Good News, Bad News

Checks and balances.  The circle of life.  Baji-naji.  However you wish to view life and the world, there are always deaths and births.  The bad news - the death - is that Zenyatta's fourth foal, a dark bay colt sired by War Front, has died.  This was her second foal by War Front, and the second death.  Their first foal was a chestnut filly, who died as a yearling, after a paddock accident.  This colt was born Sunday night, April 10, at 9:24 p.m.  He passed away at 9 a.m. on April 13.  When Zenyatta's water broke Sunday night, it was immediately noted that there was meconium in the fluid.  That means that the baby had a bowel movement while unborn.  The biggest problem with that occurrence is that the baby can breathe the fecal matter during the birth process.  This colt did aspirate the fecal matter, and had a nasty lung infection.  Despite the best efforts at the Rood & Riddle Veterinary Hospital, the foal died.   Zenyatta has been returned to Lanes End Farm, where she is sharing a paddock with another mare, who trained with her during her career.
    The good news - we now have five new foals on the southern end of Assateague, in the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's herds.  Four of the foals have arrived in the northern compartments, and one in the south.  Tunie produced the first foal of the year, a pinto.  Wildest Dream had a strapping bay.  Then Ladies' Sweet Surprise produced a buckskin, followed by Wild Island Orchid's chestnut baby.  Lyra's Vega had the first southern foal, sired by Riptide, a chestnut with a blaze.
     Three mares are due to foal on the northern end of Assateague, in Maryland this Spring.  Since the pony count in Maryland has dropped to 87,  the National Park Service has decided to allow most of the mares to breed this year, instead of  darting all of them with a year-long birth control solution.  It is my understanding that a few of the oldest, youngest, and smallest mares will receive their birth control injections, to decrease the number of possible deaths during foaling.  It will be nice to see a lot of youngsters running around next summer!
   Rosie, the old Irish Setter that I care for, has had a few bad days recently.  Neither her owners, nor I, want her to cross the Rainbow Bridge, but we don't want her to suffer either.  Her hind legs are failing her, they occasionally give way completely, but the vet says she isn't feeling any pain.  (The vet makes a house visit every two weeks, and gives her an acupuncture and deep laser treatment.)  But she is 14 years old now; she has out-lived her parents, her siblings, her mate, and all five of her puppies...  It's amazing.  And Rosie still enjoys a slow stroll every day.  (I'm headed that way now...)

Bits and Pieces

Since I've been concentrating on Pony Penning this past week, I've let a few things slide that I'd like to write about.  First, on Monday, 22 July, the same afternoon that Prince George of Great Britain arrived. my niece, Sarah Snow Fleetwood gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl, named Evelyn Estelle.  She weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces, arrived at 4 p.m. MDT on the dot, had had a full head of dark red hair.  Mother and child returned to their home in Edgewater (a part of Denver) the next afternoon, with a very proud father, Michael Fleetwood.  As first time grandparents, my sister and brother-in-law are as giddy as teens on their first sleep-over.
  My nephew, Mike Snow, married his beautiful wife Erin on 12 December last year, and kept it a secret.  Their wedding party is this evening, from 6 until 9, at the Dushanbe Tea House here in Boulder.  I was convinced to dress up for this occasion, and am already nervous.  I feel like mutton dressing as lamb.  But I have a red satin sheath, with black flats, and a navy blue shawl with small red and white birds worked on it. I also have a brooch to hold the shawl in place, and matching earrings...  Like I said, mutton as lamb.  I'll get Jim to take a couple of photos so everyone can have a good laugh!
  Horses - I always come back to them...  St. Nicholas Abbey, the European champion son of Montjeau, was out on a normal training gallop earlier in the week, when one of his pastern bones broke.  I haven't been able to find out if it was the long or short pastern bone, nor which leg this happened to.  He has undergone surgery to place pins in the bone, and is listed in "guarded" condition at the Equine hospital.  There are hopes that he will survive and be able to go to stud.  ....  Also, handsome grey Unbridled's Song was euthanized Friday.  He had covered his booked mares this spring, and went into a sudden decline Thursday morning. An MRI showed an aggressively-growing mass in his sinus cavities and around his optic nerves; as there was no way to operate, and he was in pain, it was decided to put the stallion down.  He will be missed.
  Busy, busy, busy.  Lovey and Nedi are doing very well, and are spending as much time as possible outdoors while I am home.  I am currently staying at Rosie's, after a single night with Cloudy and Shady. Next week, I'll be back on a week's course of Blackberry and Chocolate (and, of course, Courtney, the goldfish) for Paulina.  And I recently met with a new client, and will be caring for his two rescue dogs and his wife's two cats  - the cats are Tipsy and Mopsy, while the dogs are Cooper and Lola.  "Twill be interesting!