The Birth! (in images)

Labor Delivery Imprinting (this page) On her feet

Here, I am starting to work on imprinting the foal. I have a finger stuck up her nostril at this point, desensitizing her to my touch.

I have to use my body/chest and my hand to keep her head steady, since she's waving it around like crazy trying to take a good look at her surroundings. She submits to my touch very easily, accepting everything I do.

I move all around Denali's face (the name was picked out in advance, male or female) with my hands, ears, jaw, mouth (in this photo), before moving down her neck and back. I paid special attention to her ears, since an ear shy horse is really a royal pain.

Imprinting goes quite quickly, which is just as well, because she is slippery as anything, and I have to really hold on to her tightly.

Dot finally recovers from her incredible exertions enough to snake her head around and see what sort of creature she has produced. She keeps on whinnying until little Denali finally whinnies back. So cute! So maternal as well.

Dot immediately starts licking Denali, getting her baby's scent into her memory, as well as cleaning the little tyke off.

They really do look a lot alike in this photo, with their matching stars and large ears. Denali definitely got her mom's ears, same as her brother. The better to hear me say "whoa" with, I do hope!

Denali starts kicking around and I keep her still. The movement wakes mom up enough that she starts to get up. Before Denali's back legs slip out of mom, I have the palm of my hand on Denali's belly, with the umbilical cord between my fingers.

Dot gets up and ... pop! The cord snaps. Quite nice.

You can see the amniotic sac here in this image, with the cord stretched tight between mom and baby (it snaps in the next frame). Ideally, since I supported Denali's stomach during the breakage, she will not herniate around her stump. It might still happen, but at least this way I was able to limit the amount of stress upon her belly muscles.

I work on imprinting and desensitizing Denali a bit more. I work down her body, touching her everywhere repeatedly, and then work with her legs. I flex each of them (no problem there) and then slap the bottoms of them to get her used to having her feet messed around with.

I have her right front hoof in my hands in this photo. She takes it all in stride.

Dot watches, licking Denali clean and bonding with her. Dot doesn't seem to have any issues with my being there, or with any of the things I'm doing to her foal. Good mom!

I let Denali go, mostly because I don't have a choice. She is a BIG baby, active, strong, and most importantly ... SLIPPERY!

I've worked with her enough that I am not too worried, and I know I can get in a couple more moments while she's still trying to get to her feet for the first time.

Everyone watches Denali try to stand up for the first time.

Then I go "whoops!" and realize that I forgot to dip her umbilical stump into the nolvasan solution. Jess helps out and holds Denali still while I pour the nolvasan into a dipping container.

Go to the On her feet page!