Pictures of Our Embryo Foal at 2 months

[JF Ranch]

Hello folks. I haven't posted here for quite awhile, even though I have done a little eavesdropping from time to time! I guess I got busy.

Some of you may remember a black mare that we raised and qualified for the 2006 AQHA World Show. To make a long and twisted story short, one year ago we did an embryo transfer so that we could continue to show her. She had qualified in Tie Down Roping but I had my sights set on the new Performance Halter Class. That did not pan out for us and I won't get into that here except to say that since they still want big, fat halter horses, what appeared to be a great idea has fizzled out after the first year. In my humble opinion.

Excitement built all winter long in anticipation of this new baby and on May 4, a nice filly was born. This morning at 2 months of age, I took some pictures before turning them out to grass for awhile. I am amazed at how much she reminds me of her mother as a foal. She is very attractive and has the sass and action to go with it.

This is the mare, taken after returning home from Oklahoma City, December, 2006.


This is the stallion we bred her to. Night Time Shiner, a Shining Spark son out of a War Leo bred mare. This horse was bred & raised by Carol Rose, who qualified him 3 times for the World Show, finishing 3rd in the Working Cowhorse once. I took the picture, so I'll appologize for the corn elevator and other unsightly stuff in the background!


And now... heeeeres our filly:












You will see the spotted recipient mare in the background of several of these pictures. This is a very plain little mare, but fertile. She had an accidental colt when she was 2. A hired hand said once that she could get bred through a picket fence! This is not far from the truth.










This filly is very skittish and quick, like her mother. We have been handling her for a couple of weeks and have her leading now. She has settled down and gotten used to being handled, but still has a lot of attiude. She knows she is special and I think she shows a lot of potential already.

Please don't notice the lack of paint on my buildings, but that is another long and twisted story. Again, I appologize for background clutter.

[Faster horses]

WOW!!

What a nice mating that turned out to be!!!
I liked that black mare the first time you showed us a photo of her,
and how could you fault that filly???? Looks like she has it all.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

[Big Muddy rancher]

Great little filly. She should be able to do what ever you want her to.

Don't worry about the paint on the buildings, your to busy playing with the horses. I know how that happens.

Say HI to Dad for me and don't forget to show him these pictures.

[CattleArmy]

Nice looking filly.

We had a roan mare that was never with a stud to our knowledge and then one day a calf was roped off of her and her back end seemed unsteady. Got home that night and the next morning there was a paint colt. She had been in a wooden corral next to a paint stud one day and evidentally something went on between the fence.

[Jerry H]

hello jf
thats a nice fillie almost as pretty as her mother but then i'm partial to blacks
it's funny that you mentioned she's skitish and has a mind of her own
in on of the pic's of her head i can see she has 2 cowlicks
a freind of mine that is a very good horseman taught me to read the cowlicks on a horse they all mean somthing and are genarally correct
but anyhow he told me that a horse with 2 on their head could not be trusted and would be as you described this fillie
but i qualified a black mare with 2 on her head for the world then sold her for te grand as a broodmare so i geuss it's that that bad a deal
beutiful baby you have there
until later
jerry

[Faster horses]

I too, have heard about the cowlicks from old horsemen. We checked a bunch of ranch horses once, about 70 head and it proved to be true. Won't go into it all right here, but what I learned was that 2 cowlicks made a horse complicated, and a bit hard to break, but once you got them, they were great horses.

Good luck!!! I'd sure use the gentle horsmanship methods with her.

[JF Ranch]

Thanks for all the nice remarks.

I should have mentioned that I had the mare bred again for next year to the same stud. This time she'll carry her own colt. I would have liked to have tried for another embryo, but I hate to tempt the fate of my luck this year. We'll see what next year brings.

Soapweed has joked for years about low cow licks versus high ones and how the horse's intelligence is thus expressed. I guess I don't know what to think of all that.

[Jerry H]

hi jf
the cow licks work if you know how to read them you can tell alot about a horse
i bet soapweed is refering to the ones on their neck
the closer to the ears they are the easier they are to train and if one is higher up the neck than the other the horse will be be better on the higher side than the lower
the ones on the head
from the center of the eyes the higher they are the hotter the horse and the lower the more docile the horse is "if not jacked up by people"
these are the only 2 places i look at but in a greek mythology book i heard of one time all the cowlicks on a horse have a meaning
i have been studying this in horses for my whole life and find that i people have not jecked a horse up it is aleays right on the money
until later
jerry

[Faster horses]

Some of the ranchers that I know look at the cowlick to help them choos what colt to buy when considering purchasing a weanling or a yearling.
As Jerry says, the higher the cowlick, the hotter the horse and vice-versa.

And look for a bigger, thicker, lower lip too. Those tight thin lips can be a sign of a very sensitive horse. I don't mean a bad horse, but one that is pretty sensitive to things like mistakes...that everyone does... Maybe that's where the adage about having a 'thick skin' comes in.

And a horse that swallows his lower lip is usually telling you something you really don't want to know.

[leanin' H]

Send as many colts like that one our way as quick as ya get em'!!! Nice filly out'a great parents. Hope she works out great for ya!