A Leopard With No Name

When last we spoke, I was sitting up all night with Jetta, waiting for her to foal. That was on May 6th, she finally foaled that next morning at 9:30, after keeping me up all night.

We turned her out of the foaling stall that morning, so I had to go outside and around the barn to see her. I had just checked her at 9:00 and nothing seemed to be happening, so I went back into the house. For some reason I felt that I should check her again five minutes later.

When I went out she was down, her water had broken and she was in hard labor. I came back in the house, called my DH at work and told him how worried I was that she might have twins and if she didn't have twins, it was going to be a really big foal. He said that he would come home. So, I hung up and grabbed my foaling kit.

I had been watching her the whole time that I was on the phone and she didn't seem to be making any progress. There was no white sack visible and that made me more nervous. When I got into the pen with her, I looked inside and saw the white sack, so I was somewhat relieved.

Finally a leg appeared but just one, not just a foot but a leg. I was relieved once more because it was a huge leg and I knew that it wasn't going to be twins. Jetta kept getting up and trying to reposition things but it wasn't working.

I tried pushing the leg back in but couldn't get it done, so I went in and found the other foot. I pulled on it and it pull back, I pulled again and it resisted, just like a horse! Finally, I just kept pressure on it without pulling hard and with Jetta's next contraction, it popped out.

At this point, I had both legs and the nose had presented itself, so I started pulling. This was a big foal and Jetta was going to have to have help. She did great! She didn't quit pushing and I didn't quit pulling. Finally, his shoulders slid out and his hips followed. If you have never delivered a foal or seen one born, then you might think that is a funny statement. Normally the hips do follow the shoulders but sometimes a foal will get stuck at the hips and that is no fun.

I pulled open the sack and removed it from his head, then towel dried his face and went to find a place to sit down to wait for my Husband to get home to finish the job. I was exhausted but not as exhausted as Jetta, she didn't even look at the baby or talk to him. She just lay there and rested, totally dazed.

When my DH got home, he got the big boy up and rubbed him all over with towels and put iodine on his navel. Jetta came out of her stupor and
started talking to the boy. I knew he was a colt without looking. Fillies just have a more delicate look about them and they aren't as obnoxious.

I still have not named him, he was born on one of my Granddaughter's sixth birthday, so he will be named for her on his registration papers but I don't know what to call him yet.

Here are pictures of Sissy and Jetta before they foaled, this is why I feared Jetta would have twins.

 

Here is Jetta's Leopard Colt. Name suggestions would be appreciated!

Foal Watch

I'm sitting up watching Jetta, our ApHC Black Broodmare. Her milk has turned white and tasted sweet this evening. She should foal tonight, she is pacing in her stall. I'm hoping that she goes early so that I can go to bed at a decent hour.

Sludge

Our barn is just full of it, last night it was rain water, today it is sludge. It has been years since we have seen this much rain. Indian Creek has rerouted itself into our lower pasture and is still rising. The roaring sound of the creek, that is temporarily a river, is filling this valley.

Poor Calico and kids are on the only high spot in the stall. She isn't even wading the waters to go to her hay feeder. I was awake all night, it started with a glance at the weather radar when I knew something bad was going to hit us, there was no escape.

By the time that I got the computer shut down because I was starting to hear the thunder, it was here. There was no sleep after that. The lightening, thunder, hail and wind were really scary. I was just sure that we were going to get hit by a tornado any second. My DH just kept snoring, I talked to him anyway, he even answered.

I was expecting to find things blown all over the yard this morning and trees down but nothing seems out of place but our spring creek and Indian Creek. However, it does look like a jungle out there, the grass and weeds all grew several inches over night. The horses will have plenty to eat, they will all start getting obese again.

Poor Angus was outside in all of that mess, I don't know where he was but he didn't come into the barn before I had to close up everything. I had just closed the big sliding door to the barn, locked it and gone back to bed when I heard the cat hollering to be let in. So I went back out to let him in and he had already found another way. He looked like something that the cat had drug home. There was a lot of hail so I wasn't surprised to see him looking quite confused.

Foaling Anxiety

I am going to try to answer your questions here, Rae. I don't know what is up with all of the problems trying to leave comments, but I wish they would try to get it fixed.

