Izzy 2020

[Anna]

Nice little mare Elizabeth, will watch when I can but have my fingers crossed for a successful foaling this time. Don't let your eyelids close over the next few days lol!

[dcwolcott]

Standing quietly in her box.  Good girl, Izzy.  Keep cooking that baby -- although we ARE ready to see what you've been cooking!   

[elizabeth.conder]

Izzy HAS to be getting close. She?s had a large hard udder for days. Finally softened up today and milk is streaming. Been testing 6.4 or at most 6.8 for days now. She keeps threatening every evening. She is nice and elongated and very dark inside. I?ll try to post some pics tonight. She?s been moody lately. If I let her out she angry paced the fence line for as long as she is out. So she?s spent a lot of time inside where she is at least calm. Apparently she is a grullo that went grey. Her sire and dam would have to be registered as wrong colors for that but I guess that is possible. So I?m curious to see what she is cooking!

[dcwolcott]

I've been checking her most of the day today.  She's eating again, which is fine.  She's been quiet in her stall when I've been watching.  I'm sure she's ready to go, and from what you're saying, it sounds like it's really getting time.

As to her pedigree, NOTHING surprises me that colors are wrong on pedigrees. If I had to bet I would bet that almost 50% of them are wrong --especially if you look at offspring and continuously find that the color the horse IS -- can't come from the color the parents are listed as.  It comes from people just seeing a "foal coat" which is so often NOT the true color the horse will mature to be.  I wish people would just let the foals "blow" their foal coat before they get registered, so their true color will be coming out -- OR have them tested, which would be even better.  I know with a Falabella farm I mentor, I make them wait until baby has blown the foal coat to see what coat is really coming in.  And if that doesn't look perfect, we test for color and different genes that impact color.  She raises a lot of appaloosas so we test for the greying gene before purchasing a horse, as nothing is worse than an appaloosa that greys out and looses their spots!  LOL

Can't wait to see what's been cooking!  Praying for an easy and safe delivery of this little one!!  Come on IZZY!!   

[elizabeth.conder]

Hahaha I can imagine. The only pictures I have seen of Izzy she had already started the greying process. But she looked more black to me. I may test her at some point. I cannot get photos to load, sorry.

[Chanda]

A little addition to Diane's color comments...   About the only time the foal coat is good to determine color is within the first day or two before the foal coat starts to fade, which starts almost immediately.   Red based foals are born with salmon colored skin which starts to darken in just days, in not just hours; this includes the hooves on colored legs.  Red based foals with grey, will have dark skin at birth, cause the grey gene is already at work burning out the pigment cells.  Technically, grey is a pigment disease affecting the color cells (sorry, I don't know all the technical terms), and it burns them out, which is why they go completely white over time.   Flea bites are cells that manage to recover, but they may or may not be the original coat color.   Black and bay based foals are born with dark skin (except under white markings, of course).   [And, now I've lost my train of thought, not sure if I had more to say.]

[elizabeth.conder]

A little addition to Diane's color comments...   About the only time the foal coat is good to determine color is within the first day or two before the foal coat starts to fade, which starts almost immediately.   Red based foals are born with salmon colored skin which starts to darken in just days, in not just hours; this includes the hooves on colored legs.  Red based foals with grey, will have dark skin at birth, cause the grey gene is already at work burning out the pigment cells.  Technically, grey is a pigment disease affecting the color cells (sorry, I don't know all the technical terms), and it burns them out, which is why they go completely white over time.   Flea bites are cells that manage to recover, but they may or may not be the original coat color.   Black and bay based foals are born with dark skin (except under white markings, of course).   [And, now I've lost my train of thought, not sure if I had more to say.]

Hahaha! Thank you! I knew that grey was a pigment disease but didn?t know about the flea bites! Very interesting! You are on that equine color page on Facebook right? I have learned a lot there but it still blows me away how much I have to learn.  It can definitely be hard to identify correct colors. At least for now mine are pretty simple. Bays/blacks/reds with or without tobiano and silver. Izzy complicated things a bit with not knowing her base color for sure. I tried some detective work to see if I could find anymore info. I can find sure and dam but sure is already grey so I can?t figure it out for sure. I guess testing would fix that. She has been blood typed and it lists her color as grullo. I?m assuming that is owner imputed? I am hopeful that she is grullo under that grey but definitely not counting on it. In fact I kind of doubt it.

[elizabeth.conder]

She is looking very promising tonight. I can not get photos to load.

[dcwolcott]

"Very promising...." to A BABY!!!!!  Looks like s/he's still adjusting to the long legs!!  So tell all!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  Now you can take a deep breath and relax a little!  Izzy looks like she's doing well but is still in high gear as she moves around the stall and foal.  What a CUTE BLAZE on that little face! 

Looks like Izzy is standing still long enough for baby to get a drink.  Can't quite tell because baby is on the far side of the cam.   

[elizabeth.conder]

Finally she actually foaled when it looked like she might. She?s been looking so ready I could not understand why she was holding out for days. Colt born about 5:15 this morning. Already has to stoop to nurse. Took him a while to figure that out. I stayed with him till he nursed a couple of time on his own. He had a really hard time standing but I think it was because of those legs which are SO long. He has pooped a couple of times, colostrum has a reading of about 32 on the refractometer, and placenta was whole. So pretty much textbook. He is huge though. I need to measure him but that can wait a couple of hours while o get some much needed rest. He is red, but I am not sure of grey or dun yet. I don?t think dun but he has a prominent dorsal that goes through the tail and light leg barring. He doesn?t look diluted enough though. His skin is not black but definitely not salmon color so I thought grey but no hyperpigmentation and lighting hooves. I?ll see if I can add a couple of pictures.

[dcwolcott]

Get some rest.

I had a filly once whose mom was 27" tall, and she was almost as tall as her mom at birth.  I had to teach her how to kneel down and reach under so she could find the udder, meanwhile milking and syringe feeding the filly every 2 hours.  Took about 3 days for baby to figure it out, but she did.

Izzy seemed to carry him for a long time from what you were expecting, so maybe legs just needed a little time to unravel since it's only been about 4+ hours.  I'm sure his legs will be gorgeous in about a day or two.  Can't wait to watch him more!! 

[Anna]

Oh many congratulations Elizabeth - and to Izzy too. I'm so glad that she has a live baby at last. Cant wait to see the pictures as when I finally got on to my laptop tonight, both of them must have been out in a paddock somewhere. How big was the sire, perhaps Izzy's babies take their size from their Dads? Sounds as though this little colt will be an interesting colour!

[Chanda]

Congratulations!  He's a little cutie.

[Ryan]

Congratulations Elizabeth

[elizabeth.conder]

Here we go again with pictures. He is 22.5 inches and has a 7.5 inch cannon. Dam is 33 inches sire is 32 inches. I BELIEVE he is a red dun going grey. But I?m planning on testing to be sure. If so I guess that confirms that Izzy is a grullo because the sire definitely does not carry dun.