Safe Arrivals

23 June 2017

Firstly the long awaited arrival of our foaling down liveries (Ratti’s) filly foal. With Ratti being a maiden mare she gave us a few false hopes on when her little one was likely to grace us with her presence. For nearly two weeks she had slowed down the amount of hay she would eat overnight and her body couldn’t have changed shape anymore with the textbook sloped quarters and pointed belly. After a few more days Ratti developed her wax to ensure none of her valuable colostrum would be lost. On the 10th May we finally welcomed a huge chesnut filly! Never have I seen such long legs!! After a few (entertaining) attempts at her first stand she did it!! Once she mastered standing the rest was easy.. So easy that walking soon developed to cantering which very quickly turned into Bronking! This in mind with this little one bouncing everywhere like the ‘wonderful thing about tiger’ she has been named Tiggy!! After a couple of weeks Tiggy went home for her human ‘mummies’ to take fab care of them both. As they say no rest for the wicked and all attention is on Tactiek. Unfortunately we noticed early on that Tactiek was bagging up a little earlier than she should be. A quick call to the vet to discuss the situation and the decision was made to put her on Antibiotics and treat her for Placentitis. This is where an infection starts in the Placenta and causes the foal to be born prematurely and possibly more vulnerable. As her ‘normal’ due date gets closer the risk of a weak foal decreases. Only one day before her due date Tactiek has waxed up. Luckily we know Tactiek and the fact she only waxes up for 24-48 hours before hand so we kept a close eye! My Mum (Chief Midwife) and I were absolutely convinced she would have it that evening, she was restless and showing every other sign that is normal for her. Alas nothing… so out in the field she goes as normal. At 4.20pm I received a frantic phone call ‘SHES HAVING THE FOAL!!’ how rare! Such a respectable time of day! Tactiek loves peace and quiet, so foaling during the day we did not see as an option. Just shows they are always surprising us. As soon as I arrived home, this little foal a beautiful colt was not hanging around for anyone! He wanted to get up, he wanted a drink! He was ready for the world! Within 2 hours he was up, sucking and trying to rear and leap around his stable. After the Palcentitis we were advised to run extra bloods along side the standard IGG just to ensure he would be ok. In complete shock the bloods showed that his white cells and inflammatory markers were all a little off the normal. How could this perfect, slightly wild young colt have any weakness? On the plus his IGG was really high so Tactiek had given him plenty of colostrum to help fight anything off! So a few days of a close watch and then a retest. Needless to say the retest was absolutely fine and I couldn’t be more proud of Tactiek nor more in love with this stunning little colt that has captured everyone’s eye and affection! So in my above picture I would like to introduce Dynamo! The little Pocket Rocket!! His passport name will be Dynamic to stick with the mareline from Tactiek. So from a riding perspective Fleur and Ruby are doing really well! We’ve been to several training clinics with Maryanne Horn who has been working on Ruby relaxing and covering more ground. She’s so elastic and has soo much cadence that she tends to bounce up and down and not necessarily cover any ground. Fleur we’ve been working on straightness and getting her to relax through her ribcage to allow her to swing more through her body. Both have been to a few local shows to help get their ring experience before focusing on qualifying for anything. Both have come away with scores from mid 60’s to mid 70’s. Really looking forward to getting both of these out at Novice level to start qualifying for things. Image Courtesy of Equus Photo. Many Thanks.