Thursday, May 8, 2008

Cowboy Moves Outside


First of all, can I just say that when I look at this photo my first thought is, "Wow, did I need a haircut!" I have a head of hair like the mane of a Norwegian Fjord. Or a Shetland pony. It's thick and unruly with odd waves coursing through it. But enough about me. Cowboy got the OK from our vet to move outside to a corral. Just to recap, the tendons in his front legs were quite tight when he was born-- not so bad as to be termed "contracted" but tight enough to require an infusion of Tetracycline to help them relax-- and so he was confined to the foaling stall with his dam for two weeks. Now that his tendons are stretched and strong, he was allowed to move into one of the corrals. In two more weeks he can be moved to the big paddock, where he can really run around like an antelope on a sugar high. Fortunately, my sister has done a good job of halter breaking him. Cowboy leads quite well, plus he lets us pick up his feet and rub his ears. It's when you turn him loose after you're done working with him that you must be careful. He has a tendency (like most foals) to whirl, paw or kick in an effort to play, which brings to mind something a vet once told us many years ago when we were dealing with one of our first foals. Dr. Carnine smiled wryly and then said, matter-of-factly, "You have to be careful with foals. They'd just as soon kill you as not."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ah yes, words to live by. Other words to live by? "Men don't 'get' why lots of horsewomen enjoy having short hair." And I count myself among that group. I'm finished with having long hair. Does my husband not understand how hard it is to cram a headful of mane underneath a ball cap? I can't finish mucking a stall before the cap pops off my head like bread out of a toaster. And then there's Helmet Hair. It looks so much worse when my hair is long. Short hair allows me to just dunk my head under the nearest garden hose, run my fingers across my scalp and voila! Instant coiffure. Or at least I have ruffled Helmet Hair.
Which is my way of revealing that I now have a short, layered hair cut. And see? I'm back to talking about me again!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have a comment or a witty thought? Click on "comments" below!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a cutie...We have new puppies but they are no where as cute as that little foal you have there!!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Cowboy is a doll! I have a yearling colt in my pasture who was born the most beautiful dark palomino with a blaze. I had waited for 9 years for that mare, Sunny (a buckskin) to have me a palomino foal. (I have a 10 year old gray gelding out of her.) Well, the little stinker has turned gray too. That doesn't mean he isnt cute, but I do adore a pretty palomino. His reg. name is Sunny's Barcat Chance, but I call him Trouble. He is too smart for his own good! He can undo roundpen panels by pulling out the pins, and he can open almost any gate... And technically he wont be a year old until June 22nd. Looks like I have my hands full!

Cowboy sure is a doll!
Jamie

Anonymous said...

Cowboy is SO adorable! He looks so proud in his halter. :D

Our mare has been brought inside to her foaling stall for nights. She's ENORMOUS and you can see the foal kicking around inside. We're all so excited for mini Darcys to be running around. :D (this foal's gonna be TINY in comparison with her mother. Darcy's 17 hands, and the stud is 15 something. Hahaha, apparently he tired himself out during the breeding so they had to retry another day. I giggled when I heard the story)

Anonymous said...

Cowboy's very handsome! I'll say it again, it sure looks like he has pretty good conformation, too!

Don't worry about how you look the photo; you look great! I'm sure you new hair cut looks good too.

~Sasafras

Anonymous said...

P.S. How're Wyatt and Wally doing?

~Sasafras

Cindy Hale said...

Well, there isn't any chance (genetically or otherwise) that Cowboy could turn out to be gray. But it's a waiting game to see how light or dark of a "yellowmino" he turns out to be! Quite honestly, I'm really not that into foals anymore... although I admit that Cowboy is very cute. In actuality, though, I'd prefer a puppy!

Rebecca Gellars said...

This was great to read, thanks