Pearl is Still Pregnant

Yes, it is true. Pearl still has not had her foal. She is now 14 days overdue. Pearl just kind of has milk. Nothing to write home about. She sure is taking her good old time with having this baby. I really have only been waiting about three years for it. The first year I tried to breed her she didn't take. Then the next year the stallion moved to Texas and Pearl got to meet him in person and still didn't take. Then she finally took that second year. And now this, an entire years of watching her belly get bigger and bigger. She just won't let it go. Her big fat baby belly is hanging down so far. It seems like her back would be hurting her. But yesterday I caught her trotting around the pasture. 12 months pregnant and she is trotting around the pasture like it's nothing. Really, I don't think her belly could get any bigger. These pictures don't to the size of her belly any justice. I really hope that foal isn't too big. I worry about that being that he is holding on to it for so long. I looked Pearl up on the American Paint Hose Potency charts last night. She has had three registered foals. One was a black tobiano filly and the other two were Ozzie and Mac. The two solid foals that we had here. The stud we have bred Pearl to has been bred to three Thoroughbred mares before and two had solid paints and one has a palomino paint. So, I have about a 25% chance of getting a regular registry paint. Come on Pearl, show me the color!!! Blaze's filly is one week old now. How time flies. I turned them out with Pearl for a little bit yesterday. Blaze was happy to get some grass. The filly was so cute, copying her momma. She was pretty excited to be outside too. She investigated the pasture. Tried to see what all the fuss was about with this hay stuff. I then checked on them before I took a shower. The foal was sleeping and Blaze was eating. Then when I got finished showering and took a quick look outside, this is what I saw. Pearl! She was probably talking about me to the other horses. How I won't let her out in the big pasture. Or maybe she was getting some birthing coaching from the other mare. I am not sure, but Pearl looked like she was up to something. Then I looked over at my filly and she was on the outside of the fence. I didn't get a picture of it because I was too busy running over to my father in law's house to get some help with getting the filly back to her Momma. I finally got them back together and everyone was alright. Mr. Cowboy was all mad at me for turning them out. I put them back in the middle of the barn and put some more hay for them. The filly only had a few scratches on her nose and a little scratch on her shoulder. The one on her shoulder was really not much at all. I sponged off her little nose and put some medicine on it. She was doing fine this morning. Leave it up to me, to turn them out and something happens. Today it's supposed to rain, so the two will stay in the barn. But tomorrow, if weather permits, I will turn them out in the big pasture for a few hours tomorrow. My two little helpers. They have been helping me clean up horse poop and raking sand. We put a bunch of sand in the middle of the barn yesterday. These two where right there to help. Today we are going to the feed store to get some de wormer and then back home to play with the filly. Here are some of the names that have been suggested, let me know what you think I am just trying to find her a fun barn name!

Tinkerbell call her Tink, Sugar Cookie call her Sugar, Scoops as in Ice Cream Scoop, Tater as in Tater Tot, or I could call her Tot, Gayle for Gayle force winds that come with tornadoes, but that is all I have got, with help from some of my readers and ones that I thought of. Tater Tot I thought of this morning!!

The Carousel

There has always been something magical about carousels at the carnival. With it's colorful horses and other exotic animals. The music that plays as you go around and around. Yes, the carousel is definitely a fun one! Who wouldn't want to ride a wild hog with tusks? Isn't that every girls dream? Well, probably not, but I am sure there is a little boy out there that would love to ride a wild hog! Just like this little boy. He was growling the entire time he rode the carousel. He was just too cute. He also had the most fun face painting I have ever seen! His mouth was the dragon's mouth! So, when he would growl, it looked like the dragon was growling. Too fun! I always loved the horses. Come to think of it, I just like anything that had to do with horses. While the big Cowpokes were riding big kid rides. My mother in law and I took Jules around to find her some rides she could ride on. The carousel was the only ride she was big enough to ride. Jules was really excited about riding a horse. She wasn't too sure what to expect, but it didn't take her long to get the hang of it. Of coarse your tongue does help out a lot when it comes to staying on a carousel horse. We all had a fun time.

Pearl still hasn't had her foal yet. She is looking mighty uncomfortable right now. I am going to guess she will have her foal with in the week. Yesterday Mr. Cowboy and I took Ozzie to the trainer. I am really excited about Corey riding Ozzie. Ozzie is going to be over at Corey's house for a month. I hope to be able to go over there after about a week and a half to go and ride. I am trying to not get my hopes up too much, with what happened with the last trainer that rode Ozzie. I know Corey is a good rider, so I am excited to see how Ozzie does in a week or so.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We were busy fixing fence, because my father in law's year old Belgium stud colt busted trough the fence to get to his two mares that were in heat. My father in law is in denial that his colt knows what to do. The colt is a male, he just KNOWS what to do. Sigh.......I sure hope that draft horse didn't breed to the two quarter horse mares. That just would be funky. Oh the things that go on here. Sigh.........