One thing that you said in your comment was: "So who knows???" and that is a great summery. We have been foaling mares for many, many years and I still get nervous and anxious with each one. I lose many hours of sleep and when I do sleep it is so light that the lest noise startles me. Our foaling stall is right outside our living room door, so that makes it very convenient.

My DH just goes to bed and says, "Wake me up when you see feet." He figures I worry enough for both of us. But if he doesn't have to work the next day he does occasionally set his alarm and checks the mare throughout the night to let me get some rest.

We have had mares foal at all hours, day and night. All mares are totally different but I do take notes on each mare and they usually follow the same pattern year after year. We have one mare who stands and eats hay, stops, yawns, then yawns again, then lies down and pops the baby out. She shows no signs of foaling other than yawning.

We have had mares who just turn and look at their bellies on one side, then turn and look at their bellies on the other side, then lay down and foal. We had one mare who would try to destroy the stall. One of our mares was an embryo transplant mare for many years for a popular show stallion and she thinks that it takes a whole crew of people for her to foal. She will definitely let you know when her time has come, she wants you to hold her hoof and tell her to breathe.

People do not understand why we watch our horses so closely and won't leave home if we have one close to foaling but we have had so many times that if we hadn't been there we would have lost both the mare and the foal, we take it seriously because they are our responsibility.

Another sign that you can look for but probably not with Georgia is by opening the vulva. Mares will normally be pink inside but will become very red during or right before labor. Their udder can look tight without being tight also, the only way that you can tell that the udder is strutted to the max is by touching it, again this is probably not possible with your mare.

I would just about bet you that your mare has the same bloodlines as mine. Our mare is a registered TW and she is beautiful but totally nuts, we took her in on trade from someone who rescued her, they thought that she had been mistreated and would come around but she never did and she ended up kicking the lady. From what I have been told about the bloodline they are the smoothest of the smooth but are crazy and very high strung. The good news is that we have had two foals by her and she has not passed this trait down to her foals when bred to a level headed stallion.

We have thirty something horses at the moment and we have had tons of abscesses, we have even had two get abscesses in two feet at once. They are very painful and disturbing to see but they eventually blow out the top of the hoof and all the pain is relieved. You can have a Vet or Farrier open them up but we only did that once because it really didn't help that much.

As for the bute, we don't use it. We do use banamine and it has it's problems too. I have even been told by a Vet that she doesn't recommend the injectable because it can cause a rotting hole at the injection site. We have given a lot of shots and have never had a problem with it but I guess the paste is safer.

Moon Shadows

If you didn't go for a walk in the moonlight last night, then you just aren't living. I took two walks last night. For some reason, it may be a compulsion, I have to take a short tour of the grounds before I go to bed. My tour last night was just inspiring, that harvest moon was a thing of beauty.

I marveled at my shadow that was so clearly defined. Two of the goats were out and snoozing in the driveway along with their faithful companion, Angel. She was bright white, soft and cuddly in the moonlight when she ambled over to me for a rub and a hug. I enjoyed the scenery for a few minutes then went to bed.

I had a rough night, I couldn't get to sleep. I had a headache most of the day yesterday and it got worse when I laid down. When I did finally doze off, I kept waking up in pain, then my stomach started complaining about something I ate. I promised myself that I would quit eating spicy stuff right before bed, then later I promised myself not to eat anything before going to bed, still later I promised myself not to ever eat anything spicy at anytime of the day. I ended up promising myself never to eat again period!

As I flopped about the bed with all of these thoughts, pains and promises, Angel and Abby both started pitching a fit. They normally bark throughout the night to ward off predators but this was different, this was something serious that needed someone's attention and since nothing wakes my dear Husband, it fell my lot.

I walked out into the night with my tiny flashlight that wasn't needed because of the brightness of the moon. The dogs fell silent as soon as I walked out and no longer seemed concerned, they had done their job, they had alerted me to a problem that really didn't affect them.

I looked around and didn't see or hear anything, then I walked around the corner of the barn and saw something that most people would love to see in the moonlight. It was just the most beautiful sight. Although I didn't have time to stand around and marvel long at it, because I had to run into the house and wake up my Husband before this beautiful sight got ugly.

