I went out at 2:30 a.m. and found Sarah with her new daughter (a lovely buckskin pinto filly) standing there like an old pro! She was out in the pasture with two of her friends fast asleep and the rest of the pregnant mares grazing in the distance. Her mother, Tina, and the other retirees were munching hay in the adjacent pasture. My appearance alerted all of them and the baby's first whinny brought them all running to inspect the new baby! Thank goodness Deva wasn't there (she's uber mom and will show any new mother how it's all done from cleaning to nursing!), as Sarah was a bit distressed to have all her herd-mates oggling her new baby!
I love the first foal every year. All my horses - mares, geldings, young and old - will line the fence to watch the new addition. The proud mother usually by day two or three is parading their prize around showing off!
Back to the foaling . . .
I grabbed baby and and led Sarah to a private (no neighbors) run and she immediately settled down. (She is such a good mare!) Her baby is very alert and talkative - Sarah doesn't answer yet as I'm not sure she's figured out what this little stranger is! The foal had passed it's meconium as a large portion of it was on her mother's face and passed even more after we gave her some colostrum.
To be on the safe side we milked Sarah (I love Udderly EZ Mare!) and gave 48 cc of colostrum (she gave us close to 80 cc of thick, sticky, glorious colostrum, so the rest is in the fridge!) and 1/2 tube of Foal Response to the baby.
We haven't seen the foal nurse yet, so this is purely precautionary. Sarah didn't resist much to the milking, one almost kick, then she relaxed and let my daughter milk her while I held her lead rope and talked to her. I was glad to see she was so cooperative, as some new mom's are not always so thrilled with anyone poking around back there - whether it be a sore bag or being ticklish.
I gave Sarah .5 cc of banamine and a full dose of Ivermectin and we left her happily munching her hay.
Now for a name!
Sarah's registered name is Tricked Me Tina as her mother, Tina, delivered Sarah on our hills a few weeks early in the early evening - a rarity for us - as most of our foals are born between 11-2 at night or 4-6 in the morning.
Sire is Las Doradas Bonus Bucks (black and white, blue eye'd pinto), so two pinto parents . . . homozyous maybe? That would be great, but healthy and alive is what we wanted, so I'm pleased!!!!
Barn name might be April. Registered name Wesco Farms ?
One down, eight to go - hopefully they'll all be this perfect!!!!
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