Pre - Foal Journal:

01/22/00:

Aaaaaaaaaaa! I don't think I have any adrenaline left in me. So, I showed up at the barn today with the intention of opening up Dot's Caslick's sutures. Normal day really. Ride Ally, clean stalls, tend to Dot. Sure. Nice dream. It appears that Dot is bleeding from her vulva. I think "Aaaaaa nooooo!" were my exact words in response to that news. Second thought: "I'm not ready for this yet!" I was going to spend this weekend rereading my foaling books plus a couple new ones I had bought in the past year. I ran over and checked her out. Blood on the ground, blood on her tail, I was freaky. I took her temp ... all fine. Breathing and heartbeat fine.

Kris is a vet friend and she knows Dot (she actually got Dot for Laurie), so I made sure Dot wasn't going to either give birth or fall over dead and ran home to give her a call. It could be bad, or it could be okay bleeding. Back at the barn, the vet students working on a couple of our horses said about the same thing, except with less knowledge. Aaaahhh. So entirely not helpful for my state of mind.

So, I cleaned her up ... betadine and washing, and wrapped her tail to keep it clean, keep her clean, and to monitor the amount of blood. Temp still within a safe range, so I gave her her daily grain and tried to ignore any doubts and went off to ride Ally.

Tonight, is DEFINITELY me, foaling books, and a large note pad.

01/23/00:

Only a little bit of dried blood today. God awful weather .. blowing cold wind with a nice icy shower. Not weather to take a horse out in ... you get blown away.

Have I mentioned how much I love flat land? (sarcasm) Wind is wind here. No light breeze ... hell no. I miss mountains! I miss trail rides where you can't see around the bend. *sigh*

Went off to see Fantasia 2000 ... much fun there =) It's near midnight now, and I've spent the past 4 hours reading one and a half foaling books. I would be quite nice if these books would agree on some aspects of foaling. Grr.

But really, I think I'm going to be doing this the same way I trained (and am still training) Ally. Soak up as much information as possible, throw out the stuff that's nonsense, and use my best judgment. Except foaling out is a bit different than training a horse .. there's a certain physical similarity between every mare, whereas every horse needs their training tailored to their own needs and abilities.

I can do this. I will do this. I must be insane.

01/24/00:

No blood today. Yeah! I still called the large animal clinic first thing in the morning and made an appointment for her to get checked out and the foal ultrasounded. I've been debating whether or not to do so, but this mystery bleeding thing made the choice for me.

Now, it's like nothing else matters until this appointment. Is the foal okay? Is Dot going to be okay? I mean .. infections, ruptures, problems ... argh. But it could be minor, or so I've been told. I don't know what, since my equine medical emergency text doesn't cover insignificant issues.

I'm *horrible* at waiting.

I finished reading and rereading all of my horse books that had *anything* to do with foaling. I think I'm set, although some of it still has to reorganize and settle into my brain. I've taken notes and will make up some lists and schedules of things to do and stuff to get later this week. This is definitely the point where organization is good. I might still have to clean up my room, but this is priority for now. (that is, until my parents come to visit again ... hi mom!)

01/25/00:

The little bugger. So, I changed her tail wrap today and cleaned the dried blood off. La de da, there I am working away and hmm ... what's this? *BLINK* What Caslick's? The sutures are just GONE. Go figure. I mean, I've been hoping that this bleeding was maybe a torn stitch or so, but NO stitches? That would explain a lot. But they WERE there on Saturday. I know that much. I think. I mean, I saw the skin, it was tight, it was attached to the other bit of skin .... darn this mare. She's playing serious mind games with me here!

Two days, then at the vets!

01/27/00:

Oh, today was a FUN day! I walked Dot across the street (literally) to the vet hospital to get checked up and ultra sounded. So, yes she IS pregnant. I mean, not that I ever *really* doubted, but I still had trouble believing that she was going to give birth. Not that she isn't huge, not that her udder isn't starting to fill, not that she's been totally out of heat in the past year ... but since it's not my body, I had trouble believing.

