Penny and Percy are out in the paddock at the moment, and it's just decided to throw it down! Great! They are having about 3 hours out a day at the moment until they can go out full time with Lily and Ruby.

Chris, the vet, is coming to take Penny's stitches out on Monday (from her caslick) and he will have a look at Percy too. Hopefully he will think that his bendy leg is much better. I think it is improving but it's hard to say when you see them every day.

I've uploaded some pics of them enjoying themselves in the paddock, they love going out. In a way it's a good job we've had all this rain while they have to be in, because they can't be out all day in it anyway. I am keen to get them out all day though as it is much better for them both.

I have a few hello's to say, hopefully I won't get in to trouble for missing anyone! Hello to Chloe, Isobel, Anna, Sarah, James, Harry, Rob, Matt, Dan, Aisling, Patrick, Louise and if you ever check this blog, Tom and Sam. Hope you are all happy and enjoying reading about Penny and Percy!

Right I have to go and get them in now and give Penny her dinner (two scoops Alfa oil and one and a half of mix).

I decided to call Chris, the vet out today to look at both of them. Penny has quite a heavy discharge and Percy's breathing has been concerning me. Percy's breathing sounds like a horse high blowing after exercise. I was worrid that there may be something wrong.

Chris was a star and came up to see me within an hour of me calling, which was just wonderful as it means I don't have to miss work. He had a look at Penny and said that there was nothing to worry about. If the discharge smells horrible then there is cause for concern, but as it is she is fine. She does look very well in herself.

Chris listened to Percy's lungs and heart and said that they were perfectly fine. He's probabley just got a soft paalate which is common in young foals. However Chris was concerned by the fat hanging down between Percy's legs which looks like an over sized testicle. He could not feel any intestine in there, but it is a concern that a hernia may occur. I'm to keep a close eye on it, it should improve as he grows, but if he starts to show signs of colic then this could spell trouble.

Also a small concern is Percy's off hing leg which is a tad wonky. Once again this should straighten up as he grows, but needs keeping an eye on. As such he will have to wait to meet Ruby for another week, as he is not to excessively run around and risk damaging his leg.

On the positive side, he is very lively, has a beautiful shiny coat and bright eyes. Chris said that he was a very nice foal. He also commented on what a nice mare Penny is and how good she is with her foal.

Mark is feeding them their dinner again tonight..........

Percy went out in the paddock for the first time this morning. Mark came up to the stables with me at 0630 to watch! This is an incredible break through - though must play it cool, don't want to put him off.....

Percy's bum is still a bit pooey but getting better. Penny is bleeding slightly which concerns me a bit, though she is very well in herself and eating well so she's not in distress.

I'll be turning them out at 0600 tomorrow for a couple of hours as Kim has to be at work for 0730. Come Saturday they can start going out all day.

Percy has taken to lying under his mum's haynet, which means he is well camouflaged when i go to check on him! See the photo :)

MArk fed them last night and gave Penny more water, he's doing the same tonight!!!!!!!

Penny and Percy are doing well. They are going out in the school for a few hours today. I am hoping to let them into the paddock for a few hours tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, with Saturday being the grand meet Lily and Ruby day!

Percy had to have his bum washed yesterday as he is scouring. He wasn't best please and ended up falling into his water bucket, where he got stuck in a sitting position like a dog. poor thing! So I pulled him out sharpish and he continued with his antics. We got it done eventually! I bought an exfoliating glove from boots that gets the dried bits off a treat! He now has an exfoliated bum, nicely slathered with Vaseline.

Penny is having more to eat now that she is lactating. She'll soon be back up to what she was having in March. Obviously when she goes out she will have access to really good grass so that will make her feel good. i am pleased to say that she looks fantastic and appears well and happy. She has really taken to her motherhood role.

NEWSFLASH
Mark asked me if I would like him to go up and see them tonight while I am at work!! We've had a break through! He LOVES Percy and wasn't very happy with me when I told him about the bucket incident! So he is going to feed them tonight for me and give them extra water. Wow - I never thought that this would happen.

