This year, my foal watch is a bit different compared to last year. As a recap, last year I was awake about 16 hours a day at the farm... watching. Last year we had 4 mares to foal and it was all on me to help them out. This year however is quite different. The main difference is that I am not at the farm. We have 3 mares to foal out but we are farming it out (maybe a pun intended). I am travelling and working a lot these days and pretty much not on the farm at all, so we are handing all three girls over to our vet to foal out at the clinic. Actually, this is a blessing because Ellie is a higher risk pregnancy- last year Salem got quite stuck.
Incidental Kiss
In theory, Kiss is the first to foal out but we suspect she will be late again. Last year, things went quite smoothly (other than that she really didn't know what to do after Ichiban was born). She is quite pregnant and very cuddly, but not quite there yet. The sire of this foal is a seal brown too so we are suspecting either a seal brown or bay foal.
Due February 7th.
Erma Lee
It's hard to see at this angle, but Ellie is by far the biggest. She's bagged up the most and is at the highest risk of going too early. She has a vet appointment in the morning to determine if she has placentitis and needs antibiotics. She's supposed to go at the end of March but she looks like she's ready to foal along with Kiss! Last year Salem got stuck and needed 3 people to pull her out, so we are glad that Ellie will be at the vet clinic this year. She's the smallest horse on the farm at 15.2h (not including the fillies who are still growing). Due March 28th.
A.A. Flaxen Queen
Pregnant or just fat? Hard to say. This is just a bad angle, but you can see Flax's foal poking out and wiggling once in a while. We're hoping for another uneventful birth from this one! As always, Flax is full of grace and poise, and never minds us touching her belly (unlike the other mares).
Due March 15th.
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