Tatiana was for sure going to have this foal today.
After checking her udder I took some vet wrap out (thanks Sarah) and wrapped her tail to get her ready for the pending delivery.
Both mares were turned out early as I knew they would need to be brought back inside before we left for church. I had her on the foaling camera and she was standing quietly when we left for church. Tim Roecker had the morning message on Romans 8 and it was really good to listen to. Right after the service I checked the monitor and saw Tatiana on the floor of the stall straining with all her might and worst was no hooves sticking out. Ruth was sitting behind us so I turned to her and told her I need Fedi. I caught up with Mark on the way out of the sanctuary and told him we need to leave right away and would be taking Fedi with us. On the way home it was obvious something was wrong. I called Karin, she drove over then called us back to say bringing Fedi was the right thing to do, there are no legs. We dropped Fedi off at his house to change, drove to our house to change then I headed out with the towels. Fedi arrived then.
He was able to get one leg in position but something was really wrong with the second leg. I called Hoerr Vet emergency number. Dr. Pallen answered but I told her we would also need Dr. Hoerr. I sent him a text and he responded with OK. Dr. Pallen lives close and made it here first.
She agreed with Fedi, there was something wrapped around the second leg. Dr. Hoerr arrived a few minutes later.
He made the diagnoses that the uterus had flipped and was twisted around the foal. He sedated Tatiana, then we brought in a board. Fedi, Karin and Dr. Pallen pulled while Dr. Hoerr hung on to the leg and I rested my weight on the board.
The board was supposed to keep the foal in place while the uterus moved.
It didn't work. There was one other thing to try and that was to cut her open on her side, reach in and try to flip the uterus by hand.
Unfortunately that too didn't work. That meant he needed to get the foal out by C section and it had to be done quickly. I have a video of that which will be posted below the rest of this story.
The foal wasn't breathing so Dr. Pallen had to give him nose to mouth resuscitation. That worked!
Emma arrived with more medicine to keep Tatiana asleep so Dr. Hoerr could finish sewing her back up.
Dr. Pallen checked the colt's heartbeat then gave him antibiotics.
She had blood running down from helping.
The foal was put in the other stall so when Tatiana awoke she wouldn't knock him down. Dr. Hoerr's face wasn't much better.
We put the sack back on his back and brought him in to meet his mom.
She would have NOTHING to do with him and pinned her ears when he came close. She also tried to bite him. This was going to take a while. It took two of us to try to get the colt to nurse. One to keep her from threatening the colt and one to keep the colt next to the mare. Dr. Pallen milked Tatiana and gave the colt 120 ccs by a feeding tube. Dr. Hoerr needed to leave by then. Dr. Pallen stayed for quite a while but by this time it was past 4:30 pm and I told her I would get help. Rhoda came over to help. When she came I left to get a few more supplies but when I got back to the stall the colt was very close to nursing and soon had latched on. She was still not happy with him so I couldn't leave but after he nursed, those mama hormones kicked in and all of a sudden she accepted him. By 5:00 pm I was able to head to the barn for some leftover supper. Below is the video:
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Mark sent a text that there was left over food from dinner at the barn so I took the golf cart there. We had a baby shower for Noel at 2:00 pm which I missed but those that stayed for supper reported it was a nice shower with around 45 people. Below are just a few pictures of some of the kids.
I need to go back up to the barn around 10:00 pm to give Tatiana more banamine then she will be on strong antibiotics twice a day.
The sun was set and the moon was out when I started for home.
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