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History of Epiphany Bay Farm 2011
December 2011
2011 A Lapse, Updates and Summary.
December 31, 2011: In August
of this year, we were unable to update our website due
to repairs/improvements which were being done to the
ISP's tower. This continued well into September.
About the same time, our computer was ill and required a
new hard drive and operating system. Fortunately,
our son-in-law, works with computers and was able to
assist us with this process. Although due to his
schedule and our schedule, along with the glitches which
arise with such significant updates, the process took
quite some time. Our sincere apologies to our
readers for such a long lapse in updating our website.
During the intervening months, Princess, transitioned
well to her new home at Brookhill Retirement Center.
Currently, she has found a new home with a Hippo Therapy
Program. Hippo Therapy is a type of rehabilitation
program for people in which the horses are used on the
ground and not ridden. A perfect fit for Princess!
Sully continued his training with Bobby Meyerhoff
through October. He was introduced to fox hunting,
going out with two different hunts. We were told
he did as well as any young horse could do on their
first hunts. During the second hunt, he was ridden
through a river and apparently showed little to no
concern over this new experience.
Sera has continued to grow and we often refer to her
as a "chunky monkey" as she will likely mature into a
big girl. She stands to be groomed on the cross
ties, stands for the farrier and is unconcerned about
vaccines. A pleasure to be around and quite smart.
In the latter part of November we began to find her in
the parts of the fields which had been sectioned off
with temporary electric fencing in order to keep the
horses off these areas and allow the pasture a rest.
Sera would be inside the fenced off area and the rest of
the herd maintained their distance from the electric
fence. After many days of watching, we determined
that Sera was ducking under the temporary fencing to get
to the greener grass. On a few occasions, we saw
her go over the temporary fence. This went on for
weeks. Finally, we determined that our fence
charger was not performing as expected and Sera had
determined that she would likely not get shocked going
after the green grass. We replaced the fence
charger and it took about two days until Sera decided to
stay with the rest of the herd rather than getting
zapped by the fence.
Constance, Penny and Abigail all had their first
trailer ride and the experience of exploring a new
facility. This year I began taking riding lessons
in Hunt Seat at Fox Whisper Farm. The owners of
the farm have graciously allowed us to bring the young
horses with us when I have a lesson. Mike walks
the youngsters around while I ride. All three have
taken to the new experiences quite well.
In November, we took Lady Leone to a Natural
Horsemanship Clinic with James Anderson and sponsored by
Warrenton Horse Works. It was Leone's first time
off the farm in two years and first time in an indoor
arena. She did great with the trailer ride, the
new environment and all of the obstacles. She was
most concerned about the mattress which was on the
ground, yet with a bit of encouragement she walked right
over it. She went through a "car wash",
walked over a rocking bridge and a tarp along with
various other obstacles. We were so incredibly
proud of her! She is such a sweet and willing
girl.
Olddominion Epona and Belladonna Mahogany were
presented in November for an Inspection by the Cleveland
Bay Horse Society as part of their applications for
Premium Mare Status. Two United States based
Cleveland Bay Horse Society Inspectors performed the Inspections.
Premium Mares must be five years of age having produced
a live foal, under go a veterinary examination and are
evaluated for how well they conform to the Cleveland Bay
Breed Standards. We are waiting for a decision on
their applications from the Cleveland Bay Horse Society.
Below are photos of these two ladies turned out for the
Inspection.
Olddominion Epona
Belladonna Mahogany
2011 has been a year of several lows for us along
with some good aspects. The lows are the loss of
Mahogany's filly to septicemia at two days of age and
being unsuccessful in getting Mahogany bred again.
As a result, we do not have any foals due in 2012.
A month after we lost Mahogany's foal, we lost our
oldest TB mare, Kisses to an acute, severe colic.
As well, we decided to take a year off from showing our
horses. On the flip side, our Bushhogging Services
grew, along with our Equine Burial Service. Sully
spent five months at Meyerfhoff's Show Horses, being
started under saddle and introduced to fox hunting.
Princess found a new career as Hippo Therapy
horse. Sera is doing great! We thank
our volunteers for all of their time and commitment to
our horses and farm. We look forward to next year.