But I saw him/her on the ultrasound! And I could darn well see the foal kicking at her sides. Wow. Quite the active little creature. The vets couldn't get an ultrasound picture, since the foal was kicking them out, almost literally.

Most importantly, figured out what her mystery bleeding is from. It's a varicose vein inside. Apparently it's not too uncommon in older mares. The pressure of the pregnancy causes it to bleed out. Which actually makes a lot of sense, since I was noticing fresh blood at the same time she had fresh mud on her side.

Wow. A baby! A foal! It's still dawning on me. I mean, Dot's been around and we've known she's been pregnant since last April ... but it still takes time to sink in that there's this very very alive and very active baby inside of her ... and it's going to be HERE in a really really short time. Well, relative to the past 10 months of waiting. *grin* Too soon, but not soon enough.

01/29/00:

I could sleep for a couple weeks now ... except I'd probably miss the foaling. It was best that I rode first thing this morning ... I barely had energy to get myself home after stripping Ally's and Dot's stalls. Well, at least hers has less mud now. I dumped all of his wet shavings into her uncovered section of pipe pen. I know shavings are bad for the foal, yadda yadda yadda, but this is shavings mixed into mud. It's better than straight mud, or moldy hay. I hate clay based areas. If I ever buy land, it will NOT be on clay. Not a chance.

So, the plan is that after a live and healthy foal is born (fingers crossed) and the two of them have spent the first week in the main barn stall, they'll go back out into Dot's pipe pen (it's 24 feet by 24 feet), which by that point will be all boarded up and foal-proofed. Less mud, the better.

I think my arms hurt in places I never thought I even had any substantial muscles. Then again, that might be why they hurt in the first place. Heh. My fault for letting the stalls get so soggy without stripping them earlier in the week.

1/30/00:

All ready! Dot is in her stall now (cleaned, fixed, and bedded). Only a few not as essential items to gather up and one board to put up in her stall. I've got everything in a tack trunk right by her stall with a small rubbermaid container of essential items for foaling.

Checked her milk today: not much, but very watery and yellowish in color. Definitely have to tie her up to check that. Hasn't kicked me yet, but she's not too certain she should let me mess around with her. As soon as she has enough milk (1 tablespoon), I'll start running the foal predictor tests. Work at the goat barn last year definitely helps with the milking now. Handy, how that all works out.

It's a smaller stall that she's in now. Big enough to foal out in, but not as roomy as her 24 x 24 pipe pen outside, so I'll have to be extra sure to get her out and about for a walk or a turn out. I'm done with work and school tomorrow at 3ish, so I can ride Ally and turn her out, assuming it's not the downpour it was today.

Left over things to do: gather syringe casings to dip the cord in, clean out her buckets and bring them inside, put clippers in trunk, and check to see if there's a stethoscope out at the barn.

Oh - and put up the phone list on her door in case of anything, be it good or bad.

Right now, I hope she waits until this weekend or later to foal out. I've got 3 midterms and an essay due this week. Foal watching might be a great time to study (or so I hope it is), but it's not as wonderful when you have a test you need to be alert for the next day.

Well, at least I can sleep better at night now, knowing that she's inside and won't be giving birth in the mud. Now if she'll just promise me to not foal out when I'm not around, I'll be all set.

1/31/00:

Well, now I wait. Rah rah rah. I mean, it's awesome knowing that there's going to be this foal ... but now that I've hurried up in this past week, now it seems I get to stand there tapping my foot and waiting for her to, well, to pop the foal out.

Let's see .. everything is ready now. We fixed up that nasty hole in the boards that was just asking for a foal's leg to get stuck.

Argh, I'm not a patient person!

Best part of her being inside in a nice clean stall ... no mud to scrap off of her on a daily basis! I love it. I just brush her, pick her feet out. Takes no time at all, especially compared the the solid half hour I could spend on just that mud. That horrible, crusty, ucky, plastered into her long winter coat, all under her belly mud. Considering that I'd like her to be clean for the birth ... you know, hygiene and all, I'm quite happy about this improvement.

