Rio Lobo Ranch: Nicker in pictures .... her first year

Hiya World ... !! My name is Nicker, howya doin'?

Nicker and the Mama - March 2009

Nicker spent alot of her first two weeks, making new friends, napping and eating and learning to walk and run and jump. When Nicker was born she had a very "dishy" face which you can see in both of the above pictures. Foals often grow out of the "dishy" and sometimes it is attributed to genetics, for example Arabians have a "dishier" head than many other horses. When "dishy" is grown out of, it is usually attributed to 11 months spent in the womb. We know Nicker's Mama is a BLM Mustang, we know not an inkling of a hint of a clue about her father other than the obvious ... equine. (Sorry, couldn't resist referencing all the known details, even the the "obvious"....)

Nicker and Mama stayed in their stall in the barn for two weeks after Nicker was born -- just to kind of get everyone settled and balanced and acclimated. Mama acted like she was an old hand at the Mama game and one more foal -- no big deal. It was more for Nicker that we kept them in the barn. And yes, truth be told, probably just as much for me .... I know, if she was born in the wild, she'd have no straw and no stall and Mama would not have had room service like she got at the barn .... I wanted a chance to get to know Nicker and for her to get to know me. I would have slept in the barn with Mama and Nicker if I hadn't been afraid I'd ruin that baby for life.

Nicker was a silly baby, she was bound and determined to be a big girl from her first day. She'd run and jump and try to eat everything. She she arrived, she had no teeth that didn't stop our girl. From the barn they moved to the corral. She (Nicker not Mama) was growing so fast. We had a small foal coat that fit her I think for exaclty 47 minutes. This is Nicker at the corral in her "big girl" coat. - March 2009

Nicker (about 3 weeks old) trying her "teeth" at "big girl" food. Nothing was or for that matter IS safe from being Nicker-tasted.

Nicker and the Mama. Mama wanted OUT big time, Nicker she was going wherever Mama was and doing whatever Mama did. - March 2009

Mama taught both her girls all about being horses and all about being GOOD horses.

Nicker didn't stay teeny for long. I swear I could see her growing by the minute and yet, sometimes when I look at her now, I see the little girl that I helped bring into this world.

This is Mama and Nicker late summer - 2009. She is almost as tall as her Mama and she is still going wherever the Mama goes.

So after two weeks in the corral it was time for Mama to introduce Nicker to the rest of the herd .... the Grand Dame of the herd - Rose, the boys - Hank and Shadow and her sister - Miss. Nicker had already kind of met Hank. When Mama and Nicker moved into the corral, Hank moved into the outside of the corral. Rose, Miss and Shadow would go off on a "graze" or a walkabout and Hank would stay behind, stuck tight to the corral with Mama and Nicker. He is a good boy, that Hanky.

Nicker fit in just fine. In fact, it was almost as if she'd walked into a whole herd of Mamas .... there was THE Mama and then there was Miss and while, the boys aren't exactly "Mamas" -- they take good care of their Nicker. And let us not forget Rosie. Rose loves her family and is Mama to the entire herd and that includes THE Mama. And then there is me ... I'm the Mama for the herd and as much as she pretends to not like it, that includes my girl Rose and THE Mama (my Sweet Girl).

Nicker in the middle ....

Nicker napping safely in the middle of her herd. Left to right: Mama, Hank, Miss, Rose and Nicker "in the middle!" - June 2009

Nicker and "her" herd, from left to right: Hank, Shadow, Mama, Nicker "in the middle!", Miss and Rose. - May 2009

Nicker and her big sister Miss - April 2009

Nicker learned to drink out of the water pipe, just like her big sister does. - June 2009

When it comes to food, Nicker isn't satisfied to share, she had to have her own feed bucket and had to be NEXT to THE Mama. - June 2009

I'm not sure, I think she may have invented the "walk under and lift" technique, used to gain access to everyone else's feed buckets.

"Walk and lift" is when Nicker puts her head down and walks under another horse's head as they are eating and when she has her head under theirs, she lifts her head up - neatly seperating the other horse from their food, at which point she drops her nose into their food bucket / stash / prime grass patch / hay bin and helps herself. I can't believe they let her get away with it and a year later she is still pulling the same trick and they ALL buy into that move. Rose is the only one who now and again will try and run her off -- Nicker just keeps coming back and finally Rose caves and shares.

This is Nicker (in front) Miss and Rose. Miss loves her Rose and Nicker is following in her sister's foot steps. Rose pretends to be grumpy when Nicker hangs around, she did the same thing to Miss. Nicker and Miss ignore her grumps and love her anyway. I think their plan is working ..... - July 2009

Nicker trying to get Rose to play with her. She is pure horse and such a sweet soul ... I swear she thinks the sun rises and sets simply because SHE thought it a good idea. - August 2009

Nicker and .......

...... Mama - May 2009

..... Mama - August 2009

...... Shadow, on their way to torture poop the dogs. - September 2009

Torture poop (def): poop left by one animal for the express purpose of torturing another; intra or inter species.

In the picture you can see the telephone poles marking the side of the pavement and just the other side (you can see it in the picture) is the fence around the yard. Murphy and Gaia (THE dogs) have about a third or a half an acre yard that is all theirs to patrol, snooze in, and play in. They deem it a primary responsibilty (well, next after treats and naps) to keep the kitties and bunnies and horses on their toes and on the non-dog side of the fence. The horses rountinely get barked at and don't really seem to care or perhaps they are just used to the noise.....maybe we could rent Murphy and Gaia out as horse de-spooking tools?!!

It seems the horses do mind. They have started marking and clearly defining their territory on their side of the fence right next to the fence ....all along the front and on the north side they laid down their "line in the sand" as it were ... more accurately, their line of poops. And as such have created a poop line which absolutely tortures the dogs. It totally torments Murphy and Gaia that there is all that lovely horse poop just a sniff away and they can't get to it. The poop war continues .....I've seen dog paws reach lengths I didn't know they were capable of, I swear next thing the dogs will be using sticks or one of those "grab it" gizmos to get the poop to their side of the fence. Silly dogs. Silly horses. Wait a minute, what am I saying?? ... I'm the one who has to scoop the poop -- geeze!!

..... her Miss. Just "hanging", kind of napping kind of not napping - February 2010