Catlow's baby

All along I knew I was going to have Catlow bred too.  I'm almost more excited about her baby.  I feel she has more positive attributes to pass along to a foal that I couldn't get out of quarter horse breeding.  She has stout bone, big feet, and a very nicely balanced body with a big stride, and to top it off, she has a beautiful head.  You can't find quarter horses with stout bone and big feet anymore.  I've looked.  I'm sure they are out there, but they are not the ones that are being advertised and siring dozens of foal.  Catlow is often mistaken for a quarter horse with her very balanced body and big hip...and I think it is a shame that her foal could not be registered as a quarter horse.  I think she could do a lot to improve the breed.  I fear quarter horses are going the way of thoroughbreds...such a limited gene pool.  It didn't start that way; quarter horses had a very diverse beginning, with mustangs figuring prominently into their foundation stock.  But now, after generations of selective breeding, many of them do not resemble their founders at all, not to mention being plagued with some genetic issues due to "line" breeding (another word for "inbreeding"). 

Years ago, when I was first toying with the ideas of breeding my special girls, I considered a gaited horse for Catlow.  She almost moves like a gaited horse sometimes, and she has a big overreach with her hind end.  I think she'd match well with a gaited horse.  But, I am a bit stuck in my ways and just like the way quarter horses look.  IF I ever decide to have another baby from her (unlikely, but I can't predict the future), I might go with a gaited horse.  I of course get a lot of insight into gaited horses from my "heritage" Tennessee Walker breeding neighbor.  I think I would look into a Rocky Mountain Horse first, and Tennessee Walker second....but that's beside the point....right now Catlow will be having a foal sired by Rawhides Slvr Bullet!

Not only is he a wonderfully built stallion with a solid reputation of having a good temperament, but he is also a well known reining stallion that was successfully shown...and grullo on top of that!

Of course I've played around with the color genetics (I was a geneticist in my former life you know...)

Offspring Color Probability (Catlow X Bullet)

25.0% - Red Dun
25.0% - Chestnut/Sorrel
12.5% - Black
12.5% - Bay Dun
12.5% - Bay
12.5% - Grullo

I'll be using the baby as an all around horse, and mostly a trail horse.  It's crazy to think that my special horses are almost in their teens.  Catlow is 11 this year and Cody is 12.  By the time their babies are ridable, they will be 15 and 16!!!  I think it is a good time to think about replacing them someday, not that they could ever be replaced, but the timing is right.  By the time the girls are slowing down, their young'uns will be developing into solid horses themselves. 

It's kinda funny spending time with the herd now.  The mares are definitely starting to "show" and are 7 months along (only 4 months left!!!).  They are slowing down.  I can sense the fatigue in them.  They just aren't peppy and almost act like sometimes it is too much work to get moving from a standstill.  Don't get me wrong - they are still plenty agile and I see them galloping in the field and cavorting still (saw Cody rearing up and picking on Chico the other day), but they are really taking resting seriously these days.

 Catlow

 

 

 

Cody

 

 

The weather has been above freezing the past couple of days and Stormy has needed a trim for a while, so I brought her into the new barn and got her done.  I just think she looks gorgeous tied to the wall that will be my tack room eventually!

And I might as well show more shots of our barn/garage/shelter.  It has it all and is PERFECT!  Aside from the fact that it is not finished yet.  But our builder does quality work and I will not rush him.

 

Front side - this building will double as a haul in clinic for horses and some small animals eventually.  The garage area will be heated for large animal exams, and there will be a small side room that is also heated with water that will serve as a small animal exam/surgery room.  There is clear panel instead of tin above the stalls to allow ambient light in so that the barn will not need to be lit at all during the day.  It works really well.

From the back.  The horses will have access to the shelter area at all times, and the stalls will be only for bad weather, and feeding supplements (mostly the stalls are for me.  My horses have never had them and never seemed to want them.  But I will have fun being able to still visit them when the weather is bad)

 

The stalls area.  Just got the first door on today.  It is all rough sawn oak.  The builder's father saws it from his own woods.  We got a great price on it.



