Birth

Sunday June 24 2012

'Twas not a dark and stormy night, but a late afternoon for a mare weeks overdue.

In all my years around horses, I've never witnessed a foal being born. Carol called me this evening, "Mirage is having her baby now!"

Judy and I rushed over, and…. waited.

The mare laid down and got up, laid down, rolled, got up, paced, laid down and strained and rested and strained and rolled… I started getting a little nervous. Was she supposed to be rolling?? (yes) How long was this supposed to take? What if something went wrong? We live out in the boonies - it's not like a vet can get out here short of a few hours.

When the mare's water broke, we knew it shouldn't be long now. But we waited… and waited… She'd lay there, strain, lay there, sit and look at her belly, lay some more, get up, go right back down, lay there, sit and look at her belly… for HOURS it seemed.

Finally, we could see the foal sack starting to emerge, but that stage seemed to take forever, too, with the mare getting up and down a more few times.

Eventually we could make out a hoof inside the sack, then another slightly behind the first (the correct presentation), but even that stage seemed to take forever, with the mare getting up and down a few more times again.

Then she laid down, and then came the final heaving, but not much more of the foal progressed into the world… and then the foal sack broke. Not good.

Carol was already there, had her hands on the one leg… but she could no longer find the other leg. The clock was ticking - if the foal didn't get out soon, he'd suffocate. Finally she found the leg and started pulling when the mare contracted… but the foal still wasn't moving, and now it was getting a little more urgent. Judy and I jumped in, each of us grabbing a foal leg, while Carol pulled the sack off the baby's nose, and when the mare pushed, we three humans pulled for all we were worth... and out slid the first 3/4 (the widest part) of the baby.

His tongue was hanging out of his mouth, and he looked… limp… well, dead...

and then he blinked an eye.


LJ Owyhee Quartzite was one Big-A** live foal. When I say he was big, I mean he was born with giraffe legs! I don't see how that thing fit in the mare much less came out of her.

No time to waste in this new world - within five minutes he was working on standing up.


That was enough horse birthing for me - too stressful!

check out the bottom of the foal feet when they're born!


The night report from Carol was that he made it up and nursed, and the mare passed the afterbirth.

Carol's photo of The Big Q on his first day on earth.

And all is well on the crick in Owyhee.

Monster's First Day

Monday May 14 2012

It's hard work being a baby horse on the first day of life, coming from a dark and quiet womb into all the sights and colors and sounds and smells of a new world, figuring out the food source, and the long legs that wobble and won't fold right.

Steph's new little monster on the crick - could one day be her new endurance horse! - got a new name which is debuted in this video I made of her on her first day on earth!

Monster on the Crick!

Tuesday May 8 2012

There she was, gangly legs, wobbly knees and all, by the time we got up this morning.

She's light brown, but will likely turn gray like her mama.

She nursed, she pooped, and was soon looking for a way to fold those long legs to lay down and take a nap. It would take a structural engineer to figure that one out - which she hadn't figured out yet, while I was watching.

A nice morning surprise, a new little monster on the crick!

The Bag

Thursday May 3 2012

Perry's big as a house, foal parts poking on all angles of her belly. She's due today!

Her nipples have enlarged, and she's started to 'bag up', and while often the udder will get round and full, and the teats will start to wax, that's not always the case. Maiden mares (and experienced ones), I'm told, don't always follow the rules.

The pelvic ligaments around the tail will relax in preparation for the stretching during labor and foaling, but I can't tell if that's happened or not. It's more common for a mare to foal during the night, but the last mare Princess that gave birth here foaled middle of the day during a busy riding clinic.

So if Perry doesn't give us these obvious signs, we might just wake up to a surprise one morning.

WAXING!

Photo by Sarah Campion, on Zenyatta.com

Saturday March 3 2012

All Thoroughbred racing eyes are turning towards Lane's End Farm in Lexington, Kentucy, where 2011 Horse of the Year and racing legend Zenyatta is awaiting her first foal, due next week! March 9th is the day, although Mother Nature has the final say.

Zenyatta is starting to wax!


(This photo is from community.tvg.com)

Owners the Mosses plan to be there for the birth, and trainer John Shirreffs and his wife Dottie will go after the foal is born.

Stay tuned!

You can follow Zenyatta's daily diary here.

Gold Up That There Crick

Saturday May 16 2009

Carol and Rick woke up this morning - and there she was, the newest golden addition to Pickett Creek, a little buckskin filly. The mare was bagged up, but she hadn't waxed yet, and Carol missed the other signs last night. "The mare was telling me, 'It's tonight, really,' but I just didn't notice. We woke up and the little filly was out there already bounding around the sagebrush!"

Carol moved them to the foaling pen she'd already fixed up (and had planned to put the mare in before she foaled), and she and Rick did their foal imprinting on her.


She's all legs and already looks more than her 6 hours old. Her sire is Carol and Rick's cremello Quarab stallion LJ Owyhee Moonstone. He sired his first three golden babies at Lost Juniper ranch last year.

There will be more little gold coins to be found on the Crick in the next 2 weeks: Carol has another one due any day, and Steph has one due next week (due during the 3-day Owyhee Fandango!)


What to do with these legs while getting up?










stretch


resting with Mom