New Filly - Miss Moonbeam!

As of May 6th we have a new filly! She was quite a surprise because her mother, Mama (who is also Little One's mother)didn't look very big. I had begun to suspect she might be pregnant, but she has seemed round for the past two years, so it was hard to tell. Another mare, Polka Dot is definitly pregnant and has looked large for many months.

We asked our wonderful neighbor who allows the pintos to roam on his land - their old home - to name her.
He came up with the name Moonbeam.  She was so small when she was born, she may have even been premature, that I kept thinking of her as miss dainty.  So I added Miss to her name and when we need to call her with a shorter name - it is Missy.
She is a dear and is now a month old and holds her own with the big horses very well...even wants to eat alfalfa  squares with them out of the bowl!  Instead I just give her a few shavings. She is a little shy with me and sometimes curious, so even though I can touch her she is not quite ready to be touched a lot.

This my favorite photograph of her with her Mom- Mama.

As you can see she has an unusual white mark on her forehead.

When she was just 24 hours old she was so cute  trying to eat the grass...her legs were too long and she couldn't quite reach it!

Suki was very curious about the new filly and he was always around her the first few days.  She is just a few hours old here and Suki made it hard to photograph her alone as he was always with her!  I often find Suki, Miss Moonbeam and Mama hanging out together.

Little One Missing and Found

Little One was kicked out of the herd around April 21st by Thunder during the time of the transition of the fence being built and the horses were acclimating between the 2 properties.  We were not sure where he was, but hoped he was hiding in the woods at his old home.  It took many searches and several weeks before he would even let us catch a glimpse of him.  He has been hiding out in the woods at the other end of the property far away from the rest of the herd.
Last week he finally came out of hiding and let us get near him.  Since then I have made several trips over there and when I call him, he comes out and will now eat carrots and alfalfa squares from our hands like he use to.  Thunder banged him up on both of his sides.  The owner of his old home is letting us fix up the old corral there so we can have a vet come and see him in there. He presently eats his treats inside the corral, which will make it easier for him to be comfortable there for vet visit.
The above  photo was taken of him a year ago during  happier times.

This photo was taken a few days ago when a friend was feeding him alpha squares.  He use to be a bit aggressive and demanding but now he is very submissive.  He is very lonely and I am looking into options for getting him back into the herd.

Suki and the New Fence - Thunder

Suki has been very curious about the fence. He is now 9 months old and is not quite as black as his father Thunder. He is more of a chocolate black. He is a real sweetheart and I can always pet him and hug him.

Suki was really enjoying scratching himself against the fence.

Since his dad is the lead stallion, Thunder has been the most cautious about me. However we have made great strides, he takes carrots from my hands - that took many months. For the past few days he now takes squares from my hands, which means he is actually touching my fingers! We have an interesting relationship. He is always the most excited to see me, the first one usually to run up and he will follow me very closely. He watches me touch Suki and I can see he would love to allow that to happen to him. Hopefully patience will win out and someday I will be able to hug him too!

Polka Dot

Suki's mom looks pregnant again. Any guesses about how far along she might be? Horses gestate for 11 months. Suki was born the end of last July.

Feeding Time!

For the past three days the horses have calmed down enough that they decided it was time for them to go through the gate from next door and come up to get food. I feed them at the bench so they are waiting for me to show up. They have been here 2 times before since the fence was built but they weren't too happy about being fenced in here. Today they have been around all day.

There are alfalfa squares soaking in water in the bowl. Suki and Lady, the older mare, both can eat out of the bowl. It wasn't until today that Sweetie and Little One became interested in the bowl, which I am excited about since I eventually want to feed them some grain which they will have to eat out of a container.

Our wonderful neighbor

We received an unexpected and delightfu suprise. We are very fortunate and grateful that the new owners of the land next door loves the pintos! This is the land that the pintos have lived on all of their lives. The owners could not take responsibility for them as they live in Southern Californa and will only be up here occasionally. He is fixing his fence (same wonderful crew who built ours) so the horses can still roam on his land from time to time. This is a great news for the locals who love seeing these horses from the highway and consider them the local celebreties!
We have put in a gate between the 2 properties so they can go back and forth at times. Here you can get a better view of the field fence.

Here you can see the horses grazing at our neighbors. It has been tricky to get them over here because  there has been so much acitivity the past weeks with the building of fences on both properties. They have needed a period of adjustment to all the changes. The above post will show images of the pintos finally coming back up to our place for food.

New Fence is Finished!

The new fence is all done! . It looks great and the wonderful men who built it even worked in the pouring rain. This image is the area where we feed the horses.

This is part of the fence that runs on the south side of the property. This fence is a field fence as it goes between the 2 properties and we wanted to make sure it was strong enough for the horses in case they decide to go back over to the other side.

This is another area of the fence for the horses- the old fence posts in the front have been here for a long time and fence nothing but I love the vintage look of the old posts. You can see the south side of the fence near the phone poles. The tensil wire and twisted wire (non barb wire) can hardly be seen between the posts.