Tony
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2002
- Messages
- 1,953
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Last night I had to sing in a concert at our church then had choir practice afterwards, leaving Lauren to watch the maternity ward while studying for finals. As I was driving home, she called and said that she had a mare in labor, rolling, and that there was a lot of blood, which she knew was very unusual. She said that she had gone in and couldn't find anything. Luckily I was only five minutes away when she called, so got there quickly. I stripped my "church clothes" and dove in while Lauren and her friend, Justin, who was studying, too, was helping. I immediately felt the rump and tail. I tried for quite a while to get it out, but the foal was so big that I couldn't manuveur the legs out. I usually can do it pretty quickly, but after about fifteen minutes of struggling and getting a strap around one of the hocks, we called the vet and told him we were on the way. It was a struggle for him too because of the size of the foal, but he was able to get it out without a c-section, which was a relief. Of course we knew that the foal was dead before going to the vet, but luckily the mare is doing well and will be okay. The foal was so big, the mare is 31.25", and heavy that I decided to weigh it, something that I rarely do. It weighed a whopping 37 pounds! Unbelievable!
I finally got to bed about 12:30 and the beeper woke me at 2:30, but I saw that nothing was happening in the barn, but got up to go check the "lot". I stopped at the head of the staircase and looked out with my binoculars and immediately saw a bag that looked like the foal was still in it. I rushed down the stairs and out to the lot, but too late. A tiny black filly hadn't gotten out of the bag - the first foal for a little 27" mare. She hadn't bagged up enough to come into the barn, but of course, that is never the rule. Brought the mare in the barn and checked the rest, went to my office to update records, then back to bed about 3:30.
Beeper went off several times the next couple of hours, but just uncomfortable mares until a little before 5, when it was finally an actual labor call. I went down and moved the mare out into the yard (I prefer for them to foal outside if the weather is good.) A fairly routine delivery, but the results were, in my opinion, spectacular! Some of you may remember my "dream" horse, Little Americas D S Incredible, that died about five years ago. This is the nearest thing to him that we have ever produced. All I can say, is that if we could only have one of the three foals live, thank you God, this is the one!
Presenting Little America Whatadream's MyOhMy. He won't be a driving horse, but he is what my program has been about for over forty years, so he is of no interest to those of you who want the "big miniatures". Isn't that an oxymoron? Anyway, and I know that lots of you "don't like apps." I do, so there. Can you tell that I am a little giddy? Well, enough of that, here he is at two hours:
I finally got to bed about 12:30 and the beeper woke me at 2:30, but I saw that nothing was happening in the barn, but got up to go check the "lot". I stopped at the head of the staircase and looked out with my binoculars and immediately saw a bag that looked like the foal was still in it. I rushed down the stairs and out to the lot, but too late. A tiny black filly hadn't gotten out of the bag - the first foal for a little 27" mare. She hadn't bagged up enough to come into the barn, but of course, that is never the rule. Brought the mare in the barn and checked the rest, went to my office to update records, then back to bed about 3:30.
Beeper went off several times the next couple of hours, but just uncomfortable mares until a little before 5, when it was finally an actual labor call. I went down and moved the mare out into the yard (I prefer for them to foal outside if the weather is good.) A fairly routine delivery, but the results were, in my opinion, spectacular! Some of you may remember my "dream" horse, Little Americas D S Incredible, that died about five years ago. This is the nearest thing to him that we have ever produced. All I can say, is that if we could only have one of the three foals live, thank you God, this is the one!
Presenting Little America Whatadream's MyOhMy. He won't be a driving horse, but he is what my program has been about for over forty years, so he is of no interest to those of you who want the "big miniatures". Isn't that an oxymoron? Anyway, and I know that lots of you "don't like apps." I do, so there. Can you tell that I am a little giddy? Well, enough of that, here he is at two hours:
