10/30/07

New Colt!

Well, Carolyn has been waiting all spring (2005) ... and finally, on the 7th of July, Hannah decided she was tired of looking like a steamboat. The little fella was born during the wee hours of the morning ... when Carolyn got out to the barn, he was completely dry, and so was Hannah.

Of course, Carolyn rushed back to the house to call me, after she spent some time out there with the two. I came home and took these pictures. It was rather humorous as Carolyn was so anxious and so worried about his inability to find the nipples and nurse .... as you can see from the pictures, sometimes he was successful, and sometimes Carolyn milked Hannah and fed the little guy out of one of the grain bowls.

Two days later, he seems to be doing well, he tires easily but runs and bucks when he's up..

Of course, once Carolyn figures she's taught him to nurse properly, suddenly she notices one eye swollen shut, so now she changes from nursemaid to medical practitioner - but the little guy seems to like the attention. 

We could easily tell his sister had been handled from birth and she's as tame as a puppy and always wants to climb into my lap ... so Carolyn decided this little guy is going to be AT LEAST that tame. I'm not sure he really wants to spend time in her lap, but he has little choice - she's much bigger than he is. As soon as he's settled in her lap (or mine) he almost goes unconscious - he's that relaxed.

The next set of pictures show Hannah and the little guy on the front lawn. I thought it was about time to take some more pictures. Carolyn wanted to keep the little guy separate from the herd for awhile to protect him ... at least that was her excuse ... what she really wanted was to have him close to the house so she could enjoy his company all day. For the first several months he would ride from the barn on the golf cart - first in her lap, and then standing on the floor when he got to heavy for Carolyn's lap. You can see him on the cart in one of the pictures. He's certainly the calmest horse I've ever seen .. I guess all the human attention gets him used to the cuddling and petting.

Since we named his sister Spice-Girl, and call her Spicy, we decided to stay with the theme and call the little fella Cinnamon ... his color was pretty close, although he's looking more like his sister every day - colour-wise anyway. He's still much smaller after just about 18 months.  The latest two pictures - in the snow - show what he looks like on December 16th, 2005. He's a little fur ball, which is fortunate as it has been relatively cold for this time of the year. He still likes to be held and petted, and will still try and lie in our laps although he's much to large for that ... but apparently he remembers how comfortable that was ...

More pictures to come.