Matilda - Hunter

Matilda certainly did her self proud today and proved that she is a hunter extraordinare - by hunting out from behind the water tanks a Juvenile Brown Snake... talk about a great partnership, Evan was waiting on the otherside with the "wire thingy" ready to give it a go across the back, once, twice or 12 times..

Actually to start off with, it was a group effort with Bess, Spikey, Matilda and Lance barking at it ... however, knowing how precise Matilda is with snakes, we took the apprentices inside and let her do her thing with Evan.

Well down Matilda!! (And Evan of course!!)

It was all excitement today as Sweetie's milk seemed to have come down.... which means foaling is not far away... however, nothing so far... as it was yesterday we are still waiting, waiting, waiting. LOL. But as you will see from the photo, bubs has moved into ready position and hopefully we wont be kept too long. (I did check after yesterday's post to see if there was any grey behind either Sweetie or Pure Theatre ... not a scerrick... lol)

The Dirty Girl... The trick is

not to get the hay into the water...

Bob (Centenn) eating his dinner


"Im trying to eat wif my mum ..."

"How much longer?"

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

is what we are doing at the moment..... Waiting for Madame Sweetie to decide to give birth. She has had enough of her stomach, Libby has had enough of her staring at Isabell and quite frankly we are over “mare watch” already. I shudder to think how we managed when we had 7 babies arriving (which is 2 years ago now).

We have definitely decided to give Sweetie and Libby the year off this year and will get them in early next year. Maddie and Joie will go this year … just waiting for Joie’s foot to heal 100% before sending her to Irish. It was quite traumatic for Libby and its funny because baby Isabell is giving her curry because when she settles down to eat, Isabell decides that that is the perfect time to run away from mum … naturally Libby won’t eat because Izy won’t stand still… Ah, the joys of motherhood!

Sweetie stands with her head over the rail and longingly looks at Isabell… Evan and I longingly look at Sweetie’s undercarriage waiting for a sign that she is close. She has changed over the past few days (her tummy has changed and her teats have changed as well), but when she will foal is anyone’s guess!

I spent some time out in the gale force winds today with wee Jim and Maxwell… both boys are looking rather odd … bum up in the air, their shape all over the place… still, it’s that time of the year when the young’ins do do some growing … Max (pictured above) is looking really good .. he has a really strong head and strong features (just the way I like them!). Jimmy isn’t far behind, but he is completely different to Max and will share the same confirmation as his half bro, Lenny. (Let’s hope they can run!).

In all of the foals that have been here from the same mares, it has been interesting to see the family features that follow through the line. Although in saying that, I cannot see Jakey in little Isabell, not just because they are a different colour (!!), Jakey is just the spit of his mum the way that he is put together – really strong through the shoulder and the rump.

Dust in the Wind was a big horse, 16hh and long in the barrel, whereas Private Agenda (Jake’s dad) while he stands 16hh as well, is compact. It’s all interesting stuff.

Pure Theatre stands 16.1h.h (as does Sweetie), and there are two things that Sweetie does pass to her foals and that is 1) Her long thin head and 2) a white near back foot – which both Lenny and Jim possess (actually it’s 3 if you count her assertive nature!!). A grey filly would be nice Sweetie.

Hahahaha – it just ain’t going to happen.

I need to digress…

The Warwick Daily News and the Toowoomba Chronicle ran stories on Friday on the neglect case that I mentioned in my last post. 35 horses were rescued from the property in Clifton that was owned by an ex Olympic swimmer turned failed horse trainer. From the report it says that there were at least 7 carcasses lying in the paddocks … and that this particular bloke just let the horses starve. Do I mention that there were thoroughbred stallions there? A son of RC … I cried when I read the article.

Shame, shame, shame. This should never have happened and this bloke will deserve everything coming to him.

Let me digress again …

Wouldn’t you be upset if you paid $10Million odd for a horse from overseas that ran first up and pretty much last in the Cox Plate? Where would you go from there? Wouldn’t you be crying in your beer?

On the other hand, wouldn’t you have a smile on your dial if you paid $1 for Adavale Hornet who won the Toowoomba Cup on Friday? This boy has amassed over $280,000 worth of prizemoney in his career to this date.

Ah, the ups and downs of racing a thoroughbred. I just love it.

Helen.

"Hi dad, look at me .... a big tummy, my rump sticking up ... iam no picture at the moment ... but I know that you love meeeeeee anyway!"

Max and Jimmy eating their lunch in the gale force winds that really forced us inside. As you can see, both boys are up at the rump. Jimmy still has a bit of a hairy tummy, lol. But they are both good boys to handle.

Today is Wednesday....

and i have been running around like a chook with it's head cut off trying to get things done before going back to work this week.

