Witholding Cuteness, or, A Tale of Two Fillies

 Wheeee!  Twine's filly celebrates her first week of life.

I feel like I should start this blog post like you're supposed to start certain phone calls.

"Everyone's fine, but...."

I know I've written this in my head a bunch of times, but it just seemed too long, so I never sat down at the computer.  Then I'd think about everything else going on in the lives of others, and in the world, and think, meh, my recent stresses are nothing, and everyone's fine, so I'll just keep it to myself.  Add to that borderline burnout, and you get....internet silence.  Only a couple of people seemed to notice my absence, which kind of fed the cycle.  And I admit it was kind of nice to lay low, and selfishly keep to myself the ridiculous cuteness bouncing around in my stalls!  Some things, however, are far too cute to keep to myself, and knowing you can't really experience the full force of such cuteness unless you are face to face with it, well, you'll still be largely deprived!

 

Twine and Jubie, planning foaling strategy.

 

 Sunday, April 14, a routine check of Twine's udder revealed she was waxing.  While she was in the "safe" zone in that the foal would be viable, and not even premature, Twine is pretty textbook, and had always foaled at 338-345 days.  This was two weeks early.  I was a little concerned, especially given her less-than-ideal history.  I texted my vet to see if he'd received the results of the NI test yet, and hoped she'd at least hold off long enough to get that info, for my own peace of mind!  Either way, I wasn't going to be getting much sleep until the baby came.

Tuesday night at around 10pm, it was show time.  I wrapped her tail and stood by, and shortly saw we could have some trouble, due to what in layman's terms is called a red bag delivery (placenta previa, for the initiated).  While I had never had one before, I knew the deal - the foal had to come out as quickly as possible.  Fortunately Twine got to work and in literally five minutes, between her and I, we had the baby out - the foal was breathing and responsive, though not strong.  In time she rallied, and with my help got to her feet, and figured out now to nurse like a pro - you have no idea how much of a relief that was.  As it turned out she needed help getting to her feet for the first day, so I kept a pretty close watch on he to make sure she nursed at least once an hour.

So guess what happened Wednesday night at 10pm?  I'd gone out to do late feed, and Jubie starts pawing!  I check her, grab a tail bandage and wrap her tail, and then run around trying to get the others fed while I wait for her to proceed!  Twenty-four hours less five minutes, Jubie delivered a big, strong, healthy foal.  I was sure it was a colt, but I was wrong.  As I was attending to her, I heard Twine's filly get up on her own!  Yeah!  I was looking forward to some sleep!

Jubie '13 had other plans for me, though.  I guess those long, long baby legs were hard to sort out, because it took her just as long to get to her feet as it had Twine's filly, and I had to help her!  She had the opposite problem - she was very straight behind, her tendons a bit contracted.  And while she knew what was next on the agenda, she was too tall to easily figure out where to get that first meal.  She pushed the limits of my comfort, but figured it out.  And then it became apparent she wasn't able to get to her feet on her own.  So much for sleep!

Jubie really, really wanted to roll when she finally got outside....but she didn't want to take her eyes off her baby for that long, so this is as far as it went!

It was no surprise when Twine's filly's IgG was low, and she needed a plasma transfusion, which was taken care of at a nearby clinic.  It was a surprise when Jubie's filly - twenty-four hours later - needed the same!  Just one of those weeks for me, apparently. Both fillies got five days of antibiotics after that.

 

Jubie's filly.

 So, now, a week and a bit later, things seem much quieter.  I'm still keeping a very close watch on both, especially Twine's little girl.  Big filly is not impressed with me at all, taking all the fussing and needle-jabbing personally.  Little filly, on the other hand, is a Twine baby through and through, so happy and friendly I just want to bring her in the house and let her sleep on my bed.  She's so tiny, but then again, big (half) sister Gracie was almost that small when she was born, and well, she grew!

 I'm sure she'd fit just nicely on the end of my bed.

Sorry for the long post - believe me, it could have been much longer.  I admit I'm feeling somewhat melancholy this year, because my client isn't breeding any mares this year, thanks to the uncertainty in the Ontario Racing Industry, so these may be the last foals born on my farm.  I'm trying to forget last week's stress and enjoy these new kids.  It's true what they say about babies - they grow up too fast.

Water, Water, Everywhere....

Inside Day!

Ah, April.  Spring!  Well, apparently Spring hasn't deemed us fit for her company this year.  Winter arrived so late, I joked one day on Facebook that it's like the guest that comes late to the party, then refuses to leave. 

It wasn't really a surprise earlier this week when we heard predictions for ice or snow.  Wednesday it rained most of the day; Thursday was a rather nasty bit of every type of precipitation but hail, and Friday, the ice storm hit.  It was crazy windy the night before, but I was relieved to find the power was still on when I got up at 6:30am.  For about two more minutes.

