Some photographs...

Three months later...

Due to everything that has been going on with my young mare, Grace, I have not really been updating the Blogs as I should do... However, I am now determined to keep both Blogs up to date.

Since the last entry Hannah and I have been having lessons with Jo Graham and one with Spencer Wilton. Hannah tends to set in her jaw so I have been working really hard to soften her and get her working more through her back and stretching her neck down. She is great in the collected work, but finds stretching down difficult because it is not something I have done much work on before with her. This does seem to be inducing a few more strops than usual, but I think this is more due to the fact that she is unable to fight me!

We have made a small step backwards as I moved yards and went away after Christmas for 10 days, but I did expect this. I have a lesson booked with Spencer on Wednesday, so hopefully he can get us back on track and ready for Hannah’s BD debut on Saturday at Croft Top. I have booked her in for P17 and N38, then the following weekend she is booked in at Myerscough in the Novice class. I would like to concentrate on the Novice tests more, and perhaps in February start taking her out to some Elementaries too as she can certainly do all of the moves required.

I am now increasing her work load as she has started to finally gain some condition. When she came back from stud she was quite thin, and because she started working she seemed to struggle getting the weight on and keeping it on. It didn’t help that she was on hay, but since moving yards I have put her back onto haylage and she is now looking really well!

Fingers crossed for Saturday!

They are weaned...

Troy has now been weaned and Hannah is now back in work.

The whole weaning process went so smoothly I could not believe it... We just led Hannah away from Troy and his friends, loaded her and brought her home. There was no fuss at either end, and neither one has missed the other. I am incredibly proud of myself for making the decision to send them away, it was the best thing I could have done and the least stressful way of weaning,

Since Hannah has come home she has had her teeth, back and saddle checked and is now doing around 30 minutes in the school at trot and canter. We had a lesson last week with Andrea Johnson (nee Morris) because Hannah and I were getting into our old routine of a fight and I wanted to nip it in the bid before it even started. Andrea was great and we got her working really well. Since the lesson she has worked fantastically well, and is showing me all the ability she had before she went into foal which I am really pleased about!

Troy is now standing at around 15hh and is loving his life at stud! He is currently living out with another colt called Louis and the two of them are really chilled out and happy. He has matured an awful lot since he went a month ago and is no longer yapping at me whenever I handle him, instead he just stands and allows you to do what you want. I can’t believe he is almost 8 months old though, he is turning into a really stunning looking little man!

We took some pictures of him, so when I have uploaded the images I will put them on here too!

They have gone to stud!

I have been so worried that I was not doing the right thing that I have barely even thought about the actual process of taking Hannah and Troy to stud. It only dawned on me last night that he has not been in the trailer since he had his ‘little’ operation, but I need not have been concerned.

We loaded Hannah first and she stood quite quietly while we concentrated on Troy. He kept backing away from the trailer and because Hannah was getting a bit worried my Dad and husband tried encouraging him from behind like we did the first time he travelled. However, he was much smaller and lighter then!

I could see him getting a little stressed and worried by it all, so I asked everyone to step away and I gave him a minute to think about what he was being asked to do. I put some pressure onto his halter, and he took a few steps forwards loosening the rope a little. Then I asked for him to come onto the ramp, and as soon as he placed his front feet on it, I let the rope go slack and gave him a scratch on his head while he thought about what he had achieved.

When I applied the pressure again, Troy stepped onto the ramp with his back feet, so I allowed him to have a look at the ramp, but he was no longer suspicious of it and was confident enough in me to relax. I then asked him to walk into the trailer, and he just walked straight in and stood completely still while we closed the doors and put the ramp up. I was just so proud of him!

I could hear Hannah moving about in the back as we set off, but apart from that she seemed really quiet. When we got to stud, I was dreading dropping the ramp. I don’t think you ever feel confident when you are travelling a mare and foal! But again, I had nothing to worry about. He was quietly suckling when we looked, but poor Hannah was wet through as she always is when she travels. He did not have a bead of sweat on him!

Hannah was unloaded first as she was nearest to the ramp and I expected Troy to run after her and leap off the ramp. But he walked down as cool as a cucumber, and stepped off as though he had been travelling for years... what a fantastic little man!

They have settled in really well and will be going out tomorrow and gradually introduced to the others. I am sure he will soon be as happy as pigs in muck playing with the other foals and getting to be the baby he really is. I am hoping to go over and see him this week, but I am going to miss them both so much while they are away!

It's nearly time for them to go away...

