First Foal of 2018!

Published on by Amanda C

Spring is in full swing in Texas, and you know what that means: foaling season at Willow Tree Warmbloods!

The first 2018 foal was born this past Monday, a big gorgeous bay filly named Mari. This is the first of two Diarado foals expected this season, this one out of Laken, who is by Torino out of a Pikadero mare. Mari had a bit of elbow lock during the delivery but mom and filly recovered well and are doing great. Mari is bred to JUMP (Diarado – 1.50m GP horse, Torino – 1.50m GP horse, Pikadero – 1.60m GP horse) and loves to canter.

Mari1
Laken does not approve of all this cantering.
Mari2
Mari don’t care. Mari got zoomies.
Mari6
SYNCRONIZED ZOOMIES
Mari3
And sass.
Mari3
Plenty of sass.
Mari4
Ooooo what dis??
Mari5
NOPENOPENOPE BAD IDEA
Mari2
highly offended cantering
Mari1
MOM ❤

Of course, this means that the Baby Bets contest is now officially in full swing. There are only 2 foals this year, so it might end up being a neck and neck race that goes all the way down to the wire. Remarkably enough, one person managed to guess the correct foaling date AND time AND gender of Mari! Dang Amelia… that’s some crystal ball you’ve got there.

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I’m impressed

So far she’s got a 15 point lead on anyone else in the field. All of that could change dramatically with the next foal, though. Since we’re only halfway done, it’s still anybody’s game. Sadie is at 310 days today, “due” somewhere around 4/22 if you calculate to the average 340 day gestation. Her first two foals were born slightly before the 340 mark, so we’ll see what happens!

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HORSE BABIES!

30 thoughts on “First Foal of 2018!”

        1. Laken is 16.2 I think, so Mari should be decent size. Diarado does tend to modernize them a bit but that was the idea, since Laken is a tank. Knowing Sadie’s history, I expect hers might end up a bit taller, (she seems dedicated to throwing her size so far…) but it will probably take longer to grow/fill out.

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  3. I read my name and was all “huh? I didn’t enter” LOL My BO is waiting for their first foal of the year now (‘due’ today) and I said it’ll be Tuesday at 1PM (my lesson time and my lesson time is cursed). So if that happens I’m buying lots of lottery tickets 😀 Mari is a stunning little girl!

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  5. She is so sweet! Stupid question…what is elbow lock? Assuming that Mari’s elbow got stuck in Laken (ouch.) but wanted to make sure.

    Mari will probably grey out, right?

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    1. Yeah basically it has to do with presentation… for a normal presentation, one foot is a bit in front of the other, both well in front of the muzzle. Sometimes the elbows get stuck on the pelvis, basically, and it presents as one or both feet being even with the muzzle. Which makes things difficult for obvious reasons. You typically have to reach in and re-maneuver so that the elbows can pass the pelvis.

      Mari actually looks like a true bay so far. Usually foals that will gray out are born an “adult” color, ie they look like a regular bay horse, with black legs – darker than a normal foal. The fact that the hair on her legs is mousy colored is typical of how a normal bay foal looks.

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      1. I wish you didn’t say that, because I was all like “pshh she’ll probs be gray and I don’t want a gray horse” but bay faces are my favorite faces and I want the baby

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  6. AH! SO CUTE! I’m glad she’s a girl so I’m not all I NEED A NEW JUMPER LET’S GET A BABY! (Because I do NOT need another horse I can’t ride right now.)
    Can’t wait to see Sadie’s baby!

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  8. She’s so adorable! I love her. I would totally want one, but the odds of me being able to sit that jump…..are about zero haha! Can’t wait for Sadie’s baby! I follow another breeding facility and they always post pictures of the foals born – I love seeing all those little faces on my fb feed!

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  14. She is adorable. Absolutely adorable. Must be something in the water at WIllow Tree that makes the foals pop out so gorgeous 🙂 Yeah that is it! Can’t wait to see Sadie’s (But I do love Laken too)! Enjoy her! She is stunning!

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