Morjoy Seline's Bay & White Filly 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie
Morjoy Seline's Bay & White Filly 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie
Foaling News 08
Final Score Colts 9, Fillies 11, with no losses, the fillies won in the end.
Last foaling news 08, I hope that you all enjoyed the foaling news this year, we think that we achieved a miracle but it was hard work, I hope that other breeders take note that foals can be saved in most cases by being there with video cameras which are cheap now or swinging foaling monitors as a very last resort. The sweating type foaling monitors do not work on mini Shetland's. The last foal is doing well but we struggled to get her sucking. Janette sorted that out with a special method which worked. Please phone if you have that problem.
Morjoy Seline's Bay & White Filly 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie
Morjoy Seline's Bay & White Filly 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie
1st June 4.45am, A lovely end to our foaling season came when our last mare to foal Morjoy Seline finally foaled at 4am this morning. The foaling went well and we have a a lovely well marked bay and white filly by our stallion Fairytail Primo Dominie. What a nice end to our foaling season. This is the first time in over ten years that we have not lost any foals and we actually foaled 22 mares, two not being our own. Janette and I filmed this foaling and so hope to put that online soon. I hope that you have all enjoyed this shared experience with us. It is nearly 5 am and I have had less than one and a half hours sleep so I am going back to bed now, bye for now.
31st May 11.20pm, We thought that it would be over by now but Morjoy Seline is hanging on, Janette has gone to bed and I will watch Seline until 2.30am, I expect Seline to foal before then. We watched telly tonight and we were pleased that Jodie won the Nancy program, we were disappointed with the winner of Britain's got Talent, the Collie dog should have won that or the 12 year old girl.
31st May 12.10pm. Our last pony to foal has waxed up today so hopefully she should foal either this afternoon or this evening, Janette and I are both looking forward to getting a normal nights sleep again. I will keep you informed later.
30th May 10.30pm, Last foal still to come, sorry about the foaling video not working, Youtube blocked it as being too long at 15 minutes but i did not find out until tonight because my internet connection has been down for a couple of days, all sorted now. I have re-edited the video to be just under 10 minutes long and have uploaded it again, hopefully it will work now.
28th May 5.00pm, Last one still to foal, I have just put the video on You Tube of Fairytail Jasmine foaling on Monday afternoon, it was about thirty minutes of film which I have edited down to 15 minutes. It shown Jasmine getting ready to foal which I filmed through the kitchen window, then the foaling which I tried to film without interfering but things seemed to be going slow so Janette took the camera of me and made me go and investigate, Jasmine was very restless but the foal was coming ok, I ended up assisting the foal to be born but all went well and Jasmine was amazing, once she saw the foal she was so exited that she kept squealing. She has been a really good mum since. I hope you enjoy the video.
Fairytail Jasmine Foaling a special filly in the daytime 2008
27th May 2008 12.30am, Our last mare to foal is being watched tonight, it has been 10 years since we had a foaling year without loosing some foals, if we can pull this off now with twenty foals and no losses it will prove our tirey system works best.
Fairytail Jasmines Filly 08
Fairytail Rosita's Filly 08
26th May 2008 9pm, Fairytail Jasmine was very restless all night so Janette put her out in the paddock this morning to settle her. We watched her until she foaled at 2.45pm. We have filmed this in the daylight and I will put that on soon, hopefully tonight. Jasmine had a lovely well marked piebald filly by Morjoy Humbug.
Did you see Britain's Got Talent tonight with the girl and the clever collie dog, that must be the cleverest dog in the World, we congratulate that girl for the work that she must have put in to create that fantastic dog which should win Britain's Got Talent. We can appreciate that work because it is what we do all the time.
Fairytail Rosetta's Filly Foal by Bogs Lord Mack, this foal is very special.
26th May 12.30am, We have just had a lovely filly foal by Bogs Lord Mack out of Fairytail Rosita, this foal is very special as it is spotted all over with brown marks. The fillies have caught up now, maybe they could still win. Fairytail Jasmine was also about to foal at the same time as Rosita but Rosita beat her to it which put Jasmine off for the moment. As I write this Jasmine is very restless, she will also produce soon. An interesting night ahead.
25th May 10.30pm, Just three mares to go now, Fairytail Jasmine who ran with Humbug, Morjoy Seline who ran with Primo Dominie and Fairytail Rosita who ran with Bogs Lord Mack.
