Delaney - PLACED

[rainydayride]

DELANEY - 2 year old, 14.3h, liver chestnut Quarter Horse type filly. We were told that she is halter broke but we were not able to catch her. She is correct, well put together and just a youngster. She will make a great winter project.



Currently in foster care in Elma, WA

Price: $500
Contact SAFE for more information: [e-mail]

[schwung]

Little Delaney didn't get her feet done today because she wasn't too keen on being caught. Apparantly she is fairly afraid of men, but is fine with Clayton's wife and daughters and will come right up to them. She's gotten to the point now that she will allow him to touch her but is still skittish.

[rainydayride]

Delaney and friend... (photos courtesy of gypsygirl)

Delaney is on the left.



and the right..

[gypsygirl]

Delaney is a fancy looking little girl. She seems very sweet and is no dummy it seems when it comes to hanging out with the right buddy. She knows when to hang out and when to get out of the fire. With all these mares I'm sure she has had a lot of practice. I bet she would be easy to train once she bonds with her human. She is the smallest in the herd, but seems to be holding her own. I see her a lot with ole Gypsy the Belgian and Rainbow. I bet she is a smart cookie! Cute and fancy this one is.

[schwung]

She looks great! And not so small (Clayton always calls her "the little one" but note she is standing next to a very large Belgian). Thanks gypsygirl for the photos.

[gypsygirl]

She's standing on the top side of the mound and Gypsy the Belgian is on the bottom side. Optical Allusion.

[gypsygirl]

Here are some of Delaney yesterday when the sun peaked out for a bit.

[gypsygirl]

What a cutie she is. Maddy went into the pasture and got some better pictures of her yesterday along with a bit of petting and friendship. Delaney is smart and moves so gracefully. She was the last one to be rotated into the new pasture, so by the time it was her turn all the other mares were way out already, so Delaney had to run as fast as she could around and let everyone know that she was there too. She did a few passes by the other mares and she is an awsome mover. I think that with her calm temperment and her graceful movements she will make someone very proud someday! She just needs some work on her haltering from the same person each time and she will be ready in no time. She wants to trust and I think she will be one that will have impecable ground manners when your done with her. She just seems like a very respectful girl. Who was her momma, she picked a good daddy to hook up with as Delaney is a fine horse.

[rainydayride]

What a sweet, intelligent face. Thanks for the photos.

[critterseverywhere]

Well, there was a slight change of plans. (okay, maybe not so slight ) When we got to Clayton's, we first approached Basset & she seemed easy to catch, so we opted to try to catch Delaney first and leave Basset loose so she wouldn't have to stand tied forever if it took us a long time to catch Delaney. She's very friendly, but a little jumpy (though not bad at all really!) but more importantly so low on the totem pole that it was difficult to spend even a minute with her to gain her trust without another horse driving her off. Catching Delaney turned out to be fairly simple. Since she's low on the totem pole, we put out enough small piles of hay that everyone except Delaney had access to hay, then opened to door to the empty stall with a flake of hay inside. She walked right in & we shut the door behind her. Within about 5 minutes, Cassie (trainer) could easily take the halter on & off and rub her head & neck. So while Cassie continued to work with Delaney (we figured she would need all the trust she could get for the trailer loading), I headed out for what we thought was going to be the easy task of catching Basset. Erm, not so easy! lol So I started moving her around, doing some ground yields, etc. And I just want to say WOW! Basset is absolutely awesome! She is incredibly smart and has the longest, loveliest trot stride. She is cautious of humans (understandably) but it was amazing how much we could do with her just at liberty (keeping in mind she's loose in a 5 acre pasture with a bunch of other horses). She was very nervous about the halter & rope actually going on her, but really stayed with us. (I'm saying us because Cassie came out & took over...her timing & skill is way above me!) Cassie was at the point where she could rub the lead all over her & Basset would hang with her. I, meanwhile, had gone over to visit Rainbow who was standing by herself in a corner instead of eating lunch with everyone else. I happened to glance at her bag and did a OMG! Yelled for Cassie to stop messing around with Basset because Rainbow was coming home instead! Not only does Rainbow have a full bag, she has the muscle facidity mares on certain muscles on the hind end that mares often develop right before foaling, AND the loose vulva with the 'teardrop' that they get right before foaling. Eek!

So I led Rainbow over to the the trailer (a 4-horse step-up slant) where she just about ran me over to get in. (actually I kept having to back her out because she would hop in every time I turned my back on her to open up a divider!) Delaney loaded right up behind Rainbow and they both hauled like a dream. We had to do some stall rearranging when we got back to Cassie's, so they hung out in the trailer for about 15-20 minutes quiet as mice. They were very excited to go into their new stalls and seemed very content there. I'll be out at the barn most of Sat and will try to get some pictures. We're going to see if we can get the vet out Sat to look at them since Rainbow seems urgent, but if not, then she'll for sure be out early next week.

(cross-posted on Basset, Rainbow, & Delaney)

[pdevlieg]

What a great picture. I can just imagine the relief Delaney must have felt when Cassie was working with her. A big sigh of relief that it all worked out so well.

[safehorses]

Hey CE...after seeing Delaney in person, are you still of the opinion that she's pregnant? Just wondering if you saw anything to confirm or change your mind...

[critterseverywhere]

I'd say, 50/50 still on that. She's got this MASSIVE belly, slung low & with the weight carried the way a foal would be, with a slightly protrubent spine from not having much weight anywhere else...if you run your hands over her sides there is zero flesh between the ribs & the skin. It was hard to tell just looking at what her overall condition is because of the winter coat and it's been awhile since anyone has been able to pet her so I'm not sure how long she's been like this.

Cassie is going to draw blood Monday & we'll send it off for the preg-check test. Keep your fingers crossed it's negative!

Delaney is already coming around quite a bit. I was able to pet her all over today several times, she was completely unconcerned about me cleaning her stall with her in it, and she would stick her head out of the stall (away from her hay) to hang with you whenever there was a person in the aisle. We had a TON of people stop by the barn today to see the girls, and she has quite the fan club going! I think she's going to do really, really well.

[diamondindykin]

Hey CE- Where exactly is Delaney at now (what town). Just nice to know in case a potential adopter wants to come and look at her.

[critterseverywhere]

Delaney & Rainbow are just outside Raymond, WA. We're about 1 hour west of Chehalis on Hwy 6, about 1 hour north of Astoria, OR on Hwy 101. We used to be about 30 minutes south of Aberdeen, WA on Hwy 101...with all the slides on Hwy 101, it's more like 45-50 minutes these days (when the road is open).