Bow's 2015 Foaling

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Some of your may remember Bow's foaling thread in 2011 when she foaled a palomino filly, Ale. I have since sold Ale and bought back our stallion, who i gelded a month later. In the month he was home, he did end up breeding Bow, who I willingly partnered him up with. It wasn't an ideal situation, however due to the circumstances I had, I took the chance.

Buddy was sold in April 2011 before Bow foaled and I bought him back July 20th, 2014. In the three year he had been gone, he hadn't seen another horse and he immediately became stressed when he saw another herd. I had the choice of putting him in with my geldings or Bow. He was very aggressive towards the geldings and to prevent injuries I decided to put him in with Bow, whom he immediately bred and instantly calmed down. I could have left him alone, which I did for about a week, but he was beginning to injure himself on the gates/fences attempting to get to the other horses. Bow and Buddy were pasture mates for years, from 2002-2011 and I knew that they would do just fine together, and they did.

In October I had all of my mares ultrasounded just in case (weirder things have happened, and not everybody is truthful) and only Bow was pregnant. She has been doing great and her foal is active.

She is due June 25th, 2015 and will be 300 days in foal tomorrow. I will admit that I know this mare like the back of my hand and don't think I'll need help predicting when she'll foal. Her PH strips have always been truthful. I will however share pictures of our expierence, and just so I can see the changes all in one place.

I am hoping for a very healthy colt, hopefully smokey black.

I will post pictures of Bow over the years, and of her foals, along with pictures of the sire.

 

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Bow over the years:

2006 with her first foal:

2011:

2012:

2013:

2014:

 

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Buddy, the now gelded sire:

 

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Their foals:

2006 filly:

2007 colt:

2009 colt:

 

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2010 colt:

 

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2011 filly:

 

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Alrighty time for pregnancy pictures of Bow.

November 2014- 3 months pregnant

March 2015- 7 months pregnant

April- 265 days

 

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April 28th, 283 days

 

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May 4th, 288 days

May 12th, 296

May 13th, 297 days

 

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Also note, farrier will be here on Monday for her hooves. We are in the long haul here guys. I'm pretty excited. It scares me that we're going to have another foal and it shouldn't. Since 2006, we've had 14 foals (15 including a stillborn) and its nothing new to me. I know how to foal a mare out. However, its been four years since we've had a newborn foal and it just sets me back a bit. It hit me the first time when we saw the fetus on the ultrasound, again when I felt the first kick, and then a couple weeks ago when her bag started to grow. It won't ACTUALLY hit me until she starts producing fluid/milk, which she hasn't yet.

I know Bow very, very well. I know when she develops, and how. I know that her bag will continue to grow until its too full until two weeks before where it will stay huge. Her milk will come in and will turn about 1.5-1 weeks before foaling, and her PH will drop around 16 hours before hand, and she's a late morning foaler. She has only foaled at night twice. Usually she foaled out in the open from 10am-1pm.

I also know that her stomach is A LOT smaller than normal, because of the fact that her pre-pubic tendons tightened up in the few years she hadn't foaled, which is evident from comparing her 2011 & 2014 pictures.

 

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Here's a quick collage of her bag so far:

 

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I wanted to add what my plans are for the foal.

I really don't have any. This was an 100% planned pregnancy. I am however not yet interested in doing much with the foal and I am going to let it sit for a couple years. I am a pre-nursing student and I work 30 hours a week, so I don't have as much time as I would like to show/train at the moment, so this foal is going to be a pasture puff baby and its going to get the growth and socialization it needs from it herd and pasture play. I doubt I will show it this summer, as the last show is in September and college classes start up the month before. If it is shown, it will be as a yearling/two year old.

Of course, it will get the ground work it needs, bathing, clipping, leading, tying, loading, etc. Hopefully once I'm done with classes or they slow down, I will have the time to break it to drive as a 3-4 year old, in 2018/2019. By then I will be done with graduate school with my BSN.

If it is a colt, it will be gelded around weaning time, I'm hoping to geld in October. If its a filly, I'll probably cry myself to sleep, as I don't like mares.

I do have names picked out. Atticus for a colt, and Alexa for a filly. As a literary fan, I chose Atticus because he's my favorite character from my all time favorite book. Alexa, is the name of Billy Joel's daughter and the namesake for his song, "Downeaster Alexa". I really don't "do" horsey names. I like "human" names, as these guy are my "kids".

So. Let's hope for a beautifully, handsome, smokey black COLT.

 

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We'll be watching anxiously with you, and we'll pray for another colt for you!! The pictures are fabulous, and it's so nice to have a FULL record in one place, for everyone!!

Thanks. I'm beyond excited. Once her PH drops I'll start sticking close to home, since I leave town on the weekends to see my non-horsey boyfriend.

Funnily enough, the non-horsey boyfriend has gotten to the point where he knows most of their names and keeps asking me when she'll have her "Colt". His towny parents ask me every weekend as well and are shocked she's still pregnant. I've had to explain to them that if she goes this early then we'll have a premature foal.

 

[lkblazin]

Lol I love the reaction on peoples face when they find out how long minis are pregnants for =-O :-! :-* :-\

 

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Lol I love the reaction on peoples face when they find out how long minis are pregnants for =-O :-! :-* :-\

And its always the women that are the most shocked, when they learn that mares go two months longer than humans lol

 

[lkblazin]

Lol exactly!!

 

[AnnaC]

Great to see you again and to catch up with Bow and all her children - she's looking great by the way! Excited for you and hoping that you get the colt you are longing for. Keep us posted with Bow's progress please.

 

[paintponylvr]

She looks awesome and I will keep a colt in my thoughts for you and Bow!!

 

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I will keep updated. Today is 300 days, I'll get pictures of her on Monday though since I'm out of town.

I also started clearing out a stall for her to use, since we use our stalls to store hay. I also need to buy some feed, if I can find what I want, I was thinking either ADM Grostrong or Senior, since I have her with two other mares as well.

If we do have a filly, it won't be the end of the world. I do think we'll have a colt though. Buddy's sperm usually went in spurts. He threw fillies before we owned him, then his second foal with us was a colt. Then we had colts consecutively from 2006-2010 and we have three fillies in 2010/2011.

I'm praying that his filly streak is over and we are back to colts. I know its all highly coincidental of course. Lol. Its just that, if its a filly I'm more apt to sell her. I would rather have a mellow gelding than a hormonal filly

 

[paintponylvr]

I'll pray for your filly streak to be over.

Just a thought - maybe I should post it on it's own thread. Was this mare bred in the morning or in the afternoon/eve? It's probably another wives' tale, but I found that most of our mares, when bred in the morning, had fillies. When bred in the afternoon, they had colts. It wasn't foolproof by any means, but more times than not, it worked.