Dot seems happy in her new stall. Seems odd, really. I mean, she's away from all other horses now, except for Tenner across the way, but he's too busy staring outside and pawing to really notice her. Then again, she's not been incredibly social with Ally since about Christmas. She's been keeping him at a distance when they are in the turn out together. Well, a bigger distance than usual.

As well, Dot's been in stalls before. Just because the past couple of years have been pasture ... well, I tend to forget how old she is and how many different places and different lives she's led up to this point. It's a strange unknown in her past, which really is common with horses, but with Ally, I can account for his every location since his birth, since Kris was his only owner. Now if she could talk and give me a tell-all, THAT would be much fun. =)

2/2/00:

I stopped by the horse barn on campus today, like I usually do at least once a week. Ally has a half brother out there, just a couple weeks old. So cute ! And actually quite a nice looking baby ... might even be a nicer horse than Ally and this foal to-be. We'll see about that though. *grin* There are more than a couple foals due in the next week or so ... hopefully I'll be able to see one of those born. One will be Ally's cousin as well.

I've read everything I can about the foaling out, but it would definitely be nice to see one happen that I am not responsible for. I think it would help synthesize the stuff in my head into real life scenes and actions. I know I could help Dot right now if I had to, but hey ... it's a rare opportunity that I have to see other foals and learn stuff on campus and I'm not about to pass it up for anything.

It's really amazing though. All of this. I mean, I NEVER thought I'd be doing anything like this. Own a horse someday was about as specific as my horse oriented thoughts ever got. Then again, when I decided to go to this school, I had no idea what sort of equine programs they had. I've watched and helped out with stuff at the horse barn, at the vet hospital, and at the equestrian center that I doubt I'll ever forget. I still don't want to be a vet ... god no, but I still want to be as knowledgeable as possible. Quite cool.

2/3/00:

I really do believe that Dot is getting quite tired of her pregnancy . She gives me these looks when she's in her stall. Like "what did you do to me, and why isn't it over yet, and could you PLEASE get this thing out of me NOW". Not that she's thinking those things specifically, but she's been down this road before and probably knows that the birthing time is getting much nearer.

She's definitely more hyper than ever ... she even tried to rear the other day. So cute, she got about 4 inches off of the ground. Poor, fat, mama. I turned her out with Ally on the cross country field and they both ran and ran and ran. She was the one instigating most of it too. He just wanted to buck and buck and buck. One more day, then I'm done with midterms and can spent more time with them! I think after riding Ally tomorrow I'll pony Dot off of him and go on a trail ride. She'll enjoy the change of scenery.

I finished up the bookshelf area of this site yesterday. I finally figured out how to make PageMill leave my java code alone. Argh. It IS faster doing a site this way, but the program still aggravates me at times.

So ... someday soon I'll start foal watch with Dot. I'm waiting for the baby to drop and her croup to relax before I make myself entirely sleep deprived. I've waited almost a year for this .. I CAN make it a couple more weeks. I will I will I will.

2/4/00:

Dot really is such a wonderful mare! She could have been irritable, she could have been hyper, she could have been ... well .. like a mare. But she wasn't, not during the entire time that Ally was being a prick while I was ponying her off of him this afternoon. Lovely creature, him. He only obeys as much as he knows I have patience for. Any case, she doesn't seem to mind him, even when he's going sideways and stepping on her and rearing, so hey ... I'll keep ponying her for exercise.

Really, it wasn't that bad, but Ally *was* having issues about the front gate. I haven't a clue why ... unless he was picking up residual energy from all the horses that escaped last night and ran around the gate area. Weird, in anycase. He's ponied just fine for over a year now. Yes, well, he's young. And apparently vulnerable to brain farts.

2/8/00:

We're definitely closer. Dot seems incredibly larger every day and her milk production is up, although it is still watery. Having the foal out at the barn will be interesting. It will definitely be a socialized little critter. We got a foal predictor kit (tests the milk) and I'm starting to use it every couple of days. Hopefully, this will help me sleep better at night.

I have a horse show this weekend in Fresno. This should be interesting. I'm hoping that she's going to wait until after ... would be nice to be in town!

