Monday, April 20, 2009

The Long Awaited Little Bugger!

Well - here he is! I don't have a barn name for him yet, but his registered name will be something along the lines of Skippin' Leo Chex. Rumba waited until all the nasty weather was past. It snowed like crazy again last Friday and Saturday, and now it's expected to be in the 60's and 70's for the rest of this week! Yeah!

He has some congenital angular limb deformities in his front legs. This is pretty normal, especially for a late term baby that I can't figure out how he actually fit into momma (he's REALLY tall) , but I'm talking with the vet to see what I can do to help out the situation. His one leg has straightened out already a lot, his right knee is a little deviated from center. The vet said to just watch it and if in a month it isn't getting better there is an low impact invasive surgery they can do to help take the pressure off and straighten it out. So things should be just fine!

Otherwise, he IS perfect and quite into everything. Yesterday he walked through the water buckets and today he tipped himself into the feed bin. So I have to turn everything over so he can't get stuck in it for now! He comes right up to me and isn't scared of ANYTHING.

His grulla coloring is a perfect mouse grey with VERY silver legs! He has a white off hind stocking and a star and snip which looks like a 'U'. He also has an awesome little ermine marking that looks like someone scribbled on him with a marker. Rumba has a few of these and passed on the trait!

Mom is extremely protective, and giving what happened to her last colt that was killed by another horse (yes, killed - it shook the foal like a dog shakes it's prey after busting through a post and iron fence), I've been giving her a lot of room. She been totally alright with me in there, but gets a little nervy when other people are around - or I am for too long. Maggie is still in the pasture with her because when I moved her to another pasture she cleared a 5 1/2 foot fence to get back (she isn't really tall enough to do that but did anyway). Rumba doesn't let her anywhere near the colt and Maggie is respecting the distance so I'm alright with them. Plus I'm paneling off a section this evening anyway so they can visit over the fence for a bit.

Wore out after an adventure


Rumba thought if she buried her baby maybe I'd go away



Where'd he go? It's a hay bale with legs!

What? Are you STILL here? (That is a BOY in the background...*gasp*)

Peekaboo!

I see you!

Hey! Who was playing with the Sharpies? The ermine mark


My tall 'little' man! Rumba's over 5 2 hands

I think it's only fair not to count the 'due date' contest since it was SOOOO out of wack. I wasn't there for the birth by the way - she never waxed or showed signs of anything being different than any other day or night. I checked her at 1am Saturday, and had a phone call in the morning to go check the field (I slept in a little later than normal...hey. I gotta live a little too you know).

Therefore, I will be having a naming contest soon. LOOK FOR IT!

9 comments:

h said...

So cute! And yea for a new boy thinking you are cute. :)

JJ said...

Yay! I got your message yesterday, but couldn't get it to play - I figured it was another snow video but was excited when I forwarded the message to Brad's phone and finally saw your new addition! So pretty :)

AJ said...

He's so cute! Congrats on the new addition!

But day 470? Are you kidding me? I'm so glad I'm not a horse, 280 days feels like forever, I can't imagine 200 more than that!

So does this boy have a name? Can we see a picture of the top half?

Andrea said...

Girl, it is about time!!! OH he is so adorable!! A Grullo!! How exciting!! I read up a lot about the Dun Factor just the other day. How awesome!! I love his little white snip on his nose!! Too cute!! His reg. name is cute too!! I am so excited for you!!

I will start thinking of Boy Barn names. I had Tivo picked out for my boy, but I didn't get a boy, sniff sniff.

Who is the proud Dad? I don't remember who you said you bred her to!! Congrats!!

Oh, and Pearl's foals always come out with blood shot eyes and funny looking legs that end up just fine. They straighten out pretty quickly!!

Have you ever given the foal a shot and it make a big lump? When my FIL gave my foal her shot it gave her a lump. I need to call the vet and ask them about it.

Stephie said...

Yay! He is so cute!

Carroll Farm said...

it is SO about time! looking good and LOVE the color.

Kara said...

Congrats!! He is beautiful.

Jericho Rose said...

Ahhhh I love foals!! You are a lucky lady.

The Wades said...

I'm in love!! He looks precious...and TALL! I'm so happy your waiting is over and there is good, happy news. :)