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All the pregnant ladies…

November 27, 2013 /

There is a daily ritual (when I am at Granite Glen) of checking on our mamas-to-be.

Have I told you all about our expectant mothers yet?  Goodness. Let’s rectify THAT oversight immediately.

I believe you know Yvette and Holly already (if you’ve been around a while).

mares_3385Yvette is Troopers sister – she is very beautiful and knows it. Yvette was my horse, before she was Dash’s horse (and regularly borrowed by Salina) before she became lame and put into semi-retirement.

We sent her to a local stallion Rifleboy (campdrafted by a fabulous gentleman who still competes in his mid-70s!).

She is due to have her baby in late January, but is already enormous and quite uncomfortable.  We have had the vet check her with an ultrasound – she commented that it was a ‘very active foal’.  Campdrafting in utero apparently!

mares_3388Yvette just cannot understand why she cannot roll in the sand so easily these days – as a first-time mother-to-be, these things take some adjusting to!

Holly is an older mare who is a bit more experienced – she gave birth to a filly (GiGi) two years ago. She is in her 20s now and is carrying a foal to the gorgeous imported stallion, Timed and Tuned…

mare_3387We watch her EXTRA closely for three reasons.

1. She’s older.  Older mums need TLC.

2. She was very lucky to survive the terrible floods earlier this year – she was at the stallion (owned by friends of ours) who live near the Burnett River (neigbouring the friend who was washed away from her home and miraculously rescued).  We picked her up just a couple of days before those floods hit – the paddock she had been in went completely underwater and a couple of other horses were lost.  It gives me chills just thinking about it.

3. She colicked last week.  I admit I had terrible flashbacks to the Pickles saga.  Luckily our jackaroo Cal noticed her, lying prone and kicking and clearly in trouble,  and we rang the vet immediately.  We followed instructions (an injection and keeping her on her feet) and she was walking again and bossing Yvette arround.  Within half an hour it was like nothing had happened.

I, however, am still recovering from the fright.

mares_3386Holly is due in the next three weeks.

And last (but by no means least) we have Patch.

patch_3652Patch is not supposed to be having babies, but decided to be a hussy out mustering with Dad’s dogs. She is looking quite enormous and has already some impressive teats/udders.

Or as Violet likes to call them: UTTERS.

patch_3658

She has been moved from her big cage (each working dog has their own covered cage for sleeping in) into the hay shed.  We have her tethered on a very long lead to the tractor – she has easy access to water and straw to make herself comfortable.  As heavy and awkward http://ippp.org/ as she is, if she was running free every horse and cow in a two mile radius would be being hunted.  She just cannot help herself.

patch_3657She looks so meek too – this is her “I really liked that meat you just fed me – can I possibly talk you into a little more?” look.

It works pretty well.

She should have her babies in the next couple of days.

Of course, we take nothing for granted – we  will keep on checking in on these three to try to prevent any dramas.   Fingers crossed for safe deliveries all around!

Before I go, you should know that I never carry out this check alone.  I have company…

Can you guess?

axel_3688Axel, the midwife.

Heh.

♥

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14 Comments

  • debby
    November 27, 2013 at 12:50 pm

    So Patch is following in the footsteps of that hussy, Cruel?

    Having a second horse with colic certainly must have been terrifying. Is there a way to figure out what triggers colic in a horse?
    debby´s last blog post ..Today

    • BB of Oz
      November 27, 2013 at 10:32 pm

      I don’t think so Deb – it’s really vet-speak for any kind of tummy ache. So if you imagine all the different things that trigger human tummy aches, then try to imagine that with a patient who cannot tell you what is wrong… and whose bowels twist very easily when they roll… which is their preferred activity when they have a tummy ache… yeah. Not fun!

    • BB of Oz
      November 27, 2013 at 10:35 pm

      Yes. Just so we are clear, he cannot get anywhere near Patch. Not that he’d want any part of it (he’s a delicate soul) but he is a massive sticky beak. 🙂

  • Colin Huggins
    November 28, 2013 at 5:34 am

    Colic! Terrible, glad the “old girl”, Holly, made such a speedy recovery.
    The last photo with the “midwife”, Axel, is that a recent photo? If so then the grass has come on quickly, then again it may be the house yard region, all reachable by hose!
    The rain here in BNE last week has certainly put a sparkle in the lawns and gardens.
    We have an uninvited visitor with the hot, humid weather in the next door yard and undergrowth, one bloody brown snake!

    • BB of Oz
      November 28, 2013 at 9:17 am

      Yes, pic taken yesterday- grass very green and very short. Granite country always responds beautifully to some H20. 🙂

      Hope the snake left everything/one unscathed.
      🙂

      • Colin Huggins
        November 28, 2013 at 1:41 pm

        Amanda, I’ll believe the existence of this mystery “brown snake” which has been “appearing every summer” for the last 3 years when I see it. It will be a “kaput snake” if I encounter it, but imaginations in the city slickers minds can run rampart! I have not even seen a blue tongued lizard or any other lizard except geckos in this area! Occasionally a bush turkey appears, from where is nobody’s guess, maybe the swamps in the Mayne/Breakfast Creek area.
        I guess they find their way back? I wonder do they call in at the once wonderful, now questionable Breakfast Creek Pub for an ale?
        No rain likely today here. Great to know that the green grass was a result of the recent rain – more in moderation and steady needed.
        Now back to my beloved GOLF on TV.