Foaling Journal for I AM Ranch Miniature Horses

February 2010

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February 1, 2010 As you can see from the chart below, we still have 3 babies to come. Two are for sure, Dream is not confirmed pregnant yet. Lily is being watched all the time and you can always find either Lisa or I home and "on call."

I am amazed by the response to the video of our Red Bag delivery. The blip counter says that over 1800 people have viewed it in 3 days time. Wow. If you are on our site, looking for it, you can click here to see it. We are praying for no more spectacular movies, just textbook deliveries. They will still be a miracle from our Lord, the great I AM, but not as popular to video viewers. It is the middle of the day and Lily is pacing her stall. Maybe she just wants out to pasture.

So, why do I take so many pictures of their bags? I believe that is where the biggest clues are that can answer the question of "when." Lily's bag is as big as it can get. We have never been able to get milk out of her until after baby is born, so we can't use the milk strips to test her. Of course the other signs of foaling are important too, but the bag has helped us the most.

PFSD has set in!! Click here to see how it has affected our family. Don't click if you can't stand corny and complete goofiness!

I (Jessie) just went to the barn to try to get milk out of Lily and Morning. Morning's milk still has a little bit of blood in it. The one teat is totally white, and the other one starts out white, then turns to blood, and then in about four-five squirts, turns back to white milk!! Odd mare! Lily still has NO milk. Well, I did get one squirt out of her, but it didn't land in the cup, it turned sideways and hit my arm. Her milk is pure WHITE!!! MAYBE tonight.... we've said that for the past week or two though. Her original projected due date was Feb. 3. Here is a series of the last two days:

This is Lily on January 31st, yeah, the picture is a bit blurry. Mom got a new camera, and it can be slightly confusing	This is Lily today, or February 1st. I'm getting a little better with the camera. It doesn't seem like she could be fuller.	2/1/10 Her belly has dropped more!

 I am feeling sorry for Lily. Who would want all of these pregnant pictures of themselves put on the Internet? So here are some when she was not so pregnant. This first shot was back in March 09 when she was being bred to Donny. On all of our carts, my wonderful hubby drilled in a water bottle holder. You can see it at my feet. There is a Fuze in the holder.. This one was in September 09 when she is 6 months along and one in November at 8 months I get plenty of research time during "mare stare." This time it resulted in me ordering a Muffy Seaton video on driving and the  1 of 101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises book.

February 2 Lily's due date is here in an hour. February 3! She is peaceful in her stall right now. We took Magic's one week old filly on a walk today to meet a neighbor who is 100 years old. This elderly lady is just about as cute as the filly. Joy looks like she is going to be a very sweet, calm filly. I am hoping to share her with the folks at the care center. They loved Supreme when we took her. Click here to see Supreme's visit and click here to see Joy's visits.

Lily is highly suspicious to me!

February 4 No baby yet. Lily is as swollen, as loose and as ready as they come. She is just waiting for a  young neighbor boy to get well again so he can come witness the birth.

10:23 PM Ok, the young neighbor is all healthy again and ready to watch. We told Lily and are now waiting on her. The inside of her vulva is streaked red and yellow which is another sign of foaling. All the signs are here! C'mon Lily!

February 5 Lily's bag is amazing!! Earlier I (this is Jessie again, who just turned 13) was milking her WITHOUT a cup and I got like 2 squirts and a couple drops.... I went back down there WITH a cup and she gave NO milk! Murphy's Law !!

The friends that were mentioned in the January journal that brought us pizza have been staying every night here! They are dying to see it. Mom likes it because she sleeps better knowing that there are an extra 8 eyes in the room!!! Lily used to walk in circles all night, now she has started up, down, up, down, probably 5 times in half an hour!! Again, she's incredible!! As I started on this, she has been up and down twice.. and it hasn't taken me ALL that long!!! We'll see what happens, it's not even 8:00 PM yet. We have a long night ahead of us! And then, we got a squeeze of hay this morning, so you can guess what we'll be doing tomorrow... moving hay!!! We have been spoiled.. Mom, Lisa and I used to move all the hay.... now we have two teenage boys that help!! Makes it a lot easier on us!

