Beauty's Filly Arrived

Pulling up to the pasture to feed there was an extra set of legs this morning.

Beauty foaled hours earlier a little filly. When the vet palpated her 2 months ago, the foal felt very small so he put her due date estimate as late summer. The foal must have not developed correctly for gestational age and seemed small for how far along Beauty actually was, throwing us off on her dates.We had an idea it would be sooner as recently Beauty looked more and more uncomfortable, acted sweeter than usual, and even mutually groomed with Whisper the other night (they don't care for each other). She had not looked pregnant when she was quarantined with the rest of the TN30 herd and was on fescue grass much too long as a result, so bagging up as a clue foaling was close, wasn't going to happen.

Beauty had no problems coming right up to me for petting and attention so I was able to check her out and the new baby.

I was immediately struck by how cute she was, but also how she moved. Her hind legs were not holding her weight properly. Beauty had been starved, fought full blown strangles months ago, dump fed by volunteers during quarantine, and basically was in the worst conditions making the odds of a deformed foal much greater.

I searched for the placenta, having a pretty good idea of where to look thanks to the 15 turkey vultures that flew out of the pasture when I pulled in. They had already been nearby for a stillborn calf, so afterbirth was all but gone when I got to it.

I fed Whisper and Promise, but Beauty wasn't leaving her little wobbly baby behind, so I walked grain down to her. Do you know what heaven is? Holding a little newborn filly, fluffy coat freshly dried, nickering tiny horse nickers (that Promise can't help but answer a little faster than Beauty does).

The girls and Pirate finished up and came down to see what was going on with the newbie.

Beauty is a very sensible Mama, keeping her baby close but not being so obsessive as to step all over her in the process. Good thing since it appears that she was a maiden mare.

Watching the filly walking over an hour's time, it's hocks seemed to strengthen but would still bow harshly out to one side at times. Then problem number 2 began to become obvious. Beauty didn't bag up as much as Promise did and as I watched the filly try and nurse time after time, I could not see her swallowing.

I called the vet out to have a look at the filly, specifically to check her legs and Beauty's milk supply. To do this, I needed to have them up in the enclosure we put up just for this purpose. Beauty was doing well with me handling her, so I started to get her moving in that direction.

I was able to halter her and we worked out a system where I was leading Beauty with one hand helping the foal move with us while the other hand kept Beauty from getting in front and turning in to us.Whisper ran up and got everyone riled up a few times, but we managed.

The vet checked both over. Beauty was having some trouble and began to look colicy and uncomfortable, add in the oxytocin she needed and her discomfort required some sedation. She'll be on this for the remainder of the day. She was also given the first dose of Equitox (domperidone) needed to up that milk production. We determined that she did have precolostrum and the foal was given supplement via tubing to give the mare a break for a little while and allow the milk to build. He looked at her legs and said she was windblown. Her legs should tighten up though in a few days, on restriction in the enclosure.