Rosey -or- Yet-to-be Named * Chapter 1 *

Stardate 04/26-28/08

Still trying to recover from the wake up call of 2:00 a.m. Saturday 4/26 announcing that we were going to have a baby... horse - McKuster Ranch's first foal!!!

Kittee had been spending every night with Shaiela in the barn for almost 10 days, waiting for this arrival. We spent two hours that morning in the barn waiting for something to happen. At 5:00 a.m. we called it a good night and went back to bed. Got about four more hours sleep and begin to start the day all over again.
We had a very full day of work around the ranch, and were also waiting for two new boarders to arrive from the Claiborne Horse Farm of Lexington, KY as we were also keeping a constant eye on Shaiela for the day. Mid-morning we got a call from the transport company that due to a snow and ice storm in the mid-west the truck was delayed by a day and should be here on Sunday. A bit later Saturday afternoon our new horse boarder, Jennifer came over from Walla Walla to say Hi. She had arrived in Walla Walla the day before, from KY and was getting settled in and wanted to come out to the ranch and see where her horses' new home was going to be/ like. Jennifer brought her friend Henry with her to the ranch and we had a very pleasant early evening just sitting around and getting to know each other. The rest of the day was uneventful and casual, just waiting for Shaiela to make the next move.

Sunday, was a busy day with a backhoe coming in that morning to do some work around the ranch; watching Shaiela hoping for a foal at any moment, and two new boarding horses to arrive in the early afternoon. All went well this day as we got the backhoe work done, Jennifer's horses arrived in good shape and happy to see pasture, Don and Arlene, our retirees from AZ came by to check on their horses, Kasey a boarder from So. Fork River Road dropped in to say Hi. We all sit around and chatted thereafter for awhile. As the sun sank slowly in the west of a perfectly beautiful eastern Oregon day, everyone headed for home, Kittee and I had dinner and was ready for bed. Again, with her sleeping bag over her shoulder Kittee headed for the barn for the night. I took a shower and was getting in bed with Sylvester when the walkie-talkie went off. Kittee announced that Shaiela was down and going into labor; this was about 9:00 p.m. PDT.

By the time I drew up some hot water, and got the cameras in hand, made it to the barn just in time to observe Shaiela's foal with two feet and a nose being birthed. Within five minutes or so, we had a perfectly beautiful foal... a filly. With the color of her foal coat being kind of a red roan we have given her the "barn" name of Rosey. This night or morning, whatever... we laid down about 5:00 a.m. for a couple hours sleep before restarting Monday.

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A few hours later...

YouTube video connections...

SHAI AL BEY's birthnight- equine birthing - 1:01 min

We have a filly- 1:01 min

Rosey has teeth-  2:58 min

Rosey's first steps- 0:49  sec

Rosey learns to nurse- 2:26 min

To Be Continued...

Life around the ranch with Kittee, Dale, Rosey, etc. --- Dale