Still no foal!!!!!
That Palomino is walking around grazing as if she had no other worries in this world!
On Sunday I had a nice surprise visit by one of my Professors from Uni, she had come all the way from New Zealand to attend a conference in Copenhagen. Plans were that I was to meet up with her in the city of mermaids but when she got clear to herself just how easy and cheap it is to go over to Sweden, and above all, CLOSE it is she came over on the next train and we went for a long drive around all the tourist spots!! I was soo happy to see her!! It was almost surreal to see her standing there at the trainstation. After a coffee in Medieval ystad we went for the stonesetting, less known than stonehenge but more accessible and a lot older it does attract visitors from all over the world and every time I come there I am equally fascinated. It is a giant sundial made up of huge stones set on top of a huge cliff off the south coast. Awesome..
Today is my last day at work...sad...but I have gotten so used to temping and living hand to mouth that I cant bother to worry any more. It is just life.
It is raining...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Sleepwalking
I have spent the past three nights sleeping in the stable. Thats right. On a pile of fresh straw, with one horseblanket underneath and two on top. Not kidding. That quarter mare has us all fooled!!! Monday night she was a wee bit worried. Tuesday night she was lying down panting in periods, in between this she simply stood up and ate away at her hay, last night she was mostly laying down breathing very heavy and groaning now and then. I cant blame her, having a 50-60 kilo foal turning inside her must be pretty painful. I am totally certain that the foal is turned and facing the right way. This is good news. I just wish she would make her mind up and drop it!!! When I went home at 5.30 am I was so knackered that I told Sylvia to call me only when/ if the water breaks. I really dont mind helping out at a foaling, in general the more hands on deck that are available the better, but I know that next year I am unlikely to have the favor returned. Sylvia has never seen a mare foal and I understand that she is nervous, it is just that she lacks common sense, or rather common horse sense. How a woman who has given birth herself twice can be so unimaginative regarding this the biggest miracle of them all beats me.
This is the tiring part of it.....the wait....once it all starts up you just go with the flow but it is annoying to just wait around. The only one loving it is the doglet. She thinks we are off camping. Unfortunately she is up to all kinds of shit all night long and annoys the hell out of me with her catchasing, rat digging, horse shit eating, digging in the straw and walking all over me.
I love her.
This is the tiring part of it.....the wait....once it all starts up you just go with the flow but it is annoying to just wait around. The only one loving it is the doglet. She thinks we are off camping. Unfortunately she is up to all kinds of shit all night long and annoys the hell out of me with her catchasing, rat digging, horse shit eating, digging in the straw and walking all over me.
I love her.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Summer...
Summer has arrived.....finally..or so we think!!! The temperatures have been up the last couple of days and for that we send a thankyou to the weathergods , or leprechauns or whoever it is that fills in the order every morning. Its not me, of that I am certain, if it was then every day would be sunny with a blue sky and a mild shower every dawn to freshen up!
I went to see horsy last night...she is not yet in the summer field but there are plenty of grass in the field where she is at and she is happy.....she walked up to me and put her head on my shoulder the way a horse do when they say " hello, I know you and where have you been , now gimme that carrot". I leaned on her neck and breathed that warm sweet smell of horse while she stood still and nuzzled my arm. Her short shiny black coat had patches of dried sand, giving away that she has had a good ol roll somewhere. - you are having a good time right now dont you? I said and she turned her head looking at me, ears pricked. I swear...horses know only too well what is going on at times.....hopefully she will come in season around June 1st, and then it is a 16 days wait before we know if the insemination have been successfull. It would be such a joy if things went well. The mare that foaled last week and lost her foal is doing well, much better than expected and for that I am grateful. It was very close to everything having gone straight to hell that night so I am happy to see her grazing , alive and well. The quarter mare is coming close to having her foal...she has filled up a tiny amount of milk but no real loosening of ligaments show so I think it might take another day or two. She is due the 26th and might very well be spot on. It is supposed to be around 22C on friday so if not before...then she will get started.
I'll take pics and keep you posted :)
I went to see horsy last night...she is not yet in the summer field but there are plenty of grass in the field where she is at and she is happy.....she walked up to me and put her head on my shoulder the way a horse do when they say " hello, I know you and where have you been , now gimme that carrot". I leaned on her neck and breathed that warm sweet smell of horse while she stood still and nuzzled my arm. Her short shiny black coat had patches of dried sand, giving away that she has had a good ol roll somewhere. - you are having a good time right now dont you? I said and she turned her head looking at me, ears pricked. I swear...horses know only too well what is going on at times.....hopefully she will come in season around June 1st, and then it is a 16 days wait before we know if the insemination have been successfull. It would be such a joy if things went well. The mare that foaled last week and lost her foal is doing well, much better than expected and for that I am grateful. It was very close to everything having gone straight to hell that night so I am happy to see her grazing , alive and well. The quarter mare is coming close to having her foal...she has filled up a tiny amount of milk but no real loosening of ligaments show so I think it might take another day or two. She is due the 26th and might very well be spot on. It is supposed to be around 22C on friday so if not before...then she will get started.
