Mid-winter pregnancy

Chico

 



Stormy

 



 Cody

 

Catlow

 

 

You cannot imagine how excited I am to see these babies.  Yes, Catlow is expecting too.  I was afraid to tell you because I know the internet can run wild with people's opinions on breeding horses, especially mustangs.  But there is no way I am going to be able to only show Cody's foal and leave Catlow's secret just to avoid other people's opinions. 

 

 

To be honest, I think Catlow's foal will be nicer than Cody's, but I guess we'll see.  If Catlow has a colt, her foal will probably be placed with a close friend, otherwise, it is mine forever!  I love Catlow to pieces and I want a piece of her to carry on.  I have plans for these foals.  I am so excited!!!!!

 

Cody is due beginning of May.  Catlow is due mid-late May.  Expect more foaling updates as the time progresses.  Right now the girls are right around 7 months along.  We are getting closer!  And I think my barn will be finished just in time to get them accustomed to their new stalls for foaling.  I'll show pictures of it at a later date.  The new barn is more than I ever imagined I'd have in a barn for my horses.  We are all so spoiled.

 

Stormy says she doesn't get why the other girls are getting spoiled and she's getting left out....she doesn't like it one bit.

Actually, they all get fed supplements together and so Stormy isn't actually left out at all, but after everyone else walks away when they are done, Stormy sticks around hoping to beg more out of us.

 

Someone is happy to oblige.  While I feed the horses, my daughter is busy concocting her own mixes of salt, rice bran, and alfalfa pellets.  Mostly it is salt, but as long as their are a few pellets in it, Stormy will eat it happily.

 

My supplements right now consist of beet pulp, a little rice bran pellets, alfalfa pellets, Purina Enrich Plus pellets, and top dressed with salt.  Sometimes I mix in a little hoof supplement for the biotin, but not every day.  I am hoping that Catlow will not lose any weight this winter, because she can't...she needs to work on growing a healthy foal.  Her teeth were addressed last spring (nothing wrong with them), and I'm doing more free choice hay rather than rationing them this year.  Chico of course doesn't need that, but I don't want to separate him from everyone else.  And so far, this winter has not been as cold or snowing as last winter.  Last winter was extremely harsh and is why all my horses lost a little weight, but Catlow the most.  But this winter is not over yet...so I shouldn't make any predictions yet.



Family trees

One thing that I really wish I knew about Catlow and Chico was what their parents looked like and where they might be right now. Does anyone know if the BLM keeps those records? I know that both were rounded up as weanlings in the fall, so I'm sure they were rounded up with their dams at least, and probably also the herd stallions. If I go dig out their BLM registration numbers and call the Burns office, could they find that info for me? At least to know if their parents were adopted out or if they were turned back out (how often does this really happen when they bring in a herd). I especially want to see Chico's dam and sire because he has such interesting conformation.

There's just something comforting about knowing a horse's parents. I feel like I know more about Cody in general, just because I've seen her parents and have pictures of them (even though I don't really know them...I have no idea what their temperaments are like or anything...I just have pictures).

Cody's previous owners who raised her gave me these pictures when I bought her.

Cody's sire was a grey quarter horse (brown under the grey). He was basically a ranch horse lineage but had an accident as a young horse so was never trained to ride.


Cody's dam was a palomino quarter horse. I don't think she has the greatest conformation (weak hip perhaps, but then again, she was just a broodmare so that affects a mares shape after several babies). I can't remember if they said she had ever been ridden or not.


The foal in these pictures is Cody. Isn't she cute? I bet she was a pushy, energetic little foal.


Not that knowing the mustang's parents would actually change what I thought about them, but I just wish I knew what combination of conformations gave rise to them. I love them so much. If Chico's mother looks like him, I'd love to adopt her, no matter how old she is at this point.