Foal Meet and Greet

This past weekend we made the drive to Indiana to meet Roscoe's foals. The trip started with a sad moment when Peggy could not go. She has been there for all the big moments and was so looking forward to this visit. Peggy is also our navigator, so part of the trip was slightly off our normal course when we followed GPS. Eventually we were on the right track and only ran into traffic at points along 70. Between gas/food stops and traffic we lost an hour and a half causing us to get to Indiana at 920 pm as the sun was setting. There was just enough light to see the foals.

I crawled into bed at about 3am. Late nights are the norm for me when I visit Lisa. This time it was tough since we wanted to beat the heat and see the foals in the morning. Seeing them in the light finally was so much fun. The pictures can only tell you so much. In person they are so much more.
Fair warning, lots of pictures to follow.
Baby D
He looks so big in the pictures, but is actually about the size of the filly and mini me.
He looks more like his dam's side, but there are moments when you see Roscoe in his expression.
His brothers keep him on his toes.
During halter training he started out reactive, but he figured out Mom and the halter were not scary.
And he has a strong Canadian fan.
I will be excited to watch him after weaning.

Baby Royal
She is one of the first to ask for scratches... well more like demand.
She is a nipper like her daddy was as a baby. I was picking up feet, the farrier in me coming out, and she got me right in the butt.
She is a total sweetheart and is buddies with Baby D.
Her blaze is as cute as it looks in the pictures.
She is so much like Rosemary in personality. This girl will test and question. She makes you earn her trust. We did not manage to get a halter on her, but there was progress.
She holds her own with all the boys.

Mini Me
When I called him mini me, I did not realize how true it was. This guy is totally Roscoe all over again.
He likes to come up behind you which Roscoe did also.
This guy has an awesome neck.
He seems to take to new things. His halter session was quick since he let me put it on right after he and Rosalee chewed on it first. Then we played with leading, which he did well. I see Roscoe's brain coming through.
He may be the middle child, but he holds his own with his siblings.

Baby E
This guy has the cutest head!
He is, as Lisa says, a thinker. He watches and reads a situation before joining.
He remembers his lessons. He was another one that did not wear the halter, but the next day we could handle his head better than before.
He was fascinated with the warmblood mare.

Baby Ff
This guy is the one that comes up to you first, which I did not expect since his sister last year was not as quick to approach us.
He looks a lot like Roscoe too, but he is much sweeter.
He put the halter on easily and even did some leading.
He is the baby of the group, but is as big as Baby E and Mini Me.

We did not get to see them move a lot with the hot, humid weather, but they all have huge walks. And let me just say, it is hard to tell them apart sometimes.We did get to see last years colts and this years baby maker who is Roscoe's Uncle. Of course we also had to keep the mare's in heat away from said baby maker.

Current Stallion on duty

Reveille and Echo

And now for some random pictures of the foals

Baby D and Mini Me

Baby Royal, D, Ff

Baby D and Ff knocked over the fly spray

The other thing that happened was that we chose who would come to Virginia later this year. Coming to Indiana, I had narrowed it down to two:the filly or Baby E. I already have a chrome red boy and they seem to be getting a lot of attention, so I told Lisa she could list them. Though after meeting Mini Me, I wanted to pick him up and take him home. It was a tough decision, but in the end we decided on Baby E. He had me from the day he was born, so I was not surprised he won me over in person too.

So we named him Castleberrys Esquire since he is such a thinker and is so classy. His barn name is Ember. This is because even though he is black, he has redhead in him. Plus we saw him come out of his shell and become the instigator for playing. Ugh, now we have to wait months for weaning. Hopefully Peggy and I can make another trip out there soon. Especially since I missed a chance to meet Jen and Connor this trip. They are only an hour and a half from the breeders. Ah well I did not have my riding clothes anyway. Next time definitely.