Little Lucky Jake is much better again today, I think that we should have called him Jack in a box because he keeps going up then down then up again, it is very strange. I do fear that there is a fundamental problem with Jake but I may be wrong. Usually a poorly foal would be gone by now but Lucky Jake keeps going, he is the most beautiful colour, he was super friendly but not any more, he is fed up with being treated, we struggle now to catch him.
Here is a run down of all the foals born so far.
Colts
Fairytail Gucci Piebald Colt born 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie out of Fairy Fortune
Fairytail ******** Piebald Colt born 08 by Fairytail Maverick out of Morjoy Tootsie
(Sold) Fairytail Time Lord Piebald Colt born 08 by Morjoy Humbug out of Fairytail Panache
Fairytail Lord Loxley Bay & White Colt born 08 by Fairytail Maverick out of Morjoy Puffin
Fairytail ******** Piebald Colt born 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie out of Dilston Lexie
Fairytail Fernando Piebald Colt born 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie out of Fairytail May Day Miracle
Fairytail Lucy Jake Dun & White Colt born 08 by Fairytail Midas Touch out of Donabi Luana
(Sold) Fairytail Torchwood Piebald Colt born 08 by Romany Paco out of Fairytail Little Gem
Fairytail Top Spot Piebald Colt born 08 by Fairytail Primo Dominie out of Fairytail Over The Moon
Fillies
Fairytail Tabitha Piebald Filly born 08 by Romany Paco out of Morjoy Nuisette
Fairytail Daydream Believer Piebald Filly born 08 by Bogs Lord Mack out of Fairytail Dances With Dreams
Fairytail ******* Black Filly born 08 by Morjoy Humbug out of Bulkgwyn Taloula
Fairytail Angel Eyes Bay & White Filly born 08 by Morjoy Humbug out of Fairytail Hazel
Fairytail Three Wishes Piebald Filly born 08 by Fairytail Shamrock out of Fairytail Wish Come True
Fairytail Black Velvet Black Filly born 08 by Romany Paco out of Morjoy Top Totty
Fairytail Starburst Piebald Filly born 08 by Fairytail Maverick out of Fairytail Jumping for Joy
(Sold) Fairytail Dot to Dot Skewbald Filly born 08 by Fairytail Midas Touch out of Fairytail Belle
Fairytail ******** Skewbald Filly born 08 by Bogs Lord Mack out of Fairytail Rosita
Fairytail ******** Piebald Filly born 08 by Morjoy Humbug out of Fairytail Jasmine
Janette and I have had a very lucky run so far this year with no losses, we are both very tired but we now need to complete this task and I hope that we can get through to the end with no losses. If we manage it, it will probably be the first time with multiple foals. I hope that I have not broken our luck by saying that. I can remember two or three years ago loosing our last foal because the battery was dead in our foaling monitor. That is when we gave up relying on foaling monitors. This year we have used swinging foaling monitors on some mares as a back up but they are not reliable and you get many false alarms, however if you cannot watch your mares 24/7 then we can recommend these. Ours trigger a pager but the latest ones trigger you mobile phone with a call. They are expensive at £450 per unit or more but what price do you put on the sunny summer months with your young kids lying in you paddock with the foal playing with you and jumping over you kissing and pawing you. I find this so fantastic with my many foals which is why I spend so much money on this very large hobby.
25th May, 1pm Janette got me up this morning at about 7pm, one of our mares Bulkgwyn Taloula had had a few hours of great discomfort, she ended up nearly climbing the walls so Janette put her out in a paddock in front of the house to settle her. It was not long before she was foaling and it came "Red Bag" so we slit the bag quickly and I had a quick feel to see if it was coming ok, it was. Luckily Taloula gave one almighty push and the foal was out. We were both taken by surprise in that it was black, but it was a filly again so that was better. The foal was by Morjoy Humbug. We are still struggling to get Morjoy Tootsies foal to suckle, we have kept milking the mare and giving it to the foal by syringe to get the foal stronger. I am sure that we will get there in the end.
Morjoy Tootsies Piebald Colt by Fairytail Maverick
25th May, 12.30am We had a nice piebald colt born to our Morjoy Tootsie by Fairytail Maverick today at 2pm, the foal was very large and well filled out. I could not foal it on my own, I tried but the head would not come past the ears, luckily we had a family member available who came and helped me pull this foal out. Janette held on to the ponies tail with one hand and with her other hand to the door, we both nearly pulled Janette apart to get this big foal out. The mare is still suffering and the foal is alive at the moment but has not suckled yet after 10 hours, we have fed it some colostrum and hope that nature helps now. If the foal is not suckling by tomorrow morning we will intervene and sort it.
