Chicken Combs and Foal Feet

 

What do Chicken Combs and Foal Feet have in common?

Well, after going back over all of my posts on Blogger for the past 5 1/2 years, I’ve discovered that nifty little column on the right side of our post list that says View Count, and keeps track of all of the views on each post.

Apparently my two blog posts about Chicken Combs and Foal Feet must be very interesting because they had the most views of all of my blog posts.

                 Feathery Foal Feet had 10,500 views!

                 Chicken Combs had over 10,300 views!

A Friend’s Voyage

 

Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying my neighbor friend, Val of Fantastyk Voyage Blog, along with her youngest son, on her first voyage out to visit with her animals. It was also the first time she had been able to get up close to the newest animals on her little ranch: "The Aliens"

Val bought them over a week ago, and while I can see them from my house, I had not been over to get up close and meet them in person until Thursday afternoon when I came over to refill Val’s horses’ water troughs. Oh my! They are so stinkin’ cute!

As most of you know, I have two camelids, too, but they are llamas. I love my llamas and think they are beautiful, elegant, funny, and sweet. But I must admit they are not as cute, even with their adorable banana ears, as alpacas!

Thelma reminds me of butterscotch pudding and is the more curious and friendly of the two girls. Louise is black with a reddish glow and it’s easy to see that she wants to get closer to us humans, but she is very shy and cautious. 

    

Before I walked over from my house, I tucked some baby carrots into my pocket, thinking I’d give them to Val to give to her horses, in case she had forgotten (Of course, she didn’t. She had even brought full size carrots for them. hehe). I never considered that the alpacas would like carrots, because my llamas don’t have any interest in carrots at all. But Thelma and Louise both liked the carrots.

Thelma would take them from our hands, while Louise felt more comfortable eating them off the ground, at least for now. I have a feeling it won’t take long for her to come around, though.

It was wonderful seeing Val interact with her alpacas. She’s looking forward to not only working with the alpaca fleece, but also working with and training both of them, too.

But soon, the sun dropped below the western horizon and the temps dropped down into the 30’s and it was time to hurry over to the barn so Val could visit with her horse family, too. She had recently been up close with Nadia,("Visit with Nadia") when her daughter led her down to the house for a visit, where Val was sitting in her wheelchair. But it was the first time she had been able to visit with Annie, Yalla! and Scout up close, since her accident and surgery 4 weeks ago. And she really missed them.

And it was easy to see (and hear) that her herd missed her, too. They were nickering and neighing for her as we left the alpaca pen and were nuzzling Val all over as she stood beside their stalls.

Please visit Val’s blog to read more about her visit and enjoy some of her wonderful photos(Maybe leave her an encouraging comment filled with some healing vibes, too):

Fantastyk Voyage "The Big Fall" 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Bonding and Visiting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Note: None of these photos are recent. They’re just a reminder of warmer, sunnier days. Today it is raining, hailing and snowing again)

Happy Independence Day!

 

Val’s (Fantastyk Voyage) mare Annie, and her filly, Yalla!

Baby Doll is still around and just as stubborn and as sour as usual. Val is doing her best at trying to give my mare an attitude adjustment. 

May your day be filled with family, friends, good food, beautiful weather, fun times, and lots of patriotic spirit!

Val and I have made plans to drive up to her cabin in northern New Mexico for some quiet holiday celebrations this weekend. We’ll be doing a little bit of exploring, some letterboxing, lots of laughing, munching yummy food, sipping liquid libations, and enjoying some time away from the stresses of life. You can virtually visit Val’s cabin by clicking on Fantastyk Voyage Cabin.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! 

From the Tower of,

Sky Watch~Layered Clouds

 

I was sitting in my friend’s barn, almost 2 weeks ago, watching her newly born foal, Yalla!, when I saw these clouds sliding across the sky.

 

(If you look closely, in the middle of the photo, just to the left of the lower 'T' of the supporting pole, you can just barely see the spots of my paint mare, Baby Doll.)

Their shape reminded me of an alien spaceship gliding across the planet searching for unsuspecting humans that could be zapped up inside for carrying out heinous experiments.

 

Yah, I’ve been told I’ve got quite the imagination.

