Earlier this year before we were hit by the mold and chaos transpired I was posting about waiting for our Percheron Mares to foal. Then I left you all hanging. Sorry about that! So, here is a much belated update!
Touchy had a filly (girl) on April 16. Generally here in Kentucky it is warm in April. During the 5 years we have lived here we have never had cold weather beyond March. Touchy decided to give birth during a cold spell when we had freezing temps. My husband @jal627 did one last barn check at 11pm before coming to bed. I'm sitting at my desk shipping Etsy packages when my husband called. I answer and he says "We have a foal. Now. Placenta on the ground. Get out here!" I yell to the kids and they run ahead of me out to the barn. I get to the barn and, sure enough, we had a beautiful filly on the ground. @jal627 and the kids are already drying her off to keep her from getting too cold. Now the Amish had told us that you want to see the foal nurse within 3 hours after birth. It's 11pm and @jal627 has to be up for work at 6am. He's doing the math and realizing if he wants any sleep he better get that foal nursing soon. He stands over the foal and tries to lift her up to get her standing. Mind you, this is our first time having a foal and @jal627 is still new to having horses. This is the conversation that transpired:
Him: Man, this foal is HEAVY!
Me: It's a HORSE!
Him: But it's a BABY horse. I didn't expect it to be so heavy!
Me: Yes dear, but it's still a horse.
He finally got the foal standing, however, in the process he coated his pants in birth goo. This caused the foal to get a little confused and started looking for milk on @jal627. He kept bringing the foal to her mama and the foal kept returning back to him. We laughed again. He left the birth stall and within 30 minutes the foal was happily nursing.
We still haven't named her, but she is healthy and doing well. She takes after her mama and has more of draft horse size (we bred both mares to a Standardbred stud).
Belle had her baby earlier than we expected so we hadn't gotten her into the birth stall yet. We had an early morning appointment so we're rushing to get the door. @jal627 and the kids were out tending to the animals and noticed Belle hadn't come up to the barn for breakfast. It was a little foggy, but they could see something dark at her side. They went out and she had had her foal sometime during the night! It was dried off and nursing well. She had a Colt (boy) exactly one month after Touchy had her foal!
We haven't named him yet either, but he is also healthy and doing well. He takes after his daddy and is built more like a standardbred.