Outside, the freezing rain had started and letting dogs out and making my way to the barn was a little dicey.  Because the ice was already weighing down branches, and the wind was rather wild, the horses were definitely staying in.  I went back in the house to let it get lighter out before I tackled stalls-in-the-dark.  Thanks to the woodstove, I wasn't going to be cold, at least, though it was obvious the cappuccino wasn't happening!

 Running the gauntlet with the tractor

To my surprise, the power came back on at 10:30am.  Not entirely trusting that, as the trees were loaded with ice, I skated out to the barn to top up all the waters and fill the troughs and a clean muck basket for reserve.  I started on stalls, and got maybe half of them done before the power went out again.  I also needed to go to the feed store, though a walk partway down the lane with the dogs made it obvious I had some work to do before I managed that!

Made sure everyone had water before it got dark out, then did one last check by flashlight before I went to bed, giving them hay as well.  The house is eerily quiet without the furnace fan, but I still managed to sleep better than I had with the wind the night before!  I woke up a few times, hoping I'd hear the hum of that fan, but no such luck.  Fed breakfast in the dark, and turned everyone out in the slop under dark grey skies.  When it started to rain again, I brought Vivien and the foal in, but left everyone else to deal with it!  A couple of hours later, Vivien starts to get colicky!  While with this kind of weather, no matter the precautions, colic isn't unexpected, it's particularly disconcerting when you have no power, no hot water, and the patient has previously had colic surgery.  I dashed to the house for some Banamine, and breathed a sigh of relief when it eased her discomfort, but knew I'd be keeping an eye on her for a while.

I was just contemplating firing up the ill generator to replenish water, when the I heard the hum of the furnace fan kick in.  I still went directly out to the barn to fill all the waters plus extras, but I'm hoping that's the end of it!  Viv was still doing well at last check, so hopefully I will get to sleep tonight.  And while I maybe should be heading down to the easel tonight, I'm going to park myself in front of the TV and watch the hockey game.  Tomorrow we might actually see the sun for longer than five minutes, and Monday the predicted high is 15 C.  It's going to take a lot more than that to convince me that spring is here!

Observation

Detail...of the detail!  Copyright 2013 Linda Shantz

Observation.  It's something we artists do a lot of, and are hopefully good at.  I do a lot of it with the horses too.  While on the one hand that's for the sheer entertainment value, it's vital to their care, in my opinion.  Because I spend so much time watching my horses, I'm pretty good at spotting when one is a little bit off.  And with horses, sometimes catching something early can mean the difference between resolving it on the farm or a trip to the clinic;  life, or death.  It's also very important when mares get close to foaling time.  Being familiar with the nuances usually allows one to pinpoint foaling to a timeframe of at least hours, instead of days.  Well, that and listening to one's gut!

I have a few works in progress around right now.  I was excited by the prospect of this one of Gracie and Maria when I first took the photos last year, but as I started working on it, I began to have my doubts that it would turn out the way I was hoping!  For one, it's been a while since I've worked on a large Raphael linen panel, and it usually takes a couple of layers of paint before things start going the way I want, because I paint in a series of thin layers for my more detailed work.  I put it away for a couple of weeks, but pulled it out a few days ago. 

First thing I'll do it just look at it - okay, while I'd like to say that's to assess the progress, mostly it's just me procrastinating/tackling paralysis/wanting to throw things at the easel/planning a bonfire.  Once I overcome that hurdle, mix up some fresh paint and actually pick up a brush, the more productive observation begins.  Laying down tone, comparing it to what's next to it, deciding if it needs to be lighter or darker.  Looking at the shapes, comparing them to the photo, stepping back to see if it makes sense at a distance.  Now that I'm into this stage, I'm feeling better about the painting.  It's starting to come together.  I love anatomy, so seeing it start to take shape provides some satisfaction!

This painting is fairly large, 24 x 36, and sometimes progress seems agonizingly slow.  This week was just a reminder to take the time, really look, and focus my far-too-easily-distracted brain!  Hopefully next report will be of the finished underpainting!

Very early stages.  What have I gotten myself into?

Hugo Has a Baby Brother!

 I realise I've been sadly negligent when it comes to blog posts of late.  No point in making excuses, so instead, well....I'll post something!  Nothing like a new foal to get things started.  Yesterday at just after 10am, Vivien had her second foal, a bay colt by Singing Saint.  He's actually a half brother to Hugo, of course.  I've decided his name should be Victor!

I've recently started a painting of Vivien and Hugo from when Hugo was just a couple of days old.  I'm sure Victor will soon be featured in his own paintings!

Snow Day!