November 2011
No Posts
October 2011
No Posts
September 2011
No Posts
August 2011
Road Trip. August
7, 2011: Today, we made a trip to Suffolk,
Virginia to visit Hamilton and Rachel. Hamilton
has matured handsomely since we last saw him in December
2010 when Rachel purchased him. He now stands just
shy of 17 hands at the wither, having filled out with
muscle and bone. We were impressed with how great
he looks. It is quite apparent that Rachel loves
Hamilton and that Hamilton loves Rachel! Rachel
shared with us how much everyone at her barn loves
Hamilton. Small children love to feed him treats.
For one small girl, Rachel said that Hamilton held his
head down so the girl could hug his head which was just
about bigger than she was! Hamilton
will be moving to California this fall as Rachel and her
soon to be husband are relocating out there. We
have been promised photos of Hamilton and will look
forward to seeing these. Below are photos from today.
Princess goes to a new home.
August 4, 2011: Today, we took
Princess to Brookhill Retirement Center for Horses
located in Forest, Virginia. Princess traveled
well and settled in quickly. She will be in a
paddock where she can meet the other horses over the
fence for several days until she is turned out with the
herd. Below are photos of Princess.
July 2011
Photogenic Girl.
July 23, 2011: Sera, now 4 1/2 months old,
is quite willing to be photographed. Sera takes
new experiences in stride. For her photography
session, she was quite willing to be groomed, have a new
halter fitted and then stand quietly to be photographed.
So often with Sera, she just seems to behave as if she
has seen it all before. We feel that she must be
an old soul in a young body.
These two photos (below) are of Epiphanybay Independence,
known as Penny. Penny will be two years old on
July 4, 2011. She has lost that awkward look of
a youngster and is filling out quite nicely into a
lovely filly.
June 2011
A Summer's Day. June 26,
2011: In keeping with my plans to
photograph Sera, I took a few photos this afternoon.
She is now three and one-half months old.
Last week she did great when she had her feet
trimmed. Today, she was curious about an empty
feed bag. Bravely, she sniffed at the bag.
She quickly lost her bravery when the bag tickled her
nose. She did go back a second time to check out
the bag only to have it tickle her nose again.
Funny girl!
The Best Fly Deterrent.
June 17, 2011: This evening I
took photos of Sera, who is now 3 months old. We
have been preoccupied with other endeavors and have not
taken the requisite number of filly photos. I
intend to catch up with my photography of Sera.
Sera is finally, visibly shedding out her baby coat,
which was and is quite thick. I've felt bad for
her on the 90+ degree days as the girl just sweats, even
under a fan. She loves to be scratched
anywhere on her body. The better the scratchy spot
is to her the higher her head goes and the further her
upper lip juts out! Quite funny to watch.
Sera is turned out with her mum (of course) and her
sister, Constance. Being the smart filly that she
is, Sera has found the best fly deterrent out in the
pasture is to stand between her mum and Constance,
letting them whisk the flies off of her!
Many Events. June
13, 2011: There has been much
going on in our lives, which has resulted in the lack of
recent posts to our website. First and foremost,
we have an addition to our family. Our second
grandchild (of the two-legged variety) was born.
We have been busy supporting the new parents and
spending time with our grandchild.
When we haven't been busy being grandparents, we have
been spending a lot of time working with the two mares,
Princess and Rose. Princess has now been ridden a
half a dozen times and is doing quite well. Rose
is coming along nicely, though not a quickly as
Princess.
We attended the Cleveland Bay Show at Upperville on
Saturday, June 11. We did not take any horses.
We were too busy being grandparents to prepare the
horses for the show. There was a good turn out of
horses, along with some new horses and new faces in the
ring. Congratulations to all of the winners.
The weather turned out to be quite lovely and many of
the Cleveland Bay enthusiasts gathered for a tailgate
following the classes.
The below photo is of the Cleveland Bay Under Saddle
class at Upperville on June 11, 2011.
May 2011
Success! May 23,
2011: This weekend,
Delaney was out to work with the horses. She spent
time with Princess, Leone and Rose. The work
which has been done so far with Princess has paid off.
Delaney was able to sit on Princess' back with Princess
being totally unconcerned about having a rider up.
Leone was ridden and is making good progress in moving
forward and making turns, all at the walk. Rose
had her first session in which she wore the bareback
pad. Overall, the day was a success. Below
are photos of Delaney up on Princess and Leone.