24rd May 2008, 12.20am. No news so far but there may be soon as two or three of the last five mares are ready now, we are expecting an interesting night ahead. Little Lucky Jake has gone down again today with tight tendon problems with his good front leg, this is serious but we are going to let nature have a go at solving this problem for about 18 hours before we intervene, we are still treating this foal for joint ill, the illness may be causing this problem in its other leg now. The foal is happy and full of life so we still actually think that these are minor problems, if the foal is still struggling tomorrow on it's good front leg we will wrap it with vet wrap to help the foal to stand well. We are taking advice from our vet as best he can give us as well as using our past experiences to try to sort this out. One way or another Little Jake is a very lovely friendly and special tiny colt foal with a big fight, he will be ok, we will make sure.
21st May 2008, 12.30am. We had a nice bay and white colt born tonight at 9pm to one of our best friends mares owned by Joyce Morgan of the Morjoy Stud called Morjoy Petal, it was a Bay and white colt by Bogs lord Mack.. This does not count to our total. We ran this mare along with Morjoy Tulip last year and they both ended up staying here with us. Tulips foal was a tri-colour filly by Fairytail Primo Domini. I have put our last five mares in two stables tonight, three in one stable and two in the other. I have turned all the other lights off so that we concentrate on these two last stables.
Our heart goes out to Joyce and her family tonight as we learned yesterday that Joyce's husband Ron Morgan has been in hospital in a critical condition with his heart since last Saturday.
We are hoping and praying that our NHS deliverer's it's miracle at this moment in time.
Joyce, Ron & Family, we both love you all.
That's Convenient
20th May, 5pm. We had a quiet night last night with lots of restlessness which kept us on our toes but it all came to nothing. Little Lucky Jake was better yesterday and today, maybe the drugs are helping. He has been playing, bucking and kicking. When he does rest he sleeps for a long time.
Fairytail Three Wishes by Fairytail Shamrock out of Fairytail Wish Come True
18th May, 11.15 pm. It is amazing what can happen in just a few minutes, as I was writing the earlier update I noticed that Fairytail Wish Come True got down and then got up quick again. That is a major sign that a foal is coming, I shot into action and went and told Janette that a foal may be coming but that I may be wrong, Wish is very special to us so I could not risk anything. I was proven right in that Wish was foaling and the bubble that came was a "red bag" EMERGENCY as we have had before with this mare and lost the foal. We acted as calmly but efficiently as we could, I cut the red bag with a sharp knife, I had already washed up with HibiScrub, I went in to the mare to feel how things were. The foal was well presented with two feet and a nose. Wish is not a good pusher so I tried to get the legs to try to pull the foal out. My hand was in between a membrane so I could not get a grip. Wish got up and we had to wait for her to go down again, she did and the white bubble came, I burst it with my fingers and went in again to find the feet. This time I found them and got a grip of both feet with one hand. I pulled and did not let go of those little legs until the foal was born. Wish pushed better this time which helped. Janette removed the membrane from around the foals mouth and the foal took its first breath, what a moment in time, from good to bad to good again in just a few minutes. Then came the even better news, I asked Janette to see if it was a colt or a filly, Janette said that wish had had two fillies of which we had lost one so this must be a colt, but it was another piebald filly which we really did not expect. It is by our Fairytail Shamrock. In general I am pleased with things so far, it has been hard work but we have a field full of very nice foals. Little Lucky Jake went downhill today again, he stopped walking on his bad leg and looked poorly again. We have started to treat him with the drugs for a condition called "Joint ill" which one of our fillies had a couple of years ago. I hope we can get him through this because he is a fighter now.
18th May, 10pm. We have had no more action today from the last pregnant mares although some are restless tonight. Today we have been busy setting up the different fields with electric fencing so that we can run stallions with groups of mares close to each other. We have set up eight areas today so that we can run eight stallions with groups of up to eight mares each. This will include three two year old stallions which will have just two or three mares each. The older stallions have gone out with their new girl friends, they all have a few bruises to show for that because the mares which are not in season yet soon put the amorous males in there place.
Little Lucky Jake
17th May, 4.45pm. I was just about to come to bed at 2.30am this morning and took a last glance around the ponies to find that Fairytail Jumping For Joy was foaling, it nearly caught me out so I did not have time to get Janette up. Joy shot the foal out quickly, it was a lovely surprise because it was a very nicely marked piebald filly by Fairytail Maverick that will almost certainly be Homozygous for the Tobiano gene. We have called her Fairytail Starburst.
