Expecting my first foal

[St-EA]

A few weeks ago I purchased a broodmare from a Stud Farm Auction, heavy with foal.

"Molly" aged 9, was a cheap buy, as were many others, with the purchase price far less than the service fee for the Stallion.

I've never had a mare in foal before. I've never SEEN a foal born before (not in the flesh anyway!). And wouldn't you know it, she doesn't want to "let go" of this one!!

Seems that, around this rural area anyway (country Victoria, Australia), most mares at the moment are foaling at around 12 months. "Molly", who has had two previous foals, is 9 days shy of 12 months, and whilst happy and healthy, isn't going to deliver her foal just yet.

I don't think the mares' are staging some sort of widespread protest!, so I'll assume that it's mother nature's influence due to seasonal/weather factors. Speaking of which, there is a lot of thunderstorm activity about over the next few days - seems to be a popular foaling time with some mares?!

So, I wait in excited, anxious, anticipation, hopefully for a problem free birthing and a happy and healthy mum and foal!

I'll keep you posted.

Jo

[St-EA]

... da dah. And here she is, at 3 days old!



Well, mum didn't show any typical signs the night before (no waxing, agitation, tail flicking, etc). So I was surprised to find a just newborn filly the next morning. And she is going to be a tall girl. Already she stands level with my shoulders.

Mother and daughter are doing well!

# You can click on the image to enlarge. Provided by Image Shack which is a free, no nonsense image hosting service. I've used them for a while with no problems.

Cheers,

[St-EA]

This is an update photo of the foal at 5 months. Not a very good snap, it was taken on the fly when she was showing off and the fence was in front of her body and face. She's grown into quite a big girl.

[shadowfax]

I love that pic! I may just decide to paint or draw her from that I like the pose so much.
Congrats on her she's a beauty. Sorry not been in here a whole lot. If you ever have time please join us on www.horse.com they have a nice forum and the breed topic standardbreds-best kept secret is the larges in the section on breeds. I posted about this website there today and posted a link so hopefully soon you'll be getting more traffic. I really like this site, can't wait to see how it grows in time.

[St-EA]

Hey, thanks so much for the kind words Shadowfax. Checked out the forum - it's great! Here is the direct link to the thread: Standardbreds! Best kept secret forum.horse.com/tm.asp?m=5819 - if anyone's interested. Great to see it's the biggest thread by far!! Woo hoo for the Standardbreds!

To display a picture with this forum you need to host it somewhere - like photobucket.com and link to it using the img tags (bottom fourth tag from the left from the "Add Tags" box when you post a reply). Unfortunately, this forum provider does not have the ability to upload photos direct from your computer - that I can see. That would be nice and easy!

Wow, my little girl painted - that's fantastic! She won't mind a bit - she's such a show off!