UH OH! Are we prego? ---AHEM, YES!!!!

[ClassynIvansMom]

Classy Lady and Cookie the donkey are keeping each other company and stuffing their faces with their new hay roll. Pasture has been razed, and BONUS! Hay guy says the stuff I thought was fescue is NOT. No fescue within near vicinity of the barn that he can see. Maybe I’ll get lucky and she either hasn’t been on fescue since we moved to our farm (in April, so long enough, plus it was a cattle breeding farm before and they don’t like fescue either) or the fescue amounts have been so low that she hasn’t eaten much. The fact that she’s bagging up and hasn’t aborted is a good sign. We’ve still got domperidone as back up and the paddock is completely cleared, so keep your fingers crossed! Camp tent, air mattress, and camera are on their way! Many thanks to my friends that are helping supply some of those materials

[QUOTE=Jeannette, formerly ponygyrl;5791110]
If HoeBaby does turn out to be fugly I’'ll see if I can get permission to post before and after pics of the fugliest foal I’ve ever known. At a week and a month and a year old, all you could do was shake your head and laugh when you saw him - and he has turned out to be a really solid citizen and more amazingly, a good looking fella.

 You're *sure* you wouldn't have picked a TWH/Friesian/App X as your breed of choice?  Pity the Appalachian Trail doesn't go through Tennessee - 'cause I'm thinking a Throughhiking Friesaloosa is a breed name which needs coining...[/QUOTE]

Haha, well that’s great that he has turned out to be a good and decent looking horse! Keep your fingers crossed against fugly, but we’ll see! Can’t say I’m impressed with the rest of that stud’s get, but their mamas aren’t my Classy Lady! Ha, can you tell I’m a proud, biased pony mom?

[QUOTE=camohn;5791552]I went to feed at breakfast time and she was in his pasture. His pasture was supposed to contain 2 horses…Mr. Studly and his gelding pasturemate. There were 3 horses at the gate that morning.
PS>the mare is black! No need for the PJs!
Baby Oops is very cute though…
http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/camohn03/?action=view&current=704d5a2e.jpg
Mommy is sunbleached and no longer looking black by August though in the pic. See the white horse in the background? That is Daddy-O.
Momma is a Hannoverian/TB cross (all of 3 years old herself/hopped the fence at 2 so I had the preggo teenager) and Pops is a mostly TB Paint.[/QUOTE]

Awwww, Baby Oops IS very cute Look at those white legs! Do you have a close up photo of Daddy?

[QUOTE=Valentina_32926;5792288]I always put my mare on “Mare Plus” vitamens - more when they’re pregnant, 1/2 ration for general nutrition when they’re not (gelding is on it also).

You can order it in a 20 lb box for best price.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into that Riverside feed store is supposed to be calling me back in a minute to let me know when their supplier can get Ultium Growth in for me (they should since they carry Ultium Competition) and I can ask if they have that or something similar. The only formula they carry is Omolene 300, same as the closer feed store, but if they can’t get the Ultium Growth and it looks like I’ll have to make a commute anyway to get anything better than Omolene 300, maybe I’ll end up with the TC growth formula after all…

[camohn]

[QUOTE=

Awwww, Baby Oops IS very cute Look at those white legs! Do you have a close up photo of Daddy?

QUOTE]

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/camohn03/?action=view&current=2a9b6b38.jpg

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/camohn03/?action=view&current=1ff3e5ad.jpg

http://s82.photobucket.com/albums/j276/camohn03/?action=view&current=db0f397c.jpg

[ClassynIvansMom]

I’m looking at foal halters online right now. I recall distinctly that the foal that stayed in my pasture briefly this summer (before its owner got their own farm) was quite a little bastard about being caught. I’m hoping that Classy Lady’s foal is more sweet, like her, and am hoping to imprint it when it’s born (and reading up on imprinting now), but on the off chance I’m unsuccessful, I’d still like to be able to catch the sucker. Should I choose a nylon/normal style halter or should I get a teeny rope halter or what would be my best option? I also saw a leather foal halter on ebay.

Baby will likely live in paddock with mama until lactation is not something I need to worry about, once baby can start creep feeding. Plans are underway to move my gates and expand my 2nd paddock (hence why it is currently out of commission) but once the other paddock is done, they’ll be turned out in it so they’ll have more space to move around.

[Laurierace]

A leather figure eight halter is all my foal’s wear. Definitely NO nylon or rope.

[ClassynIvansMom]

Not even a nylon with a leather breakaway crown? I just like the colors

[Laurierace]

That is up to you but they aren’t even remotely adjustable enough for my taste. The figure eight adjusts itself so it fits around the muzzle correctly. Not to mention the colors all end up mud colored eventually.

[JB]

Trust me, the Fig 8 is a great deal more foal AND human-friendly

[ClassynIvansMom]

Haha, good point. If it follows in mama’s footsteps, it’ll be a mudbug.

I know Tory leather is decent stuff. Horse.com has some figure 8s by them on sale! In your experienced opinions, would one trump the other of these two?

http://www.horse.com/item/tory-foal-slip-halter-with-grab-strap/E001272/

http://www.horse.com/item/tory-leather-wide-foal-slip-halter-with-grab-strap/E001271/

I’ve never seen a foal halter with such wide cheeks like that second one.

