Been Busy!

A friend of mine sent me this picture - along with the Caption - "Reasons not to Breed Coloured Horses!" Whether it's photoshopped or real it made me smile so thought I'd share!

Thanks for all the blog links in the comments on my earlier entry - now I will have plenty to amuse myself on the long hours of foalwatch...I'll add them to my blog links too when I get a moment...

Just over 8 weeks now til Ari's foal is due....Foaling season is coming round very fast - we have just installed some new cameras which give different views of the barn and diferent boxes so will get those online soon.

Starting to get some interest in the boys, Inde and Ghost for this season so need to get organised and sort out stud cards and work out if we're logistically going to be able to offer AI or not this year... Getting them trained to collect isn't an issue - it's whether or not we can commit to being available to collect 7 days a week, as and when mare owners require semen.. I'd hate to let anyone down so maybe next year would be a better option to offer AI for the first time - when we haven't got quite so much else on!

Negotiating with arena surface suppliers and hope to order the surface very soon, so looking forward to that...it'll be a wonderful feeling when I first ride on our long awaited arena - we'll definitely need a camera ready to capture the moment!

Lame & Naked Horses

Saminca back in October - do you think she looks a little bum high?

It's a bit milder here at the moment than it has been recently and the rain has also relented which is great - it'll give the horses and the fields a chance to dry out! Had to go and rescue little Saminca (rising 2 year old filly) whose rug was hanging off her shoulders AGAIN - 4th time in a week or so... Have now come to the conclusion she doesn't like it - maybe it's not her colour.. So she is naked again now...

Bambi has come in from the field as she was spotted hobbling, so has come in for a bit of investigation and tlc...She probably just knew a wet spell was coming and she wanted to come in to the dry barn! Hopefully it's just an abcess - it's the time of year for them, and she'll be right as rain in no time.

Building work on the yad is progressing well - second big concrete pour due next week - I will try and get some pictures on the site soon, it's changing by the day so very exciting to watch

Will get Christmas and birthdays out of the way and then need to start seriously thinking about potential husbands for the girls in the new year - it'll be foaling time before I know it and I have a short list of about 15 stallions at the moment (for 5 mares!) so need to have a proper think and whittle them down a little...and that's before I go to the stallion show/parade at Addington where something is bound to catch my eye! I have the 4 black Trakehner mares sorted in my head, and Jemima the lovely grey TB, the rest I need more pondering time for...!

Where Are All the Horse Blogs?

Ok so I'm new to Blogger - and I can't find a search option to search other blogs for random words like "horse" or "equine" etc in order to find some other likeminded bloggers...

So I googled "horse blogs" and came up with very little... so I was just wondering where they all are - Fugly Horse of the Day is obviously a must for anyone equestrian minded with a sense of humour but surely there's more out there?

I'm thinking of attempting a Link section to other horse blogs... So if you spot any... Let me know!

In the Beginning!

Those of you who have followed our progress via our website over the years will be familiar with who we are, what we do and what we plan to do! I thought that starting a blog would be a great way of keeping everyone up to date with the happenings on the farm (as well as allowing me an outlet for random thoughts and ponderings while I spend many hours on foal watch in the spring!)

But as a brief introduction for anyone who happens upon this via Blogger and not through our own site, here's a bit about us...

We are relative newcomers to the world of breeding, having only foaled down our first mare in 2004, Chris however comes from a farming background and as played midwife to cows, sheep and pigs many a time - and I'm told there are many similarities! But then he said the same when our own children were born....

In 2008 we are expecting 12 foals of our own, as well as 3 of our liveries here who are also due to foal next season, meaning we will be expecting 15 babies on the farm next year! The Rollestone Maternity Unit will be a busy place next Spring!

Then there's our boys - rising 3 year old colts, Inde and Ghost who will be learning all about dummy mares next year and hopefully covering several of our mares between them.

And as if that wasn't enough to be getting on with for now we are also building a new stable yard complex, and will be putting in a large arena in the new year so lots of work ahead of us but it's all coming together slowly but surely which is good as it's been a long road this far!

Well that sets the scene - I will try and update regularly with news from the farm, and it'd be great to read comments or thoughts from other people about any of the posts I make.

Til next time...