It's a Girl!!!!!!

Hooray!!!! We are excited to announce the arrival of our newest foal who is only 18" tall!!!!  This is our smallest record foal!  Her father (Carmen who is 29" tall) was 19 1/2" tall at  birth so this little girl will for sure stay small!  And she is such a darling!

 

Praise the Lord for a wonderful, natural birth of this dear little girl!

Sadddddd News!

Dear Readers,
Ohhhhh, how do I begin? I had been waiting for sooo long it seems. I did the best I could to prepare. I dreamed. I prayed. Then it happened.  It was Saturday evening, March 31, 2018, the night before Easter Sunday.  I was going to retire early that night due to a cold that I had been battling for several days.  I was getting little sleep. As usual, I made my normal routine check on Charity around 8:30 pm.  She came walking up to me as soon as I entered her stall and I gently examined her. "Wow! She's progressing fast!" I told myself as stepped back to watch her behavior.  I was hoping for a little Easter foal but wasn't sure if it would happen or not.  Now as I stood there observing her as she walked restlessly around the stall there was no doubt that this was her night. I quickly texted the folks in the house with the exciting news. It wasn't long before my right hand sister, Jasmine, entered the barn with some towels.  She and I made us a place to sit in the corner on a pile of clean straw as we awaited what was soon to come.  I told Jasmine I was nervous.  She told me not to be. :)  Charity was nervous too and would walk in circles, stopping every now and then to receive some affection from Dapple, an older pony that I had let stay with Charity for extra company.  The two are so cute together as Dapple is very motherly.  Then the contractions began.  I kept telling Jasmine that any minute now and the water will break. But, no water! Things were starting to get tense. I could tell that Charity was becoming VERY uncomfortable, pushing with nothing coming.  I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and tried to dial my Vet's phone number. After a few times of punching in the wrong number I finally made a connection only to receive an answering machine.  (Of course, I still left a message).  Then I called Mom and told her that something was WRONG!  (Those are words that I dread.)  Jasmine and I got Charity up and started walking her in circles to keep her from pushing. This was also an attempt to reposition the foal as we think that it was in a breach position (probably its head and legs turned back).  IT WORKED!  Soon Charity dropped to the ground and the water broke followed by more strong contractions.  Then a foot appeared. But, only one! :(  We quickly got her up again and soon a nose appeared.  Charity continued to push with slow progress.  The foal's opposite leg was still back in the birth canal!  With desperation I tried to pull with each contraction, but to my disadvantage (and the foal's) Charity stopped pushing to relax for a minute. I can't blame her for that but I knew that the foal could NOT be stuck in the birth canal for very long as it would not be able to breath, due to its lungs not being able to expand and contract.  And trying to pull a foal out is pretty tough when you don't have help from the mare.  After a few minutes she lay down again pushing with a powerful force.  I was very determined that the foal was going to come out, and NOW.  I pulled as she pushed and inch by inch the foal slid out. My heart was sinking as I felt how limp the foal was.  Dad and I quickly tore the sac open around its face and tried desperately to bring it to life.  It was too late.  We watched the red and white paint colt take its last breath.  Tears came to my eyes as I realized this was not a dream.  "Why did this have to happen?" I often asked myself as I think back upon that stressful evening.  Our pastor's wife gave me some comforting words the following day.  She reminded me that God must have had it all happen for a reason.  "Maybe something worse was going to happen later in the foal's life. You never know."  That's right.  Romans 8:28 tells us that "All things work together for good to them that love God."  Even though seemingly "bad" things happen throughout our lives we can be reassured that God makes no mistake.  So, with that in mind I can say through the tears of sadness, "Thank You, Lord, for whatever you are doing."  I told Dad too that I am so thankful that things didn't turn out worse.  Charity didn't suffer any damage and is doing very well.  "Count your blessings, name them one, by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done."


Posted by: Lacy

Update on Charity

Howdy y'all! Thought I'd better fill you in a bit.  First of all I have to admit that I must have made some mistake when I calculated Charity's gestation and there is a good possibility that I did not record the last breeding that took place between her and Carmen.  Now, don't get me wrong, she IS VERY PREGNANT!!!  Each day now she is showing more signs of approaching parturition. In fact, the next step is for her teats to fill up with wax!  Just a few days ago, we could feel the foal moving around.  How exciting! An active fetal is a good sign of a healthy foal.

 

 

 

 

 

350 Day Mark for Charity!!!!!!

Howdy, folks, you're probably all wondering what the latest is on Charity, right?  And you're probably thinking, "Surely she's had to have had her foal by now!"  Yeah, I know, I'm a little embarrassed to say that we are STILL WAITING!!!!  I did some more calculations and Sunday marked her 350th day of pregnancy!!!!  Most mares fall in the 315 - 335 day range, so I talked to my Vet the other day and he informed me that some mares will carry their foals for a whole year!!  He didn't seem too alarmed and told me that the safest thing to do is just wait.  :)  So, BE PATIENT!!!  (I'm talking to myself!)  :) 

                  "Hey, anybody know when my baby is coming?"

Signs of a Mare close to foaling.

Here's a little video to help those of you who wish to know some of the signs of a mare approaching parturition (foaling).  Please note that all horses are different and until you observe your horse long enough you won't know exactly what kind of pattern she takes after.  This will be Charity's first foal so I have not yet learned her either. She might be one of those horses that just, bam! goes through all the hormonal changes in one evening and delivers the foal by my surprise or she could slowly make changes over several days.  But, we'll just have to see. :-) Enjoy!

Meet Charity Video

Little Blessing coming soon!!!!

Welcome to 2018!!!!

How excited we are to announce the soon coming of Charity's first foal!  This week we started to notice the baby kicking!!!!

   We have waited about 3 years for her to conceive so this is pretty exciting folks!  If you think of it, please say a prayer for Charity that the delivery would be smooth and without complications. 

Her diet consists of good, quality hay (alfalfa/grass mix), and a small scoop of a low starch feed mixed with red raspberry leaves.  Yummy!

My little dog, Katie Joy, loves to be near me when I'm out horsin' around. :)  I always enjoy her company.   And as you can see in the picture below our Shepherds, Duke and Sam like to be involved too!  :)

I'm hoping to get a video camera soon so that I can record the birth and share it here with you.  Stay in tune!!!!!