There, standing in the yard, in the moonlight on his hind feet pawing at the sky was our white stallion. It took my breath away for more than one reason, it was an awesome sight, he is very beautiful. But he was also challenging our Grullo Stud, who was only one tiny electric wire away from him and he was making some challenging moves himself. They had already broke one wire and the valley soon filled with violent screams and squeals.

It was really no big deal, I woke the man and he grabbed a halter and lead rope, I went back out and yelled at them. They were like a couple of kids who had been caught doing something wrong. Badger trotted off and Jazz started pacing the fence but stopped and stood still as quick as my DH said his name. He haltered him and put him in the corral for the night, then went back to bed. He is out fixing fence this morning. He had two days off in a row, that is just amazing.

As for me, I have still sworn off food. I did have a glass of goat's milk this morning and that seems to have settled things down for a little while. My head is still aching, so I am thinking that I have probably contracted the bout of flu that has been making the rounds.

Stake Out

It was hot yesterday. It is going to be hot again today. I have to stake my Buck out to eat now because we don't have any hay. The goat lot where the does stay has plenty of grass, clover and weeds but my buck lot is small with nothing green in it.

I usually stake him out in places with lots weeds that need cleaning up but yesterday was so hot that I just tied him out in the morning shade then put him back in his cool lot during the heat of the day. When I stake him out I have to periodically untie him and lead him to water. The silly thing will hardly ever drink when I take him. He is like a camel, he only wants to drink once a day and when he does drink, he drinks a lot.

Since Cooter spent most of the day in his lot, I had to stake him out in the evening after it cooled down some. I didn't want to leave him staked out over night but he very seldom gets tangled up where I have been putting him, so I left him there. I checked on him a couple of times during the night.

Early this morning when I went out to check on him he was lying flat out on his side, I thought he was dead. I yelled at him and he didn't move. I walked up on him and saw that he was breathing deeply and slowly, but he still didn't respond. I said his name and he fluttered his eyelids but still didn't wake up. I put my hand on his hip and shook him real hard, he finally opened his eyes but still didn't raise his head. I thought something had to be wrong with him. I asked him what was wrong and he lazily raised his head and looked at me, then finally got to his feet and stretched.

I was glad that he was alright, though I couldn't figure out what could be wrong with him. I just couldn't believe that he would sleep that sound. I know it isn't because he has a clear conscious, because as soon as he got done stretching, he peed all over his front legs and chin. He pees all over everything, all of the time, you would think that he would have to drink more water than he does.

Earthquake

Wow! Strange to be woke up by an earthquake in Southern Indiana. There I was, sound asleep when the bed started shaking and everything in the room started rattling. I was drowsy and thought that I was in a horse trailer for some reason and something was shaking the trailer. It seemed like the horse trailer was rocking. It went on for a long time until I was finally wide awake and realized that I was in bed. It seemed to go on for a full minute but was probably more like 30 seconds. It all happened sometime between 5:30 and 6:00 this morning. When it stopped, my husband came into the room and asked if I felt it, I said that I had and he said that it had to be an earthquake.

The news has just said that it was a 5.4 magnitude, that was centered in East Central Illinois. They say that animals react to earthquakes but my house dog didn't even wake up and I didn't hear any of our outside animals make a sound either.

Someone on the radio just said that this was a shaker and not a rolling earthquake. That rolling earthquakes do more damage. The last earthquake that I experienced was a roller. I was actually on my knees, in a basement, on concrete in our Church prayer room when that one took place and I could feel the rolling under my knees. It felt like one knee would rise then fall before the other one would rise and fall.

Today is the 102nd Anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, how weird is that?

Rested

I slept through the night for the first time in ages. I feel much better this morning. Although my back didn't like it much. I found that my back doesn't hurt as badly when I get up several times during the night. Just like my back doesn't like to sit in a chair for more than 10 minutes or stand on my feet for more than 5 minutes. I guess maybe I should set my alarm and continue to get up during the night.

I want to thank all of my friends who called, left comments here on my blog and sent me e-mails of encouragement through the last two weeks.

