Nani is our very first Super Cool (Nugget) foal born. Her conception story was shared on China's blog earlier, but I will share it again here. China was scheduled to be rebred to Dean (Ive Got Super Powers) but she did not take on the first shipment. So while the vet was here checking for pregnancy she says, "she's in heat right now - let's ship." Tim looked over at little Nugget and said, "or we could try Nugget?"
So try we did. China was still sedated which was probably a good thing because I have never seen a more timid and tentative stallion. Every time China even flicked her tail he backed off and gave up. Finally... after a half an hour I took the end of the lead rope and literally dragged him up in the right direction and he figured it out. The next time went a little smoother (and faster) and Nani was the end result. Totally worth it.
Nani came into the world around 9:30 at night. It was pitch dark and Sophie had gone outside to shut up the chickens. I was already in bed and we did not have China in a stall yet because she wasn't showing the signs that she had given us the year before. Her exact words that she yelled to all of us were "China is having the baby," but she said it so nonchalantly that we all thought she was kidding. Once she convinced us that she was indeed foaling we all raced out to the pasture.
In true China fashion, she likes to make things as difficult as possible so chose the hillside to have her foal. It was only a few minutes later when Nani arrived in the world by the light of our cellphone flashlights. At first we thought she was a blanket butt, but as she started to dry off and the bag was fully off her, I was like "I think those are spots on her neck. Yep. Those were spots. She was a LOUD filly and I was immediately in love.
China and her shenanigans gave Nani her registered name, Berry Sweet Shenanigans but so far she has not been the sass even that her sister Sundae was. She is sweet and chill and has not given much resistance to the things we are teaching her. We are super excited to watch her grow and learn this year in the in hand events. And yes - so far she is measuring about 2 inches shorter than her sister (and she measured smaller than her at birth) so we are hopeful that this time China's baby stays in height.
I know that I need to sell some of China's babies eventually - but so far we have held on to Nani (and Sundae). Look for Nani in the show pen this summer with myself, or Tim or Sophie. We think she's pretty special, will see what the judges think soon enough.
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