DRAGONARA YANKEE DOODLE DANDY- miniature Horse Foal

BORN 1st May 2010
Sire-HAILSTONE READY TO RUMBLE AMHA BMHS
Dam-MAINESTAR MISS MACEY AMHA BMHS

LATEST NEWS-Debut in the ring-Dandy wins his first class and is All Miniature Breeds reserve supreme champion foal of 2010 (photographs to follow)
Visit this link to view photo 555 to view his superb paces
http://www.insightphotographers.co.uk/AMB10.aspx?Page=16

new foal was born at Dragonara at 12.15 on May 1st
Another colt!
BUT what a colt-this little chap is going to be - really special!

He caught us a little by surprise as Macey had only been turned out for about half an hour on Saturday morning showing absolutely no signs of labour at all.
Macey was grazing in the closest paddock to our house right next to the conservatory and very visible. At about 12.25 I went to my car and noticed something white on the grass near to the gate and thinking it was a piece of rubbish that had blown off the skip (we have had a new kitchen) I went to retrieve it.

To my horror I quickly discovered that the 'rubbish' was actually afterbirth and upon looking at a grazing Macey realised that there was a jet black set of four legs soaking wet and very cold standing behind her.

We quickly picked him up and put the pair of them back in their warm stable with the heat lamps on. Mick my husband towelled him dry and we rugged him up. We then set about trying to get him to nurse. This is where out problems started!

He licked everywhere but not where he should in spite of guidance and milky fingers! This went on for two hours and it was decided that we needed veterinary assistance.
Upon checking the afterbirth the vet decided that he was showing signs of being a 'dummy foal' as he had been starved of oxygen at birth. This meant that his brain was not telling him what to do so we had to intervene and show him what to do.

His first feed was via a tube inseted up his nose and into his stomach and a very patient Macey was hand milked. This worked well and gave him a little stamina. We thought he might start feeding on his own.

He didn't!

We then had to keep waking him up at two hourly intervals to feed him. Several times we thought he had not made it as he appeared totally in a coma. This went on for over 24 hrs we were VERY short of sleep!

Just when we were on the point of calling it a day and having him moved to the intensive care foal unit @ Ł300 a day he started to suckle!

His next problem was his immune system. Tests were done and we waited for the all important green dot to appear on our vets new gadget. It did! Never has a little green spot seemed so important.

Colour wise not sure what he would be-A silver gened dam and a grey dun sire was always going to be a bit different. At birth he looked very black but there were silver hairs on the back of his legs so I felt he would be grey. Now he is 6weeks he has gone brownish but looks very dark around the eyes showing off his lovely blue eyes .Will just have to wait for his foal coat to shed.

Since Monday afternoon he has really picked up and has become so incredibly cheeky!

His first visit to the paddock was on Thursday where he pinged around in delight and investigated everything. (see his pictures below)

Dandy is now three months old and very well mannered-he has had his face clipped, his feet done, been wormed, had a bath, has fly repellant spayed on him daily, comes to call, leads well ,loads himself into the horsebox, travels well, and has attended two displays and a country fayre-quite a lot in a few weeks. Our foals are always taught to be well mannered and are very well handled!

We have lots of pictures of his antics-watch this space.