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

(Photo of her and her son, Allagash, out for a run)

2/9/00:

It's so hard to tell if Dot is actually dropping or not. I've heard it is sudden, but it looks like she's starting to drop a bit. Her belly is lower and just HUGE. My god she's enormous! Her udder is filling up a lot more now too. I ran a predict-a-foal test and she's still in the 1% range (change of her foaling in the next 24-48 hours). So, closer, but not close enough.

Next time, I think I'll take one of the foaling books out with me that has the before and after photos of mares who've dropped their bellies before foaling. It's just harder to see when we've seen her almost everyday.

Otherwise, she's doing pretty well. She gets a bit of exercise every day or so depending on the weather. It's supposed to pour tomorrow, so I can't see that being much of a good day for her. At least now that she's inside, I don't have to scrape mud off of her. *grin* always a bright side.

2/12/00:

Whee ! We're getting closer, that's for sure. Predictions right now are within the next week. She's definitely dropped, although she did it gradually, which isn't common. Apparently (what I know from books and all), it's supposed to be a sudden and noticeable difference. It's raining and windy and all types of icky weather, so she hasn't gotten out for a good run recently at all. The lack of exercise, her weight, her age, and the smaller barn stall have all combined to causer her hinds legs to stock (swell) up a bit. Not bad compared to how some of the school horses get, but enough that I've started wrapping her hind legs. Something else to do for her each day. Argh.

I want this foal SOON. I suspect she does too. We need to clean her udder again .. it's definitely filled a lot more, enough that dirt is getting up between the two halves and needs to be cleaned out again. I plan on washing her before the foal nurses, but I want that to be a quick wash, so she'll have to be fairly clean before hand.

Otherwise ... that's that. No show this weekend - it was canceled because of the rain. If she speeds up suddenly and looks like she'll go tomorrow night I won't go home like I planned. It's hard scheduling around an unpredictable event ! Well, at least not 100% predictable. I'll run a predict-a-foal test tonight on her. On Wednesday she was still in the 1% bracket (chance of foaling in the next day or so).

As for this site, I've put together the Resource page, so go enjoy that! It took a lot of searching around on the web and following links from other links to find that many foal-related articles online. Most of them are really good and some are quite excellent articles. (Oh, and the photo here is from earlier this week. Too muddy for more than a hand walk these days.)

2/14/00:

Some days, like today, I stand there cleaning out Dot's stall and I wonder if she's EVER going to give birth. It seems like I've existed in a state of waiting for so long that I shall continue to wait until the end of time. Silly, I know. Some of it is that the fact that it really hasn't sunk in that she is going to give birth and I'm going to be standing there responsible for them both. Just as well that we're still waiting. I need to review the birthing and imprinting techniques again. I could do it cold if I had too, but I don't get a practice run on something like this!

So, yes, I still have mental issues over waiting and over the idea that she's going to actually give birth to a living creature. I'll get over it the minute the foal is on the ground, that I know.

As for excitement, it looks like I can keep using the video camera, and I can hopefully tape the birth. Wheee ! That's something I want to have record of. Although I'll probably see all the stuff I did wrong after the fact. *grin*

Dot is ... dot. Fat. Huge. Enormous. Her vulva is relaxing, she's definitely bagged up, and the foal has dropped. Her milk is yellow and starting to turn cloudy. As for those croup muscles relaxing ... well, I poke her and her muscles quiver like jello. So how do I tell when those suckers are "relaxed"? She has no tone to start with! No waxing, and the predictor kit still says 1%. Which really means nothing. Means she could go anytime between now and a month from now (god forbid). I think I'll check on her tonight, just so I can sleep better. Jeff's going to switch back and forth with me and he checked her this weekend while I was at home.

The rain almost let up entirely today! Was quite nice actually. Windy as anything, but I was able to lunge Dot and Ally enough to let them get some exercise. Dot shouldn't stock up in her hind legs anymore, so I've stopped wrapping. One less thing to do!

