July 26, 2007
Yesterday our three year old fillies - Ock and Oeke - headed south for a two month training session. Since we are not professional trainers ourselves, we send the three year olds to a professional for training in harness and under saddle. This is timed so the horses will be in peak physical condition just as they go to their Friesian breed inspection ("keuring"). The keuring happens once per year. For us, this year's [more...]
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July 12, 2007
Breeding horses is an expensive and stressful endeavor. Breeding Friesians (all artificial insemination, of course) is a true labor of love and dedication to the breed. After all, Friesians have not been culled based on fertility - we are lucky just to get one here. If a cow is not very fertile, it becomes hamburger. But if a Friesian (male or female) is not particularly fertile, it is a secondary consideration. At Tanbark Acres we [more...]
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July 10, 2007
After a bit of experimentation, we've succeeded in using an online journal entry ("blog") facility for multiple websites. The "Tanbark Tales" front page story on the Tanbark Acres website will now show the latest "horse" journal entry from Jeannine's blog at http://accidentalessayist.net. What does that mean to visitors to the Tanbark Acres site? It means that the front page story will be updated much more frequently now. And that the blog archive is now available [more...]
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July 3, 2007
This past winter while in the Netherlands I was able to meet the grandmother of my mare Dahlia. Grandma's name is Wilmaa B and she is 16 years old now and has had 8 foals. Wilmaa B's mother recently died. Her name was Hillie B. and she was a daughter of the famous stallion Hearke. Hille B. had a rating of Model + Preferent. Less than 2% of all mares will make the Model rating. [more...]
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July 1, 2007
It was a gorgeous July 1 day. The heat and humidity abated, the sky was a springtime blue and the green on the tree was mind-numbingly brilliant. At 8:45am, Sara and I headed down to the farm so she could visit her 15 day old foal. Wikke is starting to exert his independence. He didn't want his halter and didn't want to be petted. He constantly used his [more...]
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June 27, 2007
My mare Dahlia is not being very cooperative for breeding. Her cycles have been off, so I decided to incur the cost of taking her to the vet clinic for monitoring so I can get the timing just right for artificial insemination. She showed heat Monday and Dad loaded her on the trailer and carted her over the mountain. The vet examination revealed that she was ready to be bred NOW, not in 4 days [more...]
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June 19, 2007
This morning when I got out of the shower, I found a message waiting for me on the cell phone. Dr. Tan's voice excitedly stated "Last night at about 9pm your foal finally understood why his mom was there. He latched on and has been milking her dry ever since. You can take him home whenever you'd like.". By mid-morning Dad was on his way with the truck, and the paperwork was being processed. I [more...]
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June 18, 2007
The morning started with an odd status report from the vet. She felt the foal had taken some steps back and the frustration was evident in her voice. "He is not responding to his mother at all. He has resorted to running from her again. He is not feeding well from the bottle." The whole thing was pessimistic and not helpful. I started looking for answers myself. What would I do if Tech kicked him [more...]
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June 17, 2007
On Saturday June 16 at 12:30 in the afternoon, dad and I were met by a team of 5, waiting to take Cori and her newborn into emergency care. One of the 5 took me to the front office to leave my credit card number (ah, modern medicine). The other 4 immediately began taking the baby's vital signs and getting a history. He was already so much improved since the morning that he was walking [more...]
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June 17, 2007
Well, after waiting 338 days, Cori has given birth to her new son at 11:15 pm Friday night. He is a very pretty boy and very squirmy and vocal. He is a big foal, but fine - not huge like Hiltje's boy Tsjemme was. This one is more like Cori's first baby, Samson. He was able to stand within 2 hours. The delivery went without a hitch, except that the umbilical cord [more...]
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June 15, 2007
As mentioned a couple of entries ago, pregnant mares usually foal at night, and it is best if people are around, just in case something goes awry. Thus typically means many sleepless nights waiting on the mare to foal. Not surprisingly, this is not an activity most people look forward to, and there are lots of hints and tips on how to forecast when the birthing will happen - so you can sleep easily until [more...]
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June 14, 2007
Cori is fine, so no worries there. We did a milk test last night and she registered at 150. So, there was a 98% chance no baby last night (and indeed, no baby last night). Once she hits 200 - which could be today or tomorrow - she should foal within 48 hours. If the milk test works (more on that in a later post). Mother Nature did hurt us yesterday though. [more...]