Fairytail Stardust by Fairytail Maverick out of Fairytail Jumping for Joy
12.15am 17th May 08. Little Lucky Jake is doing well, he has got used to his pot on his poorly foot and is running around his mum as good as the others. We kept him in today because it was cold and wet. When it gets better we will try him out in the garden. I think that he will be alright now as he seems to be getting stronger. We have carefully watched our video back of yesterday and although we have not captured the exact moment we think that mum trod on his lower leg when he was asleep and either broke or fractured his front leg. He is tiny, when I pick him up he weighs about 10 pounds, like a biggish baby.
Morjoy Puffin's colt foal by Fairytail Maverick
15th May, 11.30pm, We have had a nice bay and white colt tonight at 8.30pm by Fairytail Maverick out of Morjoy Puffin. The foaling went well and the mare had waxed up earlier today so we knew that this one was coming. The foal is fat and strong, it was on its feet within just four minutes and stayed on its feet for a few minutes. We were amazed, sadly I did not think to film this one even though I knew it was coming. There is a reason for that though. Luana's foal which I managed to get sucking last night had been fine until about 11am this morning. Janette had been pleased with me for doing a good job. My sister visited us this morning and I showed her the new foal and told her the story. She thought that the foal was lovely. We set about our daily tasks which is usually "mucking out". At about 11.30am we noticed that the foal was limping, shaking and was very distresses. We have spent the whole afternoon tending to this foal as it went down hill again, at about 2pm this afternoon we thought that the foal would die, it was lifeless and not drinking. We kept supporting the foal to have a little suck from its mum which it did, but was just a few seconds at a time. We suspected that mum had trod on it and fractured its left front leg. We had a visit from our vet and he confirmed that we may be right and wrapped the leg with vet wrap.
We then waited a few hours thinking that the foal may die but this evening it was suddenly up on its toes and taking the weight on its bad leg which is now stiff like a plaster cast. The foal seems happy again now and is feeding well by itself. What a couple of days and what a foal. I think that I will call this one Fairytail Lucky Jake.
14th May, 11.50pm, Part 1. All was quiet this morning but Janette was so shattered watching the ponies from 1.30am that she woke me up at about 6.15am to take over the watch, so then I have been tired all day at work.
Janette has then had lots of hard work today trying to get Luana's colt foal to suckle. She has tried everything, bottles with all sorts of different teats but nothing worked. No matter how she tried, the foal would not suck on a false teat. So she went back to a 5mm syringe, and squirting a little at a time into the foals mouth, that worked and she kept trying to guide the foal to mums teats. I took over the watch and tried the same thing but I realized that the foal is still not getting enough milk before it tires and stops drinking. It has now been about 28 hours since the birth so I decided to get serious about getting milk into this foal as a last resort to try to strengthen it up quickly. Janette does not like me frightening the foal by holding it to forcibly to squirt milk into its mouth but that is what I needed to do at this stage, Janette was asleep. I have done it before and it works. I milked Luana and got nearly a full mug, as I milked one teat the other teat ran milk out on its own. Luana was desperate to get rid of the tension of the excess milk. I then cupped the foal between my knees from behind it gently and then kept squirting 5mm of milk into the foals mouth every minute letting the foals head down after each squirt, the foal would try to back away at first but could not because I was there. Some milk ran out of the foals mouth each time and the foal drank maybe 50% of the milk. I continued this until the foal was happy to be getting this big life saving drink that it needed now. After a few times the foal was very happy with this way of being fed, I was pleased because I knew that the foal had now got enough milk to soon give it the strength that it now needed.
It worked, and at 11.45pm the foal woke up from a longer sleep and went to mum for a feed. The foal was very lively now, more so than I had yet seen. So I guided it to the mums feeding station and it was away in no time. It had the longest and the second most important drink of its life from both teats. It was a special moment for me which has bought tears to my eyes as I write this diary. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
I have just been out to the foal again to check that it knows what to do and I just had to guide it to the right place and it was away. The foal seems to like the mares left side and needs to be kept parallel to mum but facing backwards, it can then turn its head under its mum at an angle to suck on the teats sideways.
It is 2am as I write this and I have already woken Janette up once tonight for another foaling, so I will leave Janette a post-it note to say all is well for when she comes down in the night to feed the foal. That may be better than waking her up now and disturbing her short sleep.
