New baby surprise

Here we go again!  The month of August and an unexpected birth.  This time the newborn was a baby horse and not a calf.  Though not totally unexpected as the horse owner knew her mare was pregnant.  But based on the one and only time the mare was with a stallion, the owner said the due date was in two weeks.

Based on the pregnancy and how fat the two large mares (Cheyenne and Chairokee) had gotten from eating so much, the owners decided last week to take these two horses out and replace them with two other skinnier horses.  Thursday slipped to Saturday which then had a conflict come up.  Today was touch and go but the owners did manage to bring a mare and her colt late in the afternoon with plans to take Cheyenne and Chairokee. 

Earlier in the afternoon Chairokee came in the corral to drink some water.  She then whinnied loudly then raced out of the corral back to the far end of the pasture by the river.  Shortly thereafter Lily and Sierra came into the corral to drink water and then they raced out of the corral into the pasture.

What's up with the horses?

No other commotion so I continued on with my work.

Later in the afternoon the owners brought the new mare and her 2 1/2 month year old colt.  We put them in the loading corral until the removal of the other two horses were completed.  Chairokee came to the corral to check out the new horses.  The other horses stayed out in the pasture.  Strange.  Usually Chairokee and Cheyenne are BFFs and always near one another.

One of the owners walked out into the pasture to get Cheyenne.  She came back with news that Cheyenne had given birth to a filly.  It must have been that morning as Cheyenne was fine last evening when I was in the pasture.

We locked Chairokee, Lily and Sierra in part of the corral south of the barn so they wouldn't interfere or get Cheyenne too excited.  The owners and I walked out to the far end of the pasture near the river.  The owner got a halter on Cheyenne and they were able to lead her and the filly back to the corral.

It took the three of us to get the two horses into their horse trailer.  Cheyenne wouldn't go into the trailer without her filly and the filly couldn't step up on her own.  And the filly hung by the side of momma. The two horses would walk in circles. Finally one owner led Cheyenne into putting her head in the trailer to get a bite of hay to eat and the other owner grabbed and lifted the colt into the trailer. Cheyenne then got into the trailer to be with her filly.  I closed the door behind them.

Having a newborn filly altered their plans.  They owners only took Cheyenne and her filly and left Chairokee here for another day.  They didn't want another large horse in the trailer with the newborn filly.


The walk back to the corral.

On the walk back to the corral we had to stop briefly for a meal break.  The young filly noisily nursed from Momma.

Safely in the horse trailer

 

Lily, Sierra and Chairokee watching Cheyenne and the new filly enter the corral.

Here is a 14 second video of the mother and baby horse walking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBNY5OBCU8



I kept the new horse and colt in the loading corral for a few hours so the horses could get acquainted through the fence. The owners said this new horse would be the lowest on the pecking order as she is smaller and more submissive than the others. 

Once I opened the gate Lily, Sierra and Chairokee were more interested in eating the grass in the loading corral as I always had that gate closed to them.  Later after dark Tammy and I heard more whinnying and commotion.  I found the new horse and her colt preferred to stay in the loading corral while the others ran around outside the corral.  Lily and Sierra went off to to eat.  Chairokee was being a jerk running around trying to lord it over the new horse and her colt.  I'll see what the morning brings.