Saddlebrook Appaloosas

Well good things come to those who wait right? At about 11am today Roxy finally had her foal. I was actually in the barn waiting for the vet so that we could breed Annie and Frosty. About fifteen minutes before he came Roxy paced a little and then I saw the sack coming. First two black legs and then a black head. I was a little worried as when the head was half out she got up and laid down again. Before long the foal was out. She was up against the back wall so I went back to make sure there was enough room. I recorded the entire thing and will post if for those that missed it. There was one glaring problem with the video. When I was helping with the foal, my pants were just a little too low for public viewing. Let’s just say the plumber in me would be proud. Any ways I need to review the tape a little before I post it. Maybe next time I should put a belt in the foaling kit, just in case. Anyway the foal was now out and I turned it over to see the umbilical cord and I noticed an udder. Now Dr. Schmidt had checked Roxy at 4 months and said that she would be having a colt. I checked again under her tail and sure enough a girl. I will have to call Dr. Schmidt and razz him. She looked solid black when she came out, but as she is drying you can se more and more color on her blanket. I also gave her an enema right away as both vets recommend that to help them nurse. Over the next hour or two she nursed alot in the back corner of the stall. I got a little worried until I called Dr. Geiche and he said if the foal likes the corner put the mare there and see what happens. I did that and in no time she drank. I have backed Roxy up one more time on the other side and she drank there too. So far so good. Thanks for watching, S/B

No, that isn’t her chosen name yet, just a favorite children’s book title “Stella Luna” that I was reminded of by some of the suggested names we are considering. The vet exam today was very good. We don’t have her IgG test results back yet, but she is certainly nursing very well. Fanny was the perfect mother – on a loose lead, she just watched over the vet who does his exam by laying the foal down, and only a few soft nervous nickers gave anything away that she was the least bit upset. First, the baby. She had all great measures for temp, respiration, heart, eyes, etc. She was vigorous and strong, so must be getting plenty of milk although Fanny’s udder is on the small side. The vet just thought she was drinking a lot! Nice straight legs and very handsome conformation. So far Bill has only noticed mottled skin on the little girl, so we need one of the three other App characteristics to magically appear – coat pattern, striped hooves, or white sclera. It does not loo like she has the sclera, so……hopefully some day soon we will find a few white hairs on her rump and they will multiply like bunnies!

Fanny was amazingly fit and not even a tear after the tough delivery. Bigger foal, two weeks late – and the rough pulling didn’t do any damage. The vet said there was some very typical bruising and she looks great. She also has all good vitals and was calm and accommodating about the guys handling her baby. Good girl!! Thsi new vet I am lking. He believes less is more, and does not give a shot to clean out the mare, nor penecillin to the foal as a safety measure. He talked about studies that show it may do more harm than good, and from a customer’s standpoint, he is also advocating a less invasive – and less expensive! – way to go. Very different than past vets who wanted to do everything, all the time.

Here is a little video of her…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTWbRdkXKtA

Very little news on the Fanny front. Her udder is growing, but it is still not as full as I remember it. Smooth under her tail a little but still not ready there either. Looks like we are going to have to wait and watch until she decides she is ready. Last night really looked real, yet tonight she seems much calmer. I am going to watch again tonight just in case something unexpected happens.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Fanny is not ready yet, it looks like she is going to go past her due date at his point. I have been wrong before of course but I would guess we are 3 days or so away. Her udder is just not very big and she is not very loose yet under her tail. Look for the straw that will be a sign that she has wax. A day or two after that we should have a foal. Meanwhile Roxy looks almost as ready as Fanny. Her udder is bigger but because Roxy has had more foals it is a little hard to tell. She is not at all ready under her tail so I still think they will go in order if I had to bet.

Dr. Schmidt is predicting a filly for Fanny and colt for Roxy. We are planning to bring one of these pairs to the Midwest Horse Fair in April. Hopefully at least on these will have color. Roxy has had Spice and I am sure Fanny could produce a solid foal. We need a colored one if we want to go to the fair so keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

We are all ready for our two foals coming in a couple of weeks.  Fanny is progressing nicely and it looks like she will foal as expected. Roxy actually seems more uncomfortable though she is due much later. Fanny really has been eating over the past few weeks and we have been feeding her up to try to get her fat and happy for foaling. This year she is supposed to have  filly. Trace will be a full brother to her from 2 years ago. He has turned out very nice and I can’t wait to see a female version. LOL We will start doing udder pictures and put straw in the stall the first of the year. Don’t forget to enter our foaling and naming contests if you haven’t already.