Part 2. Tonight when Janette went to bed at 8.50pm she told me to watch very carefully as she suspected some action tonight. I said that I would have tomorrow off work and that I would watch the ponies until 2.30am tonight. Janette will set her clock for 2.45am 15 minutes later. I admit that women have much better intuition than men because she was right. At about 10.15pm Fairytail DreamTime finally foaled a lovely piebald filly foal. The foal was large and very strong, it was sucking mums teats within 45 minutes which was amazing. Dreamy had obviously held this foal back as it looks like a two week old foal at birth. I hope that you have enjoyed my diary, photos and video clips of recent, I have had many messages from viewers all around the World of which I have replied to as best I can.
Fairytail Dream Time's Piebald Filly by Bogs Lord Mack
Morjoy Nuisette foaling a filly foal by our World Champion stallion Romany Paco.
Morjoy Nuisette with new born filly foal by our World Champion stallion Romany Paco.
Donabi Luana's colt foal by Fairytail Midas Touch
13th May, 9.45pm. This morning at 8.45 am I was just ready for going to work when Janette said that I had better get changed quick, a few minutes later and I was foaling a lovely piebald filly by our champion stallion Romany Paco out of Morjoy Nuisette. I had thought quickly and switched the video camera on and I gave it to Janette and said film me and she did. She did a good job.
Then tonight at about 6.30pm Janette and I were sitting eating dinner whilst taking the occasional glance at the foaling television. Janette notice one of our ponies digging so we stopped the moving pictures on that camera and watched the mare for a while, all then seemed well so we went back into the casual glance mode. Within just no more than two or three minutes, the mare must have lay down, foaled and stood back up.
Janette suddenly shrieked out "That looks like a foal in the bag", we both shot into panic mode and found the foal was just shaking its head with the bag still around it and the afterbirth next to it, the umbilical cord still attached to the foal. We both breathed a sigh of relief but hope that the foal was not starved of oxygen for long, it seems fine at the moment although it has not suckled yet. I will feed it some of the colostrum soon if it does not find the feeding station. This foal was by Fairytail Midas Touch out of Donabi Luana. We are hoping that this foal will be OK because it is Luana's third foal and we lost the first two.
With regard to the last nine mares left to foal there are many that could foal tonight or very soon. It will be an interesting time. We are both very tired and hope that we do not miss any foaling's now.
We have a good friend that lost a piebald filly foal this morning due to not breaking out of a red back, because he had to get some sleep before going to work, he is devastated today. Yesterday we had a lady from the south phone us to say that she had lost a filly foal and did we know anyone who wanted to put an orphan foal onto a mare. We told her to contact the foaling bank and Gerry Hart. If anyone has an orphaned foal please contact me and I will put you in touch with these people. We have also heard today of some other studs who have had lots of bad luck this year.
May I take this opportunity to advise all breeders that they can now buy a set of four wireless cameras including a receiver, all easy to fix DIY for under £300 or one camera for £69. Less than the price of a filly foal. See this link as an example
13th May 08 12.30am, I hope that you all enjoy the videos that I have put up tonight. Our mares are all quiet tonight at present.
Fairytail Top Spot, new born foal out of Fairytail Over The Moon 08
An update showing Fairytail Panache and Fairytail Time Lord, he is such a character now.
A Special Video Showing Sleeping Foals in a Circle
12th May 1.15am, All has been quiet today but tonight the ponies are all rubbing because the heat has brought the flies out. We had some visitors today who really appreciated the friendliness of all our ponies and foals and ended up buying six mares and foals, If that is not a recommendation of our ponies, what is.
Nice Surprise, Tottie's colt was actually a filly, Selwyn need to get some glasses now.
May & Foal 08
Update of Fairytail Torchwood with Janette
Some of our foals playing
10th May 2008, 10.30pm, We have just had a nice piebald colt "again" by Fairy Fortune "again" who has always bred us colts. It is by our new stallion Fairytail Primo Dominie. The foaling was a red bag foaling but luckily we got the foal out quickly and the mare stood up at the last moment, I pulled the foal out in a curve and held it in my arms for a few moments so that the cord did not break. It worked, eventually Fortune turned around and the cord broke. We sprayed it. All was OK. Fortune has suffered since with after contractions and the foal has never stopped running around her since he found his feet, he has even been bucking and kicking. I think that he will be a special stallion one day. The breeding is the best and the colt has some special extra quality at the moment.
I have put the video on Youtube tonight of Fairytail Hazel foaling a few days ago, something went wrong near the end in the video editing, I will try to put that right soon but the rest is worth watching, I hope you enjoy.
