Silas, as you've never seen him before

A few weeks ago, we got a call from Josh's grandpa. He'd been trying to track us down because his horse just had a baby.

I guess that's a foal?

We'd just recently been out there and noticed that his grandpa's horse had quite the sagging midsection! Once we found out she was pregnant and imminently due to give birth, that sagging made much more sense.

When we got the call, we happily loaded up in the car and made the 20-minute drive out there. Then we headed out to the pasture to see what a newborn horse looked like. All the girls made guesses of how big he'd be. They were all wrong. (They had guessed VERY small!)

Where's Silas in all this horse-business? Well, he's right here! (I fell in love with his little wobbly legs! )
That's right - Papa Al named the little guy Silas. =) Papa Al also told us not to get too close because the mama horse was pretty protective. He didn't need to elaborate - I totally understood. I've got a few baby horses of my own.
So we tried to watch from a distance as little Silas tried to keep up with his mama, figure out how to get some milk, and find a comfy spot to rest. It was such a wonderful experience.
Emma actually took this picture later in the afternoon - Jack the little dog had been sternly warned by Papa Al not to run in the pasture with the horses; I think he didn't want little Silas getting spooked or tripped up by anything. Or maybe he was worried about the mama horse tearing Jack to pieces? Either way, Jack obviously wasn't in the mood to behave!

Emma loved playing with Jack. [I tried to block out the fact that he is a farm dog and spends a good portion of the day walking through manure and dirt.] He was sweet to her, and very obliging to her love - so she was in animal heaven.

Samantha spent lots of time swinging on the swingset, Abby was running every which way, and human-Silas was camped out near Grandma Wanda. I think she'd hold him all day; no wonder he likes to stay near her!

Just as we were about to leave, I thought I'd try one of those cool jumping shots like my friend Carrie has on her blog.

Hers:

Mine:

Wow. I can't even imagine the amount of coordination it must have taken to get that many people jumping at the right time. We still need a little work. Ha!
I'm sure we'll be out to check on equine-Silas soon and I'll try to post another update. I don't think we'll try the jumping pictures for a while, though...