I have had people ask, why we just didn't put her down in the first place. Well, if we could have seen the future and had known that her kidneys were defective, we would have. But we have pulled high risk foals back from the brink before and so we couldn't let her go without exhausting every avenue of treatment. As long as there is hope, I find it hard to give up on them.

We had a foal years ago that was born to a mother with no milk, she was a fescue baby. This was back before the fescue problem had even been identified. We had just bought the mare and didn't know she was bred. The baby got no colostrum, it was also back before any of our local stores carried mare milk replacer, I don't even know if there was such a thing at that time anyway. I am really telling my age here. But anyway, we put her on Carnation calf milk replacer.

We didn't have the internet then and we didn't know anything about raising a foal on a bottle but we did know how to raise calves that way, so that is how we raised Bambi. She was just a little, half pony, half horse, sorrel filly.

She got septic, navel ill and her all of her joints swelled up. All of this happened during the coldest part of winter. I remember crawling to the barn on the ice to give her bottles. She got to the point that she couldn't stand or get to her feet.

She got scours, got dehydrated and even got pneumonia at one point. We just pumped her full of antibiotics and somehow pulled her through it all. Looking back on it now, I cannot believe that she survived but she did and went on to become a riding horse and the people that bought her from us even raised foals with her. She lived to be an old horse but did get arthritis when she got older.

More Waiting

Still no babies, they just love torturing me. I usually check on everyone at about 2:00 a.m., if everyone is settled down and sleeping quietly then I go to bed for good unless I just happen to wake up, which I do occasionally. I wake up in a total panic thinking that I have missed something.

I am confident in the mares not being quite ready to foal yet because I have a lot of horse experience but the goats have me tied in knots. They are so big and seem so miserable and I hear tales of does kidding without their udders being strutted and with no signs of labor whatsoever, so since I don't know their exact due dates, I am a little edgy.

We rewrapped Morning's leg this evening and it looked very good, when we changed the dressing two days ago it didn't look so good, so I was concerned about it. My DH got to hose it thoroughly the last time, so I think that really helped.

Morning doesn't do much for my ego. I went out with my hair down today, she nearly tore the side of the barn down and almost jumped the gate. She hates me with my hair down, she thinks that I am an alien from a horse devouring planet or perhaps an unidentified blood sucking earth creature.

Spring Ahead

As I write this it is nearly 8:00 am but it is really nearly 7:00 am. Which means that I lost an hour of sleep and I can tell it. I guess that I can gain it back in November but that is an awful long time to wait.

I really like Daylight Savings Time and think that it is a wonderful idea. I don't know why it is a good idea. It does seem to make the days longer but that is probably an optical illusion.

Morning gave us fits last night, she was restless and pawing in her stall. I got up and watched her for awhile to make sure that she wasn't going into labor but she was just shaking her head, pawing and generally making lots of noise.

I woke my husband up to ask if he had checked her utter and was she strutted? He got up and went out, then came back to bed and said that she is filling up but not strutted. She continued to raise cane, so he got up and watched her for awhile. I guess she is just feeling better and tired of being cooped up.

This is one disadvantage of living in the barn, mares in labor usually try not to wake you up but devious horses like Morning, sleep all day and keep you awake at night. I know that she needs some exercise and some sunshine but we really don't have a place to turn her out that isn't muddy and/or uneven ground, we are hoping that it dries out some this week.

We are so amazed at how quickly and well this injury is healing, every time we unwrap it we are so pleased, I just wish that I had taken pictures. The extensor tendon is still not healed, so she can't always control her foot and it knuckles under, so that she steps on the front of her ankle, then she totally panics but she panics over everything anyway.

This mare acts like there is danger all around her at all times, to the point of injuring herself over non-existent threats. She has never been mistreated while we have had her and the lady that had her before us bought her at auction and thought that she had been abused but I just think that it the way she is wired. I have been told that this is common in her bloodlines.

She has absolutely no redeeming quality other than she is black, beautiful, has an extremely smooth gait, is very pleasant to watch in the pasture, has good bloodlines and doesn't seem to pass her spirit on to her offspring but then we have only had one foal out of her. Handling this mare is a nightmare. I will try to get some pictures of her and her well healing injury when I can and post them on here.