Wow.
I just got a call from my mom. Apparently, my mare is pregnant. Yeah. Now for the story.
So this past spring, I took my mare to get bred. She was live covered, tried twice. The first time, they thought she took, but she didn't. The second time, again they thought she took, but the vet said she had slipped the foal (?). So I opted to just bring her home and forget about it, almost relieved as I came to the realization that 1)I didn't really need another horse, and 2) I didn't need to be breeding right now anyway.
So, no harm no foul. Paid the necessary fees for keeping her up there and brought her home. Now, I hadn't thought much of it, but my mom said (within about 2 months of bringing her home) that she didn't notice Scarlett going into heat at all since she'd been back. This is a mare that is very showy when in heat and you can't miss it. I just thought..well..maybe..but they said she wasn't pregnant so maybe we are just missing it. I was never home that much, but even I saw the other mare in heat a few times. So about a month ago we start to notice her looking a bit full, but she always has a bit of a belly and is a "thicker" mare in general, so again..seemed normal for her. But just in case, we called our vet. He said he'd come out and palpate her to be sure. He's a bit of a scatterbrain and despite a few calls, he didn't make it out til today. He had just come from digging out my other horse's abscess, so he followed my mom out to the house to check her. He no sooner than stuck his hand in and said "yup, she's pregnant." My mom asked how he knew so fast, and he said "I can feel the head." He let my mom feel it too. So, um. Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I am excited. However I'm also in a bit of shock and paranoia. Here I am trying to sell a horse, and now I've got another on the way. Although, I guess to look at things on the bright side, we are supposed to be moving and will have more room and funds available in the coming year, so maybe things won't be as hard as I'm making them out to be. They will be taken care of no matter what. If worse comes to worse, we can sell the foal (since foals generally sell faster--cuz they're so kyoot). Anyway, now here's a question....I haven't called the breeder yet. I know I have to contact him because unless I do (and pay him of course), the foal can't be registered. And I want it registered.
What do I do in this situation? Apparently it has happened before (actually the breeder was telling us about another occurrence --which makes me question how good their vet it...). I'm hoping, because of the hassle/confusion that the breeder will reduce the breeding fee. If he doesn't it's no biggie, but it would be nice. Had I known she was pregnant earlier, I would have had time to store away the extra money (he wasn't going to collect until the baby was on the ground). But now I don't have that time. I guess if I have to, I can give him the foal, but..I dunno.. the guy seems very nice, so I'm sure we will be able to work something out.
GAH!!! Merry Christmas to meeee.
I guess I can post on the Baby Bump thread now, eh?
I just got a call from my mom. Apparently, my mare is pregnant. Yeah. Now for the story.
So this past spring, I took my mare to get bred. She was live covered, tried twice. The first time, they thought she took, but she didn't. The second time, again they thought she took, but the vet said she had slipped the foal (?). So I opted to just bring her home and forget about it, almost relieved as I came to the realization that 1)I didn't really need another horse, and 2) I didn't need to be breeding right now anyway.
So, no harm no foul. Paid the necessary fees for keeping her up there and brought her home. Now, I hadn't thought much of it, but my mom said (within about 2 months of bringing her home) that she didn't notice Scarlett going into heat at all since she'd been back. This is a mare that is very showy when in heat and you can't miss it. I just thought..well..maybe..but they said she wasn't pregnant so maybe we are just missing it. I was never home that much, but even I saw the other mare in heat a few times. So about a month ago we start to notice her looking a bit full, but she always has a bit of a belly and is a "thicker" mare in general, so again..seemed normal for her. But just in case, we called our vet. He said he'd come out and palpate her to be sure. He's a bit of a scatterbrain and despite a few calls, he didn't make it out til today. He had just come from digging out my other horse's abscess, so he followed my mom out to the house to check her. He no sooner than stuck his hand in and said "yup, she's pregnant." My mom asked how he knew so fast, and he said "I can feel the head." He let my mom feel it too. So, um. Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, I am excited. However I'm also in a bit of shock and paranoia. Here I am trying to sell a horse, and now I've got another on the way. Although, I guess to look at things on the bright side, we are supposed to be moving and will have more room and funds available in the coming year, so maybe things won't be as hard as I'm making them out to be. They will be taken care of no matter what. If worse comes to worse, we can sell the foal (since foals generally sell faster--cuz they're so kyoot). Anyway, now here's a question....I haven't called the breeder yet. I know I have to contact him because unless I do (and pay him of course), the foal can't be registered. And I want it registered.
What do I do in this situation? Apparently it has happened before (actually the breeder was telling us about another occurrence --which makes me question how good their vet it...). I'm hoping, because of the hassle/confusion that the breeder will reduce the breeding fee. If he doesn't it's no biggie, but it would be nice. Had I known she was pregnant earlier, I would have had time to store away the extra money (he wasn't going to collect until the baby was on the ground). But now I don't have that time. I guess if I have to, I can give him the foal, but..I dunno.. the guy seems very nice, so I'm sure we will be able to work something out.
GAH!!! Merry Christmas to meeee.
I guess I can post on the Baby Bump thread now, eh?
