Foaling Season Begins!!!

Six mares are due to foal at our farm this year and we have anticipated the beginning of foaling season this year with bittersweet emotions. A bit crazy, but I'll tell you why we bred six mares in a future post. Serrenada, the first of the six mares to foal, delivered her bundle of joy after we endured three sleepless nights on "Foal Watch". It was a textbook delivery with the mare foaling exactly three days following the appearance of "wax" on the milk udder. At around 1:10 AM on April 13th, our black bay foal entered this world with a large star, small strip and pink snip on the nose. Perfect? Well, yes and no.


(Pictured above: Serrenada's baby bump the day of foaling.)


Turns out this foal is the SIXTH colt(male) in row for us!! So while we are very disappointed in the plumbing, we're willing to forgive this cute little guy for being a colt if he will stay that gorgeous black bay color.

(Pictured below: The new foal takes it's first breath.)


Pedigree-wise, this little guy represents an outcross breeding, meaning new genetic blood into our herd. We wanted the blood of famous Arabian sire *Bask and found PS Afire Chief who fit the bill with several crosses to *Bask, beautiful bay color with four white socks, and an enviable show record as a reserve national champion Park Horse, champion driving, champion English pleasure and halter wins to his credit. Of course, we were hoping for a mare to cross back onto our stallions *Etyk and Monopolii, full brother of Mongramm, so those plans have obviously changed.


Serrenada, one our our favorite daughters of *Efort, a Palas son, is a wonderful mom - protective and affectionate. Both of her foals (both colts) have been so friendly and receptive to humans, allowing us to touch, handle and halter break with such ease. A real pleasure! But wait...I see some grey hairs on this guy's tail!!! Will he turn grey, the dominant color in Arabian horses, or is this just "frosting" on an otherwise stunning almost-black color!!!?

(Pictured: Mare and foal begin the bonding process. Foal is about one hour old.)

Muddy March Madness Makes Horse People Dirty

This was the farm just 2 weeks ago. Six-foot high piles of snow everywhere. Then the winter thaw began. The snow is not really gone - it's just changed form - and now it's all MUD!

Everything is muddy. We're sinking as we walk.

But that means spring is well on her way, although we're sure to get just one more snowfall this year.

The horses are aching to go outside. They've been confined most of the winter to stalls, the arena or paddocks although they do love turnout in snowy pastures. But mud presents a different problem. They will sink up to their knees in pure, solid clay-like Ohio mud in March. So we've had to wait a few days to turn the horses out. Horses do like mud - so much that they delight in rolling in the stuff, some covering both sides of their body, some only one side. And it's hell to get it off of them - we must wait until the mud dries. But Horse People delight in this task! We are prepared with all sorts of grooming tools - curries, shedders, scrapers, mane and tail detanglers. It's a messy job, but Horse People have to do it! Getting dried mud off of a horse takes muscle and tireless circular motions with both arms as we attempt "the clean up". Dirt, dust and shedding hair is everywhere. This job is not for "clean freaks". We inhale all the dust, get dirt in our hair and under our fingernails. Clothing is caked with mud. You can't wear gloves either - you need your fingers. Technically, you cannot officially call yourself a horse lover until you've willingly engaged in this task.

Muddy March signals the approaching end of winter. I'm beginning to thaw out myself and there's alot to do this year at the farm. We're still bringing in hay, unloading it and stacking it ourselves. Most importantly, Muddy March means foaling season is right around the corner. Talk about madness - we're expecting 6 foals this year!

Our first mare to foal is Serrenada, sired by the Palas son *Efort and out of the imported Polish mare *Sierra Nevada by Aloes. Take a look at the baby bump! She's due April 18. I don't think she'll last that long! Serrenada is in foal to Park Horse and Halter Champion PS AfireChief. We bred her AI and we are hoping for a bay filly. Since Serrenada is a flea-bitten grey, she should produce bay color even though in Arabians, grey is the dominant color. PS Afire Chief is by Afire Bey V and out of the Chief Justice daughter Justa Glow. Chief Justice was one of my favorite *Bask sons. We consider Serrenada our best trotting mare and are anxious to bring this new blood into our herd. This will be her second foal. She gave us a nice colt in 2007 by our stallion *Etyk (Eldon x Etnografia by Aloes) and she foaled two weeks early. We're watching her closely, because broodmares are sneaky! Serrenada's friend Hennah, our *Wojslaw daughter out of Fifinellla by Probat, is due on the same day. I'll be telling you about the sire of Hennah's foal in my next post! But the best, most exclusive news is that we have acquired the great stallion Monopolii, full brother of world champion sire Monogramm!! Sired by Negatraz and out of the million dollar mare Monogramma, high-trotting Monopolii settled three mares for us last year at the age of 23!