McCurdy's Goldust Drifter

This little fellow came along more than a week late and when he finally arrived he kinda sorta got stuck at the shoulders. I was the only one home at the time,although Rod was hurrying back. I had Kim, or vet, on the phone with me to talk me through the process.

I had never seen a foal born before and I was attempting to take it in stride. But honestly, they are such large animals, and to see two hooves and a muzzle extruding from the mare was pretty outlandish. And I had read all Jim Herriot's books(All Creatures Great and Small, etc.).

The real thing is breathtaking...and I don't mean that in a good way necessarily.

One thing I'll never forget is Kim's calm voice on the phone telling me that I needed to pull the foal out now.

Is she kidding me??!!

Apparently not, as she instructed me on the correct pulling techniques and told me to put the phone down. I seriously considered putting the phone down and making grunting pulling noises like I was obeying her, but was actually in the far corner of the stall sipping French Roast.

But Kisses was struggling, we had waited for this baby for 11 months and so I grabbed those fetlocks and pulled each time Kisses pushed.

I was praying like crazy for Rod to show up because this baby wasn't budging. Finally Rod's head popped over the stall door and we were saved.

It took both of us pulling to get the little (read EXTRA LARGE) fella out, but it finally happened.

Sadly, his Momma, Kisses, decided she would attack him each time he tried to stand up and basically wouldn't accept him as her own. It was so extraordinarily sad to see him try to get to him only to be rejected or kicked.

After a weekend of bottle feeding and continually introducing the foal to his Mom, they finally bonded and now you would never know there was ever a problem. It was an amazing weekend, one I don't think I'd want to repeat. But extremely rewarding.

And Drifter is a doll. :-)