I have been riveted to the television the last few days.  My heart has been so heavy for the folks in Texas and Boston.  Finally today I had to just shut it off and walk away for awhile.  I've always thought nothing can soothe the soul quite like my equine friends, and what better friend to spend time with than little Neechi?    I must admit, Tom and I are completely smitten with our little bay boy.  Not only is he ridiculously adorable, his inquisitive but independent nature is just endearing.    Cheyenne is proving herself to be a very capable mother, keeping a close eye on little Neechi.    I was able to take a few pictures during my visit.  It always amazes me how quickly these young foals grow and change.
In other news- it's hatch day!  Unfortunately, the turkeys don't seem to be doing much.  So far we have one little healthy Bourbon Red poult.  I'm crossing my fingers the other 10 eggs show some sign of life soon.  We'll give them a few more days, and then try to figure out what I can do differently for better results next time.   The chicken eggs though, have hatched pretty successfully.  So far there are 21 little chicks to keep the turkey poult company.   
I'll sign off for now and leave you with a few more Neechi pictures.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm please to announce the long wait is over!   Yesterday we welcomed our very first William baby to the world.   We were lucky enough to be able to watch his birth.   We've been checking on Cheyenne pretty frequently, knowing she could go at any time.   Yesterday morning we let her out of her nice dry stall for a bit of exercise.   Of course, Miss Chey waited until we had left her alone in the corral- which was pretty wet and yucky from the spring snow storm the previous day.    I was able to take quite a few pictures of his birth, and other than being a little muddy, the whole event went just like clockwork and was just as I had hoped- problem free!

It took a bit for Neechi to get those legs all working in the same direction for him, but with a little coaching from momma and his daddy across the fence, it wasn't long before we could  get him guided out of the slop and into a nice dry stall to get him cleaned up. 

Neechi is a "first" for us in a few different ways.  Most importantly, he's our first part bred Cleveland Bay baby.  The dream that Tom has had for close to 40 years came true yesterday- and there was just no wiping that big grin off Tom's face.  The horses his family has bred for generations now include Cleveland Bay in their lineage.  Also, Neechi is the very first colt out of one of Tom's personal mares.   My mares have had colts, his brother's mares have had colts, his dad's mares had colts.... but for close to 30 years, the mares that Tom had bred only gave him fillies.    They grew up to be some fabulous mares, but he sure did grin when he figured out we had a little boy on our hands!
Now we take a sigh of relief, and prepare for Ninety-Nine to have her little one.

500 and some calves on the ground and just a couple hundred to go!  The end is in sight.   I'm always so excited when calving season begins, but when we are winding down, I am truly looking forward to it being over.  So far the weather has been very cooperative, we haven't had a lot of sick calves, and the mommas seem to be taking good care of those babies. **knocking on wood**  

The troubles of the last couple months have been breakdowns- anything mechanical that could possibly break down, has.  Much of it is still sitting in various states of disrepair around the yard until calving slows down, someone puts more hours in the day, or the grease and gear fairy pays us a visit while we are sleeping.  

Cheyenne is still holding on to that William baby and keeping us in suspense.   She looks very large, round, swollen and miserable.  Tom told me a week ago that April 10th will be the day for baby to make its grand entrance.  I'm hoping she foals before midnight tonight, or after midnight on the 10th just because we can't have him getting all big-headed and I-told-you-soish.  Whatever the date, we're sure excited to meet this little one, and I'm still crossing my fingers for an uncomplicated delivery.

In other news- my turkeys have started laying!  Yes, this is something I am ridiculously happy about!    I have had my incubators fired up for a few weeks - anxious to begin my hatching season.   I did find some Bourbon Red turkey eggs in southwestern Montana that I was lucky enough to get transportation for.  Bless my friends in dog rescue- they don't even bat an eye when I make odd requests like this.   We had dogs on this end that needed to get to Stevensville, and a dog in Stevensville that needed to come to my house so we recruited a driver to meet me in Helena.  Judy was kind enough to pick up the turkey eggs and put them on our dog transport, where they were picked up by Lori who safely transported eggs and dog to me in Helena.  We were able to swap dogs, and the eggs made it home with me and were deposited into a waiting incubator.  15 of the little darlings seem to be developing right along.  There was also a Bourbon Red tom available, but I figured that might be pushing my luck.  I just don't think turkeys travel as well as dogs....  Anyway, with my turkeys now laying I am hoping to add to the turkey herd.   Now if I could just get those darn chickens to lay.....