Day one all over again!

Where do I begin?? It's so hard, because the last two days have been such a whirlwind. How can I describe all the things that have happened since Thursday? Chinook is starting out and figuring out life, and meanwhile we've had lots of visitors, and I also have a huge exam on Monday in Large Animal Medicine that is doing its best to loom over me.

Friday I was at home, and took Sage and Chinook out to pasture in the morning.


He is an extremely outgoing little guy, much to Sage's chagrin. She doesn't mind if he comes up to me, as long as he is within about 20 feet of her, but she definitely protects him from the other horses quite well.

Since I anticipate that he's going to be a little firecracker, we're starting out early. Halter on!

Sage didn't worry about the kid having a halter on at all.

Here he comes!

Out in the pasture, Chinook is all about running.

Well, he's all about running anywhere, not just in the pasture. It's hard to get him to chill out, but when he does, he is zonked for good. I wanted to bring them in from the pasture yesterday, but found him napping. I really had to poke a prod to wake him up (it was just about to start pouring!). I think Sage was glad for the relief.

She has been a trooper, but she's also really tired. Chinook is an exhausting kid! He nurses constantly, and the rest of the time he's running around. After I brought him in from the pasture for the first time, he finally let Sage rest for a bit.



Later, when the weather was better, they all went out together. I introduced the other horses one at a time. They have all been extremely nervous/excited about him, and Sage fended them off well. Brandy especially is completely wound up. Luna really wants to see him, because she's had several foals of her own, and Gabby is just not sure what to do. Spending some time all out together settled them a bit, but they still get nervous. Inside the barn, if Luna can't see Sage and Chinook, she pitches a fit.

There was ample time for more running! The weather has been decently cooperative, but not excellent, so they've only been out for a few hours at a time. The rest of the time, Sage and Chinook spend trotting around the arena.

Chinook has also met several people already: both of my parents, Patrick, and two friends of mine. All of this visiting was starting to make Sage nervous. That is especially because one of my veterinary friends and I, we tried to wrangle Chinook to take blood for his IgG test. Did that work? Haha, yeah right!! He is stout and built like a mustang. He jumped and fussed, and we gave up when Sage warned us to. But really, I'm not worried about the little guy's immune system. We did examine the placenta, which looked great, and Chinook offered to demonstrate that he can run circles around his mom with very little effort. So overall, he seems to be doing just fine!