Today I spent a lot of time staring at and feeling Grace's belly. I just don't see any sign of baby movement. Her teats are all shriveled up with just a bit of a pooch in front of them. But from the shape of her belly I'd swear she was "in the family way." She looks matronly, gravid. But it's mostly downward. She looks a little plump from the front but you can't really see her belly from behind. It would probably be 1000 times better if I took a picture rather than trying to describe it, huh?
As we were working on fence today (finally going to brace the corners correctly) I had ample time to watch the two mares. Soxy doesn't eat much hay. She chews and spits it out quite a bit, then wanders off to eat dry grass and weeds. Then she goes and eats poop. Yeah, I know it's gross but they get great probiotics that way and maybe it's easier to chew and digest? But to get to the point - what if Grace is simply fat because she's eating most of the hay I put out for TWO horses? I suppose I could separate them and start feeding her the regular amount for one horse. I definitely don't want to put her on a diet because what if she is pregnant? But ensuring that she's not eating way too much would be a good thing. And then I could get Soxy going on some more chewable feed. Not that she's too skinny or anything, but she will eventually be if I don't supplement her.
That's it for me today. Maybe I'll get some Gracie photos tomorrow so I can share with you what I'm looking at.
Oooh! So exciting! I love watching a pregnant mare and feeling for the baby jiggles. I did that almost every day when my friend's horse Annie was pregnant. And I was enthralled and honored to be able to watch Annie give birth to her beautiful foal Yalla!. The last few weeks, I remember bending underneath her belly to photograph her teats, almost daily, to see the changes and the waxing up. I'm surprised Annie didn't get annoyed with me. lol!
ReplyDeleteYes! Please share some photos!
I wonder why Soxy isn't eating her hay? When I first bought Apache she would nibble her hay, eat very slowly, or take mouthfuls of hay, move it around her mouth, and then spit it out (quid). If she was close to her water bucket she would actually gulp water for each bite of hay.
I discovered that she was in serious need of having her teeth floated, though, and after having all the waves, hooks, and steps filed down, and that 2" hook off the front removed, Apache quickly began eating like a normal horse again.
~Lisa