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Diary of Jewel April 22 We are all still hanging in there. No babies yet. Jewel most likely due dates are April 15-April 27. At this point Jewel, a maiden mare, is showing subtlle signs, but I think she will sneak on me. Just suddenly foal without a full bag or much muscle relaxation. Knowing some mare can progress over a month and some mares just suddenly get "ready" in 3-4 hours is just mind boggling and makes life hard for the human caretaker. The new Equus has a feature about the first 24 hours of a foals life and the care needed. Good article, sent it home with Molly. Hope it doesn't scare her as her purebred Phoebe will be ready to breed next year! April 23 All was well with the 10 pm and 1pm checks, though Kat has about 1/2 inch of dried colostrum hanging from her teats. It is also caked on one leg. Last foal Kat had me going for 2 weeks. When the vet was last here he was giving me foaling tales. He only tells me the funny ones thank goodness. One was about a man who had been sleeping in his barn for 2 weeks, barely leaving the mares side. Goes away for 15 minutes for a coffee and the mare foals. I know Kat wants to be private, which is why I do a check, but either watch her on the camera or peek from far away. I KNOW she won't foal with me waiting there! He told me another one about someone calling him up when he was on call in the middle of the night because it had been 20 minutes and the foal was not up and nursing yet! I was thrilled with Kat's last foal who made it up in 45 minutes to be nursing. I thought that was a record. Below, Kat's last foal Aurora.
Above Photo: Kat's last foal Aurora is now 2 years old and still gorgeous. Now...just give us yet another filly pretty Kat. She does make pretty babies with Sultan and they have all been fillies! April 23-later Kat gets turned out and won't settle. Pacing alot and coming back to the the gate. Bring her back in and she is quiet. Try her out again in the afternoon. she stays out about an hour, pacing mostly. I bring her in to her freshly straw bedded stall. She goes through the next few hours quietly eating or going through periods of swishing her tail, picking up hind feet and occasional pawing. I do check her for colic by bringing her handfulls of grass periodically. Eats that right up...definately labour. I call Molly and alert her to not be far from the phone. This is not typical of Kat who has just spit the last 3 foals out without much preamble. April 23-still later By 6 pm I wrap her tail, clean her up, clean the stall yet again and settle to wait. I do run and watch her on the camera to get some dinner, because I know it could be a long night...little did I know...how long... Molly is over by 7:30, at 8:30 Kat's water breaks. She goes down. We stay out of the way. Kat is very much a private mother and you don't want to get involved except when you have to. Right away things are not going quite right. Kat is working very hard. Only one foot is coming out. We go in, Molly at her head and I extract the other hoof and pull it out to be even with the knee. I would guess the foals elbow was hooked on the pelvis. Strangely the head is not centered, but turned strongly left over the left foot. Kat goes down. We go out again. Things progress slowly(2 minutes) , foal out except for stifle down. front feet out of the bag. I run in to clear it of the head. Foal breathing fine, though head is wrapped left over shoulder. Kat is exhausted and hind legs still inside her. she seems beat and with no more progress coming, I asked Molly to support the front end of foal as I pull the hind legs out of the birth canal. We again retreat and wait to let them sort it out. This is one VERY big baby! My poor husband Joe(we were married in Dec.) has been around for foals, but never the birth. This is his first foaling and he is in awe of the this beautiful bay head, while I'm just involved in the health aspects at this point. It would be hours before I had the luxury of actually "looking" at the new one.
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April 23-later still... Kat takes her time getting up...about 10 mintes. She usally jumps up too quickly. I know she has had a tough time and so has the little one. So, the waiting game starts. He, yes an all bay colt that looks just like his daddy Sultan(our pure Cleveland stallion) instead of as chestnut mom with 4 white socks. He does the normal pulling with his front legs. He stands at a 1/2 hour for a moment, but then needs a rest. He is up at an hour. By 11 I call the vet(they are over an hour from me)because he just seems slow to even look for the right place to nurse and Kat seems sore. He suggests giving Kat banamine(sp.) for her pain. As the hours progress, the colt seems to find the right place but only suckes for a moment and stops. I don't think he has passed his first, oh so important, BM. I'm pretty worried, vet finally arrives at 4 am. Vet checks both out. Colt's heart, lungs, eyes, jaw alignment, legs, etc all pass perfectly. Kid gets a very needed enema. We establish foal has sore neck(from difficult delivery)and has had trouble nursing. Seems to be getting better byt the minute now nad he is starting making up for it. Vet says huge foal! No wonder we had such a hard time. Says without our intervention this one never would have made it out of the mare. Most definately the scariest foaling I have had...though his blood and IGG came back very good for a 7 hour old foal. April 24-5 am I went to sleep for 40 minutes. Both seem a little worn out, as is the whole barn for staying up all night, but we are all doing fine. Below photo of colt, Tide's End Intrepid at 15 hours.
April 25 I feel like we are all getting more normal again. Horses are getting rested. Poor Jewel. She has lost her pasture mate for now and with her so pregnant it would be crazy to turn her out with a new face. She is getting used to it. Much better then yesterday when she called for Kat quite abit. Otherwise she seems quite happy. Food keeps her calm. She does love to eat. Kat and Intrepid had first day out. It was a very short turnout, but I think both felt better for it! Both went through a hard time, but seem to be quickly coming around from it. Hopefully, Jewel will foal soon and both will get strong enough and mature enough to reunite the ladies! Below Intrepid at day 2-first time out. He is so big.
Kat and Intrepid are doing great, enjoying turnout and life in general. Both seem to have left the little bit tough birth behind. Jewel is slowing down. she turned out nicely for most of the day, rolled, got plenty dirty and is eating well. Funny mare, she just doesn't seem to be thinking about what is in her. At 5:30 she eats a full grain dinner and is nibbling hay...2 hours later out of the blue, water breaks and feet emerge, simply 6 inches of feet. They are turned the right way at least. Jewel is still just kind of walking slowly around her stall, almost unsure of what to do. She finally drops down and nothing really happens. she is not pushing! Call vet and she says where is the head. I feel for inside and fell it in the right place. She said to pull the foal out. Never having done this before without any help from the mare I was totally unaware of how much force it can really take. Vet says you can't pull too hard...ok, I use everything I've got and finally when I get to the shoulder things come out easier. I worry about the foal till i see the eyes open and he is breathing as I've got him half way out. Feisty devil right from the start we wiggle him up to mommy's muzzle, so 2 can bond. After being lucky for years, can't believe 2 a little more complicated foalings in one year! Just happy we are all well. April 28 Yes. Jewel did get up and the colt, big bay, did get to nurse. We just had a little trouble keeping Jewel up for long. She was swollen and sore and just felt laying there and eating was easier. Clevelands! Seriously, we got the 2 outside, got her moving and slowly she "got" her role as mom. From the beginning the colt was demanding enough he would climb over mom to get her up. Poor thing, I just don't think Jewel saw this all coming. I must say she is getting better by the hour and instincts are kicking in. I know she will be a fine mom to this strapping almost full blooded Cleveland Bay colt. Photo below is at 18 hours.
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