Give it a Go.
May16, 2011: Our project for the
next couple of weeks is to determine if Rose and
Princess have ever been ridden. If we can
determine this in the affirmative, we have the
possibility of having them accepted into a retirement
home. They are both such nice mares who each
deserve to live out their retirement comfortably. So we
will "give it a go" and see what we come up with.
In the photo below is EB Constance (2 yrs), EB Sera
(2 mo) and OD Epona (5 yrs). Epona is the dam of
both fillies.
What a difference a year makes!
May 9, 2011: Sully will
be 3 years old this month. Below is a picture
taken of him this past weekend. Along with his two
year old photo from last year. The boy is growing
up! He stands at 16.3 1/2 hands.
Epiphanybay Celebration "Sully"
3 yr old CB x TB Gelding May 2011
Epiphanybay Celebration "Sully"
2 yr old CB x TB Gelding May 2010
If you do what you have always done
you will get what you have always got.
May 7, 2011: Insanity is
expecting different results when you keep doing the same
thing again and again. Well, we need new
results! We are in the process of changing things
up. Although, we are not quite ready to divulge
the changes. Yet, will do so as appropriate.
April 2011
Congratulations are in order!
April 30, 2011: April
has continued to present us with challenges, loss and a
reason for congratulations.
All of this plays a huge part in why I did not make
posts to our website during April.
Sera, who is now doing great, had an upper
respiratory infection which had her feeling puny for
several days. After Sera was better, we started
the process of transitioning the horses to spring
pasture from their winter turn out area. We begin
by putting the horses out on the grass for short periods
of time. Each day we gradually increase the amount
of time they are on the grass to give their digestive
systems an opportunity to adjust to the grass.
Moving the horses from one area to the other is a time
consuming process.
During April, we were dealt another loss.
Kisses our oldest TB broodmare developed colic which was
severe enough that we had to put her down. We do
not know why this happened as Kisses had never had any
intestinal issues and was transitioning well to the
spring pasture. Kisses will be deeply missed.
Her spirit was one of kindness and gentleness. As
a broodmare, she was worth her weight in gold.
The congratulations go to Delaney. Delaney is a
member of the Orange County Bit N' Bridle 4-H Club.
Delaney created a Power Point presentation about the
Cleveland Bay horse. She gave an oral presentation
using her Power Point on the Cleveland Bay. Her
first presentation was at the Northern District 4-H
Presentation Contest where she earned the Blue Danish
Ribbon with 97 out of 100 points. Her next
presentation was at the Virginia State 4-H Horse
Presentation Contest where she earned 7th place.
Click on the link below to view her presentation.
Link to
Delaney's Cleveland Bay Presentation.
Recent Photos. They are of Sera, who is 7 weeks
old, the Harrison Yellow Rose bush and the purple
martins with one chicken along with kitty Leon.
Sera's First Day in Spring Pasture.
April 3, 2011: With all that has
happened at our farm the past several weeks, we have not
had much time to spend with Sera and her mom, Epona.
Today's weather was sunny, mildly breezy with
temperatures in the mid 50's. Delaney was at the
farm working with some of the other horses and she
stayed to help with moving Epona and Sera from their
paddock to the pasture. Mike put the halter on
Sera with little objection from her. I placed a
lead rope around Sera's bum to help guide her and
Delaney led Epona just in front of Sera. Sera did
well with her first experience being haltered and having
a person directing where she would go.
Once in the
pasture, Epona was not overly concerned about Sera, she
simply put her head down and started grazing.
Sera, however, quickly discovered that she had
considerably more room to run. Which she did.
Eventually, she started checking out the grass which had
captured her mother's attention. First she would
sniff the grass, blow a bit and shake her head as the
grass tickled her nose. Finally she joined mom in
grazing. When it was time to return to the
paddock, Sera easily accepted the halter and walked back
to the paddock, behind her mom, again with the rope
around her bum. She did a few bucks and hops along
the way, yet, otherwise did well. Below are photos
from today. 
