Foaling Season 2008 on the Baby Boomer's Arabian Horse Breeding Farm Part 4

Part 1 starts here

I don't even know how we ended up getting this new little Arabian horse to her feet. Each time she tried to rise without her legs in front of her, we tried to "fix" the situation only to have her get mad. She'd put them back where they were and shake her head clearly telling us to butt out and leave her alone.

The filly made a lot of attempts at getting up but nothing was successful because those front legs were never where they needed to be. I remember putting a foal blanket on so that I could use it as a handle to help her find her balance. I needed to roll her from one side to the other to get the straps under her and fastened but she wasn't co-operating with that either. It was more like a wrestling match than the usual pliable newborns I've dealt with before. As I tried to "flop" her over, she got rigid and rolled back into her original place. All the while shaking that head and blowing at me.

I did eventually get the blanket straps fastened despite her best attempts to stop me. Then I tried stimulating her to rise like I have many foals before but this darn filly was determined NOT to do anything that we wanted. She even managed to thwart the "urge" to rise that comes with running finger down each side of her spine. All I got was head shaking and little hops on her knees.

There was no way I could lift this big filly using my grip on the blanket back seam without her providing some of the impulsion. She was just too heavy for me to lift all that dead weight. I had to give up and turn it over to Dave. Something I am not prone to do since he doesn't follow direction well. Because he really doesn't handle the foals much he hasn't a clue what it takes to get things done with them. I rely on Dave only as a last resort.

This was definitely one of those situations. It was clear it was going to take muscle to get this stubborn foal to her feet. By grabbing the center back of the blanket Dave was able to literally pull the filly straight up off the ground. While the newborn horse wasn't happy with his interference she was glad to be upright. She fought Dave's assistance but was clearly trying to avoid falling. Dave managed to not get tangled in her protestations and next thing I knew, the filly was standing.

Somehow in that struggle she had managed to get a feeling of how her legs should work. It didn't take long from there and she had the hang of being on her feet. The filly fell a few times but managed to pop right back up without any help and make her way around the stall.

A good part of this time the mare was still laying down, resting from her long extended labor and a difficult delivery. Lucy watched the activity with her baby closely and seemed to know when it was time to get up and move onto the next phase our our after foaling chores....getting this filly to nurse.

Because how well a foal absorbs colostrum is directly related to how soon it nurses after birth, the sooner a foal is on its feet and nursing, the more effective the colostrum will be. This filly's little temper tantrums were ticking away precious minutes and still we didn't have her standing, let alone getting anywhere near the milk bar to nurse.

This part of the process is always frustrating to me. I feel the pressure of the clock breathing down my neck. I have had to have several foals tube feed their colostrum because they've not nursed in four hours on their own. Following along with that lateness, I've had foals that needed to be transfused because their antibodies were not high enough.

That combination makes me feel like I'm under a colossal gun which doesn't help with getting a newborn to nurse. Dave has managed to do a fair job of getting the job done with the last couple of foals so I enlisted his help this time as well.

Let's just say that this filly is NOT like most of the other foals we have had. Her determination to do things her way has permeated ever step of the way. Helping her to nurse wasn't any different than getting her on her feet, she didn't want our help and she countered every attempt.

Lucy wasn't helping much either. By now the mare had decided if the filly didn't want our help, maybe we should leave her alone. Lucy was now pinning her ears and circling the stall adding to the confusion. I ended up catching the mare and haltering her to stop her interference.

If that wasn't enough, seems this filly has a bit of a princess ego. Not only did she not want help, she didn't want loose hair on her face. Since her mother is shedding profusely, loose hair is a given. There's really no way to eliminate it from the scene.

Imagine our surprise when this filly finally would but her head in the right location only to remove it instantly. Shaking her head and snorting, the filly was blowing hair out of her nostrils or shaking it from her face.

Sometimes she would even get that loose hair into her mouth. The filly would back up shaking her head and working her lips trying to get rid of those unwanted hairs. She was far more interested in not being bothered by loose hair than finding her next meal. Meanwhile the clock was ticking.

To be continued...............

Part 5


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