I'm off to see them now for some more bum washing. Oh and poo picking the paddock!

Colt foal born 1950hrs 16/06/07

Penny has had her foal! A stunning bay colt, by Utopian Opposition. After nearly a fortnight of keeping a vigil at the stables, Penny had her foal in the early evening and I missed the birth!

Mark and my dad went up to the stable to fix the camera that we were using to watch Penny in her stable. Meanwhile I was at home getting the dinner ready, planning to return to the stables at about 2200 hrs. When I had fed Penny at 1800 she showed no signs whatsoever of foaling. The only notable thing that day would be that she was behaving strangely when I turned her out in the morning - she was rearing and bucking which I have not seen her do for a long while.

Anyway, I digress. There I am putting the food into the oven and setting my egg timer when Mark rings me; "Julia get up here now Penny is foaling and I'm not joking". With that, a mad panic ensues! In a moment of unusual clarity, I turned the oven off and shouted to mum and my friend Kirsty who was visiting, "Penny is foaling, quick we have to go!"

So we charged out of the house with the dog charging with us, leaving all of the lights on and the tv playing. I jumped in the car and the dog dived into the boot, poor Kirsty had a parcel shelf hit her in the back of the head as we were in Mark's car, which does not normally have the dog in! I drove like Stirling Moss (frightening my poor mum) up to the stables and did it in 4 minutes which is pretty impressive as it normally takes about double that!

On my arrival I find that Mark is in the stable with Kim (who's horse, Lily foaled last week) and Penny has given birth to a sweet looking foal with a bendy ear. Both were lying down and nickering at each other.

I checked the foal and he had quite a bit of fluid in his nose but looked really good apart from that. I sprayed his stump or 'belly button' with blue spray and checked the sex. Shortly afterwards Penny stood up, so I tied the afterbirth up so that she didn't stand on it.

As I did so, Kim relayed her story. She had been hanging around because she was due to have dinner early with friends. Kim had walked past Penny's stable and heard her get down and groan. Kim thought that this was unusual and so went to check her, only to find a pair of forelegs emerging! With this she ran to where Mark and dad were setting up the camera "Bloody hell Penny is foaling call Twig quick!"

Poor Kim was having a bit of a panic and Mark ran with her to the stable. With Kim's guidance (crash course last week with Lily) Mark pulled as Penny pushed and delivered the foal! Mark saw to the foal, breaking the sac and clearing it's mouth and making sure it was safe from Penny's back legs. And this is about where I arrived! I checked the afterbirth which looked fine and put it in a sack ready for the vet in the morning.

Poor Mark has only just come to terms recently with stroking Penny on the cheek, let alone helping her give birth! What a super star! I'm so glad that he, dad and Kim were there else we would have all missed it. I think the foal would have been ok if on it's own, but it's always best to be there.

The foal was weak on his legs and couldn't stand for a while. Therefor I drew some milk from Penny into a baby bottle with a teat and gave him a drink of that. He sucked straight away so he definitely had the right idea! He had a good 150ml of his mum's milk. As Penny was so good with him and cautious around his legs (ie not looking to stand on him), I deemed it safe to leave them for a while so that we could have our dinner.

An hour later we returned and gave the foal some more milk. With our help he got to his feet and then remained upright unaided. Slowly he made his way to Penny's udder, she was encouraging him all the way. Finally after 4 hours of existence out side of his mum's womb he drank. And after that you couldn't stop him!

As such after a while we left them. I decided to stay one last night in the caravan so that I could be sure that both mare and foal were ok. Mark stayed with me.

In the morning I found the foal drinking and trying to have a poo. The vet came at 8am (Mike not Chris) and saw to both. They were both looking well. The foals eyes and ears were good along with his heart rate. He then had a couple of injections and an enema to help him pass his meconium (first poo). Penny was re-stitched and we left them to it for a bit.

I turned Penny and the foal out in the school for a leg stretch. the foal had a little trot and canter before finding it all too exhausting and lay down. Penny took the opportunity to have a big roll.