March 2011
Delicate Balance between Life and
Death. March 27, 2011:
Seldom do we consider this delicate balance. Carlene
and I had planned the breeding with Belladonna Mahogany
and Borderfame Prince Charming for over two years. We
took a chance when Mahogany was a three year old and
bred her by artificial insemination (AI) as a maiden
mare. The breeding did not take. We had been
successful breeding Olddominion Epona as a three year
old with the thought that both mares would be four when
they delivered. Epona conceived twice at three, carried
and delivered Epiphanybay Constance and our TB mare
Princess (a high risk mare having slipped a foal the
previous year), an embryo transfer recipient, carried
and delivered Epiphanybay Independence. We have been so
passionate about breeding the Cleveland Bays that we
have been willing to take some chances and breed in
unconventional ways and timelines without sacrificing
the wellbeing of the mares.
Last year we repeated the
breeding with Borderfame Prince Charming and were
delighted that Mahogany was in foal. After 11 months of
prenatal care and anticipation, Mahogany gave birth to a
filly foal on the 23rd of March, one day
prior to her calculated due date. The foaling went
well. Being a maiden mare, Mahogany did a great job!
The foal was a little large but presentation was
correct. During the foaling I was gently holding the
front legs of the foal so that progress was not lost and
when the head was present I got to see the foal’s eye
blink for the first time outside of the womb. The
shoulders followed and then the rest of the body
followed. Once I cleared the amniotic sack from the
foal’s nose I saw the first breath of life. Mare and
foal rested for some time before we were able to see
that the foal was a filly. We were thrilled as we had
so hoped for a filly!
The next twelve hours turned
into quite a trial. Mahogany wanted nothing to do with
her filly. This little girl was very quick to get on
her feet and a strong suck reflex was evident very early
on. Mahogany would not let her nurse, did not want to
clean her up and even kicked her once before I could
intervene. For those that know Mahogany, she is a very
sweet and loving mare that does not show aggressive
behavior. We of course knew that we would have to
“make” Mahogany nurse the filly or we would have to
bottle feed her. After 4 hours we were able to get the
filly to nurse and spent the next 8 hours making sure
that the filly was not neglected or harmed. It was
during that time that Carlene and I bonded with the
filly. I even had the chance to get a nap with her in
my arms. She was magnificent! Straight, correct, nice
head, neck, and back. She was so sweet with an
endearing personality that was growing by the minute.
She was all that we had hoped and dreamed for. When our
vet, Anna came and examined the mare and filly, drew
blood from the filly and checked her IGG level the
results were good and we sighed a collective sigh of
relief that all was well. Mahogany had settled and was
letting the filly nurse at will without incident. We
left them and went into the house to get some rest,
still checking on them through the night. All appeared
well.
The next morning Carlene noticed
that the filly’s respirations were too rapid but she was
still alert and nursing albeit not as bright as
yesterday. The filly stopped nursing and her condition
seemed to worsen, so we milked Mahogany and tried to get
the foal to take the milk with a bottle. Anna came back
and examined the filly. At that point we were concerned
that the earlier kick suffered may have broken her
sternum or a rib as pain reaction is delayed in foals.
We decided to take the filly to the Marion DuPont Scott
Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia for x-rays.
It was during the trailer ride that Mahogany started to
finally act like a mother.
We arrived and after a lengthy
exam process, discovered that the filly was septic and
had a severe case of pneumonia. The doctors only gave
her a 50/50 chance of survival. We asked them to do
anything they could to try and save her life. We
traveled home Thursday evening, praying, in tears but
hopeful. At 3 AM Friday morning the doctor called and
told us that the filly, although responding well to
treatment initially was not doing well. One last option
remained to treat her and we gave our authorization. We
were told that if she did not respond well we would be
called in an hour. Carlene and I prayed together for the
filly’s survival. We had been told that she was a
fighter. We fell asleep, exhausted, finding that over
three hours had elapsed and we had renewed hope. We
dared not call the doctor as we wanted to assume that
the filly was doing well. We received a call to inform
us the filly was not improving, suffered cardiac arrest,
was revived by CPR but very weak. Any further treatment
was ill advised and inhumane. We sadly gave permission
to euthanize the filly. Words cannot express our
feelings. So much had occurred in two days. Life cut so
short. I quickly thought about our vision, “Breeding
for Conservation and Performance”. This filly
represented our vision, her sire being a NaSta
performance tested, premium CB stallion and the plight
of the Cleveland Bay horses being critically
endangered. She would have been a bright light in the
breed, dimmed suddenly without any warning signs. We
are not the first CB breeder to suffer a loss. We know
others, friends that have suffered too many losses. We
were not so naive to believe that it would not happen at
our farm, our program. The sorrow and sting is no less
knowing that it was only a matter of when, not if.
