Thank you Di and Claire for the good vibes - Lizzie and Sophie (Summertime) were able to travel to the field the next morning after their vet check. Lizzie soooooooooo loves her foal and Dani got quite a few brownie points too! We put best friend April in with them too and in typical best friend fashion she settled down to enjoy the new "luxury hotel" whilst keeping a careful eye on Lizzie. April had rather more work to do this afternoon when they were joined by Belle and her foal Toffee (Isn't that Tufty you may ask? but Charles had a change of heart to Toffee and I know it's official because he changed the Teasing chart too!) April jealously guarded Lizzie and her baby for the day ushering Belle away and generally making sure that the new mother and baby were undisturbed. This evening we brought Belle and Toffee in first and then returned for Lizzie and co - -watching the foal trot neatly along beside her mum, as I led April in as rear gunner, it was just amazing to think that the little creature was inside Lizzie such a short time ago. Summertime!! and now Diva's udder has started to fill - please don't let it be twins ( we had the twin scan but she is HUGE!!)
Wow,you are lucky, you have some beautiful mares and foals.
ReplyDeletethat's a fantastic pic.
ReplyDeletetell me, how long is best fora foal to be out and about each day? (there's a reason for asking...) thanks...
Hi Claire,
ReplyDeleteWe are guided by the mare and foal (plus weatehr of course!) for a while. If the foal is full term the mare has had an easy foaling then a few hous the first day quickly building up to a full day in good conditions if all are well settled in the field and foal is finding good places to snooze! Lizzie takes great care of her foal standing over her to guard her while sh sleeps, and she is alpha in the herd - Belle was a less maternal TB and of course Toffee was earlier (February) so he only had 9.00-2.00 but extending with the light ex and the weather improved. Today in good conditions they were turned out at 8.00am and will come in about 5ish - foals go straight to bed leaving mums to hug the edge of the stable for the evening. The thing is I thingk to watch the horse reaction rather than having hard and fast rules and dare I say Good luck with your mare, you know her best.
not mine! just wondered, in view of length of time a foal near me is not out....
ReplyDelete