Foal watch

As you know, unless you txd me today & wondered why I wasn’t answering,
last night was my 1st night-duty foal-watch. I am up now (at 1.44pm) cos I was hungry. Thought I would Blog after my cereal, then go back to bed to see if I could sleep some more.

By now Stan & Turbo will be either ;

i) Comatose
ii) Lost/in Police custody in Dover
iii) Dancing (very well, more of that later) on a crowded dance-floor somewhere in Dover.


It’s Stan’s Old Boys Reunion this weekend & after raving about how good it is every year, Turbo has decided to join him his year. Can you believe Stan went to a military school ? And a good one by all accounts, The Duke of York Royal Military School. (Not that I would know a good one from a bad one) Eric went to the same school, which is how he & Stan know each other.

The weekend is 3 days of reminiscing, New Romantics (they were there during the 80’s) & of course there is the opportunity to enjoy a glass or 2 of babycham. I understand there is a parade on Sunday, which will coincide with Remembrance Day. Stan has been stressing about whether the music he has done will go down well. I suspect by now he won’t care any more.

Last night I arrived for foal-watch well prepared. I had several books with me, my Christmas cards to write, my oilskins to waterproof & even a tin of sardines for the little black cat who frequently visits the girls on nights. Added to which I had brought tea & milk, I thought I had catered for every possibility.

Except the 4 hour power-cut from 0100 – 0500.

I was reading when everything failed & I admit to being slightly unnerved. I couldn’t even see the horses I was supposed to be checking on. The full moon had been obscured by cloud since just after midnight so that didn’t help much.

It took some time to get my night-vision & the peacock calling in the distance added to the air of Edgar Allen Poe. No-one has seen the peacock yet but it has been living on the farm somewhere for the last week.

The scariest time was walking through the yards to get to the toilet. I had to walk past rows of empty stables & needless to say, my imagination was working overtime. I was leaning into one of the boxes, saying hello to a horse who has to be confined due to an injury when a possum scrabbled over the metal roof. I don’t know which of us was more petrified & when I spoke to him telling him ‘It’s just a possum silly’ it was as much for my benefit as his.

I had 8 mares to watch, one of whom, ‘Sounds Like Fun’ was due on the 5/10. I also had 3 mares with foals, 2 of which had to be got on their feet every 3 hours to ensure they were feeding. The 3rd foal was supposed to be bottle-fed as the mare was reportedly not making enough milk. As it transpired, the foal fed several times, which was just as well as I had no means of heating the replacement milk.

The hut, which had been cosy enough when the heater was working, rapidly chilled & come 0300, I was wearing my usual clothing, plus a layer of lightweight waterproofs, my brown woolly cap & my full-length waxed coat. Surprisingly, I had a call from Brent at 0320, he had got up & noticed there had been a power cut. He asked if I was ok & told me to keep an especially close eye on the mares now they were not floodlit.

I didn’t need telling, I dreaded missing a foaling, especially ‘Sounds Like Fun’ as she is so overdue, each time I went to find her in the dark, I expected to find her, plus one.

2 mares who usually graze together were separated last night as one is closer to foaling than the other. They are ‘D’accord’ & ‘Zydeco’& they spent the whole night standing either side of the gate softly whickering to each other. Very sad. Each time I checked one, I would get her scent on my hand then let the other one smell it, to reassure them.

It was lovely to see them reunited when dawn broke, you couldn’t have got a cigarette paper between them. When one foals, I am sure the other won’t be far behind just because they hate to be separated.

Quick break for spicy apple muffin, courtesy of Harriette.

Checking the mares with new-borns was the best part of the shift yesterday. Each time I went into the barn to wake the foals, the mares would call to them softly, to reassure them. I still haven’t grown used to being able to step into a deep straw bed, wake a slumbering ickley & stand with it whilst it feeds. Occasionally my hand may just stray to it’s ears to give it a love !

The ‘Nothing Less’ foal who was born with the very bent hind legs in the week, is progressing well & his hind legs get a little straighter every day.
The most lively foal I have seen so far was born to ‘Wee Devil’ yesterday. A gorgeous bay colt, with a white face, he is incredibly well coordinated & was hooning around the paddock, closely followed by Mum who seemed to be enjoying the run as much as he was. His cantering is as steady as a grown horse & his balance was lovely to see. Watching him kick up his heels, charge to the other end of the paddock, then come to a snorting stop, whilst waiting for Mum, it was not difficult to imagine him, in 2 years time complete with jockey & racing to earn his keep.

The cat, having dispensed with the sardines in double-quick time, settled down to spend the entire night in the foaling hut. She asked to be let out at 0530 & returned in short order to consume breakfast, in the shape of a young starling. Thankfully, she at least killed it before devouring it. She was most put out that I would not let her dine in the foaling hut & dragged it underneath it to eat in less salubrious surroundings.

Foties to follow when Q returns from his binge/reunion.

Mum finally has e-mail (although not internet) so I can send her daily Blogs to read at her lee-shur. That’s the idea, apparently she spent an hour trying to read a test mail I sent her yesterday, thanks to some problems with AOL.

I think that’s about it & I am going to head back to the sack. Michelle is torturing the pressure cooker, preparing an Indian feast for this evening.
They are entertaining their dairy-farming friends Robyn & Richard who are coming over to watch the rugby tonight. I am disappointed I won’t get to sit down & watch the NZ-S.Afr game, but at least I am not missing
The Eng-Wal game tomorrow night.

Quick hello to Hadleigh who was assaulted whilst trying to arrest some scum-bag yesterday. Hope you are ok Hadders ? You will be amused to know that my praise of your dancing has led to some wounded claims from other chaps that they too are ‘good dancers’. I have tried to explain to them that it is no good claiming that themselves. What counts is when another person says they are. My explanations have fallen on deaf ears. Hope you are ok & that help arrived quickly ? Let me know if you need any large Pacific Islanders to sort anything out for you, nobody messes with D-Team.

Wish me luck (& electricity) for tonight,

Come on the All-Blacks,

Cx