Here’s Fox and Pops 3 days before Fox foaled - Fox is really moulting [as you can see from the amount of hair groomed out] which some say they do more when close to foaling. You can see her belly is quite low and also shown is a photo of her bag to show it’s size at that stage!
Add comment March 16th, 2010
Foxy is now looking quite bagged up and yesterday evening and again this morning, the foal could be seen kicking, in fact when I put my hand on her abdomen, I could clearly feel the foals movements - quite amazing!
The foal will be full brother/sister to Queen Bee so it will be interesting to compare them. With her first foal, Foxy foaled 319 days from the date she ran with the stallion, so on that basis she could possibly foal around 5th March.
Add comment February 19th, 2010
It’s hard to believe that the 4 oldest foals will be weaned soon. Apple will be the first to go to her new home on 13th October. Here is her latest pic:
Add comment September 13th, 2008
Further to the last post, Poppy’s foal didn’t arrive Tuesday afternoon just gone so we’ll have to see if its next Tuesday! Poppy has had a bag for months now and there was quite definite waxing today so…
We had booked to go to Sicily to a wedding, flying to Milan today and taking in the Italian Lakes on the way but sadly those plans have had to be cancelled. It’s definitely not our month - bad start when IÂ accidentally put the new phone in the washing machine!
Anyway, we wish Dee and Antonio a fantastic time on Monday 1st September and regret we can’t be with them to share their happy day. A reception with Mount Etna as the backdrop will surely be very special.
Add comment August 27th, 2008
As we put Pops in for the night, we stayed with her a while to see if we could see the foal move. Boredom set in and we started asking the foal questions! [yes this waiting is starting to get to us!] To our amazement the foal responded quite often with a kick. It wants to be called Brother Scott (it kicked a few times when we mentioned that name - lol) and it will be born on a Tuesday afternoon! It also thinks Pip should get another Louis Vuitton bag much to her mothers dismay.
Brother Scott is a name we like as it was my favourite horse, with an amazing temperament [ridden by Michael Whitaker] and the name also relates to One Tree Hill (American TV show - guess whose favourite that is?!).
Lets see if this prediction has any value!
Add comment August 25th, 2008
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
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
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
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
No foals yet, we expect the first possibly from the end of April. Judging from the shape of Sukia (barrel!) we expect her to foal first……. watch this space!
Add comment April 9th, 2008
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