Our first moment

I sat on the ground with two dogs, one insistently lifting my hand with his wet nose demanding pats and scratches. My thoughts wondered as my hand was set on automatic scratch mode. I was dreaming of the foal that was about to be born. I watched his mother stamping her hoof and swishing her tail. I knew it would be tonight as I had noticed milk running down her legs.

It had been a strange sequence of events that lead me to this point, to this cloudy still night.  

Two years before I had this crazy impulsive idea, not at all unlike me, to breed from a Friesian stallion, for those who don’t know what a Friesian is or may think it could be a dairy cow, think again, it is a mythical black shaggy noble horse that once carried knights into battle.

So to get back to the story I had this crazy idea and purchased a Friesian’s service fee, um that is I purchased his sperm. Any way I had a friends mare that had been offered to me to carry the foal so my sister and I collected it in a container, not personally mind you and drove it four hours to my friends house and then got the vet to inseminator her.  

Sadly the mare slipped the foal and another year passed.

I was looking through horse deals, a big for sale horse magazine, dreaming of a big black mare so I could breed to the Friesian. Amazingly I found her. She looked at me through the black and white photo and said I am yours!

Not impulsive at all, but I happened to know the people and haggled and before you know it, sight unseen she was coming my way, my husband was horrified.  

When she stepped off the float I was shocked at how wide she was, the photo had not done her justice, she was huge. The second thing I noticed was that her ears seemed to be glued back to her head with a kind of come near me and I will kill you expression. The beauty mark on her face was a permanent snarl line.

Well that could not deter me, this was my lifelong dream, to breed an uncomplicated quiet gentle horse, um did I pick the right mother, I guess that’s what happens when you make a decision on looks.

Well after being bitten a few times and a few kilos lost on my behalf chasing her around the paddock we have finally come to an understanding and I was amazed that the other day after a year and a half she did not put her ears back once, mind you that is not the case every day.

So I sat in the growing darkness as my black cat nudged his way onto my lap to my dogs disgust, sitting there full of excitement in anticipation of the new family member. The foaling alarm was safely attached. I rose with stiff legs thinking that I would be getting up all through the night I made my way to bed. My husband chose to sleep in the spare room due to the foaling alarm noise, so much for support; it looked like I was doing this alone. I lay my head on the pillow willing sleep, yet I seemed to stir to every sound, the owls hoot the pump droning from a dripping tap. Alas  sleep came at last.