Good Morning Everyone,
This is such a fabulous, fabulous day! I am so excited for my dear friend, LIFE IS SWEET! She had a lovely bay COLT yesterday…March 23…by SMART STRIKE. Here she is with him when he is just several hours old. She is snuggling up and bonding with him in the stall. She will be a WONDERFUL MOTHER. Life is Sweet is such a loving horse. I know she will share all of her fabulous qualities with her new FOAL.
I’m experiencing so many new concepts in my life right now. I know my dear friend will be a wonderful MOTHERHOOD role model for ME! She is a first time MOM now like I will be next year. This makes it all so interesting!
Life is Sweet told me that foals normally stand up very soon after they are born. They may be a little wobbly at first when trying to stand up as it is all so new to them to use their legs after months of being inside the MOM. Once a bit more secure on their feet, the most important thing for them to do is nurse well. Under normal conditions and if all is going well, the baby will be up and moving around and nursing within an hour/hour and a half or so after birth. The first nursing experiences are so important as the milk contains colostrum which is essential for a newborn foal.
Life is Sweet is elated! Her baby is adorable and all has gone very well for both of them. I am so HAPPY and PROUD of her!
ALL IS ALSO GOING GREAT FOR ME! On my 28 day scan…all is A-OK. Everything looks fabulous! YIPPEE! The next scan will be at the 42 day stage of my pregnancy. It is a very important one. I’m feeling terrific, having fun, and so happy! Upon hearing all of this good news today, I think I’m going to celebrate! Treats of pears and bananas will make it all complete!
Have a great day!
With Love,
Hugs to all~(Especially to LIFE IS SWEET and her adorable Smart Strike colt!)
Z
Ann from Indiana
Thanks so much for the pictures and the daily updates. I know you are one busy lady and we really appreciate the updates on Z.
Nancy
Congratulations to Life is Sweet and baby!
dunie oneil
Big congratulations and hugs to Life Is Sweet, her new foal and to you, dear Zenny!
Beatrice Lian
Beautiful pictures of mother & son!! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Debbie
Hi Z! Congratulations! all the wonderful news is thrilling, your scan showing everything is AOK and Life Is Sweet’s precious foal, the photos are sooo cute! Yes, let’s celebrate with pears and bananas;-) love you beautiful girl xoxoxo
Jennifer Adelman
Thank You so much for sharing those photo’s of Life is Sweet and her adorable colt baby. She looks just wonderful and enjoying nurturing her new baby>>AAAWWWW!!!
Yeah for Z and her scan being good!!
Denise
Thank you so much for showing us the newborn! Congrats to Life Is Sweet! Study hard Z, your turn is coming. :-)
Marilu V
Zeny & Dottie: Thank you for the beautiful pictures of LIFE IS SWEET and her baby. So happy everything went well for her and very excited to hear the good news about your scan, Zeny. Take care, Hugs, MV
Barbara Grimaldi
Dearest Z: YOU HAVE MADE MY DAY WITH ALL THE GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!! Mother and colt look terrific and I am so grateful you shared those photos of them. I am also so grateful that your second scan was A-1!!! Bless you, Z, you are a source of joy for so many of us.
Kendra
thanks for the update on life is sweet and her baby. Looking forward to seeing you and your baby. Now that you are in foal do you still drink guinness?
Nancy McNaul Applegate
oh, Zenny! i am so happy that you get to share this joy with your close friend. you are one sweet horse. i love you and your friend. too.
my grateful thanks to Sarah, and Life Is Sweet’s owners for permitting her picture to be shared. very grateful to them, indeed.
Judy Sims
Hi Zenny:
OMG I am crying tears of joy and wonderment. How adorable is Life Is Sweet’s colt! Way, Way “too cute” (as you would say). Sarah should win a Pulitzer Prize for mother and foal photos. Your news is wonderful and you will be the best mother ever. My heart is so full right now I feel it will burst. Thank you and Dottie so very much for keeping us all right along with you on your fantastic journey through life.
Enjoy those bananas and pears.
Hugs & nose kisses.
Judy 8-)
pamela
Thank you Zeny for the news on LIFE IS SWEET and her newborn colt. How precious is the photos. Congratulations on the 28 day scan and everything is going A-OK little mama. Love and Kisses
Janie
@Joyce Barn 55 is located at Hollywood Park, not Santa Anita
Barbara Grimaldi
I just read all of the above comments, Z, and two of them interest me greatly. First, a shower for your foal would be a great idea to raise money for retired race horses–I would be happy to donate. Second, I cannot understand why Life is Sweet and Little Sweet have halters on, and someone else remarked on that. Do horses in barns always have halters on? Is it for safety? Please let us all know. Thank you dear Z!!!
Love
Barbara
Megan S
DAWW I’m glad Sweetie foal ok without any problems and her colt is a beauty!!
ENSIGN
@ Barbara Grimaldi,
.
Most horses on large commercial farms like Lane’s End will most always wear their halters. It helps for identification where the horses are owned by many different people and is also for safety should a horse need to be moved, caught, etc. You’ll note that most all Ky farms use leather halters on all the horses. It’s fashionable, but most importantly a leather halter wil also break should a horse get hooked up on something vs a nylon halter which most times won’t.
Robbie Pfeufer Kahn
Zenyatta lovely one: How could a brand newborn colt prick his ears forward with such competence? Meanwhile, mother Life Is Sweet has one large ear (rather like yours) forward and one back (perhaps thinking about her teats, full of colostrum), waiting for that little one to “latch on.” Colostrum is considered to be “gold”– a substance invaluable due to the immunological properties it provides to the newborn. Sure enough, heeding his mother’s wordless advice (her ear pointed in the desired direction) in the next photo the sturdy, handsome colt is at his mother’s teat, suckling.
