Foaling

Last night I crawled in bed around 10:30 and couldn’t wait to drift off to sleep. I was doing a good job until my cell phone rang. A friend of mine was expecting a foal and I had given her specific instructions to call me when she foaled. It was her and I was exhausted so I sent her to my VM and figured I’d get the “exciting news” in the morning when I wasn’t so exhausted. That was until my home phone rang. She NEVER calls me on my home phone so I new something was up.

When I answered the phone you could hear the panic in her voice. Her mare had foaled and had also prolapsed. She asked me to come over to help her get her to the vet for emergency surgery. She lives about 20-30 miles away but I managed to get dressed and to her house within 20 minutes. When I arrived she told me the vet was on her way there because they couldn’t get the mare up.

I walked out to the barn to find the mare down on the ground on her side thrashing with colic. As I walked behind her I noticed she hadn’t prolapsed the way I had imagined but instead had prolapsed her intestines. There was blood everywhere and I was pretty sure the outcome wouldn’t be a good one. The foal (a beautiful grulla colt) was nervous so I attended to him while TJ attended to her mare.

Every once in a while the mare would get up, circle frantically and then finally go back down and thrash. I felt so bad for her and I know TJ did too. My objective was to try to keep the colt (nicknamed shit stains) out of the way of danger. Minutes seemed like hours but finally the vet arrived. She confirmed that the outcome wasn’t very positive. She tried to find a vein to give the mare a sedative to calm her down and ease her pain but she was having a lot of difficulties finding one. Finally, after a lot of thrashing, the mare going up and down and circling frantically she injected her into the muscle.

She made a call to ISU to find out about surgery. TJ looked at me while the vet was on the phone and said “I can’t do that to her”. I agreed but when it isn’t your horse all you can do is be there to support your friend – even if you don’t support the decision (which I did). When the vet got off of the phone she said best case scenario – get mare on trailer (wasn’t going to happen), get to ISU, clean up exposed bowel, put back inside, sew up where she was torn and pray for no internal infection.

TJ let the vet know that wasn’t an option and the vet agreed with her choice. She felt like there was probably a lot of internal damage and bleeding. I have to say without a doubt had this been my horse I would have probably lost it. I don’t know how TJ kept her cool (even though I know it was tearing her up inside).

SS hadn’t been able to get any milk/colostrums before mom went down so mom had to be milked before they could give her the euthanasia drugs. This was not as easy as it sounds. Since she was in so much pain and the vet wasn’t able to get a vein mom didn’t want anybody down there! Poor TJ got kicked hard twice, once in the back of the leg and once in the arm at the elbow joint.

We got enough colostrum out and got SS to drink it via a bucket. This was great because the entire time TJ and the vet were working on the mare SS was trying to nurse off of my butt, my thigh, the back of my knee, etc. I was just happy the little shit didn’t have teeth!

TJ went in to get some ice for her elbow and when she came back I heard the vet tell her she was sorry. She’d be able to finally find a vein and gave mom the euthanasia drugs. This is the first time (and hopefully the last) that I have witnessed this. All I can say is that it was a bit unnerving of an experience and not what I had expected.

By now it was 3:00 in the am. SS had drank almost all of the milk we’d gotten from mom and of course there was no place to buy foal replacer at 3 am (no the vet didn’t have any). The vet recommended an igg (not sure if that is right) test the next day to see how much colostrum SS had gotten. She was done so she packed up and left.

SS was pretty tired so he laid down. TJ sat down next to the mare who was still in the middle of the pen. It was a pretty sad moment. That was until SS got up and decided to “play” with TJ. That was when those “sad” moments become “giggly” moments. SS was running around after us, turning his butt to kick, nibbling, etc (hence the nickname). I told TJ she was going to have her hands FULL with that one! I also informed her that if they ever got too full I’d take him off of her hands for her. :D

I finally got home around 4 am. I was exhausted but knew if I went to sleep I’d never get up for work this am so instead I downed a 5 hr. energy drink, grabbed a pop and caught up on the NWC board.

DH and I had talked earlier in the day about breeding Lu. The one thing we both agreed upon was that we’d hate it if something happened to her. She’s “one of a kind” in a weird, goofy sort of way. Having what happened makes you think twice about how “cute” it would be to have a foal. I realize only 1% of mares have difficulty during foaling but you won’t know if you are that 1% until it is too late.

I know *IF* we were to breed any horse again that I would probably prepare myself way more then I have before. I think I’d have a small bucket of milk replacer on hand “just in case”. I’m also not sure I could have waited for the vet to find the vein. DH and I said we would have probably ended her suffering the “old fashioned” way and then milked her after the fact. Then again that is easier said then done.

I’m sure I’m rambling. If you can’t tell I’m spent! As soon as I can I’ll get some pictures of SS and get them posted. He’s an absolutely gorgeous foal!