Sunday, October 21, 2007

Happy Mothers' Day Argentina!

(foto by Mrs. Y. Mike)
We're back from the campo in time to spend Mothers' Day at my cuñado's quinta. If it surprises you that we Buenos Aires types celebrate the day in October ...well, it's spring down here. It might also surprise yanqui types that Moms' Day in the US originated as a call to unite women against war.

The splendid foto above by my missus shows the delightful addition to our menagerie that appeared on her mother's birthday just 10 days ago: "Milagros", our new yeguita.

The little foal is of the "gateado" coloring and is strangely rangely. I think that you can see that her legs are already almost as long as her mother's. She almost looks like a giraffe!

Tobiana, her mom, is a first timer ...but she's got all the earmarks of a pro. I've never seen any mother, anywhere, of any species so attentive and nurturing. She keeps her new daughter a bit apart from the rest and is constantly nudging and caressing her and communicating with her the strange new world and its ways. Friday night's sudden rain and thunder and lightening was impressive even by ol' timer standards ...and the little filly's first. She stood snuggled next to her mama who kept the brunt of the downpour from her.

Wishing all mommies, new and old, a lovely day,
Mike

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Absolutely stunning photo and the narrative with it is excellent too. I hope the two of them were indoors during the storm or somewhat protected. It is important for them to go through these firsts with mother near so they can be comforted and I guess this was the case. I also hope to see some other photos of this new baby. She does have long legs but like a puppy dogs feet dictate their ultimate size I would assume the long legs means she will be some kind of special horse when she grows up.

Congratulations on a fine new baby.

yanqui mike said...

Thanks, man.

Lili took a bunch of good photos of all the horses... but with emphasis on the new arrival. I'll send you some!

Nope. No kinda man-made shelter for any of the horses. We have a big "monte", a eucalyptus grove near the house they may have ducked into that at least for a while... I wasn't lookin', if you know what I mean.

It's funny, down here they call a grove of trees a monte which means "little mountain" or "hill". To understand that you have to know how flat the pampas is and how there are very few, very few native trees. The ceibo is the national tree but is very shrubby or bushy. The ombú is a very weird and beautiful tree whose wood is useless, thereby aiding its survival in a truly treeless land. Other than those two and maybe a couple of other trees, all the trees you see are/were imported by the settlers. A grove of trees is a highly valued thing both for shelter and wood. A grove is therefore a very prominent feature on the great grasslands... thus it is "promoted" to geographic-feature status in Argentine Spanish.

Thanks again, Linc,
Mike

Longhorn Dave said...

I agree. A fitting photo for the day. M

y wife spent the day rubbing it in that she got a twofor this year. She spent one mothers day in the states and then arrived down here to get another day of fine food and gifts from the kids.

What a deal!

Anonymous said...

Cute little filly you got added to the family. Your cows and heifers must also be calving now. I'm not ignoring you Mike.I left a belated answer on your previous post in which you mentioned me.Still looking forward to your answer, but I know I'm asking a lot.
Thanks
Pieter

miss tango said...

awwww...sweet! Makes me want to leave the city and go for a trailride immediately!