Bekah's horse "Emma" was delivered about noon yesterday and after listening to the two horses talk to each other all afternoon and into the night, this morning we turned Emma out into the pasture with Curious.

A minute or two of squealing and a few half hearted kicks on Emma's part and it was all settled that Emma would lead and Curious would follow.  Coming from a place with over 100 horses Curious is used to herd dynamics and was so thrilled to no longer be alone.   

Emma (the darker paint) had been in a two horse home, until the owner had to rehome her.  She went to a riding stable as a lesson horse, and although she is a good horse for that purpose, she just didn't seem happy in that busy environment. 

Emma is technically a pony - measuring at 14.1 hands but she seems to be as big as 14.2 Curious so I will be referring to them both as horses.   (For those that don't know a pony is an equine under 14.2 hands, while a horse is anything 14.2 hands and above.)

It is with a very heavy heart I write this entry.  Yesterday morning my daughter and I discovered Tsunami dead in her pen.  

We took her body back to OSU where the c-section had been preformed less than 48 hours before.  A necropsy showed no obvious cause of death - her heart, liver, lungs and uterus all looked good.   They did take some tissue samples for further tests, and will be doing a mineral panel on her liver, so we can determine how our copper and selenium supplement program is working.

My severn year old daughter's theory is that "Tsunami died of a broken heart because she missed her babies too much."

What a sad day today turned out to be.  On Friday we took Tsunami in to OSU Vet college to have them check her out because we thought she was overdue.  The ultrasound showed she had at least one LARGE baby.  We opted to wait over the weekend and if she didn't kid by Monday morning we would taker her back over there.

Well she didn't kid, and they ended up doing a c-section on her.   She had two  gorgeous tri-colored doe kids and a lovely buck kid.   Sadly they appeared to be about a week premature and didn't survive.

All three were already a good size, so she might have ended up with an emergency c-section anyway if they had "cooked' longer.   Another week though doesn't really match up with her heat cycles, so we are left quite puzzled as to exactly when she got bred and how one of the bucks managed to get to her through the fence.  

The Vet thinks that Tsunami stands an excellent chance of conceiving again if she heals up ok, so we will keep her and try again next year.  And in order to give her plenty of recovery time we will breed her to kid in late May or early June.

On the 31st of January my daughter and I went to look at horse for me over in Bend, dear hubby and son stayed home to keep an eye on Tsunami since it was day 145 for her and last year she kidded on day 144.

On the 2nd of February we rented a horse trailer and my two children along with a teenage family friend set off across the mountains to pick up my horse.   We made it to mile post 62 and then hit black ice, the guard rail saved us from going over the edge and a state trooper happened upon us before any of the passing drivers could make it into cell phone range to call for help.  Blessedly no one was injured, although I can't say the same for my truck or the trailer.

So the truck is in the body shop now, but I did find professional haulers that were coming this way from burns who will deliver my lovely "Cruious" to me this coming Sunday afternoon if all goes well.   And their fee is less than the cost to rent a horse trailer.  Sure wish I would have known about their trip before my ill fated one.

Meanwhile we are watching and waiting for Tsuanmi to kid, including sleeping out in the barn with her in 20 degree temps.  Then I found a pony that I think would make a good mount for Bekah, so on the 7th, with dear hubby and son once again stuck on kidding watch, Bekah and I set out for Central Point.   I am happy to say the trip was uneventful and Bekah is totally besotted with her new chocolate palomino Shetland/Welsh pony.   And blessedly the seller is willing to hold her until I can find transport or my truck finally makes it out of the body shop.

Which brings us to this morning, day 155 for Tsunami and still NO kids.  If she doesn't kid on her own in the next couple of hours she will be going with us to the ultrasound clinic over at OSU vet college.