They are here!

This is Aberdale Admiration

 

They are here!

The "Red"  Best Bred By In Show Multi BPIG. Ch. Aberdale Infatuation ex Aberdale's Rainfall Warning "Bubbles" litter has arrived safe and sound. All 2 of them. After a fairly quick prelabour and delivery of the first puppy a sable male she took her time, 4 hours to be exact before she spit out the second, my much wanted sable girl!!
Introducing...

Aberdale Auspicious 
"Felicity"
(Auspicious means showing or suggesting that future success is likely).
The sable girl....

 

My mini's and my pony

Well, spring must be just around the corner as my horses are starting to shed their hair. They were out basking in the warmer weather today when I was taking pictures of my geese so I snapped a couple of them too.

 

This guy above is my old pony gelding Elmo (aka Elmer) that I bought just to save from his not so great living conditions last fall.  He was not only thin and in rough shape but his feet were a mess and could hardly walk and he could not even run across my 50 ft field without having breathing problems. He fell in love with old Rosie and they are often side by side and will defend her from my young stallion. I don't know how old he is but based on his gray on his face and his teeth I suspect he is 20+.  Rosie (AMHA/AMHR registered as Arc Rosie) is 21 this year. She is right on 34" tall and came from Angie Sauer of Hoofbeat Acres in the USA and has given me 2 really nice filly foals, unfortunately losing her last foal a grey colt, after not being able to get him out of the sack 3 years ago. We shall wait to see if she conceived for this fall as she only showed signs of heat once last year (I thought she was bred for last spring but apparently my young stallion was too young) and it was late in the fall.

This is HotShot. Aberdale's Lil HotShot. He was foaled here and knew from the moment he came out that he was something!  He is coming up on 4 yrs of age and now quite the little stallion. He just loves attention and will ignore the other two just to come over and have a pat from me and its not unusual for him to run across the field when I get home from work to greet me . He is also registered  AMHR and can be registered AMHA once he is old enough as he is just a small boy, all 32" of him. He is such a gorgeous deep red bay in the summer with not a single white hair on his body.

 

 

 

 

My tufted roman geese

I have separated my geese and have my pair together. They have really bonded and its nice to watch them courting and the male watching out for his mate. They are getting near to their spring courtship and hopefully this year now that I actually have a proper pair instead of two unknown males I will maybe have some goslings this spring. I have been keeping them bedded down with straw in the barn and the goose has started to make herself comfortable on it. Soon maybe she will start rearranging it to make a nest!! I have been letting them out in the horse field where in the early spring it floods and there is a small river running through it. They love it. Here's a couple of pictures I took today of them enjoying themselves.

The swans have arrived..

So on my way home from work Friday I happened to notice movement out of the corner of my eye when I was on the road just around the corner from home and saw two big white birds flying around. I pulled over and dug out my binoculars (I keep them handy in my van as there is always some sort of interesting wildlife to stop and look at in my area) and realized that it was a pair of tundra swans. Then when I looked further I found a large flock of about 1,000 birds in the field.....Yeah...the  tundra swans have returned on their spring trip north. They will  stop over for a few weeks before they head up to the arctic to raise their young. Usually mid March they return to the Long Point area by the thousands and rest there until the weather really breaks then they head on their long trek north for the summer.Being that I am a 10 minute drive west of Long Point I am right in the path of many migrating birds and get to see wonderful spectacles all year particularly during spring and fall migration. Its quite the thing to see a field just white with these birds. Today I can hear them at home as they gather in the field to the east of me.

This is just the beginning. Over the next 3 - 4 weeks the fields around here will be full of these graceful birds.A sure sign of spring. This morning I also heard a red wing blackbird singing his spring call and a small song bird in my blue spruce singing with barely a whisper. Anyone at any distance would not have heard him.