YIPEE - THE FOAL HAS ARRIVED!!

Early Saturday morning, Ruth gave birth to Basil. I checked Ruth on Friday night to see if there were any signs of the foal, and she looked, behaved and felt the same as she did that morning and the night before! So as you can imagine I got a big surprise, but Ruth's surprise was bigger - she was completely stunned if not a little bewildered by this little fellow, but very protective.

So my weekend plans changed. I didn't go to the one day seminar on the welfare of the Native Pony, as I had my own Native to worry about. I phoned to cancel my place, then phoned the vet to do a "check" on both Ruth and the foal. All is well with Ruth, and the placenta was intact, but the foal had a bit of a weepy eye which was looked at carefully to see if there was any scratch or other damage. Nothing was visible, I was just to keep an eye on it. I was greatly concerned early on Saturday morning, because I didn't think he was getting any milk when he was trying to suckle, but today is day 4 and he is getting enough milk at the moment and his eye is getting better.

However on Sunday I phoned for the vet again because he hadn't passed anything and appeared frustrated, so the vet gave him a mild enema and Basil is bouncing around for fun.

Ruth is very protective of her foal as I've said, but she is aggressively so, which is upsetting me, however I'll contact the stallion owner for advice. And so my troubles begin .. a Colt foal ... I will have to be very strict with him to ensure good manners. At the moment his head is so small that the smallest foal slip we found will just fall off him, so that is not such a good start.

Anyway, must rush home to let the dogs out, and bring Ruth & Basil in for the night as they have been out all day.

Bank holiday Monday was another action packed equine day, but I write about that tomorrow.


The top picture shows Basil last night and the second picture was taken on Sunday night. I did take pictures of him on Saturday morning, but I used my telephone camera so not to disturb Ruth or the foal. (Thanks to James for taking the top picture & sending it to me.)