Fairy Fortunes colt by Fairytail Primo Dominie
Video of Fairytail Hazel foaling 08 (but faulty at the end sorry about that, I will try to correct it soon)
Here is a nice photo and video showing Morjoy Top Totty's Black filly with our family at just 3 days old, it is amazing.
Morjoy Top Totty's with new born foal 08
Saturday morning 1.30am, All ponies quiet at the moment but many well bagged up. Just in case some people wonder what happened to Fairytail Dreamtime who was well bagged up first, she is still well bagged up. That proves that there are no rules to this game, some ponies can be well bagged up for weeks and some don't bother at all until the foal is out. It is just a guide. I have taken some nice photos now and put them online tonight, I hope you enjoy, the video will follow later.
Friday 9th May 1.30 pm, This morning we had a skewbald filly by Fairytail Midas Touch out of Fairytail Rhapsody which we call Belle, the foal came ok but it was Belles first and it took some pulling to get it out. We were a little disappointed again because it was guaranteed to be coloured and it was with just three tiny spots on its back.
Fairytail Rhapsody (Belle) new born filly by Fairytail Midas Touch. We have called this one Fairytail Dot to Dot
Fairytail Rhapsody (Belle) and new foal Fairytail Dot to Dot
Friday 9th May 1.30 am, Last night Fairytail Over The Moon had a piebald colt by our Homozygous stallion Primo Dominie. This one was guaranteed to be coloured and it was with just one spot on its back and three little white socks. It was not quite what we expected but he is lovely because he is also so very friendly. We will probably call this one Fairytail Top Spot.
Fairytail Over The Moon's new piebald colt (Just) by Fairytail Primo Dominie
I have taken some photos and video Wednesday and hope to put it up soon. I have spent a few hours today laying on the grass in the field with the mares and foals but without the camera. I have had probably the most rewarding day of my life so far, all the foals and mares have been amazing, all the foals, even the ones less than a day old are super friendly and all the mares let them integrate with Janette and I and visitors which is remarkable. I will now try to get Janette to video me with all the foals to prove this.
One of the most important aims of the Fairytail breeding program was to breed good quality ponies with a very kind temperament, it has been a hard and very expensive use of 15 years of our lives coupled with 40 years of similar thinking from mainly Joyce & Ron Morgan of the Morjoy Stud and the Dilston Stud who all helped us get to where we are now.
I hope that the video clips and photos that I will put up soon will now prove that we have achieved our goal.
Wednesday 7th May 1.30am, Please read the Tuesday news below this first or you may not understand this news. It is now 1.30am and Fairytail Hazel has foaled our first filly this year. It is a nice bay and white by Morjoy Humbug, son of World Champion Romany Paco. I have filmed this and apart from a little hick up all went well. At the last moment one of the front legs did not appear as expected. They were there a few moments earlier but one disappeared, so I quickly had a feel around and found the other foot. For some reason just the lower foot had turned backwards at the last minute. I think that this would have foaled alright if I was not there although I will never really know. I have tried to speak more in the video but I made a mistake and called Hazel, Dreamy, please forgive me for this and please forgive me for not being professional but all that I can do is to be myself, truthful and honest even though I am a bit shy, but Janette is even shyer. She hates my video camera.
Fairytail Hazels Bay & White Filly by Morjoy Humbug, son of World Champion Romany Paco
Tuesday 6th May 08 10.30pm, We have had some fun today, this morning at about 10am we thought that our grey pony Dilston Lexie was starting to foal, she kept going down then getting up, going down again, rolling and throwing herself about. Occasionally she would settle for a while. She was waxed up by this afternoon so we knew that she would foal soon. She must have known that the foal was not presented correctly. She kept trying to roll and it was distressing for us. Janette told me that last time a pony had been this bad the foal was breach.
This has all been in a day where many other ponies are very restless, we also have one pony Fairytail Hazel who has waxed up so she we also foal tonight. I thought that it was a good opportunity to set the camera up to film Hazel, whilst doing this and making lots of noise, Lexie decided to foal with me there. That is very special because it shows that the pony really does trust us. The camera and lighting was in the wrong stable by then so I only got some film after the event. Just my luck.
