Triples Paintd Chick

It's hard to believe that it was a little over 3 years ago when I lost Chic. She died very suddenly on the 4th of July, 2006, leaving me with a very healthy but scared and confused 6-week old filly.

Let me back up here.

I got Chic in May 2004. She was a yearling, and this is how she looked.

She was such a sad little thing. Back then, though $300 was a good price for a breeding stock filly with her breeding, even as malnurished and stunted as she was. She wasn't even really halter broke. I had to run her into a catch pen to even get her haltered.

You can tell in this photo with Bear (4 months old at the time) how truly tiny she was.

But she grew and blossomed into a beautiful mare.

She had Painted Robin, Triples Titan, and Colonel Freckles on her papers with a splash of Skipper W blood thrown in. She was very quick on her feet and through her entire life, for whatever reason, she was very stand-offish with everyone except for me. I was the only one who could just walk up to her and put a halter on her.

Chic loved her buddy Dixie. They were inseperable. Dixie is still doing great, now owned by my friend Kristi VanEtten. Dixie is near or at 16H, so it was like having Mutt & Jeff together--they were a pretty cute duo.

I took this picture of Chic in Arizona. It's one of my favorites.

Hello!

When we moved from Arizona I had to put the horses on my dad's place and I had Chic in a cattle pen. I walked over it well to make sure it was clean, safe, and sturdy. Well, it wasn't sturdy enough. Chic, at age two, broke out of her pen twice and got in with Eddie. She was bred and I should have given her the shot, but the vet assured me she was perfectly fine to have a foal, so we left it be. I got her to be a broodie anyway. Here's a pretty snowy shot of her heavy in foal, obviously healthy and happy.

One of my favorite memories of Chic is when I knew she was already pregnant and we got the lease on our 60 acre pasture, I turned her out with the herd. She ran up on the tallest hill, threw back her mane and called to everyone, just like some Disney movie. Chic did things like that, though. She'd make you stop and look at her and smile.

Eddie has a history of producing very large foals at birth (Dad jokes if Eddie was a bull he would have been turned into hamburger long ago LOL). Out of concern for Chic's safety I sent her to Rhodes Paint Horses to be foaled out under 24/7 watch (she has cameras and works close to home). All went well, though, and much to our surprise, this is what Chic had:

I swore up and down she'd have a solid colt. Did she prove me wrong or what? :)

We lost Chic six weeks later to a blood clot. From what an equine specialist told me, it's not that uncommon. There's nothing that a person can do to prevent it. There's nothing that will detect it. It happens in maiden mares and it happens in old broodies. It happens during birth and sits and waits for 6 weeks, then travels to the heart and kills them instantly. Chic's death was fast and merciful and I've been very thankful for that. She had a good life with us, and she was very happy and healthy. We loved her very much and still do.

Chic gave me a wonderful filly who is now on her way to the show ring. Click HERE to read about Maybe Baby.

Thank you Chic, for being in my life, teaching me, making me laugh and smile, warming my heart with your love of life, and for leaving me a little piece of you, both in Maybe and in my heart. Love you, Chicky--see you again some day.