Let the foal watch begin....

Well, where to begin…. Hmmm. Ok, let’s start with Forba after like forever… she never took. We cover her like 5 times if I remember correctly and she just wouldn’t take. I have no idea why and we were going to play with her a bit and bring her to a reproduction barn but funds rn tight and time was limited. I had to pass on it so no foal for Forbs and Wynter which sucks!

That brings us back to Marz and Mc who are very pregnant. At least I know Mc is she is blipped out like a balloon. Not sure if I told everyone but Mc was leased out for a few months and they returned her around mid Sept saying she was too lazy. *coughs to fat* They dropped her off at the farm and I see her she was close to being obese!! It was a bit scary how fat she was she was as fat as she was when I first got her. I have never had her that fat ever. So she was quickly put on two flakes and grain and she eventually leveled out although she is still on the fat side right now. Her neck is really crusty and it bothers me. Here is a pic of Mc when she arrived on the farm…. It was ooohh so very bad.



Marz on the other hand is relatively small. In Nov I pulled her blanket off and gave her a good look… she only looked like she had a grass belly. It made me want to scramble and call the vet. After the initial panic was over (I tend to go into panic mode when it comes to Marz) I did a bit of research and some mares just carry that way. Some don’t blimp out till a few weeks before foaling. Knowing that made me feel a bit more at ease with how small she looked.

Then the beginning of Dec I checked mares and both of their boobies are changing. Their starting to bag up ever so slightly. Marquisse hates it ohh man she hates being called Momma and she hate that you can tell she is prego now. I mean HATES it! It’s actually funny to see how pissed off she is when you mention it to her.

So with the mares getting closer I asked my dad to pull walls down in the small barn. Liz and I spent two days cleaning the small barn out and dad came and pulled both walls and helped move hay feeders and water bucket brackets along with the addition of 4 heat lamps 2 for each foaling stall. I’m getting so excited for foals!!! After the barn was cleaned and everything was moved we split all the hay, pellets and grain in half and put half of it all in the now dubbed mare barn. Both stallion’s will stay in the big and good ole Chance gets Marz old foaling stall in the big barn so he is a happy camper. Both stallions have 12X24 stalls.

Mc is in the first foaling stall on the right with Marz in the far right one. Toccata is in the stall and run across from Marz and Forba is across from Mc. I find the last part funny because Mc and Forba don’t really like each other much at all.
With them in there barn now I’m trying like mad to get cameras set up so I can watch them. I will be getting Wifi for Gmas house and the barn as soon as the holidays are over that way I can live stream the videos here. YAY. I will also start sleeping in the small barn in the next few weeks…. Fun stuff.

I continue to check each mare each day and even if it’s not 2011 yet I can’t help but surveillance the stall floor each time I look in just in case. Remind me to start taking photos.

Let the foal watch begin….

Marz & Mc first Foal Check

Well, I have been uber busy thus the reason I have not been blogging. I just started an 18 credit quarter at the college and well I have no time for myself any longer. I have to schedule my vet appointments around my school.

I was picking Toccatas stall when Jerry pulled up and I hurried and parked it outside. Jerry set up his station by Mcs room and I pulled her blanket and haltered her. The anticipation is killer! I swear to god! As he was palpating her I was freaking out internally. My brain was panicking what if I did something wrong. I’m the one who pushed the plunge! I know totally unpractical but still it was running no screaming threw my brain as he checked her. Ohh and Jerry is the worst vet ever!!! (Please tell me you can hear my sarcasm, he is a great vet) He was so totally quiet and then he made a tsk sounds and shook his head no. Still looking at his screen he said “Well, you owe me one Happy Dance.”

I light up so fast. “Really?” I exclaimed and nearly jumped with joy. I was so relieved! I had to pat Mc and tell her she was a good girl. She just looked at me like ahh can we be done. I went over to the screen and asked Jerry what was on it. At first I though a white spot in the black meant foal not white no foal and there was no white in the black. He told me that the black was the foal if she had no foal there would be no black. Ahh I was so relieved.

Now my nerves sky rocketed. Next was Marz. Great I thought, since Mc took that MUST mean Marz didn’t. It was just my luck my odds. I was almost banking on rebreeding her except I didn’t have that much saved. I put Mc in the cross ties and got Marz out.