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.



pregnancy update

Well, as of today, I am one week past my due date. But stats say that first time mothers on average give birth 8 days past their due date. So technically, that means I'm not late yet! Last week I was discouraged because after my exam, the doctor said baby was not descended yet and my cervix was still closed. A few days ago, I began to feel some differences...the top of my stomach seemed lower and I was getting some nerve pains on the inside of my left leg throughout the day (instead of just in the evening). And sure enough, today, the doctor said baby is descended and I am 2 cm dilated! Yay! Things are moving along! I was secretly starting to fear that I just wouldn't go into labor at all. I have an appointment to be induced on Sept 24th, but I really just want to go into labor naturally because I am going to do it without pain meds (hopefully). Everyone I've spoken to that has been induced said it is very painful and contractions come unnaturally intense. I feel like I can handle the pain if it is natural, but if it is artificially induced, I fear I won't be able to handle it both physically and psychologically. I made the choice to do no pain meds because of the risks involved for the baby when you use them. Even epidurals carry some risks, and babies are not as aware at birth as their unmedicated counterparts. Plus, I don't want someone sticking a needle into my spine. Ick! Women have been giving birth for thousands of years without pain meds. I can handle it. Birth is a natural process! After all the stuff I've read, I do understand that risks to the baby increase when you get past 42 weeks, but I worry that most doctors are too induction happy...Someone I know just had a baby yesterday - she was induced and was 13 days past her due date. However, when the baby was born, they measured her to be at 38 weeks! So clearly someone was not ready yet! Can you imagine how bad it would be if they tried to induce earlier? I also know someone else who had a baby 3.5 weeks late, back in the days when they didn't induce. Her baby was 10lbs, a girl, and definitely more aware than the average newborn, indicating that she was more than ready to come out...and her labor was the easiest of her 3 kids, she said. Her other babies (one before and one after) were only 7 lbs, but both were much longer labors. So, it is perfectly possible to deliver a healthy baby past the estimated due date without interventions. After all, they say 40 weeks, plus or minus 2 weeks!

Another farrier visit

The farrier came out again today. This is the third time he's worked on my horses this summer. The first time, the wild ones gave him a little trouble on their right hind, but eventually we got them all trimmed. The second time, we skipped their hind feet and just did their fronts, since it was super muddy in the paddock, and I didn't feel like struggling with them in my pregnant state. They were very good for their fronts. This time, I was worried, because it was really windy and chilly (about 60 degrees, but we've been used to 80-90 degrees and high humidity just two weeks ago!). It was so windy it was whipping acorns off the oak trees and they were rattling off the tin roof of the shed. But when I called the horses in from the pasture, they all came, ate some oats, and then stood calmly looking at me, despite the wind. Griffin even approached me and I haltered him right away! Kachina too. Sometimes even the "tame" ones get a little snorty about getting caught (that was how it was last time), but it was almost as though they all wanted to be caught and scratched on today. Perhaps it's the lack of flies...they don't have that frantic fly bitten feeling. I really was surprised, especially since once, when the farrier was working on Kachina, an acorn bounced off the roof and hit her in the head! She hardly reacted!

The tame ones were probably the most difficult to work on today because they were so relaxed that they just didn't want to stand up and support their own weight. They were really leaning on the farrier, and I had to keep poking at them to get them to stand up. Perhaps it's the extra couple hundred pounds they've all gained over the summer. I feel awful about the weight they've gained, but so far, no one has been "sick" from it and they'll likely lose it this winter. It's easier to ration them over the winter. With all the rain we've had this summer, the pastures (and our lawn too) have grown like crazy and there has been no shortage of graze! I'd consider Chico to be the fattest out of them all. He's very very round. I'll have to get some pictures of him. The only ones that are not fat are Cody (only because she just got back from training), Griffin and Kachina. I think Griffin is not fat because he's still growing, and Kachina just is too high strung to put on a lot of weight.

The two wild ones actually did very very well today. Both of them are still a little bit worse about their hind feet, but if the farrier just stands and lets them get used to him being back there (sometimes it's just really hard to have a human back by your butt), then they'll stand still. They each took the "bad" hoof (the right hind) away from him only once, and then let him finish with it no problem. I'd call that extremely good! All the other feet he was able to hold up until he was done without a problem. This would be great for a nice day, but to have this on a day with high winds! Awesome! I was pleased with them! Especially since I really have not done a thing with them at all this summer. A few weeks ago, I did bring them all in again for fly spray (which they accept very well because they do understand it makes icky flies go away).

