I awoke a full hour before my alarm was to go off at 6:30 AM. An extra hour of sleep would be nice before a long road trip.
But. Here I lay. Fully energized and rearing to go. Excited to get where we are going. However, I am forcing myself to stay in bed because that was the plan. No sense in getting everything finished early just to sit and wait again. Silly, right?
Anyway, here I am, writing to you since clearly the prospect of sleep is leaving as quick like as the sun is about to rise. And because Darcy dog is not here to cuddle. Which, is not so fun, not having my dog with me.
I played on my phone a bit when I first realized there would be no more sleep. Then I put it down and tried again. No luck. Picked it up again. I was reminded of a song. You know how that happens.
Here I am, laying in bed. Having the luxury of lounging in bed for an hour before I need to do anything. About to gather everything my horse and I need for a week, load it up, and head out with R for a week of riding and fellowship.
How did I get here? How am I able to do these things that I love? Have these horses that I have? How blessed am I?
I get to do all these things because my parents worked their tails off and did everything they could for us. Because they taught us to work our tails off. To do the right thing. To not give up on our dreams and wishes. To do what makes our hearts happy. To have faith and give thanks to the Man upstairs for it all who makes it all possible.
Even when we didn’t realize or appreciate it.
So.
I give thanks to the Lord. I give thanks to my parents and family. And I give thanks to my horse.
Corny as it may sound, it is all true.
Time to get up and get moving. R will soon be on her way!
Walk in love, dear readers! I will see you in a week!
And the Oxford comma. Ha! Hey, I’ve got jokes today!
No, for real.
Something so Elemental as to embody all four of those concepts. More than just words. They are senses. Images. Feelings. Emotions. All in themselves.
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. God’s paintings twice a day, every day, no matter where you are. Both at the beginning and the end. Of everything. Yet different every day. New.
Seeing and smelling the earth, feeling the air across your skin as you lope your horse around, praying for those clouds to produce some rain (at least where we are, they have had more rain than us!), and having your soul set on fire.
Blessed and grateful.
The reflection of the sunset on the eastern sky Saturday evening with horses and friends. Clearly no better at focusing for photos than I’m sure we were as kids…
Please take a moment to enjoy Lito’s expressions. Seriously, that horse. I just can not contain myself.
Sorry. Where was I? Right.
Sunrise progression Sunday morning. I told you God likes Sundays to be foggy…
Two things that inspire me most next to my horses and my dog.
Have you caught a sunrise or a sunset recently? Share if you have! If you have not, do yourself a favor and watch one soon.
Sunrise. My favorite time of day. If you have not deduced that little factoid about me yet. It is. It is just my favorite time of day. Everything is new, fresh, and innocent. Dynamic and colorful. An event you can count on every day. For me, I am always struck by the blessing. The blessing to have a new day as a gift. A fresh start. To do what makes my heart smile. To begin a new day in the best way possible viewing God’s painting. It certainly did not hurt that I got to see all of the horses right before I had to load up in my car and head to town for work. Nothing like country morning air laced with the smell of horse. I started out the day seeing the positive. The beautiful. The light. These shots were taken by the front gate as I was leaving.
I usually take her with me, but I left Darcy in town for the night because I was not going to get to the farm till late just to turn around and come right back. Barely enough time to do what needs doing, but it needed doing. Anyway, dogs always amaze me. I left her at my parents’ house in the care of my dad while she looked at me with confusion and sadness and came back to her happy face and wagging tail, seemingly asking where I had been. All perceived sadness and confusion gone as if it were not there in the first place. Today I came to pick her up after work and there she was, all smiles and ready to go. Are we going? Yes, we are going!
On Sunday, when I got back from my girls riding weekend, we had a much needed, grass growing rain. I got everything unloaded and the trailer cleaned out and parked before I took care of a couple of things. I cooked burgers for a late lunch with my parents while they worked on some chores themselves. They had been working all morning. Just as we sat to eat the sky opened up. It didn’t last terribly long, but the drops were big and plentiful. You know the kind. The kind that drenches everything before you realize it’s raining.