Jerry did the same thing with Marz although he grew it out standing there quietly for a long time and then saying, “You own me two happy dances” I do not freak out, its not in me to screama nd jump up and down and lets all be thankful for that as I have horses. I think the last time I was that excited was when I was told we were buying Marquisse. Not a second after he told he I took a step forward leaning on Marz to see over her to the screen all the while I asked him if he was serious. He is after all big on joking. As I looked at the screen he said yes he was serious. Sure enough there it was just like Mc a black bubble.

MARQUISSE IS PREGNANT! OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Man it’s like I’m the one pregnant. I am so frickin excited!!! I could not believe it for the longest time. I had this glow about me, I also had a perma grin! He left and I had to go post it on face book and tell the rest of the family. Both of my AI mares took in one breeding!

Jerry and I sat and talked about everything, like how he does his breedign checks and what the breeders may want ect. He told me from his medial stand point both are presumed in foal but at 45 when there is a heart beat they are considered to be in foal. He then look at me and said “but there pregnant” ha ha. We also talked about the fact that I would love to get the ulta sound photos printed out, thus I can put them here. I also asked if he could get the dates on Mc’s last foal so that I can guess on when she may have this one.

This also changes our due date line of foaling. First Mc then Marz then Forba. I think I can live with that much better than I could with Marz last. Now watch her hold the foal an extra month ha ha ha.

Jerry came out on Monday the 5th to check Forba. He was supposed to come out at 11 but since I was in class we had to play phone tag until between me Terry and Jerry decide that he would come out when I got home from school. As he check her he was quiet like always. He said “this one like Wynter to much” I rolled my eyes seriously! No foal. I have to breed her yet again. Well, Wynter is getting his practice in! So he said to tease her tomorrow and breed her Wednesday.

So I did, we bred Forba April 7th. I always post it here so that way I can check back when Jerry asked when I covered her. No breeding today but I will try tomorrow. He told me if she was till in on Monday he wanted to see her. He also said that she is allowed 3 cycles before we have to worry. If she does not take I will not be happy. I love Forba but she does nothing but have foals for us. We trail ride her here and there but she is far from a show horse. I hate to sound harsh but if she suddenly came up infertile I would have to sell her. Everyone on our farm has a purpose. I already have Arlo that does not contribute. Toccata I have yet to decide if I would like to breed but she gives lessons so she is doing her job. Forba is a hard thing to decide on. I love her dearly and she has taught me leaps and bounds but still, lets all hope she takes this go around.

Covered Forba

Like it says we covered Forba today will will skip tomorrow and then breed Saturday.

No foal for Forba

Frickin mare! Jeeze no foal! Grrr. With that vent I am glad it was her I’d rather have her not take than to have to re-breed the other two. So the luck of the Irish was not with us today. It may be because we didn’t do the chant! Ohhhhhh bad ju ju. Jerry was glad we checked her today as she is coming right back in. At first he said breed her today but then I suggested teasing her today and breeding tomorrow as I needed to clean Wynter. He said that that may work out better.

After we checked her we congregated by his truck using my calendar on my cell he looked over the other two mares preg check dates. Since we bred Mc on the 10 her 16 day check was on the 26 and we bred Marz on the 13 making her 16 day check on the 29th. This created a few problems mostly due to the weekend and shipping. We decided that it would be best to check them on Sunday the 28th. That will be a few days past Mc’s 16 day and unless she is going SUPER fast on her heat which she shouldn’t because she ‘is’ in foal than we shouldn’t miss it. We will be checking Marz a day early and it won’t make that much of a difference. I’m happy that he won’t be coming out two different times but he is now coming out on Sunday which is not a day he usually works. That sucks. I am now SUPER excited and would be anxious about him coming out except School starts back up on the 30th and I am not at all giddy to start this next quarter.

I went and rode Wynter after he left and then brought Forba in to tease and she was in heat alright, she peed everywhere! Tomorrow we breed….

Bred Marz

Jerry stopped by the barn Friday and dropped off a shot that I had to give to Marz. I know I gave it to her around one’ ish but I can’t remember the details on why I ran in gave it to her and left so fast. Weird. When I gave it to her I tossed her Halter on and then this time around I squeezed her skin. That way it wouldn’t be so harsh. She didn’t even flinch this time it was a perfect shot. Pulled her halter and tossed the used needle in the trash and left. Man I really can’t remember where I was head… I’m getting OLD.

