Little Trinket is six days old today. Talk about stress . . .

On her first day, she climbed through the fence into the south paddock. Quick as a wink, her front end went through and her back end followed with a little more effort. We spent the evening, until about 9:00 p.m., putting up rolled wire over most of the north paddock fencing, and I was up again at 3:00 a.m. to make sure she hadn’t escaped again.

The next morning, last Friday, I realized that one of the horses was going to put a foot in that wire and get stuck and, sure enough, as we were taking it down and replacing it with conduit pipe between the bottom two boards, Valentine put a foot through it.

She was great, though, very calm, waited for me to get her out. Thank goodness.

Trinket, it seems, has two speeds: Kentucky Derby and nap. Personally, I think she should nap a lot more! On her third day, she decided Mom’s bucket was da bomb and had to stick her nose and each of her feet into it, one or two at a time, of course, until it turned over. She then proceeded to “eat” Mom’s dinner; she also tosses hay in the air and pretends to eat that too. Bless her gummy little heart—it’s hilarious!

Charm is getting tired of her paddock, aka the nursery, but I can’t let Trinket in the south section—I told my husband we need more pipe. Lots of pipe. Pipe, pipe, pipe!

But they both get to go in with the others at dinnertime, and for two nights I let Cody in with them for the night and following day. She can babysit and give Charm a little break. Besides, better four equine eyes than only two on the little stinker!

At birth, she was 8hh, or 32 inches, which is about 5 inches smaller than an “average” size foal. I’m still trying to measure for weight, but I’m guessing that now she’s maybe 85 pounds, so around 80 at birth.

Meet the newest member of our herd, Virginia Range’s Hallelujah Trinket!

As you all probably know, I’ve been waiting for a foal for months and months—more like years, decades, whatever. Felt like this pregnant mare was taking forever! Daily, usually morning and night, I’d take pictures of Charm’s, um, parts, to check for any changes and impending foaling. Every morning, I’d wait for it to get light enough to see the paddock, and . . . nothing. Nothing but a hugely pregnant horse.

Last night, Charm didn’t quite finish her bucket or clean up her dribbles. She came down to the north paddock by herself instead of eating hay with the others for a while first. She kept warning Cav and Nicky away, but didn’t actually chase them.

Unfortunately, I was laid up with that bad disk in my neck which was killing my shoulder; Advil and a heating pad and feeling miserable was the best I could manage. Besides, I figured I was imagining things and well . . .

So I got up yesterday morning about 6:30, as usual, and peered out into the darkness. No movement. Had my coffee, kept looking outside. Nothing. Did my thing.

I walked through the living room and looked out the front windows just as it got light:

There she was, the teeniest, tiniest perfect little filly, running beside her mama!

All I could do was set down my coffee cup before I dropped it and keep repeating, “Oh, my goodness!” as I grabbed my phone and ran out the door. Charm was trotting around, one paddock and then the next, Trinket keeping pace with her, while I tried to snap pictures.

I was still in my robe and slippers . . .

Hurried back to the house and got dressed. My husband was putting on his boots and asked if I wanted a ride down to the barn, or if I was just going to float—I floated!

Throughout the day, I kept an eye on the little girl. Couldn’t focus on a darned thing. Charm nudged her towards me a few times, but she wouldn’t come closer than a few feet. My husband made Mama nervous too, and sometimes I did as well. Couldn’t be helped—I had to get the paddock cleaned up, among other things.

They came up by the barn for dinner with the others, who were dying of curiosity but too smart to get very close and risk a wallop from Charm. But Trinket came up to the fence where I was sitting and sniffed my arm, and THEN nibbled on my fingers! ❤

About 4:00 or so, when I moved the pair back into their own paddock, little Trinket walked a few steps away and WENT THROUGH THE FENCE into the south paddock. I about had a heart attack. She trotted down the fence line, me behind her while trying to open the gate so Charm could come get her, and popped back through to Mama.

Good grief.

Long story short, my husband and I were putting up wire between the ground and middle boards until 9:00 p.m. In the dark. With rain and thunder and lightning.

Might have to rename her “Trouble!”