Thursday, April 30, 2009

Beauty had her baby!







It's a girl!

She's a bay filly - born this evening between 8 and 9 pm.

As usual, we missed the birth, but Natasha went down to the barn to do chores and check on Beauty and found a newborn foal in Beauty's stall, still wet and slippery. Beauty is busy cleaning her up and getting to know her.
More details and pictures tomorrow - Mom will be out bright and early to visit her pony, Beauty, and the new foal.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Lots of news today

Cedar (D'Heir to Dream) has been adopted by Fiona H. of Green Glen Farm Inc. and leaves tomorrow (Tuesday).

Nikki (Maack's Nikki) has been adopted by Melanie G. and will leave sometime this week.

Soul has a new sponsor: Michael Milligan of Milligan Iron Works sponsored Soul for him mom's birthday. Thank you, Michael!

Spot is now a registered International Spotted Pony in the International Spotted Horse Registry. His registered name is Spot My Dream. His stud fee has increased accordingly - see his listing in the sidebar.

Charlie the Yorkie has a new home with Mom's neighbour's parents. They'll pick him up on Thursday so he can be a companion for their minature dachshund. He'll be eating Urban Wolf food and living the high life with a lovely retired couple who take their dogs everywhere.

We're up to 5 chicks now. The hens are still brooding a few eggs, so we may have more in a couple of days.




Birth announcement!

Born to SR Silver Dewdrops (Dewey) of Pine Ridge Ranch and Call Me Starmaker (deceased June 4, 2008), a gorgeous colt foal who will roan out to a full leopard Appaloosa as he grows. He's only a few hours old in this picture, but isn't he beautiful?



Congratulations, Joanne!

Still no foal for Beauty, but it should be soon as she was bred before Dewey!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

We have babies!

Chicks, that is.

Roo is a proud father of three chicks (so far). They hatched on Thursday and Friday, and all the hens are really proud and protective of them.



Two are striped like this one, and the other is all yellow. Since all the hens have been brooding all the eggs, we're not sure who the mom is of each chick, but Chip was striped and Red was all yellow.
Roo strutting in the sunlight.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Spring news!

April is underway, the grass has started to grow, and Beauty's baby is due any time now. Her due date was Easter Sunday, April 12, but we're still waiting...


Beauty stays inside her stall most of the time, but likes to go out for short walks and loves to be groomed. There are a lot of places that she can't scratch right now!


Mom came out with chocolate and other treats and then cooked the turkey (and all the fixings) for Easter dinner on Sunday. It was yummy! Thanks, Mom!


We made turkey pot pie with some of the leftovers last night and it turned out great. We all enjoyed it.


Mom knitted Natasha a cool sweater in her favorite colours as an Easter surprise.
Natasha loves it! She doesn't want to wear it in the barn because it might get dirty. (It's all acrylic yarn, so it's machine wash, machine dry.) It fits her perfectly, too.


On Saturday, I went to the Galetta auction with Lori, Laura, and Natasha. I didn't take the trailer as we're trying to downsize rather than acquire more horses, but I still bought one more. I couldn't let him go to the dealers or the meat man - he's S'Heir's half brother and looks just like her. What a cutie.


He's a little on the thin side, but very sweet and well mannered on the ground. He's also lightly started under saddle. Natasha will try him out later this week.


He's by The Royal Heir (S'Heir's sire) out of a grade pony mare. He's registered as a half Arab, too.


His barn name is Cedar (and he knows it well), but we're going to call him D'Heir to Dream. He's available for adoption now to an approved home for only $600, but his price will go up as his training progresses.


We also added another horse to the stable. In the riding ring, we have Drifter, a Paint cross gelding that is here for training. Natasha is working with him on the lunge line and under saddle. He's had a saddle on and has been led around with a rider on his back, but that's about it.


Drifter is for sale by his owner, Julie, for $3000.


Natasha is joining 4H and has a calf for her summer project. Panda is her newest addition - and Natasha feeds her 3-4 times a day with the bottle. She's a hungry little heifer!


We decided to let the chickens keep some of their eggs and brood them. Right now, the hens have about 10 eggs that they're brooding. Chicks take about 21 days to hatch, so if the eggs are fertile, we should have some chicks around the end of April/beginning of May. The hens seem to be quite diligent about keeping the eggs warm and protecting them, so we're hopeful that at least some of them will hatch.


We found out that Classy (Classy Bingo Bar) has a new foal on the ground this year. Her owner sent us pictures of her - she's a darling little filly!



We're looking forward to foals of our own next year by Classy.





East Wind Pony Club news



We have two new members, Sam and Alex! That brings us up to four. We'd love to have more members, so if you're interested, please let us know.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Available for adoption immediately




4 year old male Yorkshire Terrier, purebred.