2/16/00:

Foal watching has started ! I sure darn well hope she foals soon, because I can't do this for very long! I'll switch back and forth with Jeff, but I still want to be the one there. I curled up in the backseat of my car (a Saturn) for 30 minute shifts until about 3 am, when I headed home for real sleep. Actually, I got a lot of studying done, but I still think it's insane. Or rather, people probably think I'm insane. If this were my backyard barn, I'd have a video camera linked up with my TV and just turn it on to check every 30 minutes. Or a webcam, if the barn had a better internet connection. THAT would be quite cool. But I don't think the office staff would appreciate the invasion of their connection.

As far as Dot goes, she's doing well enough. Stocking up again, so I'll start wrapping again. She's eating less, but I suspect that the foal is taking up lots of room in there. She eats constantly, but just little amounts. She's HUGE. I'll try to get some shots of her and the flatness of the underside of her belly. I find it truly impressive, as well as a bit frightful.

Photo of her croup region. It's sorta relaxed, but not really. Then again, she has little muscle tone there to start with.

2/17/00:

Foal watching continues! Day three now (night, I should say). She is due in 7 days. Every definite sign says "soon". There are "sometimes seen" signs such as the wax on the teats and the bloody show, that have not / have yet to appear. It is quite close enough for me. In addition, I sleep better by doing foal watch. No more missed-foaling nightmares at least. *grin*

For now, foal watch goes until about 1 or 2 am. Later, I'll stay longer. In addition, I need to start hanging around as soon as it gets dark. She had Ally at about 8 pm apparently.

I keep the light in her stall on all night. First, it doesn't disturb her or wake her when I turn it on to check on her, since it's already on. Secondly, perhaps it will convince her that it is actually a little later on in the year and she won't foal late. Last thing I want is to stay up late for several weeks in a row! At least the weather here is warmer. It is California and it's been in the low 50s and high 40s in the evening. More than cold enough for me, but warm compared to other climates.

It's close to a full moon (tomorrow night I think), so I hope our late evening walks remind her of that fact and encourage her to foal now. Personally and selfishly, I have midterms on the 25th and the 28th, and while foal watch is great for studying (when I use it for that), sleep deprivation is bad for midterm performance.

I've re-read the entire delivery portion of the foaling book (Hayes) as well as post birth. I re-read the chapter on imprinting during the first hour after birth as well. I figure that while the foal nurses and sleeps, I'll have some time to re-read the next chapter for imprinting. I won't get confused that way either.

Note to self: Bring warmer clothes!! When she actually foals, I'll have to stay around for a while, not just running from warm location (heated office or car with blankets) to stall and back again. Sure would be nice of Dot to have a 7 pm birth! Not that I wouldn't stay most of the night in anycase. Plus, that early of a birth would put the IgG test at a darned inconvenient hour!

More photos demonstrating her enormous size.

2/27/00:

Foal watching has turned into foal "waiting". I know Dot's habits by heart now. So far, I've depended upon knowing her in order to help me decide what time to leave the barn at night/in the morning. Last night I left a 12 midnight. A bit earlier each night. I'm not quite as dedicated now, but when I'm 99% confident that she's not going to foal, 4 hours extra sleep sure sounds nice.

As for Dot, she's HUGE. At least she's clean now. I bathed her yesterday, since the grime and dandruff were reaching critical mass. Cleaner for the foal as well ... whenever he or she decides to make an appearance.

Dot and Ally had 1 1/2 hours on the cross country field 2 days ago. Dot's definitely feeling her weight more now than she was a couple weeks ago. She ran a bit ... maybe 40 yards at a time before she gave up on that idea. She only galloped then because Ally was bouncing around like a pogo stick gone mad and trying his best to get her worked up.

She's definitely in late pregnancy from the opinion of the books. All 4 legs are swelling up. I wrap the hinds since they are the sort. It takes her 12 hours to eat her daily grain (10 lbs worth), and there's always leftover food (grass and alfalfa) in her stall. She can't lie down for long, since her lungs get so compressed. I've seen her trying to lie on her side. She lasted less than 10 seconds before she had to get up for air. Poor girl!! She's quite tired of this, but she's still quite sweet and happy to greet passerbys.