After a lot of worrying and thinking, I finally decided the best thing for Troy would be to enjoy some time with other foals. Since being born he has only ever been in a field with his Mum, therefore has never really had the chance to play with other youngsters. I am not saying I would not do it the same way again because he has turned into a lovely little man, but I think in his last month with his Mum it would do him the world of good to start interacting with other horses.

I phoned Trudy at End House Stud and she said both Troy and Hannah could go and live out for a few weeks at the stud. Originally I was going to wean them at another venue, but what worried me was the fact Hannah would have to travel back in the trailer without a partition. I am a lot happier with the way I am doing it, and I think it will be less stress free for the Hannah and Troy too. There are two other mares with colts going to the stud to be weaned. Hannah and Troy will go in with them, and then they will all be weaned together. Hopefully, once Troy is used to being without his Mum I can move him to the original place he was going to be weaned and stay there as long as necessary!

So, the big day is Saturday 1st September... I am just hoping they both load and travel as well as they did to the vets, and that they settle when they get to stud.

Last night I wormed Troy for the second time. I weight taped him, measured out the wormer needed and as I went to give it to him I must have knocked the gauge and the whole 500kg worth of wormer went in. I phoned the vet immediately as I was unsure what to do, but he reassured me that he would be fine and just to keep an eye on him. Thankfully, he is absolutely fine and most definitely worm free too!

Then this afternoon he had his first vaccination. I was all ready for him to be leaping about, but there was absolutely no reaction whatsoever. He did not even realise it has been done! Just another thing he has experienced and not been fazed by. I am going to miss him so much when he is away!

I cannot believe he is 16 weeks old

The past few weeks have been quite a trial with Troy. Since the weather became colder and wetter he has turned into ASBO Troy! He is spooky, bargy and very nippy. The other night he would not have his head collar put on in the field and kept running off with all four feet off the ground, so I decided enough was enough.

Since Richard Maxwell has been out, Troy has been a pleasure to handle. But I have to admit I have become a little lax with his teaching because he has been so good. So, on Monday night I put Hannah in their stable and kept Troy outside. I made him do lots of moving away from me, and then encouraged him to move into the pressure rather than pull away from it. He put up a bit of a fight at first, but by the end he was listening to me, respecting my space and doing as he was asked.

The teaching seemed to have truly hit home because he has been very good again. Yesterday the driveway had flooded and there was one area where the water was past my ankles. Hannah walked straight through it without a second glance, but Troy was really frightened and just wouldn’t come near to it. Because I still lead him on the long rope, I stood with Hannah on the other side of the Troy eating water, and let him figure it out for himself. He was running from side to side for about 5 minutes, but I did not put any pressure on him because I knew this was a pretty big thing for him. All of a sudden he stopped, looked at me and then leapt into the water! Once he was in, he just stood there as if to say, “Is that all it is? No problem, I can handle this!”

Troy also had his feet trimmed and filed a few weeks ago… he was a bit of a handful, but the farrier was very patient with him and Troy eventually stood still and allowed him to take some length off his feet. Since then I have been picking them out every morning, just so he gets used to having his feet handled every day.

We are now learning how to trot up in hand, so hopefully I will get some footage of his trot because in my opinion he has a lovely elevated action. I am just hoping and praying that it is a sign of things to come!

Troy is 11 weeks old

I cannot believe he is already 11 weeks old! It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was sleeping in the caravan every night and looking like a zombie in the day time. I just have not had the time to keep updating this blog, but while I have a day off I thought I would fill you in on what has been happening in Hannah and Troy’s world.

Hannah gradually became more settled being led out with Troy and after the first few days she started to relax and would let him leave her in the field for short periods of time. She is now quite happy for him to be led away from her (I think she likes the break) and the other night my husband walked her around the corner and into her stable and she did not bother at all that she could not see him.

Troy had to have a little operation when he as just a few weeks old. I started to notice that his willy was quite swollen when he came in from the field. At first I thought it could be flies biting as we were having some warm weather, but when it was still swollen after two days I called the vet up. Kathleen said his willy was too big for the opening therefore it was impossible for it to pop out. So a trip to the vets was required and as you can imagine, it was quite a stressful event. Hannah loaded perfectly the first time but Troy ran off around the back of the trailer so we brought her out and then started all over again. The second time we practically lifted Troy in and they both travelled and unloaded really well.

Coming home was less of an ordeal. Troy understood what was expected of him, and as soon as Hannah had been loaded he ran up the ramp to join her. We travelled Hannah tied up and Troy loose with no partition, and this seemed to be the best option for these two as Hannah did not sweat up as she usually does when travelling.