Spending time with them like I did today really makes me anxious to get out and work with them again. I really can't do it yet though, and I am glad I've taken time off. It gave them a chance to just settle, and it's kept me from overdoing it. Just holding 5 horses (and having to maneuver the two wild ones into position and convince them that they COULD hold still while the farrier approached) has left me very sore. I was fine while working with them, but right now, my hips are so achey! Changing positions from sitting to standing/walking are the worse! I'm currently only 3 days away from my due date and very anxious to get my body back! I just want the aches and pains to go away! I know it will take time after baby comes, but at least I know I should be feeling better every day instead of worse!

One month left!

Wow, I noticed that it's been well over a month since I last posted anything. Sorry about that, but I'm not really doing all that much with my horses right now. In fact, the summer has been so hot and uncomfortable that I'm not doing much of anything outside right now.

As of yesterday, I have exactly one month until my due date! So I guess, baby girl could come anytime now! I should post some updated pics, but I haven't taken any lately. I think I need to remedy that. I am definitely getting a big belly, but it's not too out of proportion yet. This picture is from a trip we took to go cherry picking and hiking in Door County, WI last month when I was about 7 months along.

I've seen some pregnant women with hugely protruding bellies. But, this is my first, so my stomach probably holds her in a little tighter. I promise I'll post some pictures of my current belly and of my growing horses soon!

I visited Cody at the trainer after she'd been there for a month. Cody looked great. She was fit and had settled into the training routine nicely. The trainer showed me everything she'd been learning, including how well she was doing with riding in the arena with other horses. She is also neck reining okay. Neck reining good on one side, but having a little difficulty sometimes with turning to the cue on the other side. Even though I didn't really want to keep her there another month, the trainer was very persuasive about wanting to keep her and further her more. Finances were the biggest reason I wouldn't have wanted to keep her there...I really wanted to just get a month on Cody, then possibly send Griffin to her in the fall. But my husband and I discussed it and since Cody is a forever keeper horse, while I am looking to most likely sell Griffin at some point, it is more economical to invest in Cody, since we know we will use her, she's already a great horse. But with Griffin, we are not even likely to get the cost of training back out of him if we do sell him...so, the decision was made to keep Cody there another month. Griffin's training will be delayed another year, since we still have not managed to get the round pen up this year anyway. And when we do, I've decided that I will do all his training, instead of sending him off. That should be do-able, since I won't be pregnant anymore by the time I get back to him! And now, it is almost time to pick Cody back up. She gets to stay an extra 5 days though because the trainer called me last week and said that Cody had caught a cold that was lingering, so she was going to give her 5 days off. This year has been a really bad year for respiratory infections...I've seen several cases of pneumonia in cows when I've gone out with the dairy vet. It's just been so wet and warm this year. Thankfully, Cody doesn't have pneumonia, but she does need her rest.

I feel bad that I haven't spent much time with my horses lately. But I see them everyday. I try to give them all scratches when I fill their water tank, but sometimes they are not all down at the barn. However, lately, I've noticed that they are spending a lot of time in the barn trying to stay away from flies, and the few times I've seen them out the pasture, they've been really irritated by flies. I've been trying to avoid putting fly stuff on them because it always inadvertantly gets on me too, and I don't want to expose my unborn child to pesticides. I have wiped fly stuff on them before the farrier comes though. But they were being driven so crazy that I decided I needed to get out there and get them all wiped/sprayed right away. I decided to try spraying them because it's faster than wiping and easier for me, since I don't have to bend over to get to their legs (hard to do now that I'm so big), However, I always fear that spraying means more exposure to me, especially if the horse dances around a bit while I apply it. I decided to risk it anyway. None of these horses have been sprayed since last summer, and Catlow can sometimes get a little dancy about it anyway, so I was concerned...but they actually all stood perfectly! I know that they knew the spray makes the flies go away. I did Catlow first, and she did jump at the first sound of the sprayer, but then stood perfectly still, and I did every inch of her whole body. By the time I was done, she was standing in complete relaxation with her head low and her eyes half closed and didn't even move an inch after I let her go (I caught them all in the barn and sprayed them in there). One by one, I got every horse. And I swear when I got to Griffin's turn, he was waiting for me to get to him because he approached me, I haltered him no problem and he didn't move a muscle the whole time I sprayed him. Kachina was last, and even she didn't move around at all. Darn smart mustangs. They impressed me today. They didn't forget a single thing about being sprayed with fly spray from last summer. After everyone was thoroughly coated, I was so amused by the look of utter relaxation and bliss on their faces. For the first time in a while, they had no flies biting them! And I don't think I got any spray on me. I made sure to stand upwind, and since they were all standing so still, I didn't have to worry about getting on the wrong side of the wind.

