A Birthday Story
Everyone loves a good birthday story, right? Today I am going to bring you the birthday story of Spirit (named after the movie, Spirit Champion of the Cimerron).
Spirit's mom, Midnight was a pony we acquired earlier in 2010 for pony rides. At the time, we knew there was a chance that she may be bred, but she never really looked in foal and the vet had no success determining it either. At the beginning of August, 2010 Midnight finally began to show and went from a cute, round pony to a huge, buldging belly that she could hardly carry around. She went instantly on maternity leave and we waited (and waited.. and waited...) for the impending arrival.
After a few more vet visits, we knew we had a few weeks until the baby would make an appearance, but still there was an excitement in the air. About the 3rd week of August we were getting signs she was close. All that did was make sure no one at Ponyland got any sleep and we continued to be on baby watch through all hours of the night.
Finally.. the morning of September 1, 2010 I went into the barn about 5am to do my usual morning chores. As I approached Midnight's stall she was starring at me as if to ask "when's breakfast?" I went about my chores and went to get the hay and as I rounded the corner suddenly she was down! Was this IT? My heart pounded with anticipation. I became very quiet as not to distrub Midnight. I sat there with all my baby books open, some to the emergency pages just in case when I heard her pushing and a gush of water flooded the area. My heart was racing with excitement. I began to pray for her and the baby and might have even cried as little hooves and a nose appeared. In a panic I thought they were in the wrong position and dialed my vet to also get them out of bed early (why not, vets love that, right?). As she pushed again, I saw a little head and promptly removed any mucas from his nose. One more push and he was out! Midnight sat resting and I was still in a panic as the vet called back, only to assure me all was well and they'd be out that morning to check the new foal. As Midnight continued to rest for another 3-4 minutes, I continued to clean the baby off. Within minutes Mom took over the duties as I sat in wonder that I actually got to see a horse born. How many horse lovers actually get to see this miracle? Needless to say, I spent the next few hours in the barn, cleaning up the birthing mess, hanging around to keep an eye on mom. The vet arrived and pronounced a healthy baby and healthy mom.
On that date, I assured Spirit he was in good hands and he would live his life in comfort until the day he dies here. You see, every pony on our farm has a commitment from us that we will make sure their needs are always first and to ensure they live in a safe, happy and healthy enviroment. One where they will enjoy top notch health care, meals and a green pasture to kick their heels up when the need arises.
Spirit is no different, he enjoys his work but he enjoys his play time even more.
As you see by the pictures today on the social media sites, he has grown to be a fantastic addition to Ponyland and one his mother (who has since retired but still lives here) is surely proud of!
