For those who are concerned, Zirc is doing fine, his legs will straighten up within a few days. We have never had one with legs quite like this before but we have had foals that were "over in the knees" and one who just flat had crooked legs due to a thyroid problem, who went on to become a winning show horse. So crooked legs in new foals aren't a great concern to us.
Zirc is doing a lot of sleeping and we are keeping him stalled and confined until those legs gain strength. I know that there are horse experts out there who would say that he needs exercise and room to run for his legs to straighten up but that has not been our experience, foals "over in the knees" need exercise and room to run but this guy needs to stay off of his feet as much as possible. I have argued this point with a know-it-all elitist horse expert before and the owner of the foal listened to the other person and ruined the foal's legs.
I don't know why horse people are always horse experts with nothing more to learn but they do tend to be that way. Goat owners aren't like that at all, there aren't many Goat Snobs out there but there seems to be a whole lot of Horse Snobs.
To those who think that he is ugly and that includes me. I can assure you that he will be a beautiful animal in no time. His dam has never produced an ugly baby, no matter what we have bred her to. To those who think that he is beautiful or cute, thank you for your love of horses. We have taken horses in before who were just plain ugly but with the right personality they are gorgeous horses no matter what they look like. We have also taken in beautiful horses who have attitudes that can completely overwhelm their good looks.
Showing posts with label quizzy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quizzy. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Zircon
I took care of things at the neighbors this morning, then went home to find Quizzy just walking to the back of the dry lot that she was in. I thought that might be a good sign. So I went into the house and did a few things, then came out to see what she was up to, she was just laying down. I went back into the house, called my Husband's cell phone and told him that things were in progress. I grabbed some towels and headed for the back of the lot.
By the time that I got to her I could see two perfectly positioned front feet with a nose resting on them, so far, so good. She gave a push and more of the legs and nose presented themselves. Then she got up, turned around and laid back down with her tail end right against the electric fence, I don't understand why mares always do this.
She had another contraction but made no more progress, then she rolled half way over and I decided to give her a hand. So I squeezed in between her and the fence that was turned off and grabbed the legs as high up as I could get and pulled with her next contraction. We gained a few inches and I grabbed up above the foals knees and pulled again, this time the foal's head popped out and I stopped pulling. She went ahead without me to push out the foal's shoulders and then quickly pushed out the hips, while I tore open the sack, so the foal could get his first breath.
There were a lot of fluids pooled under his head, so I just spread the towels down under him so that he wouldn't inhale any liquid. It was hot and breezy enough that he didn't need to be dried off anyway. With his legs still inside, and after checking under his tail, I left them to go call my DH with the news. Her first colt, she has always given us fillies before. We always like to leave the feet in as long as possible to keep the mare from getting up too soon. This way she will rest and not be as prone to colic. We also like to leave them alone during this time.
The problem was that he was under the fence, so I knew I had to be there when he started to seriously try to get to his feet. When Quizzy finally got up and the umbilical cord broke, he bled more than what I am used to and when the blood finally stopped dripping, I dipped his navel in iodine.
For around the next three hours I tried to teach him to stand on his own four feet. Once he started trying to get up I realized that he was nearly walking on his hind fetlocks and actually does at times. This made it very hard for him to stand and walk on his own. Finally he mastered it by leaning and bracing himself on me. After he was walking, then my next concern was getting some colostrum in him and that was not going to happen. He just couldn't balance himself enough to get in the right position to nurse.
He got very tired after falling so often and having to regain his feet, the sun was also too hot for the work that he was doing. So I had to get him into the barn stall. That was lots of fun for me by myself but I managed to get it done with only some nasty bruises on my lower legs. We even tumbled down a little embankment together once. When we finally made it, we both crashed in the straw for a rest.
After we both somewhat recovered, I went to fill his mother's water bucket and he searched for milk. I was thrilled when he finally found it. That was one less thing to worry about. Next he passed his meconium and I felt that I could go milk my poor goat who was long overdue for milking.
Well he isn't the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen but he is here and his name is Zircon.
By the time that I got to her I could see two perfectly positioned front feet with a nose resting on them, so far, so good. She gave a push and more of the legs and nose presented themselves. Then she got up, turned around and laid back down with her tail end right against the electric fence, I don't understand why mares always do this.
She had another contraction but made no more progress, then she rolled half way over and I decided to give her a hand. So I squeezed in between her and the fence that was turned off and grabbed the legs as high up as I could get and pulled with her next contraction. We gained a few inches and I grabbed up above the foals knees and pulled again, this time the foal's head popped out and I stopped pulling. She went ahead without me to push out the foal's shoulders and then quickly pushed out the hips, while I tore open the sack, so the foal could get his first breath.
