Babies, Babies, Babies!

2023 brought the promise of babies to the GHLHF. Two were expected, and one was a bit of a surprise, but nonetheless we were excited for all three to arrive.

Apparently I didn’t have enough of Satan’s spawn (aka ponies), although Darling Husband might disagree. In my quest to get a matching teammate for Tater (hopefully on the smaller side/blue roan), I bred Apple Jack back to Beau Pony. If nothing else Tater would have a full sibling if not a full color/size match. Only a few short months later, I was offered the opportunity to purchase Pumpkin Spice Latte (previously named Betsy) with the hopes that she was in foal after being exposed to a stud for three months pre-purchase. Either way she was a good size match for my existing mares and the 6 hitch goal. Then…Surprise! I discovered, I was in foal also. Apple Jack, Pumpkin and I would all be due within a few weeks of each other.

There was a shared misery between, Pumpkin, Apple Jack, and I. As I grew bigger and waddled about the farm doing chores and attempting to continue riding/training, I watched my mares waddle around the pasture ears pinned with nasty attitudes biting and double barrel kicking anyone that gave them $hit. I completely empathized with them a little jealous that it wasn’t socially acceptable for me to act out my grievances that way. There would have been something incredibly satisfying about throat punching people that insisted on making my physically exhausting, huge, uncomfortable stages, or really the entire pregnancy more miserable than it had to be.

The ponies and I didn’t let pregnancy slow us down. Apple Jack went into team training with Summer, helping me drag fallen limbs to a burn pile after ice storms when we were 9 and 7 months pregnant. When Pumpkin, Apple Jack and I were about a month out from delivery, I decided we needed to commemorate the occasion with a combined maternity shoot, because it would be hilarious. The blooper shots turned out to be everything I had hoped for with two ravenous pregnant ponies attempting to gorge themselves on spring grass, while I endeavored to wrangle their heads up for the photo wearing a dress kneeling in bluebonnets. As our collective due date drew closer, I hoped the girls would give birth before me, in order to assist with foaling if necessary. I’m pretty sure the visitors that were coming to entertain Offspring during my delivery were not prepared to deal with foaling issues should the babies arrive while I was labor.

As Fate would have it, I delivered first. The cameras we installed in the barn allowed us to view the entire pony paddock in addition to the foaling stall, and we watched those cameras while I was in labor all the way up until it was time for me to push. I feel like only true horse people can understand that level of insanity. Pumpkin ended up delivering her foal a week later, while Apple Jack held out for another week and a half.

As always naming new animals is a challenge. Offspring took it upon himself to name my baby, responding immediately after I broke the news he would be a big brother. Offspring fired off, “I’m going to name her Baby Sparkly!” Keep in mind he wasn’t asked for name suggestions, and we planned on naming her something less stripper-ish that didn’t involve a future career with a pole. Unfortunately or not, the name stuck. Despite the official name on her birth certificate, Offspring Numero Dos will most likely always be called Sparkly. I can think of worse handles than “Sparkly Gardner” as she races around barrels in an arena over a loud speaker. Its not a bad name for rodeo.

Pumpkin Spice Latte was renamed when she came to our farm because “Betsy” wasn’t going to cut it for one of my ponies. It was early fall, and she was a vibrant chestnut color, hence the new moniker. Her foal turned out to be a chestnut snowcap appaloosa. With a mother named Pumpkin, I couldn’t help but think of the Harry Potter series. The little colt was christened Mischief Managed aka Mischief because what is a pony if not mischievous.

Originally I had planned on naming Apple Jack’s foal French Fry since his sister’s name is Tater Tot. However, when he was finally on the ground, and did not remotely resemble Tater, I decided to hold back the name French Fry just in case I one day end up with blue roan to pair with Tater Tot. That is most likely a pipe dream, as this is the last time I plan to breed my mares, and I’m officially out of the pony market, but never say never….Apple Jack’s colt was a lovely chestnut paint with clear bold markings. He has a white patch on his rump resembling the outline of an owl if you use your imagination like a Rorschach test. I polled random strangers on the internet and its not just me seeing it. So, we continued with the Harry Potter theme and named him Butterbeer. Hedwig was too obvious of a choice. If the two colts end up being anywhere similar in size, they’ll most likely be paired as a team.

Eventually, the mares and I will do a photo shoot to commemorate the year we all delivered together. Sparkly needs a family photo with her four legged siblings in addition to her human brother, but we’re now in the middle of a Texas summer, which means it will be utterly miserable to do anything until October.