LPPaintedPonys - Cherry FOALED 31 AUG - PICS pg 12; Stuffy FOALED pg 6,Tory FOALED pics pg5, Koalah

New pics in next post of Bunny!

BUT.... drumroll!!!

I didn't get pics, but had been watching the mares. Due to several days of rain, the new baby stayed in my one stall, the mares to come up for foaling were in the round pen at night - out in the barn paddock during the day with the barn open like a run-in shed (but they don't stay in it!).

FINALLY got pics on the 9th (wow, a week after the last set...SORRY) - but due to getting maintenance work done, hay hauled and other ponies worked - didn't get the pics cropped, resized and posted... Turned "Bunny" and Koalah out for the day. So, kissed hubby off for work at about 10 pm, knew still had to clean the stall/pen and check again on Tory (who is now at 345 days). Milk test says that she has 24-48 hours yet... BUT passed out on couch until about 12-ish... UP and out to check on Tory - she's vastly uncomfortable - up and down. UH OH. OK - stall stripping. Check again at 12:30 (am). She's now standing - no tail swishing, no stamping, no waxing, no change (by flashlight) to her vulva. COOL. Go inside to take a nap - set alarm for 1 hour, fall into bed. WAKE UP - uncomfortable, turn around, twist turn... look at alarm and realize didn't go off or I didn't set it right (I was whipped). Up to check on Tory at 2:30 am. and there is a WET, but standing, black & white baby next to her! Find out that the day before's pics killed the batteries, cell phone takes really crappy pics at night even under lights...

Went from this -





to this at 0345 am on Wednesday am. Meet Echo. He's pretty dry at this point - figured he was born at about 2:15.



He's a really nice colt! Didn't get good outdoor shots during the day yesterday - again hauling hay, met up with my daughter at her college to go out for lunch and get materials for her final(s) and then back to work with my SIL on putting up panel fencing that will keep the youngsters in! Another "WHAT A DAY, O MY!" type of day...





Will do the photos of Stuffy from the 9th later today! She is still testing all the way to the right on both charts on the Mother's Nature foaling check...(not near ready). SHE will be in the stall when she gets closer (yep, so I say, LOL).

OK, pics of "Bunny" at 1 week of age. I couldn't seem to get pics of her while she was running and jumping! So just standing or walking shots.

Bunny checking out her full sister, Shamrock (yep, two holiday fillies out of the same mare - St. Patricks day and Easter).









Still has those ultra-long legs!!

Stuffy's pics later this tonight or tomorrow. She's getting the pointy, V belly and her vulva is enlongated and "stretched" but milk tests show quite some time yet...

How darling!! I love the pictures! Congratulations!!!

That little black and white is very nice.

Congratulations on your gorgeous babies - cant wait for Stuffy's pics, is she close?

May I ask why your horses and foals wear neckstraps - just interested as it is something I have noticed before.

Congratulations Yes I am curious to know too

Congratulations on the new foal gorgeous colour and markings And I am in love with Bunny, such a lovely head, and I love her stockings so even!!

Stuffy's pics -











When Stuffy returned from a lease, I cleaned her and Iggy up and just turned her out with him. In about two days, she was standing for him - but then she did again in late march, late april and again in early may. SO..... She stayed in the pasture with him until last month, but I never saw her actually standing for him again last summer/fall. She'll foal when she's ready, I'm just trying to keep up with her enough to maybe see this one?? We shall see, LOL.

COLLARS - hmm. A bunch of reasons - some good and some...not so "perfect"...

When I first got into our ponies (1995) I had separate pens for each pony or horse off of the pastures with either wind blocks or 3 sided shelters. Started with 2 & had 6 w/i 2 yrs when i moved from MT down to NC. Here in NC, I used some of the stock panels that I brought with me to set up a pen for our stallion - separate from the mares and his offspring. The others (added a new foal w/i 10 days of arrival & bought a mare and foal, too) all ran together on about 3 1/2 - 4 acres. I would catch the foals or mares I didn't want AJ to "mess with", put them into another square pen I had and turn him out with the mares - usually daily. To feed - I caught each horse or pony with a halter and tied them to the fences with their buckets... Each halter stayed hanging out with their buckets OR on the gate to the pasture. AJ, I quickly found out, would rub off a halter EVERYTIME he was tied. He either wore a chain around his throatlatch pretty tight w/ leadrope run thru his halter to post OR was cross tied. Not long and found out his offspring liked rubbing off the halters pretty quick, too!