Horse Play and Foal Diarrhea

We have had nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. Which tends to lead to mud, mud, and more mud. We have been trying to keep the sand raked to help it dry out. But really, nothing is going to dry out with the humidity at about 90%.For the first week of our foals lives we keep them in the barn. We like to rub the foals and brush them. We even get them used to a halter. We keep the mare and foal in a stall over night and then we turn them out in the center area of our barn. This center part normally doesn't get muddy. But with all the pouring down rains that we have been getting, the center is anything but dry. I was a bit hesitant at letting out the mare and foal, but I just couldn't keep them cooped up all day. She got a little dirty last night. We had to sponge her down yesterday. She had bad diarrhea when she was born. My father in law told me that she was fine and that all foals have that. Which I googled and found out that it's not normal and not a good thing. My husband and father in law are the foal experts. They have had many foals, I have only had two. So, this runny funny colored poop was all new to me. On her second day of life, I had to take a sponge and warm soapy water and wash her bum off and her tail off. It was all over the place. But she seemed to have gotten better. But I noticed yesterday that her poop was still a bit runny, more soft like, and a yellowish and light tan color. It wasn't really runny, but still it was not normal horse poop. So, I googled that too. I found out that sometimes foals will get diarrhea when their mom goes through her foal heat. I do think Blaze is in heat. So, I am guessing that this is why the filly is having loose stool. But the color still isn't right to me. My father in law said it's because I am feeding the mare Omlene 300. But that feed is formulated for lactating mares and growing foals. I also read that sometimes if your mare has worms it can give the foal diarrhea, but we dewormed Blaze right before she foaled. So, we are going to call our vet today to see what we can do. I think I would feel better if our little filly had some blood work done, just to rule out any infection. Then maybe put the mare and foal on some probiotics. We will have to wait and see what the vet said. One lady on a horse message board said her filly had diarrhea and was still acting normal and was sucking, then one afternoon her filly got real lethargic and then with in the hour died. Yikes! So, we are definitely going to be calling the vet. We also have to go and pick up our horse trailer today. We had an A/C unit put on the front of the trailer. I have been begging Mr. Cowboy to get us one. Now we can work on a little weekender package in our trailer. Our little No Name filly is doing fine, other than the runny poop. I love how the older horses just watch her play. The geldings just stare at her and the other mares sulk. They all look at the foal like it's so not fair that they don't have one too. This filly might be my next jumper. She will run as fast as she can and jump over the feed tub in the middle of the barn. This was a bit of a side jump, but still, she can tuck well, for a baby. Or, maybe she will be a cutter. Or even a barrel racer. It's so true how horses know how to do everything we want them to do. They just don't do it when we get on them!! We sure do have a way with complicating things, don't we! But she is really cute and a lot of fun. We have not thought of a name yet. Some that we have thrown around are: Sugar Cookie, Twisted Sister, and........yeah, that is about it. The Twisted Sister comes from the tornado look to her star and stripe. She is a fun filly. And I hope that all this diarrhea stuff is going to be okay. My husband is going to call as soon as the vet's office opens. "What ya lookin at?" "We weren't watching, we promise!" Our proud Momma. She is a really good mom. She nickers at her baby if she runs too far away and she keeps the other horses away. But I need to head outside and clean stalls and play with our No Name Filly. Any name suggestions are welcome. We are trying to find a fun barn name.

Carnival Rides

There are a few things for sure. One is that Carnivals and Fairs have the best food ever. Those delicious greasy fried corn dogs, or the chocolate funnel cakes. Second is that Carnivals and Fairs have great rides. A bit expensive, but way fun. Third thing about Carnivals and Fairs is that you better show up early and expect to stay late! Bring your walking shoes and lots of sunscreen. If you are going with us, just expect to be a Carni all day long. Last Saturday, we went to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. I always try to go at least twice. I like to go one time with out kids, so I can watch a horse show or two. Then a second time to watch the final round of the rodeo with the kids. I didn't make it to any horse shows this year. But we did make it to the final day of the rodeo. We arrived early enough for the kids to be able to ride some of the Carnival rides. This is their favorite part about going to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show. They couldn't wait to get on a ride. Big Cowpoke is a good sport. He rode a bunch of kiddie rides with his little brother and cousin. I love the colors of the rides that carnivals have. They are always so much fun! Cowpokette wished she could have gone on the run carnival rides. But she was way too young. Cowpokette thinks she is a lot older than she is. The boys than did a potato sack race. The Cowpokes had a long hike up some pretty tall stairs. I would have never gone up there. I am so afraid of heights. They got their feet all ready to go. Can you tell which Cowpoke of mine is the Dare Devil? Poor Big Cowpoke, he looks like he is about to throw up. But Little Cowpoke, looks like he is pretty darn excited. On your marks, get set, GO!!!!And they are off, with Big Cowpoke in the lead. A small bump!!Big Cowpoke flies to the finish line! Winner winner!!A smooth landing for Little Cowpoke. I think that was the best 6 tickets ever! I might need one of those in my backyard. Big Cowpoke's favorite thing to do is the fun houses. He must have run through four of them. This one ended with a slide. Little Cowpoke enjoyed the little rides better. Check out those fantastic "Super Villian" eyebrows. Then the Cowpokes tamed the wild Cobra. This was by far both Cowpoke's most favorite ride. The kids did one last ride and then we ran out of tickets. They both had a really fun time. They were pretty good sports about running out of tickets. We didn't have any melt downs or crying fits. I was proud. We walked around and watched some shows and some mini monster truck races. Those were pretty cool! Anything camo is super awesome in these Cowpokes' eyes. Just as the crowds were starting to get a bit thick. We decided to do a little shopping. But the crowds were even worse. It was like being in a herd of cattle and we all were shoulder to shoulder walking down the isles. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything. And I so do love to shop. Sigh.......We all grabbed some Texas BBQ and then headed to the rodeo. That will be a entire different post!! We had a great time. Can you see all those people? That was at 8 o'clock. I am glad we got our Carnival Rides over and done with early. We headed home pretty early. We had a three hour drive home. Next post, will be the rodeo and Brooks and Dunn concert!

Pearl still has not had her baby! Ugh!!