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Carson’s pony mare, Paint by Numbers, was bred to Freedom CF last year.
Numbers foaled on Saturday morning at 10:11. Carson had been on foal watch for weeks and spent the night with a friend on Friday night, so I took watch. Starting around 2am, Numbers would give a little kick and squeal, and had started producing some white milk that afternoon. Adding to that excitement, someone turned three horses loose on the land adjacent to our farm around 1:30 in the morning and Otschag took exception to it and kept sounding the watch alarm until I took the flashlight, walked the field and came back and gave him a pat on the nose. He was satisfied at that point that all was well, but would knicker in response to Number’s little squeal during the night.
So about 6am, I got up with the chickens and put Numbers out with the two yearling fillies to stretch herself and graze on what little grass we have left. I went to the house to take a nap. Then I had coffee, got out some photos, read email and lollygagged back to the barn…I was refilling water in the back stalls and walked to the front and it was 10am and I saw Numbers lying down right where a round bale used to be…the dirtiest place possible. Her eyes were closed and at the very first moment I didn’t see any breathe and I thought in my head, “Oh no…she’s passed!” and then I saw a breath and her eye flicker and my heart soared. I ran to my office and called Art and told him to get Carson because Numbers was having her baby. Art says that Carson said, “Are you serious???” and from the look on her face she knew! By the time I was out of the office, I looked up and Carson was flying as fast as her legs could carry her down the hill.
Carson made it in time, just as Numbers got up and turned around and delivered the foal up to the shoulders and then she stood up. I could see through the sack that there were two tall socks on the front legs, and a cute dark face…so I got my trusty bandage scissors and made a hole for air (what is the tensil strength of one of these sacs anyway???)…so there she was with the foal out and stuck at the hips…eyes blinking and mouth working. I gave a gentle tug and without having very far to fall…there it was…and without a doubt…it was a glorious little colt.
He sat up like a dog right away and started trying to get up. It’s worth mentioning that the yearling fillies were out with Numbers and Bona Fide was very intrigued with the goings on. By this time, Art and Carson’s friend, Chloe, were with us, so while they “stood guard”, I lured Bona Fide and Lolita to their stall with grain. Everything happens so fast like in a dream when foals are born. The foal did everything with his body, got his hips sideways and up like a pretzel, up behind and not in front. Carson straightened his front legs for him and up he popped, like a water skier up for the first time – just a little wobbly, but good to go!
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