New Names

Having lots of babies from year to year for many years has made it difficult to come up with new names for everyone. So I have decided to go with a theme again this year. I have done this in the past and used a Car/Truck theme, our babies that year were: Rio, Ranger, El Camino (Ellie), Breeze, Trooper, Nash and Spider.

This year and perhaps next year, since we are not expecting very many babies, we are going to use Jewels, Gems, Precious Stones, Minerals or Metals. So, to get this party started we have decided to call our new sorrel Walkaloosa colt "Garnet", since he is very red.

Foal's First Attempt

This video clip is of our new colt's first attempt at standing on his own four feet, he did very well for a first time.



The sounds that you hear in the background of this video are: One of my hens announcing the arrival of my husband coming home from work. The sound of my husband's vehicle. My Miniature Schnauzer barking at my husband's vehicle. If you listen closely enough you can hear my husband closing his door and walking up to see the baby for the first time. Luckily he didn't say anything until after I stopped recording.

It's a Boy

It is a Walkaloosa sorrel colt with 3 stockings, a sock, a big spot on his forehead and a blanket, born at 4:50 PM. So, see there, mares do foal during the daylight hours, proof positive that mares do not only foal at night. Many of our mares have foaled during the day throughout the years, but the majority still choose to foal in the very early morning hours.

We went for many years without one foal being born with four socks or stockings, now we have had one born each year for the last three years. This colt has three nice stockings and his right front foot has a sock that comes up over the ankle but it is dirty in these pictures and hard to see.

News Flash

At 11:30 this morning, "Morning" our TW mare waxed heavily and she is now in labor, my DH came home for lunch and cleaned out her stall and restrawed it. More later...

Shocking

My new handy dandy Hot-Shot Power-Mite arrived from JeffersLivestock.com. It is like a electric cattle prod but it is compact and fits into your pocket. It looks like a stun gun or taser, but of course, only delivers a buzzing sound and a slight shock. It is used for close-up animal work with hogs and cattle. In case you missed my blog about my billy goat getting a little pushy and aggressive, he is the reason that I bought this little device.

I put it in my pocket and went to gather eggs in the goat/chicken shed. As usually, Cooter started his routine of chewing at my sleeves which is fine, then he started lightly pushing on me with his head.

He gradually increased his pushing and I slipped the Hot-Shot out of my pocket and applied it to his neck. He hollered and came back after me, mad as could be. I shocked him again on the neck and he yelled and came back again, this time he reared up and tried to hit me hard. I got him on his shoulder that time and he came back for more.

I was beginning to wonder who was going to win this battle, when I made good contact with the side of his belly and he bleated and ran away. He went on the other side of the building where he had to peek around the side to see me. He never came back and I was relieved because I didn't have much more fight in me.

When I went back out there to check on things after dark that night, he came right up to me to be petted but never once chewed on me or pushed on me. I was so happy that he wasn't afraid of me and that he didn't start his stuff with me again because I had totally forgotten to take the Hot-Shot with me.

I have been in the lot several times since this incident and he is a changed boy. He is not pushing on me at all now. It is amazing to me that he knew exactly what he was doing that he needed to stop doing.