 "Fresh Snow,"  11 x 14 oil on canvas

It's been a bit of a difficult winter to have horses in Southern Ontario - at first the mild weather was nice - I mean, who really likes the cold, anyway?  Mud does get old after a while though, and then when the temperatures finally did drop, the footing got treacherous for the horses.  We got a bit of snow to provide relief for a while, but then it rained...and froze...and snowed...and rained....and froze again.  I have a bunch of horses who are wild in their stalls because when they're outside, they just can't do anything!  The yearlings aren't so bad off, because their paddock is a bit better, but still...some of these very cold mornings, turning out has been a bit more dramatic than I like!

Finally, we have had a good, old-fashioned snowstorm.  It has been a while since we've had this much snow - I'm talking years.  As much as I'm not winter's greatest fan, I am happy the horses will finally have some good footing!  It also makes for great reference photos!

I've done a number of snow paintings, but it's been a while.  Something about two winters in a row without much of the white stuff hasn't been all that inspiring.  Hoping there will be some new material to reignite that inspiration!  I have been painting, but everything is a work in progress at the moment.  If you'd like to see some of what's been going on, take a peek at my Facebook page.  One is nearing completion....as soon as it's done, I'll be sure to post it here!

Gracie, A Year Later

One of Gracie's new friends at GRS, fellow OTTB, Charlie

Once again, I've been rather silent around here, and I guess it's primarily because of a horse - my four year old, never-quite-a-racehorse, Gracie.  This time last year, she was recovering from a pretty serious illness that kept me quite worried, but these days, my preoccupation is for better reasons.  In October, thinking it was time to finally get a serious start on her next prospective career, I moved her to a nearby barn with an indoor arena, so I could ride, rain or shine.  No excuses!

I admit it was hard having my girl away from home, but she settled in remarkably well, and seems to endear herself to everyone she meets (either that, or they're all just humouring me!).  It's a rather busy barn, which suits her just fine.  I think I've been far more stressed by the move than she has!  Hopefully I haven't driven poor Lauren too crazy!  Boarders can be such a pain, haha.

Modeling her new-to-her Rambo Rug, Imported from Germany (thanks to Aunt Sheona!).

When it comes to the whole riding bit, Gracie's been rather interesting.  On the one hand, she's very sensible, not your typical chestnut filly, though she does reserve the right to play that card at times.  She is taking some time to deprogram from the racetrack mentality, but that's coming, slowly.  She's still worried about other horses - one of the reasons I moved her to this particular location was because there is an active riding school, so I figured there would be plenty of opportunity to fit her into group lessons so she has a chance to get over that.  The first one was a little bit hairy, but everyone survived!  Now it's just a matter of my life cooperating so that I can continue to work on overcoming that particular issue. 

She is also still dealing with the fallout from an injury she suffered as a weanling - also the reason her racing career never happened.  I've been  trying to do my part in addressing the problems so that hopefully they won't affect her future career.  She's seen a chiropractor, a saddle fitter, and most recently, an Equi-Bow practitioner.  Hopefully I can put all the pieces together!  She's deceiving - she looks big and strong, but being on her, or watching her free longe around the arena, I can see those weaknesses, so I'm hoping by dealing with them now, we'll avoid them becoming more serious.

So, in the past three months, there have been new blankets (she's grown since last winter!), new shoes (for her, not me!) and soon, a new saddle.  Oh well, it's still more fun than last year's big fat vet bill!

 Zoom Zoom!  A little bit of fun in the arena, for a change.

New Homes: Found and Wanted

I haven't said anything about what is going on with horse racing in Ontario right now, and it's not something I plan to  really get into on this blog.  Suffice to say it is in a state of transition.  With the changes, a lot of people, and horses, are going to be out of work.

The thing with racing is, there are always horses looking for new homes.  Not all owners are set up with a big farm where their horses can live out their days once they've been retired from the track, so they place them in new homes.  Many ex-racehorses can have second careers.  We have been fortunate to find great homes for the UnStable  gang that have been in this position.  First of the homebreds (well, not including Gracie, who I snagged for myself!), is Billy, Gracie's foal buddy.  Billy is now known as Parker, and is living in Napanee, Ontario.  His new owner has a blog, so hopefully we'll be following Billy's future as an eventer!

Now we are looking for a home for Maria, who was Peaker's weaning buddy in 2007.  Maria is now a 5 year old, and came back to my farm last winter after she sustained a pelvic fracture in a pasture accident.  She has recovered amazingly well, but the owners have decided it would be too much of a risk to breed her (as was the plan) and would like to find a companion/light riding home for her.  Her gait is a bit altered from the injury, which is no surprise, but if she's in pain, she's not letting on!  She feels good and with the cooler weather has been showing off, running and leaping and generally causing concern for her pasture mate.  If you know of anyone who might be interested in giving this lovely mare a home, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Just in case you're pining for some artwork....pop over to my Facebook page for my Virtual Studio Tour.  Each day I'm adding a new original to the album, with special pricing for the month of November.  Hope you'll check it out!