MS Lady Erin

 All the way back in 2016, I made my second foray into breeding horses. I had just bought the sweetest thoroughbred I've ever sat on - Magic Lady (now belonging to K), expressly for the purpose of breeding something both kind and athletic. Milady came off the track quiet enough to hack around in a halter, and I was smitten.

Milady in her racing days

Milady's first beau turned out to be the first and last warmblood I ever owned - an exquisite jumping-bred colt by the name of Exavior. Exavior ended up with me through an unexpected little twist of either fate or Providence; he would ordinarily have been worth more money than I could really even conceive at that point. His sire Esaro W and damsire Rivale d'Or had both been and produced A-grade jumping horses (if I remember correctly), and his dam, Cointreau d'Or, had herself jumped up to about 1.20m before retiring to stud.

Exavior was exorbitantly too much for me from the start, however, even after I gelded him once Milady was pregnant. I eventually realized this and sold him - one of the smarter decisions of my teenage years, honestly - and he went on to jump up to the 1.20m before he sadly passed away while he was still quite young. He was being produced by an Open rider at the time and I'm pretty sure he would have jumped the big grades if he'd lived long enough.

The result of this match was born at a quarter past four in the afternoon on October 21st, 2016, with a gaggle of adoring riding school teens staring in awe. 

The foal was a tall and precocious little filly who was on her feet before she was an hour old. I named her Lady Erin after my best-best-best-best-best friend, who was suitably flattered. We had to give her a little help suckling, but overall, it was absolutely textbook... until it wasn't. 

Ladybug, as she eventually became known, was only five days old when I noticed that Milady had swollen lymph nodes and a slight temperature. The vet was out pronto and pronounced that she had strangles... and that she would likely be the first of many. I was nineteen years old, had not yet passed my stable manager's exam, and had only a measly few months of experience when I was plunged into the unbelievable disaster that is managing an outbreak of a massively contagious disease in a herd of horses living out. The one consolation was that strangles is not typically fatal... except in the very old, the immunocompromised, and the very young. At five days, Ladybug certainly fell into that category.

Three very intense weeks followed. Milady took a long time to recover fully from the strangles and lost an unbelievable amount of weight. Ladybug, however, soldiered on with the type of cheerful sassiness that can only come from a few-day-old baby chestnut mare. She didn't have a single day of sickness and by the time it was all over, she was so used to being hugged and cuddled and kissed and carefully inspected that she was ready for the flood of riding school kiddos to fawn over her. She became the darling of the whole yard and had all the attention she could ever want.

When Ladybug reached weanling age, the yard hit a major financial pothole. I had started out with rather more ambition than sense, and between schoolies, resale projects, and my ever-growing herd of own horse, things were getting ridiculous. I had to put her on the market, and she was quickly snapped up by a lovely, experienced home hours away on the southern coast.

I thought that that was the last time I'd ever see Ladybug. Erin and I were both doing some serious social media stalking, but there's not a whole lot that most people post about 1, 2, or 3-year-old babies growing up in the field.

Then, in January, Erin stumbled on a sales ad. A horse matching Ladybug's description was being sold for a song. We got in touch with the owner, who was heartbroken to let Ladybug go, but didn't have a choice; circumstances had grown hard, as they did for so many people at that time. I started putting out feelers, hoping desperately that someone would buy her and offering a year's free livery and schooling to anyone that would. I couldn't bear for that lovely sweet filly to have anything other than a soft landing.

Of course, my stableyard is filled with the most wonderful people. Within a day, two people had stepped forward offering to buy Ladybug even though neither of them were really shopping for horses at the time. In the end, it was Erin herself, Ladybug's namesake, who bought her. We had her shipped up to my place and the moment she stepped off the truck it was as though she knew. She looked around, sighed deeply, and seemed contented to be home.

I'm so delighted that Ladybug is here with me again. She ended up a little small - about 15.1 or 15.2 - but that's not an issue for Erin. In hindsight, I don't think I'll sell a weanling again. They're just too fragile at that age to have their lives shaken up like that.

Starting to look like something!

Anyway, so Ladybug and I have been getting along famously. I've grown very used to my super sweet Friesians - they are definitely very different from the other breeds I've worked with - so I was a little worried about working with this young warmblood. But honestly, despite the fact that her training schedule is more patchy than the Friesians' thanks to my hectic life, Ladybug has been one of the easiest youngsters I've ever had the pleasure of working with. She definitely has a sassy streak in her, but she's hugely willing and kind and surprisingly unreactive for her breed. True to being a warmblood, too, she doesn't muscle up as easily as the Friesians, but she does hold her cardio fitness a lot better.

Also, her canter is absolutely incredible. Little short in the neck in this moment, but soooo balanced and engaged for her age and fitness

Accordingly, when Erin came over Sunday two weeks ago (dang I'm so behind), she could have a little sit on the Ladybug.