As for me ... I just want this foal to arrive! I used toe optimistic EVERY night, even with the foal predictor results so low. Now, I hang around because it's habit. I have a nightly routine and it involves living at the stables. I read for class and study, eat dinner, drink hot chocolate, check email (unfortunately, can't work on the web page ... good thing I got most of it done before foal watch started!), and watch the tv shows I recorded the night before. Same thing, for almost 2 weeks now. The only drawbacks are that I'm not at home: the cats miss me, I can't do laundry, and the apartment needs cleaning. I miss the cats, although they ALL sleep with me when I sleep at home, which is incredibly rare. Judith, who lives out here at the barn and feeds the horses during the week, has 2 cats and one of them, Orange, sleeps in the office with me. He's a happy, purring, warm companion. Tripod, the barn's three legged cat, hangs out in the other office and is usually happy to say hi to me.

Socially, these weeks SUCK. I haven't gone anywhere or done anything. Since I know Dot has foaled in early evening in the past, I want to stay around, which means turning down invites. My old room and good friend, Adrianne, is coming up this week on Friday the 3rd. If there is no foal by then .. well, bother that. Not as much fun will be had, but then again, perhaps she'll get to be here for the foaling. Whee ! Add another to the crowd.

Management of Dot: washing her udder about every 5 days, since dirt is getting up around her udder pretty quickly. Being inside has been quite nice, especially with the wind and rain storms we've had this month. I've enlisted Karin in dumping her used shavings into the uncovered and muddy portion of Dot's outside pipe pen. Kenny is living in there now, but Dot will be back. The shavings (dirty, but sometimes just wet from the rain) are helping quite well so far. As for Dot's indoor stall, there's only a little bit of dry straw left at the barn. This is concerning, but unless the new straw (whenever it arrives) is better quality, I'll probably buy bales of my own for the foal.

Dot is shedding like crazy, but at least it is fairly clean hair now. She had slight diarrhea yesterday, so I'll keep an eye on that, but considering the effect of the foal on her internal organs, I'm not really worried. I've only seen her bleed a handful of times since she's moved inside. This is good, since the only concern was if the varicose vein bleeding got worse. I'll have her teeth floated again after the baby arrives. She had them done last spring when she was a couple months along, which was a time ago. I'll have to ask the vets when they think it would be a good idea to get that done. Something else to add to the list "after the foal arrives, TO DO list".

Soon!

2/28/00:

1 am

Look! She JUMPED from one square (1%) on Thursday night to 5 squares (out of 5 - 90% probability of foaling) earlier this night (Saturday 2/27). The changes were visible today for sure. She's dropped significantly more, there's dried milk on the tips of her teats, and she's been rubbing her tail/rump all evening.

Of course, I have a midterm tomorrow ... quite lovely her her. I have an essay due Tuesday as well, but that needs only 2-3 hours of my time.

I've kept her tail braided for about a week now. It keeps it clean, as well as makes it easier to wrap up (which it is right now). Is she going to go tonight? If not, then tomorrow for sure. Christy said two mares that she has been helping with went at 6 am and 7 am yesterday. Which means that I plan on being out here all night and every moment I can tomorrow. Ally isn't going to get ridden, not unless I find some incredible source of energy. Fortunately, I've caught up on a LOT of sleep these past two nights this weekend. Thank goodness for that! As it is, I'm not too sure what I'm going to do all night. Study I suppose!

Dot's milk was definitely white tonight, with just a slight hint of yellow. It was yellow still 2 days ago.

I've kept the stall clean tonight as well, picking it out whenever she deposits more lumps. I stripped most of it tonight, putting fresh shavings into her urine spot (middle of the stall).

She's definitely restless now. She was sleeping (napping) earlier, but she's pacing now (1:20 am) and has pooped two more times. I heard her rubbing her rump as I started right this entry at 1 am.

She's eaten well tonight, but appetite changes only occur in some mares. The degree of relaxation of her vulva is unreliable as well. She can be quite relaxed, and as been so in the past two weeks. More recently, she doesn't want me messing around with her, so she tightens up when I inspect her rear.