The smaller, younger ones - could use a simple dog collar and I just kept a couple on hand. Add some years, alot more ponies and horses and the 3 girls (our daughters) now doing extracurricular activities so that I was doing azll the work by myself... I hate leaving halters on a horse or pony -it's very rare that I turn one out with them on. I will turn a foal loose with one on to get used to it - but I watch them and remove it when I will no longer be around. Sometimes will turn other ponies or horses out with one on, but again will remove it. Suddenly had babies chewing the halters left hanging on the fences and I was replacing them... way too often.

Several years ago, I started braiding collars - and they are two fold. I had a tree take out a fence line and a bunch of ponies just "left". They were miles away from home - we weren't finding them! I'd put some dogtags on a couple of them with the ponies name, our farm name and the home phone I had then. I got a call from someone who had caught one with a name tag on and the group of ponies was located - much further away than we'd even thought about looking!!

I like being able to catch and "psuedo lead" a horse to their feed bucket if I don't take a halter out with me. It's easy and fast to just hook them to their tiespot with the collar than to halter them. They don't have to be replaced the same as a halter does (the ones braided from haystring) due to shrinkage but do eventually wear out &/or break. I've found that the collars don't get caught like a halter can/does - nor do they leave marks. A lot of them I've braided from recycled hardware (from older halters) and haystring from our round bales - and I put them on a pony "permanently" - stitched into place w/ only a ring to attach a leadrope to. Others have buckles so the collars can be removed - either while riding or driving or while setting up for pics. I have also put a drag rope on some - I don't like to do that and I both in 2011 and last year I did have problems with that, but it has also worked wonders with having to catch a hard to catch pony when I haven't done enough work with them. again, they usually won't get caught in them the same way they will in a halter and no pressure sores or rubs...

Last year - EVERY pony actually had a collar on when I went out of town (in august, September and in October). I had a young soldier who was off duty and his family taking care of them while I was out of state (my family did the watering, moved the round bales of hay around and generally checked on everyone, but didn't feed due to schedules). They matched up each pony by the name tag on it's collar and the name tag hanging above the bucket they were tied at. They also carried out the feed to each pony/horse in a small feed bucket - with their name and the amount of feed they were to get taped on the bucket. Right now, most don't have nametags again...but they should. Eventually, especially for my "permanent" ponies, I will have brass or dog tag type nametags like that other group did (all have since been sold and I still have some of those tags)...

I've finally started braiding the collars out of paracord in our farm colors. Have 3 done.

As much as I love my collars, I hate leading a horse in them. I want a halter on her head, not a rope around her neck. I DO find that once they are properly trained to lead, they lead fine with a collar - but that takes learning/training (more practice than I usually do with each one lately) and the yearlings/twos often forget, LOL... I also have some that just seem to be way more re-active and they just do better with a halter and lead rope when not in the pasture where their buckets are - no matter how much work/training they have had.

when foals are first tied - they wear a rope around their bellies with the end coming between their front legs. If they have a collar just loose enough to allow it to slide nice - I run the rope thru it - and then also thru a halter to the post they are tied to. They don't injure their heads or necks - and learn to stand. I also will put that "rig" on them when I "pony" them off of their dams - especially when away from home. They quickly quit setting back and trot out really nice! I certainly see the difference in the foals that that hasn't been done with.

Trying to find a pic of a group tied to eat...

here's one showing part of my roundpen pasture. I now have two roundpens - the one from stock panels (50') and the one in the rear out of the portable blue steel horse corral panels (30' - needs to be made bigger).



Here you see 4 of the 8 ponies tied around the round pen (and the Arab nanny - 22 yr old Rhythem). The "ties" are short haystring ties (4 strand braid made from small square bale string). The big horses (1 NSH, 3 arabians) aren't caught yet - you can see them under the trees in the back... The silver buckskin mare in the blue panel pen attached to the round pen isn't caught yet either...

Can you say I maybe have too many "chips"?? Hubby would agree with you... I DID sell 4 ponies this past weekend!! Great home for a pair of full brother geldings that will make a working team and another family taking on the other two...

here's another one - though you can't really see the tie arrangements...



Star, the 1/2 arab pony mare farthest away, is wearing a "collar" that is a round braid tied with a loop and then knotted back to the loop. It's stayed on her for a couple of years without any problems. She's been a pasture broodmare - so no need to have something to remove... It's strong enough to hold her and it works! The stallion next to her (silver pinto) is my "main boy" - Iggy. His "new" collar is blue and white (the bucket of string came from behind a freinds' shed and it says it's fish line) - and is on an recycled, squared halter ring. The end is loose - pulled thru the ring square and then a conway buckle holds it. It can be adjusted and removed. Bell's - here - is a "permanently attached" one - again using a recycled halter ring, braided over it - put around her neck, the end drawn thru and then stitched into place w/ more haystring and a rug needle. The same collar stayed on her for almost a full year before it wore a bit more than I wanted to leave it at... Her new one is made from paracord and has a ring and a buckle (dog collar fashion).

