04/04/2026
The last three days have been a whirlwnd of emotions and exaustion for me. First off, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in getting me thru these crises as they unfolded. My beautiful daughter Bethaany Zielinski, world's best neighbor Susan Wojturski-Hazzard, my "always fall baack on" best friend, Kianna Westfall, vets Dr Tasse and Dr Messick, and also Rood & Riddle's new internist, Stephanie who's last name I don't even know yet. All were instrumental in things working out as well as they possibly could within the hands we were dealt.
It started out Wednesday with U Guys Are No Fun making noise that she finally wanted to foal, at 351 days, about a week and a half overdue. Not a big deal, especially for a Thoroghbred, as they notoriously deliver late. So I was up all night Monday, watching the camera, watching her pace, paw, rub her butt and occasionally snooze. All completely normal behavior for early labor. She was dripping milk and seemed perfectly in line for a normal, healthy delivery. Then as occasionally happens, labor stopped and Lucy decided she'd wait until Thursday night. Thursday night it was more of the same with the added enjoyment of me not having slept in 36 hours. When Lucy finally got down to business the first thing that happened was a repeat of her first foal. A GIANT filly who seemed quite content to stay right where she was. First the head got stuck. I called Susan next door. HELP! After much struggling, we got the head and front feet out, then the shoulders were stuck. That took even more work than the head before we were finally able to win the tug of war for the baby's front end. Then yep. You guessed it. Hip Lock. That was another whole battle and as while all this was going on, Lucy had been hiding a red bag which baby had poked thru the end of so in the beginning I only saw a normal white bubble because the placenta didn't come out until a little further back instead of presenting as a closed red bag right from the get-go. A reg bag is an emergency because if the placenta is completely detached, it means the foal is not getting any oxygen. So time is of the essence. At first glance it looked as though we might be too late, but with lots of dry towels and heavy stimulation the filly started coming around. I still was not happy with the way she was breathing, with her stomach rather than her lungs and the fact that she was so quiet. That is often indicative of a broken rib and with all the punishment she took getting born I was not surprised. So I called the emergency service at Rood & Riddle and Dr. Messick soon confirmed that the filly did indeed have a cracked rib. She also had contracted tendons on both rears which made it impossible to stand. We made the decision to get them in the trailer and to the clinic where Stephanie took over their care.
Stephanie quickly got the filly laid out for examination, bloodwork drawn and fluids on board. The filly was very dehydrated, not a surprise as she was well over four hours old by this time and had nothing to eat yet. She was given two bags of plasma to both help hydrate and provide her with much needed antibodies that she was not getting from Mom yet and running out of time for that. Next the filly had her right hind leg bandaged and the left splinted to allow her to put weight on the legs which was needed to correct the contractures. They have already improved enough to take the bandage completely off the right and switch the splint on the left to just a bandage.
With the filly temporarily taken care of, Stephanie turned her attention to Lucy who seems pretty well off all things considering. She has one tear in her v***a which will heal on it's own and a uterine infection, not unsxpected given that the placenta was partially detached and dying for what appears to be just a short while before delivery. She has had a couple of uterine lavages to clear the infection. They are looking pretty clean already and her fever has gone down to normal. Barring any more unseen complications, Mom and filly will be home by tomorrow afternoon.
Ahh, now to take a breath for a few weeks before Aly foals. Um, excuse me? Did you say take a breath?? Not exactly. This story is much shorter, but also sadder.
Yesterday, just one day after Lucy foaled, Aly started showing signs about midafternoon that she was thinking of joining Lucy despite not being due for three more weeks. I brought her in the barn so she wouldn't foal in the mud and watched her. She was pretty quiet at first, enough so that I figured she was just uncomfortable but soon it was clear she was actually foaling. It was also clear that the baby was dead and had been for some time. This one a typical redbag. I've never had two in one year. In fact, I've had less that a handful here in the last 20 years. Because the baby couldn't move around like they normally do, it was not in position to be born and the object quickly became getting the c**t out and saving the mare. My daughter was already here visiting, but we would need more than two of us to accomplish this goal. So again Susan came to the rescue and I asked her to call Kianna and the vet. Just an FYI, if you ever have a mare in trouble, Kianna is the one to call for help. She is strong, stubborn, tough as nails and knows what she is doing. I wish I had thought to get a picture of her sitting on her butt with her feet on Aly's butt for leverage and pulling with all her might. She successfully wrestled that baby out all by herself with me watching in amazement. Sandy showed up a few minutes later so Aly had Gentamicin and Excede on board almost immediately as well as a lavage to start cleaning her out. The quick start appears to have worked so far as she has no fever and with only a half dose of Bute she is very comfortable. There could still be complications so I'd appreciate jingles and finger-crossing from anyone who wants to join in.
