Three down, two to go!

Sorry, no pictures yet, I have just been too tired. All these foalings needed assistance, so it is a good job I was down there, living in the caravan, but I do not sleep well- well, I cannot afford to! First off was Pagan, a lovely mare, did well showing and a real powerhouse- I should love to drive her but I tremble to think how fast she would want to go. She walked up to me in the field and I swear I thought she was farting...she just lifted her tail and splat, the whole thing came out and fell at my feet. Bag, foal inside it and placenta- it was Slaney all over again! I ripped off the caul and the foal sort of looked up at me with a true "WTF" look on HER face. I was so knocked out that I sexed it as a colt to my friend, on the phone, then had to ring her back ten minutes later to confess! Red base Leopard (by a Fewspot- full sister to my Ariel, who I am now showing.) She is something else, I can tell you, she moves like a Hack, long and low, just like Mama, and she thinks she is the bees knees! Her name is Shadowplay Pale Moon Rising. Next along, a long week of waiting later, was Sophie- now Sophie lost her first foal last year- just could not get him out in time- but she decided that was not happening again and she shoved like a traction engine on speed, but the foal was wedged tight. I broke the caul over the head as I was not losing another foal, I can tell you, then I finally got her to lie down and relax just a little, and I was able to turn the foal a tiny bit to the left and SHE slipped out then, with a little help. Sophie was exhausted, absolutely knocked out. I let her lie, cleaned up the foal, waited for the cord to stop pumping and broke it, cleared as much wet straw away as I could and put down new and gave the afterbirth to the waiting dogs (good to have natures dustbins waiting outside!!) The foal actually got up before Sophie- I had hauled her round to Mamas head so she knew what was going on, and she did get up onto her chest and burble and lick but she really had given it her all! I got the foal up, milked the mare into a bottle, fed the foal, who drained it like a practiced dipsomaniac, and whipped back into the caravan for some bute- I do not normally use bute on Minis, it can be dangerous, but when swelling is possible bute just cannot be beaten and I am really well practiced in the dosage now. After a short rest and some pain relief, Sophie was able to get up, but she was convoluting violently- her mother and grandmother were the same- so I milked her again- poor thing that was a real shock to the system as the first time she was still on the floor and oblivious. To say she is sensitive is putting it mildly but, bless her, she stood on three legs, squealed like a stuck pig, but put up with it. I fed the foal again who took the lot, burped and went to sleep. Half an hour later Sophie thought she should get up and nudged her awake and she got up and nursed straight away, with Mama on three legs squealing!! Oh, she is a Silver Black, by Carlos, her name is SP Crystal Silver. Last one to date was another long wait- Cleo, a Red Dun by Rabbit, a lovely gentle, beautiful little mare. I'm very fond of her. She stood, she ate, she farted, she crapped, she did everything for ten days except have a flipping foal! FINALLY on the evening of the ninth I was out cutting the thistles in the broodmares field, and Moon and Crystal were both being a HUGE help, when I saw Cleo go down. Turned off the mower and legged it and yes, there was the bubble. No legs, no nose, just a bubble! In the middle of the field. I suggested to Cleo that she get up and walk to the box, and she suggested that I go and attempt self copulation, so I let it go. Next heave I got a couple of hooves, but the problem was the width of the forehead, every time she got it out it slipped back so I took hold and hung on and heaved with her. I had to actually get down on the ground and put my feet up against her backside to get leverage to pull- SHE was as tight as could be. In the end, once we were past the forehead, she came quite easily, and the afterbirth followed almost immediately, and an awful lot of blood, too. This foal was having none of this "Wait for the cord to stop pulsing" lark, she broke it straight away and got up! She has legs that go up to her ears, a beautiful Red Dun Pinto- more white than I like but hey, beggers can't choose right? She is Splash on Tobiano base- lovely blaze face, just a tiny bit slipped but I am not complaining. Head to die for. Lovely, lovely foal. Her name will be SP Echoes of my Heart. I will post pictures as soon as I can actually work out which bit I point at the horse and which bit I push, I still have Fizz to foal, again to Carlos, and then, for reasons that totally escape me, there is a good chance that Song, Fizz and Sophie's mother, is in foal to Rabbit- this is a mare that redbags every single time (her daughters do not, nor her grand daughters) and will lose the foal if not attended, yet does everything in her power to elude me, and gives no signs at all, no bagging, no dropping of belly, Nada. One year I was just about to nip home for a shower and I saw her, still stuffing her feed down her face, yawn. Once. That was the only sign I had. Five minutes later Sophie appeared, and yes, I should have lost her if I had not been there to break the placenta and get the foal out. Song lost her last colt two years ago because she did manage to fool me and foaled on her own- I kept him going for 12 hours but in the end I lost him. I swore no more foals for her and then end of last year Rabbit got out of his pen and was grazing quietly with the mares so I thought I would leave him for a bit to have some company. I fell asleep and woke to the raucous sounds of copulation! So, Song is quite possibly in foal, due in September- September Song?? I have three beautiful FILLIES to date! Whoop. I will get photos, I promise.