Meet "Edeelin Yady"

After too much time but only a minor debate... we have a name for Sheherezad's colt!

"Edeelin Yady"

It means "made of magic" in Turkmen. We spelled it phonetically rather than the way it looks in the dictionary so that Americans like me will read it and pronounce it correctly. It's not always easy to decide on the names... we take into consideration their pronounceability and what they mean... and whether or not they fit with the foal's personality and appearance. And since Turkmen is a fairly obscure language, it's not as simple as using Babelfish to come up with a traditional name! And although I put in my two cents in at the very end regarding the spelling... Amrita gets all the credit for this one and she did a great job. It's a beautiful name for a beautiful and very special colt. 

Hallygul growing strong...

Hallygul is a yearling now and growing up beautiful.

Pictures don't do her justice but since I haven't posted anything new on her in a while, and these two don't show much of her, but I figured I'd better start somewhere!

Here she is last week with my 9 year old niece, Lilah, and friends:

And a photo by our friend Jean Sanders... Hallygul sniffing the new colt (who now has a name! YAY!! Check it out in the next post... I need to make sure I have spelling and meaning sorted out... ):

Sweet Water Farm Akhal-Teke 

www.akhalteke.cc 

Dress-Up at Jackson's

On Saturday we loaded Pan Tau, Pasabi, and Kegas into the trailer and took them to the beach for a photo shoot. We had a photographer here for the weekend all the way from Pennsylvania. Jean Sanders received a grant from her University to come photograph our Akhal-Teke horses. She is authoring a book and we can't wait to see the final project. We were very happy to have her and had a great time playing dress-up for the camera, too! Zoe, Ula, and I were lucky to have both Amrita and Jean snapping shots at the beach… it is always quite a production but worth all the work, especially when we get to post the pics on Facebook (ha ha….)

Below are Amrita's photos of the day. Stay tuned for updates with some of our favorite by Jean from around the farm. 

Amrita has been very busy sewing new outfits for both horses and riders…. and this was the first time they've been put to use! She has done an amazing job and is always coming up with new ideas. She combines old and new materials to create one-of-a-kind pieces that are quite beautiful and impossible to find anywhere else. If you are interested in traditional garb for your Akhal-Teke or Arabian horse, check out the Akhal-Teke Shop page on our website!! 

Above & below... Ula on Kegas and Zoe on Pasabi...

Here I am making a ridiculous face on the gorgeous Pan Tau..

Still no name but the little guy is CUTE.

Still no name for Sheherezad's beautiful colt... he was born on April 28th... so we're going on eleven days of namelessness, which isn't abnormal for us but we need to get on it just the same. We are very happy to report that he is healthy and strong and kicking up his heals in the pasture like only baby horses do. Yesterday the little guy had quite a lot of visitors, including my 9 year old niece, Lilah, and my friend Anna and her three adorable blondies. Of course I used the opportunity to stockpile more photos for Facebook... my favorite is the one below of Lilah:

Lilah took over the camera and snapped this shot which shows his nice conformation... it took a while for those loooooonnnngggg legs to unfold:

She put a flower behind his ear and he didn't mind at all: 

My friend Anna has three kids all with the same striking blonde hair....

The oldest, Jada, is horse-crazy-since-birth and quickly fell in love...

She cuddled with him in the sun for a long time... and he seemed to enjoy it just as much as she did:

How sweet is THAT?!!

www.akhalteke.cc 

Jump Lessons with Linda Chatfield

Yesterday we had jump lessons at home with Linda Chatfield from the Whidbey Island Pony Club. Linda comes about once a month to teach us... we feel lucky to have her expertise and her lessons are always a blast. Amrita and I had the early morning slot on Paktaly & Ulduze, so unfortunately there aren't any shots of us... but I did manage to snag a few of the other girls.