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Message Boards => Foaling Questions & Help => Topic started by: HarmonyMeadows on June 21, 2016, 11:50:08 PM

Title: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on June 21, 2016, 11:50:08 PM
So after a month in the barn nursing an eye injury, Lightning is back to good form and went out with his two girls today, Flying W Farms Poetry In Motion (Poe) and O'Henry's War Bonnet (Skye). He sure was happy to get out there but he was still a gentleman. Loving this boy! Poe is 17 this year so I am really hoping she catches. Not many more chances left for her. But she is in good shape and you would never know her age the way she prances round like the queen she is! Skye is a bit more laid back and at 5 years old is just ready to start making her mark on the world. She is a chestnut medicine hat so hopefully we will get a lovely spotted palomino. I am hoping to test everyone to see what we are working with color wise. Poe is black but I want to see if she is hetero or homozygous. Skye I will test Red/Black and Agouti and probably a pattern combo. I am pretty sure she is chestnut but with so little color showing it is tough to tell for sure. I only have partial pics of her mom so it is possible for silver to be hiding there. ;)  Lightning is said to be cremello but it doesn't hurt to check for sure, especially with the double dilutes. So I will check Red/Black and Agouti with him and LWO as well just to be safe.
Very much looking forward to seeing these new additions. I think Poe's baby will be stunning! Skye's foal will be a keeper for sure. With both her and Lightning's laid back attitudes, baby should be a winner!!
Pics are in my gallery. I will try to post more soon! The wait will be long with one older mare and one maiden but definitely worth it. Poe was with Lightning for a few days in May, from May 7th to the 15th so slim chance she may have caught then. Otherwise we start foal watch mid to late May 2017!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on July 01, 2016, 07:50:34 PM
So with Lightning's DNA results we should be expecting the following foals. We are hoping to test the girls but for now we have to kind of guess their status.

Lightning x Poe = Smoky Black or Palomino

Lightning x Skye = Solid Palomino or Pinto patterned Palomino

I am really curious to see Skye's tests. She is a very minimal colored medicine hat so it will be interesting to see what patterns are at play.

I am still on the fence but hoping next year to breed him to my bay mare, Tsuki (To The Moon And Back- AMHR registered). She made a beautiful baby when we got her so would really like to try again. But we shall see. One year at a time! LOL
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on July 01, 2016, 10:58:23 PM
We're ready to watch!!  Maybe you can post a couple of pictures of the girls?
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Lnight89 on July 01, 2016, 11:16:10 PM
Oh nice! I'd love pictures of the girls too!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on July 02, 2016, 09:08:45 AM
Here are the girls. Poe is the black and Skye the chestnut medicine hat.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on July 02, 2016, 09:11:01 AM
Skye is a little bedhead in the last pic. Being mostly white she does like to roll in the dirt a fair bit! ROFL
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on July 02, 2016, 10:11:55 AM
Oh, they are both lovely!!!  Now I can't wait!!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Lnight89 on July 02, 2016, 07:59:12 PM
Awesome :) should be some nice foals!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: paintponylvr on July 03, 2016, 05:27:56 PM
How exciting!  It's neat to know about what colors you are getting on your foals.  I've got that too, and I love IT!!

Does Skye carry a bay or silver gene?  If not we can expect a palomino - we just get to wait to see what sex and how much or if the foal gets a white pattern.

Poe should have a smokey cream or a palomino, I think.  You just won't know until your foal is born and then you have the sex, too.  O, I love it.

Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on July 03, 2016, 06:57:57 PM
I'm really excited to see these crosses!!  They will be beautiful!!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on August 14, 2016, 09:58:17 AM
Our late addition to the Lightning foaling team for 2017, Aurora.

Aurora is a palomino pony. She stands 40 inches and is a grade mare. We have her 2013 foal on site and she is a gem. Aurora and Lightning will produce either a palomino or a cremello foal.

Should be a lovely baby.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Lnight89 on August 14, 2016, 10:30:37 AM
Can't wait to watch all these beautiful girls!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Silver City Heritage Farm on October 30, 2016, 09:37:14 AM
Checking in for an update on the other two Lightning babies.

What is Poe's breeding? I'm very interested in the FWF/ Blue Boy bred horses. Sometimes the mares from this line tend to be a bit plainer than folks like.....but BOY OH BOY do they produce! Fancy fancy foals with nice work ethics. Have you any other foals (or foal information) from this mare?

Hard to tell from his picture, but does Lightning have a pinto pattern? It seems like I see very high white patterning on his legs, but it may just be the picture. Therefore, my curious nature must question.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Holly on November 01, 2016, 12:18:59 PM
Just beautiful!!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on November 06, 2016, 11:43:50 AM
This will be a handsome mix!!!  Can't wait!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on December 12, 2016, 11:54:53 AM
Well the vet just left and it looks like only one foal for 2017.

Skye (O'Henry's War Bonnet) is at least 5 months in foal. We are expecting a baby between mid May and early July. Skye is a chestnut pinto so baby will be palomino, with or without spotting. I will be sending her AMHA papers in to do her DNA test so I might have them add on testing for spotting patterns. Because she is chestnut, we know she will have a palomino. Very exciting! A tad disappointed that Poe and Aurora did not catch but it's all good. Poor boy need a nice pair of platform shoes I think!  ;)
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on December 12, 2016, 05:19:33 PM
Are the girls maidens that didn't take?  I know some of my experienced mares would actually squat down when I put them to a small stallion.

You might try standing the ladies in a kind of hole, so they are lower than him, and put him up on the edge so he has a good shot this season!  Keep us posted, and we're happy to be watching another one!

