Artemis was born April 25th, 2011. I had three weeks warning before she was born. I didn't realize that my mare was pregnant, she hadn't gained much weight and she hadn't, to my knowledge, had not been in with a stallion. Although I didn't choose to have her, I don't regret Artemis being born and I wouldn't trade her for the world. Her mother is a registered Quarter Horse mare and her father is three quarters Canadian Horse. Her show name is Artemis Areia, which is an epithet for her namesake, the Greek Goddess Artemis, meaning Warlike. Given Socks' and her eldest daughter, Cas', personalities and everything they've been through, I thought Warlike was a fitting name for a daughter of Socks.
Once we found out Socks was pregnant my stable owners were on constant baby watch. Finally, at around 7 in the morning on April 25th I got the call from them to come out and meet the new addition to my family. She was friendly the first day but after that spent the next few weeks letting us know that that she was independent and was not interested in this halter business we kept insisting on.
She is unlike any foal I've dealt with before. She loves attention and will stand for as long as you want as long as you hug her but she still has her rebellious streak. The foals I've dealt with in the past have either been sweet as can be or fighting you at every turn (her big sister Cas comes to mind). Training Artemis has been relatively easy but not without some fighting. For the first four and half months of her life she's lived in a paddock with just her mother for company, taking lots of adventures to the arena to hang out with Jimmy and other horses. She was weaned at five months and now is going to be spending the majority of her time out in the pasture with a two-year-old filly and a group of retired mares, just being a horse and living the herd life.
Her future for the next few years is just to take it slow and introduce her to everything. We'll be desensitizing her and once she's a little older, getting her used to the saddle. One day I hope to train her to be a barrel racer, but for now she enjoys just being a baby.
