Ayanna Has a Colt

about 11:00 last night I was sound asleep and heard what I thought was water breaking.  A quick trip up to the barn showed both mares with a dry stall. The stalls were cleaned anyway and then udders were checked. Ayanna was dripping milk. A bale of straw was brought in and spread and her tail wrapped then I went back up to the house to watch on the monitor. It turned out that the sound of breaking water was our sump pump.  Ayanna was pacing around the stall and doing a lot of pawing up of the bedding so I was pretty sure she was in labor. Around midnight I watched as her water broke and got up to the barn before she laid down to deliver.  Ayanna wasn't due until April 23rd but the birth was a normal uneventful birth.

 She was thrilled and spent a long time cleaning him up. 

 By this time it was close to 1:00 am so I helped him up, made sure he was in the correct position to find her udder then went to bed. 

At 2:30 am I woke up, checked the monitor and watched as he struggled to get up. He was successful in standing by himself but did not nurse. That meant I needed to get back to the barn to help. He just wasn't getting the sucking part right and it was obvious that he had not nursed. I milked about 3 ounces out of Ayanna into a bottle and was able to get that down him. He tried to nurse a couple times after that but soon needed a nap. I'm too tired to stay up and too frustrated that he just can't latch on. I'm heading to bed for another nap and will ask Mark to come down to keep him in position while I try to teach him to latch on after coffee if he hasn't figured it out by 6:00 am. 

UDATE 5:45 am I can see on the monitor HE IS NURSING!  Praise the LORD!