I have decided to call the foal 'Pentopian' this is derived from Penny and Utopian. His stable name is Percy. So there we are, Percy is now with us!

Day 10 nin the caravan...

Well Penny's due date came and went! She doesn't look anymore like having it tonight than she did last night, or the night before that, or the night before that.

I keep hallucinating in the early hours, I've seen lots of foals on the cctv, only to find that they are actually piles of poo! Oh dear....

I'm getting really tired now. I have to keep getting into work for 8am which means getting the 0651 train. I was supposed to be starting at 0500 tomorrow but I just can't do it, so I'm sticking with 8am! Red bull is such good stuff. I needed three cans the other day just to make it through my training day at work.

Poor Bonnie (Bev's daughter) fell off her pony yesterday and broke her elbow! How awful! Poor little lovie. I gave her two big bars of chocolate and a big tub of marshmallows to help her feel better. She's only 8 bless her.

Bev and Andrew (who own the farm) have been so fantastic with Penny. They've been really flexible and accomodating, I really landed on my feet getting Penny stabled there. The big field that the two mares and foals will be going in for the winter is looking great. There's grass by the shed load, which will hopefully do them well in to winter before they will need hay.

The CCTV is working well, though going through a lot of batteries! It really does save me from disturbing poor Peepsie every half an hour with my paranoia!

Anyway, better get back to my tin can. It sounded so cool when it poured down last night! Mark stayed with me again. He's the best. It's angie bobs again tonight - they are doing it in shifts!

I'll report back again in a few days time if I haven't keeled over!

Penny Due

It is Penny's due date today - so she has until midnight tonight to be on time!

No foal. Penny was fairly quiet last night and looked less like having it than she did on the two previous nights. She has gone out again today, after Lily and her foal had an hour to run around. Lily has been suffering a bit with an infection which is making it difficult and painful for her to wee.

My wonderful husband stayed with me again last night. Tonight my friend angie bobs, who used to own Penny (lots of the pics on this site are of angie bobs and Penny) has volunteered to stay with me. I could stay on my own but it would be nicer to have someone there in case I need someone to ring the vet or whatever. The company is nice too!

Doog won't be staying with us though like he has for the past couple of nights. He loved it, he kept spying through a gap in the curtains of the caravan, watching the ducks waddle past. He was beside himself this morning when he could hear the birds.

So there it is, yet another night in the caravan. You might wonder why I haven't reported any milk tests. This is because I haven't done one for the past couple of days as Penny is feeling sensitive and she's not keen. So rather than upset her I have not done it, I figure tht she's pretty close now.

I pulled Penny's mane yesterday and tidied her up a bit, tried to make her look a bit more presentable. I might pull it shorter again as I left it quite long. I didn't want to stress her out by doing it all at once.

Still no baby :( Penny has been very restless though on the last couple of nights. She lay down quite a lot last night and was doing a lot of pacing around her box. I know that typically, she will go to the end of the week (or longer!) because I took Sunday off. She really looked like she might have it yesterday morning so I didn't go in to work.

Mark stayed with me in the caravan last night bless him! He was very good, he woke me a couple of times saying "she's lying down". I think he quite likes Penny really! This morning I pulled her mane to tidy her up a bit. She wasn't best pleased, but it'll save her from looking a complete state when she finally does foal. Though to be fair she is not due till tomorrow!

I'm getting really tired now. i am going to have a couple of hours shut eye now before going on an adventure to Ikea. Oh goody.

Last night Penny was really restless from about 3am. I thought that she might foal. However some ponies at the yard were going to a show and at 6am they were getting ready, which I think put her off. I was quite worried that she may foal that morning so I took the day off work.

Tonight Penny is running milk and her tummy has really dropped. I feel like tonight is her night, but i will probably still be sitting in that caravan this time next week!

I have convinced Marky to stay with me at the caravan tonight, so that's a dead cert that she won't foal! Kim is staying in her own bed for the first time in nearly a fortnight..

I haven't collected a milk sample form her for two days as she is not happy about it. I think she is feeling sore which is another indication that she must be close to foaling.

