One step forward....

Step #hundred-n-something out of how many thousand...?



The electric guys came out yesterday and put up the pole for service to the new house. Does this mean I'll have two electric bills for the duration? .. um. yeah. *head desk*. But, hopefully (am I being overly optimistic?) the bill on the new house will be minimal until we get moved it. The wires and plugs are run on the inside, for the most part, but a few loose ends need to be tied up. At any rate, we've been running extension cords to get the work done and now we'll be able just to plug in, so it should all be just as well.

The Chiva

I tried to think of something witty to say, but frankly, I'm at a loss. I don't have any idea what she though she was doing and I'm having trouble even making something up. ... anyone else have any ideas?

First Week

Little ANDRETH is a week old today.

Here is she with my mom who's President of my Fillies Fan Club. Thank goodness for moms who will come out and gush over each new colt and filly, no matter how many we've had over the years.

Andreth has proven herself to be sweet, sane and sassy, all in the same package and we're delighted with her. She's friendly and curious and loves being scratched.

I like to get the babies turned out on pasture as soon as I can, but even with a good sensible filly like Andreth, it's always a little scary to let them out into the big, wide world.


Of course, she did fine with it.

I turned them into the small pasture and they snorted and bucked around before taking off to the Wild Blue.

They had a nice run-around and tucked back into the comfort zone in their pen, took a longish nappy, and went exploring again.

Andreth will likely be my 'next' endurance horse, her dad and Beri may be ready to slow down by the time she's ready to go, so this is an excellent start for her.

Hello World

- as yet un-named (probably grey) filly by GWAIHIR TOS out of BINT BINT AMAIRAA was born last night about 10:30, so she's only about 16hrs old in this photo. The oddest thing of all is that she was born on her due date, which virtually never happens with horses. *Average* gestation is about 11 months, *normal* is anywhere from 10-13 months. So you can see that picking any particular day is going to be problematic.

With her last foal, Marah started showing signs of labor in October and didn't deliver until January, so I was watching the impending signs of this one with some trepidation.

Thankfully, all went well, mostly well. The filly was born easily and was very strong and eager to get up and get around. Marah had a little more pain than I like to see passing the placenta, she kept laying down again instead of letting the filly try to learn to nurse. It was a little more difficult than usual because the filly is tall enough and Marah short enough that it makes finding the teat the first couple of times a little more awkward.

But they managed and so now you have new filly stories to look forward to over the next few years.

Another one

We had a fantastic double weekend a couple of weeks ago. More shooting!

We rode to a 2nd place in our division two weeks prior, and again at the last shoot, this time we were only down by 3/10's of a second. Close enough to both laugh and cry. But it was a good day getting better -- no question about that.

After the shoot, I went on out to camp on some private property adjoining the local national grasslands. The property owners are horsemen and long time friends of mine. They purchased this little guy as a coming 2yo, just about three years ago. I've seen him a couple of times, some photos and regular updates as he has been started under saddle, but I hadn't been able to spend any real time with him until recently -- and what a wonderful treat to see him all grown up and going down the trail. We did a short (6 miles) trail ride since we were all on young horses and I had the pleasure to ride him around camp when we got back.

This is the most rewarding thing in the world, to see grown up babies out in the world and doing good. And especially once I got on him. He's the perfect blend of his sire and dam, with his sire's lightness and length of stride and his dam's strength.

He's well loved and well cared-for, he's happy, healthy and well-adjusted. He's willing and his training is just were it should be given his age.

And so, at least in this part, all is right with my world.