New Arrival

There's a new arrival at Triple D Stables! Sometime between Saturday and today a new baby Percheron was born! She's a little filly and absolutely adorable! She's all black with a star and she's super sweet! Came right up and let me pet her and she sniffed my hand! I have never met a newborn foal before so that's new to see a baby with no teeth! Her mom was so sweet! I gave her some peppermints to become better friends with her just in case she got protective of her baby.

For size reference, that gate is a little over 4 feet tall.

We've been waiting since before I moved my horses for this little filly to be born! She's really cute!

Babies are so cute!

Also, Holly is now in the indoor arena so the baby and her mom, Daisy, can have the back of the barn and Holly's big stall as their "run-in" shelter. Poor Holly has to stay in now because she has a terrible abscess on her front left foot. Poo thing. =[  However, the filly and Daisy probably stay out 24/7 because that's how it was with Holly and her mom, Dawn. This little filly seems so happy! Daisy is such a great mother!

Tomorrow, I'm bringing my real camera (instead of my phone which is usually what I take pictures and videos with) to take some really great pictures of the filly! I think I'll take some great ones and print them for Jason and Sandy later.

On another note, I gave Louize a back massage and gave my girls (and Daisy) some peppermints I found at the Ocean City Job Lot for $1! They're the best candies ever! I stocked up on a variety of my favorites and got the peppermints specifically for the horses! They were so excited! 

That's Yada's nose and shadow trying to eat the peppermints while I was trying to take a picture. Peppermints were the first and only treats she took from me when I first got her! Apples and carrots and other treats were NOT her thing.

Also, Louize went 3 days without her ulcer medicine and only left a handful of grain in her bucket! I didn't not give her the medicine on purpose, I just keep getting busy or tired or whatever and not going to the barn lately. I'm going to have to ask my mom to visit, brush, medicate, and treat my horses starting next Monday while I'm at marching band camp. I won't have the time or energy to visit them. =[  Rehearsals start at 8am and I'm not done until 9pm. Plus driving back and forth and showering and I need sleep. The girls will just have to suck it up! I'm sure they'll get spoiled by my mother. I just have to make sure she doesn't overfeed them treats... she likes to do that. They don't mind but their stomachs might.

Something Different

I don't usually like to do the same things all the time when riding. The indoor arena is pretty cluttered with hay, wagons, tractor, etc. and so I decided to try something new! I rode Yada out in her pasture with Louize just wandering around. At first when I was walking Yada, Louize would follow us around and look at me like I was a weirdo. When I started trotting Louize followed a little and then gave up. She was trotting better than I saw previous but it could just be because no one was on her back, too. I'll ride her today or tomorrow to see if she's still stiff and sore and then my mom and I will consider calling a chiropractor for her. Might be good for Louize. Also, Louize has been eating very well! Even when I don't go by the barn and forget to get her ulcer medicine to her she has been eating everything! She hasn't left a single piece of grain which makes me very happy! The first thing I do is check out their buckets, grab a lead rope, some treats, put on my boots, and go outside to give Louize her medicine and some treats to both of them. There were a couple days when I didn't visit them and she still ate everything! Yay Louize! Maybe her stomach is finally settling down and she can come off the ulcer medicine sometime soon! For now, she's staying on it... don't want to change too much and cause it to flare up again when she's just getting better. It's obvious she responds to stress because she was like this before we moved her out of Jill's and then stopped eating after the move. At least it didn't take as long to get her to start eating. At Jill's it took WEEKS! Here, it took maybe a week or two and I had to make sure she got her meds EVERY day! Now she's getting better and that makes me very happy!

I have also noticed that Yada, in the indoor arena, stumbles and kind of limps for a few steps when making turns (mostly to the right). I have a feeling it's just because the turns we have to make inside are fairly sharp and she may have pulled something because riding her in the pasture didn't seem to cause the same issue. She was just super lazy and I had to work to keep her going, except in the slightly sloped areas of the pasture when we went downhill. Only issue I had was keeping her on the fence line because she wanted to go in the middle with Louize, haha!

I also noticed that Jason and Sandy have started to wean Holly from her mother! She's an adorable 3-4 month old Percheron filly. She's only about a hand or two away from being Louize-sized! She's been inside in a big stall for most of the time so at least she has room to wander. She's not outside with her mother now because she's back with the other drafts. A baby with 5 big drafts probably isn't a good idea, so I understand that. She could, I guess, hang out with Yada and Louize! I bet they could be great friends! Louize is very motherly (she's had babies in the past before I bought her) and Yada is VERY sane for a 3 year old. Oh well, she's not mine but maybe I'll offer it as an idea so Holly can go outside more.

In other news, Daisy hasn't foaled yet! She has to be 12 months pregnant now! They have her in a stall at night now and she is in a separate pasture but no baby. They keep waiting! They were hoping she would foal back in June when I first came by to check the place out! Hopefully soon there will be a baby in that pasture. Who knows, maybe when I go see my girls this afternoon there will be a baby!