Unplanned pregnancies - horses

This happens quite often in the animal world - horses included.

Some examples from my own experience.

High Hopes - alias Dopey because of her droopy ears.
Charisma - the first horse that I owned.
Both were special horses to me and both had unplanned foals.

This happened from time to time at Wal Ken Farms. Pop Billingham did breed horses on purpose. He owned a Hackney stallion. He was also reluctant to be a bad influence on any of the girls riding at his stables. Try to remember that this was the 1960’s and 1970s. He told us that he was taking this mare away to have her teeth attended to. We did not believe him!!

At Greenbelt there are no stallions kept - it is a place for riding lessons. However sometimes a mare arrives and no one knows about her past history.

A few examples.

Wandanna - she was born at the barn. Her mom was assisted with her arrival by Wanda and Ann - hence her name.

This pony looks a little fat. Much to the staff’s surprise, a little filly arrived during a cold winter night. The pony herself was very cute - her name was Pipsqueak. The baby needed a winter blanket so she borrowed one from the dog.

There was one born in the stall next to Bishop. I am sure that he did not know what was going on - all that banging around and neighing.

Then in the fall of 2007, a pretty little mare arrived. There was 2 for the price of one, because she had a foal in September 2007. He was born at the wrong time of the year and he needed to wear a winter blanket as well. They named him Sir Prize. He was a very handsome fellow.