the new filly......

I have time to write a bit more about the new girl today......

The bloke I bought her from showed me 4 Appaloosa mares in a field and said one of them was her dam but he didn't know which one. Today I have had an email from his daughter, who wants me to keep in touch.I sent her the pics I have taken of the mares and she said it's definitely one of these two but she wasn't sure which, she's going to check with their owner who's currently away in Paris.

Apparently the sire is a leopard stallion, she's going to try and get me a photo of him. So I don't know why she looks like a paint!! Apparently one of the other mares had a foal that was totally black last year but still had all the Appy characteristics. My filly has them too, mottled skin, white sclera, striped hooves.


I don't understand Appy genetics, it's all a bit of a lottery!!!

Aliénor has fallen in love with her, she took her out into the garden today and brushed her:


We have trawled through more Icelandic names and have come up with this:
Kinnskjóna, which means 'pinto mare with a white patch on her cheek' - how much more accurate could it be?!!! She looks more like a pinto than an Appy and does indeed have a white patch on her cheek:

I love Icelandic names, they are so descriptive.......we'll be calling her Kinna for short though!"

Sky's new friend

Saw an ad for an Appaloosa filly for sale on Wednesday, went to see her on Thursday, brought her home today........

Busy day.....

Went on a bit of a trek today. We'd been invited to go and visit Flecha in his new home so set off to drive the 3 hours up to Oradour Fanais, near Confolens in the Charente. He now lives with another small pony, Gypsy, and 2 Fjord ponies, Rocky and Kalix.

They make quite a nice little herd!

I love the colour of the Fjord ponies, especially the two coloured mane. Shame they don't get a bit taller, I think my feet would be down to their knees!!!

Then after that we went back to see the Breton filly Almonde. She's only about 45 minutes away from Flecha.

Turns out she's never been away from her mum or out in a trailer or out and about on the road so she could be a bit of a project.......but I'm sure she'd soon get the hang of it all like Skyfaxa has.....

We've been to see.....

......a potential new recruit:

almost 2 year old Breton filly (ONC), her mother was saved from the butcher by Equine Rescue France.

A new friend for Skyfaxa?

Baby photos

Was showing a friend some of Sky's photos today, I'd forgotten how cute she was as a baby, she's growing so fast......

I even found a little video clip of her with mum.......

A new project....

In June, I sold my second horse and decided that the next one would be a baby because I don't want to spend all my time correcting other people's mistakes (OK, so that's exactly what I'm doing with a donkey right now, but that's another story.....). I went to see several youngsters here in France, but even these yearlings and two year olds have problems, merely because they've generally never been handled, some of them we couldn't even get near, so no way could we imagine getting them in a trailer! I have always wanted an Appaloosa horse, a "Spotty Botty", but they are very expensive here, so I started looking back in the UK. And I found this:




An Appaloosa x cob filly who actually looked like she might grow up strong enough to carry me around!! Also, the price wasn't outrageous......

So I blagged the price of a flight to the UK, turned up on mum's doorstep and set off to not so sunny Herefordshire the next morning to see this baby. What a treat! A field full of beautiful coloured horses, mares and foals running with a magnificent Appaloosa stallion, it was an amazing sight......the mares were all big gentle cobs, reminding me of my current horse, the lovely Gandalf, chunky and well mannered. I decided pretty much right away I would have her and paid my deposit that morning, took a ton of photos and rushed back to the airport for my flight home.

Now all I have to do is wait for her to arrive in November after weaning.........