Saturday was a LONG adventurous day. Because it was a weekend Feed won’t ship to your home, you have to go to the nearest drop location. Which for us was in Bothell! Yay not a short drive in the least. I wanted to leave very early but didn’t get around to it with horses to feed and stalls to clean. We left around noon and Jerry called me about every two hours to see where we were. In Bothell we took a wrong turn and had to back track and go threw a big business area to find the FedEx drop location. It was in the VARY back on the corner of the building. Once in there it took forever to get it. The women at the counter was having serious computer problems. It kept shutting down on her. So as we waited a few other people can in and they sat around and waited with us when the women waiting asked what was in the box. For lack of a better explanation I said ‘Sperm” which is true. The expression! Ha ha ha she nodded and then asked what kind, “Horse” she then followed that with a well I guess if they do it for humans. I found that more odd that shipping horse sperm.

We finally got it and I was able to ship beck the other box to the other breeder at the same time. Once we were on the freeway I call Jerry and told him we were on our way back and he said he’d meet me at the barn.

I was only there long enough to pick two stalls when he pulled in. He checked the box and made sure it was all there and then got some of his supplies. He pulled the sperm and it was in a zip lock type bag not a ‘zip lock’ but the sperm version. I had never seen one like that so I found it interesting. I must really entertain Jerry when I asked a million questions. He is filling the syringe and I’m look WOW. He left a little in the bag and stuffed it back in the container. He is going to check it on Monday and if it’s good then well, its really good for Marz! He stuffs the full syringe in his chest pocket and we head to Marz’s room.


We didn’t have to back her into the door way as it was just an insemination no checking anything. He tied her tail and she is such a goon about her butt being touched. When we first got her she hated it being touched it took a long time for her to be relaxed about it and here we are doing this to her. She’d clamp her tail down as hard as she could. Jerry laughed. We started by the stall door and went to the far wall and we had to push her over to about the middle of the stall with her head by her hay rack. She was not cooperating she’d either not move at all and we’d have to shove or she would go all the way to the other side. She was just not into this at all today!

I wouldn’t blame her. He inseminated her and by now Jerry and I have our own little ritual we do after. We both hover our hands above her bum and do the wax on wax off thing chanting pregnant, filly pregnant filly! Yes we are strange!!!

Now we are waiting…. And waiting….. First will be Forba then Mc and then Marz. I think I will go crazy by the time we get to Marz!

Jerry called me this morning and asked if I had school today and I said I did so he decided to just come check Forba tomorrow. Fine by me, so we will see if Forba in Prego tomorrow!

Late Update on Events

I have been very busy with school and horses so I have been slacking on the blogs.

To go back I will have to start with when I prostin them. That was fun. No one wanted to come in from the pasture. I had to chase them around and that was so un-fun! I hate that I had to actually trick Marz into coming which I have not had to do it YEARS. I swear. So I gave Mc her first as she came to me.

She is a trooper and stood still for her shot. While she ‘processed’ so to speak I caught Marz. She was pissed! She brooded and glared at me. Poking her with the needled she jumped away and my hand slipped off of the needle. When I got her to stand still I had to pull the needle back out and re-poke her which was a good thing as she drew blood. When I did it again it was fine and she jump a little but it wasn’t as bad, dramatic mare. Mc had still not started to sweat so I walked both of the mares around the big barn. My grandma came down and walked around with us. Which I thought was neat, we had a great talk.

Of course Marz broke out in a big sweat and I ended up putting Mc back and walking Marz up and down the hill a few times. She did this the last time and I was sure she would do it again I was happy Mc didn’t though.

So on Sunday Kayt and I hauled the mares up to the breeding farm after we went to a tack sale. No one was at either barns which was odd so I just took them home. Hey save me money!

Monday March 8 I hauled them over to the Breeding farm to get them checked. Tauge had a problem with one of the breeders. I like using the Equitainer as it is proven to protect the seamen better then any other shipping method. I have NEVER had any problems using one and have had horrid results using the cardboard box. I asked the breeding farm if we could use there and they said that was not a problem. I need to get a few for when I ship for Wynter. I love them. Well one farm all out refused to use it. I found that odd but whatever if they think there stallion can hold up in that container then whatever. I just hope it comes swimming ha ha.

That was news to me so we checked Mc and she was perfect right on time and ready to breed Wednesday. Wahoo. Pulling Mar out was a different story she was 2 days behind. Grr great figures problem mare. The plan was that I leave them there but Tauge just told me to take them home and bring them back. They had no room and he looked as if he didn’t want to deal with it. On top of that he was having problems figuring out who was who. Both mares look a lot alike.