First I did a spot of groundwork, doing a five-minute lunge like I always do just to check in with her brain and body and give her a little bit of exercise - her actual ridden work won't be real exercise for a couple of months yet. (Am I the slowest young horse starter in existence? Yes. Do my horses learn in a low-stress way, both in mind and body? Also yes. I'll go with slow).

Like she always does, Ladybug came out focused, relaxed, and ready for work. After a brief lunge, we went on to a little bit of turn on the forehand from the ground. I usually like my babies to have shoulder-in on the ground as well before jumping on, but Ladybug's in-hand work has come on just a touch slower than my Friesians because she's less food-driven than they are. In other words, she won't turn herself inside out for a bit of carrot, LOL. We're still getting there.

After rewarding each effort, I always give the horse a couple of moments at liberty for chewing time and thinking time, and also to check in with her mental state. Liberty - whether it's full-on join-up or just dropping the contact for a few strides - is always a great check-in. Ladybug is very happy to be connected to me, and stayed locked onto me even after moments of tension while she was figuring out her work.

Once we'd worked on those a little, it was time to head over to the mounting block. Normally I prefer to do the first few rides in the ring, but she's so chill that I didn't mind riding in the big arena. I'd sat on her a time or two before this and she was as relaxed as could be.

I started with some of my usual mounting block work. She really doesn't mind standing still while I'm on the block beside her, so I flapped the stirrups,

 

then flapped the saddle flap,

then leaned over and patted her loudly all over. As you can see, she tipped back an ear to listen to what I was doing over there, but wasn't worried about a thing.

Finally, I gave her a little treat on the off side - preparation to reward her for standing at the mounting block.

I do my preparation work carefully so that I can gently drag my toe all the way over her butt when I go to sit for the first few times. That way, if she gets an accidental toe-poke later on, there's no freaking out to be done.

Her expression here is just perfect. She's listening and paying attention to what's happening on her back, but she's not afraid at all.

Of course, she didn't worry one bit about me being up there. She flicked back her ears while I got on, just to listen to what was going on and to focus while she kept her balance, and then she got a treat and was perfectly happy.

Every time I sit on a young horse those first few times, it's a moment that feels so precious it's almost sacred. There is so much at stake in those moments. You could ruin so much if you did it wrong, and gain so much if you do it right. More than that, it's a glorious thrill of venturing into a place where no one in the world has ever been before; that secret plane inhabited by horse and rider, spine to spine. That feeling is a thousand times more special when the horse is one that you bred. And while her previous owner did sit on her a little, so I wasn't the first one up there, it was still a really wonderful moment. I watched this little mare take her very first steps, and now here we are.

She got a little bored of me just sitting there and petting her, so she turned around and went to chew the mounting block. I don't get after babies for moving in a relaxed manner the first few times I'm on board, so I just went with her and kept on petting her. After a few moments I hopped off - it was Erin's turn.

Ladybug didn't even tip her ears back this time as Erin got on. I kept a finger on her nose to hold her still while I stepped back to take a picture.

Erin was extremely chuffed.

We took the opportunity for me to walk a circle or two - not holding her, but joined-up - and she happily followed me around the arena with Erin on her back, not worried in the slightest. They look so great together even now - I can't wait to see a schooled Ladybug being ridden by her doting mom.

This little horse and this lovely person are both intensely special to me.

And I'm so grateful for the wonderful plan of God, Who brought our precious Ladybug back into our lives at just the right moment.

He is so good!

Wordless Wednesday: Friesians and Flowers

And a whole lot of other things, too, of course.

This little sale pony is just too adorable. And this kiddo is going from strength to strength, even though it freaks me out a little that he used to ride in a pony pad not so long ago and now his stirrups are a hole down from mine!

Cute as a button

This divinely beautiful mare has been going so well lately! She's a strong woman, and we're forging the kind of bond you can only ever have with a strong-minded mare.

These ladies came to see the Friesians, and the big group of mares warmed my heart when I called them in the field and they all came running up to the gate together

I absolutely love riding the Friesian livery at my yard, too. Someday I'll have my very own one! A girl can dream.

Holly is one of the kid ponies I ride once a week to keep them tuned up

We have a cat now. Noah will be the subject of his own blog post soon!

Mirror selfies with the cutest little gelding ever. He comes to the gate of the field when I call him, and I just can't get enough of him!

My garden is still blooming like mad even though we've had a few good frosts now. These lobster flowers are my favourite

The canary creeper

The aloe thingy? Honestly I have no idea, my whole garden would be dead if it wasn't for my man remembering to water it (and copious amounts of moo poo making me look like a better gardener than I actually am)

Pretty gazanias

We're only about one month out of the summer grazing, but so far, so good with Skye.

