A Birthday and The Naming Game

Can you believe the first colt is a month old? Seriously time moves so fast when they hit the ground.
Speaking of Birthdays, the five time Granddam is now 9 years old. Happy Birthday Rosemary!!!

They really need names. Names that will show the character and presence they all have. This process shows I am picky. When we were waiting for Rosemary, we already had a girl name and a boy name and only slightly changed it around when Roscoe arrived.
So this process is a lot more complicated especially since boy names did not come to me and what do you know, there are FOUR boys. And the one girl needs a Royal name.

If you have any suggestions, let me know.
Baby D

He needs a name beginning with a D. My choices were Draco(dragon), Daire and Drem (which means Sight in Welsh). He is so cool and has such presence, he needs a strong name.





Baby Royal

She needs a royal designation. Her uncle is Last Emperor, her cousin is Fflying Duchess and her other relative is Brenin Cardi. Her barn name will be Siren to honor Lisa's son who made a movie.
My choices were Reyna (Queen), Rosy Empress (after her granddam), Ritzy Graffiniya (countess).

Baby R














He needs a name beginning with R. Since he looks like Roscoe we thought to show that.
My choices were Roscoe Remix, Repeat ReFflection, Rowan and Ridley.

Baby E

He needs a name beginning with E. Unfortunately the E word synonymous with Reflection was taken by his half brother last year, bummer.
My choices were Esquire, Ember (comes from Jeremy which means "lifted by God"), Ethan.

Baby F

He needs a name beginning with Ff. I have not had a chance to think about his name, so my choices are still in progress,  Maybe Ffierce Flyer (he likes to run), or Flicker since he has all the spots of white.

Grand Prize Winners, Plus a Bonus

I have to say this Foal Pool has been a lot of fun. Each birth, I looked forward to seeing who would win. So here is how the scoring worked:
Each pool started with 20 points
The number of days away from the actual birth date were subtracted from the 20
Correct Gender was +1 point
Incorrect Gender was -1 point
Correct Chrome/Color Bonus +1 each
No points were lost for incorrect chrome/color guesses

And a recap of the individual pool winners:

Baby Dyma Hi - Emma $20 Gift Card

Colt, Blaze, 3 Stockings, 1 Sock, Belly Spot

Baby Rosina - Alanna $20 Gift Card

Filly, Blaze, 3 Stockings, 1 Sock, Belly Spot

Baby Rosalee - Renate $20 Gift Card

Colt, Blaze, 4 Stockings, Belly Spot

Baby Ebony - Alanna $20 Gift Card

Colt, Large Star, Snip, 3 Socks

Baby Ffion - Renate $20 Gift Card

Colt, Blaze, 4 Stockings, Belly Spot, Inner leg spot and roaning

Bonus Prize: The Damn Close Winner $10 Gift Card
This person was minutes off of the birth date, producing the closest guess of them all. So Congrats to Kelly who was less than 15 minutes away from Baby Rosina's birth. The next closest guess was over four hours away from the birth, so I felt Kelly deserved an award.

And now for the Grand Prize Winner's
Congrats to Alanna for winning the Overall Foal Pool! She won the cross stitch and $20 Gift Card.
A close Second was Renate winning the $10 Gift Card.

Email your gift card requests and Alanna send a picture to my email, equinpilot@yahoo.com. Thank you all for participating!

Now the wait begins before the new foal can come home. The naming game is well under way, so hopefully they will bear names soon. I am trying to schedule a trip to go see them all in the next month or July. For now I am seeing them through pictures. 

HAIL, HAIL The Gang's All Here: Colt #4

And baby makes five. Born this morning, Roscoe's 4th colt. Ffion passed on her roaning and chrome. So not surprising Colt #4 has a blaze, 4 stockings and a belly spot. Can't wait to see what other white comes out as he dries. Roscoe has little white spots in random places that showed up once he shed his foal coat. Ffion is Roscoe's great granddam, so it really does run in the family.
She gets the prize for great timing. My phone died two days ago and she waited until I had a replacement. Good Mare!
Everyone guessed Colt, a first for the pool. The winner for this pool is Renate who basically was spot on for the chrome and only four days off the date. Emma was a close second.
I will tally up the totals in the next day or so and announce the overall winner.

WW: New Foal Pictures, Enjoy

Baby E, with his cute pony head

As stunning as his redheaded siblings

Baby R Colt #2, filling out and still looking like daddy

Baby R Filly, Still Sassy!

L-R: Colt #2, Colt #1, and Filly. So much bling

Colt #2 meets Filly. Can you tell their related?