Yesterday Jerry called me and said I need to give one of the mares a shot. He said he could drop it off and I can give it to her myself. Sounds perfect except I had school when he could come out and drop it off. In the end I met him in town where we made the switch! I bolted back to the barn and gave it to her and beboped to school.

Well today is so far so crazy. I woke up and had missed a call from the breeding farm. Before I could even call him back I got a call from one of my breeders. I had to talk to them about a few loose ends. When I got of the phone with them I listened to my messages and Tauge said that the seamen that was supposed to ship today was held at the FedEx Bothell depot. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I wanted to scream. So I called the other breeder and got the tracking number and called FedEx and it is due to arrive at 4:30. After that I called the breeding farm back and then called the vet twice! Crazy stuff. Breeding season can never ever go smooth I swear. When and if a season goes by and it is by the book I will flip out. Something must not be right.

I am waiting to haul the mares up there later today. Will post when we figure that one out.

Bred Mc

Ohhh I am so excited! I have so much to say what a frickin awesome time at the breeding farm. Tossed the mares in the trailer and hauled them up there and low and behold Jerry was right behind me. Because I was not sure if the seamen had come I pulled Marz out first.

She glared at me as we walked into the chute. She was pissed! We sat a chatted for a while and then Jerry checked her. He said she had grown one whole centimeter. Tauge and I busted up laughing oooooooohhh. Ha ha ha although Jerry thought it was ok she looked good she is just slower than others. Grr mare. He said collect on Friday and breed Saturday. Which now reminds me I need to cancel an appointment. Anyway I am happy but then again I will have to drive all the way to Bothell to go get it! Which is not a short drive in the least.

When she was done I played musical horses and I pulled Mc and lead her into the chute. The first thing they did was well wait I’m getting a head of myself. I noticed the shipping container had arrived when we check Marz. So when I brought Mc in they let me check the sperm on the micro scope. Ohh that was SO flippin COOOL. So neat. I am such a NERD ha ha ha.

It was just cool. Then Jerry handed me the big tube of sperm and said I get to breed her. He also joked that it I went to fast or to slow it would be my fault if she doesn’t take. I think I nervous laughed at that one. So he gets the straw in her and says plug it in. At first I couldn’t push it in and they were making fun of me. Ha ha so he pulled the straw out a bit and I was then able to push it in. Ohh I am such a hot shot now I bred my first mare via AI. Well, not all by myself but still very big step.

We also went over the list of preg check dates.

Forba’s check will be on 3-16-10
Mc’s check will be on 3-26-10
Marz’s check will be 3-29-10

Remind me to go over the rest of the day later.

Covered Forba Again

The vet office called me this morning and said all the mares culture's came back negitive. Yay so... we covered Forba again today. I figured they would be negitive. I seen no reason that they should be positive. If you want to read more check out Wynter's blog here.

Live Cover and an Update

I am finely posting what my papers says. Took me long enough right?

For Marquisse and Mc....

Plan to breed the week of March 8th.
Start regumate that day; Give 10cc orally once a day at about the same time.
Last dose of Regumate will be on March 4th.
March 5th Prostin shot (one for each mare). Jerry showed me where to put it and said if I draw blood move it over and inch until I d not draw any blood.
Move mares on Sunday
Jerry will check them on March 8th
Go from there.

Well, yesterday I went up to the breeding farm and talked to Tauge the breeding manager. I gave him a bribe ha ha red wine cheese and crackers so we could use his equitainers. We sat down and chatted a lot about all of it. It was great fun for me as I am so into the breeding thing. The first thing was that they have no space for our mares so they will be taken over to the neighbors ranch. We will bring them over there and they will haul them over to the breeding farm which is an all of 3 mins in the trailer to get checked and eventually bred. Tague called one of the breeders who is in our time zone and spoke with them for a time. I had to google on my cell phone the address for the other breeder along with a phone number as they were on east coast time.

He spoke for a while and we he got as much info as he thought he needed. He said he'd call the second breeder today. I will speak with Tague or Jerry after I prostin mares on the 4th. We wil them go from there. In the mean time the mares are getting the regumate and are thrilled about getting the cup of grain at night! Ahh Haflingers, they love there food. Toccata is pissed that she isn't getting some she is the porker of the farm.

