Today I made a foal !

Dean arrived on a farm-bike as I was cleaning out the foaling hut & said 'Hop on if you want to see a baby born'

The mare had taken everyone by surprise by foaling in daylight & Allie only noticed the baby coming as she had gone down to the mares paddock to trim some of the girls' manes.

We arrived in the paddock to find a single, ickle, rubbery forefoot poking out from a mare. Surrounding the foot was the birthing bag. The foal was presented normally so no panics.

Andrew (Ledge) who is in charge of the brood mares talked me through the whole process. He wasn't too concerned about the mare as it was her 2nd foal. A mare who has not foaled before is known as a 'maiden' mare & they occasionally find the process frightening & try to run from the foal.

After repeatedly getting up & down & pushing with no progress the mare was starting to look tired. At this stage Ledge intervened. He waited until she next lay down & grasped a foot. He pulled both feet until they were clear up to the shoulders.

When the head appeared he asked me to massage the foals nasal passages to clear the fluid & to support the head. A couple of pushes later & a gorgeous, bay filly plopped out onto the grass. I have quite honestly never seen anything as lovely. Even lambs look ugly compared to baby gees !

Within 5 minutes she was doing stilts on ridiculously long legs & half an hour after that she followed Mum up to no. 1 paddock. I was absolutely entranced despite being covered in blood & took any excuse through the day to sneak off & stare at them both.

I have taken some pics but unfortunately cannot download them to Blog as Michelle has the laptop with her in Auckland so stand by for a couple of days.

I have been wondering about the legalities of putting pics of people's racehorses on Blog. I think the best way around it is not to name the horse who has foaled. I wouldn't like to be asked to leave because an owner has done a random search on their horses name & found unlicensed pics of it on my Blog.

I would ask for permission, but I think I already know the answer.

Everyone looked dog-tired at work today after our exertions yesterday with the shavings. Today we took delivery of 100 hay bales & had to stack them. Again very hard work but at least with a different type of bedding. What a considerate boss.

The atmosphere is very enjoyable at the moment with everyone relaxing & enjoying the sun (4th day) Only Allie remains fed-up. Chris (aka 'Big Fella') was told he could not ride farm bikes today after being caught 'speeding' whilst on a 'warning'. I can't imagine what he'll do with himself now. He has to check the mares every 20 minutes too. He will get very fit, very quickly.

Natasha started today & it is amusing to hear her asking all the same questions I did.

'But why do we take them out of there, just to put them in there ?'

I have taken on a bit of a project at work. There is a filly who is recovering from surgery. She has been in for a couple of months & is due to stay in for at least another 4 weeks & is getting nastier & nastier with anyone who enters her box.

She has taken recently to lashing out with her front feet.

I thought about it today & realised that whenever anyone enters her space it is to do something she objects to. I decided to spend my lunch-break with her in her box to see if she will calm down & react more favourably to people.

I took in a book & an upturned bucket to sit on.

In truth, I didn't get much reading done as I was keeping an eye on both sets of feet but I pretended to read.

It took her 10 minutes to even approach me but when she did I tried not to move at all but just let her sniff me. She then began to gently tug at my clothing with her lips. Whenever she got too rough or her teeth started to come into play I would raise my arm & ask her to back off. She spent the whole time utterly absorbed in trying to work out why I was in her box & not actually doing anything to her.

I plan to do this every day for the next couple of weeks to see if it makes her any easier to groom.

I parked in my usual spot on the driveway this evening & watched the piggies frolicking. They look utterly gleeful & are very amusing to watch as they charge & buck their way around the enclosure.

Inca likes to accompany Eric at feeding time but Bin steers clear as he is frightened of them (as you've probably guessed Ange - he's not a working dog)

This evening we had duck chop suey. It was a pradise shellduck which Eric shot. He assures me it was a pair he shot but I think he's just saying that to make me feel better.

During dinner I baked some muffins to take into work with me tomorrow (sorry Di). Kevin (Milly) tells me it's traditional that the new person, after their 1st pay-day, buys the goodies for 'smoko' as it's known here (morning tea for us Poms). I also made a sticky, calorie-laden goo which will keep even the greediest tapeworm going.

Must take my leave for now, I need a hot shower as I am covered in bits of afterbirth & creosote. Mmm.

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