She escaped her field last week and went tearing down the hill looking more sound than she has in years!

Titan completely tuckered out after a long afternoon of driving me nuts while I'm trying to teach lessons

Lessons have been wonderfully full. The kids have interschools coming up, and everyone's been working hard under these perfect skies.

My favourite human sorted out a bigger pen for my little Sebrights. They are like tiny jewels and bring us so much joy!

We spent the weekend farm-sitting for my parents, which included looking after these cuties.

One of my working students grew up to run a riding school nearby, and works off her horse's livery by doing odd jobs for me. She clipped this little gelding, and he came out absolutely amazing.

Golden dapples on silver.

Silver dapples on gold!

My dear man farms with indigenous layers, and they're just too beautiful in the morning light!

Another happy, chaotic lesson afternoon drawing to a close. Winter is good and necessary, but wow, I really can't wait to have my long summer evenings back! It's dark by five-thirty right now.

Scripture reading has grown very poignant to me. I'm reading the last few psalms David wrote during his life, and they are so intimately focused on God's holiness. I will be reading (or rather listening to) Psalm 119 over the next day or so, and I really look forward to experiencing the longest chapter of the Bible in this new context.

God is good!

Still With Us

 Yesterday was a day of absolutely wonderful news 💜

don't judge my scanner pictures, I have no idea what I'm even looking at right now

At Standerton Show in September 2019, Arwen and I competed against the absolutely divine Wilgerus Dakota and his rider. Dakota had many in-hand and ridden championships under his belt at that point, and so did the dragonbeast; it was a pretty neck-in-neck competition. He was impeccably behaved and inexpressibly beautiful, and as always, I had to admire his classiness and his wonderful, elastic movement - a rare characteristic in the older type of Nooitgedachter. Even though he's only about 14.3hh, he moves like a dressage horse.

Arwen put in a really great test that day, however, and she ended up being the champion - with Dakota as a very close reserve. His owner suggested that perhaps we needed to bring these two champions together. Dakota was very much on board with this suggestion right at that very moment, being reined in only by his impeccable manners. I wanted one more competitive season for Arwen (which turned out to be the 2020 season, lol whoops), and so we made arrangements for Arwen to meet her handsome beau in the 2020/21 season.

In mid-January 2021, after an unbelievable hassle because her royal dragonness simply WOULD NOT show her heats to the mini teaser stallion and also wanted to absolutely murder the real stallion, I finally caved and gave her some Lutalyse to bring her onto heat. Arwen has never had irregular cycles, but she's an undemonstrative mare (surprisingly), and she was not even remotely enamoured with poor little Sputnik despite his best efforts to romance her. I even teased her with one of the bossier geldings - the only one who could elicit a response from Faith - and she ignored him flatly. As for Dakota himself, who was already on the farm to cover Faith and René, her only response to him was flat-out aggression. Teasing with him proved to be as difficult as it was dangerous, not because of the angelic stallion but because of my psycho dragon mare who just wasn't having it. She wanted to jump on her hindlegs and fight him like another stallion.

Don't let the cute-kid-pony look fool you. She crazy

The Lutalyse worked great. I gave her a little flunixin with it to mitigate any side effects, and she was a little sweaty for an hour or so afterwards, but otherwise fine. Three days later, she came into absolutely roaring heat. She stood in the corner of her field positively screaming for the stallion.

OK, then. I took her over to his field, she pushed me out of the way and presented herself with gusto. From that moment on, she was as sweet as pie with him. His owners have stabled him at my place for the whole summer to avoid moving him during the AHS season, and she's been his faithful little wife and companion ever since. We get it, girl. Hormones gonna hormone.

totally in love

The great thing about being able to do live covers in the field, as opposed to AI or covering in hand, is the fertility rate. Nothing beats natural covers out in the field. All three my mares conceived immediately, and were confirmed in foal by scan shortly thereafter. I tried to get a picture of tiny BabyDragon, a mere speck floating around on the screen, but of course Arwen decided that she was done standing still right at that moment.

The first three months of her pregnancy went without a hitch. She was friends with Dakota, who respected her sassy personality and quick hind hooves, and I was coming up with names for BabyDragon. Then, I had five biliaries at my yard in six days, after a very quiet season. We have awful biliary (piroplasmosis) in our region and normally it's pretty easy to handle, but when Arwen's temperature was up at evening check in mid-April, I was horrified. Not only does high fever cause abortion in mares - and at 89 days, Arwen was still in the most fragile part of her pregnancy - but none of the drugs we have for treating biliary have been researched in pregnant mares.

