more baby pics

I just cant get enough of the foal...he is such a cutie!

Elvis, Stewie & Pate

Introducing Elvis. I would have posted his picture sooner, but the new baby took his spot.

Elvis is a young pygmy billy goat that was a kids pet, then got to be too much to handle. He loves attention and if he thinks he is being ignored will butt you. Hopefully this behavior will disappear once he's been nuetered. He is a cute little guy with a natural pompador.

A few posts ago I posted and wrote about a young rooster who was too weak to stand...well he's made full recovery and has been named Stewie. He's very friendly and just learned how to crow this weekend ( the first few attempts were hilarious!)

Thirdly, is Pate.....one of my Sebastopol geese. I willpost more pics of them shortly, sd they really are beautiful birds. I have a trio, Pate, Selma & Sebastian. They're laying eggs already, so hopefully we'll have goslings soon. I chose this closeup shot of her head, because it really shows how lovely she is with her orange and pink bill and bright blue eyes

New Baby

Some things are so cuuute they should be illegal. A foal is one of them. I had high hopes to witness the birth, I've yet to see one. But Chanel the mum was very sneaky about the whole affair.

When I checked on her at 5 am, she was relaxed and quiet. No pacing, dripping milk or sweating (signs that the birth is right around the corner) So I reset my alarm for 7:30 and went to bed.

BIG

MISTAKE

At 7:30 I ran downstairs and the view out my window showed two sets of legs in the pen....sigh.

But he's healthy and already playful, which is the important thing.

Some other resident equines

Sorry I've skipped a couple of days. One of my rescue mares is going to have a baby very soon, so I've been hovering over her (and pissing her off I'm sure...sneaky mares like to have babies in private)

However, while hovering I have taken some pics I'm proud of.

The pretty red mare is Stormy, my little quarterpony. Hiding in the trees is Bobbi Sox my APHA mare and last but not leats is Jazz the world's cutest shetland pony

workign with horses

We had a busy very weekend, two of my colts got gelded (the third needs to be halterbroke and then he's next). And the farrier was out and trimmed a bunch of hooves AND pitched in to help with the gelding. I'll leave the more graphic pics off this blog, but I find that procedures like these are a great educational opportunity.

I'll first clarify that I do not breed horses, so these colts were not produced by me. Conman, the bigger of the two was born last year to a mare that I rescued who I call Zariya. She is a gorgeous arab cross and the sire of Con is a complete unknown, which is just one of many reasons why he will never reproduce. As nice and handsome a boy as he is, there is simply no room in this world for a grade stallion, not with thousands of horses being slaughtered every year. The other colt is little Moose, an ASPCA seizure who I picked up at an auction. Nieither of his parents are known.

Both boys will be much happier without having hormones dictate their behavior and they will both be easier to place in good homes as geldings too.

The old grey girl that the farrier is working on in the last shot is Little Sister an RCMP/LIS seizure that I have been trying to rehab over the winter. She's a sweet old gal, completely blind and feisty as hell. We're trying to find her a companion right now to act as her guide.

Sunset

In this shot, I caught my OTTB Brigadier hanging over the fence begging for cookies as the sun was setting. The light gave his dark bay coat a beautiful orange-y glow that really shows off the arch in his neck.

Rosa Lea

Rosa Lea is a 23 yr old Throughbred mare I took in last fall. She's extremly shy but we're working on that. I'm a sucker for the dark bays... Rosa Lea has never been broke and unless you can lure her into a small pen with some grain, you are never going to catch her!

Needless to say she is quite challenging to work with. She came to me with two other senior mares when their owner's family had to part with them due to the ill health of their father and the subsequent sale of their farm.

This little guy is a bantam mille-fleur cochin cross rooster. I bought him at the livestock and exotic fowl auction this past weekend. When I got him home I discovered he couldn't stand up. He seems bright-eyed and otherwise healthy...although he is very thin. So I decided not to put him in the henhouse with the rest of the flock and give him a couple of days to get strong. Two days later he is standing occasionaly. So I am hoping that he was just weak and the stress of the sale in addition to being stuck in a cardboard box with no bedding was the cause. His little legs could grip the slick cardboard, so he got stuck in a funny sitting position and his legs stuck like that...at least that's the theory.

"Stewie" is quite friendly. I can pick him up and carry him around. The dogs are very excited about having a chicken in the house. The cats are rather blase about the whole thing when I'm around..... I'm sure they are just waiting for thier chance though, so he and his box are locked up in the bathroom at night and while I'm at work.

I was going to try and rehome him, as I really just wanted the hens he was boxed with. I already have one too many roosters. "Duke" is my bantam Ameraucana and "Big Red" the full size Ameraucana. They don't get along. It's Duke's fault really. He's half the size of Red and won't accept it...he starts fights and won't back down. (reminds me of Lola)

Howver after spending a few days fussing over him, I've really grown fond of Stewie. And he is a nice size...just about as big as a pigeon. I wonder how many "house roosters" are out there?

Movement & Mud

Spring is here and everyone is in good spirits. Why is it the whitest horses enjoy playing in mud the most?

The local wildlife

Adding to the list of things I love about my little farm is all the wildlife I am seeing. So far the most exotic would be the bald eagle that was circling overhead yesterday (of course the day I don't have my camera handy!) But hopefully he or she will stay in the area and I can get some shots of him. However here is a small collection of the wild critters I have managed to take pictures of.

Quiet conversation

I caught my OTTB Brigadier and my OT STB Grover having a little horsey conversation the other day. Sharing breath, playful little nips.... people who don't think animals have feelings need to spend time watching them interract.

Clearly they were communicating.

Welcome

Thoroughly pleased with myself for purchasing a new camera ( The Canon Powershot S5IS) I have decided to start a blog to share some of my favorite shots. I am by no means a professional photographer, any signs of talent you will have to contribute to having a great camera!

I run a horse rescue and have just started a small farm 15 minutes north of Edmonton, Alberta Canada. So consider this a fair warning that the pictures will be mostly horse and animal shots.

Thanks for checking my stuff out.