Surprise!

Meet Tara. Isn't she lovely?!! I own a 1/4 share in her. Can you believe it? I can't. She is a brood mare and has a foal brewing in her big tummy. It is probably due in February although she looks rather plump already, so we might get a New Year present. Zanny's foal will have a playmate. 

Tara has incredible bloodlines because her father is Grosvenor and her grandfather is Sir Tristram. That means nothing to most people, but in the horsey world she is gold. Her foal's sire is a handsome black sport horse stallion who is very successful. 

Tara is quite little at 15.1 hands high and we are not sure if she is able to be ridden. She is incredibly sweet and quiet and was totally unphased by being put on a float, travelling for over an hour, and then being fussed over by her new owners. She needs a bit of TLC as she has been left in a big paddock for months and her feet need some serious attention. We need to get rid of that manky halter too. Yuck. Our beautiful lady deserves better than that. 

 She was very impressed with her huge new paddock. Look at that tummy!

 There was a bit of showing off for Dolly and Frazer. Dolly is her new room mate.

 Dolly looks more pregnant than Tara! She hasn't seen a stallion in years. Just a whole lot of grass and not much to do except eat. Lucky she doesn't live in France 'cause there would be plenty of steaks on that rotund rump.

 Dolly did a bit of showing off too, but there was no squealing or silliness. Both girls seem more interested in eating than sparring.

I am so excited. Now I will be able to groom her until the foal comes, when I'm out visiting Zanny and her foal. She will be a lovely friend, and because the other partners in our wee syndicate are all long-term horse owners with rather practical views on owning a brood mare, it will be down to me to fuss over her and spoil her.

I popped out to see Zanny today and as we had a very hot day, she was struggling a bit with the heat. I encouraged her to hang out with me under a shady tree and I gave her carrots and a big back massage. She was very pleased. I think she will look quite ribby once the foal arrives. It seems like we've been waiting forever!

I put the Christmas tree up today. We've had a very social weekend with John's work do, and then the Christmas street party (which involved fireworks, one of which seemed to be sabotaged, and blasted us all with balls of sparks, resulting in a hole in my cardy and terrified screaming children). So far Mr Mouse has left the Christmas tree alone. I was imaging climbing and decoration theft, but he is out on Miss Dog's trampoline bed fast asleep.

I hope I'll have foal news very soon. Good news, of course.