At long last the third and final foal has just arrived. As predicted it is massive and the mare needed the assistance of Amanda. Too early for any news other than it has arrived. Hopefully will have some good news later. Index of the 3 foals
The mare is now up and washing the foal but the foal hasn't yet had milk which is a bit worrying. Vet should be here very soon and both will be checked over. Just popping out again to see what's happening.
Foal is very weak (relative to the other two) but Amanda and the vet have managed to get it sucking from the mare; hard work though. I think it's going to be a long night. There has been a big fair in the town all day and now there is a firework display and music. Very pretty but not what we need right now. Talk about arriving with a bang.
Pleased to report mare and foal are fine. It was not straight forward but with hindsight, and knowing all is well, it was quite comical. The mare was pretty clueless but she is getting the hang of it now. She started labour half way through her feed last night, decided to lay down then up she gets to continue with her feed. There she is tucking into her feed when 2 legs appeared. At that point she decided to lie down again. The foal is massive and it was hard work for her. Having foaled she was so knackered (and clueless) that she lied at one end of the stable while the foal was lying at the other. Amanda covered the foal in a blanket and cuddled it until the mare was strong enough to get up. The next problem was that the foal is so leggy that it couldn't stand on its own. It took Amanda and the vet to hold him still and force him to suck. And that was not easy as the foal was a little **** - he double-barreled the mare and managed to get Amanda and the vet. Then, once he seemed to get the hang of it, every time he went to feed the mare would turn round because she wanted the foal in front of her all the time; so the mare had to be coaxed to let the foal feed. The foal has by now become much steadier on his legs and has taken to bombing round the stable with the mare trying to stop him. Hopefully things will settle down to normal during the day. This, in contrast to the second of the three foals, where the mare was an absolute dream and is so intelligent. Maybe Princess will have seen something like it before but we have never seen anything like it. The mare lifted up one of her back legs (like a dog cocking its leg) and ushered the foal to her teat. To ensure the foal fed regularly she (literally) kneed it up the backside until into position and taught the foal in less than an hour to feed itself. She is a very proud mother. When we go to see her she always turns to her foal and puts her nose on his face as if to say "yes, this is my baby". Hopefully we can now get some decent nights sleep. Apologies if anyone has found this boring.
Good to hear it's all turned out ok Ron. Not boring at all - a Corrie meets Springwatch saga! Lovely pics. All the best.
Dexter will be going outside today so hope to get some nice pics. He is more like a dog. He puts his front legs up on Amanda's shoulders and gives her big kisses and he rolls over on his back to have his tummy rubbed. He isn't real.
Lovely picture Ron - glad everything turned out ok Now put a lead on him and show him how to piss up a lampost!
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Glad all turned out well in the end. I've not known mares to move their legs to allow the foal to feed, but I haev seen them pushing the foal in the right direction with their noses. It was explained to me that all a foal knows is that the milk comes from a dark corner, which is why you'll often see newborns trying to find a teat between the mare's front legs, or even in the corner of the stable! I remember we had to foster Oh So Sharp's last foal as she was pretty poorly with laminitis (she died a few months later). The foster mare we used was a bit of a cow and had to be hobbled to stop her kicking the foal. She also had to be tied up to allow him to feed for the first week or so as she kept trying to bite him on the backside everytime he fed. He soon learnt how to feed standing at a 90 degree angle to her, or even facing the wrong way, so she couldn't reach him! He was a lovely little soul, a Danehill colt. He was named Sussex and only ran once, finishing second in a Newmarket maiden. He was sold to India to go to stud and I understand he's done ok out there.
Congrats Ron. Sorry I took so long to say that, been having bother with my collar bone and not been on the PC much. Lovely foals!
