We Were Fortunate To Avoided Tragedy...

This year we decided as part of our upgrade program to acquire two established brood-mares. Both with baby and pregnant (with foal plus in foal). The only catch was that our breeder had to absorb (sell off) a mare that we wanted to replace. Kind of a trade-in. No need to misunderstand here. The mare we were offering was a kings horse. She was a proven breeder and was an elegant performer. We used this agreement only because our breeder has far more resources available to place this lovely horse in a suitable home then we do.

Ok... So we came to an arrangement and we were ready to receive the new arrivals. Two pregnant mares and two very young foals which had to travel a very long distance to get here. We thought we had everything under control but the unforeseeable problem the shipper had with traffic was almost tragic.

After a delay of only a few hours the shipper finally arrived. Initially everything seemed alright. The mares were in good health and happily walked off the trailer with no difficulty followed by both foals. Unfortunately after only a few steps one of the foals collapsed and was obviously in critical distress. It's now Sunday night and the 'only' Vet in town is not available and we are scrambling to recover the foal.

Fortunately it is a small town and Shauna has known the local Vet for many, many years and after several phone calls was able to locate him and beg his presence. He came as quickly as he could and under his marvelous care the foal slowly came around.

Not out of the woods yet there were a few days of 24 hour vigils until we were satisfied the foal was again strong and healthy.

Wow!