Foals in the Pasture

In the spring of 2004, we were expecting two foals.  Messenger of Light aka "leia" was in foal to Waquoit, due in late March and Street Dasher aka "Bunny" was in foal to Land's End the Colonel's Fox, due in late May.   Leia's foal would be apurebred Thoroughbred, hopefully destined for the race track and Bunny, an Anglo-Arabian, was carrying a foal by a Welsh Pony, hopefully destined for the top as a hunter pony.


As Leia's due date approached, I kept a close watch on her.  I set up the camera in the foaling stall, ran the cables to the house, so that I could watch her from the comfort of my den.   I knew she was getting close and started to stay up at night, sleeping in a recliner that was next to the small TV that I had hooked up to the camera.   Finally, I knew she was definitely close, probably within 24 hours.   I watched her all night, barely getting any sleep.   My husband got up about 7 or so and I told him that I thought she was close, but I desperately needed some sleep.    He promised to keep a watch on Leia for me.   He even offered to clean her stall.   So, i told him that when he cleaned her stall that he could let her out, but she would need to come back in as soon as he was done.

So, I laid down about 8 AM and slept for several hours.  I knew he would come to get me if Leia went into labor.   When i woke up, I went to the den and saw him sitting in his recliner and there was no Leia on the TV screen.  He told me he had decided to keep Leia out a little longer and would go out to bring her back inside in a few minutes.   I said, "OK, but don't wait too long."   I was starving, so I went to get something to eat.

I sat down and started to eat and I asked if he could look out the window to check on Leia, because of my vision, I can't see that far.   So, he got up and looked out the kitchen window and suddenly started yelling, "Red Alert!  Leia's having her foal!"

I lept up, leaving my food on the table, threw on my barn boots, grabbed the foaling bag kit and raced out the door, with him behind me.   I raced to the paddock and found Leia down and a foal laying a few feet away.   Leia had luckily laid down where a round bale had been, so it was one of the cleaner spots in the paddock.   As I assessed the situation, Gordon rushed to get Bunny and another mare, Shadow, out of the paddock.    Bunny didn't want to leave her friend, but reluctantly left when Gordon opened up the gate leading to the large back field.

Gordon then came back to help me.   The foal was up on it's chest and Leia was working on delivering the placenta.   I checked the foal quickly and discovered that it was a filly and she was large and appeared healthy.   Leia stood up and delivered the placenta.    Gordon and I then picked up the filly and moved them to the foaling stall.

I dried the filly off and we put betadine on her umbilical stump.   She was quickly to her feet and looking for her mother's milk.   As with Luke, Leia was an excellent mother and we decided to call the long legged dark bay filly, Princess.   She had a few white hairs, so we guessed she would be turning grey, just like her sire, Waquoit.

I was a little upset with Gordon for not putting Leia back in the stall, after cleaning it, like I had asked, but since everything turned out alright, I got over it quickly, as he learned his lesson.

A few weeks later, Leia and Princess left for Leia to go be bred to Zillionair, a rare colored cremello Thoroughbred.

Bunny was not due until late May, but as April turned into May, I started to think that there was a chance she would carry this foal shorter than the last two.   She had carried Tell A Tale for 361 days and Belle for 350 days.   On day 332, I checked her in themorning and she had a decent size udder and I talked to her and said, "Tonight you start staying inside for me to watch you."  

After breakfast, I turned her out in the back field with Shadow and Belle.   Belle loved being back with her mother.   Belle was almost 15 months old and was so beautiful.

That afternoon Gordon and I sat down to watch the Black Eyed Suson Stakes from Pimlico and enjoyed the race.   After the race, I was preparing to head out to feed the horses and bring Bunny in for the night.   Gordon went into the kitchen to put something away and the next thing I heard was him yelling, "Red Alert!  I think Bunny's had her foal!"

I lept up so fast and almost ran into the back door, I couldn't believe it.   I shoved my boots on and ran as fast I could to the back field.   They were in the far back, but were slowly making their way towards me.   As they got closer, I saw Bunny and Belle walking side by side and Shadow was circling them at about a 30 to 40 foot distance.   Inbetween Bunny and Belle I saw an extra head and got them to stop and Bunny, trusting me, let me get inbetween her and Belle to see the new foal. 

It was still soaking wet, but since it was up, it was obviously strong.  But we were still quite some distance from the barn, so I scooped up the foal into my arms and started carrying it.   Gordon finally made it out to us and offered to help, but I was doing okay.   I just told him to open gates and stall doors, on the way and to make sure that Belle and Shadow didn't follow Bunny and I.

Bunny and Belle kept right with me as I carried the foal, who weighed around 60 pounds.   As we exited the back field, heading into the paddock to the right of the barn, Gordon was able to get Belle to back off enough to shut the gate.   This made Belle very upset, she wanted to be with her mother and the foal.

Once we got into the foaling stall, I set the foal down and checked it over, "Another filly!"  I called out, with excitement.   She was so cute, had a huge star on her face, a white snip on her nose, and 3 white pasterns.   But, like Princess, we could tell that it looked like she would be turning grey, as Bunny was grey.

It took some effort, but the filly eventually nursed and was totally healthy, despite the early foaling date and surprise of being born in the pasture.   Because she was born about the time that the Black Eyed Susan was being run, we decided to call her Suzy.

When Suzy was strong enough, I reunited her with her big sister, Belle and Bunny was perfectly content for Belle to help out with Suzy's care.   It was so sweet to watch the three of them interacting.   I had heard of this kind of behavior in wild horses, where a mare's older daughter helped with a younger sibling, but it was the first time I had truly witnessed it first hand.   A lot of times people don't allow this kind of interaction amongst their herd, for fear of the older sibling hurting the younger one, but Belle was so gentle and loving, she'd do nothing to hurt Suzy.

Leia and Princess returned, when Leia was confirmed pregnant to Zillionair and shortly after that Bunny was confirmed in foal to Farnley Belshazzar, who had been the sire of Tell A Tale, born in 1999.  

I registered Princess as Quoit Blessed and she was eventually sold to a client, as a racing prospect, when she was a yearling.   She was given a chance to race, but due to some bad training, running her the wrong distances, and some bad luck, which caused a tendon injury, she never won, 4th being her best finish.   Princess is now the dam of two beautiful Jazil fillies.   I look forward to them racing.   They were born in 2010 and 2011, so I still have to wait a bit longer to see them race.

Suzy was registered as a Half Welsh Pony as Perfect Peace What a Blessing, sometimes seen with no space between "what a" to make it "whata".   I sent her to be trained by Sarah Warmack at Hilltop Farm VA, when she was 3 years old.   Sarah did a wonderful job with Suzy and started her show career.   Despite the starting of the decline in horse sales, we were able to get close to our asking price for Suzy, as she was so nice.   Suzy is a super nice mover and is always winning her hack classes and winning or getting top ribbons in her over fences classes as a Hunter Pony.   She was sold when she was 4 years to Kristin Mangum.   Suzy competes up and down the East Coast at A Circuit level shows, winning ribbons at HITS, Warrenton, Culpeper, Deep Run, Upperville, etc.   We could not be prouder of her success and look forward to hearing even more of her success as she continues to mature and develop.