Connor as a newborn, 3:20 AM on February 17, 2006. A lot of folks commented on the 3 AM delivery time as being a hardship. Nope, since I am a night owl and am usually up until at least 4 AM, which extended later during the last month of Frosty's gestation as I went on foal watch. My mares have tended to foal at a time of day that someone would be around; for example, Topaz foaled Coral at 3 in the afternoon when I was doing my regular daily cleaning of her drylot (also the time of day I would groom her, etc.- same time every day); she foaled Roadie at 7 AM which is when Jim normally came to put her out for the day. For her last month of gestation, Frosty had been getting a snack of alfalfa between 2:30-3 AM. While she ate I would groom her and talk to the foal in her belly and tell Frosty how she HAD to foal when I was around because I was so worried something might go wrong. Night after night, this was our routine. It seems she obliged me by foaling when she knew I'd be there!


Up on his second try! At this point, still wet, he was so dark I thought he might be seal brown. It was darker in the stall than it looks here (since this was a flash photo) which made it hard to see, as well. As he started to dry, it was apparent he was a weird deep chocolate color all over. A black or black dilute foal would be some shade of black to grayish-silver, so I knew he had to have agouti of some flavor, at the time I thought probably brown. But brown foals have countershading and there is some true black coloring on them. There wasn't on Connor, he was just all red-chocolate; I could see that his mane was a pewter gray and Jim noticed his tail was light, but most foals of any color have light feathers on their tails. So it wasn't until he was fairly dry that I was sure what color he was. I suspect that the more silver dapple foals that you see, the earlier you know for sure!


Outside on his first day. It is easier to see that he is a silver dapple outside in natural light!


Three days old. He is still a bit down on his heels behind, which makes his hind end still look a little crumpled. But I like the overall balance I am starting to see emerge. My vet complimented his long, laid back shoulder. He has his sire's beautiful head and tiny, tipped in ears.


The light eyelashes are typical of silver dapple foals.


A lot of people  asked how we can tell this colt is a silver dapple instead of a bay or a chestnut. First of all, his dam is homozygous for black, so he cannot be chestnut! Here's a close-up of his mane. It is a gunmetal gray-brown, not black as it would be if he was a bay without the silver gene. His light eyelashes and light tail (the center of which is the same gray-brown color as his mane) are other indicators. All of the areas that would be black on a bay foal- mane, tail, eyelashes and eartips- have been diluted by the silver gene. His hocks and knees, which would be a silvery gray if he were bay, are instead pale chocolate because the darker hair has been diluted by the silver gene. After he sheds his foal coat, his lower legs will be some shade of chocolate instead of black. His body color will remain rather reddish.


5 days old, socializing with his Aunt Coral through the fence.


Connor seemed really interested in seeing if the camera was edible. When I posted this picture to the Morgan Colors list, Lois Sauer quipped, "He doesn't want to eat the camera.  He's a Morgan; he wants to LEARN how to take pictures."


Ya gotta love foals. Everything is "new and exciting" to them! Here is Connor sacking himself out with my jacket. The tarp will be next!


Connor could not figure out what Mom was doing. Frosty was having a good roll, thus ensuring that although I groomed her before I turned them out so she'd look nice in pictures, she WOULDN'T be in any of them today! (Well, OK, just this one!)


Day 13. Connor has three beautiful gaits, including an airy, light and suspended trot. I've never had a foal who used the trot so much. The others have had basically two speeds: walk and flat out run!


I loved the forsythia and Bradford pears in the right background. Connor was watching my dogs, whom he had not seen before. Our little man is two weeks old here.


Frosty is getting tired of Connor using her for a jungle gym!


Collected canter. I can definitely see this guy doing dressage at some point!


Connor's official two week old conformation shot. He is standing with his butt up a hill a little bit here, and his long, ruffled fur makes him look less smooth over the croup than he actually is, but I love the way all his "parts" fit together.


Hopefully you can see in this picture that his mane isn't black, but a silvery gray-brown. It is particularly noticeable where I clipped a now-growing-out bridlepath on him, as the hair is coming in even lighter at the roots.


Two studs, one young and one... ahem...*mature* ;-) Connor, age 15 days, and Jim. March 2006.


Connor is a very friendly colt, respectful of people, and he learns things quickly.


I had put a blanket on the fence, which got their attention. Frosty has almost regained her pre-pregnancy figure- in fact I think she's slimmed down some and right now, she looks pretty good!


Although this was mostly in shadow, I liked it. One of those quiet moments between a mare and her foal. Connor is 26 days old here.


Connor loves to trot. He is the "trottingest" foal I've ever had! Since my primary interest is dressage, I've always WISHED my foals would trot more than a few strides so I could evaluate the quality of that gait early on, but with the others it just rarely happened until they were a few months old. Not a problem with Connor- he has shown me all three of his GORGEOUS gaits- he would make a beautiful dressage horse someday!


I got quite a few pictures of Frosty and Connor trotting on one particular pass down the fenceline, and the interesting thing was they both were completely synchronized- in the same phase of the trot and on the same diagonal in each frame that I took! You can get some sense of the amount of suspension Connor has in his stride in this picture.


You can see how his mane is coming in a lighter silver now. 26 days old, March 2006.


One month old and doing the same pose his daddy and granddaddy do, which was the inspiration for a sculpture I did a few years back called "Frolic". You can see it on my Resins and Sculpture page.


He was actually climbing on the mounting block, but I was too slow with the camera! You can see how very correct and straight his front legs are in this picture. March 17, 2006.


