Month: July 2016

Baby names

Instead of reading articles on all the various factors that can result in early embryonic death, I’m assuming Gina will have a totally normal pregnancy and give birth to a totally normal foal. That totally normal foal will need a name, so I’ve been carefully considering what I will call this horse.

Kassandra, out of Kimberly K
Kassandra, out of Kimberly K at 4 months

I’ve always used my horses’ registered names as their show names and used the barn names they came with. This is the first time that the responsibility for a name falls on me!

Koko, out of Kimberly K at 2.5 months
Koko, out of Kimberly K at 2.5 months

I’d love to hear your suggestions for names; isn’t this the most fun part of a baby horse? Some relevant info:

  • The foal will be registered with Oldenburg North America. Per their website, they have no strict rules on naming foals, but recommend choosing a name that starts with the first letter of the sire’s name.
  • The sire’s name is Mannhattan.
  • The dam’s name is Kimberly K.
  • The foal has roughly equal chances of being bay or gray.
  • I’d like to stay with the city theme of the sire’s name, but this isn’t an absolute must.

What would you name this foal?

Pregnancy check

I hauled Gina down to the vet for her 16 day pregnancy check today, and you’ll all be pleased to know that Queen G is pregnant!

ultrasound1

That, my friends, is an equine embryo! (It apparently looks all squashed because Gina kept pushing back against my vet while she was trying to get a good ultrasound picture.) The vet is happy with both the state of Gina’s corpus luteum and where the embryo has fixed. (It’s not near any of Gina’s cysts.)

Gina has been positively delightful lately; I’m inclined to think it’s due to the Caslick procedure rather than pregnancy. I imagine that persistent uterine infections and windsucking are uncomfortable! She’s less spooky, less reactive, and more forgiving under saddle. Johnny rode her in the indoor arena yesterday, and she was absolutely perfect. Gina was so good, in fact, that Johnny practiced changing directions at the trot. The man is going to be ready for Tokyo 2020 at this rate.

Gina will return to the vet in approximately two weeks for a heartbeat check, so keep crossing your crossables that everything continues to go well!