Friday, July 23, 2010

A Precious Mischief


Zorita's 2010 filly is just over a week old and from day two has been a very spunky gal, reminding me very much of the cavorting Pinoteia engaged in as soon as she discovered what her out-of-womb foal body could do. Only, with this new filly, there is an element of the "devil-may-care" scamp in her. Any mother who has felt the frustration of trying to contain a toddler on a tear can sympathize with Zorita's frustration in this video:



Knowing that Susan Mathia (proprietor of a lovely bed & breakfast establishment called The Queen's Inn) enjoys the occasional video clip from Ravenseyrie, I emailed her a copy of the above sequence, to which she replied: "What a precious little mischief she is!"

Of course, between the activities of the new filly and the comments of Susan, I soon was deep into my Portuguese/English dictionary and researching words which might make potential names from online translation sites as well.

Precious by itself did not convey the imp quality to this emerging personality of the new filly, but "mischief" certainly did. There were many offerings, one of which came back with "maliciosa" meaning "playfully mischievous". "Perfect!" I thought. That evening, I sat near her, on a log that she was sampling with her tongue. "Hello, Maliciosa." No response. "Filly, would you like to have the name, Maliciosa?" Without altering her position, or ceasing to lick the log, she gave me a dubious sidelong look. "You do not care for the name, Maliciosa?" Zorita's new filly, walked away, without a backward glance in my direction. I would take that as a pretty distinct, "no", wouldn't you?

Some of the other suggestions provided by dictionaries which in one way or another defined impish/scampish behavior were: moleque, diabrura, pressa, and levada. The only one that had a direct connection with "mischief" was "levada" which is another adjective meaning "mischievous". I presented it to the new filly this morning and when I spoke it, she immediately pricked her ears and looked straight at me, almost with a look of, "Well, finally, you've found it!"

Here is a video clip of Tocara (my hasn't she grown lovely!) attempting to make friends with Levada. For her part, Levada is making it plain that she's not easily won over. A very similar scene (near the end of this blog entry) was presented to me when last year Silvestre was hoping to befriend Levada's full sister, Segura. How marvelous that even very new foals have such a sense of self!



Zorita has come into her foal heat and this has Altamiro enforcing a wider "buffer zone" between the family band and Mistral's group. I took a short (but poor quality) video clip during a "conversation" Altamiro was having with Jerry, as the Sorraia stallion defended his territory. The conversation looked something like you see below (from a combination of still scenes extracted from the video and one photo):







The conversation was ardent, but brief and essentially non-violent.

Here are a few photos taken during one of Levada's mad dashes which she engages in for the sheer joy of being (and also maybe for the "precious little mischief" delight she receives in provoking her mother's ire as well.)

And lastly here are some photos of Tocara attempting to befriend Levada:





(That is Silvestre in the foreground)

(I apologize to those of you who have maybe subscribed to the Journal of Ravenseyrie and today received three versions of "A Precious Mischief"...I must have hit the wrong key while working on the text, not once--but twice, which accidentally caused the entry to be published before it was ready.)

And not to be left out of images of the 2010 fillies, here's a quick head shot of Pinoteia:

10 comments:

Kris McCormack said...

What a lovely name for the beautiful new girl! And how appropriate with "Levada's" echo of a High School movement. :-)

Congratulations again!

Hilary Lohrman said...

Oh, Lynne, she is a lovely, lovely girl. So very full of herself! You discovered the perfect name for her, I think. All your fillies are quite beautiful.
Whenever I come to your blog, I am rewarded by the natural beauty and grace of The Horse in her/his most pure state. The joy in your horses is palpable. Thank you for sharing their life with us.
Hilary

June said...

Oh my goodness, what a handsome collection of youngsters!

And Levada made me laugh out loud!

Annemiek said...

O dear, I think Zorita will have her hands (hoofs) full with this little one. One of my visitors today told me she named her cats exactly like you do, she finds a suitable name and tries it on her new cat to see if the cat likes it. If not, another name is found.
I wonder what Levada’s father thinks of this sweet little mischief. Maybe they can go out and chase birds together later this year!

Erin said...

Sulphur's Tia sure lives on through her generations, the attitude and not taking any crap from other horses.
Love the name!
Sovina is doing great, really enjoys his life as a gelding.

Leslie Town said...

I apologize for not checking in as often as I'd like to but I have distanced myself from the computer a bit this year. Anyway, lovely to pop in and see more new life at Ravenseyrie!
Perhaps you could make up a chart of all the horses, names, sex, dams, birth years etc...for the easily confused such as myself.
Like I'm sure you don't have enough on your plate already... ;o)
Some of my workmates have spent a lot of time this summer on your island doing some digging. I still plan to come back...maybe a side trip from Sudbury as my daughter is going to college there.
All the best!
Leslie

Lynne Gerard said...

Hilary, June, Annemiek, Erin and Leslie,
Thank you for enjoying these photos and video as much as I do.

Lelsie, I'm putting your suggestion on my list of future entries. First, I have to make good on my promise to hight the mares, without which none of these exquisite youngsters would be with us.

I may do a separate page to list Altamiro's offspring, rather than a journal entry...that way I can keep it updated with photos of how the kids mature.

It may take a week or two, but I think its a good idea and I look forward to doing it.

Lynne Gerard said...

Kris,
I, too, thought that this new filly would have no trouble living up to a name that is so suggestive of haute ecole.

What's neat about new foals, is that they have a nearly immediate capacity for high collection and haute ecole movements frequently burst out of them as they try out their new bodies.

Thank you for your comments, Kris!

Anonymous said...

Janet Ferguson said...

Your journal and the horses never cease to amaze and delight me and I share your articles as much as possible without "wearing out my welcome" on my Facebook and emails to correspondants!

Thank you!

Lynne Gerard said...

Janet,
I'm always moved when you take time for a comment, and am so glad you read and enjoy what I share about our horses.

I think of all the people who have ample land who could open their heats to mustangs...and that maybe one day soon many more Ravenseyrie-type places for horses will exist.

Thanks for spreading the word about JofR.