A Filly! With Spring Comes Life

Happy April. Our first foal of the season was born this week — a beautiful and thick boned filly from a young mare named Maybelle. When a foal is born Chad will take the mama and new foal into the barn to give them a little space from the other mares and the stallion. When foals are born on pasture there is much more room for everyone to find space from one another, but in the smaller winter paddock Chad will separate the mama and foal from the others.

What is it about baby animals that is so entrancing? From baby chicks, to baby pigs and especially baby horses, there is a certain quality that instills an appreciation of the newness of life. When Chad told us about the new foal we immediately went to visit her. Lewis (turning 7 soon) was interested but soon went off to play in the mud. Lovett, who rarely stops moving or making noises, just stood for 20 minutes watching the foal. They would approach each other on either side of the fence, the foal getting only as close as her comfort would allow and then turning and bounding away around her pen from the excitement of venturing so close to a small human. Eventually the filly got close enough to nuzzle Lovett’s hand, who kept very still. When the foal moved away Lovett looked at me, with an amazement in her eyes that said, “did you see that?”

The next morning Lovett was up and out of bed at least a half hour early. We finished breakfast before Lewis came downstairs. As we made lunches and cleaned the kitchen after breakfast, I heard Lovett bustling in the mudroom. It was a full 45 minutes before the bus was due to arrive, and Lovett came into the kitchen fully dressed, asking to go up and see the new horse.

After a quick parental huddle, Lovett and I headed up to the driveway to Chad and Gwen’s barn to spend some more time with the new filly. Lovett demonstrated how to grab armfuls of hay from the large haybale to feed to the mama and the baby. When only the mama came over to eat the hay, Lovett explained to me that baby horses don’t really eat hay yet, they mostly drink their mama’s milk.

By the end of the week we came home one afternoon to find that Chad had put the mama and baby out to enjoy some relaxing in the sun. While they are out in the sun Chad brings Donn the stallion and one other mare into the barn to keep him from pestering mama and baby too much. While we were there Chad and Layton came out to check on things and we helped them bring mama and baby in and put Donn and Ida (the other mare) back out into the sun.

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In other news we are preparing to send our first batch of chickens to the field next week. It always feels like we’re pushing it this time of year, the fields have only just begun to show that shade of green, and nights can easily fall well below freezing. Nevertheless, spring comes fast and we have to make the most of our short growing season.

One of our annual maintenance tasks is to check and replace any fittings in the waterers for the field coops. This ensures that we prevent, to the extent possible, any water leaks or shortages out in the field. Lovett’s task was to remove the Schrader valve from the end of the waterer with a specialized tool and then screw in a new one. This is delicate and precise work and I admired her dexterity and attention as she worked through the four waterers I handed her.

Lewis helped me remove a few fittings that had broken during the winter and rethread pipe tape and screw in fittings. We learned what “cross-threading” means and how to see and feel when threads are lined up correctly. With luck we will have everything ship-shape and ready for the chicks to go to the field in the warmer weather of the coming week.