Friday, December 30, 2011

Lost In Time

Weellll....Sorry about that guys! Time just plumb got away from me after my last post. We had a very low key Christmas, but my MIL was here for the holiday. That was much enjoyed. Then I started hitting some of the after Christmas sales. L and Megan and I spent part of a day together, shopping and doing lunch. The weather has been beyond gorgeous as well, so have been riding too. Last night I was talking to my mom and she wished MH and I a Happy Anniversary....

Ummmm???

(crickets)

Uuuuhhhh???

Both MH and I forgot!

Besides being wrapped up in our own daily activities...We are starting new ventures that have kept our minds busy. I can't wait to tell you all about them. But have to keep the lid on just a bit longer.

But....

Ding, Ding, Ding...Anonymous (Spotz, is that you? ;-) guessed who those colts were....Gunner in the first picture and Shooter in the second.

Sorry, you did not win a fabulous prize...but remind me when I spill the beans about what we are cooking up and if you want a prize I will have something to mail to you.

Megan and her BF went back to South Dakota for a couple of days before Christmas and that is where the new pictures of the horses came from. I have been needing to go back for like 6 months now....To get Shooter...but just haven't had things organized around here well enough to fit in a new horse. With the barn done now, hopefully the weather will hold up just a bit longer and I can get that done. Looks like the procrastination means it will be time to bring Gunner back as well, so Megan can get him started under saddle this coming year. She better not wait too long or she is going to end up with the same problem I have with the big bay...too tall to get on. LOL

Megan got some new photos of Miss Belle Starr as well. Belle Starr is the dark bay in the foreground...

The lighter bay filly behind her was sired by the same stallion and is out of a King/Leo bred mare. My brother named the filly....Prissy! (uugghhh, what a horrible name)

Belle will be the last of the crossing my Lady Bug's Moon mares onto our Oklahoma Star bred stallion. I don't think the nick is working. There is not enough bone on either Beretta or Belle to suit my taste, particularly since these are big-bodied girlies. Belle is 3 months younger than the filly with her and almost as tall and definitely as big-bodied. The legs don't match though. It's a major disappointment to me that the nick isn't working. I was really hoping that Beretta being so fine-boned was a fluke. I like everything else about her. Since Belle Starr is her 3/4ths sister...and the same thing popped up....it's not a fluke...it's a bad nick. So I guess if I want any more babies out of either of my LBM mares...I'll be looking for a different stallion.

Producing foals with a lack of bone is fairly startling. If anything...I would say that some of our horses are bit on the heavy-boned side. The stallion has excellent legs. Both of my mares have refined legs...but plenty of substance. So while I considered a lot of factors that may or may not work crossing the bloodlines...light-bones wasn't a foreseeable problem.

I don't plan on breeding either of my mares this coming year though (too damn busy!!), so I have plenty of time to research stallions for a 2013 breeding for one of them.

11 comments:

Sherry Sikstrom said...

They are cuties, but I see what you mean. Good call, if it is not producing exactly what you are looking for , change the plan! Looking forward to reading what the new ventures are

Unknown said...

I still like the dark one - if I had the money I would scoop her up!

Leah Fry said...

I also see what you mean and I'm with you on that preference. Stallion shopping could be fun.

JustCurious said...

What does a bad nick mean?

If you think it is coming from the mares why would you breed them again? Wouldn't they produce the same problem over and over again?

Anonymous said...

Yup, that was me, spotz58. Glad to see the eye and memory still work, for horses anyways.

The older I get, the shorter I like my horses.

The fine bone/big body thing can be a heartbreaker.

Fantastyk Voyager said...

So busy you forgot your aniversary- oh my!!
Can't wait to hear about your new venture.
Good luck on your stallion search.

Happy New Year!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Just Curious...A bad nick is the crossing of individuals (or bloodlines) that produce a consistent fault, even when neither of the individuals have that fault.

It has been my personal experience that it is not the same thing as recessive traits. It's a bit more murky than that and I don't even think that a genetics expert can explain exactly WHY.

As to IF my mares will reproduce this particular issue when crossed on a different stallion?

There are far to many successful Lady Bug's Moon-bred mares in production (that includes the Bug's Alive in '75 and Shawne Bug lines) to think that this is a general problem in the line. These mares are very popular in barrel horse breeding programs and are most often bred to modern racing lines. Which is probably the key...breeding for a slightly sleeker body.

There won't be foal after foal though. Only one at a time. ;-)

Mrs. Mom said...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!

Gotta catch up with you sometime. Spent all this week thinking it was still like, Monday and that New Years was a week away yet. Duh...

Crystal said...

Happy New Year to you!! And Happy Anniversary as well. Too bad about the cross, but Im sure you can find a stallion you like to cross with that will produce what you like.

Ranch Girl Diaries said...

Cute young-uns! We just finished a run-in shed and new pasture project for my horses. Not fun in the winter time, but too busy in the summer to get something like that done at the ranch. So the off-season it was! Glad to hear you had a happy holiday! Wishing you lots of wonderful adventures in 2012~~!!

Shirley said...

Rio goes back to Shawnee Bug- his grandma, my good mare Sundee, was sired by Northern Times who was out of a daughter of Shawnee Bug.
I remember one year that Ted and I both forgot our anniversary- we had to laugh, but like you we were both really busy at the time. Happy Anniversary, and happy new year.