Magic Marker 2017

[paintponylvr]

O, no. Such a pretty filly and such a loss! I'm sorry.

Glad that Feather doesn't seem to be upset by her loss.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Feather was full of energy.After staying in the barn for 24 hours due to excessive rain (she was shivering bad). She was running around bucking and kicking.

On another note, after the tragic loss of a mare and two foals Rain delivered a healthy silver dapple filly. It was a text book delivery. She is very leggy.

Have wet pictures and will get more was she is dry and can get outside. Casey looks to go in the next few days.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

We have another baby. Kacey (buckskin) is not comfortable with being handled so have limited our handling to keep her less stressed.

She was pasture bred so also was not sure of her due range.

Went out this am to check on Rains baby and Kacey had a very leggy foal standing at her side. Buckskin with two hind white socks and some white in the tail. Sire was a bay pinto turned grey. Do not know sex yet because Kacey is very protective. Swinging butt towards you and slinging head toward you with ears layed back. Once I have help will check.

If a filly and does not grey may retain.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

It's a filly!

We have two more mares to go.

Blondie is bred to same stallion as buckskin so dont know when she is due. She has a start to a bag. Princess is 305 days and starting to bag up.

 

[paintponylvr]

wow - been busy at your farm! The two fillies are lovely! Can't wait to see more pics. Hope that the little buckskin mare eventually learns that you are OK, but I have two that are like that, so totally understand.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

We were able to get a halter on the buckskin and handle the baby.

Mare will be going to AZ when baby is weaned in trade for a APHA HZ tobiano mare.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Congratulations on the arrival of two more foals , you must be looking forward to some sleep

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Sorry for no update.

We have had a lot of rain, no flooding where we live. Several towns close to us have been severely flooded and a lot of damage to businesses and homes.

We just had a lot of mud. Finally drying out.

Our two newest babies are getting big and adventurous. The buckskin filly is the bravest. She races all over the place and keeps her mom on her hooves. Kacey (dam) has settled down and lets me come in her stall to get her. She may never be easy to catch but she is smart and kbows the routine.

She also will be staying. The trade with a friend in AZ fell through. So with more time, she will get better.

The buckskin fillies barn name is Mocha and the silver dapple fillies barn name is Silver. Still working on registered names.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Heres pictures of Mocha and Silver.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

We still have two mares to go.

Princess is 323 days and progressing nicely. She still is very wide but she is about fully bagged up. She has increased bag size a lot in 24 hours. Feel she should foal within 2 weeks.

Blondie (palomino) is dragging along. She was pastured with the same stallion as the buckskin, Kacey. Unsure of her due date. Was told by previous owner she can surprise you. They said last year she didnt look pregnant and they came out to a healthy foal. She still is very wide and little bag production.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

We have another filly!

Princess (335 days) delivered a tiny refined filly without assistance. Had a feeling she was close but we have had two nights of several storms so she waited for the calm afterward.

Decided to check on her and found foal up. Mare had already passed placenta.

We put fresh straw in another stall and moved the two over. The lighting in barn quit working a few weeks ago and have not got it fixed so didnt want to try to clean the stall she was in. Was pretty wet and tonight is to be a little chilly.

Filly has a dishy head. We think she is either black or smoky black. Looked like one eye was blue (like a double dilute or splash) but both dam and sire have splash. Sire is buckskin and Princess is sorrel.

Will get pictures tomorrow when we turn them out into the yard.

Last mare is Blondie and she doesnt look like she has progressed any. I have seen movement so know she is pregnant. She ran with the stallion through July, so still have more time.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Was supposed to say both sire and dam do not have splash.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Okay here is pictures of our new filly. Think she is black or smoky black. One think that has us confused is her crystal blue eyes. Dam is sorrel with a star and snip. Sire is a buckskin with no white. Neither have blue eyes.

 

[Debby - LB]

Congratulations on such a beautiful filly! Is that pink skin around her eyes? Are her eyes the crystal blue that stays blue? I've not had a black or smokey black foal that looked this color so it's very interesting. I look forward to seeing more as she matures.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Some other people think she may be silver black or possible silver smoky black.