Zenyatta, notice the expression on LIS’s face as he nurses! She (to me) looks decidedly blissful. That’s because her colt’s suckling stimulated the release of oxytocin in her body. This hormone, a true love potion, causes the milk sacs to contract, and her colostrum (later milk) “lets down” from her teat into her foal’s mouth. At the same time, the oxytocin bathes LIS in a feeling of peace and contentment, and the filaments of her bond with her colt grow.
Not only that, Zenyatta, but ALL of us onlookers bond too because the sight of a young one causes oxytocin to release in OUR bodies, even though we are humans. The phenomenon is called “neoteny,” and has an evolutionary purpose. The neotenic response bonds mother and newborn, and it can cause an animal of one species to adopt a baby of another species. For example, human females in indigenous cultures have suckled newborn dogs, pigs, sheep, even an orphaned bear cub. Just two years ago, I learned of a human mother in my region who had a baby at the breast as well as an orphaned Weimeraner puppy she was fostering for the Humane Society.
Some humans react with shock when they hear that WE, the supposedly superior species, would suckle a nonhuman animal. Some humans can’t even bear the sight of human mother nursing her baby. Zenyatta, in my opinion that turning away from one of the loveliest expressions of a human/human bond or a human/animal bond occurs because we humans have become alienated from our own aliveness as mammals, what I called in an earlier post “the milk bond.”
I am so very happy for you that the scan was positive (even though I have questions about ultrasound) and equally happy that LIS and her colt are thriving. I am fully confident that the “concepts” you are learning about already live inside of you, ready to reveal their meanings in the same way that your foal will unfold from your body–quite naturally.
Can you imagine the oxytocin that will release on a worldwide scale when all of us who love you get a first glimpse of YOUR foal? Why a love potion that universal will throw off enough light to be seen by a distant star.
Deneen
Ahhh . . . what precious photos!! Life is Sweet and her colt look so content and happy!! Z, I am so glad your scan went well — Yeah!!! Hope you enjoy your pears and bananas — they are so yummy!!! Hugs and Love to all!!!!!
Signofthetimes
@Mariann
What a lovely foal story. Every new mother needs to learn
The ropes.
Dear Zenny and Dottie
Thanks so much for posting the beautiful photo
Of LIS and her colt. He is so big. Smart strike has
A small blaze on his face too. It is soooo precious to
See a new mom and foal. Next year it will be you
YIPPEE!!!!! Glad to hear US was still positive. Hooves
Crossed for day 42. Colt was born on Bernies birthday.
That is precious. Have a good evening !!!!!
DJ
Dearest Sweet “Z”,
Thank you for sharing these precious moments…you are a treasure! For those who need “A Mother’s Prayer”: Dear Lord, it’s such a hectic day with little time to stop and pray, for life’s been anything but calm since you called me to be a mom. Running errands, matching socks, building dreams with building blocks. Cooking, cleaning, and finding shoes and other stuff that children lose. Fitting lids on bottled bugs, wiping tears and giving hugs. A stack of last weeks mail to read, so where’s the quiet time I need? Yet when I steal a minute, Lord, just at the sink or ironing board, to ask the blessings of Your grace I see then, in my small one’s face, that You have blessed me all the while and I stop to kiss that precious smile.”
Pat Beck
Tears of absolute joy!
Ingrid in MA
AWWWWWWWWWWWW! He’s absolutely ADORABLE!! Congratulations to Life Is Sweet! Thank you for sharing this with us,Zenny – what a special event! And I’m thrilled that you scan shows everything is going well for YOU! What a glorious day all around! love you,Sweet Zen!
Paul
Congratulations to Life is Sweet for having a foal. That is a great picture of mother and foal. That foal will be a full grown horse before anyone knows it. It does take the foal a little while to get used to walking and everything. Amazing that it is only hours old in the photo and 1 day old today. I am happy for your buddy, Zenyatta.
Jenna
Oh my golly….what a beautiful baby!!! Congratulations all around. And big congrats to Z’s 28 day test. YAY!!!!
Lisa in SB
OMG, that colt is such a little beauty. Made my day!
Jamie
Look at the bloodlines on that baby! Congrats to Life is Sweet. I’m glad to hear about your scan, can’t wait to see your baby. Colt or Filly, anything will be special because you are it mom :)
susan
thank you, zenyatta, for letting us into your world and letting us share such beautiful moments and wonderful news!!
Lynette Lucas
Zen- Congrats on your 28 day scan!! You are going to make a great Mom!! Please tell Life is Sweet Congrats on her little bundle!! He looks so cute and adorable!!! Enjoy the pears and bananas!! Hugs and Kisses from Roswell,NM!!! Love you!!!
Dani
Sarah – thank you so much for the precious photos of Life is Sweet and her equally sweet baby boy. How lucky we are to be able to get to share this moment of mother and son bonding. And she looks like she is going to be such a wonderful mother and he is just too adorable for words. The photo of the two of them looking straight into the camera tickles me. It’s like vacation time and your dad says, ‘okay everyone look at the camera and smile’. Thank you Dottie for giving us the gift of these memorable moments.
.
Here, by the way, is the video of Life is Sweet doing everything she can to get in a few more nods. It’s ‘too cute’. 930am does seem a reasonable time to get up though.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idWtmffgNzU&playnext=1&list=PL348A63BC2E380556
.
So Zenny you’ve had a wonderful day. One of your best friends ever has had a beautiful colt and both are healthy and happy and you have gotten an A+ on your 28 day scan. This has us all jumping for joy!
.
I hope after you have your own little one you and Life is Sweet will be able to get together and bump noses with joy like you did after she won the Ladies Classic. Remember that? Enjoy those pears and bananas. P.S. Congratulations to Smart Strike too!