Pharalina surprised me this time. She *always* has her babies at
two in the morning. So every night, I've been staying up late to
keep an eye on her. Thursday morning when I got up early, she was
laying down. I went inside to change, came out and she was still
on the ground. A bit on prodding, and she got up. I checked her
over, but she showed none of the signs of an imminent birth. She
ate her grain, munched on hay, then said she want to go out to
pasture. I'd been watching for a couple of hours, and was late for
work, so I figured why not. She wouldn't foal during the day, now
would she?
Coming home from work, I stopped at the store to pick up the
batteries I needed for my camera flash. I come up my long drive
and see the horses on the hill side. I count, one and two. That
would be Drake and Dragon. One moves and I see another horse with
them. Pharalina is up there too. Uh Oh. What's that I see.
Another little shadow beside Pharalina.
I park quickly. Run up the mountain and see the new born. He's
a cute little guy. He's learned to negotiate the mountain pretty
well. That's uneven ground, rocks, cactus, grass and bushes.
I want them in the corral. I try to tell Pharalina to take him
home. She won't listen. She's more worried about keeping the
other boys away from her little one. So I quickly teach the new
born about being led. Hand behind pushes forward. Hand in front
keeps him sort of straight. Pharalina keeps getting in the way.
The boys are very excited about the new kid on the mountain. They
just want to check him out. They race up the mountain. They race
by as close as mom will let them. It's a real rodeo. Finally,
Pharalina gets going in the direction I want and she leads the baby
most of the way to the corral. Then the boys get in the way again.
It's hopeless.
I run down to the barn. Dogs want to join in. They don't want to
be left in their kennels. To bad. I get Pharalina's halter and
head back up the mountain. Pharalina is not doing very well
keeping the boys away. Baby has found the choke cherry bushes,
which are too thick to get through. I halter Pharalina. Baby goes
to investigate big brother Drake. Pharalina gets upset. I let her
go. She goes after Drake. Drake sprints up the mountain. Dragon
dashes past us. I take the baby and start to led him down again.
Pharalina brings up the rear to keep the boys away.
We make it all the way to the corral this time. Dragon comes in,
but I manage to close the gate before Drake comes too. I move the
new born into the closest stall. Pharalina follows. Dragon is
upset that he can't join. I get a rope, put it around Dragon and
led him out of the corral. Dragon and Drake are upset. Pharalina
is relieved.
Placenta is in the corral. It is complete and intact. I use a
shovel to dump it in a bucket with lid.
I let Pharalina and new born out of the stall. New born wanders
over to the boys. Pharalina chases them off. She nips at the new
born's legs to get him to move away. I get the foaling stall open
and led the new born into it.
Now, did I turn off the car?
I missed the imprinting stage, but decide to try it anyway. You
are supposed to start before the foal has gotten to his feet the
first time. It's easier to do all the initial stuff while they are
on the ground. I've got a walking protesting baby. I hold him,
he moves around a bit, he gets his feet tangled and we go down.
I guess this is what I wanted. Once I get off his feet, they hurt
when you sit on them, I start with the training.
First I rub his neck. That goes ok. Then his rump. I've
forgotten the correct order to do this in. I run all the way down
his back legs and then his front legs. I rub his ears, inside and
out. He starts to go to sleep. I rub over his eyes. I rub his
nose, inside and out. I rub his mouth outside. I rub in his
mouth. Wake up, this he doesn't like. I keep at it. Eventually,
he gives in. I rub him all over. I tap the bottoms of his feet.
Now I'm supposed to repeat this on the other side.
So how do you turn a baby over? You get kicked a bit. I did get
him over, but that put me in the hay nearest the door. Did I
mention that the high for the day was a record low? It's the end
of June. It is not supposed to be 57 degrees, cold and wet. So
I sit in the cold and hold the baby. I work the other side as he
tries to sleep. I'm not sure if imprinting is done while they
sleep. I guess he wasn't much bothered by it.
I finish what I can remember I'm to do. Then it is inside to make
a cup of coffee and make those phone calls. First the vet, I get
a recorded message. Then Sarah, another answering machine. Jaci
has a machine. Caroline answers. She congratulates me and
consoles me for not getting a filly this time. Mom and Dad have
the machine on. Lisa's not at home, she's still at work. We had
planned to go riding but cancelled due to the weather. I figure
we would have come to my place just as Pharalina was having the
baby. Should have kept that date. I call work and tell them I've
had my baby. I love doing that, most didn't know I was pregnant:-)
Get a call from the vet. He'll come up the next day.
Since the weather is so cold, I go to my trainers down the road and
borrow a couple of heat lamps. Come back and find Sarah has called
and left a message for me. I go out and play with baby. I feed
Pharalina her grain. I make sure she has water. Don't have to
worry about hay, the foaling stall still has winter hay stored in
it. I lay down in the hay and just watch. It's getting late. I
begin to fall asleep. Ok, maybe I should just go to bed.
In the morning, they are still there. It wasn't a dream.
So a new dragon for the mountain. He's a chestnut, big star
dribbling to a narrow stripe, a snip which is more of a splotch,
and a dot on his lip. Both left legs have stockings. Right rear
has a half sock, sock on the inside only. He's 9 hands 2 inches
(38 inches). Weighs 97 pounds. Dam is Pharalina. Sire is Swiss
Darq Flame. And Pharalina took a tumble (as in roll and keep on
rolling) down a mountain when she was four months pregnant.
Now I need another dragon name. Tumbling Dragon?
P.S. Two days later, and after much needed sleep, everyone is doing
fine. The biggest thing I've noticed is that this baby does not
run from me. You know how those little ones always run to the other
side of mom when anyone shows up. Not this guy. If he's on the
ground, he'll stay there. If he's up, he'll just hang out. I guess
the imprinting does keep on working even if the little one tries to
sleep on you.
Now it's time for vacation. I'll talk with you all in a few weeks.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Training Development Engineer HP-UX: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop 46 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292