It's a FILLY!!!! <3

[horse_apples]

An update to this previous post:

http://www.miniaturehorsetalk.com/index.php?showtopic=134220

In the wee hours of the morning, my mare Baby gave birth to her first filly. It happened sometime between 2am and 8am Sunday morning - the baby was completely clean & dry by the time I went to the barn. She was already nursing and literally skipping around her mama.

I found the red sac attached to the white sac amoungst other gunk on the barn floor. Baby's girl parts didn't look torn either. I knew Baby was close to giving birth but also knew as a maiden mare she'd keep me guess til the last moment. I saw the new filly and literally ran from the barn to the house at 30mph (i think, lol) breaking a sandal, yelling my head off to my boyfriend "Dan, we have a baby! it's a baby!".

Baby is being an excellent mama so far!! She gets nervous when the filly is out of sight for more than a moment and seems to encourage her to nurse. The vet will be out to check them both this afternoon. Filly seems very spunky! She tries to kick when we touch her rump so I'm going to hide in my office this morning and read all I can about imprinting on foals. I even saw her nosing at the grass and sticking her face in mama's grain dish.

Here are some pictures. I cant decide on a name yet.... I'm thinking she will be a dun or a gray (mama is blue roan, daddy is some type of dun pinto - i can't ever figure out those pinto coats!) She does have a lot of white hairs in her coat but her bottoms legs and muzzle are white so i assume she won't be a roan. tell me what you think!

Isnt she soooooooo cute?!?!?!!!!!!!!!

 

[Never2Mini]

BIG CONGRATS !! She is Beautiful !!

HEHE ! you sound like me. I had my first foal ever in May..I was so excited when I first seen the foal. I was running around like mad yelling Dolly had her baby !! Dolly had her babay !! I had a hard time breathing.

Its so exciting !

 

[horse_apples]

How Cool - I'm also from Ohio and I have a Dolly. In fact, Baby is Dolly's baby, making Dolly a "Grand-Mare". Or is it "Grand-Dam"? hehehe

 

[atotton]

Crongrats on the cute little girl.

 

[MountainWoman]

Oh, she's adorable!!! Don't know about color but I had a dun filly born with a pronounced dorsal stripe and now at two months, she's turning solid black. Mom for my foal was a blue roan and dad was a black and white tobiano. These little ones are definitely color changers. Anyway, a big congratulations and I'm so excited for you!!! What a doll. Can't wait to hear what you name her.

 

[FirstTimeMiniMom]

congrats on an uneventful birth and a beautiful little girl! shes just lovely

 

[countrymini]

Congrats!!! She is so so cute!!

 

[ratzo155]

Conflagrations! She is a cutie!!

 

[eagles ring farm]

congrats on your lovely little surprise

so glad all went well

 

[Jade10]

Congratulations on your gorgeous girl!

 

So glad things turned out well for you and the little one. Count yourself VERY lucky that all went well, and baby is on the ground safely!!

She's a pretty little girl, for sure!!

 

[paintponylvr]

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your little girl. She's a cutie!

She appears to be a silver black. Since I don't know how the roan gene really works - she may also be a roan. I know that a lot of roan babies don't "look" like roans at birth until they shed off their foal coats or are clipped - other roan owners may have more knowledge there.

I have 18 silver ponies with raising 13 silver babies from birth and a couple more from about 3- 4 months of age - all are silver black except one (possibly 2 - the one might be a silver, smoky black). They are different shades and some are homozygous black (base color) and some are heterozygous black - which I think also affects shading... Each foal has a separate page on our web site. You can view them via the different pages...

There are plenty of threads right here that tell of different ways to handle foals. I've done some imprinting (that's started at birth, after - it's just called handling or training), mostly we handle our foals. This year, ours have had very little handling and ... it shows. Though they now can all be caught and "tied" and each eats out of their own buckets at feeding time. They generally start "tasting" their dam's feed (in my experience) soon after birth. Some are eating well as early as 3 days of age and all of ours are usually eating from their own buckets by the time they are 1 month of age. And yes, those babies can be right hellions right from birth! In most cases - they aren't fragile like some like to think of them - they are horses (with all the same attitudes of their full size counterparts) packed into tiny bodies. Only their immune systems can be fragile (in other words, if something goes wrong - they can go downhill fast - but that's true of ALL FOALS - mini, pony & full size horses) but most of the time, everything is great. Mother Nature sure knows how to "build them" in most cases!

So, what did the vet have to say? What did you name your new "girlie"?

 

[AnnaC]

Many congratulations on your new little filly - she looks to be a real cutie.

As Diane says, you were so lucky that all went well at the birth - cant wait to see some updated pictures!

Unlike Paula above (and most folks here I guess LOL!!) we dont handle foals at all, believing that they belong to their Mommas and not to us. So apart from a quick check over and a 'dip' of the cord before they are even on their feet at delivery time, we keep well out of the way, just watching to see that the foal is nursing and pooping ok. By the time they are a couple of weeks old they are all coming up to us out in the fields and by the time a month has passed we simply cant get rid of them when field walking. LOL!! All worming and foot trimming is done out in the fields, still not attempting to 'hold' them in any way, but just by giving scratches - never had a problem, they all seem to love the attention.

We wean around 6 months (when the youngest reaches 6 months) and sometimes we do headcollar and leading work at this time, but sometimes it gets left longer until we have enough free time! If we want to move them from field to field we just call, lead the way and they all follow just like they have always done. When we are ready, headcollars are simply put on and we walk off, babies think it is just another follow-my-leader game and are happy to join in. In fact this year the babies were actually yearlings before daughter did any of this haltering and leading! We popped them into our lorry (they all followed up the ramp easy peasy bless them!) and took them to her farm and within 3 days she had them all leading individually from her barn, across two fields to their turnout field. They also all stood quietly tied up for her to do their routine foot trimming.

Of course I realise that our relaxed (lazy!!) way of doing things will not suit many people - we dont show foals so there is no need from that point of view to have them all organised any sooner - but it suits us and seems to suit our babies, and perhaps shows that there is no need to rush into handling young foals especially in those early days when baby and Momma should be enjoying some natural bonding time together in private.

 

[horse_apples]

I've decided to call her Lil' Sadie Jo (a play on words - after my beloved Aunt Lil and Aunt Sadie and horse loving godmother Jo)

Vet says both mama and baby are doing great - she commented that Sadie is a "little piglet" and very alert. She believes she will either be silver or turn roan like mama horse. Mama horse is healing well too, thankfully!

She was nibbling at her mama's breakfast this morning, more exploring I think... I have seen her lick and nibble just about everything in their stall - the legs of the hay bin, the water bucket, the wood on the walls. I caught her pawing at the floor and sniffing too. She acts like a grown horse, it's amazing!

I LOVE watching her bounce around mama and play. Right now her eyes are blueish. Will this change, like human baby eyes do? It's the one thing I forgot to ask the vet

As far as handling goes, I mostly just watch her investigate the new world and try to imitate what mama is doing. I will scratch and pet her and have snuggled her in my lap but she is so wound for sound she doesn't hold still long. I agree she is Baby's baby so I'll wait a few weeks til I really get into messing around with her.

Thank you all for your well wishes and advice!!

 

[AnnaC]

I love her name, a great way to decide on what to call a new baby - she looks like a Sadie too, it really suits her!

 

[cassie]

congratulations on your new baby! so very glad all went well for you. very lucky.

she looks adorable. congrats again.

 

[Gone_Riding]

Awesome!!!!

 

[paintponylvr]

I love the name. More pics?