Grants Pass Auction Minis - Katya - colt born June 22

[Evelynk2000]

Well, today Crystallos and I took turns sitting in the enclosure, paying the mama tax of alfalfa cube bits and talking quietly at her and Boy. She backed off her protection a bit and he walked right over and let me rub his neck and forehead. I think I've died and gone to horsey heaven!!!

My sister has come up with The Nicholas Terwilliger (TNT) or Nicholas of Terwilliger (Nico). I suggested Nicholas because Katyanna is somewhat Russian, and Nicholas was a czar. Terwilliger is a very Oregon name.

Can't wait for Thursday! Sunshine! We can clean up the poop outside and babyproof the fence between the minis and the bigs. And take off the blankets!!! Pictures.

Oh, and for the record, all systems are go, he's peeing and pooping quite nicely (did I just say that???), and he's snacking on Katya's poop.

 

[Evelynk2000]

And for the more visually oriented:

Big boy food!

Oh! That's interesting!

Aren't I pretty???

Well, I suppose so. Can you scratch my neck?

I can't wait for Thursday! I want to see how much he's grown. Hard to tell with the blankets on.

 

[chandab]

Man he's cute, and such a pretty head.

 

[AnnaC]

Oh he's just gorgeous!! Well done Katya!

 

He is just gorgeous!!! And I'm so happy you are enjoying him so much! Keep those wonderful pictures coming!!

 

[blazingstarranch]

Wow, he is gorgeous! I love his head and those big dark eyes!

 

[LittleRibbie]

boy hes a handsome devil...I love the Maybelline out line of his ear!!

 

[Crystallos]

He's getting so much friendlier now that he's older. Only now wants to put everything in his mouth like a typical baby. It's not a huge problem yet as he has no teeth, but we want to avoid mouthiness. Any suggestions to prevent him from biting without affecting his friendly overtures?

 

[Evelynk2000]

Thanks, so much, all of you! We think he's amazing, of course!

Cat (niece) and her mom (my sister) and I have been out each morning to babyproof the enclosure, which, of course, entails splicing multiple lengths of fencing. In Oregon, we are experiencing 90-100 degree weather, which means humidity from the rains last week. We gather at 7:30 am or so to sit and knit fencing together.It's a slow process, because we're overlapping and doing the best we can, since we have an escape artist (Bridie) and a new colt (Nicky). We should be done tomorrow morning (we hope!!!!) and baby and mama can run to their heart's content.

In the meantime, I'm unable to attach the dear photo of Nicky snoozing off a full stomach. I tried a couple of times, and it wouldn't work. Who knows????

Katya is really good with him. She has that "what else is new?" attitude with him, and allows him leeway to explore and connect (especially after we pay the mama tax of goodies to eat). He spends a lot of time mimicking her: eating out of her feed bowl (gumming), drinking out of the bucket (splashing), approaching intruders (wary). . .

 

[atotton]

Love the blankie photos.

 

She sounds like the PERFECT brood mare -- letting junior learn about his world! Can't wait for more pictures!!!!

 

[Evelynk2000]

This boy can sleep! I was standing right over him and he didn't bat an eye.

Today, we will finish baby-proofing the enclosure and the fun begins. Nicky needs to stretch those long legs, and Katya needs a chance to practice ignoring him, like a loving mother should.

 

Ahhhhhhh, just so handsome!

 

[Evelynk2000]

Today, we let the two of them out to explore their world, with the other two tied up near the haybags.



He ran alongside his mom, for the most part, and Katya was ecstatic to be out, let me tell you! She rolled (full all-the-way-over rolls) probably 20 times. He was fascinated by all this, since he's so young.



He was also fascinated by the balls I've brought in for Bridie, so I expect he'll have fun with those.

Katya was SO glad to be out: she ran and ran, with him by her side the whole time. A couple of times she bucked and kicked, so he tried that too. He spent most of his time near her, and she was never more that a foot away from him, but attending to her own needs. She's looking WONDERFUL, and I think she's enjoying having the use of her body again. She didn't mind us being in the paddock with her, for which I'm thankful.

After about half an hour, we opened the gate into their stall and Katya cruised right back in, with Nicky right on her heels.



Wiped him out!

See the line down his back? Is he going to stay dun?

How soon should we let the other maidens interact with them in the enclosure? She's not charging them any more, but I don't want them to inadvertently hurt Nicky with their curiosity, and I don't want to scare him or make Katya more protective than is called for.

 

[lexischase]

Oh my goodness! Big Congratulations!! What a cutie pie, love the photos!!!

 

[AnnaC]

Oh thanks for the pictures - he is just stunning and Katya looks great.

Putting other horses in with a mare and foal is really a bit 'trial and error' - there is not really a good or right time to do it. The best thing to do is to run them either side of a safe fence until they have carried out all the 'introductions' and are totally ignoring each other. Then try adding one at a time when all is quiet and settled. It may take a week, it may take longer, but you are right, small babies can get injured as everyone skirmishes around! I wouldn't attempt to add any horses to Katya's pasture anyway until she is completely over the 'possessive Momma' stage (approx two weeks) unless it was with other mares and foals, babies are very interested in 'strange/new' horses and want to go investigating, which can make Momma mare a bit angry and very defensive.

 

For duns the first thing everyone notices is the dorsal stripe.

The next thing to look for is the typical front leg "primitive" zebra striping/barring. Sometimes it's hard to see the leg barring. Mine always had it -- some darker than others -- and you would see it between the knee and where the leg attaches to the body. It can look like ladder rungs, or even blocky, zig-zagged finer stipes or even smudges/mottling appearing. Some may even having the barring on their back hocks.

Next the face mask. You might see a darker mask on his face -- upper and/or lower or both.

Next cobwebbing. This is a "mark" of little concentric circles that would be on the forehead area -- almost where a "star" would be.

Ear barring -- sometimes you will see on the outside of their ears a dark "bar" of color that makes it look like the ear has light buckskin, then a darker "bar" then the light buckskin again as it connects to the head.

They can have some pretty "eye makeup" too -- looks like they used eye-liner and/or eyebrow pencil around their eyes.

There are other traits, but these in any combination (and not all have to be present) would indicate he's a dun, and the stripe will stay!!

Remember, he's only a few days old, so some might develop while other characteristics may already be there!

Such a handsome boy!!

 

[LittleRibbie]

He is so handsome no matter what color...I love him just the way he is!!

 

[Evelynk2000]

I'm obviously prejudiced, but I think he's beautiful, adorable, wonderful . . .

So we have been letting them out in the mornings, since it's topping 90 degrees here lately:

As you can see, Katya is buffering him from EVERYTHING, but allowing him to explore his world. The bigs are fascinated, and Cat tells me that her mare (big one in the picture) gives him mama signals while he's running around. Too cute! Katya is still protective, buck/kicking at the fence between them

 

[Jade10]

Oh my he is just adorable, way too cute for his own good