HE Is Soooo Sweet

Yep...it's a boy! Halalluya! Our old King stud sired primarily fillies. It's looking like Pistol is a colt producer. He has sired 5 foals...4 colts...1 filly. Go Pistol!!!

Okay...I know you guys took offense because I called little Guns(Gunner) homely. But the poor little thing has the whole, "He's so homely, he's cute" thing going on.

And tiny!! I mean itty-bitty! He's lucky if he weights eighty pounds. I know it was nothing for me to scoop him up and lift him out of the trailer when we got to town.

But Oh My Gosh! He has the sweetest little personality about him already. And he is so completely reasonable. When we loaded his momma on the trailer, I was standing by ready to scoop him up and lift him into the trailer and that little stinker hopped right in like it was no big deal. He didn't stumble or even stagger around. Just looked at it and hopped right in. Most babies don't pick up their feet and end up falling/staggering/stumbling their way into a trailer when they are that little(which is why I was standing by to help him so he didn't end up on that cute little nose of his).

Actually Beretta hopped right into the trailer too. The only one who decided to be a pain about loading was Chunk. Had her fat-butt momma not been in her way, Beretta would have hopped in the trailer on the first try. I am so in love with the accomadating nature of these Pistol foals.

But I'll tell you why I called Guns homely. Look at him...

Compared to Shooter the day he was born...


And compared to Beretta at just 4 days old...

Poor little guy isn't even in the same league.

But, you guys are absolutely correct about one thing...It doesn't matter because even if he didn't start out like his big brother and sister...I'm pretty darn sure he is going to end up looking like them soon enough...

It's just one of those things. Outside of providing good nutrition, you cannot control how much effort a mare will put into growing a baby during gestation. Particularly maiden mares. Some, like Chunk are just natural. But the majority of maiden mares are less inclined to direct as many nutrients toward that baby they are growing. Old time range breeders did not used to put much stock in "first foals". Most were lucky if they survived.

As usual, my mom completely changed her mind about everything, at the last minute. We spent the entire day foal proofing the corrals in town, because mom decided that it would be best to put Cowgirl and Guns in the foaling stall in town. I had suggested that originally, but mom said she wanted the mare at her place. Why???? I dunno! It's so difficult to stick with any plan when my mom is involved.

After getting the mares in at the ranch and getting an up close and personal look at Guns, it was pretty obvious that we had decided on the best plan of action. His little legs are pretty weak and he needs a nice little pen with lots of bedding so he can spend a lot of time laying down. Even if he had been born during a more "normal" foaling time, we still would have had to bring him to town because of his legs. Here's a close-up of his hind feet...
Luckily they are shaped correctly and his leg bones are aligned properly. He just does not have enough strength yet to stand up properly. All that will be required to correct this is restricting how much he has to walk and giving him a comfy place to stretch out and rest. Cowgirl's milk should get much stronger in the next few days. Cowgirl is a lovely momma though. She is a very touchy, licky mommy. And very cautious with her feet. Once her body figures out how to do this, she is going to be perfect.

Beretta and Chunk settled in nicely too. Beretta is going to be gentle in no time. She walked right up to Megan in the corral and let Megan touch her. She's a bold one!

And now...I can head back home reasonably assured that everyone is safely tucked into appropriate places and will be fine until I come back in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see how much Guns will have filled out by then.

Eleven hours behind the wheel...Oh boy!

Oh yea...We all took a very good look at Honky Tonk and it is unlikely that she is bred. Absolutely NO sign that she is thinking about building a bag. However, since there is still one month left that it is possible she could have a foal...she will be monitored daily and ANY indication and she will promptly be hauled to mom's...just in case. We were very lucky that Cowgirl had this foal exactly the day she did. A couple of days earlier and it's unlikely he would have survived in the cold and nasty weather. But alls well that ends well and he won't have to worry about the weather now.