Venn

I was poking through some digital photos this afternoon and realized that it was 10 years ago this month that our second foal found his new owner. Where do the years go?

Venn (Norwegian for Friend) was born on Saturday, June 30th, 2001 at about 1:30 am.

At at 12:30am Saturday morning when I got up to check on Viktoria she was pacing and pacing. She was also very sweaty, so I sat down in the paddock to watch and wait. Finally at about 1:10 she lay down beside me and her water broke. He was basically born right into my lap. That is something that will never get old or tired. The miracle of birth is always that – a miracle. It is also special to have such a good relationship with the mare that she includes you in her moment. Many mares will delay the birth until no people are around. They just aren’t that trusting. Not so with Viktoria though – we were present for all three of her baby’s births. She even let my friend Deirdre participate in one of her births – but that story is for another day.

Viktoria was a great mother, good with her son, and generously let people visit with him. Venn was a joy to handle and train. He had a very quiet, cooperative demeanour which made training easy. Even as a baby he could do many of the “big horse” skills including picking up his feet, giving to pressure, leading, standing tied, turns on the forehand and haunches, plastic bags, ropes around his body and legs, Mom's saddle and bridle. This foal was Mr. Laidback - nothing phased him.

here he is with (left to right) Valena, Britt, Viktoria and himself

In November of 2001 we got a phone call from a woman who was interested in purchasing him. Her brother had seen Venn's sire, Felix, at the Weedsport Fjord horse show. He was impressed and passed the information on to Lana. When she found out that we had a foal by him she contacted us and made the trip from Upper New York state - only about 2 hours from here - an easy drive to come and have a gander. Well, Venn and Lana immediately hit it off - it was obvious from the get-go that they would be good friends. Lana thought so too. A sale was made (or should I say that adoption arrangement were made). Venn spent the winter with us and then early spring Carm and I trailered him down to her place near Watertown. It was good to see him go to an excited and happy new owner.

Sadly we got an email this past summer that Lana had passed away. Luckily for Venn, Lana's young neighbour took him over so he still has a loving home. I'm so grateful that she took the time to let us know.

Happy Tails Trails