Dilston Lexie's piebald colt by Fairytail Primo Dominie
At about 9.30pm Lexie had a black and white colt, the little fellow was very lucky to live because it came with a leg back and Lexie nearly pushed the head out so fast that Janette and I had to dive in and push it back in against strong contractions. I then managed to get the foal right back in to the tummy and hook the leg forward, I pulled the two legs forward and then waited for Lexie to push. I think that she suddenly felt very comfortable and so it then took a few minutes before she pushed the foal out OK. We gave a little help at the end. Lexie may look a little bedraggled in the video but bear in mind what she has been through today. The foal is pure jet black and white with a three leaved clover on its back. We will probably call it Clover but it will most probably go grey as it gets older.
I expect to have further news later with Hazel and maybe other foaling news. This will be an interesting time, because we usually like to keep the mares and foals under the cameras for at least a day before they go out into the field, this helps us to ensure that they are suckling and poohing ok. But we do not have enough spaces with cameras.
Update: I have just been out to take some more photos of Clover at one and a half hours old, he is up on his feet but he has tight tendons on his front legs, his left leg is the worst which is the one that was back. It must have been in a bad position for a while. He is a strong colt and a fighter so I think that he will be alright. He is standing on his bent pins as best he can. As long as he manages to suckle ok he will be OK and his tendons should loosen soon. Just to make sure that he gets his colostrum I will now go out and milk the mare of about 10 to 20mm of colostrum and feed it to the foal with a small syringe. Photos later but the camera is on the tripod ready for Hazel now, lighting in place. I hope we do not get any more problems later.
Update 2: I just went out to Clover but he was already suckling, he will be OK now. Bye for now.
Fairytail May Day Miracle's Piebald Colt Foal by Fairytail Primo Dominie 08
Fairytail May Day Miracles tiny colt about 4 hours old.
Torchwood & Time Lord with visitors on the 4th May 08
4th May 11.45 pm, I am so exited tonight because the two new foals are very special in different ways, the first one born at 1.20am this morning was very tiny but the one born at 7.30am was very special, I think that he is very nicely marked and probably homozygous for the tobiano gene. We will get him DNA tested soon.
Morjoy Top Tottie's new filly foal by World Champion Romany Paco, it is very tiny and very friendly.
Fairytail May Day Miracle's Colt by our new stallion Primo Dominie, what a cracker.
Update photo of Fairytail Time Lord, he is so friendly.
Fairytail Time Lord by Morjoy Humbug out of Fairytail Panache, he is also super friendly.
4th May 7.30am, Up like a lark, Fairytail May Day Miracle has just foaled a lovely well marked piebald colt, the first foal by our young stallion Fairytail Primo Dominie. Photos later.
4th May 1.20am, I have just foaled a black colt foal from Morjoy Top Totty, it is very small but came well and very fast. I did not get time to get Janette up. It is strong and was up on its feet within a few minutes. The bag was half red which was a bad sign but the foal is healthy.
3rd May 12.15pm, We have lots of mares well bagged up now, some at bursting point but they all seem quiet at the moment. Janette has gone riding and left me on foaling duty. Hopefully I will have some more news soon. I am really hoping that I can get some good daytime video soon. I hope all you breeders out there are having lots of foals without too many problems.
1st May 2008, Sorry for the late update but nothing has happened yet, we are still with just two colt foals but with many ponies fully bagged up and many following fast. All the pregnant mares are under surveillance as best we can. It is up to us now to ensure that we do not lose any foals at this late stage. We will try our best even though we are both very tired and stressed. Lets see what the night brings. I hope that you all enjoyed the latest video clips, little Torchwood is so friendly, Panache is being very protective of her colt foal Time Lord, she kicked me tonight which was very unusual but she was aiming at little gem on the other side of me. It was my fault for taking a few carrots to them to bring panache and her foal to me. Some mares which are normally very placid switch into a very protective mode when they have a new foal. You mothers will understand. It does not take me long to convert the foal with a scratch and tickle in the right place. I think we may have some action very soon. Bye for now.
Fairytail Time Lord just after being born
25th April 8.15pm. We finally had our second foal this morning at 3.45am, it was not Dreamy, the one that we were expecting to foal. It was Fairytail Panache and she had a large lanky coloured colt foal which we are going to call Fairytail Time Lord.
I have took some video after the event and this afternoon, I have also took some more video of the first foal Fairytail Torchwood as well as a video of us letting the ponies out into the fields today, see the video page, I hope that you enjoy.
Fairytail Time Lord by Morjoy Humbug out of Fairytail Panache
Fairytail Torchwood by Romany Paco out of Fairytail Little Gem
Some ponies asleep in our barn last night.
