On March 16 at 10:35pm we welcomed a long-awaited addition to our farm!!! Our 30″ mare ‘Guess’ was so round, she looked like she was ready to explode any minute.. We tested her milk pH using mare milk test strips and the strips were reading 6.4 (baby within 72 hours). A few days later, they tested 6.0 (within 24 hours)!! We were anxiously awaiting our new arrival and as soon as Guess went down the evening of the 16th, we grabbed the foaling kit and headed to the barn, only to find that baby was already born– wet, blinking and waiting for us!

 Here’s a little bit of foaling info: The purple box that is attached to the bottom of Guess’s halter is a transmitter, part of the EquiPage 3 part system. When Guess lays flat, the transmitter attached to her halter sends a signal to a repeater which is in the rafters of the barn. Pregnant mares don’t usually lay flat when they are close because they are too uncomfortable laying flat.. so ‘sometimes’ when they lay flat– it’s GO time, and that baby is coming.  The transmitter sends a signal to the repeater, which sends a signal to a pager that beeps. The pager is mobile and we can keep it in our pocket when we are on the farm, and we know when she lays flat. We have our barn fitted with video cameras that stream into a TV in the house.  This way, we can watch our mares– so when the pager goes off, we don’t have to run out to the barn each time, we can just check the TV screen. Handy hey?!!

Miniature horses get really, really… REALLY fuzzy in the winter, so to make sure that baby (and US) can find her udder okay, we clip a little bit of her flank & belly. This helps us moniter her milk & udder health with a quick glance. Also when she is getting close to foaling, we can find her teats easily to milk out a few drops to test the pH. We also braid her tail and put it in a wrap so it doesn’t get gucky with birth-juices. It just keeps everything clean and orderly.

I raise & show Miniature Horses as a hobby and aim to compete at the World level. Check out my horse website here, Amaretto Miniature Horses. My horses are a collection of World Champion bloodlines that work for me! My horses have brightened my life in so many ways. I have earned great friendships and gone amazing places because of them.

I was super happy with the birth of this little filly. I was hoping for a bay filly, and I got one!!! I named her “Amaretto’s Shameless Flirt” . I hope you enjoy these photos of “Flirt”s first few minutes of life!!!