Colt #2 and Colt #1(aka chunky stud)

A Walk With Roscoe and Baby #4

I have been riding very sporadically last month and this month due to weather and my hand. The hand is still sore, so I am still trying to be conservative. I hopped on Roscoe yesterday for a quick ride and ended up just asking for canter both ways. The transitions were pretty rough, but his canter was enjoyable. He really needs to canter, so I need to ask for it more often. While the ride was great, the best part came at the end when we cooled out. His walk was huge, with a relaxed swing. I decided to share as I did with Comrade a while ago. So take a walk with Roscoe and enjoy.

And this morning Lisa got a surprise by seeing a baby on the camera. Ebony decided she did not need any spectators. So welcome to the world, black little colt with a star, small snip and 3 socks. Once I get home I will update this post with the winner of the foal pool.

*** And the Winner is....Alanna. She was the only one to guess Colt, but it was her date that sealed her win. Congrats for your second win. One more foal to go and that could be soon.

Someone has a star like his Granddam and socks nearly like his Grandsire.

DaVinic Update

Super FAT Lip

I know in all the baby excitement I did not mention how DaVinci has been since his snake bite. First, we are all more relaxed because the culprit has been taken care of. He got away the day of the bite, but showed up again the next afternoon. Second, after the first night with no issues we all felt like he was on the mend.

Sunday Swelling

We kept him in Sonny's stall for three nights so that he had access to loose soft hay. By the second day he was ready to go back out with the girls as per his normal routine, but I told him he needed more time before eating out of a hay bag. The swelling has gone down each day, though it looked really bad on Sunday since it went to his lower face too. Poor guy could not even blow his nose. Monday brought a large reduction and a return of his ability to clear his nose. He willingly ate the stockier nice hay, so I knew the pain level was way down too.

"I feel funny"

Tuesday he still had swelling, but only the area closest to the bite. He was even gently rubbing it on the door. That night I let him stay out with the girls and eat out of the hay bags.


Fortunately we have not seen any sign of infection from the bite, but I don't know how long that takes to come. So we made it past the recommended 72 hours and will continue to keep watch.


Monday still swollen, but much better



And how about a baby picture: #3 This colt knows he is great.

Think Roscoe looks like his son, Roscoe when he was born

 

It's a Blingy Boy!!! and New Winner

Rosalee gave birth, almost nine days after her due date, on this sunny morning about 11am. I guess she wanted to break the Sunday birth pattern. Anyway, she has a lovely colt with 4 extra high whites like daddy and a blaze. He is a bit muddy, so hard to tell if he has any belly bling. I will do the math and figure out the winner tonight.

For those who care, this mare is a half sister to Rosemary and a half sister to Comrade and one that reminds me of Barry. So I was really excited to see this baby. But dang if I did not have a filly name not a colt.

Love new Moms

And the winner for this foal pool is Renate who edged out Emma with her 4 stockings bonus points. Baby #3 is a chip off the ol' block with a belly spot too. The next mare due, Ffion, has roaning and chrome, so I can't wait to see the chrome on that foal. More pictures when they come!

Knowing Your Horse...Priceless

Today that statement came into full force. My mom and I were cleaning stalls and Peggy and Larry were getting ready to go to town. DaVinci every morning and afternoon walks around the aisle, out by the red boys and in Sonny's stall. He nibbles grass along the fences or hay in the stall. Well he came in after nibbling out by the red boys to eat hay. I saw him ruffle through his hay, but not really eat any. Red Flag #1.
Then he walked toward me and the face I know so well, was not quite right. He was uneven in a way that bothered me. Red Flag #2
DaVinci is not a cuddlier nor an attention seeker. Normally he mostly wants you to scratch between his back legs. He came up and put his head by my chest. I noticed a spot of blood on his right nostril. Red Flag #3

