The Delivery

A broodmare spends much of her time, eating, relaxing, and eating some more, and sucking up a tremendous amount of water to offset all the grain and hay.

This is all, of course, totally understood, and acceptable to the peeps known as broodmare owners/managers.

Love them???? Yes, we do, muchly, but they can be the most vexing creature on earth!!!

They are obstinate, willful, independent, and have a blatant disregard for their caretaker's schedule. Again, this is accepted by the special, admittedly weird tribe of broody watchers. Some even believe that this tribe is quite masochistic, lol!

As much as all broodmares strain one's patience, a maiden mare takes the pressure to an entirely new level.

Mares generally have their own timetable, and while allowing for some variables, there's a pattern they follow, which allows some planning.

Maiden mares are an enigma, and with no past history, it's like trying to nail jello to the wall.

I have been keeping a very close eye on Dream, and she's making the expected changes. Based on experiences with other mares, she is seemingly on target for delivering after her due date.

Zero indications that she and the baby were ready for arrival.

So, Dream was checked, turned out into the run in for the day, and given grain and hay.

Late morning I took a walk up the hill, just bebopped by the run-ins, and there stands Dream, looking gorgeous, and WTH?????

There stands a gorgeous palomino foal!!!

Heart racing, I check him out. Yuuup, him...... a colt, not the filly I wanted, nor what was predicted by the nail test, but he's healthy and fabulous so I am thrilled!!!!

Dystocia (difficult delivery) thankfully only occurs in a very small percentage of equine births, however if it does occur it gets very serious, very quickly. This is why attending the birth is so important. Providing help early can prevent catastrophe.

But, Dream was a rockstar!! She and her new colt are doing very well, what a relief!!