Soon Lucy (not her real name) will again become a mother: her fourth baby is due tonight, or tomorrow, or Monday, or Tuesday, you get the idea. Like her human counterpart, Lucy doesn't know WHEN she will give birth, but like her human counterparts who are near delivery, no doubt she hopes it is soon. An extremely pregnant mare in her eleventh month of gestation, Lucy waddles when she walks. Birth can occur anywhere from 330 days to 350 days since the breeding date, yet Lucy has had her babies two weeks early, around 320 days. Watching Lucy’s enormous underbelly hang as she eats hay or grain causes one who has been in the same predicament on three separate occasions to breathe deeply and stop to reflect.The foaling stall is in waiting, with Lucy as the new resident. Straw carefully layers the ground for the new 100-125 pound arrival. Heat lamps warm the air, encouraging the baby to arrive post haste. Other horses have been placed in adjacent stalls as observers or historians. Will they remind the birthing mother to "take deep cleansing breaths," or nicker in unison?
Horse babies tend to be born in the wee hours of the morning without human intervention. The most recent pre-natal vet visit indicated all is well and all is waiting until just the right moment. Tomorrow could be the day eight legs appear in the stall --- time will tell and then so will I.
Photo attribution: somewhatfortyplus
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