Little Red Baron

While working on the ranch in Texas, I had sent Mayo to Maryland to be safe to foal out her Class Secret (by Secretariat) foal and to be bred to a Thoroughbred stallion named Oh Say.

Around lunch time on May 5, 1999, I got the wonderful news that Mayo had delivered a little chestnut colt in the early hours of the morning.   He was doing okay, but not great, so they were watching him closely, they said.   I was, of course, very worried about my new Thoroughbred colt, the first Thoroughbred I'd ever bred, being so far away from him and hoping and praying he'd be okay.

The next day, I got the news that he was running a fever and that they wanted to give him some plasma, antibiotics, etc, which I gave my permission for them to do, of course.

Another two days later, I got the wonderful news that Baron was now a normal active colt and that the vet thought all was fine with him and he was going to make it.   I was thrilled.

They kept telling me how bright red he was, the same red as his grandfather, the legendary Secretariat.   He may have received the bright chestnut coloring, however he had not received very much white, which, at first, was a bit disappointing, but I was fine with it, because he was now healthy.   He had a small white star and a speck of white on one hind coronet band.   His mother, Mayo, has a big blaze and two white coronets, his sire, Class Secret, had even more white than his sire, Secretariat, having 3 even higher white stockings and having an even bigger white star with connecting stripe.   (The picture at the top of this blog is of him at 4 years old looking down at me, as I sit in our front field.)

For some reason, I kept thinking of him as "The Little Red Baron", so I told them to call him "Baron", for short.   It was just one of those names that just came to me, even without seeing him, I just knew it was the right name for him.

On July first, I left the job in Texas, because it was just not working out, due to not getting paid in the 10 weeks I had been there, becides a falling apart trailer to live in and board for a few of my horses (Bunny, Petey, and Samson).   She did pay for some of my meals, if we went out, but mostly, I had to use what savings i had to feed myself, so I lost 12 pounds in the 10 weeks that I was there.   It was just not a very good situation, as there were some other problems, but I won't go into that now.

So, I returned to Virginia and immediately tried to get Mayo and Baron home to Virginia, despite my lack of money.   Luckily, I got a farrier friend to help me go get them and then later in August, I was finally able to get Bunny and Petey out of Texas, with the help of my Mom.   Samson followed shortly, when I offered him to a friend of mine, if she'd just pay for his shipping.  I knew her grandkids would love him and I just wanted him safe and out of Texas.   I knew the temperatures were getting even worse down there and that the places my horses were being kept had absolutely no shade.   I worried constantly about them, having no shelter from the sun, but luckily I got them out in time.   TO this day, I don't know how anyone could keep horses in Texas like that, with no shade.

So, in the middle of July, I got to meet my Baron for the very first time.   As the trailer pulled into the farm where they were boarded at in Maryland, Mayo saw me get out of the truck and neighed a very happy greeting to me.  I went straight to her stall and she nuzzled me.   It was strange, because Mayo is not usually a very affectionate horse, but I believe she had missed me, during our 3 1/2 month separation.   She nuzzled at Baron and encouraged him to go closer to me and I was briefly able to pet his head, before he stepped back to get a better look at me.   I knew there would be more time to get to know him, so we loaded them up on the trailer and headed back to Virginia, to the boarding stable I had found for them.

It was a beautiful place, wooden fences, green paddocks, nice barns, run-in sheds, and nice people to help take care of my horses, when I couldn't get out to see them, due to lack of transportation.   I was thrilled with the place.

My Mom would bring me out as often as she could, usually about once a week and I'd work with Baron, gaining his trust in me, which didn't take long, as he was such a friendly fellow.

I worked on teaching him to lead, to pick up his feet for the farrier, to stand for grooming, etc.  It was so much fun to work with him, he was a dream, from the start.

When Bunny and Petey arrived a month later, Baron and Petey hit it off immediately, and Bunny and Mayo were happily reunited with each other.   The two colts loved playing with each other and running up and down the fenceline with another colt, who was across the driveway from them, with his mother.

