History of a Newborn Foal: Dam/Mare

Fyre, short for Wildfyre, came to be under some extraordinary circumstances. I had only recently acquired his dam/mother, Magic, a Peruvian Paso, a couple of weeks prior to his conception.

She came to me from Alice, a friend, who had given Magic a home in her herd of 11 horses, for almost two years. However, Magic had almost never let them touch her in those two years. Having been rescued from a kill pen (a last chance auction for horses) by a woman who then sent her to a trainer, Magic's fear of people seemed to just grow and grow.

The woman gave her to a rescue who took in gaited horses such as Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos, and Tennessee Walkers. The woman who ran the rescue eventually reached out to Alice to see if she would be interested in Magic as Alice has quite a few gaited horses.

Alice and her husband took Magic in, but they still struggled with working with her.

I had only recently met Alice through a trail rider's group and while going on a ride together, she asked me if I would come and meet Magic and see if the energy work I do might help clear some of Magic's trauma.

I drove almost two hours to Alice's home and we put Magic in a paddock. Within about 45 minutes, Magic was coming to ME for me to pet her. This was without using any treats, just my way of engendering trust with a horse. The full story is A Horse Chooses You.

Alice, Magic and I decided that day that Magic and I belonged to each other.

Little did I know that day I would end up with a newborn horse out of the deal.

History of a Newborn Foal: Mare Comes Home

Magic arrived at my place March 2, 2021 and spent almost two weeks in her own paddock so that she and I could get to know one another. At the time, I had two other horses.

One was a horse named Scout, a Dutch Warmblood who was my heart horse. But I already knew that Scout's time on Earth was done and he would be leaving me the very next week when the vet came at the scheduled time.

The other was my rescued palomino Arabian/Paint stallion, Ankh. Ankh had been in his own pasture completely separate from Magic. But he knew she was there.

On Thursday, March 11th, I let my Scout go to the Rainbow Bridge. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.

History of a Newborn Colt: Stallion Sparks Fly

On Saturday, March 13th, I decided to try moving Ankh up into a large paddock behind my barn so that he and Magic could meet each other through a tall fence.

He had been pastured with another mare I had owned when he first arrived and there were no issues. He was still easy to work with and had no big, aggressive stallion behaviors.

So, I was planning to let them greet through the fence first and if it went well, let him out in the paddock.

He began to get excited, but it still wasn't anything I was worried about.

He however, was worried that he couldn't get away from me because of the lead rope. In a split second moment, he moved around me quickly, and I thought, “Oh I need to move.”

That was the last memory I have before waking up in the paddock with big pain in my shoulder. I had been kicked in the shoulder and knocked unconscious. Thankfully my phone was in my pocket and I was able to call 911.

I spent 5 days in the hospital with a broken collarbone that required surgery and a metal plate, two fractured ribs, and a collapsed lung that required a chest tube.

Some dear friends came and were able to get Ankh's halter and lead rope off, but were unable to separate Ankh and Magic. I even had a person that has owned horses all his life come and try, and he couldn't separate them either.

Apparently Magic was truly “magical” for Ankh and sparks flew when they finally got to meet face to face.

They spent 10 days together before I was able to get back and separate them myself.

Ankh had brain surgery, errrr, I mean gelding surgery, over the summer of 2021. He was never the calm stallion that he was before Magic came, and it was clear that he definitely didn't need to be a stallion anymore.

(Gelding a stallion is neutering them. They are no longer able to reproduce and are then referred to as a gelding.)

Newborn Foal Delivery

Eleven months later, the big day arrives.

I had been watching Magic closely for weeks and the day the waxy colostrum appeared on her teats, I knew it was coming. I honestly thought it might be a day or two because her udder had filled up so slowly, and she wasn't showing any other signs of impending delivery (pacing, urinating, biting at her stomach, etc.) but I wanted to be there at the barn just in case. I'm so glad I was.

After it got dark and I got settled in for a cold, cold 27 degrees Fahrenheit night, I watched her pace for a while but I thought maybe she was worried about being in the barn with Ankh out in the pasture.

Then she laid down and I still thought maybe delivery was in the very first stages and we'd be delivering in the wee hours of the morning. I tried to stay quiet and uninvolved, as sometimes mares won't deliver if someone is close.

So, I was shocked when I looked over the stall wall to see the bag already coming out!

With no power at the place I lease, I relied on flashlights and lanterns to watch and film, but the miracle of birth of my and Magic's first foal was as insanely special and well, magical, as I thought it would be. He arrived at 10:46 pm.

He only took a few minutes to rest before starting to move around. I laughed because he was sassy from the first shake of his head and the first strike of his leg. He scooted all the way around Magic and got behind her.

Here is a compilation video of his birth and first journey. If you've never seen a newborn foal delivered, you're in for a treat.

He landed in front of the stall door and got a little cold and wasn't getting up to walk and nurse. So, I had to put down the phone, get a blanket on him and get him warmed up. Then I helped him stand up.

He eventually was on his feet, although still a little wobbly. (His tendons were slightly too flexible at first, but a couple of days of running around stiffened them right up.)

Magic was unsure at first about him nursing but on his second real attempt, we had connection and colostrum!

Trouble in the Barn

Unfortunately, around 2:30 a.m. I had to make a call to my vet as the placenta had not been “delivered.” She said to give it until 5 a.m. and if it still wasn't out to call her back. I ran home to warm up and got back a little after 5 and still no placenta.

The vet and her husband had to get up, pack up their equipment, for not only Magic but for their day, and drive about 45 minutes to us. I think they arrived before 7 but it's a bit of a blur by this point since I had been awake 24 hours straight by then.

Despite her best efforts, the vet eventually had to use oxytocin to get Magic's uterus to “cramp” and help deliver the retained placenta. The vet still had to manually assist as well. (Trust me, you did not want pictures or video of this process.)

She did show me the placenta afterwards and I share it here because of the educational value.

Essentially everything looked healthy except the part on the left. Each part that you see has significance and was something the vet looked at closely.

You can see the darkness, as opposed to the brighter red, and striations on the part on the far left. The vet also said the smell was less than pleasant. So, Magic got some antibiotics that day and for 5 days afterwards to stop and prevent infection.

Creation of a Name: Sparks=Wildfyre.

I had pondered a few different names, and really wanted 1) to meet the foal first and 2) the name to at least have some reference to the experience that brought about his/her existence.

I had seen two references to the old Michael Martin Murphey song Wildfire a few months before he was born. But it seemed so cliche' and I never name my horses anything cliche'. I feel like their names should speak to their soul and essence.

He was sassy from the very beginning. The vets called him a “spitfire” when they were handling him that first morning. Then I saw the word WildFYRE in my mind. And I knew that was it.

Sparks did fly the day Magic and Ankh met. It truly was a wildfire love. Even the colt's star marking looked like a tree to me.

So, instead of Wildfire, he became Wildfyre. Fyre for short.

Tails of Fyre

I have fallen in love with his tail. The lighter palomino with a stripe of the golden red color.

Seemed appropriate for me to name the series about him: Tails of Fyre. And this first installment is Newborn Foal.

Stay tuned for the next update. And tell me what you think about all this in the comments.

The post Tails of Fyre: Newborn Foal appeared first on Julie Bradshaw.