Troy's first day out in the field

It did not go quite according to plan!

Hannah is very foal proud, so is not happy when she cannot see him at all times. We tried taking her out of the stable first, but she just went crazy, so then we tried leading Troy out in front. Hannah started playing up the moment Troy put his head out of the stable and proceeded to jump on my foot!

Bringing her in was just as eventful, as she fell on her side panicking!

The second day out was much calmer as I think we were ready for what Hannah was going to react like, and it went without incident. I think it is going to take time to get her relaxed going in and out of the yard with him, but if the improvement yesterday is anything to go by then hopefully she will start to trust that I will not let anything bad happen to him.

At first she would not let him near to the stable door and would not leave him alone. But last night she left him with me at the door and went back to her haylage, which was a big thing for her I think.

Troy is getting a bit more independent though too, which probably helps. He is starting to be interested in things, and keeps chewing my wellies for some reason!

Meet Troy!

Well, Troy finally came into the world at 10.30am on Monday 12th March! At 5am, Hannah’s foaling alarm went off and I started watching her carefully on the monitor. She was getting up and down a lot, and breathing quite heavily. At 6am people started coming onto the yard and I couldn’t risk anyone tying up near to her so I got up, threw some clothes on, and raced to the stables. Hannah was still down and looking at her tummy a lot, but she didn’t seem to be doing much else.

Corrie came as soon as I phoned her, and thought it might be a good idea to telephone the vets because she had been down so long (around 20 minutes by now). I spoke to Kathleen and she said to give them a call in 30 minutes and see what she was doing then.

We went back into the caravan for a cup of tea and some digestive biscuits, watching her all the time on the monitor. She seemed to settle, so I popped in to have another look at her and noticed she had sticky stuff running down the back of her legs from the vulva. I telephoned the vets straight away, and Kathleen said it sounded as though this was the cervical plug and she was well on her way. But she wanted to send someone out to see her, because she thought she might have stopped because of the activity on the yard.

At 9.30am John turned up at the yard, had a quick fee inside of her, and said she had definitely started and stopped, and that he was going to induce her. Panic set in, as in the foaling bible it says on 25% of inducements survive!!!

I asked John whether he thought she should be induced, and he said she was ready but the foal had its legs tucked under so she might need some help and he would rather be there. He then gave Hannah the injection and went back to the practice for his clothes.

I watched Hannah from the caravan, and she started sweating up almost immediately. When John came back 15 minutes later she was absolutely wet through but not showing any signs of getting down and foaling. John felt inside her again and said there was no reason she shouldn’t be pushing as the birthing canal was open. As soon as he went to get some more of the inducement injection, Hannah lay down, pushed, and out came the bag!

I videoed the whole birth, so when the DVD has been formatted I will try to put it on here.

Watching Troy being born was a very moving experience, and the sounds they make to each other is just so lovely. Hannah loved him the moment she saw him, and was soon licking him all over and encouraging him to get up.

He took about one and a half hours to get up, and had difficulty finding the udder to feed from, partly because he is so big. I helped him, and once he had latched on, he soon knew what to do. Poor Hannah, she just stood there and let him suckle without moving once.

She is turning out to be a very good Mum.

Hannah's foaling alarm went off last night

Hannah is now 9 days over her due date and is looking more and fed up, the poor thing. She had a really restless night last night, and was pacing around a lot, getting up and down and breathing heavily.

I checked her through the night, but at 4.30am the foaling alarm went off. It took Corrie and I some time to realise what the noise was. At first I thought it was the monitor so turned the volume down, then I thought it was the heater, but while turning that off I realised the red light was on!

We got dressed, had a cup of tea and kept a close eye on her through the CCTV. Then at 5.30am she started munching her haylage and seemed to settle down. So we got a few more hours sleep after a very sleepless night.

This morning she had some milk down her legs and her left hock was swollen, probably through rolling around. I turned her out this morning for a few hours, and when I went to get her she wanted to come in. Her bag had gone down a little bit, but there was wet milk down her legs and more coming out when I squeezed them a little.

So it is yet another night in the caravan tonight… Number 14!

Today is her due date

What a night last night! At one point I thought the caravan was going to take off and take me to Oz… There’s no place like home (or at least there is no place like my own bed at home)!

Hannah was very settled again last night and showed no signs of discomfort. I checked on her at 10.30pm, then at 12.30pm and finally at 3am. She was snoozing a lot and seemed quite content keeping me waiting.

I went in to see her this morning and her stable was uncharacteristically tidy. She has not done many droppings in the night which is unusual for her, and there was quite a bit of haylage left on the floor.

I turned her out for an hour while I mucked out, and after half an hour she was shouting to come in and messing about by the gate. But to be honest, I don’t blame her; the weather here is dreadful today.

When I brought her in she started eating her breakfast and then left it. I popped in to have a look at her and could not believe she had hardly touched her favourite thing in life… I checked her over, and again her bag had decreased slightly during her time in the field. Someone on the Horse and Hound forum said to see what came out when you gently milked the udder. So, I decided I would give it a go. There was a small amount of clear liquid and then big blobs of creamy yellowish liquid coming from both. I stopped when this happened as I don’t want to disrupt the natural balance of things.

So, another night in the caravan tonight… I am starting to feel like Trailer Trash. I am thinking of changing my name to Brandeen!