Little May
Little May has been sold to a lovely new home - a pony stud in Germany so we hope she’ll soon settle and be happy there. It looks a beautiful spot - I’m tempted to go with her!
Add comment March 9th, 2010
Foaling Update
Foxy is now looking quite bagged up and yesterday evening and again this morning, the foal could be seen kicking, in fact when I put my hand on her abdomen, I could clearly feel the foals movements - quite amazing!
The foal will be full brother/sister to Queen Bee so it will be interesting to compare them. With her first foal, Foxy foaled 319 days from the date she ran with the stallion, so on that basis she could possibly foal around 5th March.
Add comment February 19th, 2010
Horse Help
If you live in the Lancashire area and need reliable horse help, see our For Sale page “Other Adverts” for details.
Add comment February 19th, 2010
Countdown to 2010 Foals
Today for the first time, I saw that Foxy is just starting to bag up, which last time she did around 4 weeks prior to foaling. No significant signs yet on the other 3 mares but still it’s time to get the foaling box ready! As advised by our first class mentors at the Dilston Stud, we keep an annual record of each mare and each foaling as it helps to look back and see any trends. Close observation is now the key and we watch for any out of character behaviour prior to foaling which can be small things like laying down more or being alone.
In preparation, we’ve just purchased a flash new dog rug for any early foals - black with silver stars! We use them when they are newly born and the weather is cold.
18 - 20″ seem about the right size for newborns.
As well as having the obvious handy - clean bucket/warm water, mobile phone, vets number, headcollar etc, in our foaling box we keep:
- Tail bandage
- Lubrel lubricant
- Sterilised scissors, cord & string
- Enemas
- Plastic bags / bin bag for afterbirth
- Hand wipes / kitchen roll
- Clean Towels
- Purple spray for foals navel
- Jug for expressing colostrum/milk & feeding bottle
- Large syringe
- Hibiscrub
- Disposable gloves
- Wound powder
- Torch
- Camera & video [though never used video!] - with full charge!
We’ll no doubt realise we’ve forgotten something! With all the best intentions of scrubbing hands with hibiscrub, often there’s little time and events seem to take over with some of the fast foalings we’ve had.
Add comment February 10th, 2010
2010 Foals - Colour Probability
We’ve become quite fascinated by colour genetics, spurred on by Ann, friend and fellow shetland breeder when she visited with her “Horse Colour Explained” [Jeanette Gower] book - which we promptly ordered from Amazon.
With 4 foals due , we’ve calculated the colour probabilities for each foal by taking sire and dam colours and account of whether, in the case of piebald/skewbald [tobiano], the parents are homozygous [always breed broken coloured] or heterozygous [breed broken and solid colour] so here are the foal colour probabilities for each 2010 foal:
Dam: Charlottes Moonlight [black tobiano]
Sire:Â Merriville Prince Charming [black tobiano]
Foal:
70.31% black tobiano
23.44% black
4.69% chestnut tobiano
1.56% chestnut
——————————————————————————————-
Dam: Merriville Emma Jane [chestnut]
Sire: Dilston Piper [chestnut tobiano]
Foal:
50% chestnut tobiano
50% chestnut
——————————————————————————————-
Dam: Applegarth Princess Poppy [chestnut tobiano]
Sire: Dilston Piper [chestnut tobiano]
Foal:
75% chestnut tobiano
25% chestnut
——————————————————————————————-
Dam: Dilston Foxglove [palomino tobiano]
Sire:Â Merriville Prince Charming [black tobiano]
Foal:
12.5% smoky black tobiano
12.5% buckskin tobiano
12.5% black tobiano
12.5% bay tobiano
12.5% palomino tobiano
12.5% chestnut tobiano
4.17% smoky black
4.17% buckskin
4.17% black
4.17% bay
4.17% palomino
4.17% chestnut
——————————————————————————————-
So it’s possible, though not probable, that we could get 4 chestnut foals but, whatever the colour, as long as they’re well that’s what counts!
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Add comment January 28th, 2010
Difficult Decision
It has been a hard decision but we have decided to advertise Little May for sale. Having kept 2 foals from last year, we really weren’t looking to increase numbers so it was a question of who to part with. Despite having had May from a foal, we felt she would be an easy pony to find a good new home for. She is a very friendly pony and it’s just a genuine sale of a very genuine pony. More photos on our for sale page, we will only sell her to a very good, long term home.
Add comment January 25th, 2010
Snowy Ponies!
Despite the atrocious weather, the ponies are coping well - insulated by their thick winter coats. It was -7 this morning so they got plentiful supplies of hay, carrots and fresh water - with extra hard feed for the youngsters and mares in foal. Even in thick snow, those in at night seem eager to get out in the morning.
With the amount of snow and time it has lasted, living on a hill, we’ve never been more pleased to have a 4 wheel drive - we’d never have coped without it!
Add comment January 7th, 2010
Horse Tax
If you haven’t already seen this, take a look at this website.
http://www.rethinkthehorsetax.org
The government is proposing introducing an annual horse tax on every horse/pony. The site is fully explanatory and highlights all the reasons why such a tax shouldn’t be introduced. Please sign the petition and contact your MP if, like us, you are against such a tax.
I contacted the Yorkshire Post Equestrian Editor and thankfully they have done a feature today which hopefully will bring the issue to the attention of more owners.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/equestrian/Fight-is-on-to-scrap.5924535.jp
Add comment December 19th, 2009
Prince
We’ve now been to visit Prince, our 2009 colt, in his new home and he looked happy and very well cared for. He has a lovely stable, overlooking the menage, which has a small inner door specially made so he can see what’s going on. And we’ve decided Vicky gets first prize for making the best pony bed!
Add comment December 15th, 2009
Winter Grazing
The ponies are now settled in their winter grazing - in the newly fenced adjoining fields. The weaned foals have now been reunited with their mums and the rest of the herd [Evie and her mum Rosie in the foreground].
If you watched Gordon Ramsey’s F Word, featuring Ripponden’s winning restaurant El Gato Negro, there was a shot of the fields and if you got out your magnifying glass, there were the ponies! So another [small] starring role - some of them also feature in the Sheffield University publicity though they have yet to beat the Merrifield family’s starring role in Coronation Street in Paris! [when they filmed Curly proposing on the Seine there we all were in the background!]
Add comment December 15th, 2009