Seriously, my trouble radar was starting to blare. I thought he had had a stroke at first. Then he went into the stall I had been working on and tried to roll. I nabbed him and called to mom. I moved him to Sonny's stall and he again tried to roll. I was worried he was colicing.
Mom gave him a dose of Pro Bi which was difficult since he did not want her touching his face on the left. By this point the uneveness that struck me wrong earlier was increasing... due to swelling.
DaVinci was in intense pain and kept asking me to make it better. I stayed with him while Mom looked at our homeopathy supply. We went on the thought that he had been stung. So Mom dug up Ledum, good for bites or stings, and Arnica for his pain. She placed the pills under his lips so they could dissolve. We tried to feed him, but the barest touch on his face caused him too much pain. Fortunately, he did have gut noises and he regained his balance when his tail was pulled at the walk. So no colic and no neurological. Now we just had to watch him and make sure he did not stress himself into a colic. DaVinci chose to stand under the fans with access to the other horses. Mom and I continued to work and poor DaVinci continued to swell.
Then we got a surprise when Mom went to get a wheelbarrow. Resting in the pea gravel was a copperhead snake. The area had a touch of grass near by and is a known spot for DaVinci to nibble. His situation took on a different view. We called the vet right away to see if we needed a visit. The vet said that she did not need to come and to give him Zyrtec and Banamine. He could get an infection from the venom causing the skin to slough off, so we will have to watch. We gave both to DaVinci orally and soon with all the pain medicines he started to feel better. I took a handful of cookies to him and with care he was able to eat them. I had to push them in the side of his mouth to avoid his sore spot. After he ate those, I got a scoop of senior food and began to hand feed him. DaVinci ate the whole scoop and even began to lip it up himself. So then I grabbed the hay cubes that would have been his breakfast and hand fed those to him. I have never been so glad to see a horse eat. We worried about him getting the medicine on an empty stomach. I told mom we needed to chop up some of the really soft grass hay we had for Sonny.
As soon as DaVinci saw the hay he began eating it, though in a guarded fashion. Even better was when he was able to eat his dinner out of his bowl. Now he could not clean it, but it was a huge step. We felt better leaving him for the night. Peggy will go give him another dose of Banamine soon.
Hopefully, he will continue to improve. And hopefully that snake will not make another appearance. I am so thankful DaVinci could tell me something was wrong and I knew him well enough to listen. That is priceless. Hug your horses people!

The Positive Side to Hitting the Sand

Wednesday brought the chiropracter back to work on the dogs, who got positive feedback. Well I had left my checkbook thinking to help Mom pay for the dogs, but Mom translated the checkbook to mean that I wanted Roscoe worked on. So he received his session including a tongue pull. I laughed and asked if she had a hard time getting a hold of his tongue because we had just wormed on Monday. Fortunately, the chiropracter did not find any major issues. Not surprising he had some small areas of stiffness, probably caused by all this darn mud.
The chiropracter, who is a friend also, asked about all the Roscoe "clones" popping up. Mom laughed as she told her about the foals. She asked how big Roscoe is, about 14 hands and she said he seems bigger. "I guess he just has that big a presence!" No doubt.
Today I decided to ride him and see if I felt any difference. The sun made an appearance, but was on the way out by time I tacked him up. Roscoe took his time acting the tourist and started to get to work. Then out of the blue he zigged. No big deal except that he sucked in his tummy at the same time and the saddle zagged. Guess which one I went with? Yeah the saddle. I hit the sand and expected to see my pony headed for the barn through the open gate. Instead I looked up and saw my pony a few feet away staring at me in surprise. I put my hand out as I sat in the sand and called him over. He walked over and I told him it was okay. Total fluke. How great is he that he stayed with me? To me that proves he had no bad intentions. So I got back on, took a minute to settle and then went back to work. Roscoe was a completly different pony than before the parting. It was like he figured he needed to focus so he did not lose me again. I could not have asked anymore from him. The best part was that he did not carry the fall, so I could shake it off too.
I really hope he passes on his brain to his babies. This boy is amazing. Can't wait for him to get wider though :)

A Keeper For Sure

Happy 20th Birthday Winston!!!

Yesterday Winston reached 20 years on this Earth, which I think is wonderful. He has had at least four owners before coming to us and struggles with his health. He has come through the health issues, accepting his new normal as well as maintaining his joy.

From his sale ad 11 years ago

10 years ago we thought he would end up a pasture pony, but luckily we found an awesome trainer willing to take him on. Now he is a working member of the barn, enjoys walks in the woods and is far away from the horse he used to be.
Can't wait to see how much more he improves in the years to come. Love you Winston!!!

It's A GIRL, Baby #2

Sorry for the delay. Mother's Day took precedence and pictures were not available until just before I went to bed.
So here is Roscoe's lovely filly.


Such a cute blaze with the kiss on the forehead

Mama love

3 Stockings and a sock

Showing her royal moves already

And the winner is Alanna for Rosina's Foal Pool. She was the only one to guess filly which put her ahead of Kelly. Who might I add only missed the birth date by about twenty minutes. It has been very cool to see the guesses come so close.
Alanna and Emma let me know if you want your gift card now or would like to wait until the end.