Baaaaaby Cooooolt!

[dancinghorse]

This week has been lost in Baby Brain--getting us all used to the shift in routine, and teaching babymonster (who has a name but I should clear it with the other half of the ownership pool before making public--she's away for the long weekend) all about scrrrrrritchies. I had worried that he would take a long time to civilize, but after arriving on Tuesday, by Wednesday evening he was allowing me to scritch his butt through the fence. By Friday I was allowed to be in the same space while rubbing him all over. Since then he's been coming up to me and being more or less a normal in-your-face DHF babymonster.

His mom came into heat shortly after arrival. Pooka tried to do something about it Friday, mare said NO!, so Saturday they spent a lot of time interacting over the fence. Today I put them out together--watching carefully to be sure the baby would be OK. We have video here and here. Note how mom keeps a weather eye on the proceedings.

For those who haven't seen stallions in a herd situation, this can be fairly boggling. This is what a stallion is supposed to be like. Amazing, isn't it?

I grabbed some stills off the video, too (still haven't figured out how to get the higher-res version).

So much for the Fierce Aggressive Stallion Who Will Go After His Offspring And Eat It:




In case you thought the first one was a fluke:





Boy play while mom makes sure nobody gets fresh:




A very muddy Pooka swaps war stories with the kid after a good hard roll (we'd had a short downpour a few minutes before):



And as a bonus: Post-roll, Pooka throws in a little extravagance. Even covered with mud, the Platonic archetype of the My Little Pony rules.

Comments

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Lovely boys! I love Pooka running up ahead of the mare and foal to get their attention again after they walk away. ME! no, ME! Look at me!!!!

I knew one stallion whose stall I would happily lie down and sleep in. His half-brother tried to kill me once. (And did succeed in cracking the pelvis of another stable hand.)

It happens in the best of families.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I hope the killer stallion was gelded muy pronto.

Pooka gets to keep the optional equipment not just because he's stone gorgeous and an international-caliber mover. The temperament is the deciding factor. AND he passes on the whole package. Our motto: "You See One Pooklet, You've Seen Them All."

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

You would hope. But no, the stable kept him as breeding stock and sold the sweet boy. (The sweet boy was black, not bay, and slightly over-height for a Morgan. :-P)

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

That was nuts. But I've seen it before.

Maybe nasty boy produced a sweet temperament? That can happen. There's a Warmblood line that alternates killer hippos with complete pussycats. Your mare may rip your arm off, but her kids will be totally sweet. They keep the nastygrams for breeding stock because the next generation will be wonderful.

Tia's dad is the result of a smarter system. All his full brothers are some degree of nutbar, but he's as sweet as the day is long. They're all geldings. He's the lone stallion. And he passes it on. Tia has the most wonderful temperament--even with being so alpha, she's yay sweet.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Nasty boy hadn't been bred yet when they decided. The head of the breeding program had a Thing for Bays, and the icky stallion looked like his dad. (Who had sort of a generic, nondescript stallion personality; perfectly safe under harness, nice enough around the barn. And was v. pretty, in that chiseled sort of way that Morgan stallions can be pretty.)

Here's a lousy picture of Dad, who must be in his mid-twenties by now:

http://www.buffaloanniegreetings.com/uconn_stallion1.jpg

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

Why why why why why? Nice looking Morgan, but why keep a dangerous colt entire? Morgans aren't a color breed! Some people are nuts.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I guess they were hoping to reproduce dad.

Though all too often, breeding decisions have nothing to do with sense or logic.