I really wish I had cell service at my home… Linda D sent me a text which I never got because I do not have service at my home and I have not been into Missoula for a few days. Sorry this news is a few days late!
This is from Linda Dombeck:
“Lynne Pomeranz and Chris Reed were already up there the day I got back up, so they were first to see them.
They are both beautiful, but it was really hard for me to to get close to Graciana’s to determine sex. She was VERY protective and I didn’t want to aggravate. Fool’s Gold’s is definitely a colt. I did get a rear view that I think shows that Graciana’s is also a boy. “
Graciana’s foal is number 12. She is currently in Duke’s band and has been for a while. The father is most likely Duke.
Graciana is the 2006 daughter Bacardi and Baja. Duke is the 1996 son of Flicka and BigFoot.
Fools Gold and Coronado have had foal number 13. This really makes me happy! Not that Graciana’s foal is any less important, but I really wanted Fools Gold to have another foal. I can’t wait to see the photos! I sure hope Santa Fe dogging this band does not put this new foal in danger.
Fools Gold is the 2005 daughter of Amethyst and Shaman. Coronado is the 1996 son of Isabella and Raven.
Thank you so much Linda for this information! I can’t wait to see the new little ones!
Sandy
Is there a secret to remembering all the names & relations? Beautiful pictures! ^_^
Thank you. Just a lot of studying and observing. 🙂
So excited about these two! Can’t wait to see the pictures and see what they look like!!! They were both so big I knew they had to be foaling soon. Hopefully you’ll be able to spend time with both of these bands and get lots of foal pictures on your next trip. I think it’s next week? And that is one of my favorite pictures of Duke! I bet Noble is thrilled to have a new little playmate and M’lita too 🙂
Thanks Sarah. Yes, I will be on the mountain next weekend. I have two camping trips and some day trips, so I will pretty much be there very day for 10 days. Hopefully that will be enough time to get some good shots of the new ones! 🙂 Noble really liked playing with Nimbus, so I bet he is thrilled about a new buddy to play with. Manelita seemed more interested in Santa Fe than playing, but hopefully that will change. She is too young! HA 🙂
Santa Fe has a talent for attracting your fillies! I hope Red Raven keeps that situation under control. Wouldn’t it be so cute if Encore/Nimbus ended up in Noble’s band a few years from now! I would love that! I wonder if there will be any more new ones while you’re there.
Maybe. I sure hope so! If not this next trip, hopefully the next one! 🙂
Oops just looked back at my comment and realized that was supposed to say “young fillies”
While I was there, Cloud would not allow Nimbus to play with Noble, even tho he repeatedly attempted to do so. He also intervened when Moorcroft tried to initiate some play with Mica. 🙁 He seems to be overly possessive.
Thanks Linda. It is so interesting to see the stories unfold. As always, love your insights and reports. Looking forward to your “guest post”!
I wonder why he is so possessive.
Oh my!!! How cute are they! And all of them, of course! 🙂
Love the pictures! They are both so adorable! I love the star on Graciana’s and Autumn’s looks so soft! I wonder if Autumn’s will roan out.
Yes, many thanks to Linda for providing us with these great photos!! 🙂
Thank you Linda…and Sandy…I am so happy to see the photo’s of the new babe’s!! They are beautiful, of course!
Cloud is a grouchy father…he should let his young ones socialize and play!!!
He must feel some kind of threat and maybe that is why he will not let them play together. Oh well…things will all work out as they should!
Thanks again Linda & Sandy!!!!
You are welcome Lori! 🙂
Maybe it’s Grumpy’s influence on Cloud as a foal that influences his behavior now. It will be interesting what he will do with Mica next year, whether he’ll kick him out of the band or let him stay! How he let Blue Moon stay until he was five. 🙂
I’m very glad to share my images of these beautiful foals with everyone. 🙂 I have many more of Fool’s Gold’s foal that I will be putting in an album on my FB page soon, and also on Flickr. (Sandy, you are welcome to use any you want on here.) The foal was very spunky and was kicking at Fool’s Gold with his hind legs as they would walk along and then he would rear up on his hind legs and put his front legs clear up on her withers. It was the cutest thing ever. 🙂 Such fun to watch. 🙂 🙂 She was very patient. 🙂
I have a couple more of Graciana’s, too, but I couldn’t find the band anywhere the last day I was on the mountain, to try to get some better ones. Graciana would probably have been more relaxed by then, but maybe not. She was a very good momma, and Duke seemed to understand her desire to be away from everyone. (Horses and people.) 🙂
I’ll get that guest post to you as soon as I can, Sandy, now that I’m home. 🙂
Thanks Linda!
