Farm

When my daughter was a toddler, one of her favorite books was titled Baby Animals on the Farm. We read it over and over and over again. A lot. So many times that I think I could have recited it by memory.

Well, now we’ve had our own “baby animals on the farm” moment this spring. Our mare gave birth to a beautiful Palomino quarter horse on April 8 at 5:45 a.m.

I got to watch.

So. Freakin’. Cool.

Here are a few pics:

Just after the sac was removed.

Mama and baby, just after delivery.

Three hours old

In our state of sleep deprivation, we thought the foal was a filly. We were wrong, and thus I am still outnumbered by three to one when it comes to gender of the mammals on this farm.

But I digress. This foal is a colt, and this colt is awesome. So say I.

In other farm news, our rooster, Jack Norman, continues to eye my feet longingly, hoping for another opportunity to try to mate with them.

Really weird.

But I’m on my guard. When he gets too close, I reach out to pick him up, intending to carry him around like a football under my arm. Of course he skitters away because no self-respecting roo wants to be carried around by a woman.

And if he doesn’t skitter fast enough and far enough, I run his little rooster butt all around the place, reminding him that I am in charge here.

in living technicolor

So, mostly, we have a truce. And when he’s sitting up on the fence, he will occasionally allow me stroke his feathers a couple of times.

But I look into those beady little eyes and my mantra remains the same: never trust the roo.