Well the grey had me fooled. I thought she would have foaled by now. But she just continues to get bigger and wider. I stopped stabling her at night weeks ago, and moved her into the broodmare paddock, in prepartaion for her giving birth. I have been religiously checking for wax on her udder, and any other signs of the baby about to make an arrival. No luck. For a while she had so much milk she waddled when she walked. that disappeared away again, and her udder returned to normal size. So there has been many hours spent wasted, staring at her massive protruding belly. Trying to see the baby move, and hoping that if i stare long enough, i can force the foal, into being born. Grey although not moving with any grace and dignity, due to her immense size,ambles around the paddock looking happy and without a care in the world. Its just me that is a ball of stress, nerves and anticipation over unknown arrival date of the wild baby.
Having bred a couple of horses already, and hearing others experiences. I know most of the things, that can go wrong with horses, when giving birth. I have had the 'pleasant' experience of having to pull a baby out of a mare, in the middle of a cold, wet, night (all of my mares except one have delivered between 11pm and 2am). Then the horrible decisions of having to euthanize babies born with deformities. Also the even more horrific stories of friends, whose mares, going weeks over their due date, and vets having to kill the foal and having to remove it piece, by piece, to get it out of the poor mare.So until their is a healthy baby, on the ground you have all the worst case scenarios, going on replay through your head.But then, all the excitement and joy of a nice healthy foal makes up for any other losses you experience.
Now,the broodmare paddock has been eaten bare, yet there is still no baby. Grey now comes into the barn for the day, and back to the paddock with hay at night. Every morning shes waiting by the gate looking directly in my bedroom window. If i ever wanted a sleep in, it would be impossible as i would have to face, her pleading expression, for her stable and food, and the guilt would force me to get up.
good news is that you can definitely still see and feel, the baby kicking inside her. Which reassures me its healthy and alive in their. Also she is full of milk again today. I'm going to take this as a sign that the baby must be closed...It better be, the suspense is killing me.
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What started as turning wild horses into show horses is now much, much more. Adventures, travel, wildlife, horses and me.
Where The Wild Horses Came From
If you wanted to get really technical, New Zealand only has feral horses, not wild. As all the horses runing free, are descended from domestic stock, that has either escaped or been set loose, and found their way to the Kaimanawa ranges. That they now habitat in the centre of the north island. The first reports of horses runing free on the kaimanawa ranges, date back to 1876. Some of bloodlines known to have made into wild populations are Arabian, exmoor, Welsh, a group of Comet horses, stock horses from cattle or sheep stations as well as a Cavalry posts in the area.
in 1981 the herds of horses runing free in the ranges, were put under protection by the New Zealand Government. numbers at that stage had plummeted to just 174 wild horses. But by 1994, numbers had risen to 1,576. With this many horses they were causing massive damage to their fragile and unique enviroment.
The New Zealand Department of Conservation has been carrying out annual musters and culls, since 1993. unfortunatly horses that cannot be adopted out to private homes are slaughtered. The aim is to keep the wild population at a managable number for the health of the horses and the enviroment.
The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization lists the Kaimanawa horses as a herd of special genetic value that can be compared with other groups of feral horses such as New Forest ponies, Assateague ponies, wild Mustangs, and with free-living zebras. Kaimanawas are of special value because of their low rate of interaction with humans. This lack of interaction may result in a herd with more wild and fewer domestic characteristics, which is of special interest to researchers.
in 1981 the herds of horses runing free in the ranges, were put under protection by the New Zealand Government. numbers at that stage had plummeted to just 174 wild horses. But by 1994, numbers had risen to 1,576. With this many horses they were causing massive damage to their fragile and unique enviroment.
The New Zealand Department of Conservation has been carrying out annual musters and culls, since 1993. unfortunatly horses that cannot be adopted out to private homes are slaughtered. The aim is to keep the wild population at a managable number for the health of the horses and the enviroment.
The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization lists the Kaimanawa horses as a herd of special genetic value that can be compared with other groups of feral horses such as New Forest ponies, Assateague ponies, wild Mustangs, and with free-living zebras. Kaimanawas are of special value because of their low rate of interaction with humans. This lack of interaction may result in a herd with more wild and fewer domestic characteristics, which is of special interest to researchers.
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