.
Girl Watching


Once Roscoe was out, Lisa let out the mares and foals. That was fun to watch the foals run around. At one point the filly actually touched noses with Roscoe. He was really sweet and quiet with her. To bad it was too dark to take a picture.
The next morning, we stayed in the house and let Lisa do things in her normal routine. When it looked like Roscoe was out for a bit of turn out, I went to trim his feet. Other than moving a bit more than normal, he was good for his trim. He has lost some weight from the constant breeding, but overall he looks great. He was a bit tense, worried about doing things right, but gradually he relaxed. We played with him, doing stretches and tricks. He was happy to know the right answer. For Roscoe not being able to give Lisa the right answers during a breeding session is hard. He gets so frustrated and unfortunately takes it out on the mare. One time was long and hard, leaving him with chain rub and a sore nose. Roscoe says breeding is not all its cracked up to be. I think he will be ready to go home when his job is complete. He is tapping his hooves saying "there is no place like home."

My Handsome Boy :)

After his trim, Mom worked him in hand. He had to be told to focus and listen. This little session showed what we will have when we get him home. And that seems do able after watching him. He pushed and at one point by the mares got crazy, but Mom got him to back away. Backing has a great effect on him, getting him focused. She backed him and then moved him forward by the mares. If he focused on them, she backed him up and got his eyes back on her. He was super. He even stood and dropped his head asking for a cookie right outside one of the mares stalls. Mom ended by backing him into the stall with a mare right next to him. There was a little excitement, but he listened.
It was tough to see him acting like a new boot camp graduate, but aspects of my baby was still shining at times. He almost seemed to distance himself, to make it easier on himself. The morning we left he was ignoring us. Mom and I had to follow him around just to give him a treat. At the last moment he walked up to Peggy and touched her arm with his nose. As much as he wanted to be distant he had to say good bye to us all. Okay enough about Roscoe, I am teary eyed just typing this. He will be home as soon as the mares are confirmed in foal to the best of Lisa's knowledge.
In addition to the mares and foals, we were able to visit Tuscani Dundee (Comrade, Connor and Gavin's sire plus a bunch of others) the senior stallion at Castleberry Welsh Cobs. He is retired and spending time at the other property while Roscoe visits.
Love the copper color of him

Enjoying Cookies


This is the first time we saw him as a horse and not a stallion. I don't know if that makes any sense, but stallions seem to have two sides. When we saw him at a distance 5 years ago, he was the STUD. This time he was the awesome horse that could interact with us. Dundee is so shiny and has some cool markings. He also has knee feathers!!!
Kinda Cool, but Coarse

Of course I totally had to take a picture and swore to Lisa I would only share it on my blog. They are definitely different and definitely something even I would shave off. I guess even the super Cob Stallion Cardi grows them. I will say that I hope Roscoe does not develop them. Fetlock feathers, yes. Knee feathers, oh no.
So here are some pictures I took while I was there. I wished for my big camera, but made do with my medium one.
Ebony with Rebecca and Ffion
 
Photo bombed

The older foals

Lisa and the Ebony's colt

What should have been a great photo... darn baby

Showing off

Two hopefully expectant mares: Ebony and Ffion

Three hopefully expectant mares: Rosina, Rosalee and Dyma Hi

 
Fingers crossed the mares all took. Dyma Hi, far right, was the first one and so far she has not come back into heat. She is Comrade and Connor's full sister, so that will be a cool cross to see. Rosalee is one of my favorites and related to both Comrade and Rosemary. And yes that means this is line breeding on Rosemary's dam's line. She has the flaxen mane like Roscoe and the blaze too. Rosina is related to Comrade through Dundee and the second black mare. Unlike Ebony she is not homozygous black, so the foal color will be a surprise. Ffion is Roscoe's great Grandmother so another line breeding. There is one more mare, Rebecca, Lisa may use if she comes into heat again which would be another line breeding since she is Rosemary's sister. The last mare that could have been bred, decided she wanted nothing to do with him. Since she could really hurt Roscoe that breeding probably won't happen. So that is skinny on the breeding front. It will be a long year until we can see the foals.
Front view of the three mares taken by Lisa

3 comments:

  1. Nicole, it wa great having you, your mom and Peggy here again. Roscoe is a very good boy when it is time to come in. He is very good to catch. Thank you! I leave the leather halter on him as a saftey measure. In the unlikely, but possible event that he would ever escape, the halter give you that much more of an opportunity to catch and control him. So, stallions almost always wear leather or saftey halters when turned out near mares. You've done a great job with Roscoe, and he has never given me a problem when it's time to come in.

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  2. knee feathers!! lol! Roscoe looks great - as do all the other horses. my fingers are crossed that everything goes to plan and you can bring him home soon :D

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  3. I remember when I went to Lisa's I was introduced to Dundee and was so impressed with his beauty and his demeanor. I also noticed the knee feathers and got a huge kick out of them! :) Gavin doesn't get knee feathers, but the fur is sort of a funny texture. Every time I notice it reminds me of his daddy.

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