When Baron was about 4 1/2 months old, earlier than I had wanted to, I noticed that Mayo was starting to bite at him at feed times and pushing him away, so I had to make the decision to go ahead and wean him from Mayo, for his own safety.   I wasn't sure if it was Mayo loosing patience, as she was a first time Mom or what.

Bunny, on the other hand, was super Mom, she even invited Baron to come join them at her own bucket, letting the two colts eat before her or with her, all three taking turns.   In Texas, Bunny would be at a feed trough with 3 or 4 other foals, because their mothers had chased them away and Bunny seemed to feel sorry for them and allowed them to come join her and Petey.   So, it had continued with Baron.   Bunny consoled Baron when he was weaned from Mayo and a few weeks later I weaned Petey when he was 6 months old.

Baron and Petey were then put in with the other colt, Salem, a Standardbred.

At that time I was notified that the main part of the farm was being sold, but that the racetrack area, where the old man had his jogging track for his harness horses, would be fenced in and run-in sheds would be put up, as his son was getting to keep that section, as his house was near that and they split the land into two parcels.

Once the wire fencing was put up and run-in sheds were built, the horses were all moved to new paddocks, and that is when the trouble began.

I had gone to the Center for the Blind in Richmond to receive more training, hoping it would help me find a new job, even if I had to take an office job, I needed to work to support my horses, and I was trying hard to find work and get the extra training that might help me.   I could only get home about once every few weeks to see my horses and I started to notice that Baron was looking a bit thin, but I wasn't sure what to do.  I told the owners to make sure he got fed properly and got his fair share, which they assured me that he was, but something didn't seem right.  I also noticed that Bunny was loosing weight.   I could not believe this was happening to me again.  I kept thinking to myself about what was wrong with boarding stables and not feeding horses properly.   I started buying my own grain and told them to feed it and I'd bring more on a schedule.   I started buying it every two weeks, and at first, that was fine.

But, at this point, it was too late, I got a call late one night, while I was at the center, that Baron was laying down and would not get up.   I, again, turned to my father to go out and meet the vet, as the vet would need to be paid and to make decisions on my behalf.

The vet believed that Baron had developed Salmonella and tests were done that proved he had.   He was immediately put into isolation and had to stay there for months, until he was cleared by the vet.   It was touch and go, at first, he was so weak, but being a fighter, he was somehow able to defeat all of this and eventually was able to be put back in with Petey and Salem and a few other horses in that group.

In early 2000, I got a call that Mayo had lost her foal to Oh Say.  When I went out to see her, I found several kick marks on her belly and I called the vet.   The vet said that the blows could have definitely caused the loss of the baby.   She examined Mayo and said Mayo was also thin.  I showed her my other horse, Bunny, and she was even more concerned about how thin Bunny was looking.

I told her that I was also getting concerned.  Bunny's teeth were fine, it wasn't that, and I told the vet that I was worried that the people weren't feeding my horses the feed I brought for them or were sharing it with other horses of their own, but I didn't know another place that i could afford to move them to, at that time.

She recommended I keep trying to find another place and I kept on looking.

As spring approached, by chance I met a woman in the waiting room of a doctor's office, who was a small animal vet.  Right there, she offered me a job as a receptionist, I just needed to bring her my resume and she'd talk to her office manager.

So, in late May of 2000, I went to work at the vet office and now, I would have the money to move my horses, if I could only find a place nearby that was still within my budget.

As the spring turned to summer, my horses did not gain weight and the grain that I brought, religiously, every two weeks, was starting to still be there whenI'd return.   Before I knew it, two weeks worth of grain was lasting me 4 weeks.  I confronted the lady who was supposed to be feeding my horses, the owner's wife, and she said, something stupid, like she was just trying to help me out by stretching it.   I was like, "I have a job, feed my horses!"

When at the feed store, I told them I was having major problems and that I needed to move my horses immediately, and again things fell into place, as the lady said she knew of a lady who just had a few spots open up at her farm.   She gave me the lady's number and I went right home and called her.

