December photos/Equine Affaire: On Target Miniature 2012 foals

Our cam is up: http://www.marestare...?alias=ontarget but needs a bit of explanation. We have 3 mares due within a month of each other and are not sure which one will go first. Plus we have had mares abort or go early & have dead foals (last year at 299 days) while on Mare Stare. So for now we have the camera on the stall that the 3 share as a run-in, with an attached overhang area for more shelter, plus a turnout area. So the stall may be empty or have up to 3 mares in it.

The mares are Alamos Sirs Toffee Snow: bay & white tobiano pinto (negative for frame and splash): TOFFEE



Jones Call Me Blue Admiration (Max's dam): silver bay frame overo (LWO+), HZ for black, negative for splash, carries gray gene: MIRA



Vermilyea Farms Exotic Exposure: Black and white tobiano/sabino: SOX



All three are bred to SRF Buckshot: ETA - LWO negative!!!



We will be putting halter alarms on the mares as they get closer. Toffee wears her breakaway halter all the time because she is not very trusting and is hard to catch. In 2 years we have not made much progress with the trust issue and only recently learned more about her history. So please be understanding - this is clearly not something genetic as her 2 year old filly is a pocket pet.

Please call if you see anything we should be aware of. Especially with our foaling history, we would much rather answer the phone than find another dead body. Thanks for watching!

Beautiful horses! Will love to watch them for you! Do you have their suspected due dates?

They were all hand bred so I know their last breeding dates but am not sure what to use for due dates. Using 330 days they are due: Toffee on April 2, Mira on April 22, and Sox on May 2. But I like to start watching them at 300 days, especially based on our experience. Plus, Mira aborted in 2008 at 260 days. We think that was due to Rhino and they have all had their Pneumabort shots at 5, 7, and 9 months and Toffee just had her pre-foaling shots on Wednesday.

will watch when I can what lovely mares you have! I especially love Toffee! those blue eyes are absoloutly gorgeous!

I see Toffee n Mira at the moment... Toffee with her bum to the wall... LOL

Welcome to the nursery, your girls will do just fine here as us nutty lot are more or less always watching. This year is going to be a great year for your girls, I can feel it.

2.00am and only Sox is in, she is down sternal resting all curled up with her legs under her.

5.50am and the girls are all outside

This is great! I really appreciate this. One other thing I forgot to mention is that I plan to provide the link to this thread to our 4-H Club (Little Hooves) so I may add info to update them (and you) on the mares progress. Photos of udders, results of milk tests, etc. They already have the cam link and are watching too (mostly parents, because some of the kids are only 8 years old). Please keep that in mind and feel free to add information that they might appreciate.

Hi and welcome! Thankyou for bringing your gorgeous girls over to us on this forum - we promise to keep a good eye on them for you.

Just had a peek and found Mira hoovering and Sox moving out and leaving her to it! There seems to be a lot of friendly neck scratching going on in the next stall LOL!!

Will also be adding my prayers for three smooth and successful foalings.

Sox is hoovering. I think both the other mares are just beyond the doorway. Now Mira is inside.

My mare Laney is 298 days today and I have her up on MS too. Last year she foaled at 341 days (and I used that to figure her due date to be 4/12) but I still am watching her for changes so I don't miss anything.

Is there a popular "due date"(#of days in foal) miniature horse owners use to calculate the due dates?

OK, for some more info: All our minis get fed 4 times a day so they just had lunch. Mira LOVES to "hoover"... don't worry there is also hay just outside the stall too. The minis you can see in the next stall include Princess (in my avatar), Dancer (silver dapple/white), Cowboy (B/W), Taffy (buckskin/white) and Rusty (sorrel/white) who is so small you probably can't see him! He is the group trouble-maker and the only living sibling to the 3 expected foals.

Oh, and it is snowing today so don't be surprised to see white or wet backs.

Here is an article I found on the Stars Miniatures website that had interesting info on due dates based on LOTS of experience.

http://www.starsminiatures.com/foalarticle.html

So I think 320 days is a better number to use for minis than 330. But I start getting serious at 300 days, which will be Saturday for Toffee.

LOL!! Mary, just been having a laugh at your 'crowd' in the neighbouring stall - lots of 'interaction' LOL!!

Thanks for keeping the interesting info going, we love to hear about other non breeding animals.

Glad you are enjoying the ones in the next stall. There are days when they get us laughing so hard our stomachs hurt! I don't suppose you saw who stole Toffee's feed dish? It was missing and on the other side of the fence when I fed tonight. My guess would be Rusty....

So excited to watch your mares Mary!!! yay!

Interesting that you could learn more about Toffee. She's such a stunningly beautiful mare and so well bred. But she was always like an enigma to me. I just was never able to be her friend. But as you know, there's not a mean bone in her body...she wants to do the right thing. She just doesn't trust very much. The good news is as she gets closer you'll be able to check her bag and test her milk with no trouble. She just accepts it as part of life! Oh, and treats don't hurt! (she likes to eat )

Yes, Parmela, you are so right that Toffee wants to do the right thing. The mares got loose one day and we were panicking about getting them back in but Toffee led them all back in. She knew where she was supposed to go and led the others. She lets me check her bag, which is a lot easier to do if I leave her head alone. The first time I did it she was behind Mira so I just reached around Mira to check her and then walked away. The look she gave was priceless "Was THAT all you wanted?".

Good morning all, it is 2.00am cam time and the girls are quiet. Mira and Sox are in hoovering the stall and Toffee is standing just outside the door.

It's 6.20am now so I will be off shortly. The girls have been in and out quietly all night but I haven't seen Toffee in, she just stands at the door. Do the other two let her in?

Yes, Toffee comes in the stall when she wants.. they all get along very well. When I went out to feed just now Toffee and Mira were in the stall grooming each other. And remember that just outside the stall is a perfectly fine place to be- matted, partly bedded and well protected from the elements. It is also where Toffee gets fed (and where the water and salt block are), which may explain why she spends more time there. In addition, the other minis are just on the other side of the partition.

ETA photo of area just outside the stall (about 10X12'):

Good Luck Mary, I hope this is your year and everyone foals without any problems and you get 3 beautiful foals ..JANE

Thanks Jane - I appreciate it, and hope you are right. Maybe three will be the charm.

11:10pm and I can see Toffee and the feet of the other two LOL all is quiet and well

Thank you for the photo Mary, now I understand so why she likes it there. It makes it so much easier when we can see photos of the set up so thank you.

Just to prove you right Sox and Toffee are in at 1.40am

2.20am all girls are in and resting and Toffee is down sternal