Thanks for watching,

S/b

We have had a lot of changes here at Saddlebrook. First of all we have a few new boarders at our farm. We have one pony, one morab and two new Warmbloods. We also have Spice and Matilda back from two of our customers. Luke was also sold to our good friend Jane. We are excited about all the changes as we head into winter. Speaking of winter we need to know make plans to move everyone around and get Annie, Checkers and Frosty under lights starting December 1st. With the boarders here at the farm it is a little trickier to have the right stalls in the right place. I do not want to walk the mares through the snow and ice if I can help it. The weanlings and yearlings are also doing great and getting very big.  Please make sure to enter our foaling contest if you haven’t already. Fanny is due in Jan. and Roxy in Feb. It won’t be long now.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Things have really been moving around here. We have three new boarders. We also have sold some horses and added a few to our roster.  Marla is our new trainer and has been giving lessons and training our horses also. It has been a while since I have done an update so I need to fill you in on who is here.  Our horses here now are Zippy of course. Buddy, Madonna, and Angel the three weanling. Spice and Matila both riding mares. Trace a yearling colt. Sport our two year old colt. Checkers and Annie broodmares. And Roxy, Frosty and Fanny… more broodmares.  Roxy and Fanny are in foal. Roxy to Zippy and Fanny to Mr. Cool Hand Luke. Fanny is supposed to have a filly this year so it will be a full sister to Trace. I can’t wait to see it.  Boarders we have are Ruby a pony, and Dewey and Skyye the warmbloods. Scoops is still here also and out with Trace.

Around the farm we have been also doing alot of small projects. Painting, replacing windows and of course fixing fence. All of the stalls now have matts in them which has really helped us use fewer shavings. The kids are much better helpers also now that they are older. They have been moving hay, and dusting cobwebs. The hay crop was smaller than usual this year. We ended up selling our second cutting and the it turned out that the third cutting was much smaller than usual because we had so little rain. Now I will need to buy some hay so that we have enough for everyone.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Things have been busy around here since our last public update.  We have gotten some new boarders. Checkers (not our Checkers), Itchy, and Silver. Silver was not here long and had to be put down after some dental work was performed here. He coliced we think due to the anesthesia.  After a couple days of doing everything we could it was decided that the only human thing to do was to put him down at the vet clinic. In other horse news, Jane bought Luke and we brought him out to Washington D.C. We had a nice uneventful trip out there and back. Washington DC was a blast and my new friend Kurt joined me on the trip.

 Meanwhile Spice is back and doing very well. Our new trainer Marla Zellmer is also riding Annie and Sport and they are both coming along. I even showed Trace a couple of times this summer. Wow we have done alot horse wise. I was able to take some new pictures of Trace also. You can see them here.

We also have done some major projects around here putting a new roof on one of the barns, and painting and cleaning. Even the hay came again since the last update. Time sure flies when you are having fun.

Thanks for watching,

S/B

Wow, Thursday and Friday proved to be more challenging than planned.  Isn’t that always the case?  Even though Bill was thrilled that the second crop hay was sold and was going to be big-baled so we wouldn’t have to put it away, things always go a little haywire, right?  LOL  For one thing, the weather did not fully cooperate, plus the man buying it had to go out of town for a couple days and we had to deal with it anyway or risk getting it ruined.  So Bill was putting it away using the forks on our tractor from about 7 until 1:00 a.m. Thursday night/Friday morning.  I think he enjoyed the first two hours of it or so, then it just got to be a real challenge, as you can imagine.  The week was warm but kind of humid, and we have too much alfalfa in our crop despite re-seeding it with grass this year.  So it is juicy and takes a long time to dry.  Anyway, big bales are more forgiving with moisture content, so it could finally get baled mid-Thursday afternoon.  I had work meetings from early morning until about 6:30, so Bill took Joe to golf  lessons and did not get home till 7:00.   A long day.  Bill had to get the huge hay bales, each about 800 pounds, into our arena before the storms came.  He made it in time and we are glad nothing went wrong.  The buyer will pick them up Monday.  There are about 50 big bales in our arena right now.

