Dave and I celebrated our 18 year wedding anniversary yesterday, February 5. This was same day DC gave birth to her first foal!
It arrived last night sometime after dark and was standing by his momma when Johnny checked on the horses early this morning!
I have learned so much in one day about horses just by watching these two and even more by talking to Johnny.
A newborn horse is called a foal, if it is a female it is a filly, the male foal is called a colt.
A pony IS NOT a young horse, a young horse is called a yearling: these are the 5 yearlings on the ranch:
I have referred to them as ponies… but technically they are not really ponies.
A “Pony” is a smaller horse and it can be any age. Lady and Mr. T are ponies, they are both over 20 years old! They are POA’s Ponies of the Americas.
Anyhow… the ranch has a special barn that they use for the pregnant mares and Johnny puts them there when they get close.
Last night Johnny put a horse in that barn her name is Memory.
Dave and I have gone and checked on her late last night and every hour until we go to bed and so far nothing yet. Last night we checked on her after 11:00 p.m., but nothing! Little did we know, across from Cedar Loft… DC was doing her thing!
She doesn’t look anywhere as ready as Memory Looks, but Looks can be quite deceiving at times!
This morning as soon as we heard the news, Dave Shadow, Shiner and I headed over to take our first peak. This was the first foal I have ever seen that was less than 12 hours old. I think the youngest I ever saw before this was about 6 months old.
I was SHOCKED! I don’t know what I expected, but seeing it standing, walking around and looking like a horse was not on my list of first thoughts! LOL
He is so cute! I can’t quit smiling every time I look at the pictures!
DC’s maternal instincts were awesome to watch. Precious,
the other pregnant mare that shared the pen with DC is the dominant one. In the past DC always backed off whenever Precious came near her, Precious would bully her if I tried to pet her our give her carrots or any attention what so ever.
Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised to see how DC reacted when Precious got near her colt, DC held her ground and kept herself between them most of the time.
Once Precious got right next to the colt and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it didn’t last long and DC charged right between them and sent Precious packing!
I will post a photo album with a lot more photos at the bottom of this post.
When I got done taking it all in and getting some photos, I went to find out from Johnny what they do next. Dave and I heard the coyotes this morning and they were REALLY close, so I wanted to make sure he knew they were back on the property and to find out if they separate Precious from the occasion.
So later in the day, I got to help Johnny move the horses around. I guess even though DC was done giving birth, she still goes in the maternity barn! LOL (for lack of better ideas on what to call it)!
He also didn’t want to leave Precious alone for two reasons; one she would be anxious away from DC AND her time is also near so it made most sense to move them all at the same time.
I wasn’t sure how they would move the colt, but it was much simpler than I thought!
Johnny said the colt would follow the mare so he walked the mare out, I had Precious and the golf cart and the two dogs!
I asked if I should put Shadow in the RV while we did this, because I assumed he would bark and upset the horses, but Johnny thought they would all be fine, so off we went!
so far so good… 
the colt is backing off just a little 
he needed a little encouragement, but not too much… and we were off again! 
Shadow and Shiner were very well behaved! Shadow would actually guide the colt back to the mare if she got behind or wondered off to the side a little bit. I was so proud of him! 
I couldn’t have done anything if Shadow would have gotten out of line because I was holding onto the lead for Precious while driving the golf cart and taking pictures all at the same time! (Proof that women can multi task)! LOL
It is truly a miracle when you think about the whole birthing process of these beautiful creatures; how they do it all by themselves! I feel totally blessed to have witnessed the first day of the colts life and to watch how the mare just adapts to the role of being the caretaker and protector! Just think, she didn’t even get to read Dr. Spock’s book on babies! LOL
What a beautiful day!
It arrived last night sometime after dark and was standing by his momma when Johnny checked on the horses early this morning!
I have learned so much in one day about horses just by watching these two and even more by talking to Johnny.
A newborn horse is called a foal, if it is a female it is a filly, the male foal is called a colt.
A pony IS NOT a young horse, a young horse is called a yearling: these are the 5 yearlings on the ranch:
I have referred to them as ponies… but technically they are not really ponies. A “Pony” is a smaller horse and it can be any age. Lady and Mr. T are ponies, they are both over 20 years old! They are POA’s Ponies of the Americas.
Anyhow… the ranch has a special barn that they use for the pregnant mares and Johnny puts them there when they get close.
Last night Johnny put a horse in that barn her name is Memory.
Dave and I have gone and checked on her late last night and every hour until we go to bed and so far nothing yet. Last night we checked on her after 11:00 p.m., but nothing! Little did we know, across from Cedar Loft… DC was doing her thing! 
She doesn’t look anywhere as ready as Memory Looks, but Looks can be quite deceiving at times! This morning as soon as we heard the news, Dave Shadow, Shiner and I headed over to take our first peak. This was the first foal I have ever seen that was less than 12 hours old. I think the youngest I ever saw before this was about 6 months old.
I was SHOCKED! I don’t know what I expected, but seeing it standing, walking around and looking like a horse was not on my list of first thoughts! LOL
He is so cute! I can’t quit smiling every time I look at the pictures! DC’s maternal instincts were awesome to watch. Precious,
the other pregnant mare that shared the pen with DC is the dominant one. In the past DC always backed off whenever Precious came near her, Precious would bully her if I tried to pet her our give her carrots or any attention what so ever. Anyhow, I was pleasantly surprised to see how DC reacted when Precious got near her colt, DC held her ground and kept herself between them most of the time.
Once Precious got right next to the colt and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but it didn’t last long and DC charged right between them and sent Precious packing!
I will post a photo album with a lot more photos at the bottom of this post.
When I got done taking it all in and getting some photos, I went to find out from Johnny what they do next. Dave and I heard the coyotes this morning and they were REALLY close, so I wanted to make sure he knew they were back on the property and to find out if they separate Precious from the occasion.
So later in the day, I got to help Johnny move the horses around. I guess even though DC was done giving birth, she still goes in the maternity barn! LOL (for lack of better ideas on what to call it)!
He also didn’t want to leave Precious alone for two reasons; one she would be anxious away from DC AND her time is also near so it made most sense to move them all at the same time.
I wasn’t sure how they would move the colt, but it was much simpler than I thought!
Johnny said the colt would follow the mare so he walked the mare out, I had Precious and the golf cart and the two dogs!
I asked if I should put Shadow in the RV while we did this, because I assumed he would bark and upset the horses, but Johnny thought they would all be fine, so off we went!
so far so good… 
the colt is backing off just a little 
he needed a little encouragement, but not too much… and we were off again! 
Shadow and Shiner were very well behaved! Shadow would actually guide the colt back to the mare if she got behind or wondered off to the side a little bit. I was so proud of him! 
I couldn’t have done anything if Shadow would have gotten out of line because I was holding onto the lead for Precious while driving the golf cart and taking pictures all at the same time! (Proof that women can multi task)! LOL
It is truly a miracle when you think about the whole birthing process of these beautiful creatures; how they do it all by themselves! I feel totally blessed to have witnessed the first day of the colts life and to watch how the mare just adapts to the role of being the caretaker and protector! Just think, she didn’t even get to read Dr. Spock’s book on babies! LOL
What a beautiful day!
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Adventures of Shadow the RVing Dog.