OMG I can't believe I haven't posted on this dang thing in 15 weeks!! Where the hell have I been? In my own little world I think.

Well we sent my colt to a trainer.

Here's a little vid of his progress after abotu 3 weeks. I think he's coming along awesome!



He's being trained for working cow horse/ reining. I'm psyched.

Well its been forever since I really posted here. I just thought I'd throw somehting out here. Well, a good friend of mine leaves for mexico on vacation this weekend. LUCKY! I'm truely jealous girl. Puppy is doing great. Less and less accidents as she begins to figure it all out. NONE today. YAY for puppy potty training! Tiffany is starting to tolerate little miss hyper as all get out puppy. Less growling and snapping. Dang bulldogs. She's all show, but it all just SOUNDS so awfuly horrible. What a bark that dog has. We are still house hunting. Looking everywhere. We have enough for a down payment now. Which is fabulous! I'm thrilled! The closer we get to new baby to be born, the closer we get to having a new house, the more excited I am getting! well, onto the pictures!


( Pictures here! )

I'm such a nerd. I love it.

Well yesterday I went up and saw my little sis! Well she isn't blood, but she might as well be! It was awesome to hang out with her. I had Kota so i wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked hanging out and talkin, but it was fun. We played with Kota, and played with the dogs (a St Bernard and an English Mastiff). had a jolly good time. Kota LOVED the dogs!

( pictures under the cut )

Well Kota and Brin were playing today! Of course I got pics!


Pictures of Kota and Brin playing!

Well I wanted to introduce everyone to the newest member of our family, a 10 week old boxer puppy that scott has named, BRINDLE! Yes, he named her after her color. Calling her the brindle dog, and well, Brindle just stuck. So ...without further ado,

We have puppy picutres!












YAY!

Interesting article! Who'd have thought a writer and a director could have made a movie and had totally different takes on it? Interesting.

Hmmmm

Well. I'm tired. I'm sick, just plain ILL. Blech! Whoopity do! I was given a Wii for my birthday from the most ever wonderful man in my life. But I'm doing laundry, baby is sleeping, and I still feel like poo.

Almost done with christmas shopping. Have yet to get Kota something. We're going skimpy this year, and since she won't really remember it, and I KNOW for a fact she will be showered with gifts from the ever doting grandparents, I don't feel TOO badly about it. This will be her first christmas. Next year she will have a little sister to share it with. We are going to look at a couple possible houses next week, and fenagling how we'll come up with the down payment. I don't have any real doubt that we won't be able to make that happen.

We need to find our own place. It is coming to an empass about privacy. We really just need our own space. God bless those families who can have sometimes up to 3 generations in one household. You deserve saint hood!  Truely.

I am ready for summer now. Please? Pretty please? I miss those "chilly" 70 degree days. I'd take that in a hearbeat over this -20 windchill bull plop.  I'm already ready to NOT be pregnant anymore. I'm excited about it, but at the same time, I mean...DAMN! Basically 2 years solid pregnant is hard on a girl! My stomach is shot. For sure. I didn't have any stretch marks from Kota, but I've got em' now! Also, we are planning to get married at some point after this one is born. I want to look GOOD for my wedding day. No..I WILL look DAMN good on my wedding day. Thats how its going down.

Ok... Here is a converasation I am having with an apprently young girl talking about breeding her horse.....::sigh::


Girl:
hey so i am still looking for a stallion to breed my mare to in 2010 ( i know a long way away but i want to make sure it is the right horse for her!)

but i have been told by my mom that the only way that i am breeding her is to a paint stallion. Since she is registered breedingstock paint...or possibly Duns of impacts stud!!!.....but she would much perfer a paint. the foal would probally be trained for barrelracing or roping so the stockier the stallion the better!!!!.... so here is what i would like!...

Black, bay, dun, grulla color,buckskin *( no chestnuts)
NO OVEROS, it must be a tobiano
NO IMPRESSIVE BLOOD....(she has it already and i don't want the possiablity of it coming out)

(I get the idea that this is a young girl by the fact that she needs her mothers permission in order to breed this horse in the first place)

Me:
Hello. I understand your not wanting an impressive bred stallion. BUT, I'm curious if you understand exactly about impressive and hypp.


As in, what is the HYPP status of your mare? Is she N/N? Or N/h? or possibly H/H. There are MANY threads on HC about the subject and it might be a good idea to educate yourself on it. If your mare is N/H or H/H I would NOT consider breeding her AT ALL regardless of the status of the stallion.

Also, prejudice against impressive bred horses is VERY often unfounded. A N/N stallion bred to a N/N mare has NO chance of producing a foal positive for Hypp. NO CHANCE.

I'm not sure you are familiar with the status's and their meanings are, so I'll give a quick rundown.

-H/H means the horse HAS HYPP. And WILL pass on a H gene NO MATTER WHAT!

-N/H means the horse has hypp, but may be asymptomatic. Which means they may not show anyoutward signs of the disease. They have a 50/50 chance of passing on the defective gene that causes HYPP.

-N/N means the horse does NOT carry the defective gene and has NO chance of passing this on.

H/H +H/H = H/H Carries the disease and WILL pass on the defective gene

N/H+ H/H = N/H or H/H 50/50 chance of producing a H/H horse.

N/N +N/N= N/N DOES NOT carry the defective gene.