There were a lot of fluids pooled under his head, so I just spread the towels down under him so that he wouldn't inhale any liquid. It was hot and breezy enough that he didn't need to be dried off anyway. With his legs still inside, and after checking under his tail, I left them to go call my DH with the news. Her first colt, she has always given us fillies before. We always like to leave the feet in as long as possible to keep the mare from getting up too soon. This way she will rest and not be as prone to colic. We also like to leave them alone during this time.
The problem was that he was under the fence, so I knew I had to be there when he started to seriously try to get to his feet. When Quizzy finally got up and the umbilical cord broke, he bled more than what I am used to and when the blood finally stopped dripping, I dipped his navel in iodine.
For around the next three hours I tried to teach him to stand on his own four feet. Once he started trying to get up I realized that he was nearly walking on his hind fetlocks and actually does at times. This made it very hard for him to stand and walk on his own. Finally he mastered it by leaning and bracing himself on me. After he was walking, then my next concern was getting some colostrum in him and that was not going to happen. He just couldn't balance himself enough to get in the right position to nurse.
He got very tired after falling so often and having to regain his feet, the sun was also too hot for the work that he was doing. So I had to get him into the barn stall. That was lots of fun for me by myself but I managed to get it done with only some nasty bruises on my lower legs. We even tumbled down a little embankment together once. When we finally made it, we both crashed in the straw for a rest.
After we both somewhat recovered, I went to fill his mother's water bucket and he searched for milk. I was thrilled when he finally found it. That was one less thing to worry about. Next he passed his meconium and I felt that I could go milk my poor goat who was long overdue for milking.
Well he isn't the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen but he is here and his name is Zircon.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Disappointed
I stayed up all night, well, I did lay down at 4:30 this morning, then got back up at 5:30, then laid back down until 7:00, still no baby. Quizzy got turned out of the foaling stall, she is back out in her muddy, grassless lot. The DH said that she was waxed heavy this morning when he turned her out.
I will be running between the neighbor's house and animals to our house and animals all day. If Quizzy doesn't foal during the day today, I will be up all night again unless she foals early tonight, that would be nice.
The neighbor's rain guage says that we got another two inches of rain overnight. The storms passed through quickly and weren't too bad. However, after this rain, I am not looking forward to going into the goat lot, but I don't have any choice. It's a dangerous job but someone has to do it...
I will be running between the neighbor's house and animals to our house and animals all day. If Quizzy doesn't foal during the day today, I will be up all night again unless she foals early tonight, that would be nice.
The neighbor's rain guage says that we got another two inches of rain overnight. The storms passed through quickly and weren't too bad. However, after this rain, I am not looking forward to going into the goat lot, but I don't have any choice. It's a dangerous job but someone has to do it...
Monday, June 9, 2008
Bracing
We are bracing ourselves for the next round of storms. Every time that I have tried to get online today I have heard thunder and have given up, our electricity was out for over an hour today before the first storm even hit.
We did get the foaling stall dried out and today's rains haven't refilled it. My Husband announced this evening that Quizzy, our last mare to foal, is ready. So I am on mare watch tonight. Mare watch isn't very hard if you can be online during it, but the storms that are heading our way now will prevent surfing the net while keeping my eye on the mare.
She is nickering every three minutes and is extremely restless right now. Hopefully she will go tonight, so that I don't have to stay up two or three nights in a row with her. Her belly has dropped and she is sunken in around her tailhead. Her milk isn't sweet but it is white and not at all salty, her udder is very strutted and she even had just a bit of wax on one side. This mare has never given us anything other than a filly and she usually goes before her due date which is on the 17th.
We did get the foaling stall dried out and today's rains haven't refilled it. My Husband announced this evening that Quizzy, our last mare to foal, is ready. So I am on mare watch tonight. Mare watch isn't very hard if you can be online during it, but the storms that are heading our way now will prevent surfing the net while keeping my eye on the mare.
She is nickering every three minutes and is extremely restless right now. Hopefully she will go tonight, so that I don't have to stay up two or three nights in a row with her. Her belly has dropped and she is sunken in around her tailhead. Her milk isn't sweet but it is white and not at all salty, her udder is very strutted and she even had just a bit of wax on one side. This mare has never given us anything other than a filly and she usually goes before her due date which is on the 17th.
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