King, our bay roan stallion, is a very contented lad this week as he has started the covering season. He has been reunited with Belle (Aquilasstud Maebelle) who failed to conceive last year. Our vet has carried out some preliminary fertility tests and established that she has small ovaries, so we may struggle to get her in-foal. We have decided to let her run with the stallion for two cycles naturally, before we resort to any extra measures.
Here's King and Belle enjoying their time together :
Wilf, our black Dales stallion, is not so happy. He was due to welcome a visiting french mare at the end of April, but due to her owner's health issues, she is no longer coming. Wilf is grazing in a field on the farm situated at the farthest possible distance from King, and the 2 stallions cannot see each other thanks to several thick hedges and a range of buildings, but Wilf can hear what is going on and is fully aware that King has a "girlfriend" whereas he doesn't. Until his prospective mares are ready for covering, he has no option but to content himself with "warm memories" of last year's romances :
Inca (Wolsey Quebec) is still keeping us all waiting for the patter of tiny hooves. She is now (allegedly) 20 days overdue, but I am convinced that the vet made a mistake when he aged the embryo at her post-covering scan last year. I suspect she conceived a full cycle later than the vet estimated, thus making her due date tomorrow! You can guarantee she will foal when I have 8 horses tied-up on the yard for the farrier to visit!
Number 2 mare is now safely installed in her foaling-box at night. Her baby is due on the 6-7th of May, but at the rate Inca is going, it's anyone's guess who will foal first....
Here's my nightly entertainment. The 2 expectant girls on CCTV :
Poor wilf it's a hard life when your lady-friend doesn't turn up and you know the other boy has got a girlfriend.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with getting Belle in foal but I bet King doesn't mind all the trying lol.