25th April 1.15am. We cannot believe that no more foals have come yet, they must be waiting for the sun to come out. Maybe tonight will be the big night, it is warmer and the mares seem very settled. I will be going to bed soon and will leave it to Janette to take over the endless watch. I do believe that I will not get much sleep tonight though. Lets See.
23rd Apriln11.45pm. This day did not bring any new foals as of 11.45pm. We are very tired now, we have seven mares that are 'well bagged up' and the sun has come out, all the flowers have come out, I am very worried that many foals will all come together now. If that happens we will probably loose some but we will do all our best not to. We cannot do anything more than we are already doing and if things go wrong we will share the bad news, we will share all the good news as well if their is some, along with the photos and video clips. God Bless Us At This Moment In Time.
23rd April 12.45am. I will go to sleep soon and Janette will wake up to watch the ponies, time has gone on longer than we expected. We are now expecting many foals over the next few days. We are very worried as we are both already very tired. All the ponies are restless now. Lets see what the night brings.
21st April 11.30pm. Still no foals, some of the ones that I am watching are fast asleep at the moment lying down like they are dead. Big horses never do that. I am expecting some excitement very soon. Dreamy is now well overdue but looking comfortable tonight. Fairytail Torchwood is doing great, he is a future potential tiny stallion with amazing tiny but good breeding.
20th April 1.00am. Still no foals, they are kidding me on this year, I am expecting at least six foals very soon and I am very worried now that they may all come at once, back to watching.
18th April 11.00 pm. Still no new foals, maybe tonight will be more interesting. I have had a few moments when I think that something is happening with a couple of mares but it came to nothing. The first little fellow is doing ok, we may be calling him Fairytail Torchwood.
17th April 10.30pm. No more foals yet, we have six mares bagging up nicely with two of them close to foaling so we may have some more news and photos soon. The little colt that was born first is doing well, he is very friendly and very small. He is very straight and correct. Our next foal should be born to Fairytail Dances with Dreams or Dreamy as we call her, all being well. Dreamy had a filly last year so we are expecting a colt this time. I am hoping for a daytime foaling soon so that I can create a nice video. I wish Janette would learn to use the camcorder so that we could get more video clips, I will have to work on that. One of the mares keeps looking around at her tummy regularly so something must be happening. This can occur 4, 24 or 48 hours before foaling so it is still not very help full. Of the first six mares just one is a first timer so the others should know what this is all about. I always feel sorry for the first timers as they do not understand what is happening, it is always amazing when they first see their new born foal though. The pain is forgotten and their brain suddenly switches into foal protection mode. I am sure that you mothers out there can understand this.
Some of you may notice that we have sold some ponies recently from the sales list. I had a go at Janette last year and said that our "Hobby" had got completely out of hand. I said that I wanted to get a life back other than miniature Shetland Ponies. Janette finally chose a group of ponies to sell which was very difficult because all our ponies are our pets and so friendly. I managed to convince Janette that there are other people out there who would love and care for our ponies even better than we can. We have priced the ponies very reasonable considering their breeding, quality and friendliness. If anyone wants a really special Fairytail miniature Shetland pony then please contact Janette on 07976 740196.
First foal 2008. This would have been lost had we not been there. Little Gems first foal 08, a colt foal by our World Champion Stallion Romany Paco.
14th April Monday, The first foal finally came along this morning at 1.40am, it was a little piebald colt by Romany Paco out of Fairytail Little Gem. We would have lost the foal had we not been there as it had a leg back, but we sorted it quickly.
14th April, Monday, still nothing yet but Little Gem must be close now, she has been showing all the signs now since last night. I am back at work tomorrow and so can guarantee that I will now have an aw full nights sleep.
I found a web page tonight that gives an update to the Guide Horse For The Blind story that featured on my video, please click the link to see click here
We now have four ponies bagging up and are watching them closely.
As of morning on Sunday April 13th 2008 we have a pony called Fairytail Little Gem, piebald who is now ready to foal, she is showing all the usual signs like rubbing, looking at her belly, not eating, poring the ground, being very alert, twitching her head, keeping a very close eye on her newborns. We will see how things go.
What was nice for us today was to see the swallows come back from South Africa. We had 4 today, 8 days earlier than last year but 5 days later than the year before.
If anyone is also going through this foaling period please see my new web pages on foaling tips and health and welfare. I am not an expert but I have given the best advice that I can give, Please see Foaling Tips and Health and Welfare pages. Please feel free to add your comments to improve this information so that we can all help each other to breed good ponies in a nice and safe way.