Negative

This is what we wanted to see

But Amble is not pregnant. 

What we can do is have the stud owner gather semen and ship it over here, the vet said there was NO WAY she would have gotten pregnant at the time she was there because her body wasn't ready. He did say she would be receptive in 4-5 days... hhhmmm... that's exactly what the vet in Spokane said.

So I've got about 36 hours to decide what to do. I'll need to get in touch with the vet and ask him if he WILL do it, then tell the breeder and she would need to get the stud to the vet, collect him & get it shipped here, to be received Monday or Tuesday.

The expenses would be high, $250 to collect, shipping is $150+ and the vet said upwards of $1,500 for him to inseminate her. And still no guarantees. But AI is still cheaper than taking her back there at this point. I've just sent the breeder a text saying we'll try in the spring.

Amble weighs 1,294#. I NEED to get her measurements today and photos so I can keep track of her. The vet said she's about 100# over weight and that's not bad.

I should throw her saddle on her and start riding.

And wish for a 2028 baby.

Veterinarians

I never knew this girl would need twice as much tranq as normal but here we are.

Ambles last vet bill was $245 and most of that was immunizations, her Reproductive Ultrasound was $78.75.  I'll be taking her to the local vet and I am betting the SAME ULTRASOUND will cost over $500. 

I called our local vet a month ago to see about getting an appointment for a pre-breeding appointment but they couldn't see Amble for 3 weeks, much to late for us. Now that she's HOPEFULLY bred, I needed the vet again, but TODAY was the last day if she had taken on the 1st breeding date (August 30th) and Friday was the last day for the last (September 5th) breeding date. Their office gave me an appointment for next Monday which was the soonest (but 10 days late) they could see her but then they called back a while later and gave us a Friday appointment after all. YAY.

I sent thru the whole Katie Van Slyke webpage on their breeding timeline and wrote it all down with the dates changed to what we need. Thank God for Katie! Now I know sorta when we need a vet and/or ultrasound, when to change feed and when to get shots and which shots they are.

  

Ambleside Is Home

Ambleside was bred several times between August 30th and September 5th and she was ready to return home September 6th.  Lan & I have jobs, so we planned on going over Friday, staying the night & coming back Saturday but once he got home Thursday night we decided to leave and we were on the road by 5pm. We drove about 4 hours, to Moses Lake, and stayed at the Lakeside Hotel.

$122, nice room, comfy bed, AWESOME continental breakfast included.

We were woken at 6:20am by Phuckin Phildo, wanting me to work but I only said 'I'm in Spokane' and I hung up. Phuck You Phildo.

Anyway, I digress.

We were on the road by about 8am but went into Idaho first to fill up on fuel and it was about $240. YIKES.

From there, we headed out to 2291 Heine Rd to get our girl.

 It was over an hour away and we arrived right at noon, right when I had told her we would get there. It took less than 15 minutes to hook up out trailer, put Ambles fly mask on, get her loaded and pay Kirk & Brandy Preston, the breeders, for the service. It was $1,000.00 plus I gave them $200 for mare care, even though Brandy said none was due but Kirk originally wanted $45 DAILY and I had signed the contract agreeing to $20 daily. 

And the dude, Kirk, was shirtless, again. How unprofessional and creepy. Ewww. Just Ewww.

We arrived home right at 7:30pm and Wifi immediately started to whinny and ran as fast as she was able toward the driveway, and Amble whinnied back to her. They were so happy to be back together.

 Wifi will be an aunty in August 2027, I hope.

Now, I have 10 months to come up with a name for our future baby. While we were traveling in France I saw a sign that was cool and I said I'd someday name a horse that, but I've no idea what it was and we didn't go to that village. We did go to Annecy and Chamonix and I do like that name.

Ambleside is named after a village in England

Anyway, I am going to be looking for the name of that French village to see if I can remember the name.

 

 

Stallion + Mare = ?

Amble is in Spokane, Washington, meeting her new mate.

His barn name is Bubba, his real/registered name is Wisteria Farms Birthday Boy.

I took Amble to the vet office in Newman Lake and they examined her, said she had ovulated 12-24 hours earlier.

She had to have a double dose of tranq to get her to relax.

The vet gave me a shot that will be administered to her today, then in another 4-5 days she should be in heat and Bubba will live cover her. Then the vet visits to see if she is in foal & if she is, I will drive back to Spokane/Chewella to bring her home and hope we get a baby in 340 days, Thursday, August 5, 2027.

The stallion owners are Kirk and Brandy Preston and they're sort of scamming. I asked specifically about mare care and she said it was free but once I got there he insisted I had to pay & wanted $45 DAILY. Fuck that, asshole, I agreed to $20 fucking daily but not a penny more. So if Amble is there for 21 days, minimum, then thats another $420 that I'll need to pay them, at least. But if thats an issue, I can find another place that will be cheaper and better care. If I were to pay $45 that equals $945 and I could take her to a damn nice boarding facility for half that.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Wifi has never been a single horse living alone, ever before in her life and shes lonely.

