Ephiny is Two
Apr. 24th, 2004 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancinghorseToday is Ephiny's birthday. Ephiny is two years old, and very special. I leased her mother Gabriella II from Charlie Horse Acres in Washington, one of the major Lipizzan breeding farms in the US, and arranged to have Gabriella bred to the senior stallion, Favory Bonasera. FB had not had a daughter in seven years--it was all colts as far as the eye could see. We Thought Pink and did the breeding and shipped the Divine Miss G down to DHF, and waited. And waited. (Which is normal, with horse gestations running an average of 345 days.)
On day 347, after having watched Carrma calmly and efficiently produce a filly three days before, Gabriella equally calmly and very efficiently produced a mile of jet-black legs, a beautiful face with a half-moon on the forehead, and--I eeked right out there in the stall--indoor plumbing! There is a picture of Gabriella checking out the new addition, minutes after birth, at my website; click on the link, go to the DHF pages, and check out the 2002 baby pictures. It's the one at the top.
Ephiny's registered name is Gloriosa II, because the registry asks that when naming fillies, we use the same first letter as the mom's name, and it must be Italianate or Spanishoid, no more than 12 letters or spaces, and it must end in A. Then they add a Roman numeral in case of duplicates. The name fits her beautifully, but she's also the Queen, and with that moon on her forehead, obviously an Amazon queen. Ephiny comes from Xena--the Regent of the entire Amazon nation, who fell in love with a Centaur.
All Lipizzan mares are queens; they're the pinnacle of creation, and they know it. But Ephiny is even queenlier than most. The rest of my horses, except for keed, are Celestial Fireplugs. Ephiny is a Supermodel. She's tall like her dad, and has treetrunk legs like him, and wonderful, big, round feet; she's elegant even at her gawkiest, and she has his smooth, floating movement. At the moment she's mostly black, but her mane is silver, and her face is going grey. She'll be white when she's done, but it will take her a while. Because she's so dominant, and is Two, she can be a bit Terrible. She has experimented with Teeth, Use Of. And Farrier, Torture Of. We've discussed both situations and come to an agreement: she behaves like a civilized person, or she gets clobbered. That's good logic, she says. She's quite reasonable and very sensible, and she wants to be good. She just has to check out the parameters. After all.
She's destined to make beautiful babies; her other title is Bride of Pooka. (And oh my do they know it. She thinks she should start now. I say not for another three years. Sorry, sweetie.) She will learn to be a riding horse as well, because after all she's hardwired, and she loves to watch lessons and dance with humans--but as busy as she'll be with the babies, she probably won't do a lot of dressage. Western saddle, trails, and a little dressage should keep her happy.
And today she is Two. This year she will learn to ground-drive, and perfect her manners and deportment, and help me take care of her kid sister Gaudia. For today she got a good grooming with lots of lovely scrrrritches, and birthday carrots, and extra hugs. And a Photo Shoot. Ephiny always has a Photo Shoot on her birthday. Since she is the Queen and all. Selected shots are online here.
On day 347, after having watched Carrma calmly and efficiently produce a filly three days before, Gabriella equally calmly and very efficiently produced a mile of jet-black legs, a beautiful face with a half-moon on the forehead, and--I eeked right out there in the stall--indoor plumbing! There is a picture of Gabriella checking out the new addition, minutes after birth, at my website; click on the link, go to the DHF pages, and check out the 2002 baby pictures. It's the one at the top.
Ephiny's registered name is Gloriosa II, because the registry asks that when naming fillies, we use the same first letter as the mom's name, and it must be Italianate or Spanishoid, no more than 12 letters or spaces, and it must end in A. Then they add a Roman numeral in case of duplicates. The name fits her beautifully, but she's also the Queen, and with that moon on her forehead, obviously an Amazon queen. Ephiny comes from Xena--the Regent of the entire Amazon nation, who fell in love with a Centaur.
All Lipizzan mares are queens; they're the pinnacle of creation, and they know it. But Ephiny is even queenlier than most. The rest of my horses, except for keed, are Celestial Fireplugs. Ephiny is a Supermodel. She's tall like her dad, and has treetrunk legs like him, and wonderful, big, round feet; she's elegant even at her gawkiest, and she has his smooth, floating movement. At the moment she's mostly black, but her mane is silver, and her face is going grey. She'll be white when she's done, but it will take her a while. Because she's so dominant, and is Two, she can be a bit Terrible. She has experimented with Teeth, Use Of. And Farrier, Torture Of. We've discussed both situations and come to an agreement: she behaves like a civilized person, or she gets clobbered. That's good logic, she says. She's quite reasonable and very sensible, and she wants to be good. She just has to check out the parameters. After all.
She's destined to make beautiful babies; her other title is Bride of Pooka. (And oh my do they know it. She thinks she should start now. I say not for another three years. Sorry, sweetie.) She will learn to be a riding horse as well, because after all she's hardwired, and she loves to watch lessons and dance with humans--but as busy as she'll be with the babies, she probably won't do a lot of dressage. Western saddle, trails, and a little dressage should keep her happy.
And today she is Two. This year she will learn to ground-drive, and perfect her manners and deportment, and help me take care of her kid sister Gaudia. For today she got a good grooming with lots of lovely scrrrritches, and birthday carrots, and extra hugs. And a Photo Shoot. Ephiny always has a Photo Shoot on her birthday. Since she is the Queen and all. Selected shots are online here.
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Happy Birthday, Your Majesty!
Date: 2004-04-24 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 03:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 06:12 am (UTC)[Or is two already a teenager in "horse years"?]
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 09:38 am (UTC)Sue
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:20 am (UTC)She makes strong Arabian folk swoon--literally; she came out of the barn at an Arabian farm once (it was also my vet's mare station that year), and a lady standing outside moaned in awe and almost fell over. Carrma has Presence, and she was passaging in hand at the time, with a turnout full of grass in front of her and Boys everywhere.
Sigh. If you were local...
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 04:18 pm (UTC)Sigh, well I figure I need to save up a bit more money to buy a new horse, truck and trailer. And since I'm now working on "Angel" season 4 and "24" season 3 DVD stuff for Fox, maybe I can see that work as tangible evidence that I am getting closer to a new horse. :-)
Sue
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 05:03 pm (UTC)All appendages crossed for lots of good jobs to come!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:03 am (UTC)I went and looked at all the horse shots, and have a question--the face/eye covers that some of the horses wore, are they to prevent injury from other horses, or dust, or are they a sun shield? A calming aide, like blinders?
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 11:16 am (UTC)She is just a kid--at 2 she's about like a 14yo girl. Old enough to sass the boys, but not really old enough to be a mommy. She's all gawky and weird like a teenager, too. Those huge legs don't support much upper story--yet. In about four years, they will. She's growing herself from the ground up.
She does have that surfer-model thing going, though for True Killer Blonde you need her mother Gabriella, who is the Mae West of the horse world. Ephiny also has the Tyra Banks supermodel thing happening.
The thing on the face in some of the pictures is a fly mask. Flies go for the eyes, and can cause irritation and swelling; and there is one variety that will lay eggs in the eye, with distressing and expensive results. The mask also protects against sun and dust. It's nylon mesh, like a screen door--they can see through it.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-25 09:35 pm (UTC)