Check out Sky Watch to see hundreds of interesting skies from all over the world.

~~~~~~~~~

I can’t forget to add some Foal Watch Friday to this post, too. Yalla! is 12 days old (Friday).

Annie and Yalla!

Yallah! at the Milk Bar.

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful weekend!

From the Tower of,

Feathery Foal Feet

Once I saw the photo of the newborn foal hoof, in the book Equus, that was gifted to me, I just knew I wanted to see this for myself when my friend Val’s mare delivered her foal.
(Explanation from the book) “During late gestation, soft pads - sometimes called the foal slipper, the golden hoof, leaves, or gills – form on a foal’s hooves. This eponychium is a soft epidermis cushion covering the tip of each hoof that protects a mare’s uterus and genital tract from damage while pregnant and during foaling. Once the foal has been born, these break off and the hooves rapidly harden.”
Unfortunately I forgot to get close-up photos of Yalla’s hooves soon after she was born, because I was just completely overcome with awe over her birth. But I did get some photos later in the same day, of her little hooves. And over the weekend, I spent some time going back through the birth photos to look closer for those feathery foal hooves. I chose the following photos to share. Let me know if you are as amazed as I am.
In this photo, below, you can the see one hoof, still inside the amniotic sac, at the far left of the photo. Notice how curved/bent and soft that hoof is?
Then look at the white hoof, below the foal’s muzzle, at the far right of this photo. See how long it is? Approximately an inch of that hoof will break or wear off, within a couple hours after birth, as the hoof hardens. Isn’t that wild?

And these are the bottom of the front hooves soon after birth. Notice the length of the heels and toes. On the hoof to the left side of the photo, you can even see the feathery bits, although they’re covered by dirt.

This is a poor quality photo as I had to crop most of the photo away and zoom in to see those hooves. I also included the mare hoof, too for comparison. *grin* Notice the heel of that left hoof and see how it’s already flaking and peeling away? This is just minutes after the birth.

In this photo the feathery ‘gills’ on the back hooves can be seen quite clearly. It’s a wonder that a foal doesn’t have an even more difficult time trying to take their first steps with all of that soft tissue bunched up underneath their feet..

If you look closely, you will see bits of the soft feathery pads flaking off, revealing the permanent hoof underneath.

These next two photos were taken during the afternoon, the same day she was born, approx 8 hours later, when I finally remembered to have a look at Yalla’s baby hooves. This is a back hoof.

And this is a front hoof. See how the feathery pads are already drying up and the hoof is trying to take shape?



Today Yalla! was 9 days old. I came over to help Val lput Yalla! and Annie out for some exercise in the arena, and decided to capture some updated 9 day old photos of Yalla’s hooves.
This is a back foot. As you can see there are still some stubby feathery bits which look a little like crocodile skin.
  
And this is Yalla’s 9 day old front hoof. Try to look past all the debris. Those feathery ‘gills’ are becoming Yalla’s frog. (Do you see anything else in that hoof?)

(How about now? Do you see what Val and I see?)


(How about now? Can you see Him?)

Isn’t nature full of surprises and miracles?
  



From the Tower of,

Yalla!

Yalla~Definition: Arabic for "let's go." Sometimes used in the context of "hurry!"

(All of these photos were taken Wednesday during Annie and her filly’s first day out into the arena. Yalla! is three days old)

My friend, Val over at Fantastyk Voyage has finally decided on a Barn Name for her little filly Kaheema Fantastka, after hemming and hawing the last couple days and weeks with different ideas. She has run them all by her family members and friends first and if there isn’t a consensus, then she chooses a different name. I had a little bit of input in the Formal name Kaheema, but this foal’s Barn Name was creatively thought up by Val.

I at first wasn’t sure I liked the name Yalla!. Having lived in the South for 7 years, I kept imagining this foal being called, “Y’Alla come back now…ya hear!” haha!

But Val has a way of opening up my eyes to new experiences and ways of looking at things. And now I can honestly say that the name Yalla! has grown on me. You can read more about how this filly got her name, over at Val's Blog.

And this filly has definitely grown on me. With all of our handling, and Annie’s willingness to share her baby with us, Yalla is becoming much easier to work with and is friendlier, too.

And these following videos share songs involving Yalla. They are especially for my buddy, Val, as she was the one who called me today to tell me about her filly’s new barn name and to encourage me to do some research on Yalla.(You'll want to turn off the playlist music at the bottom of this page, first)

So here ya go. Rock on!

(Joe Strummer, formerly of The Clash, singing Yalla Yalla)

(Yalla sung by singer Arash. Good dance and work out song)

(And here ya have Arash in concert, singing Yalla)

(And another great dance song titled Yalla, sung by Mehdi Asadi. Very fun!)

(And this song/video just cracks me up. Sung by Karim Nagi~ “Everybody Yalla” The music is fun, but it also seems silly. What do you think?)

(And this one is kind of cool. Sung in French by Calogero~’Yalla’)

(And finally, this last song is guaranteed to make you want to jump up and shake your booty. Fun! “Yalla” Dance Remix

 

One last video, I promise. This one I captured on Wednesday during Yalla’s first outing into the arena. She and Annie were feeling good, and Yalla! was loving all that wide open space to run. Remember she is only 3 days old.

She gives true meaning to her name, “Yalla!”.

 

Only her shadow can keep up with her. Yalla!

From the Tower of,