Very exciting news! Thanks to both Linda and Sandy. I have such good memories of both Fool’s Gold and Graciana. One of my favorite photos is of Fool’s Gold nursing on Amethyst while her first foal nurses on her.
Thanks Nancy. I remember Matt telling me that story! I would love to see the photo! That must have been quite a sight! I am thinking that if Limerick foals (some think she is going to, I am not sure. I am not the best at telling that!) we may have another opportunity to get another photo like that. Limerick was nursing quite often on Irleand when I saw them this last time!
I would love to see that picture too!
I was really hoping Manelita would have a little sibling but sadly Dove doesn’t look in foal 🙁 I just love her color and can’t believe how much she’s grown since we first saw her late last summer. Dove has always been my favorite mare and I really hope to see her throw another baby here soon.
The two new foals look very healthy and very happy!
Hi Maleah! There are some people that think Dove is pregnant. I really hope she is not this year. She is not as healthy looking as she was last year and knowing that foal would be born later in the year (late August) the chances of survival with the condition of Dove would not be ideal. I hope she takes a year off this year and then has a foal next year, and earlier in the summer. I believe that would be her last year that she could have a foal (after that she would be PZPed, but we know that is not always 100%).
I had been hoping Dove would foal this year, but I agree that the more I’ve been seeing of her the more I’ve been rethinking that because her body condition isn’t in best and she would be foaling late August, like you said. I know Audubon, Texas, and Aztec all had a year off after their September babies and I think that is the best. I was thinking this was the last year she would foal (based on pzp) so I had been torn which way I wanted it to go. I hope that’s right that the “D” girls have one more year to foal. Thinking that Demure wouldn’t foal again added to my disappointment at her filly disappearing. I know there were a lot of us looking forward to that foal. Especially with Kindra missing now too I’d really like her to foal again and also to give Doc another offspring.
I don’t know if the D’s have another year. I do know that I did not notice that Demure had a PZP mark on her like Broken Bow did.(when I saw them in March) So I guess I was hoping that maybe she had another year. I was especially looking forward to Demure’s foal this year, not only because it was hers but especially because it was Docs.
I hope she will foal again then. I was definitely looking forward to a Doc baby.
So lovely to see more foals coming. Is it true that Jacinta seems to have lost her foal as well?
I am also interested to see how things will unfold with the Dryhead horses? Does Hidalgo still have the whole band with him?
Hi Thora,
Yes, Jacinta seems to have lost her foal as well as Ketchikan also in the same band. (they really both appeared to be very pregnant earlier this year. I have not heard about Hidalgo for a view weeks. He was down in the Dryhead then and did have a big band. Fools Crow has been sighted down in the DH. The pressure will be on Hidalgo since he is now in “bachelor land”. I am looking forward to seeing for myself how he is doing. I will be there on Sunday.
I look forward to your report then 🙂
I agree with you about Dove…she should have this year off but it is just too sad that she will not have more foals. Isn´t Manuelita her only foal? Doesn´t BLM take these kind of things into account, her special color and number of offsprings on the range? I think they should in order to keep the herd as versatile as possible.
Who do you think will be next to foal?
I need to do some checking and see if the D girls have one more year. I am just not sure about that. Yes, Mauelita is her only foal. I know that she lost one several years ago. The PZP program is pretty much “cookie cutter” in regards to who gets the vaccine.
I know for sure that Washakie will be later this month (at least that is when she foaled last year). She was born in 1994, so the PZP is not 100%. Other than that, boy I am not the greatest judge on that unless I am there and see the milk in their udder! 🙂