As Forba goes he said to tease her until she was a level 5 on the teasing scale. So we did and today we covered Forba with Wynter. We will try again tomorrow as he was mister quick and I don't think it was all that good. If you want to know more on how that went check out his blog at http://www.willardwhyte.blogspot.com

Pre Breeding Check

Today was a long day. I got a call from the vet office and they said Jerry would be out around 1. I went over there early and I made sure to grab my camera so I could take photos. Well I got there and everyone was outside. So I had to play mare fetch. That is a lot of fun when it was beautiful outside. I went for Marz first because I know she can not run from me…ever. Going toward her she stepped away and I told her whoa she took a few more steps and then stopped. She looked at me like ahhh dang it. I had to corner Forba and once I got her Mc just stood still.

Bringing them into the barn I was so very happy to see that all the stalls were done and they already had dinner in there stalls. Trying them up I sat and waited for Jerry to arrive. Right before he parked his truck I pulled the battery off of the wall and shoved it in and when I did I noticed that there was no card. So I have no photos and I am sorry; what a way to start a blog. I was so mad at myself! So I am sorry really, I am.

Jerry set up at Mc’s stall and we got the show on the road that was right after we went over the whos who and the whats what. He is a big planner and it helps when you are breeding.

We did Mc first and since we had hay in the stalls she got herself close enough so that Jerry could do her exam and she could eat at the same time. Now that is a Haflinger. She checked out great he said that she was perfect for where we are at. Which made me very happy yay lights worked! Wahoo.

Next was the star of our blog Marz Bar! I was nearly giddy to get her check out. I hoped like hell that she didn’t have ovaries of rocks. She gave me the worst look when she came into the stall. I had to laugh. He then went about tying her tail and she would not eat. She was pissed. It only got worse for her as he cleaned her out and he did her check. He said that she looked good.

When he did her culture she almost made me bust up laughing but I had to keep it on the professional level. ;) She spread out her legs grunted and then started nickering….. Um so does that mean she liked that? Ha ha ha. I swear. She turned her head and gave me a look and nickered again. After a few more she snagged a bite of food while Jerry finished. She was all hunched up and Jerry had to look up because her pelvis was tilted so much. He said donkeys were worse they have a much sharper hip angle. There is your interesting fact for the day.

Next was Forba she has done this a few times but I think Mc was the star of the afternoon. Forbs moved around a bit but was ok she did not hunch up like the other two. After we were done with the mares and had them check and culture we sat down and me with a piece of paper wrote notes.

I’d love to tell you everything but I left it at the barn I will get it tomorrow. Sadly he said that Forba made Marz look bad but the good news was that we have time to fix that. So I am guessing she was not as far along at the other two. Figures, problem mare. Bottom line we are going to be breeding the two AI mares the week of March 8th. I started them on Regumate tonight and I don’t have the stop date in front of me. He then asked me if I wanted to give the Prostin shot of if I wanted him to. I said I would because that saves me almost $75 in a farm call. So he made sure I knew where to put it if I draw back blood move it an inch. Ohh I remembered something ha ha. Then after that I have to haul them to the farm on Sun Jerry will check them Mon and we are onward to sperm!

That is if everything goes well.

For Forba I am to tease and tease again until she shows as a 4 on the teasing scale. Then breed. He said she looks like she will be ready to breed on Thursday.

Tomorrows plan post what I have on that paper. I also have to go smooze the breeding manager up at the breeding farm. I need to give him a run down on what is going on more or less what I have on my paper and also see if he can help me cover Wynter and Forba. Jerry said to bring him some Red wine, so I will! Wish me luck.

Last but not least I will be calling both breeders and giving them the run down. I also need to send out my check to one of the stallion owners as I was not sure if I wanted to breed to that stallion. I am glad to get this started to bad I am in the middle of writing one of my speeches for school grr…

Ohh almost forgot I texted Liz and had her come over to help me tease Forba. Since Wynter was out I let him tease Marz who I had thrown out in Chance’s run. She liked him she came over and nosed him threw the fence. At the end of the day we took Marz and Arlo out on a long trail ride and had a blast.

Pre Breeding Photos

This morning I pulled Marz from her room and took a few photos of her before we get this breeding thing on the road. First photo, of her tied and unclipped. Thank you Tanoka for dulling every single one of my blades except for the 10’s.