We've been working on quite a few projects around our house this summer.

The garden is giving me tons of tomatoes now.

I've started canning. So far I've canned lots of green beans...

..,some jam (jalapeno-apricot jam is so yummy), and a batch of stewed tomatoes, including cherry tomatoes.

Next I am going to try canning salsa. I've already dug up all my onions because they were finished growing. Most were kinda small because the soil is not the greatest in our garden. Broccoli is giving us lots, carrots are big enough to eat, although I want to let them keep growing till fall. And we have a couple ripe squash already! We ate a delicata and a japanese curry squash just the other night and they were awesome. I need to get some pictures up of my giant hubbard squash. I haven't tried to pic any of them yet, but they sure are huge!

Another project that goes along with the garden is our cold room in the basement. We started that this spring, and with the hot muggy weather, it became fun to work on it in the cool basement again, so we just finished it this week. It will be a great place to store all our squash, potatoes, onions, carrots, and canned goods!


The garden has been a big project, but we also put in a flowerbed with a retaining wall near our deck. It turned out to be a huge project because we got some advice from a professional landscaper friend, but we are finally done with it! The yard was really tore up for a while. All this equipment is part of Todd's irrigation business, but it came in really handy when we were digging out the wall and filling the bed!


Finished product!


Because we put in the flowerbed, we then had to reseed in our yard because it got all tore up, so we are currently in the process of getting some better topsoil in from some of the cow pastures so that the grass will grow a little better than it had. We'll get some good topsoil for the garden too before we plant next year.

Another project that turned out really well was putting a door on the back side of our house to go into the laundry room. We had a local contractor do that and also build a small deck off the back door. This door will be so convenient for entering with dirty/manure-y clothes. Plus, the deck is big enough to put one of those circular clotheslines on so we will try to save energy by line drying a lot of our clothes. And I want to do cloth diapers with the baby, so the line will come in handy with drying those too! And all just out the back door!

The back door will also be convenient for accessing the chicken coop that we are still working on getting finished. The chicks and turkeys are rapidly outgrowing their little pen and are ready for their permanent coop. We just need to get that done now.




And of course, the last big project that we are working on is getting the baby's room ready! My sister's are throwing me a baby shower this weekend, so that should be a big help in getting ready, but we do already have a crib, a changing table, and some dressers.

So, I promise to get some pictures of my 8 months pregnant belly, and some of the horses up soon. Griffin has grown so much, both in size and in his attitude toward me - he's actually become quite trusting of me without me even doing anything with him. I'm really excited to work with him, once I'm no longer pregnant and the weather cools off. I'll also try to remember to get pictures of Cody at the trainer when we go visit her next.

Latest ultrasound pics

Our baby is almost 28 weeks along in gestation now! I just had my latest doctor appointment and ultrasound this week. She's growing well and all seems normal thus far! The 3-D ultrasound pictures we go are absolutely precious. The detail and shape is amazing! I think I can see that she may even have my nose! I'm getting excited to be able to see her in person (in less than 3 months already!). But I have so much to prepare for that! We will be painting her room soon (brown is my color of choice, so that I can fill it with many brightly colored objects like yellow curtains and wall hangings).

A weekend in Florida

At the end of May, Todd and I flew to Florida to attend the wedding of a very good friend of mine. We flew down on Saturday, and flew back on Monday. It was a short trip, but we went to the beach and did some sight-seeing. We had a great time. It was our first official vacation together outside of WI. I'll post a few pictures from our trip.

We went to the beach between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. It was just littered with seashells, and very fun to stroll down.


The beach was very empty, so we felt quite at home and were able to explore in a world of our own.


Todd carried my sandals for me. What a great guy. :)


My pregnant belly on the beach.


Some really cool clouds against the backdrop of the beach.


Todd checks out a really cool tree we saw on a walk through the coastal dunes and forest.


The wedding was held at the TPC Sawgrass golf course clubhouse. It's a course where they host the PGA tour. Now, I don't know much about golf, but I know that it was a pretty fancy place.


The bride and groom were very happy and I am so pleased that they found eachother. The wedding was very interesting to me, having never before experienced a traditional Jewish wedding.



Our last day there, we went to a different beach and had a very different experience. The beach was PACKED with people!


But we did see a cool jellyfish washed up on shore. I felt bad for it. It was still alive. I could see his edges quivering and trying to undulate and push himself back out into the water.