Don't you hate it when you specifically set out to go grocery shopping early only to find that Woolies only has 3 aisles open and each aisle also has a que 5 trollies deep? It's enough to make you want to turn on your heel and walk right out of there. The only good thing being that you can catch up with all the latest magazines while you are waiting, waiting, waiting... and isnt it typical that you get into the que that stops moving all of sudden because some lady had the gall to pick up an item without a barcode on it and then all of the Woolies floor staff go scurrying around trying to find where the customer actually picked it up from?

Hmmm. There is alot to be said about doing your shopping online (Come back Shopfast, all is forgiven!!!) and it is certainly one of the things that I miss the convenience of.

Evan and I were hard at it after coming back from in town at constructing a shade area for Libby whilst she is in the side yard.

Sweetie is still hanging on to her bubs and when she decides to have it is anyones guess. We are hoping for 8.30pm tonight (just like last year!). Anyone want to start a book? lol

Evan also spent some time with Miss Isabell (Pictured above) in the crush, and then when Monica arrived we brought her back into the crush to give Izy her needles. The swelling on her back little foot has gone down overnight and she was a bright as a button today.

I was really impressed with Monica today.... and she certainly has done a great job on Joie's foot, which as you can see is more or less on the road to being fixed up. We decided to give her one more bandage to finish off the healing process, which should last about 3 weeks.



Monica was also telling us of a cruelty case involving thoroughbreds that she attended this morning, which involved the Police, a representative of the Government and the RSPCA ... I nearly cried when I heard the story and to think that it was close to here!

Sorry but the message is clear.

If you cant look after your horses, give them away to someone who can. And while I realise that there is a drought on, and money is tight, its no excuse to let your animals suffer. It makes me sick to think that people let animals suffer. Hmmm.

Helen

Isabell in the crush, next to her mum Libby (Miss Indpependence)

Evan with Isabell in the crush. It just takes time for her to get to know Evan and to understand that he isnt trying to hurt her.

The sweet little Isabell fast asleep after all the excitement in the crush

To say that Joie was getting a little fractitious when Monica was trying to take the bandage off is an understatement!

Monica has done an excellent job with Joie's hoof.

Welcome To The World...

darling little Isabell! At 1.45am this morning, Libby delivered a lovely little filly who I have named Isabell (Izy for short). Izy is by the Sir Tristram stallion, Dust inthe Wind out of our Libby, Miss Independence, creating a nice crossback to Sir Tristram through Libby's dam sire, Sovereign Red.

Izy being born was the easy part and Libby did a grand job of delivering her. However, getting her to balance on those long long legs and getting her to suckle proved a bit of a challenge for Evan and I.. finally at about 4.30 am, and after lots of hit and misses, the penny dropped and she never looked back.

With Libby delivering (on time and in full!), we realised that we had to make a few changes around the place, so in the dark we proceeded to move some of the residents, so that Libby and Izy could have plenty of space to bond.

Sweetie refuses to budge and will deliver when she feels like it.

Dirtiere (aka, The Dirty Girl), wanted to know why she couldnt have breakfast at 4am and wanted to know what the heck was that small thingy doing that wasnt there when night fell. Joie decided that she really wanted one and wanted to hop the fence and check it out. At the time of Izy's birth, Sweetie was running interference and no one was going to get near them. We soon realised that Sweetie had to be moved and Evan had the unenviable task of trying to move Sweetie away from her Libby.

Before we knew it it was 5.30am and light, so we decided to feed up so that we could get to bed and catch a few hours sleep before doing the things that we had to do.

We're not 100% with Izy's back hock however, its early days and Monica will be back to Massie Lodge on Wednesday, so we will get her to cast her eye over Isabell then (and give her her baby needles as well).

Adam paid us a visit today to remove shoes from Bob (Centenn), Oscar (TB), and the Dirty Girl (who was an angel) - Adam will be back next week to start the round of trims that need to be done as they are all about due.

To say that Iam exhausted is an understatement, however, there is nothing that compares to watching a foal being born, to seeing it try and stand on it's long lanky legs and then try and work out how to get the milk bar open. It's just a miracle and it's something that you never tire of.

I will leave you with a few piccies from today's events... enjoy!!

Helen.

"No, not a tripod, just my legs that Iam having some difficulty negotiating!!!"



"Cant a girl have some peace to have a snooze... remember Iam only 5 hours old here!"

Adam found that the dirty girl's toes were a bit long and gave them a little trim. She seems a lot happier on her front leg than she did a week ago.

Talk about a natural afinity with the camera, everytime I moved with the camera, the dirty girl's gaze followed me so that she could strike a pose!

