A Brief Update

Thanks Phaedra96 for asking about my girls. I'm glad you've enjoyed reading about Filly, Mama, & their friends.

While it's a few years off, Filly will one day be my #1 trail horse. Dare I hope endurance horse? She's quietly bold & not much bothers her. I expect her to be a very easy horse to start under saddle once she's mature. Because she's had such a rough start in life, I plan to give her plenty of time to catch up & finish maturing before I begin to think of starting her. She requires more groceries & special care than the others right now because she's trying to grow & catch up at the same time. She's going to be a big girl as she's already the same size as Blondi, who's 3 months older with the same sized parents. I have to admit that Filly is near & dear to my heart & she can do no wrong. Well maybe when she bit me she did wrong, but I've already forgiven her.

Grey Girl will also someday be a trail horse. In the meantime she will most likely go to a few shows to strut her stuff. She's very flashy & is a gorgeous mover. She has that WOW factor that people notice. She's lively & her eyes just sparkle. She's the first to greet me when I go in the pasture & she demands attention. I still feel guilty for not giving her much attention in her first month or so, but I was so consumed with saving Filly that I was overwhelmed & not ready for another foal. GG & I make up for lost time now & she's just a little love. There are times when I can be caught blowing softly on her muzzle while she blows on me.

Mama has never picked up beyond where she was when Filly was weaned. She will always require special care & probably never gain a body condition beyond 3+. But while she'll always be an extremely hard keeper & thinner than normal, she has a gorgeous coat & a sparkle in her eye now. She's handling the winter weather a LOT better than she did our summer heat. Her health issues make it hard for her to regulate her body temperature so she has to be monitored closely. She'll always require extra TLC, but she's worth the effort.

Mommy Dearest is doing fine. She's fat, happy & running with her herd on 20 acres. Fortunately she had no health issues other than being a little under fed when she came to me.

2009 sure was a tough year for the mommas & fillies. Here's hoping 2010 is much kinder to us all.

Furballs & Mudballs & Naughty, Naughty Filly

Gosh, the fillies are sure growing up. It's hard to believe they'll soon be considered yearlings. Where has time gone?

Filly is doing so good that I can sometimes forget how difficult her first few months were. She must have known what was in store for winter because she's been a furball since early fall. She's unbelievably furry, looking like a woolly mammoth. It's fun to run my fingers in her coat & bury my nose in her soft fur, much to her displeasure because I'm sure she thinks this human is crazy. She was definitely prepared for the week of freezing temperatures that we recently had. Even in the early morning freeze she was warm under that wooly coat. Grey Girl is a little woolly, but no where near as woolly as Filly. GG is such a little cutie, fuzzy like a puffball. She's always bright eyed, loving, & curious. In some ways she's now the boldest of the fillies. When something spooks or startles the fillies, she's the first to investigate. She's really changed from being Baby Dearest. She's now the low filly on the pecking order & the first to meet me at the gate for scritches & petting. Blondi must not have gotten word that winter is almost here. She's slick & shiny, still wearing her summer coat. Her coat is a little thicker than it was, but she's certainly not a furball or fuzzy. She's now the Boss of the Babies & never lets the others forget her new found status. Filly & GG give way at feeding time. Blondi is the most reserved with people but once she knows someone, she likes to drape herself over their shoulder. She's the most in-you-pocket of the fillies.

After the freeze, the rains came & now I have mudballs in my pasture. All that wonderful woolliness of Filly is now caked with mud. The poor curry can hardly get the mud scraped off. Most of the time she looks like a mad mudhen, going around with her ears flopped back as if in disgust at her muddy condition. GG is also a little mudball but her mud is easily knocked off. Blondi of course can't be a mudball because she's too slick & short coated. I also think she's the prissy one who stays in their shelter out of the rain.

Oh was Filly naughty a few nights ago. It was time for dinner & all their buckets of goodies were ready. As I bent over to pour a bucket into a feed pan, I felt teeth hit my head & my hair being pulled. WHAT?! I was shocked that Filly had tried to bite my head. Luckily for me her teeth didn't clamp or I'm be missing a chunk of hair. Or maybe I should say lucky for Filly! I'm not sure if she was aiming for me, or if she thought I was one of the other fillies getting into her feed pan (it was dark after all), but either way her behavior was unacceptable. I stood up shouting & flailing my arms, scattering everyone. I had 3 wide-eyed fillies standing in front of me wondering at the madness before them. Time for fillies to learn about MY space. It's been very peaceful at feeding time since then. The fillies aren't allowed at the feed pans until I step away. They are respecting the new rule & I'm sure it's because they don't want to see the Dark Side shouting & flailing again.

Last Sunday the trimmers were out. Filly & GG were due for trims and they were both very well behaved. GG is learning to stand & pick up her feet really well. She's a bit stubborn but learns quick & complies once she realizes behaving gets her scritches. At times Filly is like a little old horse, wise to the ways of life. Her trimmer said she behaves better than most adult horses she trims. I guess Filly isn't always naughty (wink).

From the fillies & me, Happy Holidays everyone!

Never a Dull Moment

Yesterday was trimming day for Grey Girl & Blondi. Their trimmer has more patience than anyone can imagine & was very good with the naughty fillies. So many thanks Trimmer, you did an awesome job with the little darlings.

Grey Girl was stubborn & clamped her lips tight. When pawing her feet away didn't get her loose, she tried to rear & jump. When that didn't work, she finally threw herself onto the ground. Neither CMK nor Trimmer let go & GG discovered that she wasn't going to win the battle. She at last decided to stand like a good girl. Of course she was still mad & let it be known by the ugly faces she gave everyone. Her feet sure looked nice when Trimmer was done.

Next it was time for Blondi's trim & she was very naughty. Yesterday wasn't a good day for her & she had a few melt-down moments. She stood like an angel for her left front foot but all her other feet were off limits. She fretted herself into a light sweat & bounced around with wild eyes. CMK wondered if it was because she remembered Trimmer helping give her a vaccination 2 weeks ago (remember when CMK got knocked in the head & everyone saw stars?). Blondi was tense & it took a lot of quiet petting & patience to convince her that it wasn't the first time her feet had been touched. When she finally realized no one was going to hurt her (read that as poke her with a needle), she relaxed & all her feet got trimmed. She has such nice feet.

Filly, Filly, Filly... Sometimes CMK wonders if Filly will be the cause of a mental breakdown. Surely she makes for some nervous moments. While Grey Girl was getting her trim, Filly was wondering around the stall looking for any stray morsel to eat. She was cleaning all the buckets & licking up every gram of flavor. The next thing CMK & Trimmer saw was Filly's head stuck in a bucket. It was tied to the wall & Filly had the handle over her ear. She pulled back & luckily froze when she reached the end of the tie. As soon as Trimmer put a hand on her, she stopped moving & waited to be saved. After it was all over she was very subdued & tucked her head into CMK to be hugged & petted. It sure is a good thing she's a calm, sensible filly. After she was hugged & kissed & fawned over, she went right back to checking out the buckets. Silly Filly!

And rest assured, the buckets will no longer be tied to the wall. In fact, buckets with handles will no longer be used as feed buckets. Geesh, there's never a dull moment when working with the fillies.

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.