Some horses is moore predictable than others, and of course, when you know your mare well, its easier to hit the right time to start observe moore closely!

Late night, the 1th. of june we experienced a beautiful birth of a gorgeus filly.

Diamant Van Het Gevahof, the broodmare is an experienced mother, and this foal was her 5th foal born at our stable, and her 9th foal in total! We know her signals, and we didnt start watching that thight before the last 4 days before her due. She is very predictable when it comes to dates, and she goes moore or less 336 days (+/- 2 days) every year!Diamant is the most friendly and cozy mare you can imagine, but pre birth, she dont want you to touch her boobies at all.. Thats really a no go, so for her, its no use to try to check with the refractometer – she will just get irritated.

Last year she didnt have any foal, and this year, she acted a litlebit different then normal. She filled up with milk quite late ( only the last week), and for a difference,  she also got wax tips this time. The 31.may the boobies was filled all up, and we could see thoose small wax tips on the niple. We knew it was close. She acted all normal night till 1th. of june, but in the morning on the 1th her milk was dripping. We rescheduled our plans that day – when its that close its really important to be around close!

In the late afternoon she started to walk around a bit restless. She was also sweating a lot, and clearly showed she had contractions. About 21.30 we went up to the stable to be there with her ( before this we watched her on the camera). At 21.45 her water broke and she went into labour. It`s so hot this days, and she was really sweat and workd quit good with the contractions. She layed down and Anders and I helped her a littlebit to get the shoulders out, and it all went very fine. An easy birth and the foal was all out about 21.55! Diamant was in super shape, and went straight into the motherrole again.

We allways make sure the placenta looks whole and healthy. Its very important that we dont miss any pieces inside the mare, then she can get infection and in worst case die.

The filly was strong and good looking, it allways amaze me how quick and independent they are! So fast up on her legs and very clever! Found the milkbar easy, and was drinking at her own within an hour. At this point the milk was dripping, so now I also had the chance to check the quality on the refractometer, and it was above 25% – super!! The placental from the birth came out so easily after about an hour, and everything looked really good! After watching them for 4 hours we went to get some sleep, very happy and tired! We allways make sure the foal gets out all the poop who has been in the body from before birth. This can be hard for them to get out, and we often give them a littlebit help with giving them klyx. She had it all out, and was drinking good on her own. Diamant was also happy and goodlooking. We kept the alarm on every hour during the rest of that night, to be sure to watch them closely, and assist if needed.

On saturday we had them out and I must say, what an balanced and bouncy foal! Beautiful gaits and so soft in all her movements. Very feminin with a strong body!

In the afternoon we decided to observ them a littlebit moore closely again, I had`nt yet seen the foal pee, and Diamant also now had light colick symptoms. I got worried straight away! So I sat down and starred at them for hours, I decided I would not move untill I had seen the filly pee and poop properly, and I was neither happy with Diamant not feeling all fresh! After 4.5 hours waiting the littleone showed me all what I waited for – puhh, one less thing to worry about! But Diamant still wanted to lay down and roll from time to time. She was all calm, but looked at her stomach now and then, so I called the veterinary out. Better one time to much than too little. She had no fever and was eating and drinking ok, but anyway, good to check! The veterinary looked at her and she got one small dose with painkillers. That was it, she got all back to normal and have been all normal since! The vet. assumed it was just the contractions from the uterus!

So now we just enjoy the 2 beautiful foals born this year, and we cant wait for them to go out in the paddock together, and in some time the will ble playing around aswell!

The newborn will be named SD Dicera, she is from Cicero Z x Heartbreaker x Carthago Z.

 

I will give her pedigree a proper introductions when she gets a littlebit older. Until then, I will enjoy all the scratching and cudling with both her and SD D`Elvis!