It makes me so sad to think about how this oil spill will impact the animals in the sea and these gorgeous beaches. Even though the oil hasn't yet reached this area, it undoubtedly will impact it for many years to come, if not permanently change it.

Had a farrier out to do my horses...

It's been busy around here since school got out!

Today, I just finished with the farrier. He came out to trim all 5 of my horses. I was recommended this farrier from a friend. He does her horses and she said he's very quiet and got her little handled difficult mare to stand like a pro while he does her feet. And I went out to look at her horses feet to see if I liked what he did. Well, it took him 3 hours total to do all 5, and more than half of that time was spend on the wild ones. My "tame" horses all stood tied for him like old pros (and they have had other people work on their hooves before). The wild ones were definitely leary about this new stranger, but they settled down and did alright, although both of them gave him some trouble with the right hind (which was also the last hoof he did). Interestingly, that is the same hoof both of them gave me trouble on the time before and it was also the last hoof I did that time. I think they sort of get fed up with standing by that time (at least when I did it because it takes me so long), and when they start taking their hoof away and I have to start asking for it back, they start to get worked up and it takes even longer. We had to do the rope trick on both of them. It worked. Hopefully they are a little better on that hoof next time. And I think I will mention to the farrier to maybe not let that foot be the last one next time.

All in all, I was proud of them with a complete stranger working on their feet, and now I have a herd full of horses with nice trimmed feet! That feels good!

Last weekend was my middle sister's wedding. It turned out so beautiful and very elegant. She's been planning it for a year and half and every detail was perfect. I don't have pictures of her to post, but I do have one picture of me getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. Here I am showing off my baby belly. I am exactly 24 weeks in this picture.



I've also been out with the local dairy veterinarian once so far and I will go with her again tomorrow. That was interesting...we did herd health checks (mostly pregnancy checks and one surgery on a displaced abomasum) and also some health and tuberculosis checks on some Amish cattle that were relocating to South Dakota. Tomorrow, we go to a local 4,000 cow dairy. Wow. I think tomorrow will be very interesting. I've never seen anything that big before! I don't really plan to work with dairy that much. I'd like to focus on horses (and other farm animals), but I think it is inevitable that I may also need to work on dairy too...especially if I'd like to make any kind of money around here. Most people around here don't spend too much on their horses.

baby news

I had my BIG ultrasound today. This is the one they take about mid-way through your pregnancy and measure all sorts of things on baby to make sure they are growing within the proper parameters and that everything else looks normal. Yep, my baby is just fine. All measurements showed the baby to be within normal ranges and the placenta looks to be in a good position. And we were able to find out the baby's sex. We are having a GIRL!

Big news

Okay, here goes. I didn't want to tell anyone before because things were too early yet, but I just had my first doctor visit and ultrasound and things are going on schedule.

I'm pregnant!

Yes, I'm pregnant, in vet school, about to get married, and I have 5 horses. Life has been quite crazy lately! This is my first baby. Once Todd and I decided we were getting married, we realized we didn't want to wait to have kids. I'm 32 and he is 45. We aren't getting any younger. Vet school can wait a year if it has to, but my body is not getting any younger!

I'm 10 and a half weeks along, which means I'm due September 10th. That is a few weeks after the fall semester starts for my 2nd year of vet school. If everything goes as planned, I'm going to take that year off school, and return as a 2nd year student the following year.

If we had to wait until I was done with school, I'd be pushing 38 by the time I have my first kid! I didn't want to wait that long. Fertility declines and other health problems become more likely then.

I had my first ultrasound this morning. It really made the whole pregnancy so real! Before, I felt like I was getting fat, felt sick all the time, and I was tired, and cranky. No real proof that I'm pregnant (aside from those positive tests and all). But watching the baby in real time on the screen, moving and kicking his/her legs and arms...just plain being so ACTIVE, it has brought a new light to the whole pregnancy. Suddenly, feeling sick doesn't seem so bad, and I'm actually excited again! Being sick and tired, sort of makes it easy to lose excitement.

These are pictures from today :)




And now, maybe you can understand my concern about having 5 horses, two of which need a lot of work...they should both be getting to the riding point this summer. I am planning to work with them on the ground as long as I am able to. I will get them as far as I can. But I can't ride them. Not this year. Maybe next summer...but Kachina will be 5 then, and Griffin will be 4. I know that's not too long to wait, but I feel like the more they are exposed to when they are young, the more solid they will be. What to do? I'll take it one day at a time.