Baby Watch 2013

Apparently we're getting really close to FOAL TIME! The lady with the foaling farm e-mailed my mom to say we're getting close. I am both excited and nervous. I don't think I'll be able to sleep until the foal is on the ground.

I realized that I haven't said anything about this whole foal situation, so now's as good a time as any to fill you in. Never know, there might be a baby in the morning.

Last summer my mom bought a Friesian/APHA cross mare who was in foal - theoretically - to a Gypsy Vanner/Friesian stallion. The mare's name is Somara, she's seven, and this is her first foal. I don't have any great conformation shots of her, but I have some from the place my mom got her from and one I took of her when I saw her last fall.

That's an awful lot of bit. How about a snaffle on that greenie?

And here he is, hauling her face off with it. You can see that her mouth is open.

Don't worry! I pulled her mane!

I think Somara's a pretty well put-together mare. Maybe a little over at the knee, but we all have flaws.

The sire has... quite a few.

I has MANE to dazzle you with!

Note that in this pic and the next one, he's cocking the left hind. That makes me nervous, especially considering that insane croup angle he's rocking.

This is a textbook study of conformation flaws. This horse has no business making babies. I hope he's been gelded.

The people my mom bought the mare from are being super cagey about the breeding date, which makes me think someone jumped the fence or something. I really can't imagine why anyone would look at this horse and think, "He really ought to pass those genes along." Anyway, there's certainly a chance that this isn't even really the sire. I'm almost hoping he isn't, because it's hard to imagine anything worse.

So I'm really hoping the foal looks more like Somara than like that horse. For awhile I was comforting myself with the notion that foals tend to take slightly more after their dams, and then I saw Lex and her dad, and realized that sometimes they can look JUST LIKE their sires. Argh.

In addition to a horse that looks more like mama, I am also pulling for a filly and it would be cool if she's spotty, but if the horse is healthy and not a conformational nightmare, I'll take whatever we get.

Brief already-born horse news: Lex was a superstar again today! She even fell asleep on the crossties with her saddle on while I held my friend's baby for her - she had to clip a dog and her baby was going nuts. I'm not really maternal, but I do have the world's cutest nephew and have learned a thing or two about rocking infants. I kept glancing over at her and each time, her ears were further out to the side, her lip was more droopy, and her eyes were more closed. If I hadn't been occupied with baby-holding, I'd have gotten a picture. Such a good girl - and she was great for the ride, too. It only took a couple of tries at turning her nose into the fence before I could slow her down by just thinking about it. Sharon is a miracle worker.

TJ, I'm sorry to report, is going back to Virginia tomorrow. I cried about it at least three times today, including while I was giving him a bath. If he wasn't going to my mom's I'd be inconsolable, but I'll get to see him in a couple of weeks and horses have a great life at my mom's. He'll be okay, I'll just miss his fabulous personality. I'm sure I'll be sobbing my eyes out tomorrow when the truck arrives for him.

Okay, team: let's pull for a healthy spotted girl and a happy mama-mare! Any minute now!