Spring Creek Basin Mustangs

Sorry about the recent quiet … I’m trying to get this ID book finished and trying not to get sidetracked!

About Kootenai’s filly – I basically have no consensus about her birth date, not even from the vet, other than she was probably born between about Aug. 20 and Aug. 22, so I’m going to “decide” that she was born Aug. 21 and have a drawing between those closest dates: Aug. 20 and Aug. 22. (Can you believe folks were so close! And that doesn’t even mention the guess of Aug. 24, which was the day I found her.) I’ll do that today with my trusted co-worker who pulled the name out for the calendar around Christmas.

Zacharias (Aug. 20) and Rachel (Aug. 22): Good luck to each of you, and many thanks for your guesses!!

Wordless

Well, it turns out Julie was right! On Friday, Aug. 19, Kootenai was just days away from foaling!

But Julie’s official guess was Sept. 1.

I confess, until I saw Kootenai last Friday, I thought she was going to make to September. After Friday, I was sure she wouldn’t make it out of August – though I didn’t really expect it to be this soon! (So just for being so close after Friday’s pix, I’m going to send Julie a calendar, too.)

I further confess that when I finally found Kootenai yesterday with this light little bundle at her hooves, I squealed and cried just like I did when I saw our first foal of the year – Iya’s Cougar. 🙂

Three guesses are close – Aug. 20 (Zacharias), Aug. 22 (Toppyrocks/Rachel) and Aug. 24 (Maria).

I knew it was going to be tough!

Speaking of tough – just try to resist that little face – do you see those lines above her eyes??

I have my guess as to her age, but to be as fair as possible, as promised, I have sent pictures to a local veterinarian to get a “professional opinion.” I’ll let you know what she thinks as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I introduce to you our newest member of Spring Creek Basin!

P.S. Volunteers and BLM met (in person and via conference call) yesterday at the Dolores Public Lands Office to talk about the roundup and adoption. I will have more information in a separate post – including a phone number that you will be able to call for updates about each day of the roundup – but we did talk at length about the mares due to foal immediately (at the time, I did not know Kootenai had foaled, just that she was close) and that they will NOT be targeted for roundup/capture. This includes Kreacher’s band (Raven/Apollo and Kootenai and her new daughter), Seven’s band (Roja/Killian, Mona/foal due Sept. 15 and Mona’s yearling daughter, Shane) and Ty’s band (Chipeta – due Sept. 1 – and her yearling daughter, Puzzle).

Kootenai is holding her own. I didn’t think she looked a lot different than two weeks ago … and then I caught sight of this!

Quite a change!

Not looking too broad … but neither does Chipeta, and I know she’s close.

The biting flies were bad in the northwest hills where they were grazing.

And she definitely has the look of a mama in the late stages of pregnancy!

So I don’t think the Aug. 20 guess – that’s tomorrow! – is going to pan out, but the good news is there’s still time to guess Kootenai’s due date! Leave your guess – if you haven’t already guessed – in these comments or the comments of the original post.

Do you think she’ll foal in August … or will she make it to September?!

All right, folks – contest time.

Kootenai (“KOOT-en-eee”) is having a baby. But when is anyone’s guess – including mine!

Not a particularly flattering photo, but she pays me hardly any mind at all anymore – and it shows the belly.

Kootenai is a 6-year-old mare from Sand Wash Basin. She was brought to Spring Creek Basin on Oct. 24, 2008, with Raven (still in Kootenai’s band with Kreacher) and Mona (now in Seven’s band). Raven was pregnant when she came and had Corona (named after her sire, Corona, still wild in Sand Wash Basin) on (or about) April 29, 2009. Mona had Shane (sired by Kreacher) on (or about) Sept. 15, 2010, and Raven had Apollo (sired by Kreacher) on (or about) May 10, 2011. PZP-22 was administered to all three mares before they came to Spring Creek Basin. It worked wonderfully on Raven – she did not foal in 2010. It worked probably as well as expected on Mona – she didn’t foal until September 2010. And it has worked very well on Kootenai – she’s 5, in obviously fantastic condition, having her first foal. The late date is unfortunate but is likely due to timing of application over the vaccine itself – and Jif herself is proof that September foals happen without interference (Hayden’s birthday isn’t till Sept. 22).

My most common view of the girl – grazing … and with that grass, who’d ignore it for me?! 🙂

A view slightly from the back …

And a close-up of her udder.

These photos were all taken Aug. 4.

Contest rules:

* Just to make it easy for me, everyone gets just ONE guess at a date.

* Guesses can start now – which is to say, you can guess that she’ll foal tomorrow if you like.

(Disclaimer: I’m not able to get to the basin this week or next, but I’m almost positive she won’t foal in the next two weeks. That said, I haven’t been around pregnant domestic mares for a while to be an absolute great judge, so if you are positive she WILL, make your guess accordingly – and let me know – I might be able to send someone out to check her for me.)

* I like to think I’m able to guess birth dates within a day or two, so the guess closest to the date I determine gets the nod. If there’s a dispute, I’ll ask a local veterinarian to make the final determination.

* In the case of a tie, hmm … what do ya’ll think is fair? Flip a coin? Who gets heads and who gets tails? When I chose the winner of the calendar last year, I had a co-worker pick a name out of a basket. Would everyone consider that fair? You can guess the same date as someone else … or it could also happen that someone guesses, say, Sept. 4 and someone guesses Sept. 6, and she actually foals on Sept. 5. I make guesses as to date; I have no way of knowing what time of day!

Prize:

The winning guesser gets a calendar (won’t be ready till the end of the year) AND naming rights for Kootenai’s foal.

All good? Good luck!