February 6.....Those same friends missed it!!! They left our home early this morning disappointed because Lily still had not had her baby. We slept in and it felt so good. Jess got up early and rode her big horse. She put him away and decided to see if she could get milk from Lily as Lisa was saddling up Chief for a ride. By the way that Jess came sprinting up to our back door, I could tell she had exciting news. She bursted in exclaiming that "Lily has milk, Lily has milk!"

This was a first and I was just going to look in the cup when the Equipage beeper sounded off. Back in the bedroom, Bill was already looking at the cameras and saying, "I think she is pushing!" Yes, she was. Now, it was me sprinting to the barn. I took Chief by the reins, telling Lisa to go check the presentation while I unsaddled him. I have much more confidence in her abilities than in my own. We all witnessed a text book birth of "I AM Buck's Kin!" (Buck for short???) Boones Little Buckeroo graces both the top and bottom of his pedigree. Click here to see a video of his birth.

He is leggy, strong, very active, blue eyed and we are grateful to our Lord. I can't wait to share him with our 100 year old neighbor and the folks at the nursing home.

There have been a zillion visitors to welcome him into the world already. Thank you Vicki, David, Noah, Skye, Denise, Chris, the Fed Ex man, Tyler, Sadie, Maryann, Pat, Carole, Kelli, Pam and Kailey for stopping in and adoring him!!

OH NO. Lisa does not like the name.....we will have to see if it grows on her or we choose a new one!

February 8 We added some new pictures to Joy's page. Joy was our survivor in the Red Bag Baby birth. She is a beauty. Little boy is a looker too. Soooooo leggy and such neat colors. He is needing some help in the pooping department. Colts especially can use the help of an enema to get things started right. When there is poop is black, the babies are still cleaning out the meconium but once you see yellowish poop, you know you are seeing mom's milk work its way through their digestive tract. I also always worm mom after they foal using Ivermectrin. He is active and loves his time in the front yard.

February 11 So tonight, a family from church came over and we went driving all the mares that aren't pregnant or nursing. Afterwards, we came home, checked Morning, and played with babies! Joy and "Mister" are sooo cute! We still haven't decided on a name for Lily's baby because I (Lisa) do not like the name Buck. There is still no change in Morning. I mean, her bag is slowly, slowly getting a little bigger, but nothing drastic. She is 341 days tomorrow which is when she went last year. On Saturday, we are supposed to take Joy into the care center to meet everyone, but if Morning hasn't foaled, Mom and I will be staying home. Here are some pictures of Little Guy from tonight.

February 12 It is the 9 in the morning and I was just told that there has been a change in Morning's bag by Jess. Now, it is 10:30AM and Jess just put her head in my window saying her vulva has elongated greatly. She is at 341 days since she was bred. She also only accepted Warrior one day and that was on 3/8/2009 so there is no mistaking her breeding date or conception date. Her last pregnancy in 2008 was a 341 day gestation and then out popped cute Cinderella.

It is almost 11 PM and I don't think there will be a baby by the morning. We have been testing Morning's milk and the milk test strips do not say she is ready yet.

Click here to go back to January 2010 foaling journal.

Miniature Horse Foaling/Nursery Journal of 2008!

      February 2008 Includes our pre-foaling preparations

      March 2008 Includes the foaling by Lucky Four Real Doll

      April 2008 Includes the birth by Magic, Lily, Morning and.....(Read about 2 mares foaling the same night!)

      May 2008 Includes the birth by Jewel (Dystocia)

Miniature Horse Foaling/Nursery Journal of 2009!

       May 2009 Foaling by LK Supreme Dream mare!

       June 2009 Foaling by Orion Light Vant Huttensest daughter (dystocia)

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