The baby has a name!!!

Well, it's taken some time and a lot of consideration ... but I've finally decided on a name for our first foal.


I have been asked about the name "Tannahill" which will be a suffix to my Kaimanawas' registered names, so I thought I'd explain. My ancestors (Dad's side) came from Scotland, the Ayreshire area, and from a farm named Tannahill. The most recent ancestor who owned/lived on that property was the very one who came out to New Zealand in the mid 1850's - that's another story!!!


So to keep the theme going I've chosen a Scottish name for the foal. It is a name which means "of the winding valley", which seems appropriate considering she was conceived somewhere up there in the wild and would have been born there if Maggie had evaded the muster. The name is originally a boys name, but she is already exhibiting some strong character and wilfulness, and I want her to have a good strong name to see her through her life.



Hence, I introduce to you "Camdin of Tannahill" - "Cami" will be her paddock name.

The New Arrival!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's here!
At last!
Our first foal born (though admittedly she was conceived in the wild!!)


I've been so impatient waiting and watching Maggie for signs of the arrival for the last month; watching her bagging up, seeing her accepting (and asking for) more rubs on her back and across her butt area, and her tummy ever-expanding!


Yet even with all that watching, I still missed the very night she was in labour! How very deceptive of her!!! lol She did appear more affectionate than usual and I took that to mean she was trusting me more and more, when in fact I think now she was signalling the very early stages ... Never mind, she didn't appear to have had any trouble at all (luckily!) and when I arrived at the paddock on the morning of 1st November, there was a lovely surprise for me!

As expected, Maggie reverted to wild pony again and was not letting me get close to either of them, so I backed off until I saw a change in her face with ears forward, then slowly moved in again ... advance and retreat, right??? So over about half an hour I was at the stage I could again gently massage her hindquarters, just to be able to check she was ok down there, ignored the foal totally, and she was good.

That evening she was in the yards for dinner, and I managed to spend some time with the foal rubbing, scratching, touching, tapping, and then I walked her for about 10 steps... then Maggie decided that was enough and to leave alone!! lol All good though, and since then I'm playing a little morning and night around my busy work schedule.


Last night the farriers attended my other horses and came on over for a "foal fix". They squatted down and under Maggies watchful eye (stranger danger returned!) the foal approached and received rubs and gentle scratches! They were blown away by Maggies tolerance after such a short time off the hills, and in the foals natural inquisitiveness.


Afterwards I sat inside the yard and the foal came to me with ears forward, very inquisitive to see what I was doing, and she discovered it's really nice to have legs rubbed and back scratched, though not so sure about the feet being lifted off the ground!! (We'll work on that one!)







So, thats the big news of the week! So exciting! Yes, a filly, and no, no name yet, but will work on that over the coming weekend!