In this blog February and March 2021. The first foals are born. With Issy it doesn't take long anymore. A false alarm by Issy, which turns out to be colic and a week later a foal after all! You can read it all in this blog.

February.

It took a long time before all the snow of the past time was gone. At the campsite the pasture was getting more and more muddy. I decided to fence off a piece of the arena so they could stand there. This way the meadow could settle down and later grass could start growing again. All this time the ponies were still together with my stallion yearling. This did not last long anymore. At the end of the month one of the ponies got in heat. I divided the paddock I had made in two. That way the mares could stand apart from the two geldings and the stallion. Peace had returned.

March.

Issy was due this month, on March 27 to be precise. For a moment we thought it was March 16. Issy went in the afternoon after feeding to lie down in her box. She lay quietly and there didn't seem to be much wrong with her. I went to have a drink and checked on her every now and then. In between she stood up for a while and then lay down again. At 6 pm the stable owner also came to have a look. He thought it might be colic. We looked in the barn and saw that she had not defecated since we had fed her. I decided to lunge her. After about 20 minutes of lunging it seemed to be going a little better, I put her back in the stable and went home to eat. At 7 pm the stable owner went to check on Issy, she seemed tired, but calm. At 8 pm hours I went back to the stable, she was still not comfortable. I decided to go for a walk. After an hour I came back to the stable, during the walk she had tried a few times to defecate, but did not persevere.

Shortly after 11 pm I decided to call the vet. He was there quickly. Issy immediately got a fluid drip with painkillers. The vet did some research. From the sounds of the intestines he could already hear that it wasn't right and that she must be in a lot of pain. During the rectal examination he took out enormous dry droppings. He could find no real cause. Shortly after midnight the vet left. I had to go for a walk with her to get the stool going again. So there I was in the middle of the night, walking with my horse through the village...

At just before one o'clock I crawled into bed to get some sleep. 01.50 am my alarm clock went off again. In my pajamas with a thick sweater over it, I walked downstairs to check on her again. She was standing quietly, but still hadn't pooped. When I was back in bed, the stable owner called. He had also gone to check on her and now she had just defecated a tiny bit! Thank God! Now I could really go to sleep.

The next morning I went to check on her again. There was a good pile of manure. I was never so happy to see that my horse had defecated! Later that morning I went for another walk with her. She was doing a lot better, thankfully!

March 26th at 05.18 am the moment was finally there! I received a message with a picture. As fast as I could I put on my jogging pants and sweater and went downstairs. When I got to the barn, the foal had just been born. I didn't know what it was yet! Carefully I opened the barn door and lifted the foal's tail. A MARE!!! It's a girl! I was so happy! The third mare in a row. And what a beautiful markings. I stayed to watch for a while until she was standing and then went back home. After all, I still had to get dressed properly and have breakfast.

Before I went to Aschau to feed the horses there, I took a quick look at her. She was sleeping very peacefully.

Now there was still a name to come up with. I have a big list of names with all kinds of letters on my laptop. As soon as it slowly gets time for the foals I check that list and put a few names in my phone that I like. But the day before the foal was born, I had a feeling that the names would not fit. So I searched the whole internet and found a very different name. This name suited this foal perfectly. She was given the name Isamiya!

March 28, the weather was nice so Issy and Isamiya could go outside for a while. Isamiya was already very independent. Every time she walked in the other direction than her mother. Finally I managed to get them in the arena. I walked a few laps with Issy to see if Isamiya would follow, but it did not happen. Isamiya kept running around in the opposite direction. I decided to just let go of Issy and see what happened. Result: Isamiya was running around and Issy had to follow... After 10 minutes they gave up and stayed put. I made some nice pictures and then brought them back inside, long enough for a first time.

In the next blog more from Isamiya and my other horses!

Love, Fabiënne