I told her what was going on and she was so upset she agreed to take on my horses immediately.   That weekend she came out and we loaded Bunny, Mayo, and Baron, onto her trailer.   I had sold Petey a few months before, so at least he was out of there a lot sooner than everyone else.

I was so relieved to get to the new farm and my horses started gaining weight immediately, under the new care.   This time, I did not need to buy my own grain, it was included in the board and she kept her feed room filled, the hay barn was full, the stalls were clean, and everyone got one during bad weather.   It was such a nice change from the nightmare that had developed on that originally so picturesque farm.

Things were finally looking up, again, and it was a major relief, to have my Little Red Baron, safe, who now had been given the registered name of "My Messenger", which is the meaning of Malicah.

The Waiting Game (Bunny's Story, Part 4)

In the spring of 1998 I decided to breed my two mares, Bunny and Mayo.   Because I had been told that Bunny had crossed really well with some Welsh Ponies, in the past, before I got her, I did some digging and discovered that what I had been told, was correct, so I started looking for a nice Welsh Pony stallion to breed Bunny to.   I came across Farnley Belshazzar, a very nice little grey stallion, who had won in hand competitions and was siring some of the top hunter ponies in the country.   I decided he was the one for Bunny, so I made arrangements to breed her via artificial insemenation, which would mean she would not need to leave the farm.

At the time, I was living with an elderly relative on his cattle farm, in Virginia, and helping him, when he'd allow me to.   He was a proud man and refused help, mos tof the time, so I just did what I could.

I knew Mayo had some really nice jumping bloodlines, so for her, I choose a son of Secretariat, who's female line was filled with steeplechasers and known jumping lines.   Secretariat sons were getting a really good reputation as the sires of show horses.   I looked at several, but Class Secret was who I choose for Mayo.   Being Thoroughbreds, Mayo and Class Secret would have to be bred via live cover, so I made arrangements for Mayo to travel to the farm where Class Secret was standing at stud.

Bunny was bred on Easter weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, via artificial insemenation, and I crossed my fingers, hoping she would be in foal.

The vet I used did not have an ultrasound machine, so I waited for her to come back and just palpate, or feel for a pregnancy.   When she did, she thought she felt a pregnancy, but being young, she didn't want to say for sure and so recommended another vet, who had an ultrasound machine, to come out and double check for us.

I made the appointment and he came out.   The lady he brought with him insisted she be the one to hold Bunny and against my better judgement I agreed, because I wanted to know if Bunny was pregnant or not.   They sedated Bunny and then started to try to ultrasound her, but Bunny, not liking most men, took a major disliking to this male vet, and with his assistant holding her, instead of me, they were unsuccessful in the ultrasound.   He said from what he could tell, she was not pregnant.    Despite an incomplete ultrasound, their insistance that I not hold my own horse, etc, I still had to pay full price for everything.   I was not happy with that treatment of me or my horse.

I owned a 36 inch Miniature stallion named Samson, at the time, that I had rescued from an auction.   I used him as my teaser and would bring him over to visit Bunny, almost every day.  She had shown that she was in heat, when we bred her, but after that, she refused to pay him any attention and he wasn't that interested in her, either, so I just listened to them and believed that despite what vets were telling me, Bunny was actually pregnant.

Mayo took several cycles to get pregnant and once she was safely in foal, I had her come home, rejoining her friend, Bunny, and a few other ponies I'd rescued over the few months she had been gone.

As the months of summer went along, both mares bellies got bigger and bigger and I knew they were both pregnant. Eventually I was able to feel movement from both unborn babies.   I was so happy, I felt their bellies almost daily, just loving to feel the movement inside.

During the fall of  1998, I got tired of the elderly relative not really letting me do much, so I moved in with a friend of mine and got a job at another farm, working with Thoroughbreds, as the barn manager, during a Strangles outbreak, as they needed the extra help.   After the worst of the outbreak, my job ended and I had to look for more work, which was hard to come by.

