Foal watch begins

Lisa, at Laughing Orca Ranch, has begun Mare Watch Mondays for my Arabian mare, Annie. (Why didn't I think of that?? Anyway, great idea, thanks!)

We are anxiously anticipating Annie's foal. She is 16 years old and this is her first foal but Annie is in excellent health and spirits so I anticipate that everything will go well. Pregnancy has agreed with her, she is very calm nowadays whereas she was extremely flighty in her younger days. She used to kick a lot, so much that I worried about her being a mama. Now, she is gentle and patient and I can work all around her. I am glad that I waited to breed her until she settled down, however, I worried that it would be too late to ever have a foal. You can read about the challenging breeding process last year, here.

Her mother, Fantastka, was a winning racehorse in Poland and became the Polish National Champion mare before she was sold at the Polish sale for a price of $240,000 and imported to the United States. Annie's sire, AH Gallant, by the fabulous El Paso, was also a winning racehorse and register of merit racing stallion and a halter winner at age 16! I didn't want to lose her pedigree. I could never afford a horse with her bloodlines again. When I saw the flyer for Kakhem Sahib, I knew he was the "one".

Kakhem Sahib is a son of the famous Khemosabi. Khemo, as he is affectionately called, has been reserve champion working cow horse three times.

Isn't he pretty?Besides being a show horse, he's also ridden around the ranch. He's got a great disposition, is an outstanding performer, and looks good too. What more could I want? Oh, and he stands 15.1hh so maybe Annie, at 14.3hh, will produce a taller foal than herself. (fingers crossed)

I don't really care what sex the foal is as long as it's healthy. I haven't decided it's future either, since I am currently unemployed but I was hoping to show it.

I was checking on my mare's gestation at a great horse website called Justamere Ranch and this is what I found out.

If your mare was last bred on 7/10/2008, then your soon-to-be foal is now approximately:

45 weeks or 312 days old.

Considering that a mare's average gestation is 335 days, you should be seeing your new addition in approximately 23 days. Please remember, however, that your mare could foal several weeks earlier or later and still be considered to have a "normal" gestation.

Although you should monitor your mare, you probably won't need to spend eleven months of nearly sleepless nights. Normal gestation for a mare lasts about 335 days, with some healthy foals born as early as 300 days and others taking over 360 days. However, foals born before about 320 days are usually weak, have a low birth weight, and may require intensive care. Environmental factors, sex of the foal, and age of the mare can all affect the length of gestation. Foals born during the early spring are often carried a week to ten days longer than foals born during late summer. Colts are usually carried a couple of days longer than fillies. Mares tend to carry their foals longer as they age - usually about one day longer for each year of age over ten years. Mares seem to follow a pattern year after year therefore good record keeping helps to predict when an individual mare will foal.

This means that she could foal a little sooner than I've been anticipating. Or a little later, lol. She is huge and I think the foal is moving back some. I also noticed that her bags are filling. Hopefully, she'll wait a couple more weeks though, June 7th is a full moon.

Sometimes you get so lonely,

Sometimes you get nowhere...

I am learning to do more things by myself. Last night, for instance, I gave Annie a shot! I hate giving shots, worse than getting them. I have seen shots given many, many times but I've never done it myself. I knew that you had to give it in the "triangle" of the horse's neck. The vet also told me to get a little air in the needle first and make sure you are in the right spot before injecting. My daughter held her and as she quietly stood there, I slowly pushed the needle against her skin. It went in and she flinched, which pushed the needle back out. Sigh! So I tried it again. Annie must have thought I was crazy. Good thing the needle was sharp. I pushed and pushed until it went in again and this time I waited a second to make sure there was no blood and squeezed the plunger. Done! I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

I have been trying to breed Annie this spring and have faced hurdle after hurdle. I should call this the Grand National! She has been diagnosed with persistent CL, so I had to give her a shot of Lutalyse. The vet explained that this would get her cycling, so we can then artifically inseminate her. Originally, I was planning on traveling to Colorado in May to drop her off for breeding at the stud farm. Since she is an older maiden mare, never been bred, we figured her best chance of conceiving was at the stud farm. However, she wouldn't load into the trailer. I spent many long, frustrating hours trying to get her to load. I tried driving her, coaxing her, starving her, in the dark, you name it. Finally I called the vet and the breeder to ask about artificial insemination and the vet suggested a horse trainer she knew. To make a long story short, he was successful! Four lessons and she is loading, but not yet easily or dependably. I've had to make four trips to the vet already and this last time I loaded her all by myself with no problems. What an exhausting event!

I have owned Annie for 10 years and seriously considered breeding her at least a half dozen times, but because of job insecurity or the lack of money and time, I'd tell myself, "next year". Well, last October, at the Arabian Nationals, I saw a flyer for Kakhem Sahib, son of Khemosabi. I liked what he looked like and that he was almost a 'local' horse, living in Colorado. (I expected to take Annie to him.) I called the phone number listed and we 'homed' in on each other right there at the showgrounds. Khemo was scheduled to compete in a working cow horse class that afternoon. Julie, the owner, showed him to me. He was so friendly and sweet. Super good looking too, taller than Annie, and dark black-brown. I decided he was the one. Athletic with cow sense and great pedigree, he just seemed right for Annie. He earned the title Reserve Champion Working Cow Horse that day, by the way. This makes his third Reserve Championship.
Here's his picture, Kakhem Sahib+ (Khemosabi++++ x Allah-Rakhi)



Annie's mother is the great Fantastka (Palas x Fanza), who was Polish National Champion Mare in '85.

Her father is AH Gallant (El Paso x Gonina)

and Aladdinn is her great grandfather. Aladdinn is also Khemo's (Kakhem Sahib) grandfather.

Aladdinn (Nureddin x Lalage)

It would be such a shame to lose her line by not breeding her. I think, however, maybe I've been too selective on who would be the ideal mate for Annie. I should have just bred her. It is certainly tough going through all this now. Still, I am thinking positive, that this WILL HAPPEN.