I can’t believe it’s been seven weeks, almost two months! The big questions now are “exactly how old is Cavalry?” and “when is Cody’s foal due?”

Typically, mares aren’t bred immediately after foaling, but physically it’s possible; it’s called “foaling heat,” and occurs within a week or so of a foal’s birth. The gestation period for horses is about 11 months, so two foals from the same dam could be just eleven or eleven and a half months apart in age.

A friend and I tried to “age” Cav by looking at pictures of her foals and of him. Hers are reportedly turning eight months old today, February 1^st. I’m sure he’s not any younger than that; but I’m putting him at nine months based on—wait for it—his tail, of all things. Compared to her foals, his is longer and more “horsey” than a foal’s tail would be.

If he’s nine months old, then Cody could foal within two months, or around April 1^st. If he’s only eight months old, then foaling time will be around May 1^st.

But, here’s the thing: looking at his teeth a few weeks ago, I’m not sure if I saw the third set of baby teeth or not. For obvious reasons, it was a really quick look! But yesterday, with the aid of a very large carrot, I got a much better look, and the third set is most definitely there and looks more like a set of yearling teeth.

And that means that every morning, I count how many horses are in the pasture . . .

Now, originally, I’d pegged Cody’s due date at April 20^th, then revised to May 20^th based on the discussion with my friend. Cody’s size, however, makes me think it might be sooner that both those dates.

I can’t really use the size of her bag, because Cav is still nursing a couple times a day for maybe a minute at a stretch. However, other signs, like her tail taking its time to lower after she raises it and the muscles on her rump becoming looser, are there.

I think.

I may be overthinking the entire thing. Maybe.

What I really think is that I better keep counting horses every morning . . .