This weekend was much needed. I can’t say that I necessarily rested, but it was relaxing and I was able to forget my anxieties and all the balls floating in the air. There were 5 of us. We ate. We drank. We rode. We talked. We were leisurely and relaxed. We lounged by the pool. Rain was promised all weekend and we did not get any. We saw stunning sunsets set in thunderclouds illuminaded by lightning and serenaded by distant rolling thunder. Everyone was able to get home safe before the rain on Sunday.
My Cheetah girl was her usual, saucy self, but settled nicely once we got riding. We both needed that weekend.
Lito and I are proceeding with our hand walking regimen. It started out a little dicey, but today he was much better. But let us be honest, he is still easier than probably most other 4 year olds. After our walk, I let him graze for a little but while I enjoyed the shade and the sounds around me. Let us all marvel how he has not rubbed his mane out while being penned up!
All of this to say, I’m chugging along over here, juggling all the balls and doing all the things. Soon enough, life will settle back down and get back to ‘normal.’ Whatever normal is. Just less balls in the air I guess! Here is hoping I will be in my townhouse by the beginning of next week.
I miss you, my dear readers, and can not wait to get back to talking with you more!
Spring has officially arrived! The sun is warm. Horses and dogs are loosing their winter coats. Everything is yellow, including the nastys I have been coughing up in the morning...er…The pollen is exploding on the trees. The air is soft, both in feel and temperature. Besides the nastys, it is glorious.
I have decided on a schooling show to work towards at the end of April, have submitted payment for a working equitation clinic in June, and am going to audit a Charlotte Dujardin Through The Levels Masterclass in November. I am really excited about these! Making good on my 2017 goals! Just need to make lessons a priority now.
I am a little under the weather because of these allergies (seriously, these never used to be a thing for me, ugh)…and possibly, maybe, because I have been staying out too late, but oh well, you only live once.
I am house and dog sitting for the rest of this week. All the dogs are played out and enjoying basking in the sun. This past Sunday (how is it already Tuesday??!), I loaded everyone up and headed out to the farm for the day.
The day started out extremely foggy. Quite literally in a cloud. Once at the farm, I decided to wait out the fog before riding and convinced my mom to come on a walk with me and the dogs after I fed the horses. As per usual, my Darcy girl had a grand time doing her thing and running circles around the other two. These city dogs though! They had the best time being dogs! Their coats were sopping from the dew and covered in pollen within a few minutes.
We walked down to the pond first where they waded in to prime their coats to get really good and dirty. Deciding it was best to avoid the cows with the newbies, we turned around to walk back up to the front gate and back again. With all the rain we have had, there was a big muddy hog wallow by a group of live oaks. You an probably guess where this is going, but I will tell you anyway. They all promptly got in and laid down with the biggest panting grins on their faces. After a good chuckle, we called them out and continued back to the house. A good run through the tall, wet grass got all their coats moderately clean. They were so dang happy. There is nothing like a happy, dirty, and tired dog. Except maybe three of them! Impossible to smile.
I put them all in the kennel and went to grab Lito for a ride. Darcy is always with me when I ride, but I put her up with the other two to make sure the others would stay safe. A quick groom session and I had Lito tacked and ready to go.
I have stopped counting his rides, but we are somewhere in the neighborhood of 15. He continues to amaze me with his incredible mind. In an ideal world, I would be riding him around 3 times a week. I have still only been able to ride him every two weeks or so. I was worried that it would be a problem and I would have to bring him somewhere closer to town so I could ride him more. It is not only not a problem, but he continues to get better. I might still have to do that somewhere down line, but for now it is working.
We did a little arena work and then went down to the cow pasture with my mom (she is the best) to have a little trot and then back up to the front gate. I am so proud of him. We are pretty consistently forward and have pretty good rhythm. He is continually reminding me, since he was born, to be relaxed and open. He is so sensitive and responsive in a very good way. If I remember to think and ask first, I almost do not even have to do anything. He is such a blessing.