We didn't have a choice, of course. Working with my vet, I treated her as conservatively as I could, which proved to be nearly impossible. Arwen's fever was uncontrollable except with NSAIDs, and as soon as they wore off, it would spike massively again: 40.0, 40.5, 41. Biliary normally has a biphasic fever that gives us a little breathing room every 12 hours or so, but hers just stayed jammed through the roof except under the influence of the same drugs that were also a risk to BabyDragon.

On the third day, my vet and I had both had enough. Longsuffering Non-Horsy Man and I loaded her into the horsebox (transport stress being yet another risk for abortion or resorption of BabyDragon) and drove her an hour and a half north to the veterinary hospital.

When she stepped out of the horsebox, Arwen was already feeling better. Her fever had come down without intervention this time, but the vets were still quite concerned about her. They asked to keep her overnight and run a set of bloods, which I was entirely on board with. Anything the dragon needs, it gets - and I wanted to give BabyDragon a fighting chance. Even though the stress of overnighting in hospital was yet another risk to BabyDragon, it was better than being stuck at home without the top supportive care that Arwen could receive in hospital if she took a turn for the worse. I went home without my dragon and did the last thing I could: I prayed. My dear friends, online and in person, rallied around Arwen, her baby, and I.

The next morning, the news was very good. Arwen had been dehydrated, but she'd quickly remedied that by, you know, DRINKING WATER like a NORMAL HORSE and not requiring ENDLESS IV FLUIDS (looking at you, Magic). Her blood smear showed that the biliary parasites were gone and she was responding great to treatment. By the evening, the vets were happy to send her home. She had made a great recovery, but they cautioned me that between the fever, the stress and the medications, she had a 50/50 chance of aborting or resorbing BabyDragon.

Three very long weeks followed as I waited. The effects of it all could take a few weeks to affect BabyDragon, and I wanted to be sure that we were out of the danger period before I had her scanned. Finally, yesterday, my lovely repro vet came out and gave me the best news ever.

Blogosphere, meet BabyDragon... or possibly just some of BabyDragon's amniotic fluid, tbh I still don't know what I'm looking at, but the vet says there's a foal in there!

Despite it all, by amazing grace, Arwen held on to her foal. She is completely fine and in great shape, and BabyDragon looks just fine on the scan. And this time I had the good sense to have the groom feed Arwen copious amounts of treats so that I could get my first pictures of BabyDragon!

Arwen is a very civilised mare to foal down - she waxes 48 hours in advance, unlike Skye, who NEVER WAXED, WHY?? - and she usually goes for 345 days. If she does the same with this one, she'll be due on Christmas Eve. We're getting a baby dragon for Christmas!

I am really, really excited to meet BabyDragon. Not just because, you know, BEBE HORSE, but because this is the result of a breeding that I'm really confident in. Dakota is not a big stallion but he's very correct and has attributes that will improve on Arwen: his perfect shoulder angle, athleticism, and wonderful elasticity. Arwen brings her stronger neck and bigger bone to the table. They both have absolutely perfect feet and legs. If we win the gamble that breeding always is, this should turn out to be a very correct hony in the region of 14.3-15 hands, with good legs, a good brain, and elastic movement.

Either way, I'm so happy and grateful after all the drama that Arwen and BabyDragon are both super healthy and well. The great vets of Heidelberg Animal Hospital and Witbos Animal Clinic went to such great lengths to make sure my girl would be OK, and I so appreciate that, as well as all the love and prayers from everyone.

Most of all, I stand awed once again by the wonderful way in which God loves. He breathes galaxies into life, controls storms, bids the waves of the sea - He is so mighty, shown in Psalm 104 below. But the God Who builds mountains and placed the sun in the sky is the same God Who hears our prayers about tiny things, things as small as an unborn horse.

If Arwen had lost BabyDragon, God would still be good, but today, I'm grateful to praise Him for this very good news!

Bonus pic: a Friesian fetus, Nita (Tsjerk 328) x Kalvin fan Stal Bellefleur. Nita is quite a bit further along than Arwen and we could see her baba very clearly! Apparently this is the little one's head. You can kind of make out the eye socket.

Psalm 104

1 Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers,[a]
    flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens human hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains their hearts.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered,
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 There the birds make their nests;
    the stork has its home in the junipers.
18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
    the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,
    and the sun knows when to go down.
20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,
    and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
21 The lions roar for their prey
    and seek their food from God.
22 The sun rises, and they steal away;
    they return and lie down in their dens.
23 Then people go out to their work,
    to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, Lord!
    In wisdom you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,
    teeming with creatures beyond number—
    living things both large and small.
26 There the ships go to and fro,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 All creatures look to you
    to give them their food at the proper time.
28 When you give it to them,
    they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
    they are satisfied with good things.
29 When you hide your face,
    they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
    they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send your Spirit,
    they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    as I rejoice in the Lord.
35 But may sinners vanish from the earth
    and the wicked be no more.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Praise the Lord.[b]