I'll take pics and keep you posted :)
Friday, May 20, 2005
Brrrrrrrrr...
huhh its cold here!!!! I am sitting at work, with my jacket on. That jacket is not likely to come off in the next few weeks..it seems like a permafrost have arrived with a new ventilation system in my office!! A good thing with an office of my own is that I can hide and blog....lol!!!
Not only chilly in my office but also outdoors. May has been the coldest spring since 1938 , and I have noticed it very clearly!!!
Dog vas very disobedient yesterday....she is lil shit as a direct result of my inability to foster a dog, of course, however yesterday she really trumfed. Sneaking behind me when I went out to the grazing paddock when I was to shift a couple of mares to a new field she suddenly started to bark and chase the startled mares who set off in a canter- pursued by a barking whippet. There was no way I got through to her. It is a matter of time before she gets a hoof in her head and get her skull cracked open if she shows off this behaviour so I was extremely angry at her. She knows. Of course. This was just the final straw and from now on she will have to sit on a leash oogling the other dogs running loose (behaving themselves).
Friday....day is slow and boring.......but I have med a a deal with the lady next door to take clara for a walkie sometime this afternoon so I can go visit grandma after work. She is still in hospital after having fallen on her patio breaking her tibia, her arm and three or four ribs, although I blamed her for throwing those in just for good measurement. She is 83, a very active lady still and six weeks in a hospital bed is not her melody of fun. She misses clara since doglet has been known to camp in grandmas knee during a whole day while her mummy are at work. Plans to smuggle in whiplet has been thrown out after nurses declared that she would pop her head up under the cover as soon as the lunch trolley arrived and then be thrown out with no mercy. Typical clara said.
Grandpa has tried to jump out of the balcony from the 13th floor. Again. I have no further comments to that actually. Malin claims a parachute attached to him might do it. He would be an acclaimed BASE jumper in no time the way he is getting on.
Ah well, i think I will scoot. No, wait, something funny, I have applied for my old job at Gallaher. Now, thats funny!!
Not only chilly in my office but also outdoors. May has been the coldest spring since 1938 , and I have noticed it very clearly!!!
Dog vas very disobedient yesterday....she is lil shit as a direct result of my inability to foster a dog, of course, however yesterday she really trumfed. Sneaking behind me when I went out to the grazing paddock when I was to shift a couple of mares to a new field she suddenly started to bark and chase the startled mares who set off in a canter- pursued by a barking whippet. There was no way I got through to her. It is a matter of time before she gets a hoof in her head and get her skull cracked open if she shows off this behaviour so I was extremely angry at her. She knows. Of course. This was just the final straw and from now on she will have to sit on a leash oogling the other dogs running loose (behaving themselves).
Friday....day is slow and boring.......but I have med a a deal with the lady next door to take clara for a walkie sometime this afternoon so I can go visit grandma after work. She is still in hospital after having fallen on her patio breaking her tibia, her arm and three or four ribs, although I blamed her for throwing those in just for good measurement. She is 83, a very active lady still and six weeks in a hospital bed is not her melody of fun. She misses clara since doglet has been known to camp in grandmas knee during a whole day while her mummy are at work. Plans to smuggle in whiplet has been thrown out after nurses declared that she would pop her head up under the cover as soon as the lunch trolley arrived and then be thrown out with no mercy. Typical clara said.
Grandpa has tried to jump out of the balcony from the 13th floor. Again. I have no further comments to that actually. Malin claims a parachute attached to him might do it. He would be an acclaimed BASE jumper in no time the way he is getting on.
Ah well, i think I will scoot. No, wait, something funny, I have applied for my old job at Gallaher. Now, thats funny!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Fate
"Life is what happens to youWhile you're busy making other plans" It was John Lennon who wrote that line...it is part of the lyrics to Beautiful boy. That line to me, defines genius. Because it is true....here we go along busy as hell planning for a new job, a new house, a new car or a change of life that we think we are the mastermind of. It is not true. All choices are not up to us. The biggest decisions are simply made for us not by us.
I spent two hours last night pulling out a dead foal from a dying mare. A normal birthing process in a herdanimal like a horse takes about five minutes. Tops. This is nature...because a mare is vulnerable to predators when delivering a foal so nature has made the process short. Two hours means something is very very wrong. The foal, a beautiful filly was alive when it all started and the only reason she never made it out in this world was her size. I have never seen a foal this big unless it was ten days old. It was not a foal it was a pony. The mare had no chance of giving birth on her own and not even me and Sanna pulling until we felt the taste of blood in our mouths could help. It was stuck. After a frantic call to both a Vet and to poor Marita who arrived with Ellie after five minutes we managed to get her out. I dont know why we started with the massage and blowing air into her lungs, maybe because we all felt that we could not stand doing nothing. Marita got the mare up after ten minutes by pouring water in her ears...an old Indian trick that works every time, god knows why and after the vet had given her fenadyne she seemed to start breathing normal. She will live. It is a young strong mare.