I moved Bunny and Mayo to a closer stable, so I could go and watch them.  I couldn't afford much, since I was on a very limited income, and at first, this boarding stable seemed really nice.

Bunny and Mayo had stalls next to each other, in a two stall barn, that had been built for foaling mares.   The stalls weren't quite as big as foaling stalls should be, but they were bigger than your average stall, so I knew they'd be okay.

As Bunny's due date approached, my friend and I went to check on her, daily, and watched for signs of changes.   We'd go every evening, after she got off work and we'd pull the car around, so we could sit in the front seat and watch Bunny, taking note of her behavior. 

I bought a book on foaling, since I'd never foaled out a mare before and read it thoroughly, some parts more than once.   We got excited at every little change and kept hoping and hoping.

Before we knew it, Bunny's due date had come and gone, and that is when I realized, to my displeasure, that the farm was running low on grain and hay, on a regular basis and that my mares were starting to look a little ribby, despite being pregnant.

I did not know what to do, being it was my first breeding and foaling experience, but I knew that it was not safe to move Bunny, who was now past her due date, but Mayo wasn't due for another 6 weeks or more, so I made arrangements to have her moved to a farm in Maryland, where after she gave birth, she could be bred to another stallion.   I only did this, after I had a job secured in another state, so I also knew I'd be moving soon, anyways.

Once Mayo was safely moved, I could truly focus on Bunny and the safety of her and her unborn foal, praying that things would be okay, despite the worsening conditions at the boarding stable.

Finally, three weeks after her due date, at at 361 days pregnant, Bunny ws showing obvious signs that labor was really close, so my friend and I stayed later than usual and watched and waited.   It was a drizzly cold night and that was of course, when Bunny decided to present me with a gorgeous black colt.

The delivery went smoothly.  He was a bit on the small side, but he was by a pony stallion, after all, and out of a mare who only stood 14.3 hands, so I wasn't that surprised at his size.   Bunny retained her placenta, so I had to call the vet to come out.

My friend left me at the barn and I called my Dad to see if he could come out to help me, later that morning and to help get me back to the apartment.

After the placenta was successfully delivered, the vet and I looked at Bunny's condition and were appauled, she was so thin.  Obviously the farm owner was not feeding her properly.   Luckily, it had not affected the colt, she said, as his vital signs were super strong.

I immediately made arrangements for Bunny and her colt, Pete, to be transported to the farm I would be working at in Texas.   The vet said he could travel at about 2 weeks.   So, when he was two weeks old, Petey travelled with his mother, Samson, and another Miniature Horse that my friend had rescued from an auction, to the ranch in Texas.

When they arrived there in Texas,t he lady I was to work for called and said that he was an amazing mover and not to worry, we'd get the weight back on Bunny.   She also mentioned that at only 2 weeks old, Petey was jumping hay bale sin the paddock she had put them in.   She couldn't believe the natural jumping ability and just the wanting to jump at such an early age.

I eventually sold  Petey when he was a yearling to a lady in Pennsylvania.   She kept him for awhile, showed him in some on the line classes, which he did well at.   She would contact me on occasion and told me that no fence on her farm would hold him.  She admitted that her fencing wasn't the highest, but it was at least 3 1/2 feet tall and he'd jump it to go be with other horses, especially if she wanted to try and keep him by himself.

She eventually had to sell all of her horses and ponies and Petey was sold to a farm in North Carolina.

They loved him and took their time with him.  I was told the husband would put Petey on a long line and run around the ring with him and they'd jump little jumps, etc.   Petey was eventually started under saddle when he was 3 years old and eventually changed homes, again, selling to a family in New Jersey.

There he blossommed and won big ribbons at HITS on the Hudson as "Tell A Tale".   He won a ton of ribbons all over New Jersey and into New York.

I have since lost track of him, as the people's email address no longer works and the last I heard, they were selling him, because their daughter had outgrown him.   I sure hope that I can track him back down and I welcome anyone who might have any information on him to contact me.