The profession of horse breeder? We imagine very green meadows, a stallion with his mares and foals frolicking in the meadows in total freedom, it's beautiful, it makes you dream.. But in reality, what is a horse breeder? The reality is very different from what most people imagine.
Imagine for a moment, not with 1 or 2 children at home, but around ten new children every year, the dream is already fading a little to give way to a completely different concept of the life of a breeder! This year, the 7th foal of the season arrived 15 days early. We noticed that the mare was getting ready, so we brought her in to monitor her carefully, under a 24-hour camera, with a foaling monitoring system (non-invasive; no 24-hour belt, no magnets sutured to the vulva..) At 1:30 a.m. on the night of May 24, 2024, the mare Deseada foaled without problem. We perform first aid on the foal (a very handsome bay male carrying Prl) and return to rest a little.
In the morning, at 5 a.m., we went to see the mother and the foal, which we did not see facing the camera. This foal, however beautiful it may be, does not at all have the reflex to go towards its mother, whose colostrum (first milk) must be ingested within 12 hours following foaling, (the foal's stomach not being capable of digesting and assimilating it after this period of time) otherwise the foal will have no immune defense and will automatically die at the first attack of microbes.
We must therefore milk the mother (who, by the way, is exemplary, allows herself to be milked by us without any problem), then make the foal drink from a bottle, and this every 20 minutes, as soon as the foal gets up to drink. . This beautiful baby does not go towards his mother at all, the important technique is to make him drink from a bottle as close as possible to the mare's udders, so that his instinct develops towards this place for "suckling".
It wasn't once or twice that it took Oléo VMD to come and drink on his own, but it was more than 6 hours like this, being present every 20 minutes, and finally around 12:00 p.m., our little protected ends up agreeing to go to the breast. But it is not yet won, each time, we have to bring him to the breast, again every 20 minutes, and it is only in the evening around 8:00 p.m. that our foal is independent in feeding!
A great victory, after having tried everything to fill Deseada with a top stallion stationed abroad, after having taken good care of the mare for 10.5 months, after having monitored the foaling, then "saving" this foal which did not would have never survived if he had been born in the wilderness, that we can enjoy the magic of this birth. Everything was not rosy after this, we had to think about the first release of this amazing duo..
On the morning of May 25, bright sunshine (rare in Normandy since October 2023..) it is time to put Deseada and her little Oléo in the paddock for an outing. And there... disaster!
This foal, which now goes to its mother to drink without any problem in the box, is not going to follow its mother at all! On the contrary! He turns around and heads straight towards the paddock fence, and this for more than thirty minutes! Deseada has only one idea in mind, to get closer to her friends, to show them her wonder, but Oléo is not at all decided, and we witness an incredible scene.. We had never seen this before. Oléo has no instinct to follow his mother, as soon as she goes back to pick him up, he takes 3/4 strides and then turns around in the other direction!
The mother, although only 5 years old, was incredible. She trained and taught her foal to follow her in a few minutes, tiring for both, but after a while, that's it, the foal finally follows its mother! Hooray!! Of course, out of the question for us to leave the stage, not out of curiosity, but because barely 24 hours old, it is imperative that Oléo be able to drink every time he needs it, and if the stage had continued, we should have intervened. Finally, the mare, arriving near her friends, calmed down, and the foal, through fatigue, too. They are now with each other and the foal can drink safely.
Here is the story of a birth like no other, a small sample of what can happen in the life of a breeder, in just 24 hours, during the foaling period. Today, June 15, 2024, Oléo is doing perfectly well, he behaves like any breeding foal, he is magnificent and it is a joy to see him frolicking in the herd near his mother in complete safety!