We wait to name our foals after
waiting to see what their personality is like and what
works for them. Some names have been no-brainers.
While never discussing with Carlene, I thought that the
name Spirit would be so appropriate. We had not
discussed bringing her home to bury her with Netami,
Carlene’s beloved quarter horse of 35 years. Two
no-brainers. We could not bury an unnamed filly and
Spirit captured our vision so perfectly that no other
name was discussed. She is the spirit of our farm, our
program, our dreams and hopes. She rests on a hill,
overlooking the barns with Netami, the babysitter.
Spirit’s job will be to look after the future foals and
remind Carlene and me how important yet fragile our work
is. Rest well our beloved filly, Epiphanybay Spirit.
Finally, a Name for the New Filly.
March 19, 2011: The
naming of a new foal can sometimes occur in an instant
as it did with our first purebred filly, Epiphanybay
Independence. She was born on July 4 and has
always been quite independent even as a foal.
Often she would venture far away from mom to explore her
world. For other foals, it takes a bit longer to
find a name.
We have watched Epona's filly develop an absolutely
lovely personality. She is very friendly,
energetic and seems care free. All of these are a
blessing as she had a bit of a slow start. One of
the veterinarians that I work with came up with the name
suggestion. She was thinking how lucky the filly
had been in her arrival, which was early. A
synonym for luck is serendipity. The filly will be
named Epiphanybay Serendipity and be called Sera.
Below is a photo taken of her today.
Epiphanybay Serendipity
We continue to closely watch Mahogany as her due date
of March 24 nears. Mahogany, who is normally
quite laid back about life, is going through a cranky
period just like Epona did prior to foaling.
In the photos below,
Epiphanybay Constance is on the left and Epiphanybay Independence is on the
right. For those of you who might not be
familiar with the two fillies, they are out of the same
dam and by the same sire. Independence was born on
July 4, 2009 and Constance was born July 11, 2009.
Independence was an embryo transfer foal. They are
sometimes referred to as the embryo transfer twins.
When it's all worth it!
March 13, 2011: This morning found
Epona's filly quite frisky in the stall with her mother.
As we sat on a bale of straw in the corner of the stall
watching this little gal's exuberance, Mike commented,
"This is when it's all worth it." The satisfaction
and joy of knowing that we have been instrumental in a
small part towards preserving this endangered breed of
horse, the Cleveland Bay. There is much which goes
into this day. Choosing a stallion for the mare.
Ultrasounds to determine if the mare is ready to be
bred. Hauling the mare to the stallion and having
a successful covering and hauling her home. The
waiting for the first ultrasound to determine if there
is a single embryo present and not twins. The
ultrasound to find the heartbeat of the fetus.
Ensuring the mare is fed properly and that she does not
consume any fescue grass or hay in the last three months
of pregnancy. The vaccines given throughout the
pregnancy and about a month before foaling. Fecal
egg counts and deworming with products safe for a
pregnant mare. Hoof care. The 10 months of
waiting after the fetal heartbeat ultrasound is
positive. There is the preparation of the foaling
stall and the collection of all of the potentially
needed supplies for birthing. Then as the due date
nears, there are the frequent trips to the barn to check
on the mare all hours of the day and night and near
sleepless nights when foaling is imminent. There
is the hoping that you will be present when the mare
finally decides to foal, as mares can be tricky and
decide to foal when you step out for a brief moment.
The most dangerous part to both the mare and foal is the
actual birth process which takes about 20 minutes and if
anything goes wrong may result in the loss of the foal
and possibly the mare. Then there are the hours
spent after foaling ensuring the foal is normal and is
able to stand and nurse for which the timeframe is
typically one hour and no more than three hours.