Despite this little set back in his life, Troy seemed to get quite coltish and I wanted to nip it in the bud before it became worse. So I organised for Richard Maxwell to come up in April and do some work with both Troy and me to point us in the right direction.

When Max came out he showed me the sort of work I could be doing with Troy to keep him interested (rather than nipping all of the time) and teach him things that would be so valuable to him in the future. I have continued to do some work with him both in the field and in his stable, which does seem to be making him a nicer foal to be around. He still nips quite a lot, but he also knows that she should not be doing it too! His leading has improved, although we still have stand offs where we both refuse to move, but he is now giving in every time and the periods of standing still are reducing each time.

I will try to update this more often from now on because he is changing so much and developing new characteristics every day. He continues to nip, but has been much easier to handle and is now starting to respect people’s space rather than just running into you. The only time he is a handful is when he is wet and wants to rub on anything in his reach, including me!

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!

Still no foalie, and only one day to go!

I got to the yard at 10.15pm last night and had to go into Hannah’s stable because I had forgotten to fit the camera when I left. As I got to the door I noticed she looked a little agitated and her stable was an absolute disaster area.

I skipped her out, tidied her bed, and then went to the caravan for a well earned cup of tea with Sue. I honestly thought that last night was the night!

I checked on her every hour, but she seemed a lot more settled and started eating her haylage and then finally went to sleep at around 3am. I continued to check on her, but I knew that it had just been a false alarm… can you imagine how tired I am this morning?!

There is no wax still, and no sign of her running milk. Her bag was more swollen this morning than it has been and her quarters have noticeably slackened now, although still not to the extent I have seen on some photographs of mares ready to foal down. I think the caravan is going to be my home for quite a bit more time yet!

The caravan saga begins

Last night was my first night staying in the caravan. Sue Williams’ Mum and dad have kindly let me borrow their caravan until Hannah has her foal and I cannot thank them enough. It has a heater, television, kettle and a very comfy double bed that I slept in last night.

I got to the yard at 11.30pm last night (wanted to be there for 11pm but had fallen asleep on the sofa). It was a really cold night last night, and as I had not been sure what I was going to do, I had not left the heater on in the caravan. It took quite a while to heat up, but by then I was lay on the sofa watching Wags Boutique with a cup of tea and my CCTV screen at my side.

I set my alarm to go off every hour so that I could check on Hannah and get to know her routine at night. The last check was 4.30am and she was fast asleep and very quiet so I decided that I would go back to sleep until 7.30am.

I woke up to the sound of heavy rain on the roof, howling wind and someone opening the gate to tip their wheel barrow on the muck heap. I stayed in bed for a little while longer watching Hannah on the camera and then got up and made myself a cup of tea.

Wandering out to feed the girls with my cup of tea in my hand, I went straight into Hannah’s stable to have a look at her. She had something sticky all over her udders, but still no sign of ‘real’ waxing up or running milk. Her muscles in her bottom have definitely slackened even more and you can now see the head of her tail, but I don’t think she is going to foal in the next few days if I am honest.

However, I will be staying in the caravan until the foalie arrives as she now has her foaling alarm on at night and I need to be close to the stable in order to hear it go off. Sue is staying with me tonight and bringing hot chocolate and carrot cake… so it looks as though we will be having a little feast watching Hannah happily snoozing!

Hannah had a restless night

Hannah was really quite restless last night. I went up at 11pm (after Lewis had finished) and she was stood breathing really heavily, her head down and her flanks heaving quite a lot. She kept looking around at her tummy and then putting her ears back as she tensed it up. I honestly thought this could be the first stages of labour.

I wanted to give her some peace and quiet for a while so I went home, had a cup of tea, and then drove back at 1.30am. She was still breathing heavily, but definitely much calmer and no longer tensing up her tummy. I knew that whatever it was had not passed, and she would be quiet for the rest of the night.

Her muscles around her tail have slackened off a little more this morning and are now quite spongy but they are not as concaved as I have seen in some pictures I have seen. There is still no sign of waxing up or running milk, and she seemed quite calm when she went out in the field this morning. However, she was very ‘slow’ this morning and seemed to be dragging her feet and quite stiff in her back end.

Her udders are still very warm and have a very strange smell to them. It reminds me of the waxed table cloths that children have at their parties, but as I have already mentioned, there does not seem to be any wax around the udder itself.

Not long to go now

Hannah is getting ready to foal now. Her bag is absolutely HUGE, her stomach looks as though it has dropped even more and the bump has moved backwards. I don't know how many more sleepless nights I can take!

