We hope 2023 has had a good start for you.  I know it seems wherever you live the weather has been crazy and unpredictable.  I hope you’ve weathered all the storms!  We’ve had our share of bad wind but I’ll get to that later, we are having babies….three of them so far.

Our first baby is a filly by Vekoma out of Free Ninety Nine.  This is the new mare that I told you about in my last post.  Like many ladies she didn’t pay any attention to what her projected foaling date was and was very content to make us wait 20 days past that date (4 days short of being pregnant for a year) before she delivered her well-built filly. I’ve nicknamed her Vicki and she seems to like it.  She seems to think that anyone who walks in the barn is there to see her, already a diva.

Eleven days later Pure Confidence delivered a super cute Jimmy Creed colt.  She also made us wait 10 days past her due date. This mama was so exhausted after spending the last few evenings not sleeping and uncomfortable she requested her post-delivery meal in bed.  As you can see her new foal was very happy to snuggle, as mom finished her meal. 

Nine days later the weathermen were predicting rain, hail, and straight-line winds. Unfortunately, this time they were right.  The rain started early and then the winds started blowing about 2:00 PM.  We missed the hail but some people started losing electricity around 3:00 PM.  Our trouble started when the large oak tree in front of the B&B went down across the road blocking our house to the barns.  Luckily, Chuck and the guys were able to move some of the extending branches to make just enough room between the rest of the tree and fence to get by thru the yard.  The mares had been brought into the barn before it got too windy, because pregnant ladies do not like walking against the wind. If you’re worried about the two babies, no need, they were snuggled with their mama’s in the barn long before the wind and rain started.  Because the weather was so bad the governor declared a state of emergency.  With that, Chuck told our night watchman to stay home where it was safe.  Knowing the due dates it looked like it would be a sleepless night but no one ready to deliver.  Well, Take Charge Beauty had other ideas.  About 11:00 PM she started nesting and we delivered a big colt by Unified at 11:55 PM.  Mom was content to get the special after delivery meal in her feed bucket.  Her colt was trying very hard to get his long legs working so he could stand up and within 45 minutes he was able to do just that.  A little wobbly but standing he was.  I checked to see that he had a good suckle reflex and as nature works he was looking for that magic place where he would nurse.  After several tries I decided he still needed a little direction, but at this point we lost our electricity, it was so dark I could not see mama or baby so I backed out of the stall.  With flashlights we checked on everyone and they were all good so we left them alone and hoped it wouldn’t be too long that we were in the dark.

We were lucky and got our electricity back on by 4:00AM.  Once the sun came up we realized we didn’t just have the one tree down but six other trees around the farm.  So Saturday and Sunday were spent repairing fences and clearing the roads on the farm so we could get to the yearlings in the back.  We counted our blessings because all the horses got through the storm without any injuries. 

So now that you’re up to date about the babies let me tell you what’s happening with the older horses.  Skylarose (Skymesa / Pistol Packin Rose) is training and the reports are telling us she is loving her new job.  Several of her part owners have already been to visit her in Ocala. 

Ami Please a filly by Goldencents was born here and has had an exciting race career so far for her owners.  She won her second time out at Santa Anita in a maiden special weight.  Her next race she was second in the Pike Place Dancer Stakes and she went on to place in the Blue Northern Stakes at Santa Anita.  With that, Doug O’Neill decided to send her to Dubai where she was second in the U.A.E. Oaks (Gr 3).  When the next race he wanted to have her run didn’t fill, he decided to run her against the boys in the Al Bastakinya.  She ran hard and came in third!  She’ll be back in the States this month and has 20 points for the Kentucky Oaks. 

So what’s next???  We’ll keep you posted.