After lunch I spent the rest of my time there helping the horses shed some winter hair before heading back to town. Now is it the end of Tuesday and work is work and it is busy. Most everyone was out of the office last week, so it is back to the normal hustle. Which is not really normal, incidentally.
That is all for now. Super exciting stuff, I know. Please, try to contain yourself over there. This week is going by so fast, hence the lack of posts! Sorry about that!
I had a friend tell me that she was feeling blue yesterday after a great weekend and that she did not know if it was because the weekend was over or because of the unknown future. It got me thinking as I have often felt the same way myself and my suggestion was to:
Focus on something good from the weekend (or past), something good right in front of you, and do something fun for yourself tomorrow. Nobody knows the future, so you are not alone!
Too bad I can not seem to do that for myself in those moments, so I think I will do the same thing for myself right now. We all have something to be grateful for even when it is all going up in smoke and hitting the fan. AHAmoment. It also seems like a good idea since I am supposed to be practicing self love and all that. Disclaimer, this may or may not turn into another love fest, and I will make zero apologies for it.
Something good from the weekend.
I rode 3 amazing horses.
Saturday I took Second Chance, Chance on a road ride with some long time friends. It was terribly HOT. Like sweating at 8 in the morning hot. He was amazing even though he made some ugly faces at some other horses. It was quite comical, really. I also got compliments on his butt. It is pretty big. I really need to show you what he used to look like. I love how he shines like a penny even when he is a woolly bear.
Sunday morning I rode the my best gal, Cheetah. We did some arena work with transitions and ground poles before going down in the pastures to check the cows and let her really open up and stretch her legs. I did not get any photos because I was having too much fun. I finished out the morning doing some chores and unpacking the trailer. Then, my parents (the most amazing parents ever) met me for lunch at a nearby town on their way home from out of town and then came back to the farm so I could ride my Lito. I could not ask for better parents or a better colt. Seriously. This horse. I think it was his 10th ride or so and the first ride in a couple months. He was AMAZING. He was much more forward and fluid than he has been. That was a little bit of a worry for me. It reminds me to stay the course and do not lose heart. He is still learning. AHAmoment. He is just so easy, brave, and keeps getting better…and taller. I will stop before I explode.
Something good in front of me from today.
My dog is tired and happy from running at the farm and my boss told me she was proud of my work. Boom. Enough said.
Something fun for myself tomorrow.
My bible study is having a Valentines party as our class. Thank goodness because I do not like Valentines Day!
Pretty dang good at present. Certainly can not complain.
What are your 3 things? Something good from the weekend (or past), something good in front of you today, and something fun for yourself tomorrow?
OK, get your cup of coffee, I am finally (way late) jumping on the pedigree bandwagon of the unofficial blog hop. Sorry to my non horse followers, bear with me. I am not always a bore if this is your first time stopping in. It is still pretty interesting given that there are some Kentucky Derby runners in there! I have had fun reading everyone’s post on this. If you have not done it yet, do! Now if only someone from the PRE world would start one…
The Thoroughbred (TB) world is a bit of an unknown to me. I am pretty new to actually paying attention to TB pedigrees, as I did not grow up with them. I know more about Quarter Horses (QH) and the Iberian horses, mainly the Pura Raza Espanola (PRE/Andalusian). I had an off the track thoroughbred (OOTB) on my string in college. I really liked him, but for the life of me I can not remember his name. I actually feel quite terrible about that. I normally remember all the horses I ride. Geeze, I am getting old. I never knew his registered name anyway. I digress, back to the point. We will start with Cheetah’s dam.
While not a full TB herself, Cheetah’s dam was an OTTB. I did a bunch of research into her linage while in grad school before I bred her. It was a perfect and satisfying procrastination session. Especially since you can go all the way back to the 1700’s. It yielded some interesting results. Well, at least interesting to me. You TB people will have to tell me what you think. I can not remember if any of your TB lines intersect.
I went pretty far back. Growing up, we mostly had grad horses with generally unknown stories. If only they could talk. To at least be able to track the genetics of a horse is another puzzle piece we do not always have. I basically just used Equibase, Google, and Denny Emerson. I do not know anything about the get of these horses, so if you know anything about that, I am all ears.
