Indian Summer Days

It's unbelievable that tomorrow is the 1st of November & it was HOT today. Poor Filly was baking in her winter woolies. She's already fuzzy & ready for winter. CMK was wondering if maybe the big clippers should come out & at least shave the underside of her neck to cool her some. Blondi has no winter coat yet & Grey Girl is just a little fuzzy. Poor Mama was sweating & CMK had to give her extra salt. The Indian summer days are gorgeous, but hard on horses who've already prepared for winter.

Around noon an old friend stopped by to chat. Marv hadn't been by in quite some time & was surprised to see how Filly had grown. He said he never thought she'd make it in those first weeks, let alone grow to be a beautiful, healthy, weanling. All the fillies hung over the fence so he'd be sure to pet them.

A couple hours later someone else stopped by with a friend to look at the horses. They spent a long time watching the fillies, petting & scratching them all over. Grey Girl has become the biggest love when people go into the pasture. She has to make sure that she's not over looked. The visitors couldn't believe how friendly & "pocket pony" the fillies are. All three clamored for attention & the visitors thought the way they lay their heads on CMK's shoulder quite cute. One commented that it's not often you see foals of any age as friendly as Filly, Grey Girl & Blondi.

All of today's visitors had to walk the ranch & look at all the horses. But on this gorgeous fall day the fillies really did steal the show.

A Day of Visiting & Trimming

It's so hard to believe that Filly will soon be 6 months old. Where has the time gone? She's such a nice filly with great manners. She stood to have her hooves trimmed better than most older horses. She's a little pro. The trimmer has done amazing work keeping Filly's feet balanced throughout her long ordeal. Without a good trimmer, Filly's hooves would have grown crooked from all the unnatural stresses put on them by the contraction & splinting. Her future would have been grim & uncertain at best. Now almost 6 months later she's a wonderfully correct legged filly with her entire future ahead of her. Thanks so much for being there Trimmer. We'd also like to thank everyone for all the hard work & support that has gotten CMK & Filly through what was a horrible time.

The fillies sure had fun on Sunday. There were visitors & trimmers, & lots of petting & scratching. Grey Girl was shy & hesitant around the strangers, but Blondi was as gregarious as always. She can be quite demanding when it comes to attention. It's fun showing off the fillies, who are really quite nice. They impress most everyone with their wonderful dispositions & the fact that they're so easy to handle. Well, maybe Blondi wasn't so easy when she got her vaccination. She was NOT happy with the needle stick & flung herself around, hitting poor CMK in the head. Even the visitors saw stars. Blondi was finally led into a stall where she could be contained easier & she did get her shot. What a pouty lip as she was led back to pasture. All in all, Sunday was a nice filly day.

Many thanks to Auntie L for the gift of grass pellets. The fillies say yum!

A Traumatic Day-Weaning

It was finally time for Filly to be weaned. She, Blondi & Nanny were moved into a pasture just across the aisle from the one Mama, Mommy Dearest, & Grey Girl would be in. Filly has been so independent, wandering the pasture out of Mama's sight. She & Blondi can often be seen hanging out together. With this in mind, it was thought she would wean very easy.

Soon after the separation CMK brought out buckets of feed to keep everyone occupied. As soon as Grey Girl saw Filly, Nanny & Blondi getting buckets, she decided she was going through or over the fence to get a bucket. It was quite a shock to see her crash into the fence, trying to get to the other side. CMK opened the pasture gate & GG sprinted through it & around to the other pasture's gate. When that gate was opened she rushed in & shoved her pretty little head into a bucket of feed. Poor GG didn't realize that she'd just managed to get herself weaned.

As the day came to a close there were sad little whinnies coming from the new "weanling" pasture. Hay was placed along the fence in both pastures so the mares & fillies wouldn't be far apart to eat. It's best to do whatever is necessary to keep weaning as stress free as possible. The next day found Filly & GG standing forlornly along the fence, crying for Mama & Mommy Dearest. Grey Girl is very food oriented & as long as she had feed in front of her, she would forget to fret & worry about her mother. Filly on the other hand was so depressed that she wouldn't eat. She wasn't interested in hay or her bucket of goodies. She refused to get very far from the fenceline, trying to stay as close as possible to Mama. She was such a sad filly that CMK almost gave in & un-weaned her.

Day 2 post weaning had Grey Girl doing very well. She traveled further & further from the fenceline & came up for attention. At feeding time she was content to eat from the feeder with Nanny at the other side of the pasture. Not so poor Filly. She wouldn't eat until CMK put hay right in front of her, along the fenceline closest to Mama. Being a herd animal, Filly did finally make her way slowly over to the feeder to join Nanny, Blondi & GG. Every now & then she'd look across the pasture & cry for Mama. Filly obviously doesn't want to be a weanling.