And, did she ultrasound the girls?  I can't tell you how many foals have been born after a vet says "not pregnant".  I'm sure others can say the same.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: HarmonyMeadows on December 14, 2016, 04:11:10 PM
Both mares have had foals before. My 40 inch mare is still young and rather a slut so with her I am kind of surprised. But she wasn't very cooperative and she didn't go in until later so baby could still be small. We will recheck in Feb and see if we can see anything then. Might draw blood if not.
Poe is 17 herself so she may just not be an easy mare to settle. Not too sure. I MAY try to hand breed her next year so I can be certain she is bred and see if she catches. But no rush really. I think their baby would be amazing but I am not going to lose my mind over it.
We had bloodwork done on Lightning. He is a really hard keeper and I am not sure why. Yes, he is an older stallion but it seems he has a much harder time keeping weight than he should. He isn't bad and I keep on top of things but I am still wondering if maybe there might not be something going on we can't see. He is also 20 years old. Not old, old but he could be slowing down a bit and so breeding the bigger mares may just be too much trouble for him. Time will tell.
Either way, we have a Skye baby coming. I can't wait!!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Chanda on December 14, 2016, 04:49:30 PM
We had bloodwork done on Lightning. He is a really hard keeper and I am not sure why. Yes, he is an older stallion but it seems he has a much harder time keeping weight than he should. He isn't bad and I keep on top of things but I am still wondering if maybe there might not be something going on we can't see. He is also 20 years old. Not old, old but he could be slowing down a bit and so breeding the bigger mares may just be too much trouble for him. Time will tell.
Either way, we have a Skye baby coming. I can't wait!!
My senior stallion is somewhere around 20, and I'm thinking around Lightning's size.  Che` is 31" and 175# (give or take 5#): he eats 1.5-175# senior daily and free choice grass hay, when he gets picky about the senior I add 1/2# alfalfa pellets to his diet.    A few years ago he had some teeth problems, so had to be on some chopped hay and senior only for awhile, while we figured out the issue; tiny mouth so hard to get it figured out; found a slab fractured tooth and a bad ramp, once those were taken care of and he recovered, we haven't really looked back (he gets picky, so I've had to try a few different brands of feed, and at the moment we've landed on an extruded senior that he seems to like, it'll take more time to see how he does on it, he's getting about the same amount as the previous senior).
Ok, I started rambling.  Lightning's hard keeper status could just be he's a stallion (some are just hard keepers, they think about their girls year round), could be he needs to be on more senior feed than hay, could be he'd prefer or needs a different type of hay (if you feed mostly grass hay, then perhaps a bit more alfalfa in his diet would help), might need to try a few different feeds before you land on what that he thrives on (unfortunately, sometimes that happens, and the whole herd cant' be on the same feed).   Since, he's seen a vet, you've probably ruled out sand in his gut; or parasites.  [The phone rang, so I've lost my train of thought.]
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on December 14, 2016, 06:29:17 PM
I had some of the "pacing boys" that had trouble with weight, too, over the years.  Those I fed UltiumĀ® Growth Horse Formula -- which is loaded with vitamins, Selenium and about 15.5% protein.  That with the Alfalfa I fed, seemed to help keep the weight on them during breeding season when they were fence running.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Holly on December 16, 2016, 08:49:12 AM
Happy for your one foal coming!
I also understand the problem with smaller  stallion bigger mares,  ( riot was 11.3 Kate 13.2) and in the beginning we used a hole to breed, eventually Riot learned and was able to cover mares at 14.-14.2 hh successfully.
Legacy is also a wee bit harder keeper. He likes to keep all his girls rounded up in the same area and currently he has 4 acres to work them on. He kind of reminds me of a cattle dog, LOL.  He is also so busy making sure they are all bred, that he doesnt graze near as much as he should, and spends most of his grazing time resting or watching over the girls.  I have found a solution, stalling at night. The girls are all in stalls and he gets the hallway. That way he can watch over them all, but still gets his own ration, which he eats up really well during the night. He gets morning ration before hey head out for the day.
 
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on December 16, 2016, 07:30:48 PM
Good plan, Holly!!
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Silver City Heritage Farm on December 28, 2016, 11:18:15 AM
That's too bad on Poe, for my own selfish interest. I don't think 17 is too old to be successfully breeding and carrying a foal to term. Is she one that perhaps it was too early to tell on? (Just read the thread, got interrupted, then couldn't remember breeding dates.)

Feel free to share any pictures, and let us know how you're passing this crazy weather winter.
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: dcwolcott on December 28, 2016, 06:13:59 PM
I bred mares successfully into their 20's, as long as they stayed in good condition, and the foal(s) didn't bring them down.  Heck, 17 is just their "prime" !!  LOL
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: paintponylvr on December 29, 2016, 12:57:12 PM
O, can't wait to see the one foal you know your having.  Excited to hear the results of the US in February, too.

One of my original mares was 15 when she had her first foal (we got her w/ him at her side) and TERRIBLE to get bred w/ him at her side.  But eventually she seemed to accept being bred while nursing a foal - she had 5 daughters by our Shetland stallion & 1 1/2 arab by an arabian stallion.  Her last foal came in 2004 - she was 21 and our Shetland stallion was 12 yrs.

Another mare, born in 1981, had her last foal also in 2004 - she was 23.

Bell was born in 92, had Classy in 2012 at 20 yrs of age.  May be bred for 2017 (1 cover).  If she foals, she will be 25 yrs old the following month.  At this time, I can't tell if she's in foal or not. 

Our 1st shetland stallion was 20 when he bred his last mare, 1 month before he was euthanized. 
Title: Re: Silver Plate White Lightning 2017 Foaling Hopefuls
Post by: Silver City Heritage Farm on January 08, 2017, 10:25:45 AM
Just checking in to see if your foaling line-up has changed. Are you still anticipating just the one, or have the others started making you second guess the vets prognosis?