The internet is a wonderful thing. Cheetah’s dam, Innocent Millicent (Milli), was not stellar on the track herself, but when you look farther back, she had some good blood in her.
She was foaled in Texas April 1996 and ran twice in July 1999 a couple weeks apart at Gillespie fairgrounds, finishing 8th and 9th. In her maiden start, finishing 8th out of 10, she showed brief speed in the beginning, but it didn’t hold. In her second start, she was far back, failed to maintain bld? racing 5 wide throughout, and finished last. I have no idea if she had any other foals besides my Cheetah. When I got Cheetah, Milli was being used as an english and western Equestrian Team horse at my college.
As to not bore everyone to death (is it too late?), here are the stand outs in Milli’s pedigree:
TV commercial (KY) – graded stakes placed, 3rd in KY Derby, 400K+ career earnings
TV Lark (CA) – Eclipse Award 1961 Champ Grass Horse, mult. graded stakes winner, 900K+ career earnings
Faneuil Girl (FL) – stakes placed that sold at auction preg for almost 1.5 mil
Coaltown – Hall Of Fame 1983, Eclipse Award 1949 Horse Of The Year, Eclipse Award 1949 Champ Older Horse, Eclipse Award 1948 Champ Sprinter, graded stakes placed, 2nd in KY Derby, 400K+ career earnings
Northern Dancer (CAN) – Horse Of The Year 1976, Sovereign Award 1964 Horse of the Year, Eclipse Award 1964 Champion 3 Year Old Colt, Sovereign Award 1963 Champion 2 Year Old Colt, mult. graded stakes winner, 580K+ career earnings
Native dancer (USA) – Hall of Fame 1963, Eclipse Award 1954 Horse of the Year, Eclipse Award 1954 Champion Older horse, Eclipse Award 1953 Champion 3 Year Old Colt, Eclipse Award 1952 Horse of the Year, Eclipse Award 1952 Champion 2 Year Old Colt, Multiple Graded Stakes Winner, 1st Belmont Stakes 1953, 1st Preakness Stakes 1953, 2nd Kentucky Derby 1953 (lost by a nose), 785K+ career earnings
Jaipur (USA) – Eclipse Award 1962 Champion 3 Year Old Colt, Graded Stakes Winner, 600K+ career earnings
Why can I not find confirmed pics of this horse?
Eight Thirty (USA) – Hall of Fame 1994, Multiple Stakes Winner, 150K+ career earnings
Man o’ War (KY) – (my fav race horse) Hall of Fame 1957 , Eclipse Award 1920 Horse of the Year, Eclipse Award 1920 Champion 3 Year Old Colt, Eclipse Award 1919 Champion 2 Year Old Colt
Turn-to (IRE) – mult stakes winner 208K+ career earnings
There are several other multiple stakes and multiple graded stakes winners in there. It is a shame she is no longer alive. She might not have been a great runner herself, but if crossed with the right stud, she might have produced a pretty good race or sport horse. Maybe. Maybe not.
Cheetah’s sire, Drifts Wily Doc (QH), also has quite good breeding for a good all round cow horse. From what I understand, he is a work horse and sire of mostly working horses that basically always wins or places in the show ring. He earned his Register Of Merit. Farther back in the TB origins, all three of the developers of the modern TB make several appearances (Matchem, Eclipse, & Herod).