 

One Year Review: Stable Comfort Stall Matts

We've been using the Stable Comfort stall matts for about a year now & it's time for a review.

I originally had Joey & Mack on them, Joey is  TB gelding weighing about 1150 and Mack is a huge Appy gelding weighing about 1250. The matts held up to their weight FINE but Mack was terrible on the stalls. He broke the dividing wall between the stalls, chewed the doors and demolished the runs. It was easier for ME to keep him in the arena at night.

But then he would whinny at all hours if the others went out to the runs & he couldn't see them so Joey went into the arena with him.

Now its just Wifi (900 lbs) in one of the stalls & I use the other one for hay.

Here is her stall. Its standing up GREAT to the use. Shes in it for about 12 hrs every night and currently we have the run door closed (due to the gutter leaf protector being down from snow). In the mornings I always let her out first so shes much less likely to pee in it.

This is the stall right after I cleaned her poop & stripped it of shavings. I still have to use 

EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF SHAVINGS 

that I ever used before to absorb her pee but I don't have to put in enough to make it soft. But I NEVER DID bed to make them soft because they have the attached runs to go outside.

Here is the front door area and its holding up well. No matter who the horse is, they bang their front hoof on this rail as they walk out but all horses are lazy. The stall fronts we used have a metal bar across each door to hold them rigid and strong and they are the perfect height for the matts.

This is the section just to the right of the above door, under the water buckets. When we installed it the wood on the wall was rotten so Lan used the wood strip to help. It I were to replace that wall wood right there we wouldn't need to use the strip along the floor.

The robber matt top is holding up quite well. There aren't any holes or indications of them at all. They hold all the pee just fine. The pee does puddle and its a bit harder to clean up compared to a flat stall with regular matts where the pee would go underneath when I use regular shavings.

The ONLY PROBLEM I have is 

that Wifi's shedding hair sticks to the rubber matt and won't sweep off very easily. I sweep my stalls every day so there is no dirt/sand/hair where their hay falls out of the hay nets. This hair just wants to stay on it.

But this is a problem that doesn't bother me too much since horses will eat hair as they groom each other. 

Finished Halters

I got the www.haltertags.com name plates in the mail, couldn't wait to get them onto the halters. 

Definitely need to oil the halters too.

Here is Gus with his new halter & doesn't he look SMASHING? 

Here is Joey

They spelled his name wrong, just like the guys in Kentucky did with his halter 20 years ago. 

I'm OK with it this time.

This halter was $5 at a barn sale & had RED on its old plate.

And Wifi.

She was more concerned about getting to her dinner than showing off her new halter plate.

I chose the Chicago Screws to attach them instead of rivets so that I can use them on other halters in the future. Wifi's halter is the crappy old one that wasn't stolen when my others were (and that's why I'm pretty fucking sure it was Sarah Goathouse who stole all my stuff).

I'd really like to get each of them new halters made of soft leather that's also strong, triple stitched, like the ones I had before. Maybe I need to make a trip to Kentucky to pick some up myself. I don't particularly care for the throatlatch snaps & all of these halters have them. They  more a grooming aid than anything else. I'd rather use the crownpiece to buckle it on and off than by slipping it over their ears and using the snap.

We've been putting Joey & Wifi in the stable comfort stalls every night and in the mornings both have looked like they aren't in pain. Wifi's shoulders/withers, where she took a tumble or something in spring 2017. Each horse also has their outside run available to them & sometimes they actually go out there to poop.

And this cart is for sale in Enumclaw, $250. Tuesday is my payday & I'm hoping the person who has it will sell it to me. I'm not even sure it will fit Gus but maybe, if it doesn't, it can be adjusted/altered.

Remember Shadow, aka Laddie?

I went to visit Laddie & Stephanie today

They are doing FANTASTIC together

Check this out, shes on his OFF side and hes not freaking out. AND shes able to lift all his hooves.

Laddie still needs to shed out his old winter coat but otherwise hes pretty healthy.

His cute nose.

Halterless gus

Gus without his halter loose in the arena for the first time since April 4th.

He's got a handsome face.

Now that Shadow/Laddie is gone, Gus really loves to play with his treat ball.

Lan has the outside runs just about finished. The electric rope is up, tape along the tops but there needs to be a bit more rope inside.

This was as he was taking down the old wooden fence.

Another view

And with it getting cleaned up and mowed. The pile of sand is buckshot, it will be the top finish in the runs. We need another 6 trailer loads, about 36 tons.

This is out back, there's still a lot to do out there too

Farrier

Gary came out today to trim & shoe horses

This is Mack's hoof

Joeys hoof 

Another of Joeys hooves 

And Gary met Gus for the first time; Gus was not impressed with Gary but handled this experience OK. His hooves have been trimmed before but it was by the veterinarian, he might have been on drugs. 

Gus is so little 

I'm sure Garys back got sore 

Gus pulled back a few times but once he got to the fence he had to stop. His head was under the shelf but he didn't bump it at all. 

Gary let Gus act up a bit but brought him back around each time 

It harder to do mini's than big horses 

And its super cute to watch 

Here is Gus's hoof inside Joey's shoe