Foaling and Showing Rolled into One - The End of Day 2

Saturday afternoon it seemed like Dare was fairly quiet. The calm before the storm is what I guessed. When I'd left in the morning the mare had white icicles about an inch long hanging from each teat. I knew we must be closing in on the actual foaling.

Lady of Chaos followed me home from the show. She wanted to see the new colt and was hoping maybe we'd catch Dare giving birth. Dare wasn't co-operating but the new colt was full of himself and put on quite a show. I think that Dare was a bit relieved to have the focus off of her for a while anyway.

By early evening my b*tt was dragging. Two or three hours of sleep a night was catching up to me. By 9:30 I went onto Mare Stare and asked both on Dare's thread and in the chat for eyes to watch while I took a nap. I figured if I could sleep until about 1 I could get myself through another long night.

I got enough responses I felt safe heading off to bed. I took my usual half hour or so to finally fall asleep. Then somewhere in that deep fog that surrounds us when we sleep, I heard the ringing of a muted phone. Suddenly I sat straight up in bed as my sleep shattered into a million pieces as reality struck that sound was a real phone and something must be happening with Dare.

I grabbed the phone and heard the words "Dare is down and it looks like she is foaling." I briefly thanked the caller, grabbing for my clothes as I headed to the computer to see what was happening with my mare.

Just as I sat down, the cam crashed. I sent Dave out to the barn to check on Dare's progress while I tried to get the cam back up. If she wasn't foaling I wanted to watch from this safe distance in the house. If she was, I wanted those people who had helped have a chance to watch her foal.

I went through all the usual stuff trying to get the cam back up. I kept wondering why Dave hadn't called me to tell me status on Dare. The longer he took the more I worried that something was wrong. I finished dressing while the computer rebooted thinking as soon as it was up, I was heading to the barn.

About that time Dave returned. Even rebooting hadn't brought the cam back online. I asked him why he hadn't called me to give me status on Dare. He said he had but it had gone directly to voicemail. He'd also tried calling the house phone but that was ringing busy. Then he tried calling as he stood right next to me and the call still wouldn't go through. It looked like all our technology wasn't going to help us now.

Dave's check of the mare proved to be useless as well.He told me she was just standing there looking at him. However, he had neglected to check behind her or the stall floor to see if there was any evidence of a pending foal. I immediately headed to the barn, the cam and phones would have to wait.

When I arrived at the barn, Dare was standing there looking at me probably just like she had done with Dave. But I could tell by her face that something was happening. I gave her a cluck pointing where I wanted her to move. She turned away from me and I saw two crossed legs and part of a head twisted to the side. This foal was turned sideways. No way it was coming out without help.

I hollered at Dave to come help me as I headed into the stall. Poor Dare was still standing and pushing with all her might. The foal wasn't budging an inch. Even as I began pulling down with her contractions, the foal wasn't moving. It was going to take Dave and I both to get this foal pulled out of this mare.

As I barked instructions, Dave took a hold of a foot and the two of us began pulling. We were making little progress we were only inching that foal out. I was worried about the umbilical cord being pinched and heard the clock ticking away the seconds in my head. I was explaining to Dave the jeopardy the foal faced as we waited for another contraction.

This time there was a shift in the foal's position as we pulled. We got past the shoulders and the foal shifted. I needed Dave to stop pulling and concentrate on catching the foal so it didn't slam head first into the ground.

Just as he changed positions, the people door in the stall was jerked open. The sound of that door flying open in the middle of the night broke my concentration for just a brief instant. There stood Jessica grinning from ear to ear. "I knew it!" she exclaimed and I went back to pulling the foal while Jessica rattled off how she got here in the middle of the night.

One more good solid contraction and the foal was out. Because the mare was standing, the cord broke prematurely and the sac separated from the placenta as well. That could cause problems getting the placenta to pass but at this point it was time to tend to the foal.

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

Day 3

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