There is a concern that the mare will accept the foal
and allow it to nurse. The foal has to consume the
mare's first milk to obtain antibodies for immunity as a
foal is born without any immunity. At about 12
hours of age, a blood test is done to determine if the
foal has been able to absorb an adequate amount of the
antibodies in the mare's milk. Then, hopefully,
all is well and will continue to be well. Sitting
there on the straw bale this morning, we were blessed to
be able to say, "Yes, this is when it's all worth it."
Below are photos of the filly taken today on her
first trip outside the foaling stall. The weather
has been quite wet and the ground has been too muddy to take
mare and filly outside in the paddock by the broodmare
barn. This little gal found her legs were good for
running and jumping about. She is now three days
old.
Epona has given birth to a Filly!
March 11, 2011: We have
spent some very long hours in the broodmare barn since
March 9th. We were quite concerned as Epona
was foaling early and were checking on her every 30
minutes. When I checked her at 2:00 am on
March 10th, I decided to stay with Epona as she had
become increasingly restless. When Epona laid down
to give birth, I called Mike and he came out to the
barn. By the time he arrived the delivery was in
process. It was not the smoothest delivery
so it was a good thing we were there to assist.
The filly was born at 2:40 AM. Either Mike or I
stayed with mare and foal constantly for the first 20
hours after birth. Epona is worth her weight in
gold as a mother as we could not have asked for a more
perfect mare to cooperate with all that occurred.
Today, both Epona and the filly are doing well.
Below is a photo of the filly which was taken today.
Another night of frequently
interrupted sleep! March 9, 2011:
Epona, whose 340 day calculated foaling date of March
28, started waxing up 48+ hours ago and has many other
changes indicating foaling is nearer than March 28.
Two days ago, we moved Epona to a foaling stall thickly
bedded with soft straw. I checked on her every 1
1/2 to 2 hours all night long. She did not foal
and I was tired! Yesterday, she started dripping
some from her teats and last night was again spent with
hourly checks all night long. Again, she did not
foal. Today, late in the afternoon I found her
standing in her paddock with milk steady dripping from
her teats. Now, every 30 minutes she is being
checked. If she is going to foal tonight, I sure
wish she would foal earlier than later. In
2009, when she gave birth to EB Constance she foaled at
329 days. Today, she is at 321 days.
Mares are frequently unpredictable year to year
when one can expect them to foal.
The Waiting Game.
March 2, 2011: With foaling
dates nearing, each day we check the two mares, Epona
and Mahogany multiple times daily. Checking
for changes in udder size is the first item on the check
list. We are also checking for changes in the
foal's position as evidenced by how the mare's belly
appears. As the mare nears delivery the position
of the foal changes. Next we check for changes in
muscle tone around the tail base and perineal area which
relaxes significantly as delivery nears. Mares
have the ability to control when the foal will be
delivered. As a prey animal in the wild, it is
important to control foaling time from a survival
standpoint for both the mare and foal. Veterinary
information on foaling gives a range of 330 to 350 days
of gestation as the timeframe in which a mare will
typically foal, with the recommendation to begin
watching the mare closely beginning at day 300.
Our foaling dates are calculated for day 340. As
we are past day 300, the waiting game has begun.
February 2011
Second Photo Day:
February 28, 2011: Yesterday,
Delaney came out to work with the horses.
Abigail tried her best to have Delaney pick her to work
with first. When Abigail saw Delaney, she walked
to the gate of the round pen and looked at Delaney as if
to say, "Ok, I'm ready". When Delaney picked
Lady Leone to work with first, Abigail came over and
tried to interject herself between Lady Leone and
Delaney. Abigail stood at the side of the
round pen the entire time Delaney worked with Lady
Leone. Delaney rode Lady Leone at a walk in the
round pen, concentrating on having her move forward.
Lady Leone took everything in stride.
Then, Delaney picked Sully to work with second.
Abigail tried again to have Delaney pick her by
interjecting herself between Sully and Delaney.
Sully did fairly well, although, he did test Delaney a
few times to see if she really meant what she was asking
of him. As soon, as Sully realized that Delaney
meant business, he readily cooperated.
Abigail finally had her turn. Although, when
Delaney went to get her, Abigail walked away from her
playing hard to get. Abigail did well with her
lessons. Afterwards, she followed Delaney around
wanting to be scratched and getting hugs from Delaney.
