The second day of her life she was trying to suckle so hard but she just couldnt get the suction happening. She was cheeky as well! Fancy laying her ears back at me when she was just 2 days old!! Her attempts to canter around the stable were just hilarious!
The feeds were happening every 2 hours so I was starting to get tired. On the way out to the stables on those dark nights the thoughts going through my head were it would be better for all if she were just put down, but the moment I saw her cheeky, bossy little face all those thoughts disapeared and I marvelled in her near perfectness!
I was putting them into the day yards in the morning. In between one of the feeds I came out to find the foal on the other side of the fence! It is a good strong fence and it is still a mystery as to how she got there! Luckily there were no scrapes. I took the oportunity to take some photos by herself.
5 days into her life she had the scours. She was still fed all Mum's milk so as well as that I fed her electrolytes. In all this it's the little things that get you down! You get one thing sorted out and another pops it's ugly head up. She continually had conjunctivitus on and off. The mare had 3 bouts of mastitus (all needing 5 days of IM Antibiotics). I was constantly worrying about her weight, no mention was made to supplement her and it didnt occur to me until nearly op time. The weather had been cold and rainy, resulting in them being locked up a lot of days in the stable. I was running out of clean sawdust (and dry). In between the weather I did manage to get them into a clean green paddock which helped with the mares milk production. Falame was producing around 3 lires a day. Bubba devised a method of drinking where she would get the milk flowing by bunting and then curl her tongue up and slurp the milk up! The more she did this the more her hair matted up on her face and started peeling off. I tried to clip the hair off around her face (Boy did she tell me where to go with those clippers!!!) but in the end it all fell off anyway. In all the time they were out in the paddock (5 acres) I never needed a halter to catch the mare and milk her! It did break my heart a little to see Bubba's attempts at eating grass, she never stopped trying though!!
She was now 3 weeks old and arrangement were made for us to go to Shepparton. Luckily for me Richards (husband) Mum was coming over and she stayed to help look after my three children (8yo, 6yo, and 4yo). I wouldnt have coped if I had to worry about them as well! As it was I missed out on my oldest's birthday.
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