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June 13, 2007
The average gestation period for Friesian horses is about 340 days. Ours usually have their babies a little earlier, but when Cori had her first foal in 2005, she delivered smack dab on day 340. That means this year she is due on June 18, but we have been assuming she may go before that. And thus, it is "foal watch week". Since horses generally foal at night, and since the foal [more...]
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January 31, 2007
Like all of Hiltje's babies, he was born early and was beautiful. His new owners had been waiting nearly a year for his birth. We telephoned them to say this was the blackest (pure, indigo black - like an ink spill) and BIGGEST baby we have ever had on the farm. He was too big to lift his body [more...]
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January 27, 2007
The 2007 Stallion Show in Friesland Lexie and Mark The annual stallion show was held in Leeuwarden, Friesland on January 12-13, 2007. Visiting the show and our dear Friesian friends is a highlight of our year. This year Dee and Carlton's granddaughter (Jeannine and Carole's niece), Lexie, was able to attend. This photo is Lexie with Mark, the famous [more...]
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August 27, 2006
I really like this video because it is such a nice depiction of the work dad does with the foals each day. Meanwhile, Tara is really a sweetheart - very easy to work with and willing to try most anything you ask of her. I am interested to see how her body changes over time and am still looking/hoping for more height and a little longer neck. But I sure cannot fault her on movement. [more...]
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July 17, 2006
We have bred our horses to Wander 352 many times but, since he is in California and we are in Virginia, I have never actually seen him. I was really happy to get this video of him. Cori is the spitting image of her dad.
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June 3, 2006
Ulske and LisaClick for larger imageI just got back from helping Dad transport Ulske, our star mare Lukas x Reitse, to her new owner. Mom and Dad bought Ulske as a weanling and she is now 8 years old, broke to ride and drive. She is a nice mare, but we could not get her pregnant, so we had to sell her. Her new family are not looking to breed; mostly they just want to [more...]
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May 30, 2006
Coriander, my 6 year old Friesian broodmare, is pregnant. This is her 2nd foal, and she became pregnant after only one insemination. We are so happy and relieved! This should be a wonderful foal - the offspring of a top quality mare and one of the best breeding stallions in the world. If all goes well with the baby, s/he will be sold to a local (Blacksburg) woman who has been waiting about 18 months already [more...]
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May 15, 2006
Well, we have been boarding Samson and his owner picked him up today. Samson was Cori's first foal and he just turned 11 months old. I am glad I was not there when they picked him up - I would have been heartbroken to see him go. Dad said he walked right on the trailer like a good boy. He is now going to be boarded at a quarter horse place in NC. The man [more...]
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May 5, 2006
Yesterday the new foal Tsjemme was able to go home from va Tech hospital. He was there because he was 2 weeks early and needed some time to get his strength. He is doing very well and is a lovely foal. Here are a couple of pictures of him and his vet as he is getting onto the horse trailer.
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May 3, 2006
I did not get home until after 9pm, so I could not take pictures tonight, BUT the barn is gorgeous. The siding is close to finished. Some remaining exterior items: the front door needs windows and cladding, the one stall door needs to be mounted (I called yesterday about the trim replacement and they swear it is "any day now"), and the loft door needs to be installed. But in general, the bottom line is [more...]
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April 23, 2006
Yes, he was a couple of weeks early, which was a good thing because he is HUMONGOUS. He had trouble getting up, because he is HUMONGOUS, so he went to Va Tech for some TLC until he could build his strength up enough to lift his HUMONGOUS body. Even so, it took 6 people to hold him down to put the feeding tube in. One vet tech, sweaty face, hair down in her eyes, looked [more...]
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April 20, 2006
The spring continues to be busy, busy. Dahlia had a very nice little filly yesterday morning. Hiltje is due in 2 weeks. You can see pictures at http://www.tanbarkacres.com.Meanwhile, the electrician and plumber are digging a trench for the water to the barn. It is taking forever and making a HUGE mess. I am trying to remain patient, but I am getting irritated with them only being here a few hours a day. If they would [more...]
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March 31, 2006
The excavator (Mike) came out this week and finished grading the site for the new barn. On this hilly land I cannot believe what a nice job he did - it is like a miracle. The barn builder came by and looked it over and he too was dutifully impressed. Ronny, the builder, called me later in the day to say they may start the barn next week! We can hardly believe it - other [more...]
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