The other things she might demonstrate are: kicking at her belly, sweating (flanks and armpits), passing small amounts of loose manure, and getting up and down. She's swishing her tail, but that might be because it is wrapped. she's definitely active (she's usually sleeping at this hour and I'm usually heading home), and she's been pressing her tail against the wall.

From reading, I know that these discomfort signs are caused by her cervix slowly opening up, and the increased pressure and weight against it from the placenta. Thing is, the books don't tell me HOW LONG it takes the cervix to open until the point when the water breaks. Does this mean she's going tonight? Tomorrow? Next week? I'm guessing soon, but after waiting so long, "soon" has become extremely relative.

 

2:30 am

I removed her cribbing collar tonight as well. She's doesn't need any possible impairments to breathing.

She's been quiet the past half hour or so. Will she or won't she? I haven't a clue. I'll be here until 7 am though, just in case.

I busied myself by setting up the video camera. Hard to get it far enough away to see the entire stall.

Everything is as ready as I can make it. Now, it is all up to Dot.

 

4 am

Nothing yet. She's not very active. Perhaps tomorrow night? Anycase, I'm thinking about sleep. I've studied as far as I can. After my midterm I can sleep for an hour or two, then head back out here to the barn. Ugh. I'll call Jeff tomorrow morning and see if he can hand out here in the early evening so I can catch a couple more hours of sleep. I'm definitely not making it to my riding lesson on Tuesday. I'll be dead and Ally will be high as a kite with a rocket engine.

Argh! I still have that english essay to write! Bothersome.

At least I don't have any more midterms for a week or so after this. That gives me time to play with the foal and catch up on my sleep.

Gosh, I MISS my pillow.

2/29/00

9:20 pm

Nothing! She hasn't even paced around for the past two nights, even though I've been here (or Jeff has) for the entire night. A lot of mares are late in giving birth this year, but with her milk ready, I was hoping that oxy-hormone would be kicking in and starting the process. I REALLY want to be here, but at this point, I'd just be happy for a foal on the ground

I stopped by the horse barn yesterday to visit Ally's half brother and his cousin. They are quite cute and friendly. Having a foal around will be unlike anything else. But for now ... I wait. I'm almost convinced that she is going to stay pregnant forever.

Good news though - Ally's old owner, Kris, might be moving back to this area to open a vet practice here. She previously offered to keep the foal (when weaning) at her place, so we'll see what sort of property she buys up in this area. Shall be quite cool having her so much closer! She has numerous horses (and other animals), but she's a vet and can even write some of the costs off as a tax write off. She is expecting two foals of her own later this year as well. I've lost track of how many horses she has, since it is constantly fluctuating.

I'm switching with Jeff in e evenings, since staying the entire night is pretty hard to do. I'll give him a call at about 2 am or so, and he'll come over and I can go home and sleep! He tends to get up pretty early in the morning, so it's not that difficult for him, especially if he gets to sleep earlier. Although, if Dot obliges us and gives birth REALLY soon, we won't have to do this for long!

She's just standing there right now, snoozing. Not very eventful. Bah!

3/1/00

10 pm

Nothing! If anything, her appetite has improved considerably. I lunged her at the walk and trot today in hopes of running the foal out of her. I kept her outside this afternoon in hopes of impressing upon her the spring like nature of the weather and how perfect it is for foaling. If she's not popped ("pop" being the key verb) by next week, we'll call the vets out. Ally needs his carbon dioxide levels checked in anycase, so I can combine those two visits if necessary. And if by some miracle Dot HAS given birth by then, then the post foaling check up can be combined with Ally. Either way, vets in the future.

Not much else to report. I have a horse show this saturday (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association), but I thought that the foal would have arrived before then. Argh. I'll probably have to cancel out.

Dot isn't cribbing without the collar on, at least. I'll need to change her tail wrap tomorrow.

Otherwise, that's it. I'm not as sick as I was two nights ago. Increased sleep and Sudafed and other drugs have helped. Last thing I want is a full blown head cold. The sniffles I can deal with easy enough.

Until later!