Well our first crias for 2011 have finally arrived.  i think we may have set a new record.  Sterling delivered at 409 days and Roxy went 420 days.  I know it sounds crazy but i know exactly when they were bred and there is no way it could have happened any other time.  Both Dams are big healthy girls and both cria were delivered without intervention.  I'm glad they're big girls because both cria were over 20 pounds - I still can't believe they fit in there.

 Sterling's cria has exactly what I was shooting for.  I didn't get a female but i did succeed at reproducing her pattern.  We bought her because she has a nice consistent silver gray coat with only a few tiny spots.  Once Stetson hit the ground I was really excited to see what Roxy was going to produce.  Both dams are silver grays and both were bred to Prince.

Stetson - 7/6/11

Roxy's cria was a real surprise.  This little guy is fawn colored; which is not what I was expecting.  The Sire 'Prince' is true black and Roxy is silver gray.  I was expecting a true black or silver gray.  Where did this fawn guy come from?  The underlying color for silver grays is black so it's suppose to be a safe bet to breed them with true black - right?  Well I guess that's wrong - there's got to be some fawn in one or both of their ancestors.  On the plus side - the fawn colors are my favorites.  If he turns out to be fantastic I may breed him with Montabella (she's on the 2010 cria page). 

Winchester - 7/14/11

Yes, that's his mom's neck in the foreground.  It's just wierd to see this little fawn colored cria following this big medium silver gray Dam around.

We'll see how these guys mature.  Another big reason I bred Prince to these girls was to get their size down.  Prince has great confirmation and he's what I consider to be the 'right' size.  He has excellent proportions and he's a rock solid 156# all the time.  Sterling and Roxy are big, long and run in the 180# range when open and 200+ by delivery date.  If the crias confirmation is looking good this fall I may breed the Dams back to Prince again.  Need to get some girls out of these Dams.

Shazelle - 9/4/11   Shazelle was our first fall cria this year.  She is also Ruzzel's first cria.  Ruzzel was our first male.   We were worried that our fall cria might be late since the spring cria were late but this little girl was a month early.

Ronada - 9/14/11   Ronada 'Ronnie' was also sired by Ruzzel.  Ronnie is a good improvement on her mom - Mirada.  She has nice luster and lock which her mom lacks.  We will definitely breed Mirada back with Ruzzel.

More this fall!!!!!

Stetson and Winchester are best buddies now.  Before Winchester came along Stetson didn't have anybody to play with.  Everybody else was always grazing when Stetson wanted to play.  These guys won't be grazing for the next few months so when they're not nursing or sleeping it's (play-time!).

This is Winchester at 1-week and Stetson at 2-weeks.  They are thriving and have been gaining almost half a pound per day.  I'm usually hoping for girls but if they're boys it's nice to have a pair so they can stay together when they're weened and join the other boys.

Lexington - 9/24/11   Well here's our first male cria for this fall.  Lex is the first cria sired from our color champ Macho Man.  I think he's going to be show worthy.  I'm still surprised at the variation in Suri fleece characteristics.  Look at Lex's neck and head - his lock structure is very different compared to Shazelle and Ronnie.  We were hoping for more color but it looks like it's going to be a very light fall.  The last two - due now - will probably be white or biege.