Meet "Chinook"!

Here he is!!! Yes, that's right--a colt, just like we've been expecting! I did get excused from class, so I drove home (let me tell you, that was a very long drive), and there was Sage with her little boy, nursing.


Of course, I took about a million pictures. Picking just a few to post here was so difficult! That's because he is pretty much the cutest thing ever.



He's quite healthy, has nursed several times, and runs around like a little devil. The other girls are quite interested in him from the other side of the fence, but Sage does her best to keep them away.



Look at how he already doesn't listen to his mom!


After I petted him for the first time, he proceeded to tell me that I smell.

Sage is the perfect mother. She nickers to him to show him how to nurse (though he's got that down pat). She keeps the other horses away from him, but she lets me pet him like a star. I checked out the placenta, dipped his umbilical stump, and watched the little guy poop (a big deal for baby horses!), and Sage was content to eat some grain mash while I worked.

She came through just fine. Her hind end looks fabulous--there was no trauma at all! She's enjoying her feed, though. Foaling is hungry work!

She thinks he's pretty cute. :)


After three hours of being up and about, he finally settled down for his first nap. Sage started piling hay on him so that she could eat and keep an eye on him at the same time.


Provided the weather is good tomorrow (it's not supposed to be), these two will go out on the grass. After a little while, I'll introduce the other horses. Gabby and Luna are interested, but Brandy is having a fit. She really wants to see the baby, so we'll be careful with her. I know Sage can hold her own, but I'll give them some time to rest first. Sage has got her hands full with this little one! He's running her in circles already!

As to the name Chinook, I have had this name in my head for a few months now. Chinook has several meanings, but the most well-known usage of the word is to describe the chinook winds. Chinooks bring warm air to rain-shadow of the Rockies (and also the Cascades) that can raise the temperature as much as 100 degrees in one day, melting snow rapidly. In Oregon, a chinook is also a warmish, really wet wind that comes from the south. In either sense, it is a reference to something that comes along somewhat unexpectedly and changes things...which is exactly what this little mustang has done!