General Update Continued

Foaling season closes with five gorgeous fillies. The Welsh and Fjord you have seen already, so I'll include pictures of the other 3.
The Somali filly has the worst temperament of the crop, but not as bad as past Somali foals. Not as good as I would have liked but I'm not going to discount her just for that. She is a looker with those high classic Sabino stockings and blaze and that dark classic red coat.

 The Irish Cob filly is a beautifully marked Tobiano on top of Lilac or Classic Champagne. She is coming along with her training, but there is no rush as none of my babies are getting pushed for the Futurities. I want solid show and breeding horses and I am picking and choosing my pairings to try to reach that goal. Color is just the bonus on this girl.

The TB filly is the real surprise of the group! She is homozygous for red and black and her sire, Ivan, passed along his copy of Champagne! She also has a flaxen mane and tail! That was the big surprise of this cross. Without further ado here she is.

Now to come up with names for the girls. I wasn't going to breed at all this season, but I looked at my records and realized that Polly and Edith are both up in age and I have only two foals from both of them! A colt and a filly each, so I bred them both. We'll find out next month if they took, my fingers are crossed from now.

In other news we added two new title plaques and ribbons to the trophy room. Falon brought home her Beginner's title in Draft with 16 points. She is out of our own Faye and by Three Sisters' Pride. In fact she'll be joining her dam in Intermediate classes later this month! Our Pride is our other title earner, he completed his Intermediate Draft title late last month with the requisite 20 points and over 100 horses beaten (he needed only 40).

General update

Well it is foaling and breeding season again here at the farm. The boys have all been informed that they have the year off, but that doesn't stop them from strutting their stuff in their turn-outs. While the excitement of the new foals lifts spirits the work of determining who gets sold and who stays on is sad. Two foals have hit the ground this year so far a Fjord and a Welsh Cob both fillies.

First born was this lovely Grey Welsh Cob filly. She appears Bay Silver under her Grey dapples and I swear I see Pangare but her face is so greyed that I can't be positive. Her dam is chestnut under grey (genetically) and was born grey so I have no clue what color she truly is. It will be interesting to see what she throws when she goes to the breeding shed. In the meantime I am looking forward to watching her develop and hit the show ring.

The second foal born was a gorgeous Zebra Dun Fjord filly. This filly has a nice temperament and the bloodlines to go places. I am in love with her dorsal and shoulder barring, the frosted mane and the prim black anklets paired with a white sock and a heel spot. With such neat feet I hope she learns her leads solid as a missed change could mean a judge looking at her feet.

The weanlings/yearlings are coming along nicely as well, no strong standouts just yet. Well except for the Grulla Sabino TB colt I purchased from Valley Top Ranch. Not only does he look amazing he is the fastest, most agile, and nicest mover among them.

Very exciting news!

Year 200 already?! Where has the time gone? Chief's second foal is on the ground and what a stunning colt! So pleased with Chief as a stud, even though he is not a stunner in the show ring. Last year's Filly and this year's colt have great temperaments. Chief was on the list to sell, but with full siblings showing such good temperaments; he'll be sticking around and working in the breeding shed.

Chief's filly, Alaina:

Chief's colt, Fire Stone

First foal born in year 200.

Foals born last year include two Fjord colts; Luft and Norten, Chief's filly seen above, two Somali fillies and a colt; Bina, Meena, and Everlasting Peace, and two Thoroughbred colts; Randolf and Garrick.

In show horse news Crimson is points away from earning his Grand Champion title. I think he is deliberately making me wait though, as he went from earning points every show to Dew and Caviar earning the points. Maybe he's waiting for them to catch up?
The two project horses Dolton and Stibb Cross. Dolton has gone on to a new home, Stibby continues to be refreshed on the basics. As a Futurity Winner I am hoping he'll get back to the track, but I'm waiting to see how he fits up to place him. He is not pleased to be back in Saddle training with some Harness work thrown in. He was enjoying the time out in the pasture, but he's adjusting.
Indio passed near the end of 199, month 2395 to be exact. The farm just hasn't been the same. Two of the Standardbred stallions; Watcher and Melchior have taken well to Rodeo training. Watcher drew a tough lot of cows during cutting and we are working with him at home to build his confidence back up. Meanwhile he's been taking Sira around the barrels and doing pretty good. They need to tighten up those turns a bit and they'll be good to go. Melchior has taken a liking to cows so far, but who knows what he'll settle on.
Sira has been doing lots of shows with us since Spinn passed away. Lager has been out in the Grand Champion English ring with her, Ashlyn has been out in the Beginner Dressage ring, Watcher in Beginner Rodeo, this month Norway in Beginner English. Norway adores her as much as Lager and he's really putting his best effort into bringing home ribbons for her. Watching post show videos with her been fun because she is so serious that even the judge told her to smile in the Pleasure class! The video from the late month Pleasure Driving class is playing now and she is smiling! The score was good for that class but Norway's frame could use improvement, third isn't bad though! Trail on the other hand, all the scores were kinda low but they pulled off a point!
Off to plan breedings for this year.
Oh, there are five more mares to foal this year.