There is more line breeding on this half, but some recognizable names (info & pics from AQHA):
Driftwood – AQHA Hall Of Fame 2006; match race winner, roper; sire of fast, calm, athletic, pretty heads (love that detail, thanks AQHA)
Poco Bueno – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1990; very influential sire; cutting champion; sire of 36 champions and 3 Hall of Famers; sire of gentle, easy, smart
Sugar Bars – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; great sire of stakes race winners and performance horses; sired by Three Bars (TB)
Joe Reed II – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; courage; heart; speed; born to run; won race with gimpy knee; sire of cutting, roping, and race horses and an AQHA Hall Of Fame horse (Leo)
Joe Reed – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1992; conception planned by grooms and jockeys without owners consent; raised on a bottle; almost died; great sprinter; sire of Joe Reed II and Red Joe; #3 horse in AQHA stud book
Clabber – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1997; ‘Iron Horse’ known for soundness; not very good looking with flared hooves; worked all day as ranch horse and won several match races on weekends; World Champion Quarter Running Horse and Wold Champion Racing Quarter Horse Stallion; great sire
King P-234 – (Mansebo‘s grand or great grand sire) AQHA Hall Of Fame 1989; legend; Man o’ War of Mexico; cow horse; sire of great performance and cow sense
Doc Bar – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1993; sired by Three Bars (TB); failed as race horse; 15 hh; sire of NCHA Futurity winners, world champs, top 10 horses, uniform, easy, ability, sense, and cow
Poco Lena – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1991; known for her beauty; very successful cutter; bad founder; great brood mare; first NCHA Hall Of Famer and first mare in AQHA HOF
Three Bars (TB) – Good race horse but plagued with injury; great sire of QH and TB
Peter McCue (TB) – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1991; AQHA founding sire; race winner and mult distances; sire of some of the great foundation AQHA horses
Wimpy P-1 – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1989; #1 horse in the AQHA stud book; produced 174 registered horses for King Ranch; sire of champions
Old Sorrel – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1990; started King Ranch breeding program; 14.3 hh with great balance, conformation, temperament, quickness, and cow; bred to TB mares; sired uniform conformation
Traveler – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1994; unknown origins; came from New York; was a plow horse; known to be ‘perfect’ looking; sired great runners with good disposition and confirmation
Lightning Bar – AQHA Hall Of Fame 2008; sired by Three Bars; great race horse even though plagued with pneumonia, distemper, cut coronet bands, and an injured knee; Register Of Merit; Champion in halter; sire of great race champions and cutter Doc Bar; died at 9 yo from virus
Texas Dandy – AQHA Hall Of Fame 1995; sire of race winners, AQHA champions, great broodmares; movie star of “Boy From Indiana”
I bet you think I am crazy now! I like history and I make no apologies! I am a ninth generation Texan, so I could have talked about that.
I would love my Cheetah even if I had no idea where she came from or if she came from ‘lesser’ horses. She has a big heart and is very brave. She does everything and more.
This is my first blog hop, and it will not be my last! It has rained basically non stop since Friday, so I have no fun riding stories. I basically did chores and fed while getting wet. Then on Sunday, my parents and I got the family Christmas tree. I finished decorating it last night with the help of wine. The decorating is almost finished. Normally, I would be finished with Christmas deco within a couple days of Thanksgiving, but given the events of late, it just has not happened.
I digress, I am going to jump on the TB pedigree blog hop bandwagon eventually, but I can not remember who started that one? Cheetah‘s dam was an OTTB and has a fun pedigree. I did all the research while I was in grad school. It was great for procrastinating.
Today’s blog hop comes from A Soft Spot For Stars. I already like her because we both have dun mares. Anyway, I too am curious about fellow bloggers locations and what it is like where they are.
No secrets here, I am a Texas gal. I reside in the ‘southern half’ of the state, in a big city. My horses stay at our family farm an hour away. That makes things difficult for me and my fuel consumption. However, it is an easy hour drive and I can go out after work whenever I need or want. The time change makes it hard to ride when I go after work during the winter, but I can blanket the old guy and feed him before it gets dark on cold nights. I will be doing that the latter half of this week.
Demographic? Most people that live in and around the city board their horses if they do not have property outside of town. There are several equestrian friendly communities outside of town where you can live and keep or board horses. We are probably 50/50 mix of western to english riders of all kinds. There are many shows and clinics in the ‘general area.’ Most shows and clinics are just far enough away from where the horses are to not be ‘convenient’ (1.5-2+ hr haul). This is very frustrating for me as I am hungry for more knowledge and do not want to let my riding get stagnant. BUT there are many great trainers and I have a few that I plan to haul to for lessons in the near future. We have a few good tack stores in town (good or bad considering how you look at it!). There is a big tack store in the area. It is generally an hour from town or an hour from the farm, but I ride horses for people out that way sometimes.
