And Viola still hasn't kidded. After Viola will be Oreo if I don't sell her first, then Madeline if she is even pregnant. She doesn't look it but then Little Bit didn't look ready to pop out twins either.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
First goat kids of 2012
Wednesday afternoon, Feb 8th, I thought our doe Viola was in early labor. So I left her in the "maternity ward" stall in the barn and checked on her every couple of hours or so. I noticed Little Bit wasn't with the rest of the herd but hanging around the barn, but I figured it was just because I was there. She's our "puppy dog" doe, who would rather be with humans than goats. On my 4pm or so barn check I took loose minerals with me to refill feeders, and when I went in the "communal" stall the rest of the herd uses, Little Bit ran in with me. I turned around to shoo her out and lo and behold, she's laying down grunting and a water bag is appearing. She had no goo, had just started barely bagging up, and no sign of being ready to kid. Within ten minutes she had given birth to twins, one buckling and one doeling! Both very healthy, very cute and very active.
Animals come and animals go
Lots of changes around here since the last post (yes, I'm doing great at keeping up with this blog, I know :/ ). Missy the Tennessee Walking Horse mare was sold, which had us down to three horses - Rose the Belgian mare, Ruby the Saddlebred mare, and Dixie the free-lease TWH mare.
In November (2011) we bought a Haflinger mare named Amber. She was most likely in foal for spring, to a Haflinger stallion. She arrived on our little farm at 8am on a Tuesday morning. But just 20 minutes after the seller left, Amber jumped a fence and ran up the mountain behind our property, never to be seen again. Well she was seen a few weeks later, by hunters on the other side of the mountain. Unfortunately she had been shot and had been dead quite awhile. I feel terrible that I didn't put her in a stall but it never crossed my mind that she would jump the fence and run away.
But, if nothing else, we learned from that experience to never put a new horse in pasture right away, even if they've never been stalled and only ever lived at pasture. And in January we found out about a small herd of Arabians in Georgia that were being given away to good homes due to the owner's financial problems. I thought it sounded too good to be true, but decided to call anyway. I talked to the owner on the phone and it actually was true. So for the cost of a professional hauler bringing them the 245 miles here from their old home, we got two very nicely bred purebred Arabian horses, along with their papers.
Metal is a 12 year old stallion, flea-bitten gray, 14.3hh and just breathtakingly beautiful. He's also very sweet, friendly, well-mannered and smart. His downsides are, he has an old injury to his right front leg that may never heal enough to be completely sound. And he is cryptorchid, meaning he has one testicle that never dropped. Should we decide to geld him in future, it will be much more involved and expensive. He'll have to go to an equine hospital and go under general anesthesia and have abdominal surgery. But we see no reason to geld him right now, as he's a complete sweetheart of a stallion. I fell in love with him on first sight, as he stepped off the trailer here from GA, and I love him more every day. He's my dream horse of my childhood come to life. :)
Althea is a 17 year old mare who's only ever been a broodmare. She has had two foals, the most recent in 2005. She's petite and has the most beautiful dished face and large jibbah I think I've ever seen. She came to us somewhat underweight but not starved, so she is just gaining weight, settling in and getting used to her new home and new people. When she's back in shape I will start her under saddle.
And that's the news from our little horse herd for now.
In November (2011) we bought a Haflinger mare named Amber. She was most likely in foal for spring, to a Haflinger stallion. She arrived on our little farm at 8am on a Tuesday morning. But just 20 minutes after the seller left, Amber jumped a fence and ran up the mountain behind our property, never to be seen again. Well she was seen a few weeks later, by hunters on the other side of the mountain. Unfortunately she had been shot and had been dead quite awhile. I feel terrible that I didn't put her in a stall but it never crossed my mind that she would jump the fence and run away.
But, if nothing else, we learned from that experience to never put a new horse in pasture right away, even if they've never been stalled and only ever lived at pasture. And in January we found out about a small herd of Arabians in Georgia that were being given away to good homes due to the owner's financial problems. I thought it sounded too good to be true, but decided to call anyway. I talked to the owner on the phone and it actually was true. So for the cost of a professional hauler bringing them the 245 miles here from their old home, we got two very nicely bred purebred Arabian horses, along with their papers.
Metal is a 12 year old stallion, flea-bitten gray, 14.3hh and just breathtakingly beautiful. He's also very sweet, friendly, well-mannered and smart. His downsides are, he has an old injury to his right front leg that may never heal enough to be completely sound. And he is cryptorchid, meaning he has one testicle that never dropped. Should we decide to geld him in future, it will be much more involved and expensive. He'll have to go to an equine hospital and go under general anesthesia and have abdominal surgery. But we see no reason to geld him right now, as he's a complete sweetheart of a stallion. I fell in love with him on first sight, as he stepped off the trailer here from GA, and I love him more every day. He's my dream horse of my childhood come to life. :)
Althea is a 17 year old mare who's only ever been a broodmare. She has had two foals, the most recent in 2005. She's petite and has the most beautiful dished face and large jibbah I think I've ever seen. She came to us somewhat underweight but not starved, so she is just gaining weight, settling in and getting used to her new home and new people. When she's back in shape I will start her under saddle.
And that's the news from our little horse herd for now.
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