Next is a body belly shot. She was not really happy about me doing this in the least. I backed way into the corner and she kept wanting to move. She finely got what I wanted and stood still just long enough for this photo. Excuse her looks... she looks rather, scruffy and flabby. Dirty pony!!! Those white marks on her back are going away thank goodness. They were from one show when my friend used her english saddle on her. They showed up the next day. Grrr but they have been fading so that is good.

Butt shot! No belly what so ever. It is going to be strange to see her all fat and prego. Dirty tail though. I was reading on a forum I am a member of, of this stuff called Goop. I heard it works really well and I am so going to try it! Off to Wallmart I go.

Front shot agin not all that thrilled about this photo session. Her foot is rested so her belly is swung out to the right or rather left. If she was standing correctly she would have no belly.

Fun shot! I am going to try and take video here and there and this was a test run. Here was the screen shot for it, I thought it was neat. Blankets are on all our guys for a few different reasons. One being most have no hair or are shedding while it is still very cold at night. Second even though it is sunny outside it is still cold out.

Here is the video.



Pulled her halter off and hit record she took off, sadly my camera is not a real camera but the video feature on my normal still camera. Thus no zoom sorry.

Tomorrow is the day Jerry is coming yay!!! I will bring my camera and maybe drag my Mom along so she can take photos. It will be a party!!

Layout and Monday

Wahooo so who likes the new layout? In hopes of having a girl I went with pink. I think it is rather cute if I don’t say so myself and I hate the color pink. When the time comes I will be adding more things to the bar on the right there ------à

My Mom and I are in the process of trying to figure out a way we can set up a camera in the barn. We will then be hitting the pawn shops and cruising the internet for video cameras. My plan to put three cameras in the big barn, one for each mare. Then either set up a computer down there or run it up to my Grandparents house so that we can have live streaming video of the mares. Marestare here me come!! I don’t know if I want to put all mares on a single screen so that you can see them all at the same time or have it cycle through them every so often. Any thoughts or opinions?

I don’t think I will be able to afford having three different cameras. That is why the question came up. Since Marquisse is a maiden mare I will want to have the camera for the 6 months. If you think about it 125 is not all that much but it adds up when you do it for three mares. I’d rather save the money to buy baby things!

On another note I mentioned that we will be putting them in the big barn. If you are not familiar with our layout we have two barns one small barn which houses eight stalls. In this barn I can only pull out two walls making only two foaling stalls. So I figured I will put all the mares that are foaling in the big barn with Wynter. Here I drew you a map to show where I plan on putting them… I wanted them by a tack room just in case I needed to sleep in the barn but that creates a bunch of problems so I will just put them at the end.

Well, Jerry called me in the middle of my speech class. Luckily I had it on vibrate and was able to get out of class before 5. I ended up just calling his cell phone anyway. He is a busy guy and had to make everything clear, he does a lot of breedings! So he told me he would come out on Monday and check all of them and get this show on the road!

Since tomorrow is Sunday I’m going to pull Marz out and take some photos of her belly. I plan on taking a photo of her front the front back and the sides. I can also try and get an overhead photo of her.

Called Vet left a Message....

I called our vet today and there was no answer. I left an message and I hope I can get a hold of them tomorrow. With the mares being on lights all winter I am hoping all is well. Jerry (our vet) needs to come out and check everyone and prostin them so that we are ready to breed at the end of the month.

Marz was really happy for dinner tonight I think it is so cute how she has no idea what is going to happen. Mom and I were talking and we are both a tad bit concerned on how she will be as a mother. She is pardon the French here but she is a bit of a hard ass so I am not sure how she will take mother hood. If worst comes to worst which I highly doubt it will I know Forba would take on another foal. She is a great mommy. If I was going to breed Toccata I know she would she knickers like crazy at the foals! I have a feeling Marz is going to be one of those over protective mean mares when she has a foal but I could be wrong she could turn into a complete softy. I am excited to see how she does.

About the Blog

My whole life I had always wanted an Arabian. Mainly because I watched the Black Stallion and my Mom took me to work with her when she worked at an Arabian Facility. My grandpa on the other hand wanted me to get a Haflinger. He had seen them in parades and had fallen in love with them. He learned somehow and to this day I have no idea how he found out but he knew that they would be the prefect horse for me. For the longest time I fought over it looking at Arabs and kept insisting that I get an arab. Then one day I had an epiphany; it was a horse, a horse I could get and I'd wanted one for years! My Grandpa and I went to the Lynden fair in 2000 and I fell in love with a gelding from 3R Farms. It took me several days to convince him and when he was ready to buy they said that they had sold him. I was devastated! Then my Grandma came to me and said “That horse wasn’t meant for you, the right horse will come along soon”. I will never forget those words.

