More new arrivals......

The latest cat, Umalali, has been getting fat of late, and not that kind of squidgy fat that Cocktail has but the lumpy, containing babies fat that she shouldn't be able to have, as I had been lead to believe she'd been spayed........

This morning, she started following me around miaowing, which is unusual, she didn't even run away from Éowyn, which is VERY unusal, then at lunchtime I was just sitting down to me fishfinger sarnies and she starts having contractions......out pops a small black bundle, Éowyn finds the whole thing fascinating........

Bit more time goes by, another little black creature arrives, then after that a ginger one. How many, I'm wondering, thinking how am I going to find homes for a load of kittens? but thankfully she stops at three. And very cute they are too......

That must have hurt!!

The chickens like to make a lot of noise when they've laid an egg. I found one today that really must have made one of them squawk!!! It's bigger than a duck egg, here it is next to a duck egg and a normal size chicken egg........Aliénor, who is wise in the ways of chickens, says it'll be a double yolker. I shall save it for a breakfast fry up........

Day ride

Went for a lovely day ride in the sun today, Éowyn's Godmother offered to have both the kids all day so I made the most of my freedom!!

We found a new route to go to the nearby village of Vélines. We had to go past a field of cattle at one point, they started running towards the horses and the big jessies got scared and tried to run away.....oh dear.

We went up a nice steep hill which the boys found hard going, they're so unfit. Then had a picnic lunch looking out over the fabulous view.

Don't often get days off like this.....

Went to see some puppies......

A couple of weeks ago we took in a bitch and her pups that had been living right next to a local church. She'd whelped in a stand of pampas grass next to the road, it took me all afternoon to find the pups! Anyway, she belongs to a local shepherd, he came to take her and the pups home, she'd wandered off to have the pups and he couldn't find her, so had moved on with his flock and the locals had been feeding her. Pretty much as soon as we'd taken her in, he turned up to get her back. Today we went to see her at his farm and I was very plesantly surprised to find the bitch and her pups in a big airy clean barn surrounded by livestock. There was fresh straw everywhere, loads of hay, even salt for them. There were cows and very young calves, tiny lambs, some had been orphaned and were in with ewes that had lost their lambs to try to get them adopted, there were goats, chickens and an enormous black pig! Aliénor absolutely loved it!! None of the animals was scared of us at all.......

The Derby Winner

Not only does Sky have a Derby winner in her pedigree, but some research has found that Pinza won the 1953 Coronation Derby ridden by Sir Gordon Richards..........

The girl's got connections......

I was looking for something to read last night and I came across a book I'd forgotten I had, The Appaloosa by Ann Hyland. So I started to read it and I found a section all about the Capitall Stud in Clwyd, where Skyfaxa's sire, Capitall Hadrian, was bred.

Sky's great granddam (and also her great great granddam) was a mare called Chanson Bleu, a tri coloured leopard foaled in 1970, by an American stallion based in Ireland. Two of her best known foals were by the Thoroughbred stallion Paper Cap who was the grandson of the Derby winner Pinza. These are Capitall Cyril, Sky's great grandsire:

and Capitall Martha, Sky's granddam:

Capital Cyril sired Capital Hefin, who won the yearling class at the 1989 National Show:

And he sired Capitall Hadrian.

So she has a show champion and a Derby winner in her ancestry!!

Capitall Cyril also sired Capitall Harold, who was given to the Sultan of Oman by Prince Charles:

So her great uncle had royal connections!

Spring at last??

Well, compared to the freezing start to last week, today was lovely and sunny, maybe spring really is on its way......

Sky and Kinna had a bit of a run around in the sun.... Sky had to spoil it by kicking poor Kinna, she is getting to be a bit of a madam, hopefully Adam Shereston can give me some advice on dealing with her when he comes down next month.....

The girls get wet....

As the sun was shining this afternoon I decided to see how the girls would react to a bit of water. Got the hose out and washed their legs a bit, they weren't too sure at first but soon settled down......

When it warms up properly they can both have a bath, Kinna especially is filthy......They're starting to lose their winter coats now, Skyfaxa's spots are really showing up !

A chilly hack.....

Finally got the kids off to school/childminder this morning so went off to ride. Not sure what's happened to the weather this week but it was COLD!!! Had to go on our own because Jane had put so many layers on she could hardly get her leg across the saddle, during the subsequent tricky mounting manouevre Maverick moved at a cruicial moment and she fell flat on her arse......I'm sure she'll appreciate me sharing that with the world.



Went past a rather lovely Applaoosa mare who came up to investigate Gandalf.......

She wasn't too impressed with him though, did a lot of snorting and squealing, all he wanted to do was say hello cos he hates going out on his own but she wasn't having any of it.......

Loading.....

Today we decided to try loading the girls into the trailer, Kinna was a bit hesitant.....

...but she went in OK after Sky and was quite happy to stand in there for a bit.

Such good girls!

What colour is Kinna?

Have been looking at Appaloosa coat patterns to try and determine what colour Kinna is. For the record, here are the main patterns:
Leopard - white pattern exhibited to an extreme with base coloured spots of various sizes covering most of the body, like Sky's sire Capitall Hadrian:













Near leopard:



















Few Spot - base colour is nearly obscured by its Appaloosa white patterning covering up to 90% of its body. Horse may exhibit patches of colour on the heads, knees, elbows, flanks (called 'varnish marks'). Some may have as few as only one or two spots.




Snowflake - white spots, flecks, on a dark body. Typically the white spots increase in number and size as the horse ages.



Varnish - dark points (legs and head) and some spots or roaning over a light body. May occur in conjunction with another spotting style and change with age. Often starts out as a solid coloured horse that gets more white as it ages, but is not a grey.



Frost - similar to varnish but the white hairs are limited to the back, loins, and neck. May occur in conjunction with another spotting style and change with age. Often starts out as a solid coloured horse that gets more white as it ages.



Blanket - Most common and well known White blanket over hindquarters. Can have clean edges or be roaned. Most have dark spots on blanket field Spots may move and change with each shedding.



Snowcap - Similar to blanket except blanket field doesn’t have spots on it. White area can extend across most of body .Usually retain colour on head, legs, flanks and elbows.



And of course some horses can have a combination of these patterns:


So looking at all that, I think Kinna is a snowcap Appaloosa.