[K_2]

If you want a nice foal halter, go with a Quillin’s halter. They sell both figure 8s and regular halters. I just order a couple of their calico halters, and I am more than happy with the quality.

[camohn]

I never ever leave a halter on baby for turnout…even a breakaway…until they are a yearling. I can tell you (sadly) about 2 babies that caught leather breakaway halters on something (not mine) and died of broken necks. The leather does not ALWAYS break as it is supposed to and baby necks are so delicate/just not worth the risk. I have found that when they are really little they will just follow momma and they are easy to halter by the time you get to the age you have to have a halter on them with practice. As to how easy it is to halter a baby…depends on the kid. I have 2 foals that are siblings now. The filly you could throw a halter on from day 1/she didn’t care and the colt I can barely pet now at 3 weeks old. He is just a shy one that hides behind momma and we play a lot of ring around the rosy and it takes quite a while to get my paws on him.Over the years I have had quite a few horses like both of them…and in the end (by weaning age) they are all the same to halter and handle. Some just take more work than others at the very beginning if they are the shy ones. Everyone here that is turned out in a halter (1+ years) gets a breakaway halter. I get the tops from my local Amish dude. Sometimes the ones he has are thin, sometimes they are not. If they are not very thin I actually have him shave them down for me a bit. I would rather be sure they break as needed and replace them more often than risk them not breaking.

[Nes]

True Colours (same as on COTH) has invented(?) these little elastics for halters/blankets/etc. that you can use in place of the snaps and they would definitely break or at least stretch if the foal got hung up.

I’m not sure they would work with a figure-8 though.

[JB]

Not invented - potentially (already?) a distributor.

[ClassynIvansMom]

I think I’m going to wait and see how friendly baby is before I put a halter on it. We’re still waiting, and mama has had a new trick of escaping from her paddock for a couple days in a row because a friend of mine’s draft that she boards with me has decided busting through my gates is fun. We’ve bulked up with chains on the gates to Classy Lady’s paddock now… 24 hours later, we’re in better shape and not any new break ins/outs.

New question: Classy Lady has had fly sensitivity this season, and I’ve been somewhat controlling it with Trihist or Anihist (which the vet said was safe). She has gone back and forth between hives and skin blisters in her affected areas. Because she and Cookie the donkey are in a small paddock, they can dirty it up quickly, so it’s getting mucked twice a day at every feeding. They DO have shelter and get inside one side of the barn, but the heat is pretty bad. I have not been putting fly sheets on because my kids were getting ticks (the ticks would catch hold of the sheets and crawl underneath when they stayed cool in the woods). But since she’s getting so bothered by the flies and can get shade inside the barn or under the big trees on one side of the paddock, would you put a mesh sheet on her or not? I’m concerned as to the everlasting heat down here in crispy crunchy land, but it IS much cooler in the barn or in the shade. She hangs out in the aisle she has access to a lot during the day, or she’s under the shade of the tree munching on her hay roll. Right now at 11:45 am, it’s 88 degrees and we have a projected high of 93. The sheet is very breathable mesh, but since her body is different with a baby inside, am I at risk of making her internal temp too high with adding the layer of a sheet even though she has shade? It’s a McAlister Fly sheet, and she used to wear in until May with no problems.

I may have missed the first 10 months of worrying, but now I’m worrying and wondering if I’m micromanaging too much… Horses have babies without problems all the time in the wild and in domestic living, right?

[ClassynIvansMom]

Our humidity has been so up and down lately. Like right now while the dew is evaporating, it’s 62% but it’s also only around 76 degrees. By 1 pm, humidity will be down to 34% and then it says 33% by 4 pm, but it’ll also be in the low 90s. I know the calculation for determining when the heat plus humidity minus wind speed equals a range at which it’s unsafe to work at due to inability to evaporate sweat as easily and cool off, but at which humidity ranges is it pointless to sheet your ponies without a fan on them?

[grayarabpony]

Unless your mare looks uncomfortable and is sweating excessively I wouldn’t worry. My mare was a real wus about both heat and cold when she was pregnant but she let me know when she wasn’t comfortable!

[Ladybug_Hill]

Sheeting a mare with a foal by her side is dangerous. I would never risk it. I know that others do but honestly mild discomfort is better than a dead foal. Good luck. I am excited for you!

[grayarabpony]

I agree about not sheeting her once the foal is here, but she hasn’t foaled yet.

[amastrike]

OP, I have a leather figure 8 foal halter that my baby has outgrown, I’d be happy to send it to you if you like :).

[Ladybug_Hill]

[QUOTE=grayarabpony;5807938]
I agree about not sheeting her once the foal is here, but she hasn’t foaled yet.[/QUOTE]

Well I wouldn’t leave a sheet on an unattended broodmare closing in on foaling either. What if she foals unexpectedly with no one around. We have all seen newborn foals fall over mama when they are first walking about and the mare decides to lay down to roll.

[grayarabpony]

How do you know she’s unattended either. Geez.

Personally I don’t mess with fly sheets because the flies always managed to get up under them and drove my mare crazy.