"Oh Evan, I have fallen madly in love with you... how 'bout a little smoochy?"

Oscar getting his shoes off and having a cuddle with Evan at the same time!

Bob (Centenn) getting his shoes off and not happy about Adam's visit at all!

"Hey, what about us? We used to be a baby too you know!" Jakey and Lenny just hanging out seeing what all the fuss was about this morning.




Look dad, no tongue hanging out!!!

"Cant a man have some time to himself to do what he has to do without you sneaking up on me with your bloody camera?" (The answer is no, Max!)

Tuesday Must be Photo Day....

The matriach of Massie Lodge, Millie. Millie is anywhere from 10 to 13 years old, perhaps even older. However, the energy that she has in that little body in the way she walks everywhere with both Evan and I around the property, you wouldnt think that she is a day over 5! Millie is a very sensing, knowing sort of dog, who really is a good judge of character and in my single days, if Millie didnt like the company that I kept, then neither did I (lol, lucky for Evan that Millie loves him!!),

Beautiful girl, Bessie Merle, smiling for the camera.

Libby (Miss Independence) .... 5 days and counting...




Oscar, Tannerong Baluk, who is just the most easy going boy ... and who loves having Maddie, Trousers and Vera on his left and Joie on his right.

Joie - "Hey Dad, Im feeling much better now ... " Joie has now been put into one of the day yards as her leg is progressing so well... and she's quite happy about that because she has the gorgeous Oscar on her left and her mate in bitchiness, Sweetie, on her right.

Dirtiere - "Here let me show you my poor sore leg.... um, do you have any carrots to make me feel better?"

Floating Shorts...

One of the things one of my previous boses always said to me was that if you need to get a job done properly, make sure that you get the right tool for the job and dont waste your time with second quality.

I am certainly glad that I did learn that lesson as we wanted to float Shorts to Paul Moody at Allora so that she could begin the next stage of her life, being broken in. Both Evan and I realised that we needed some professional help with Shorts as she is a very head strong young lady and would certainly freak out being loaded into a horse transport for the first time.

Today saw young Joseph go off to his new owner and while Raol from Equine Answers Horse Transport was picking him up, we realised it was a good opportunity to get a real horseman to help get Shorts onto the transport. Young Jo just walked on like a good boy. However, we were not confident that Shorts would do the same thing and why should she when she had never seen or been any where near a horse transport?

Raol is something special with horses and he taught Shorts in the short time that it took to get her on the float not to be frightened of being transported. The "oneness" that Raol has with horses never ceases to amaze me.

Not only did he get her on the float without any major issues, but he then unloaded her and taught her about walking off. The second time she went to walk on the float she did it like a pro and was very calm about her forthcoming journey.

Sorry, but there are not alot of trasports around like Equine Answers as a lot of the drivers dont have a clue about how to load the youngsters. I was very impressed and will be doing the same thing for Lenny and Jake and for Maxwell when he goes to Paul's next year.

Raol certainly impressed us.

Im going to miss that Shortpants around the place.... but I know that she is in good hands.

Helen.

State of the art Horse Transport, fitted with cctv, special matting etc.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't think I like this game... and on an empty stomach!"



"Bloody hell, what's this??"

"Maybe its not so scary?" Shortpants not sure whats happening ... but not behaving badly - Raol was very good with her and she responded accordingly.



Shorts having a look around before taking the final steps

First go up the ramp and Raol wanted Shorts to have a little look around before teaching her how to walk down the ramp

"Down we go..."

On the approach for a second turn at being loaded.


On her second go at being loaded, she realised that there were no scary monsters up the ramp and loaded like a pro.

After being loaded twice, and Shorts realising that it wasnt going to hurt her, Raol secured her in her bay for the short trip to Paul Moodys at Allora

Libby and Sweetie... and their tummies!

Maxwell and Jimmy.... Boys will be boys - playing together (Jimmy giving Max a nip on the back)

Maxwell and Jimmy - having a siesta in the sun this morning...

Maxwell .... "Did you have to wake me up?"

Short Pants in the middle of her "obstacle course" training with Evan.

Short Pants standing still for 2 minutes after doing her work with Evan.

Dirtiere. What a pretty girl she is! Her nick name is "Nails" (because she got a large nail in her foot as a foal)

Dirtiere getting used to her new home for the moment

Joie (joie de Victorie) next to Dirtiere in the Stables

Joie in the Hospital Paddoc, which gives her a bit more room

An Aerial View of The Two Stable Yards

Another view of the stableyards.

Bob (Centenn) who is back with us at Massie Lodge for a 4 week break

Bob, having a sticky beak over the fence.

Bob enjoying his breakfast this morning.