Costs of horse keeping in my region of the great state:
Trim-$35 (Lito just gets a trim, as do the other geldings and Petunia)
Front shoes-$70 (I keep front shoes on Cheetah Beets)
Average cost of a month of full time training-$800
Average cost of monthly pasture board-$400
Average cost of monthly stall board-$600 (All kinds of board and prices range wildly. These averages might be on the high side, but there are places I have seen that have exorbitant prices. The ones that I have looked at and work for me are not all that much closer than the farm)
Hay, good horse quality Bermuda-$8.00 (I have not looked at the prices for this year yet)(We high quality pasture and have had good rains this year…I do not think we will need to buy too terribly much this year)
What I consider priceless? Feeding in my pj’s. That Texas sky. Sunrises and sunsets viewed from the back of my horse. When I am at the farm, I can do whatever, whenever.
Weather? In the summer it is hot and humid. The only ‘good thing’ about the humidity is that it keeps us from generally having too many 100+ temp days. The heat index is the killer…and the bugs. All of our cows have some percentage of Brahman in them to help with coping with bugs and humidity. I ride all year round. In the summer on the weekends, I wake up and feed in the dark so I can be tacked up and mounted by the time I can see with the first light. I generally ride 2 horses (groom, ride, cool out, hose down) and get some chores finished by 11 AM. I do not do much else until 7 PM when I will ride another horse. It also limits when I haul. I do not like to haul during the hot, middle of the day. During the work week, I hustle out there and get 1 horse ridden and get back home late. Sometimes I stay out there for the night and come back super early in the morning for work. Winter is pretty easy by majority standards. It will freeze a few times. Lows are generally in the 40’s. A cold night is in the 30’s. It will only do that for a few days. It is not uncommon to be riding in short sleeves in January.
Lito has what I think is an allergic reaction to mosquitoes or flies. Does anyone else have this problem???
Hot Darcy.
A ‘frosty’ morning ride on Cheetah, looking at the geldings.
Other notes? Hunting season. It cramps my style a little bit because some in the family like to hunt at the farm. That is all fine and good except that requires me to not ride. That bugs me. Other than that it is fine. Our property is on a river and there are some duck hunters that like to come and park themselves behind the barn. The barn is not right on the river, but it is close. Anyway, I can hear them and let me tell you, it is funny. They are not very good at their duck calls and I can hear them talking. That is not how you do it!
Frustrating things?
The drive. I wish they were closer. However, I like not having to pay board. I have contemplated it so I could have at least a horse closer. I also like them being able to live like horses. It is also simpler to have them at the farm with the others. I have also contemplated moving to a place somewhere in the middle.
I miss the barn community. It is a great thing. I have horse friends that I ride with, but most of them are not in our neck of the woods.
Join in on the blog hop if you have not already! I have had fun reading them!
I started decorating for Christmas yesterday after work. I put on my Spotify Christmas playlist entitled ‘The Reason For the Season.’ It all really lifted my spirits and today is a new day!
For a new influx of happy/fun/positive on this Thursday, I have for you some of my past years animal Christmas photos! It is December 1st after all. I will take some new ones soon. This is to prep you. I know you are just too excited. If you are well behaved, I might rustle up some old Christmas photos of us sisters all in matching outfits…that is a real hoot.
Have you ever taken funny Christmas photos??? Share them with me!
Walk in love, dear readers.
The first year I made everyone do it. Look at Apache’s face! He was wishing he was not retired so he could buck me off.
Darcy’s first Christmas photo.
Darcy is a good sport.
Look what I made baby Lito man do. Maybe not such a baby. This was last year when he was 2.5+ yo. Yes, those are jingle bells. He is a good boy. I am mean.
Settle in with some coffee, y’all. Here is the good part. Full disclosure, get ready for cuteness overload. It will be worth it to get to the bottom of this post! Check out part 1 from yesterday if you missed it.