Five weeks old, 3/25/06. Getting to be quite the little butterball- his mama feeds him well and he is also making the best use of early spring grass and our good hay!


Six weeks old. I usually integrate my foals in with the main herd when they are about a month old. Mimi, as the herd leader, was the first to be added in with Frosty and Connor, and she was her typical queenly self, ignoring the foal and going off to eat. Next I added Coral. Connor has really enjoyed playing with over her stall guard at night when I bring them in, so I figured they would really have fun with  each other. Poor Coral! She had no idea what she was in for once let loose with the boy! Here Connor is using her for a chew toy.


After playing, foals' thoughts turn to food. It always cracks me up when they think EVERY horse they meet must surely have a faucet! The look on Coral's face is priceless :-)


Connor at six weeks old.


Connor just gets more and more handsome. It is so interesting to study him and notice the traits that come from each parent. He is a little bit over 7 weeks old here, April 2006.


Such a pretty mover, too! April 2006.


Nine weeks old, late April 2006. Connor is in the "patchy shedding" stage. He is shed out around his eyes, and you can see that he will be approximately the same shade of bay when he is completely finished shedding, possibly with a bit of countershading. His mane is getting even lighter!


Left: I love it when horses mutual groom. It is particularly touching when it is between a mare and her foal. 9 weeks old, late April 2006. Right: Artist Linda McSweeny's stunning painting from this picture. The painting was the second piece Linda did of Connor and Frosty; the first can be seen on Frosty's page. The original sold on ebay, where Linda regularly markets her incredible artwork, featuring horses, dogs and other animals. I love the feeling in this painting, and how Connor's face looks just like him! Thank you Linda for allowing us to use this image on our website!


On May 21, 2006 we hosted the Georgia Morgan Horse Club's spring meeting here at Brookridge. Connor met lots of new people and was a well behaved young man throughout. One club member even picked up each of his feet as she checked him out- with him just loose in the pasture! Shown in this picture are (L-R) Sue Martin, Connor, Jill Missler, and Laura. Photo by Lisa Algarin.


Another shot of Connor with Sue Martin. Connor, who is now 3 months old, was trying his best to be fully shed in time for the meeting, but didn't quite make it, as you can see ;-) His darker lower legs are starting to peep through the remaining white foal fuzz. You can see the striping on his hooves, in his case concentrated towards the heels - another silver dapple characteristic. May 21, 2006.


At about four months of age, foals start to look a little more mature than "baby-ish". Connor is going to be a beautiful stallion one day. May 31, 2006.


Another May 31 picture.


It's a hot June Saturday in Georgia. All is quiet in the pasture. Suddenly, something gets Connor's attention. See the next photo for what it was!


I have problems finding novel items to get the horses' heads and ears up for pictures. I tried using the lunge whip to try and get Connor a bit motivated to flag his tail and strut, but he could care less about it. You know all the things you see the Natural Horsemanship trainers do- flipping ropes over the horse to get them used to seeing things moving from side to side through their blind spot, running ropes or flags all over them, twirling a lasso over their heads, you know- desensitization type things? Well, Connor has them all down pat. You can run the whip all over his body, tangle it around his legs, pick up each foot with the rope around his fetlock, twirl it over his head, and crack it from side to side in front of him. You can put it around his girth and put pressure on it. And all this with him standing loose in the pasture! He doesn't even stop grazing! It's such fun playing with him, but I wanted some pictures of him looking alert! So- out came my secret weapon. Here it is. You know, if you have a husband that is a bicycling nut, you might as well get some use out of it ;-)


Connor is now officially a weanling. Here he is protesting the removal of the all-you-can-drink milk bar. Late June, 2006.


"Where did my mama go?"


Isn't it amazing when foals (and sometimes adult horses as well) balance themselves in a tripod like this and then proceed to delicately scratch a sensitive part of their head with a hind hoof? Late June 2006.


Five months old, July 2006. A bit of a family shot since Roadie and Frosty are in the background, a couple of paddocks over. The pair wasted no time in getting Connor's 2007 full sibling on the way!


Theresa Slotte of Lazy S Morgans in Grass Valley CA is one of Connor's fans. She carried his picture around the 2006 Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento, CA and one of the folks she showed it to was Marjorie Hazelwood. Marjorie writes a Morgan News column for California Riding magazine. Next thing we knew Connor was making a cameo appearance in the pages of the magazine's July 2006 issue, bringing some good publicity to this beautiful and rare color. He was in good company as Lisa Horning's gorgeous buckskin stallion NVS Midas also was pictured. THANK YOU so much Theresa and Marjorie!


Connor is now 6 months old, August 2006. We have had a lot of gloomy weather lately (unfortunately we don't seem to get much rain out of it!) which doesn't make for ideal lighting for picture-taking. I did not expect to get any useable pictures on this evening but was pleasantly surprised... they're only a little blurry. Isn't this guy a pretty mover!


I don't think I've posted any pictures of Connor in the walk. Here is one. You can see how well he is engaging his hind end and really overstriding. Late August 2006.


Another late August picture.


Morgan breeder Jennifer Robinson and her children Emily and Abel of Angels' Dance Farm in NC visited us in late August 2006. Connor was very happy to lap up all the attention! Photos courtesy of Jennifer Robinson.


It's late October and Connor is getting too wooly to be really photogenic. I'd actually planned on only taking photos of Roadie on this day, but seeing his father showing off for the camera inspired Connor to put on a show of his own!


Connor was doing laps on his side of the fence, and Roadie on his. Every so often they'd approach the fence and sniff noses before taking off again. October 2006.