N00b w/prego rescue mini

[Eagle]

I am not a fan of the picking up theory, I worked in a yard where the did the whole "bonding" thing and to be quite honest I just found it unnatural and upsetting to the animals. I prefer to leave the babies to their muums and just let them grow up thinking humans are quiet friendly animals that supply food and scratches. I have never had any trouble later training my foals. The key with horses is routine and repetition. Once they know your daily habits they settle into them quite easily.

With the nee foals I just sit quietly and wait for them to come to me, if they run away it isn't a problem cos they will soon come back. I like to make my foals come to me cos they feel ok about it and not beacuse they have to.

They are just babies and any bad behaviour ( biting, rearing etc) is just them learning to play. Once they are about 3 months old then you can start to teach them right from wrong with body language. For example if I am sitting down and a foal bites or gets too fresh I will stand up tall and push them away with my body (not my hands) and I wait for them to back up. But we will get to this in a few months

In the meantime just let her be a baby and enjoy her.

 

[Vansplic]

Mom paws at the ground when our little filly acts up and I have discovered if I paw lightly on the ground with my non scritching hand it works wonderfully as it is the same language mom is using. I have only had to do it twice when she got a little too into the nibbles but it has worked wonderfully. I just have to remember to paw lightly as she is very sensitive to how hard/loud the pawing is.

 

[Vansplic]

Oh, forgot... SO excited! momma is teaching lil miss to potty in the corner... house breaking should be a breeze! (I hope to have her trained to go to schools and nursing homes).

 

[Vansplic]

Ready for more cute????

Hey mom! I can push this around like you push me!!!



Spunkers!







No... I am not a proud grandma... never!

She is stealing nibbles (or, after pouncing mom, causing mom to leap from her food... mouthfuls) of moms dinner. It is a mare and foal mash. is that OK (Other than ticking off mom)?

 

Yes, it is perfectly normal for baby to want to see what mom is doing. I've even had babies picking up the alfalfa cube scraps and mouth them. No teeth yet, but so cute!!!

You are doing just fine, and I'm not a fan of picking up babies unless you have to move them out of harms way. Babies are inquisitive and they will come to you as long as you don't become a threat -- so please keep on doing what you are doing!! You will be very pleased with the outcome!

She's such a beauty!!!

 

[countrymini]

Little spunky thing

 

[AnnaC]

Oh thank you for the pictures - she really is a gorgeous little girl!

Yes you are doing everything correctly. Babies should always be allowed to approach YOU not the other way round (unless for medical reasons) so you are doing perfectly.

I also have to say how wonderful it is to see Momma and baby in such a lovely big space - lots of room for baby antics if the weather is not suitable for outside time. Brilliant!!

 

[Vansplic]

Thank you all for the encouragement. Usually by the time an animal gets to me they are a rescue and have already seen hard times. I want this little filly to know the best I can possibly offer and the kind side of humanity. I am watching mom very carefully for tips on how to train her once she is weened.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

SO I am a little late to the party but first of all congrats on your pretty baby! And second I am soooo happy to hear you found Charm and gave her a loving home! I owned her a few years back and was kind of sad when I heard that her new owners had sold her. I had traded her for one of my stallions since I was wanting a driving horse and the other lady was wanting another nice broodmare. Sad to find out that she ended up in a bad situation but super grateful that you found her! Its great seeing pictures of her!

 

[Vansplic]

WOW Really?!?!?! It is such a small world!!!! That is SO exciting! Believe me she is WELL loved now! OK, just went back through all the emails I sent out when I got her... you were the only previous owner to respond to me! I guess it is easy to tell which breeders care about their mares! She is a lovely little mare and I am just thrilled with her!. I hope to show her now that she is being retired from being a brood mare. She gets warm tea when it is cold, massages, aroma therapy... spoiled rotten! Most days I think she thinks I am a little nutty but she seems very happy here. I had no intentions of getting into minis when I got her (hated them!) but... she got my attention and I went out to the farm she was at. There were several other mares there that were in more desperate need but they seemed to be more resigned to being there. Charm wanted OUT! She had seen better times and wanted them back. She had a spark none of the other horses there had... so we loaded her up! When she first arrived she ate every bit of hay she was given and never wanted to come in off the nice green grasses. Now little miss will spend hours picking just the best bits of hay out of each flake! My Quarter Pony eats off the hay Charm refuses! Oh, and Ms. Charm brings her grain pan to the stall door when it is time for grain (usually in a throwing manner but I prefer to think of it as her fetching it for me). IMO she is a great little mare with a lot of potential left in her!