Her eyes are crystal blue. Looked foal color images up and one site said smokey black foals could be born with blue or blue green eyes. They showed a picture and her eyes look like the image. She's definitly not the same color as Rains foal, who is most likely silver dapple.

 

[paintponylvr]

Silver blacks can be born with blue eyes - unfortunately none of ours show well close up. But they all darkened up by the time the foal was a couple of months old. I don't think I've had one born with quite that crystal/light of a blue, though.

She "looks" silver black to me in these pics, will be interesting to follow her as she matures. Since silver only shows on black - a chestnut/sorrel, palomino, cremello can carry it and it wouldn't be known until a foal has it on a black based coat.

She's really cute!! and look at that wonderful GREEN GRASS!!! I'm so jealous.

These are all the same filly - she actually went thru more color changes than this.

about 2 hours after birth - a known silver black filly



maybe 2 hours after that?



24 hours old -



A month old -



Shed out, already sun bleached, 2 yr old -



Last month -



Maybe instead, I should have attached new born pics of different silver black foals... hmmm...

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

And thats just the yard.

You would be even more jealous if you saw the pasture.

We will have to get pictures of this filly and the other filly born three weeks ago together. We felt the other filly was a silver dapple. Her dam is black and sire is silver smoky black, HZ silver. She is so much lighter than this filly. The older filly is more cream colored and this one is dark.

 

[paintponylvr]

Just like other colors, silvers can be born different "shades"... I think it makes a difference, too, if they are homozygous or heterozygous black &/or silver. I don't have foal pics of our two homozygous silver mares - but they have been lighter here in NC then any of the single silver gene ponies and many people think they are palominos, not silvers (those "ugly tan things" I have in my pastures, LOL). I DO have one filly I REALLY think is homozygous silver - she looks "gold". I thought I'd had her dam tested for cream, but when I checked paperwork, I hadn't (papers - sire and dam - shouldn't be carrying cream, but I wonder?). I have not had the young mare tested yet - debating doing that this year.

They mature different shades and bleach out in the sun different as well. I have 'proof' - LOLOLOL.

Some of ours have been color tested, some haven't. I can post a few pics, if you don't mind. Otherwise... ? Even sunlight/angles make a difference in colors. I REALLY noticed that when I was looking thru the pics of the filly I posted above.

This is Cupid as a foal - 2010 - EE, aa, Zn, TT, no cream. 24 hours old



Full sister Wyndy 2011 - EE, aa, Zz, Tt. No cream. Sorry, don't have a better close up shot. About 8 hours old.



Full brother Rio - 2013 - EE, aa, Z?, T?. No cream. Not color tested. About 2 hours old in pic



**************

Flashi - foaled 2011. Tested - EE, aa, Zz, Tt. Not tested for cream. About 8 hours old.



Full sister - Shamrock - foaled 2012. Not tested - EE, aa, Z?, T?. Should not have cream, but dam not tested for that... a few hours old?



Full sister - Bunny - Foaled 2013. Not tested - EE, aa, Z?, T?. Should not have cream, but dam not tested for that... mintutes after birth & then

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Yeah we are on a wait and see with both fillies.

They are younger than we like to clip and our weather has been crazy here.

Rains filly, who was born April 28, is starting to shed around her eyes and nose. The color around her muzzle is starting to look like her sire. He is silver smoky black. He has not been tested but pretty sure he is HZ silver. All his foals have had silver. Two silver buckskins, two silver bays, and two (possible three) silver blacks.

We are pretty sure dam has red factor, even though she is black. Produced a sorrel (very red) pinto filly by a dunskin pinto stallion two years ago.

We have given the new filly the barn name Spider. She is very leggy and it has taken longer for her to unfold.

We are just glad she is healthy and a filly.

My business partner really wants a silver dapple (the ones that look like a dapple grey) so hoping one of the fillies sheds out like that.

