And then comes a day when you KNOW it is going to happen... But you're afraid to tell anyone and jinx it!
Mare is bursting. She isn't nearly as pointy since the foal is now folded up inside her. The vets were a wee bit concerned about her running out of room and she only had a few more days before they wanted to reexamine her for possibly going to a vet hospital (TUFTs) for induction (very messy/risky in horses).
This is what mares do when they're ready to foal. They walk around with
their tails out stiffly and flicking. She'd been doing this for hours.Finally
I decided she could go out.
This tail up behavior was something she normally only did during her circling routines each night... BUT I also had test strips to test calcium levels in the milk, and she was registering all signs go. Her udder developments were also very encouraging.
Again
with the slab sides...
Maureen and Phoenix go for a ride, its a nice warm day and all that snow from the week before is almost gone now.
This is unique eminant behavior termed 'butt pressing'. It's almost as if mare's attempt to hold their babies in.
She did this every nite, all nite, the whole time I watched her, but really went to great lengths to do it on the day she foaled...
Then
she begins to show even more 'signs'. Since these are the 'G' rated pages,
you don't get to go see the udder, but I've been watching her closely
since she's now 'waxing' profusely.
Constant
yawning is a huge sign that they're ready. Still, she managed to hold
of for another 18hrs after this. Determined little mare!
I proceed to give my mare a nice little rump massage. This is really strenuous work, but she loves it. She follows me around, backwards, hoping I'll understand the request. On this day I gave in again, hoping she'd loosen up and drop the damn foal. It worked. :-)
House cleaning.
It seemed like a good idea to go recheck that all the pharmacy items and other materials were readily on hand.
Its amazing how a few weeks can bring total chaos to a well organized set up.
The magazine stand is organized, (well I didn't go so far as to arrange each section by date or anything).
Thats the baby's halter, hanging there towards the left hand side of the picture.
All the hay was swept out of the room. Heather was planning on spending the night and she decided she might have some lawn chairs that might just fit around the other furniture.
They were wonderfully comfortable to sleep on, (as opposed to the chair under the plaid blanket there). This was another emminent sign that the mare would finally foal that night.
The phone reception wouldn't come in if the phone itself moved at all
or had a head in the way. Thus, the headset phone arrangement was devised
early on in the game.
Let
me tell you about my phone bill....... mmmm.
This is the best pizza ever. Bacon and gorgonzola cheese.
How a blood relative of mine can even KNOW its possible to obtain food like this and still look good in breeches is a cruel joke of genetics.
So here we are, 8pm, the mare has been 'waxing' like made and doing all the other really big signs as much as possible...
The room is cleaned.
I have someone to help with the sleep shifts (and she was crucial there!).
And I have just stuffed myself with terrific hot food that didn't come out of a bag.
I just had to happen! (10 hrs later)
