Friday, October 16, 2009

Guns And Good Tidings

Life is so freaking weird! But sometimes in a good way...even if the timing is all wrong. Today was the first day I have been able to get into the ranch with a horse trailer, so today was the day I put Queenie to sleep and hauled her out to bury her. Needless to say we were all pretty subdued this morning. We all(my mom, brother and I) did a lot of talking about this in the last few days and all of us really tried to come up with an alternative solution. However, some things are inevitable and so the deed was done.

The hill getting into the ranch was still slippery as snot and I was really hoping that it would get dried out by tomorrow afternoon, so I can haul Chunk and Beretta to town. I sure don't want to throw them around in the trailer getting out of there. Not such a good experience for baby's first hauling.

I was glad to see the mares at the bottom of the hill. I knew seeing them and Beretta would make me feel a little better.

As I came through the autogate, I was watching the mares and they barely even gave me a glance. Usually a horse trailer coming through their pasture garners some interest from them. But Chunk, Beretta and Honky Tonk were staring up the hill...


At this....

NO FREAKING WAY!!!

WAY!!!

OMG! Okay...#1-I looked at this mare the other day and told mom that I still thought she was bred. But all of the mares are so stinking fat that even Chunk looks bred and I KNOW she's not. This goofy mare made a bag last May, the same time Chunk did, so after 60 days and n.o.t.h.i.n.g, we kinda figured she was just giving false pregnancy signs brought on by Chunk having a baby. But she still had a bag when I looked at her the other day and you would think that by now she would have gotten over the "false pregnancy" thing. The only other thing I could think of was that she had been bred, lost the foal and had not aborted it. I was thinking a trip to the vet was in order.

#2-This is an awful time of year to foal. THANK GOD she did it during these couple of reasonable days of weather. I told my mom leaving that stud in with those mares for so long last year was going to bite her in the butt. Guess what? It's entirely possible that the red dun mare could foal yet too. Foal watch until Thanksgiving? Oh that's just freaking peachy!

#3-In spite of the poor timing...this is an absolutely delightful event. This mare is one that we really, really wanted a foal out of as soon as possible. It was so disappointing this summer...waiting and waiting and waiting...and finally giving up. It's just absolutely unbelievable that she actually foaled.
Poor little thing. I have to say, this is one of the homeliest foals I think I have ever seen. Cowgirl sure didn't put much into this baby. I'm not a 100% sure what the sex is. I think it's a colt. I almost had my hand on it's tail to lift it up to check, but Cowgirl took a dive at one of the other mares and I figured it was best to leave things alone until tomorrow, when I come out to pick these two up and take them to mom's. No way can little Guns stay out here this time of year. "He's" going to live under mom's barn and we'll put Cowgirl on vitamins so her milk production improves. I really thought about trying to load them up this afternoon, but Guns was just hours old and with the hill being so slick, I was worried he would not be able to handle the trailer ride out of there.

Look at Beretta...She looks like she is saying...Holy Cow, look at the size of that rat...

Holy Cow...look a the size difference between Guns and Beretta. Never fear...with my mom's magic wand...she will turn Guns into just as beautiful a horse as Shooter and Beretta.

PS-If you clicked on the other post and it's not coming up...it's because I pulled it. With this exciting news...I'll be posting tomorrow after we get Cowgirl and Guns moved to mom's and settled in. Don't you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?

16 comments:

Tammy Vasa said...

Homely or not, what a great surprise! Good timing after going thru what you had to with Queenie. Sometimes things are just meant to be & to hell with timing! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Congrats! What looks matter at this point? Looks lively and healthy! Celebrate!

Unknown said...

What a late baby but as homely as you think they are all ugly when they are born, but so cute =D By the way, zip up hoodies make GREAT newbown foal blanketsm sans hood of course.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

How exciting! There are little girls all over the world who dream of having a horse fall into their laps. You are one of the lucky ones.

Mrs. Mom said...

Yeah, relax girlfriend. He'll grow you some Guns ;) Cowgirl is a fine, FINE mare, and I have every confidence that you and Mom and Cowgirl will produce yet another amazing talented baby!

Soooo whatcha gonna name the Turkey baby? hehehe...

Take that extra day to smack Shooter's hams from me! ;)

Chelsi said...

What!!! *checking date* It is October is it not? like...the middle of October? lol Oh well! What a cutie!!! I'm sorry but that little thing is too cute. More pics are in order. Remember that little gun in the movie Men In Black (the one that Will Smith is given...he's all disappointed because it looks like this dinky wee thing until he fires it and it knocks him on his ass?)That was called "The Noisy Cricket"... Do you have a "Cricket" on the farm?

Mikey said...

Awww, what a great surprise! I'm so happy for you! Now get that baby down to where it's warm!! (like AZ, you could bring that one here...)

Too cool!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Horse Crazed...If it's in fact a filly, Cricket would be a great name for her. Guns is the name we have kind of reserved for a colt out of one of my brother's mares. He really wants a gelding named Gunner.

MM-If that red dun mare has a foal...I think we will all be calling it the same thing...Oh NOooo!

Anon-You're right-obviously the most important thing is that "he" is up, nursing and appears healthy. It looks like he has a lot of room to fill out and big, thick leg bones. All good signs.

The only thing, when a baby is born so thin and homely looking, we really just want to make sure momma gets on a good, high vitamin supplement so that she starts producing rich milk so baby can continue to develop normally.

All I can think is Yayyyy...I get to imprint this one! I look at how big and powerful Beretta is and think...Holy Crap is SHE going to be a handful!

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Oh MY FREAKIN GOODNESS!!! You kept saying that you thought she was bred! You were SO right LOL!! I don't think Guns is homely! He/she will fill out quickly I'm sure!! WHOA you'd better keep a tight eye on the red dun mare!!! OH I can't wait to find out what it is!!

ps~ Love the name! You have it so easy!! I can never pick names LOL!!

Leah Fry said...

What a happy surprise! All human babies are born looking like Winston Churchill and most foals are born looking like they're destined for the Fugly blog. Those angles will fill in. Can't wait to see more pix. Congrats!

WV = happai
What you should be!

Laura said...

Oh, what a sweet little munchkin. I'm so fond of the small and sort of funny looking. :-) Imagine the poor little guy being born out in the cold. (I'm such a sucker) Good thing you are there to help get him/her sorted out and Momma on some vitamins.

Sandra said...

She bagged 5 months before she foaled? I don't know why you think he's homely, I think the baby is lovely. It does look like a colt though.

Michelle said...

Oh how exciting! And the timing is pretty amazing. What are the chances?

So sorry about Queen. I imagine that's got to be a tough thing to deal with. Hopefully Guns takes the edge off.

Christina said...

What a neat surprise. Thank goodness she went ahead and foaled before it got too bad. Enjoy that homely little thing there is nothing like those babies!

Wyoming Girl said...

Congratulations! We had a surprise colt a few years back... you think October is late, try the day before Christmas! One of those...oops missed a ball on the stud colt moments. Miss Chrissy never did get real big but she sure was cute/beautiful, I'm sure Guns will fill out, then he'll look just like his big brother and sister.

Andrea said...

I some how missed this post! I love that last picture, "the little rat"! LOL, he does look tiny next to Beretta. But with the magic that your Mom does, she sure knows how to grow 'em!!