The Foal was Coming but Something was Wrong

It’s the time of year when Quarter Horse Racing owners are over flowing with the excitement of new foals arriving and decisions about breeding our mares are being made.

My husband and I had moved to my grandparent’s farm to help with the farming and the horses the first of April. I was pregnant with our first child who was due in August. In late May grandpa died and we were left to make decisions about the farm and horses with a family who either weren’t involved in the industry or were scattered somewhere between Kansas and California.

Experience But Not With Horses

It was a bright day in January and I was headed into town. Mike says he thinks Hopeful Bug, a maiden mare, might be ready to foal, she’s acting funny; he’ll keep an eye on her. Mike has calved out many calves in his lifetime but neither one of us has had a solo experience with foaling nor had we had much experience at all.

When Charlie, 5 months old, and I return he’s still watching Bugs and thinks there might be something wrong because it’s been so long and she’s not progressing. I take stuff in the house and put Charlie down for a nap. When Mike returns the foal is coming but there are no feet presenting just the nose.

My uncle is a race track vet in California so he tries to call him but there is no answer. So we call our local vet. Dr Hawkins shows up as soon as he can and starts to try to grab the legs so he can deliver the foal normally.

Exhausting for All

The baby monitor does not work well in the barn so I can only go out for brief periods of time. It seems like every time the vet gets a good hold on the foal the mare either slams her body to the ground or gets up just as fast as she fell down the previous time.

Larry, the vet, says that he can get a good hold on the back legs but is having trouble getting the front legs. This is not a good situation and he’s exhausted would I call the clinic and get one of the other vets to come help?

After Dr Winters gets there and examines the mare they discuss it and say that we have a couple of options: do a C-section or put the mare down. We still haven’t been able to contact my uncle so we have to make this decision on our shoulders. The best option seems to do a C-section, that’s what Mike would do with a cow.

Right Here… in the Barn!

So the vets get some straw bales to prop the mare up on her back and took the foal out right there in the barn. The surgery went smoothly. Bugs was getting up while they were putting in the last stitch. No surprise the baby was already dead and he was also huge.

No matter what anyone else says, and when my uncle did finally call back he said there were “other options”, we have always felt that we did the right thing by Hopeful Bug. The next summer when we purchased some of the horses from the estate, even though we were not sure we’d ever be able to breed her, we bought Hopeful Bug. After all grandpa had thought enough of her to buy her as a yearling to breed to Raise A Secret and that was what I wanted to do.

That’s my quarter’s worth. Let me hear yours by leaving a comment below.