On September 6th 2001 my Grandpa, Great Grandma and I went to the WHA event in Lynden, Washington. I was on a mission to go get a horse even though my grandpa didn't know it. We look at all the horses at least I did I ran around the whole barn looking at every horse that was for sale in second flat. That was when I saw a horse rubbing her tongue up and down her stall door. I stop and stared at her, it was the funniest thing. Then Emily (her breeder) walk up and said "Marquisse if you keep doing that no ones gonna want to buy you." I walked up to the silly pony and stuck my fingers through the chicken wire and petted her nose she moved her head so I’d itch behind her ear. I stood there and petted her and talk to her for a while and went to get my Grandpa to tell him I found the horse I wanted. I showed him her itchy spot. As he started to like her he spoke with Emily about her and he said we'd call her after my Grandpa thought about it. After those few days my Grandpa still hadn’t called so I started secretly e- mailed Emily asking about Marquisse. After a day of several emails I presented them to my grandpa and he finely called her. He set up an appointment to go up to there farm to see her and ask questions.

When we arrived, she was outside and Emily told us all about her lines and showed us her Dam Marlee. They talked payment while I ogled at the horses one horse unparticular. We went back a week or so later to give Emily the down payment on Marquisse, it took at lot of convincing on my part but I now had a horse! That day I went out into her field and sat under the tree just watching her and talking to her. When she walked up to me she sniffed me allover and then tried t chew on my shoes. I spent a half hour talking to her and telling her about me.

About a month later I went back up there to see her for a second time. We had decided to board her up at Emily’s until the winter was over as our barn was not fixed for horses yet. That time I brush her and talk to her. The next time I brought my mom and we tried to feed her a apple but she’d only lick it she had never had an apple before! Then I brought my best friend and showed her Marquisse. Then one day I over heard my grandma and grandpa talking about the ‘horse‘. I budded in and asked what they were talking about. It is strange how you have super sonic hearing when certin words are spoken its like hearing your name in a crowd. They told it was going to be a surprise but they told me anyway. They had decided to bring Marquisse home to a near by stable! I was so excited I think I may have scream! I remember her pulling up in the horse trailer at the barn. I was so excited! Jessica who offered to haul her down let me unload her and I lead her to her new stall. I believe she stayed at that facility for 6 months and every time I went into the barn she'd whinny to me. I loved that! So that is how Marquisse came to me and how I came to her!



I wrote that when I was 13 although I did go back and edit a lot of it. Marquisse was my first horse and is very special to me. She was my first in the world of horses in every way. She was the first horse I really fell off of she was the first to go to a show with me she was just always there with me. She was the perfect partner for a 12 year old going through her younger teens. She was my life and I will say she is still my life at 21. In fact I rode her out on the trails yesterday (Feb 15 2009) and had a blast.



Ever since my Grandfather introduced me to Haflinger’s I had fallen in love with them. I have been breeding Haflinger horses since 2005 our first foal was born on the farm April 26th 2006. We had a fabulous filly. Over the years Marquisse and I have been showing all over the west coast. She has racked up a lot of Hi-Points, Championships and just last year she got me my first belt buckle. In all this time because she had been a show horse and I have never bred her. This year will be the year that I will be breeding her for the first time.

I am excited and petrified all in one and it is a strange sensation. My favorite horse in the whole world, having a foal. The reason I am going to be blogging about it is so that I can log everything and look back on it all. Her foal will stay with me need it be a stud colt or a mare. Although I’d rather have a filly! This blog will morph after she foals and will go on to follow the foal as it grows and turns into a grown horse. It won’t always be pretty and it won’t always be happy but it will be an adventure and I am looking forward to it.




You may wonder what the blog title means as it can be taken in many different ways. First off this is a fantastic thing. Second which is a rather big second is that our farm name is Hopeful Farms. Named appropriately after the Black Stallion books. The movie had a profound influence on me and so have the books so I decided to call our farm Hopeful Farms with Marquisse being my not so black, black not really a stallion, stallion. Then when I wanted to name this blog I again turned to the Black Stallion. In the movie right after Alac sees the Black he runs to his father and says “It’s the most fantastic thing!” speaking of course about the Black. I found the quote quite fitting.

So here we are about to start this fantastic adventure.