Yesterday's weather was gorgeous. We tried
again to take photos of Epiphanybay Constance and
Epiphanybay Independence together. Delaney
helped by holding Constance and Mike held Independence.
Both fillies cooperated quite well, resulting in some
good photographs being taken.
Mares in foal.
February 23, 2011: Over the past two
weeks we had noticed that Epona, who is due to foal on
March 28, had become increasingly cranky.
She did not want to be touched or have her favorite
places scratched. When out with the herd, she
would maintain a distance from the herd. We
decided to separate her from the herd during the daytime
turnout. We placed Epona along with her
personal round bale of hay in a paddock.
Almost immediately, she returned to her usual friendly
behavior.
Mahogany, who is due to foal on March 24, would come
stand near the paddock with Epona. Epona and
Mahogany have always gotten along well. We
placed Mahogany with Epona and both settled in around
the hay bale. The odd occurrence is that
Lady Leone, who has been Mahogany's best nearly
inseparable buddy since the day she arrived at our farm,
would come stand by the paddock and Mahogany ignored
her. Leone would just stand there watching
Mahogany and Epona, yet, she did not call out or race
around. After a day, Leone returned to hanging out
with the herd.
We suspect that Epona may foal earlier than her
calculated due date, although one never quite knows.
Her belly is dropping, the muscles around her tail base
seem softer and yesterday her udder became significantly
larger. Mahogany is not yet showing any of
these signs. Although maiden mares can surprise
you.
Today is to be cleaning day for the stalls in the
broodmare barn in preparation for foaling.
Hopefully, the day warms up some so at least it
will be pleasant to be outdoors.
Photo Day. February
21, 2011: With the milder
weather today, we took some photos. The fun,
so to speak, was to take photos of Epiphanybay
Independence and Epiphanybay Constance together.
We took them into a pasture they had not been into for a
while where there is the faintest hint of green in the
grass. The fillies interest was in anything but
standing still together. Below is a photo of
Mahogany who is due to foal in one month, one of
Constance and one of the fillies together.
Happy Valentine's Day!
February 14, 2011: We hope that your
Valentine's Day has been special for you. Here at
the farm, out of necessity, today is much like any other
day. In the mornings we put the horses
outside, put out hay bales, clean the stalls, fill water
buckets and put hay in the stalls. In the evening
we bring the horses in, feed them their concentrate and
tuck them in for the night.
I don't suppose Epona and Mahogany are feeling at all
romantic today, as each one's belly is getting larger
and dropping lower. In the last week Epona, who
from birth has loved to have her bum scratched, does not
want to be touched or looked at from the middle of her
belly back to her tail. If I even take a peak to
check on udder development, I get grumpy looks from her.
Mahognay is on the other end of the scale.
Mahogany has never really enjoyed having her bum
scratched. In the past week, she has frequently
walked up to me placing her bum squarely in front of me
demanding a bum scratch. If there are other horses
around she runs them off and then returns to me to
resume the scratching session. Funny girls!
Yesterday, Delaney came out to play with the horses.
All did amazingly well. Sully, particularly, did
quite well. His attitude was one of willingness
without any of the extroverted play time to work through
first. I think this is a first for him. He
will be three years old in May so we are hopeful this is
a trend starting towards mental maturity.
Yesterday, we measured all of the young horses.
Sully's physical maturity continues as he measured 16.3
1/2 hands at the withers and 17.0 hands at the hip!
Today the winds are blustery, to say the least!
The winds should finish drying out the turnout area
which will be nice. I did notice over the weekend
that there are daffodils and crocus pushing up through
the soil. This is a welcome sign!
Milder weather equals mud!
February 6, 2011:
The Fall/Winter of 2009/2010 was very wet with higher
than average rainfall and snowfall, which equaled months
of muddy ground. Until this last snowfall,
we were doing quite well with having minimal amounts of
mud to deal with this winter and we were hopeful to make
it to spring without having to deal with much mud.
Well, the snow has melted and left in its' wake lots of
mud. In order to preserve our pastures, we utilize
a sacrifice area for winter turnout. Even if we do
not have wet weather the horses, through their hoofmarks
and grazing, quickly leave this area barren. Just
add moisture to equal a mess. Fortunately, a windy
day seems to follow shortly afterwards to help dry out
the ground.
