My mother’s gray Thoroughbred mare–a former racehorse–gave birth to a beautiful bay filly this morning. My husband discovered the baby at 5:30 a.m. and this photo was taken shortly thereafter. The filly appears to be healthy so we are very happy.

My husband and I recently bought a ranch near Winters, California to expand our sheep operation, and the previous owners left behind 23 horses, including stallions, pregnant mares and foals. This beautiful black-spotted stallion is one of the horses that we acquired. Today I submitted a DNA sample (tail hair) to the University of California, Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in order to determine exactly what breed he is.