Suprise this morning

[John K Jordan]

When I went out to feed the horses this morning one mare was acting odd, frantically running up and down a fence line, whinnying and carrying on, wasn't even interested in her food. Very strange.

In walking around the outside of the pasture I found a new baby horse by the beehives! Must have rolled underneath the fence in the middle of the night, sometime soon after birth.
I bought this horse last summer and had no idea she was expecting. She was thin and we had her on a special nutrition diet to put on weight but I, the vet, a horse expert, and the farrier didn't suspect. In retrospect we all should have.

When I coaxed the foal around the fence and into the round pen the mother seemed SO relieved, immediately relaxed. Seems like an excellent mother, attentive and protective but not the least aggressive.

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We named her Secret. Her mother is named Whisper.

This is the second time this has happened. A few years ago I took in a rescue alpaca who presented us with a surprise baby.

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JKJ

[Mark Hennebury]

What a nice surprise!

[Lawrence Duckworth]

that's a nice surprise for sure!

[Jim Becker]

Wow...congratulations! What a pleasant surprise for sure! Perfect name, too.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A great surprise and applicable excellent names! Cool!

[Michael Weber]

John, I really enjoy your posts about your animals.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the great story to make my my morning.

jtk

[Bernie Kopfer]

John with all the animal husbandry and farm work you do, where do you have time to do woodworking? And you are always taking time to offer helpful knowledge here on SMC! Either you don’t sleep or you are the most efficient guy on the planet, making the rest of us look like slackers.😇

[Clifford McGuire]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing that story.

[Tom M King]

Nice looking foal!

[Jeff Monson]

Wow, guess you could say nice score!! 2 for the price of one. Really nice looking foal, great markings like its mom!

[Tom M King]

Is the mare nursing the baby okay now?

[Mel Fulks]

Could be missed by anyone , how many times have we heard Andy Devine say, “well I don’t know where the horses are . I left the horses
right over there…”. Some say the word “foal” is the old way of saying “fold”, folding is how the mom keeps them a secret. Congratulations ,
enjoy !

[Ron Citerone]

So cool! Congrats!

[Frederick Skelly]

Great story John. Very glad that baby is safe and sound!

[Alan Lightstone]

Man, another birth without an epidural. I'm crushed. ;)

Congrats!!

[John K Jordan]

Is the mare nursing the baby okay now?

All seems well. There is plenty of milk. The foal was nursing within a few minutes of putting them together, right after I dipped her mouth in a handful of mama’s milk (just in case). She licked her lips and soon found the fountain.

Day 2: baby is active, prancing around the round pen, making mama work to keep up! I’ll probably fill up the SD card on my phone quickly if I don’t stop taking so many videos and pics. So many people want to come see her - I could charge for parking.

[Tom M King]

Sounds good!! We had one mare, after a difficult delivery of a foal that was all legs, that got so tight from being too full that she didn't want the foal to touch her. We ended up having to twitch her, but after the baby relieved some of the pressure, all was normal. Since then, I've always worried about that first nursing taking too long to start.

[John K Jordan]

Sounds good!! We had one mare, after a difficult delivery of a foal that was all legs, that got so tight from being too full that she didn't want the foal to touch her. We ended up having to twitch her, but after the baby relieved some of the pressure, all was normal. Since then, I've always worried about that first nursing taking too long to start.

I was concerned too, especially since I didn't know when the foal was separated - it was a least a couple of hours because her coat was completely dry, but if she rolled/slid under the fence just after birth it could have been much longer until the first feeding. (The birthing spot was right next to the fence with a slight slope away from the pasture, 3 strands of tape/wire electrified, maybe 12" gap under the lowest.) I did express some milk first which may have helped. So many things could have gone wrong!

[Rob Luter]

This takes me back. I grew up on a hobby farm with all manner of critters. Newborn foals are very cute. Calves are fun too. My favorite were the Nubian Goat kids. They love to play when they're small.

[John K Jordan]

Mama and baby are doing well. I put a lead rope on mama and take her out every day to an area with an abundance of grass, baby stays close. I put a halter on the little one so she can start getting used to it. Even the smallest halter I can find, "Weaver Foal Suckling", is way too big!

A recent photo:

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JKJ

[Tom M King]

Looks like it has some Arab in it. It seems like there ought to be some Arab foal halters, but I don't know. It's definitely a pretty foal face!