Can’t ignore the girls …
Iya will be 3 in late April, and I’m definitely expecting a baby out of that belly.
Iya and her best friend, Baylee. Bayles will be 4 … if she’s carrying a foal, she’s hiding it as well as Kestrel did last year.
Winona and mama Kestrel
Kestrel
Baby ‘Nona … growing up. I was looking at some older pix recently, and it’s amazing how much she looks like Kestrel when she was little. OK, probably not so amazing after all. 🙂
Sweetest.
Winona
Hannah
Ember. She wasn’t as interested in me as in continuing her nap in the sunshine.
Curious Sable
Baylee
Iya and Baylee
Piedra
Raven at sunset. Looks like she’s growing a baby, too.
More girls – and boys – coming!
Oh my! That’s some baby bumps there! Some of the pics make them look a little winter weary, but that’s to be expected, especially being pregnant.
Ember and Kestrel – Ember most of all – looked fairly “winter weary,” indeed – probably very mud weary! Sisters, and both have a pretty laidback personality as it is. Kes gave me some “hellos,” but Ember was not interested or bothered by me in the slightest. Both are still allowing their foals to nurse. Not too surprising with Ember, who had Fierro in early July. Kestrel made some half-hearted attempts to deny Winona (born May 11) but then gave in.
TJ, have you estimated how many of the girls will be having little ones this Spring? Maybe “winter weary” isn’t so bad if it means “conserve energy”.
Linda, we should have between 20-25 foals this year.
TJ – With the current population, isn’t that an AWFUL lot for that area’s resourcest??
That’s how the herds grow – exponentially as young horses mature and enter the breeding pool. In the last few years, we’ve had foal crops of 6 (post-2007 roundup, I don’t know the original number – this is how many were left after the roundup, and I don’t know how many were removed), 6 (2008; 1 mortality), 11 (2009; 1 mortality), 11 (2010; 15 expected, 4 dead). I’m guessing that with more expected, the “law” of probabilities indicates we’ll have “more” mortalities, but that’s something I can’t estimate. This actually reminds me of a post I need to do … 🙂