It was Tuesday. Before 7 AM. I was in the computer lab on campus finishing an assignment for a geophysics course that was due later that day. As I worked, I pondered to myself, “I wonder if today will be the day?” I had grown weary of waiting on Cheetah…and paying for board. Horse people problems, I tell you. I shook my head and got back to work while at the same time cursing myself for signing up for more school, assignments, and having to learn MATLAB. I loathe MATLAB.
I looked at my phone for the time (why not the computer I have no idea) and just as the clock turned to 7:20, a call came in from the lady I was boarding Cheetah with. A fleeting moment of panic rushed in as I got the all familiar, punch in the gut sickness that there was a problem. Colic? Breach position? Still birth? Was she having trouble? You name it, I thought it in that moment. I can not tell you how long I stared at the phone while it rang before I came to. Answer the phone you idiot!
My mind jumped to the present as I answered the phone. I do not even remember what was said other than that the time had come! I immediately called my mother and started to cry the moment I heard her voice. I feel now is a good time to tell you a little something about me. I am a crier. Not a pretty one. And sometimes a catastrophic thinker, if you didn’t already pick that up. This is a genetic trait. OK, now back to the story. My mother answered the phone saying something like, “oh, is it time!? I had a feeling!” Then she heard me and assumed the worst, forgetting that I am me and her daughter. I somehow got the message across that there was not a problem and we needed to go!
Best mom ever was waiting in the driveway with the carrots, champagne, orange juice, and coffee cake packed in a cooler. How I managed to drive the 40 min out there through my excitement is beyond me. As we got out of the car and walked into the barn, I could see my now pair of horses. I about fainted when I saw the dorsal stripe on that tall, lanky foal. I knew it was a colt just by looking at his face. I had hoped and prayed for a dun filly. I expected a bay colt. I got a pretty good middle option! The biggest dun colt in the barn! He was bigger then the 1.5 week old foals in the barn and just a complete spunk of a personality. I was, and still am, a goner.
Cheetah apparently just popped him right out like it was nothing. I filled her full of carrots and thank yous as mom popped the champs and served coffee cake. Truth be told, I got so worked up I was sick to my stomach and could not enjoy the coffee cake for more than a couple of bites. The mimosa helped to settle me a bit as I got to know my new colt.
When my mom had her full of barn time and I was assured my dun duo were OK, I agreed to leave them on the condition we have Mexican for lunch on our way in. I arranged pickup for a week later. I was full on hangry at this point with a couple of mimosas and having not eaten all day. I got my bearings enough when we got to the restaurant to email my professor and ask for an extension on my assignment, stating a family emergency. That counts in my book and I was granted one! Winning!
The little booger needed a name. No easy feat, naming a baby of any kind. Now I will be honest and tell you that I had a couple picked out prior to the birth, but I was not committed till after I met him. If it came out to be a colt, I knew I wanted an ‘M’ name in honor of Magico. I first came up with the name Manolito from a song (I know, go figure). It is half in English and half in Spanish. Just like my new colt. It is about a great ranch horse, just like my new colt would grow to be. Have a listen to the story about the inspiration and to the lyrics of the song. I know some of you are rolling your eyes at me right about now, but just give it a chance! I love this song. Thanks to THE Wylie Gustafson for the vid on YouTube!
I started to research the origins of the name and this is what I learned. It is a nick name or term of endearment for the name Manuel. Manuel comes the name Emanuel. Emanuel means ‘of God’ or ‘God is with us.’ It sure seamed to fit him and the situation. Kept everything in perspective. Naturally, I thought Lito would be a great name for the biggest colt in the barn! Lito is not so little lito!
I picked my duo up to bring them home one week after Lito’s grand arrival. He loaded right into the heavily shavings bedded trailer right after his dam, and he unloaded just the same. He fit right in with everything and everyone. At 2 weeks old, he was a better equine citizen than most mature horses. Before I knew it, I looked up, and he is now 3.5 yo, standing at 16.2 hh, and started under saddle by me. I am one blessed human to have the best mare and colt.
