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!

Not much going on

I know I’ve been quiet but not much in the world of horses has been going on. Right now we are more in the “fowl” world. We have 40 eggs in an incubator set to hatch around May 4th and 8 eggs each under two different hens set to hatch the same time (good timing huh?). The boys both got 5 ducklings each. Ty got some Indian Runners that I think will be fawn/white and Chase got his “pudgy” Pekins. He doesn’t like it when I tell him they are meat ducks.

Cat barreled through the barn the other day to get breakfast and smashed my big toe. BIG mistake! HUGE! I can’t and won’t put the blame on her though. She bangs on the door and people open it and get out of the way. Now she gets to come in last, with a halter on and backwards.

I hauled MIL to drill practice last night so took Cat along for the ride. I decided to saddle her and do some LFR while they practiced. She took the saddle well but got a little humpy going downhill during the LFR. I think she was feeling the saddle in a way she’d never felt it before. Guess I need to go find some ditches and work her in those. Nothing bad but I got a chuckle out of her “attempt” to crow hop.

I did get on and we walked up and down the grass alley and did some ORS. She was a bit more excited compared to what she has been but then there were 10 other horses there too. We did some ORS and then just sat and relaxed while the horses did their run. She’s learning to enjoy stopping. I did pick up the popper once and she remembered that one! Guess I’m going to have to desensitize her to that a bit unless it is needed again.

At the end of practice MIL decided to run Abby around and of course Abby started up w/her humping up in protest. I told MIL to make her go one more time and when she did well to get off. She started her out and Abby turned and off came MIL. She was ticked too! MIL just lost her seat (the first time in 9 years) but thankfully didn’t get hurt. I told her to take the emotion out of it but she was too mad so I got back on Abby and moved those feet! Poor girl was dripping w/sweat by the time I was done but she didn’t once think about bucking either. I honestly think she knew right off the bat that she wasn’t going to be able to pull anything w/me. When I finally sat and said “whoa” she was more then happy to stop.

I had to remind MIL that nothing has been done with her all year. Chase has ridden her 3 or 4 times and she’s ridden her twice at drill. She needs to be worked with more then that. This is an ongoing issue w/Abby that has never been resolved and it won’t be by me unless I miraculously come up with more time this year.

Passenger Lesson!

Last night was beautiful! A bit windy but the temps were just lovely so we headed over to the arena. Cat is getting a bit more patient about standing at the trailer now (I think she knows what is coming).

After saddling her up I did a bit of LFR Stage 2 and then jumped on. Did my bending and then my ORS at the walk and trot. Trying to do a ORS at the canter wasn’t as easy because that meant I had to get her into a canter first. I wanted to quit her before she did me on that one so we moved on to the passenger lesson at the trot. Man is she lazy! We only trotted for 5 minutes (although my thighs would have sworn we’d gone for 5 hours) but she did fairly well. She broke a few times and didn’t give any extra effort but she did stay in it too.

Now it was time for the PL at the canter! Oh my was that a different story! Squeeze, cluck, whack Whack, WHack, WHAck, WHACk, WHACK, WHACK! It took a LOT of effort to get her to canter and I could see the protest in her ear placement and her tail swish. Once she got into the canter she didn’t stay in it very long and then we got to repeat. She took me towards the gate a few times. No big deal right? They all do that. Just keep it up and they’ll leave the area. Well I wasn’t so sure. About the third pass to the gate I would have put money on it she was going to try to jump so I went ahead and intervened and steered her a little bit. Next time I think I’ll have someone w/a stick down there just in case!

She did do really well though. We finished off by standing quietly in the center for a few minutes and then doing some follow the fence at a walk. We are expecting rain today and tomorrow so I probably won’t be able to do anything until later next week.

Bath time!

Last night I didn't get to ride but it was nice enough out to burn old bales and to give Cat a little spring cleaning!


My horses shampoo was at home (to keep from freezing) so I had to make do w/the Pantene ProV that I found in the horse trailer.


Look at that tail! I'm not sure if I should blunt cut it or leave it be.







Here is George and his adoptive mom Crooked Beak. She's sitting on her own eggs so he might be a big brother soon!