This morning when I turned the horses out, after
having been kept inside for the last day due to the
weather, Kisses promptly laid down and rolled.
This grey mare quickly became red in color as our soil
contains red clay. She did not seem to mind
as she rolled from side to side making particularly sure
that she coated every inch of her body. Getting up
and shaking herself off, she strolled over to the round
bale to join the other horses. A friend once asked
us if we had gotten some new horses which were chestnut
in color. No, no new horses. Just grey
mares who roll in the mud.
January 2011
Snow, Snow, Go Away! January
29, 2011: This past week we have
received more snow with the storm which moved up the
east coast. We did not get as much snow as those
north of us. Our 6 inches was certainly more than
we wanted. More than an inch or two of snow
always increases the time needed to take care of the
horses. Often the horses are in their stalls a bit
longer than usual, especially if there is ice involved,
which equates to increased time needed to clean stalls.
Water buckets are frozen and increased care is needed
when walking over the frozen, white terrain.
Time is needed to use the tractor to clear paths for
humans, horses, and motor vehicles. Although, we
know that snow is important in contributing to ground
water levels (important when your water is supplied by a
well), how we hope for the arrival of Spring and milder
weather.
Leon. January 23,
2011: Leon has had surgery to repair
his fracture with internal fixation (placement of a
metal pin in his bone) and his recovery is going well.
Recovery involves being confined to a crate which is in
the warmest room by the wood stove (pretty uptown for a
barn cat). Twice a day he gets to come out of the
crate and rest/sleep on Mike's lap, which is certainly
another hardship for a barn cat. Leon is Mike's
cat. Today for the first time, Leon wanted to
wander around the house rather than stay on Mike's lap.
He is allowed, under supervision, a few minutes to walk
around (for physical therapy purposes). We
anticipate that Leon will recover fully and return to
his barn cat duties sometime in the spring, when the
weather has warmed and his hair has grown back in where
he was shaved for the surgery.
January Happenings at Epiphany Bay
Farm. January 16, 2011:
For the past two weeks, I have been making the daily
effort to school/play/train with at least two horses.
Overall, I have had good success with this New Year's
resolution. Lady Leone, Sully, and Abigail have
been my primary focus. I set up a little
jump with cross rails to see what Leone thought about
jumping while working her on the long line. She
took the jump in stride, perfectly timed and kept on
going. Conclusion: Leone likes to jump.
It has been a month since Sully's brother Hamilton,
left to go to his new home. We were not sure how
Sully would handle the change as the two were one day
apart in age and had been lifelong constant companions
and playmates. Sully is quite a playful, energetic
soul and he has commandeered the three yearling fillies
to be his playmates now that his brother is gone.
The fillies, however, do not always go along with his
plans. It is amusing to watch. He is so much
larger than they are, yet, if they have had enough of
his games they let him know in no uncertain terms that
playtime is over.
Leon and Maggie are our two young barn cats.
Well, barn cats is what they are supposed to be.
Every evening, Maggie and Leon come into the house for a
few hours. We know when they are ready to come
indoors as Maggie has mastered the art of jumping up and
hanging on the door handle to open the back door.
This started when the weather began to get colder.
They lay on our laps or in front of the wood stove for a
bit, then they go back outside for the night. They
don't seem to object too strenuously to being put out.
Anyway, this is what we thought. It may be that
Leon had a master plan to become an indoor kitty.
We live fairly close to the road, yet, had never seen
the cats go near the road for which we were grateful.
Friday morning, we could not find Leon. He and
Maggie are always together and always meet us at the
back door to go to the barn in the morning. We did
not find Leon until Friday afternoon. We had
searched the entire farm, feared the worst and headed
back to the house. Leon was laying in the side
yard by the back walk so we don't know where he had been
hiding when we had searched for him around the house.
He had played dodge with a motor vehicle and lost.
He was pretty banged up and his back leg was broken.
He is scheduled for surgery to repair the fracture,
although, over the weekend he has shown signs that he
may have some nerve damage to a front leg. For
now, anyway, Leon is a house cat.
Happy New Year!
January 2, 2011:
Thank you to our
volunteers, customers, friends and fellow Cleveland Bay
enthusiasts, whom we greatly appreciate, for being a part of Epiphany Bay Farm in
2010.
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