|
This story has taken me a little time to write,
because it just broke my heart. Our mare Vanilla Doll was bred in May back to Perpetual Husker - Seeker’s sire. When
the vet did an ulta sound she had twins - being soo late in the year we didn’t want to breed again so the vet advised
to wait and see if she would abort one, and when we did another ultra sound it appeared that one embryo was floating loose
so we thought all was well. The months went by and Vanilla got big - really big - and started making a LARGE bag the first
of March. Her due date wasn’t until the middle of April. We started really watching her on the barn cam through the
night counting down the days, praying that she would at least make it to 320 days, any sooner and foals just don’t have
a good chance except in very rare cases where the foals development is speeded up because of problems the mare is experiencing.
My daughter Amy had come up for a mini vacation - Tim was out of town, so she and I took turns checking the barn cam every
2 hours. Vanilla never gave a hint that she was going to foal -Monday March 26th (Amy’s Birthday) 12:00 am she was just
standing up sleeping - 2:00 am the same - I checked again at my regularly scheduled bathroom trip at 3:30 and Amy did the
4:00 am - NOTHING. I got up at 6:00 am she was just quietly standing in the middle of her stall -I was happy that another
day had come taking her to day 310 in her pregnancy. I fixed coffee went out to dump feed and was greeted with a tiny nicker.
I threw open the door and found a precious tiny little palomino filly lying in a corner still soaking wet. I flew back to
the house and through gasping breaths told Amy - she’s had her baby - come help me. Time slowed-everything felt like
we were moving in slow motion. Vanilla had dropped her after birth so we started picking it up and cleaning the foaling stall
to put down straw-Amy suddenly muttered “what’s that” and there lay a small undeveloped TWIN about the size
of a poodle, it too had to be removed. The little filly was trying to get up but her tiny deer legs were soft and just couldn’t
support her - it’s hard to see the obvious signs of a premature foal but the reality of what you couldn’t see
was a numbing horrible fear. We just had to try and help her live. We milked colostrum from Vanilla and gave it to the little
girl in a syringe, she was sucking anything she could get close to so we thought maybe we could help her reach her Mom. Sitting
on a milk crate, Amy lifted her up and held her across her knees being very careful not to hurt the umbilical cord. Then we
moved Vanilla over close to her and let her search under her Mom until she latched on and began to gulp the milk down, it
was the most wonderful sound in the world. Vanilla an experienced Mom was very calm and never protested with us perched beside
her holding her baby. This was the program for the next 3 days. Our vet gave us shots to help strengthen her legs and said
just keep doing what your doing - she’s trying. Each time we laid her back in the thick straw after helping her nurse
we would pat her ribs to keep fluid from forming, work her little legs to stretch the muscles and tendons, roll her over often
and constantly rub and talk to her. We would touch every part of her soft little body, tiny little hoofs, cute little ears,
her sweet little mouth, and a nicker the sound of wind chimes. Time was a blur - but I began to realize that something must
not be right, because Vanilla knew, you could tell she was ready to give up on her and quit fussing over her, she just knew.
The little filly began to not nurse as well, seemed more lethargic and when I stumbled back out for another 2 hour feeding
she had died. She only lived 3 days, but she WAS here, and the short life time that she lived was a priceless gift that we
shared with her and we will never forget the little palomino filly born on Amy’s birthday with a little star on her
forehead that looked like a little Easter bunny - she WAS Seeker’s little sister Perpetual Secret!
|
