Matings and all that jazz

So we are almost four weeks into the breeding season and we have covered a number of mares. Below is a list of the mares covered thus far:

Amarantine (Badlands Hanover)
Black Hills Rose (Gotta Go Cullect)
Escapades (Gotta Go Cullect)
Graceland (Jeremes Jet)
Ima High Rolla (Elsu)
Living On Love (Gotta Go Cullect)
Mercury Power (Jeremes Jet)
Miss Anvil (Grinfromeartoear)
Priscilla Rocks (Art Major)

Update on Ebony Eye's foal

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - been reasonably busy with breeding, foalings and meetings and trying to fit in a time with my lovely wife as well. It gets hard this time of year.

Our little prem foal took a turn for the worse - he started getting lame in the off hind. We originally thought it would have been a joint ill which is basically an infection in a hoint. This is extremely hard to treat once it takes hold and probably would have resulted in the little guy being put down.
This was on Monday, so on Monday night I was very dejected and annoyed at the world (I will admit I shed some tears). On Tuesday our regular vet had a look at him and thought that the problem wasn't a joint ill (well at least not in the fetlock, hock or stifle - it could still be in a growth plate). So that was great news.

Of course we still don't know exactly what is the cause of the problem, however if it is not a joint ill then anything else seems a lot better to me!

New Foals

Well we had two new foals born over the weekend and both of them were fillies.

First up on Sunday morning we had a lovely Bettors Delight filly out of River Valley Dream NZ.

Then this morning we had a stunning Village Jasper filly out of Corniche Trunkey (pictured).

At this very early stage the Village Jasper filly is going to be a tallish, strongly built filly, while the Bettors Delight will be a more smaller nuggety filly.

So at the moment we have 7 foals - 4 colts and 3 fillies.

Foal Update

Well our little prem foal is going pretty well. He is able to get up by himself now however he still isn't drinking from the mare just yet, but the vets are hopeful he will do that today.

So things are pretty positive at the moment, which is good. The vets also reaffirmed my thoughts that he is a a real fighter!

If he keeps progressing he will be able to be picked up on the weekend or Monday. Fingers crossed.

Foalings and Breedings

While this mornings unexpected foaling was not the best news, prior to that the season has been going well.

Not including today's foaling we have had four healthy foals - 3 colts and a filly and all look good.

Our breeding has been going very well with already a big number of our dry mares bred, of course they will not all go in foal, however the start has been very promising.

One mating has me very excited and that is Priscilla Rocks to Art Major. Priscilla got bred on the 2nd of October so if she goes in foal she will have a nice early foal next year.

Not wanting to tempt fate, but a good sized correct foal by Art Major out of her would have to go close to topping the Perth Yearling Sale.

Funny Thing

Ok it's not that funny - but it is sort of...

Ebony Eye this morning foaled a Northern Luck colt a month early. The colt was alive, but is obviously very small (at a guess 80 - 90 cm tall), weak and couldn't stand up. He had also passed his meconium while in the placenta and his temperature was very low.

So I admit the story isn't that funny yet.

However despite everything that is against this little guy, he still has a strong will to live and a strong sucking reflex.

So while a small, premature foal was before me, the funny thing was that I don't know if I have seen a more cute and heart warming thing as this foal trying to get up and trying to suck anything that got near him!

He is now at the vets and they will treat and care for him as much as they can. His prognosis is not great, but we shall see.

Bunbury Double

We were extremely happy with the results at Bunbury!

We scored a double with Boogiewithmebaby (McArdle - Dream Dancing) and Chillin Dylan (Western Terror - Margareta Ville) both winning very easily.

Boogiewithmebaby was actually McArdle's first downunder winner, however he really struggled as an early 3yo. No with young trainer / driver Justin Prentice he is going better than ever.

Chillin Dylan was always a favourite, a lovely grey colt, he made $35,000 as a yearling to the bid of Neven Botica. So we hope he continues to live up to the promise, and give Neven a good return.