"On Saturday, August 20 she came for feeding in the morning and was fit and fine. As I watched her through the kitchen window she started lying down, and getting up and lying down again."
Bland explained that when horses suffer from colic they often behave in this manner. According to her, Bonfire’s entire body was shaking before she would lie down, again and again and she would moan while closing her eyes, in obvious in pain.
"She was also urinating as she was lying down, this was not normal," she said.
Bland phoned the vet, in whose care Bonfire had been for the past 10 years, explaining that the mare was very sick and requesting that he come and attend to her. Bland said that the vet explained to her that the symptoms described to him seemed to fit those of a hernia.
"He said that I should expect the uterus and bladder to get pushed out as well, as this forms part of the hernia, and said that a hernia was very bad and that I should prepare myself to have her put down once he saw her."
Bland told further that she stayed with her mare trying to comfort her, watching her suffer and often passing urine. "I went to fetch my phone, which was in the house, about 50 metres away from Bonfire, to phone the vet, and when I got back to her there, I saw a foal lying next to her," exclaimed a thoroughly pleased Bland.
She further explained that she had been dealing with horses over 40 years, and had recently had a mare give birth on her property, "so I know what to expect from a pregnant mare."
"I was completely surprised to see that this mare was not dying, but was giving life to a foal."
According to Bland, the vet was just as surprised at this most unexpected birth from the old mare. "The foal was still lying down, partly covered in the birth sack, which took over ten minutes to come off, but the foal was still lying down." Bland explained that it was very important for the foal to get onto its feet to suckle the first milk, called colostrum.
After waiting for twenty minutes she lifted the foal and guided him to the milk. "He was wobbly while he tried to drink, but there was no milk." Bland then realised the seriousness of the situation while watching the foal lie down again.
"The powdered milk for feeding a foal has to come from Durban and I would have to get it flown in, and I realised that if the mother had no milk I would have to hand-rear the little bugger, bottle-feeding him every two hours for three months. This would be a nightmare, I'm not a youngster anymore."
The vet was called once again to administer an injection which would help the mare "bring the milk on". In the meantime, Bland spent half an hour massaging the mare’s teats which were very hard, with no sign of any milk in them. A few minutes before the vet was due to arrive, the mare produced some milk and the foal managed to start drinking, "beaming with pleasure".
Bland explained that she and the vet realised that the foal was weak and possibly a little premature. "Nature took charge. The vet and I both realised that the father was a Percheron, a big horse used for manual labour, so the foal is bigger than normal, and nature took over and said, ’push out the baby, otherwise it will be to big for you’."
On that Saturday, Bland started lifting and carrying the foal to allow him to suckle on the mother. This she did every two hours, until 04:00 on the Monday morning when she once again got up out of bed to carry the little foal and saw with extreme relief and pleasure, that he had stood up on his own and was suckling contently by himself. "My back hurt so much I could hardly walk. He weighs around 25 to 30 kgs and I had to set the alarm clock to make sure that I got him to drink every two hours. I just had to do this."
Today the happy foal is kicking and running around like any other foal his age. "We've called him Miracle Boy, cause everybody thinks that he is a miracle," explained Bland.
"On the Saturday I followed up on who the father could be."
According to Bland, her neighbour looked after SANParks’ Percheron horses once they retired, and one of those mares had given birth to a stallion three years ago. This stallion must have jumped the fence.
A smiling Bland explained that the foal’s grandmother (who had had a similar experience with a young stallion who had jumped the fence) came over to admire the newborn.
She explained that Bonfire was a near thoroughbred and that Miracle Boy, according to a horse-breeding friend, would make a very good riding horse, as he would be calm and strong. "Anyway, I can't speak of his university degree yet; he's only nine days old," laughed Bland.
Although this was a happy story, Bland was concerned about the financial burden this new addition would place on her already stretched finances. "He already eats five times more than his mother!"
Bland bought Bonfire years ago as an old horse without any documentation, but estimated that she is between 25 and 28 years old, "That's the same as a 60-year-old in human terms!" she concluded.
Proud mom, Bonfire with her young foal, Miracle Boy.
ARTICLE: FRAN KIRSTEN, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
