WW: Big Fat Mama

As usual .. I have a few words for this Wordless Wednesday post.

"Vida" (JC: Fastination) is quickly nearing the end of her pregnancy and I'm getting sooooo excited to see this red headed beebo!  It was quite consuming, in more ways than one, to get her bred last spring and I can't believe the wait is almost over.  As of today (March 13), she is 292 days gestation.  My witchy instincts tell me she will foal >345, and it will be a filly.. which means she's going to be one of those @$$hole mares who go 400+ and it will be a colt.

For those unfamiliar, a horses due date is very 'subjective' and is typically calculated at 340 - 342 days as that is the "average" of when mares tend to foal.  Anything before 320 is considered premature, but it's not unusual for mares to foal right at/around 320 - 325.. Nor is it unusual for them to go as long as 360 and they aren't considered 'over due' until beyond 365.. sometimes they even go over 400 days.

Every day Vida's belly is a different shape and the baby is very active - nearly every day I can see/feel it moving, which is really fun.  She's becoming less and less tolerable of Banker's (hubby's young jumper) playful attitude and she just wants to keep her head buried in the round bale and take long naps in the straw.  About a month ago she injured her hind leg (of course, the same one she injured that ended her career, though in a different spot/injury) and I can only assume it was due to a frozen turd.  Between that and her lack of interest in moving around resulting in stocking up, she's living in wraps on her hind legs.  I took them off on Monday for the farrier and decided to leave them off as her leg seemed back to normal, but by Tuesday it was swollen again. It's hard to say if it's from the strain on her tendons/ligaments, or if it's relative to the skinning of her cannon bone that I can only assume was incurred from a sharp hoof while getting up from her nap, but either way she's doctored and back in wraps.

I took V into the local indoor for the farrier as my 'farm horses' were on a longer schedule but the added weight was putting a lot of strain on  unbalanced feet.  She had never been to the indoor before and besides being an uncharacteristic idiot about walking through a gate (which she quickly got over after she got a spank), she was great and got spoiled by my friends wanting to swoon over her giant belly and feed her copious amounts of treats.  Hubby hauled them in and he had left her blanket on in the trailer so she was really sweaty upon arrival, but overall was her usual easy-going self besides a few whinnies to Banker, who was at the other end of the facility.

For those unfamiliar, Vida is a 16.2/3 TB Mare who spent a little time on the track but was donated to a TB Adoption Agency.  From there she was sold, then ended up in the ownership of an Olympic 3-Day Event rider, and she hoped she might make it back to the Olympics with her, however she sustained a suspensory injury that rendered her unable to return to that level of work, even after a year of rehab though she was cleared for lower level/dressage work.  She was then given to my friend by said Olympic rider (her old coach), but in the years I've known her, she's been intermittently sound and my friend wasn't prepared to breed her.  She lent her to me on a breeding lease for 2018/19 and I bred her to the dutch stallion Parcival.  My friend has since decided she wants to travel, and has offered V to me to purchase, which we are in the process of doing.  V will be re-bred to Parcival later this year.