The First Day of the Rest of Her Life

Today Miss Poppy Black calmly boarded a horse trailer for the first time ever and left for her new home.

Naturally, only the best home would do.  Her new owner lives in our area and has been a horse friend of ours for decades.  She owned a full sister to Poppy's dam Copy, and currently owns two other youngsters by Poppy's sire Clint.  Besides being a good friend, wonderful amateur rider, and competent trainer, she is also a trained farrier.  She used to shoe one of my Saddlebred show horses many years ago.

We believe she and Poppy will be a great team and we look forward to cheering them on in their successes in the future.

Update: Poppy Black

By request, here is an update on the filly. Her papers are being processed, and her name is Poppy Black. Mom actually got that idea from a reader of my side saddle blog who left a comment. Our first Choice was "Filigree" but that was taken. So Poppy Black it is, which is sort of a combo of Sensational Copy and First Black Out.

Not much news, nor many pictures. She's weaned. She lives a very mundane life doing nothing all day with her School Marm pony "Bubbles".

Mom brought Bubbles home with no real plan. I encouraged her to use her as a weaning companion since that was her previous job. She was already doing that job for our friend Catherine. I think Mom just wanted her so she could look out the window at her.

She is just about as cute as any pony can be and she sort of reminds me of something... what is it? Oh I know. One of Mom's favorite childhood books.

Childhood dream come true!

I know I said it was over

But I thought you would enjoy these photos of Ace's little sister. She recently had her first farrier visit and behaved like a lady. She stood stock still while the loud, strange man picked up her legs and rasped away while telling a story. Mom said she asked him if "we could please finish the last foot before we finish the story?" After all, she had never actually had her front feet picked up. The back ones yes, but Mom never bothered with the front ones.

No matter. One day months ago, while I was "baby-wrangling" for Mom I accidentally knocked her down and fell on top of her and it made a permanent impression as to the superior strength of humans. Well, depending on who's telling the story, maybe the baby threw a fit and knocked me down. But the landing was the same and she has been very respectful of humans since then.

It's nice to have a baby who you can play kissy face without worrying about being bitten and stomped on. Temperment wise, she is the polar oposite of Ace. Thank Heaven! We have retired the whapper stick.

Baby Pictures

Photos of Baby Girl's first excursion. Still a little folded up, but oh so precious.

It's a Girl

A week early, but four and a half hours late to be on Mom's Birthday.

Bay with a star and one front pastern white. Copy delivered her quickly and easily when my Stepdad went to the house for some coffee in between checking the mare and his cows that are due. She was on her feet in half an hour, and nursing not too long after. She is smaller than Ace was which made the deliver that much easier. Both Mama and baby are doing fine. She is very vocal just like Ace was. Copy nickers and she whinnys back loudly.

18 days and counting

Copy has reached the "OMG I am so fat" stage.

Today she spent her nap time nickering to herself and groaning exhaustedly.

Then she turned her nose up at some grass that was picked from the wrong part of the lawn.

How is Copy?

Copy is large and cranky. Her due date isn't until the end of May. I actually videoed a brief, 30 second interview with her this past weekend, but I can't get it to load to Blogger and I've given up trying. She is mostly concerned by the fact that this third pregnancy has completely ruined her girlish figure and made her rump look wide.

So I guess I owe you guys an update.

Copy is in foal. Or at least she was on Monday. You see, on Saturday Mom hauled her to our farm vet's office, to save a farm call fee. He palpated her (he had the ultrasound machine right there beside him) and said "nope, not in foal, we won't bother with the ultrasound (whoops)". So on Sunday, Mom hauled her out to Stallion Services in Ohio for a culture, checkup yadayada in preparation for her next cycle which ought to be right around the corner. Monday morning, with due diligence, SS ultrasounded her, and not long after I got a phone call at work from Ace's owner... "can't find your mother, but tell her to go get the mare, she's already in foal."

This was like a game of telegraph. Robin from SS couldn't find Mom (no cell) so she called the stallion owner, who called Ace's owner, who called me at work... so at that point I was wondering if Mom and Stepdad had even made it back from Ohio the night before since their answering machine was off and they hadn't called when they got home... See what fun this breeding thing can be?

Back to the mare. So, SS immediately puts Regumate in her mouth (she'd missed Sunday since she was supposedly open), performed a caslick and packed her overnight bag. Mom went back and got her on Tuesday (after calling Vet#1 with the "lesson learned" news). Good news is that no one charged her for anything at either office, so she's only out the gas money. And two days driving. But Mom liked Stallion Services so well, she thought it was worth the trip. They are a very class act and she learned alot.

And Acey is much loved and appreciated. He has an appointment in a couple of weeks at Cornell. And while we haven't been out to visit, his owner assures us he's "just as beautiful as ever". She's raving about the cross and I think I may be more critical about what I made than she is, because thinks he's Louisville quality. That would be great if he got the training to have a chance at that level, and we would love to come and cheer for that! She's very excited about the other upcoming foal. Mom is just hoping that the trip to Ohio and back, and the day off of Regumate didn't cause her to slip that, but last time she was in and out and hauled around during the breeding process, so I'm not too worried about it.