A Fun Day of Visitors

On Saturday CMK was expecting a number of arabian lovers & breeders to come for a visit. To keep the viewing simple, the mares & fillies were brought down off the hill & put in a pasture by the barn. The rescue horses (yes CMK occasionally takes in horses in need who aren't arabs) were also moved because the mares & fillies had to cross through their pasture. There was a lot of musical pastures going on early Sat morning.

The visitors arrived just before 11am. They ooooo'd & ahhhh'd over the fillies. Blondi practically mauled everyone for attention & was voted Miss Congeniality. It was unanimous that Grey Girl is stunningly pretty. It was said that she's very typy & elegant & everyone wished they could see her sire. Grey Girl's style & elegance definitely comes from her sire because Mommy Dearest is a bit coarse & plain. GG was so friendly that everyone had to fall in love with her. Filly seemed to be a bit overwhelmed by all the visitors & wasn't her usual pushy & lovable self. She came up for a little attention but preferred to stand back & watch. One well known breeder commented about Filly & said "that's a really nice filly, I like her". Of course that made CMK smile with pride. When there's a ranch visit with such esteemed arabian people, there's always the fear they won't see the special qualities of the horses & not like them. It was such a relief to CMK that the fillies were all well thought of. Of course CMK would love them even if no one else liked them, but it's so nice to know that others see they are fillies of quality. Mama & Mommy Dearest were also scrutinized. There were a few amazed noises when Mama's pedigree was revealed. Her grandsire was a favorite of one of the visitors. It was fun to hear stories about some of the horses in the pedigrees. Mama is a very high quality mare & it's such a shame that she has some serious health issues. After a couple of hours it was time for everyone to caravan to another ranch for a visit. It was a wonderful day showing off the fillies.

Another Special Day

Happy 5 month birthday Filly! You are so special. You are the light in my day, as well as in Grandpa's day. Grandpa loves watching you run & sprint across the pasture. He enjoys seeing you lay in the sand pile, sunning & napping. We both laugh at your antics. It's so hard to believe 5 months have gone by since I had to assist your entry into the world. It's harder to believe we're beyond the long struggle to save your legs, beyond the weeks of lethargy & illness, beyond the thoughts of losing you. Filly you are such a miracle & I love you dearly. Happy 5 month birthday!

Visitors & Having Fun

This past week CMK's brother & sister-in-law were visiting from out of state. The fillies were sure these visitors had come for the sole purpose of petting & scratching them. Every chance they got, the fillies mobbed Brother & SIL for attention. Brother tried to take pictures but could only complain that as he backed up to put distance between the camera & the fillies, they continued to walk forward, ruining a lot of good shots. Filly was the worst. She even got her whiskers on the camera. She's quite persistent when she wants attention.

On Friday, Filly got her feet trimmed. It had only been 5 weeks since her last trim but her hooves were definitely getting long & out of balance. Trimmer came out with a friend who had fun playing with Blondi while Filly got trimmer. Well actually, & more honestly, she spent the time keeping Blondi from pestering CMK & Trimmer. Unchecked Blondi would have chewed CMK's hair, not a good thing. Filly was so good. This was the first time she was trimmed in pasture instead of being taken into a stall. She stands for trimming better than many adult horses. She's doing so well & is developing into a really nice 5 month old. Her progress has been amazing.

Grey Girl is unbelievably grey for a 3 1/2 month old. Usually horses grey gradually over the years. Not GG, she's already GREY! GG is still a bit shy around strangers but did come up to be petted by Brother & SIL. She stayed hidden behind Mommy Dearest when Trimmer & friend were out on Friday.

The fillies are so personable & fun. One of the funnest playtimes is when they chase the hay wagon. As CMK drives around the pasture, the fillies will continue to chase. Even when the wagon is empty they love to chase. Usually Filly is in the lead. On Wednesday hay was delivered. The fillies were so excited to see hay piling into the barn. They were running through the barn, in everyones way. Filly even managed to get herself between the hay trailer & the hay stack. Fortunately she managed to slowly & carefully back out. It's a good thing she's a smart filly who doesn't panic. Finally a bale of hay was thrown outside to keep them all occupied. Poor CMK had to work on fencing once again. Filly has taught GG that it's easy to go between the hot tape & get into the next pasture over. Filly likes to visit with the other horses. One day soon non-climb will be put up to finish the cross-fencing (only 200' to go). In the meantime, Filly will continue pestering her neighbors.