Still waiting on one last mare. She is a palomino bred to a bay pinto that turned grey. The buckskin mare (bred to the same stallion) had a buckskin filly that is minimal pinto. She is shedding and see no grey. I say minimal pinto because she has two hind socks and the white in her tail actually starts on her butt. Quarter size but its there.

 

[paintponylvr]

I have some silver blacks that dapple and some that don't and others that only dapple for part of the year. That's been so unpredictable. The dam of the bottom 3 fillies only did the dappling with "stars" the one year - that I'm aware of. And that was only noticeable when she was partially clipped (a trace clip while working as both a riding lesson pony and learning to drive single/pair). Yet, she's had dapples since - just not the same. Sometimes her winter coat is dappled and others her summer coat is. Weird.

I have several other mares that are heterozygous black silvers. Some are darker than the homozygous blacks. The dam of the first foal I posted pics of (post # 76) is homozygous silver but she is heterozygous black (can produce chestnut with another heterozygous black or a chestnut). She is one of the ones that looks gold - during part of the summer/fall/winter. This is probably the darkest she will be this year (unless I start keeping her stalled), since she has shed. The 2nd pic is of her in winter coat.



Probably the best way to see pics of the various silvers we currently own is to go to our website. Each pony's picture album is featured at the middle of their page.

Currently own 5 Sr mares that are silver black. Bell - tested single black & double silver. GG, daughter of Bell by chestnut stallion - tested single black & silver (produced red tobi filly by single blk, double bay, double tobi stallion in 2016. Koalah - tested double black, single silver. KoKo - tested single black, single silver (produced blk tobi colt by single blk, double tobi stallion 2016). Stuffy - tested double black, single silver. Flower - untested silver bay 1/2 shetland. Taff - untested silver buckskin - produced a silver bay colt this year by a single black, single bay, double tobiano. SR Mares

Currently own 5 Jr Mares that are silver black. Ami is tested heterozygous black, heterozygous silver. She has no other relatives in our herd and has never been bred. Bunny (looks gold) is not tested - but will be homozygous black and believer her to be homozygous silver. Classy is not tested - could be single or double black & silver. Her 1/2 sister is GG (above, out of same dam - Bell). Flashi is tested homozygous black, single silver (and when she was being shown/kept in barn, she was almost black in color, when body clipped she is a metallic blue/gray shade). Shamrock - not tested - but is homozygous for black based on sire and dam color testing. Classy, Flashi & Shamrock are full sisters. JR Mares

Have 3 geldings. Full brothers Cupid - tested double black, single silver, double tobi & Rio, not tested - will be double black, out of Stuffy. Dandy is a silver bay - not tested but both parents are. He gets his single silver gene from his sire and single bay gene from his dam - don't know if single or double black. Is double tobi based on parents' tests. Geldings

Not sure exactly how the silver gene will carry forward in future breeding. Most of the silvers, sired by the same stallion, have now shown up to have different levels of sticky stifles. The 3 worst (2 - 1/2 Shetland siblings; 1 mare - sibling to the 2 geldings) and the stallion were euthanized in 2014. Working with vets now to decide if any others will be euthanized and which of the two stifle surgeries may be required (or continuing to maintain on diet/exercise as currently doing) and at what cost(s) for the remaining mares/3 geldings.... Sticky stifle issue is why I had a promising colt (in so many other ways) gelded in 2012.

Along with a couple that have popped up with cryptorchid issues, this pretty effectively ends breeding for a while for us.

2014 thru now have been some interesting and rough learning curves! I will always wonder if the stallion that I couldn't afford for years then became available did so because someone knew that he was siring foals with stifle issues (that didn't show up until the foals were 2-3 yrs of age). Neither the stallion nor his offspring display(ed) conformation that shows a predisposition to locking stifles and the sire never locked up himself. Some of the "lockers" are out of the same dams, some are not. He sired a total of 11 foals for us - 8 of whom reside here with us for now. Foals by other stallions out of the mares have not displayed any locking stifles.

and just for fun - a pic of summer faded silver mares taken in 2015.