An an owner surrender, Charlie, has been in an adult home. He has separation anxiety, so would prefer a home with an adult at home during the day.

Owners are splitting up and moving to apartments where no dogs are allowed.

Due for shots in May, freshly groomed and clipped.



If you're interested in a small dog as a companion, please email dreamscapeacres@yahoo.ca.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Catching up - March and April

My goodness, the last few weeks of March went by quickly!

Neala was adopted by Kim P. She left for her new home last week. Kim will stay in touch and let us know how Neala does. We're happy she has a new home and Gwen is putting on weight now that she's no longer nursing Neala. Gwen is out with Reba and a round bale.

Tira was adopted by Glenna. Glenna also adopted Einstein the rabbit (now renamed Eugene). Tira leaves early next week - as soon as Glenna's face heals after having her wisdom tooth out. (Ouch!)

UPDATE: Glenna decided to adopt Finnigan too! Both Finnigan and Tira are in their new home now.

We celebrated my birthday on the Saturday after St. Patrick's Day. Mom, my grandparents, Serge's children, and baby Karen came to celebrate with me. Mom made spaghetti, garlic bread and a cake, and Granny brought a green salad with homemade dressing and croutons. Yummy!


On Sunday, we held our Spring Fling open house. The kids made a craft out of horse shoes and various craft supplies that Mom donated.




Jennifer S. made a frog out of pompoms and googly eyes.

Natasha, Miella, Michael and I decorated horse shoes.




Tink let the kids decorate her with the stuff that we had to dress ponies. She's a good dog.



Even the dillyboppers didn't faze her.




Jasper wasn't as keen - Jennifer S. had to hold the hat above his head for this picture.





Miella and Natasha dressed Sneakers in green. He was thrilled to be chosen, and proudly showed off his green hat, blanket, wraps, and shamrock collar.




Miella wore all the trappings, too!



Mom made a cake to celebrate our third anniversary here, and everyone who came to the open house had a piece. Yum! Chocolate cake, chocolates on the cake, and buttercream icing.
Serenity
Serenity is now wearing soft casts on all four legs for a week at a time. They have to be changed every week so that she doesn't get rubs or end up with them moving out of position as she grows.
Although we thought about the Dynasplints - and thought they'd do a good job - they turned out to be too expensive for our budget. Even their "payment plan" put them beyond our reach.
Jeff Sleeth, our vet, came out and xrayed Serenity's legs. She was very good for the xrays - and for me holding the plates in place wearing 100 lbs of lead apron and gloves. Jeff took three pictures of her worst leg (near fore) and showed them to us on his laptop. He saved the xrays on a CD for us, too, so we have copies.
He didn't see any damage to the pastern joint, so he thinks that the soft casts (or the Dynasplints, if we could afford them) combined with stall rest, selenium and other minerals, and a restricted diet will help Serenity outgrow the contracted tendons. He also said that rather than the deep digital flexor tendon being contracted, it appeared that it might be her suspensory ligaments that were too tight.

After a week with the soft casts, her legs look better already! We're really hopeful that this will work.

The angles still aren't perfect, but with hand walking, soft casts, and lots of care, Serenity has a better chance at a good life now.
Her rain rot or rain scald is clearing up, too, and she enjoys a gentle grooming with a soft brush now - or a thorough scratch from a human. She's also finished her antibiotics for the infection caused by the open sores from the rain scald. She was a very good girl for her needles.


The snow is just about gone. Natasha, Kathrine and I spent a bit of time last Saturday opening little ditches to allow the water to drain off the fields.

The boys all lined up to watch us playing in the water.


Spot, Coconut, and Classy had a quiet chat in the sunshine.

Classy must have said something funny - Otis looks like he's laughing.
For sale
Maggie is still for sale. Jennifer N. needs to sell her soon. If you are interested in a beautiful, registered Paint mare, please scroll down to see her photos. Jennifer N. will accept any reasonable offer to sell her quickly.

Thank you!
Thank you to Serge Bergeron at the Embrun Rona Co-op for donating wormers.
Thank you to Glenna for adopting Tira, Einstein the rabbit, and sponsoring Serenity, plus donating hay nets, halters and an automatic water bowl.
Thank you to Kim P. for adopting Neala.
Thank you to Winn for donating a bag of cross-cut shredded paper.
Linda and George W. for donating a new to me used computer and their time.
Thank you to all our sponsors:
Alex for sponsoring Firecracker
Jennifer G. for sponsoring Delilah
Glenna for sponsoring Serenity
Laura and Linda W. for sponsoring Gwen
Without you, we couldn't help nearly as many horses. Thank you!
Thank you too for all the lovely cards for my birthday!