Sue's Mum and Dad have kindly given me their caravan so I can stay over at the yard when she looks as though she is ready to have her foal. It has a TV, cooker, fridge (for the ever important champagne) and shower! I am very grateful as it allows me to keep an eye on her and keep the foaling alarm close by when it finally comes on Monday.

Until then, there is nothing I can do but sit and wait...

Bagging up

Hannah is looking so fed up at the moment, I think she has finally had enough of being in foal. She is restless, cannot get comfortable in her stable and is not eating much now. Her bag has started to fill quite a lot, and one side is now hard all the way down to her udder. She also looks to have lost a lot of weight over her hind quarters and looks very 'hippy'. However, I am still hoping she makes it to her due date as the weather is so cold at the moment it would be a great shock to the foal should it come out in the next few days.

Hannah is getting out for an hour or so every day, but she is quite bored on her own in the field and does start running around if there is any banging going on in the school. Hopefully once the foal comes she will settle more and not be so worried about things.

I will keep the diary updated as often as possible over the following few weeks, as she is changing so rapidly.

6th February 2007

Hannah has become quite restless over the past few days, and has gone off her food. He bag has become extremely hard and full, but there is no wax appearing on the end of her teats yet.

She still has over 20 days to go before she is due, but I have a feeling she is not going to wait that amount of time now. Even though she has only just started bagging up, it seems to be coming thick and fast. Also, the fact that she has gone off her food is a big indicator that something is not right because Hannah lives for her haylage!

I am going to sort out her foaling bucket today and buy a foal slip, just in case!

Rapidly changing shape

With 27 days to go until Hannah’s foaling date, she is changing shape every day. He stomach has started to drop even more, her quarters have slackened, and she is showing signs of bagging up.

Hannah is now going out in her own field for a few hours every day which seems to be helping her stiffness. She also appears to be much happier now she is getting out every day, she was obviously feeling fed up when she was staying in.

I am not organised at all for the actual foaling, even though I started off completely on top of things. So far her CCTV has been fitted (but not turned on yet), her foaling alarm ordered and she now has her Nedz Bedz bedding which is lovely and thick.

This weekend I have planned to sort out her foaling bucket and leave it outside the stable and buy a foal slip and rug (just in case the weather is dreadful on the foal’s first day out). I don’t know whether it is unlucky to buy things like this before the foal is born and is healthy, but these are things that it will need straight away should everything go nice and smoothly (fingers crossed!)

Apart from looking huge, Hannah is actually looking really well. Her coat is extremely shiny, her feet seem to be doing quite well considering she has always had poor hooves and she is keeping condition over her hip bones where she usually loses it.

Not long to go now though…

Only one month and two weeks to go

I cannot believe how close we are getting to the big day now. I have a feeling she will be a little bit early as her shape has changed a lot while I have been away and she is starting to get a bit restless and fed up. Also her stomach has dropped considerably and she is beginning to have a small swelling in front of her udders. Poor thing, she must be feeling huge by now.

I am hoping to change her bedding either this weekend if I have time or the weekend after, and she is going onto Nedz Bedz rather than straw. I am also ordering my foaling alarm tomorrow, and will get someone to fit my CCTV as soon as possible so I can start to see what her activities are at night.

Sorry it has been so long... Hannah is now 284 days!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted an entry. So firstly let me apologise to those of you who have been checking to see whether it has been updated.

Hannah is doing extremely well and getting fatter and fluffier by the day. We only have one month, three weeks and five days to go before she is due to foal… I am not ready at all and have to admit the panic is definitely starting to set in a little!

But my lovely girl is taking the whole thing in her stride, so hopefully she will take to being a mother just as she has taken to being in foal. She is getting a little uncomfortable now when it starts moving around as she goes very still and puts her ears back, stamping her back foot and glaring at me. Then she will go back to munching on her haylage once it has finished moving. It seems to happen mostly in the evenings as I have not seen it moving in the day time yet.

Hannah is going out for a couple of hours every other day and seems to be doing well from this. I know it is not ideal at this stage of her pregnancy, but she does not seem too keen on being out for longer periods and comes running to the gate when I walk up to get her (not something she usually does when she is in a field). Our yard owner has sorted out her field for when the foal is born and has said Hannah can start going out in that so she can get out every day, but it is so wet at the moment that I have been putting it off as I do not want to spoil the field for the summer. When she gets a little closer to foaling I will put her out in there every day, but at the moment she seems very content and actually prefers eating her haylage in her stable than being out in the rain.

I am hoping to get some pictures of her and put them on here when I get back from my holidays… I am sure you will notice a huge difference!