Sleepy Ponies
Foxy is always around when a new baby arrives and when all the fuss had died down they all came and went to sleep next door!
Add comment July 3rd, 2008
4th Foal and 4th Filly!
Lottie gave birth to a filly at 1.40pm on Thursday 3rd July - so not far off the predicted 5th July. First foal for both Lottie and our stallion, Dilston Piper.
My alarm was set for 2am after checking her around 12.15am but I woke at 1.20am to see her get up and down so high tailed it to the stables to see 2 feet and a head just coming. Lottie remained standing to deliver the rest and thanks to a conversation I had recently with Sue from Dilston about Peter having to catch a foal when their mare was standing, I quickly got into position and caught the foal as she arrived. We had expected a broken coloured foal from a piebald and skewbald but she’s very pretty and well so we are happy.
Picture above taken just after birth and below at 8 hours old. More to follow when she goes out to play!
Click thumbnails below to enlarge:
Add comment July 3rd, 2008
One (or maybe 2) to go!
We are looking forward to Lottie, our piebald mares foal - the first foal for both Lottie and Dilston Piper. We have high hopes it will be a nice foal, both parents are lovely ponies. Judging by scan dates etc, we estimate she may foal sometime after 5th July up to approx 25th July! Time will tell if that is correct!
Poppy is still looking like she may be in foal despite nothing showing on the scan, although Ray did hestitate before saying that so maybe there was something there - hiding! We have no dates at all for her though I suspect she won’t be far behind Lottie, I hope so - holidays are on hold until we know!
Keep visiting back for updates.
Add comment June 17th, 2008
Third Filly!
Apolonia, (Apple) for short, was born at 4.45am to our mare Merriville Emma Jane. I had been watching her under camera with an alarm every one and a half hours but something woke me at 4.25am and I saw Emma was down. I got dressed superfast and ran to the stables just in time to see the foal coming. I had thought there was a leg back initially but all was well, a relatively easy birth. Emma’s first foal I’m not sure she quite knew what was happening as she lay flat out then eventually turned around to see her baby.
Add comment June 14th, 2008
Congratulations to Sarah
Congratulations to Sarah who has just passed her 2nd year medecine exams - reportedly the hardest of the course so well done Sarah - we’re very proud of you and Pip [who is also doing great with the GCSEs she’s taking a year early].
Sarah can now finally get her Student Doctor badge! She is scheduled to do placements at The Northern General Hospital in Sheffield followed by Chesterfield Hospital.
Shame she didn’t decide to be a vet - could have saved us a lot of money!
Add comment June 5th, 2008
Kettlesnout Queen Bee
Here are the latest photos of Foxgloves foal, Queen Bee. She is starting to become friendly now. Both Queen Bee and Ariel will be sold at weaning. Deposit secures. Will be sold to good homes where they will have other equine company. Both will be registered with the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society and passported.
Add comment June 1st, 2008
Kettlesnout Ariel
Here are the pics of Sukia’s foal, who was named Ariel by Sarah . Sarah has always had a thing about The Little Mermaid and when Ariel was born her colour was pretty much the same as Ariel’s - though she dried much lighter! But the name suits her so it stays.
She is a lovely friendly foal, and Sukia is proving a very good mum. Pictures taken at birth and at 1 day old on her first outing in the field. Click on thumbnails to enlarge.
Add comment June 1st, 2008
Sukia has a filly!
At 6.15pm Thursday 29th May, Valentine Sukia gave birth to a filly.
We had been in the field discussing foaling signs when we realised Sukia was in fact looking restless and starting to sweat a bit so we brought her in and within 15 minutes the foal had been born. Sukia struggled a bit to deliver her - she was a good sized, strong foal and we were a bit worried at one point when we saw the foal with its tongue hanging out. This foaling was another where we had to break the bag and cut the cord but both mare and foal now seem well.
Pictures to follow tomorrow.
Add comment May 29th, 2008
First Foal by Merriville Prince Charming Arrives!
Dilston Foxglove gave birth to a filly, a great granddaughter of the legendary Ron of North Wells, at 9.45pm last night - Saturday 17th May.
Foxy charged across the field at 9.20pm pawing the ground, desperate to get through the gate to the stable. We let her through and she went straight in and rolled. Her waters broke within 10 minutes and within another 10 minutes the foal had arrived. The foal was in the bag so we broke it but then the cord remained attached so had to be cut. We feel lucky we were at hand given the speed this foal arrived - we wonder whether if we hadn’t been there, this foal may have suffocated in the bag. The afterbirth came away as Foxy stood up which was a bit worrying.
The foal was on its feet relatively quickly but I was up all night with Foxy who suffered extensive afterpains [severe contractions and stomach spasms]. The foal was feeding with her down and she was obviously distressed. We took our vets advice but given the length of time this lasted, we had to resort to getting her out to give Foxy some relief and she settled quite well after that.
Mother and foal seem to be making good progress now thankfully.
1 comment May 18th, 2008
Foaling Update
Still no foals!
I have been watching the ponies during the day and under camera at night for 3 weeks now (seems like 3 months!) and despite several false alarms [hightailing it to the stables in the early hours usually only to find one had rolled then gone back to sleep!] we still have to have our first foal.
A friend has very kindly offered to loan me her foaling alarms as her foaling is finished and as soon as I can make arrangements to collect them it will help. They work on triggering an alarm when a pony starts to sweat, which would work for many but not all so it’s not foolproof and can only be relied upon as a backup.
Many people are lucky and can leave their ponies out and they foal naturally with no problems but one of our mares [before we bought her] lost her foal when it was born in the bag so it can make you a bit paranoid to say the least. This type of problem, together with legs back and red bag foalings, means you can easily lose a foal which otherwise could be saved and although you can’t be there 24/7, you can only take all reasonable precautions.
Hope to have some good news soon!
Add comment May 14th, 2008