So it really is not prudent to descriminate a stallion because he has impressive in his pedigree.

But the question remains, What IS the status on your mare?

Girl:

okay i will clairfy this for everyone............I AM NOT DESCRIMINATING against the impressive blood line, i just believe that there are other bloodlines out there now that are just as good and have proved them selves the same way... i would like to find a stallion that has done good in something and has decent lines and will completment my mare. i also believe that breeding a horse with impressive and a horse with impressiove is line breeding... i don't care how far back it is.... i just don't like doing it. i will probally not breed to a stallion with Doc Bar in him either.! i understand completely what hypp is and how the genetics work ( i studied it for about a month in school) so there is no worry there!

this is just my personal preferance and anyone can say what they would like i would just prefer no impressive blood in the pedigree...

and just for information cuz i should have said it in the original post... Moxie is N/N for the gene. ( according to her old owners)

(again, I never claimed she was descriminating against Impressive blood, or ANY certain type of breeding, I was just making sure her aversion to certain lines was not out of lack of knowledge, as that is the impression I got)


Me:
 understand your not wanting to breed to an impressive stallion, but it did seem that you may not have been well informed on the subject.

There is also a HUGE difference between "line breeding" and "IN breeding".

Again. Please don't take these posts as a personal attack on what your ideal stallion is. I and others are just trying to help you be as informed as possible.

I'm still curious as to the status of your mare, as you said she does have impressive in her pedigree. If she is N/H or H/H she should NOT be bred. Regardless of status of the stud. If you don't know, it is imperative that you get her tested ASAP before you even consider looking for a stud.


Girl:
if you read my above post.... it is stated in that post that my mare is N/N i would never in my life consider breeding any horse with N/H or HH i believe this is a gene that with carefull breeding we can erase from the horse industy completely.....also i am i know the difference between line breeding and in breeding both of which i will never do, i prefer to breed to unknown stallion that is jsut as good and the "fad" stallions.

thanks for your concern Stars, but i think that i totally understand the topic and have every intention to to do my part in erasing this gene from the quarter and paint world...


Me:
I'm sorry. You did post that. I missed that. I apologise. I do think you have an honestly lovely mare, that is for sure. The only reason I was concerned about her status originally was because you stated you did not want to breed her to an impressive stud for fear of perpetuation of hypp. Not all impressive bred studs carry HYPP. But you already know that. Or at least that is what I got out of it. Also that you needed permission of your parents to breed your mare, so I made the assumtion that you are young, and maybe haven't had much experience when figuring out genetic possibilities and/or likelyhood of carrying on certain genetic traits.

I totally agree with breeding to a good stud and that isn't always the "big guys" and big names out there. The thing about the bigger names is often they have been proven in something. Then again I know some ranch type horses that have never seen a show ring in their live that are TOTALLY worthy of perpetuating their legacy. So. Saying that. It might be nice to know some more specifics.




Do you have a price limit on the stud fee?

Are you looking for live cover? i.e. Distance of stud from you being a factor. Or are you able to do shipped, cooled/frozen ?

Are there any particular lines you have an afinity to?
I see your mare is Doc Bar bred. Its back there, but its there. Would you not want another Doc Bar bred horse?

How do you wish to improve on your mare? You say you want a barrel horse, or a roping horse. Does your mare need improvement on her speed? Or does she need improvement on her stopping and turning? Both disciplines require a very certain and specific skill set. So, the stockier the better may not be the suitable for these types of performance events.

All of those things also would strongly influence a choice in a stud. If you want more speed, perhaps consider adding some race QH blood in there. Or, if you are needing more stopping and turning, consider using some cutting blood or a horse PROVEN in barrels or roping. The events you have shown interest in. These thing will greatly help people on here possibly find you stud options.

edited to add: Are you SURE she is N/N, often horses are sold under the assumtion of being N/N without ever being tested. I would always want to see the papers documenting said horse being N/N before I take someones word.


That is where it has ended...for now. I'm sure it will continue....

For those who are not horse genetic savvy, i will tell you that HYPP is a genetic trait that is passed on. It is a dominent gene so it only takes one of the genese to cause the issue. HYPP causes muscle tremors, convulsions, seizure and sometimes death. These attacks come sometimes at random, but aslo can be brought on by extreme stress or a plethera for other reasons.



Maybe I'm a genetics nazi. But I really think people would be better off understanding these types of things, at least on a broad level.

How old is your baby?
-9 months old on the 4th!

What new things has baby been doing?
-She's walking around the furniture like crazy. Trying to take a few steps on her own. She's babbling like crazy and trying hard to mimic our sounds. She's starting to make decisions on her own. Like when she is done eating. lol

How are they eating / sleeping?
-She's eating great. Her sleep has regressed a little bit. She's started waking up again durring the night. I think its partly because she's teething.

Any Dr. appointments since your last update and how did they go?
-She's been doing great! and getting bigger! Her apointments have been great.

Any Dr. appointments coming up?
-Her 9 month appointment is tomorrow!

Anything big happening in your personal life (moving, work related, family, etc)
-Not much.

How are you feeling?
-Achey. I'm preggers again so, getting bigger already.

Any questions you want to ask?
-has anyone else had problems with sleep? She WAS sleeping through the night for so long, now she wakes up about every 4 hours or so.

Any pictures from this week?
( yup! )