Friday was busy too, with Drew going to his last day of soccer camp, big squirt gun in hand.  The last day they have a water fight for the last 30 minutes, and pizza, and awards and pictures.  I had a day of vacation at home to get ready for our exchange student to arrive, but had two conference calls, one at 10:30 and one at 2:00 that I could not move around and had to attend by phone from home.  So I missed the fun but Bill got pictures.  I had to take my car in for new brakes – we are selling it and I wanted it to be safe and set to go.  Tried a new service place I pass on my way to and from work, and I was thoroughly happy with the experience – the initial call, the follow-up estimate to us, the appointment, the way they talked to us while dropping the car off, the price, the work – everything.  They even gave Bill a tiny bag of Famous Amos cookies when we picked up the car and paid later in the day.  So he is a True Believer.  Great service is something to remember these days, and especially car repairs where I always feel I am getting sold, buying more than I need.  Who ever knows??  So I will use this place again for sure.  They are new, and trying to build their business – so far, so good!

Then we hurried home from dropping my car off  and Bill had to take Zippy into the vet clinic to be collected for our buffalo-driving customer in Michigan.  He did not mind a very late foal next year as he does not show. That joo-joo got shipped off and Bill was home again, bathing and clipping Trace.  I was changing sheets and vacuuming and making looooong grocery lists.  Joe and Sarah cleaned up Bill’s Durango with ArmorAll and a vacuum, and it is looking better than it has in years.  Nokolunga arrived with the Rotary Youth Exchange coordinator in early afternoon.  She is easygoing and friendly and I think this month will be fun.  She is 18 and at home in South Africa has two younger sisters and a younger brother.  The kids played games while I was on the conference call and then we all got to know one another.  Bill pulled out of the drive with Trace at about 6, heading to West Bend which is just 20 minutes away or so.  Bill said he was amazed at how laidback Trace was with the ear and muzzle and pastern clipping – like an old pro.  Now if he only had a tail……LOL.  Maybe Fanny’s foal next year by the same stallion will take after his dam instead of his sire in that one regard.

So last night Bill arrived at the show safely, got Trace settled into his stall, and planned to sleep in the tack room of the horse trailer on the blow-up mattress.  Yuck.   Watch those spurs!  I’ve checked in with him already this morning and the show is delayed, as it is raining hard and lightening in this area.  And it is an outdoor show, sad to say.  This is where easygoing horses like Trace can do really well, because they don’t mind mud or rain or far-away thunder.   But it just may be cancelled altogether if the storms continue.  Or there might not be enough horses there to make it worthwhile.

None of the kids have gotten up yet, it’s just that kind of gray day.  However, I believe Drew may be playing GameBoy under the covers and pretending he is still sleeping!  I may take the girls school shopping later, there are big sales on at Kohls.  The kids will do the chores this morning but not turn the horses out till the storms are gone for good.   Someone was supposed to come look at the apartment yesterday but I don’t think she showed up.  It’s a friend of the owner of Scoops, the little paint gelding we have here as a boarder.   Have a great day, EveryBuddy.

We all survived our Itty Bitty Buddy Bash this year. We had a great time which featured Lois, The Strongs, Amy M, and Deb of course us.  We took it pretty easy with a bon fire on Friday night and then breakfast, horse training, karaoke and a live concert at the beach in downtown Oconomowoc. The concert was performed by a 10 year old blues guitarist that is now on Americas Got Talent.

The horses are all growing up big and strong. Trace is finally starting to fill out with the new hay we had cut and Susan put away. I was at the National Appaloosa board meeting when all 4000 bales came. We but up about 2o00 here and Kate and Chris put up about the same. Lucky for us the weather held out and we had nice dry hay. We still haven’t had any rain since then. Things are really dry. Angel has been weaned and tomorrow I am going to move her to one of the pastures with a little more grass. I was planning to do that before, but never got to it. We also have a new boarder coming the beginning of August.  I worked with both Angel and Sport during the buddy bash and they both were very cooperative. We worked them both on a line and they did very well for young horses. We need to really get Sport going under saddle and I hope our next barn helper might be able to help us out. Meanwhile I am working Trace, though not as much as I should. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Thanks for watching,

S/B