We left the foal with her...as strange as it might seem to someone not familiar with horses it is important that the can grieve....in the wild mares sometimes stands guard over a dead foal for days, nudging, biting and finally trying to kick life into it. She will walk away in the end.
I said to Sanna that life is just this, a series of events that just happen. This foal was not meant to be.
The next mare is due the 26th. I have faith in statistics......it is just not possible for this to happen twice is it? That mare is an American Quarter, an unusual breed in Sweden but with a significant advantage. Their foals are small. A hardy horse breed having developed often in wild or half wild herds has made for this. A small foal is easier and faster to deliver for a mare and she can get up on her feet and defend her foal quicker. ah well....useless knowledge I guess.
And the title? ah ..yea....I believe in fate.
This was fate.
I spent two hours last night pulling out a dead foal from a dying mare. A normal birthing process in a herdanimal like a horse takes about five minutes. Tops. This is nature...because a mare is vulnerable to predators when delivering a foal so nature has made the process short. Two hours means something is very very wrong. The foal, a beautiful filly was alive when it all started and the only reason she never made it out in this world was her size. I have never seen a foal this big unless it was ten days old. It was not a foal it was a pony. The mare had no chance of giving birth on her own and not even me and Sanna pulling until we felt the taste of blood in our mouths could help. It was stuck. After a frantic call to both a Vet and to poor Marita who arrived with Ellie after five minutes we managed to get her out. I dont know why we started with the massage and blowing air into her lungs, maybe because we all felt that we could not stand doing nothing. Marita got the mare up after ten minutes by pouring water in her ears...an old Indian trick that works every time, god knows why and after the vet had given her fenadyne she seemed to start breathing normal. She will live. It is a young strong mare.
We left the foal with her...as strange as it might seem to someone not familiar with horses it is important that the can grieve....in the wild mares sometimes stands guard over a dead foal for days, nudging, biting and finally trying to kick life into it. She will walk away in the end.
I said to Sanna that life is just this, a series of events that just happen. This foal was not meant to be.
The next mare is due the 26th. I have faith in statistics......it is just not possible for this to happen twice is it? That mare is an American Quarter, an unusual breed in Sweden but with a significant advantage. Their foals are small. A hardy horse breed having developed often in wild or half wild herds has made for this. A small foal is easier and faster to deliver for a mare and she can get up on her feet and defend her foal quicker. ah well....useless knowledge I guess.
And the title? ah ..yea....I believe in fate.
This was fate.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Reeboot
I think I will definitely restart this thing.....not that I have anything of sigmificant interest to convey however I definitely need to keep my english alive!!!!
My sister is expecting nr 2 this autumn and I am looking forward to a less dramatic arrival than the one that was made by nr 1. One can always hope!!! Nr 1 is alive and kicking, well, mostly sucking and chewing on everything since small folks seem to explore the world by mouth. Yesterday he also gave new light on the expression " foot in mouth" since he did just that.....put his own foot in his mouth. ack.......was a long time ago I could bit my own big toe...well, it as about 20 odd years ago!!
Clara has reached brat age...she keeps sneaking off when I dont see and last sunday it nearly ended. As in The End. She ran out in the road a few hundred yards away and the car that came along simply had no chance to avoid her. I have no idea how hard it hit her or if...because the Whippet is still alive and wagging her tail. Tail slightly crooked but she is happy as a duck so I suspect the doglet avoided fate this time. She is fast running out of luck though so I now keep her on leash at ALL times. Well, not on our morning walks but those are in the meadows well away from motorised vehicles. We usually startle the calfs grazing but so far has neither critter shown tendencies to chase one another.
The Mare, who finally got her name, Lina, is to be covered the following week and after that we can only hope.....It would be nice with a foal next spring....they are a joy to watch and it would also give me something to think about all winter.
Well, out for now. Will be back. I have to figure out how to add links to others and stuff....
My sister is expecting nr 2 this autumn and I am looking forward to a less dramatic arrival than the one that was made by nr 1. One can always hope!!! Nr 1 is alive and kicking, well, mostly sucking and chewing on everything since small folks seem to explore the world by mouth. Yesterday he also gave new light on the expression " foot in mouth" since he did just that.....put his own foot in his mouth. ack.......was a long time ago I could bit my own big toe...well, it as about 20 odd years ago!!
Clara has reached brat age...she keeps sneaking off when I dont see and last sunday it nearly ended. As in The End. She ran out in the road a few hundred yards away and the car that came along simply had no chance to avoid her. I have no idea how hard it hit her or if...because the Whippet is still alive and wagging her tail. Tail slightly crooked but she is happy as a duck so I suspect the doglet avoided fate this time. She is fast running out of luck though so I now keep her on leash at ALL times. Well, not on our morning walks but those are in the meadows well away from motorised vehicles. We usually startle the calfs grazing but so far has neither critter shown tendencies to chase one another.
The Mare, who finally got her name, Lina, is to be covered the following week and after that we can only hope.....It would be nice with a foal next spring....they are a joy to watch and it would also give me something to think about all winter.
Well, out for now. Will be back. I have to figure out how to add links to others and stuff....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)