Well watch this space, I hope she does foal soon as all this sleep derpivation is killing me!

Still no sign of Penny's baby. Day 6 in the caravan today (Big brother eat your heart out). Yesterday Penny's reading had dropped to 150ppm. This may have been because I didn't do it correctly. I thouroughly cleaned all of the testing implements last night so hopefully today's reading will be a true one. Mark tells me that she is going to have it at 0330 tomorrow morning. I am thinking that she is looking more likely to have it on her due date. Well we will have to wait and see. I am doing a 3-11 shift today, though I am going to go in early and do 2 - 10. Kim is going to be up at the stables until I get there. Though yesterday she was fast asleep when I got there at 0030 and had been since 2100. She is pooped bless her. Though it does leave me with the predicament that she may not be keeping an eye on Penny until I get there....

I woul hvae put a picture of Lily's baby on the blog but I am having issues with my camera software. I hope they resolve soon for when penny's baby gets here!

Lily had a filly this morning at 4am! She was restless all night and then we realised that she was starting to foal. I saw that there were two little hooves sticking out. I waited for her to lie down and then pulled the foal out as she pushed with her contractions. i had a horrible moment because the foal wasn't breathing and I dreaded that it might be dead. I cleaned it's muzzle and blew air into it's nostrils and it twitched. Then the rest of the foal came out and it wriggled! She was up on her very bandy legs within half an hour.

Another horrible moment was Lily standing on the foal. Poor Lily didn't know what had happened to her, she was in shock. However when we put a head collar on her and introduced her to her baby calmly, she realised straight away and they started nickering at each other.

Lily then got colic (bad tummy) this afternoon so the vet had to come out again. However she looked fine this evening. Kim was very overwhelmed when the foal was born, she was crying and shaking. It was really sweet, she loves Lily.

Anyway, this is Penny's blog! She has a milk reading of 200ppm tonight, so based on Lily's experience then she should foal on Sunday or Monday night - or on her due date, the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Keep watching this space!

Yesterday Penny's milk read 175ppm at 1900, Lily's read 250ppm! However there were no foals last night. I stayed up in the caravan with Kim and as such I have been completely pooped today. i don't know how I am going to keep this up. My poor long suffering husband, Mark, has had his head bitten off a couple of times tonight. He's hiding at the pub at the moment!

Mark fixed the camera in Penny's stable for me last night, he's a star. It was all going rather well, but then went black and that was the end of that! So I have reverted to the old fashioned method of peeping through the window.

I am on my way up to the stables again tonight. I've left Penny out late tonight, it's 2100 now. I'd best finish this up and go and get poor lady p in!

I will report back tomorrow, though I think this will be going on a bit.....

Again Penny's milk has fluctuated. On Saturday she showed 125ppm and then yesterday she showed between that and 100ppm. I haven't tested her yet today, I am trying to wait until the early evening and get some consistency with the times.

Lily tested 150ppm yesterday evening so we think she should be foaling within the week. We also had a discussion about paddock arrangements today and have decided to rest the big field until winter time, so that they will have lots of grass over the winter. So they will move into a paddock which is half hedge and half electric fencing. I was always worried about electric fencing and foals, but I think as it is double taped it should be fine. It may even work out better as they will not be inclined to scratch against the fence which is when they inevitably stick their feet through them and end up with all sorts of problems! So Lily and Penny will have to alternate grazing until Penny has her foal and can go out with her. Hopefully that won't be for much more than a week. Fingers crossed that both foals are born alive and well!

Both girls looked very content grazing this morning when I chacked them. Penny's bag (udder) has swelled again and has some wax.

Yesterday I tested Penny's milk at 1120 am. This isn't an ideal time, but I was working a late turn so didn't have much option. The result came back as 90ppm. Apparently the fact that it had gone down is nothing to worry about, it's usually a bit higher in the late afternoon/early evening.

I have seen her in her paddock this morning and she looks quite happy. I am meant to be going to a bbq in Marlow tonight, so I'll test her milk at about 1600 and if it's 125ppm or under I'll go, if it's over that then I will stay.