There are three more ponies behind me - Stuffy, Koalah and Cherry. All of them are tied using a tie braided from 4 strings from small square bales. I've braided a loop into one end (very strong!), continued the braid all the way to the end, knotted it, cut it even and burned the ends down to the knot. I then knot a loop in the other end - one end goes over the post (or around it in a slip knot fashion) and the other is attached to a snap and snapped to the ring of a halter or collar.

I can sit and do a single tie from 4 strands of hay string in a round braid inless than 30 minutes from start to finish. Some I've done with 6 strands - they take a little longer to braid, but are stronger...

I've also now made 4 leadropes from 4 strands of paracord (2 strands purple, 1 white, 1 black), 1 from 6 strands (1/2 square) and 1 from 8 strands (not completed yet at the knot)...



I need to take more pictures of current braided pieces -but you can see some here : Braided haystring tack When I had fewer ponies, lots of time and no money - I made two pleasure type training harnesses. They are pretty darn cool and still in use - 4 years later!

your new little ones are very very cute! congratulations!

your collar ideas are pretty cool love the dog tags lol

Well I seemed to have "lost" not one set but at least two sets of pics of Stuffy. Not sure where they went or how they disappeared. I have a couple that didn't turn out at all and those I know I deleted - from the computer after downloading from the camera.

BUT...

Stuffy's milk tested as still only 10% chance of foaling on the evening of the 16th. She'd been in for a couple of days at night by herself and wasn't happy at all. Usually when she's 2 weeks out, she's quiet and comfy in a stall - happy to be away from the herd at night. So that combo, had me turning her out early on the 17th, after I made a BR run, and then I went back to bed... I didn't think to check her milk before I turned her out (STUPID!). Sat up suddenly @ 0630, said "Stuffy"... and grabbed my clothes and ran out. Dogs quiet, chickens around the pen under the carport dispersed in early morning fog, and Stuffy didn't meet me at the pasture gate (I hadn't even put her in the round pen, but turned her loose in the pasture!) like she does normally (she knows when I come out the door and talks any time she can see the kitchen door and I come out).

This is what greeted me when I got thru the fog towards the back of the pasture:



Our little brat looks quite smug with herself, doesn't she? I brought her out and checked over the little guy (yep, he's a colt and a rather large one).

Congrats! what a colorful surprise.

I brought her back into the stall and wormed her, gave him an enema and overall just check them out. She got her post breakfast feed - she was happy! He got better at nursing.

I had my own breakfast, talked w/ my hubby about them a bit before he went to bed after getting home from work, and put some pics online. As I was going back out to feed everyone else, oldest daughter Skye arrived with our two granddaughters - Gracie - 2 1/2 yrs & Gwen - just turned 1. So they visited with them, too. I took them out into the sun, on the grass and both girls got a proper intro at which poiint, Gracie just "latched" onto him.

Watch out - cuteness overload!!









At Skye's suggestion we are calling this fella - Rio. This day brought back many memories of when our daughters were this age and Stuffy was born.

Rio, Echo and Bunny all have their own pages on our website now. Each page has their full pedigree and a link to their personal photo albums at the bottom of each page.

I got some of each of the babies yesterday, but mostly of Rio with Gracie!

Rio's page

Echo's page

Bunny's page

chandab said:

Congrats! what a colorful surprise.

Click to expand...

THnx! He's a little chunk and a very nice colt...

That pic of his dam, just above, was taken when she was born above the Marias river 9 miles out of Shelby, MT. Yes, it was COLD and we had quite a bit of snow later that week! My stepdad took this photo and brought it to me at work (I went to lunch with him, 'Dira and Sierra - Skye was in Kindergarten). When I arrived home, Stuffy not doing well. Fast trip to vet's w/ neighbor hauling Patty and Stuffy for me - she got a plasma transfusion and Patty was milked out to give Stuffy the colosturm. There, she took it from a bottle. Later at home - she refused - but sucked it up from a bowl. Patty wanted nothing to do with this foal, her 1st, and we had our first "orphan".

Stuffy was raised in my kitchen, rode to daycare in the front of my truck under Skye's booster seat, and then spent 20 days out in my parents' hunting camper (very rustic - she didn't do any damage thru two snowstorms!). When she'd no longer stay laying down while traveeling, she went backinto the pen she'd been born in - next to her sire....

Congrats on your big colorful boy!!! Glad to hear that someone's mares are foaling....

Gracie is the same age now, that Sierra was in 1996 when Stuffy was born. We will see how this develops!!

Congrats on your new 'surprise' foal! He's a colorful feller, and look at those legs! Nice!