 

[Eagle]

You are going to have your hands full with this liitle live wire

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I second what Anna said about your set up. She is a very lucky girl to have such a 5 star stall.

 

[Maple Hollow Farm]

Makes me so happy to hear that she is so spoiled! Nothing better than a spoiled mini! She definitely looks great now, very healthy and happy, and def. has a spunky baby!

 

[Gone_Riding]

I LOVE the size of that stall! Looks like the baby does too!

 

[Vansplic]

This barn was originally a top Arabian breeding stable (years ago) and that is the original foaling stall for the Arabians so she has plenty of room! We have two stalls at the other end of the barn that we are currently using for ponies but that I think were weanling stalls. But since she has been here the smallest stall Charm has had was a 10x12 one of the nice things running my own place.

Sorry this round of pics is so dark. It is raining and muddy here so I let them out for a bit to play in the arena. I only had the on board flash and it just wasn't enough to reach all the way out to them. I think Charm was wanting some Momma time as she was just running that baby! Seems to have worked too baby came right in and went to sleep!

Also... Momma got her halter half way off while they were playing. She was only that way as long as it took to catch her but I couldn't resist pics along the way.

I am thinking baby might be a heck of a lot of fun in hunter in hand! I know momma seemed to like it until her belly got too big!

We also had a local auntie here to visit today which was wonderful!!!! Charm was able to pick up on her gentle nature and my trust in her and had no problems at all with the auntie handling Charm or baby! So the baby got lots more socialization

The foal is so free and curious that I am trying to introduce her to new things fairly often. She got to play with a mini jolly ball today and the mounting block as well as meet a new friend. She snorted at the barn cat and scared the daylights out of him being the big bad bully foal that she is!

Someone had asked for video which I got some today (Not sure how good it is) but it doesn't seem to want to upload.

Do I need to put it on youtube and attach a link or something? I am SO not good at that sort of thing!

 

[Eagle]

great pics

yes upload the video to youtube

 

[countrymini]

Oh my goodness, I just WANT her lol

 

I am so happy that this little one is such a fiesty little girl! I love the busy foals that want to know and do everything!

She's so pretty!! And so is momma!

 

[Vansplic]

Thank you! Somehow I think shipping to Australia might be a bit much Hayley

I also have a sneaky suspicion that this little tyke is not going anywhere! The video quality is awful, I took it hand held with my camera while moving around the arena. Lil one has LOTS of spunk and I love it! And yes, Diane she is very curious and into everything! I put the mounting block in her stall and she was walking up the steps in no time! then wasn't sure how to get her little self down. reverse doesn't quite work right yet. I was very happy to discover today that while momma is her first choice for safety she will gladly run to me when unsure of something too. I did pick her up briefly today (to help her off the stairs) she was not thrilled by it but came bounding right back to me (and the stairs) as soon as she touched ground. I think I may have created a monster too... I have been bringing something new out for her to explore for each of our play sessions... now she looks for the "new toy" each time I go out! WOW... was any of that coherent????

OK... video link...

 

[Vansplic]

Temperatures have dropped here tonight and lil miss is too active to keep her blankie on. I have put a heat lamp in there but it doesn't seem to be putting out that much heat. I also put a heated dog bed in there (hard plastic with metal encased cord) and some extra grass hay all fluffed up. Will that work? She was sleeping when I went out and it looked like she was shivering. I would bring her in bed with me and my electric blankie tonight but I think mom would object

 

Do some deep bedding and bank up the sides to keep drafts out, and check on her during the night to be sure she's not shivering. We don't want her to catch cold!

She just sounds so much fun!!!