01/14/2026
*Surprise* Foal Xena is now a long yearling, and we finally finished compiling the story of her first year into one video over on our Youtube channel!
Rewatching all her cute zoomies, naps, and training progress really made us see how far she's come! And to think she almost didn't find her way to us..
Her mom Willow was a random horse at the auction that the seller was tacking up so we asked a few questions, just out of curiosity, really. We didn't find any other owners to chat with the whole night. Then she's ridden into the ring just at a walk, she's tense and not a horse we would buy as a prospect since we couldn't see her movement..we jump in on the bidding as her price is very low and we wanted to bump up the interest. Then the auctioneer pauses - no one else is bidding above us. I'm slightly panicking as I didn't plan on actually buying anything. I turn to a friend next to me and say "Oh no, someone *has* to bid, I don't want a mare!"
But fate had other plans, and we win the bid on Willow!
(Not the first time we've done this and won by accident to be fair)
Back at the rescue, we give Willow a good look as we didn't evaluate her before the win. I notice her tail is very flexible, her hauches are sloped, and the area around her tail is jiggly. These are very common signs of a later term pregnancy, but she is ribby and doesn't seem like she's carrying so we hop over to the vet to find out..she is!
8 weeks later baby Xena arrived earlier than expected, even before Willow's milk had come in. Check out the video for the full adventure!
