Amazing Twins....

http://www.sawyercreek.com/page5.htm

Good Morning w Coffee....
Posted on 3/16/2010 at 06:05:52 AM by John and Julie

I am amazed. Simply amazed. These twins are truly miracles. I just got off the phone with Kirsten, our vet. She said that the only time she has personally dealt with multiples that lived was back in vet school(UC Davis)...a mare had triplets and yes, all three lived! In that case, one was born normal sized, one tiny and one very, very tiny. Since yesterday I have had a couple of wonderful emails from those that also had surviving twins...I can't thank you enough for the inspiration. While it is far too early to say we are out of the woods, Kirsten tells me that our twins have no health issues. They do have the typical domed foreheads and leg issues twins have, but those issues are temporary. They both eat, urinate and defecate fine. The filly goes up to the teat vigorously...like a little homing pigeon. The colt likes to dally but he gets there. We've been going out on occasion to direct his attention. Once we get him near the right location he latches on and nurses wonderfully.
Our bigger concern is Pickles accidentally stepping on them. The great news is, mother nature made foals very flexible. As they grow and Pickles settles into the routine I think this will be less of a concern.
Odd, all of this happening. I was quite ambivalent about breeding Pickles last year. As you recall, we didn't have her under lights in the fall, and she starting cycling late in the spring. I thought at the time, I'd just wait and put her under lights and breed her in Feb. of this year. Then we thought, what the heck, we'll breed her the one time, if she takes fine...if she doesn't well...it's better to wait. So we did. We bred her to Phenomenal just the one time. When we did the early ultrasounds she checked in foal. We didn't see a second little black dot and so we celebrated. We never re-checked her because by that point, it was so late in the year, if she absorbed her foal we wouldn't re-breed her anyway. So...that is the story. Had we known or suspected she was carrying twins we would have aborted them. It is just too risky for both a mare and the foals and the odds are so overwhelming against a successful outcome.
I credit the foals survival thus far to a couple of factors. One is that Pickles is such a darn big mare. I think all the room she had inside allowed her to carry the foals to full term plus avoided any "crushing" factor in utero. Pickles gentle disposition no doubt contributed to her willingness to work with us and the fact that we made her babysit for the last couple of years made her willing to deal with more than one foal. We also take good care of our horses, paying careful attention to vitamins and minerals (we use Dac), high quality oats, and alfalfa pellets we get out of Canada. We vaccinate and worm on a regular basis.
Nope folks, we are not out of the woods yet, but every hour that goes by is truly inspiring. They are cute on the cam yes, but you should see them in person!

Awesome, so rare to see live twins.

They are just too cute! Certainly not something that happens often!

I can't see them! What am I doing wrong?

THANKS! It seems I always need special treatment in the computer world. They are pretty darned cute - and sooooo small! I hope they are both doing well.

OMG! They have cute little blankies on today. LOVE IT !!! :animal-smiley-

From the owner
Good Morning w Coffee....
Posted on 3/17/2010 at 05:09:16 AM by John and Julie

The kids have made it another day. As of this morning they will be 2 days old. They grow stronger by the day so we are cautiously optimistic. The danger period is still not past. Our vet tells us that the two week milestone is important for the foals as that is how long some issues take to get established in a foal's system to cause problems. Still, there is no signs of any sepsis. They are nursing fine and get up and run around like any other foal. Last evening we had a bit of a concern. As we watched on the cam we could see that Pickles truly wanted to get down and roll. We could also tell that she could not find a safe place to do this in the stall as she has become increasingly conscious about her foals whereabouts when she moves. She is amazing. Anyway, we decided to let her out in the arena a bit to give her the opportunity to stretch and move around. We left the foals in the stall. While she was good, she was too distracted as to her foals' whereabouts. We ended up herding the two little ones out in the arena to be with her. Let me tell you, that was a comical parade she led. First big Pickles with the pink and blue tiny back up crew trotting beside her around and around the arena. Pickles was always aware of her two kids location and moved just at the speed that they could keep pace with. The colt tends to want to explore while the filly is more of a mama's girl. While their personalities are definitely different, both are pretty much equal is size and strength. They seemed to enjoy their romp with mom, and mom got to walk off her cramps. Since it worked out pretty well we did another supervised turnout this morning. Again, the tiny babies kept pace with mom and she showed the patience of a saint. She is very concerned with both of them and has bonded equally. Neither of the foals seems to get any favoritism. The foals are really starting to bond to each other now as well. They have some communication they exchange and seem to now really enjoy the security of each others company. This is whole new territory not only for Pickles and the foals..but for Sawyer Creek as well. So far it continues to be a wonderful adventure.

I SO wish I was there to see them turned out with Pickles. What a sight that would be. My heart melts just thinking about it! Keep the updates coming!

Good Morning w Coffee....
Posted on 3/20/2010 at 06:43:23 AM by John and Julie

The twins were born just 5 days ago, and already we can see them growing and changing. Their little personalities are starting to shine and evolve. The colt, who WAS the friendly but easily bullied one, has now become more assertive. The filly, now tends to defer to the colt. We did notice the filly had a bit of a limp this morning. We suspect mom may have stepped on her at some point. Still, she gets up and nurses and bucks. She does seem a bit sore though as she is laying down more. We monitor the two very closely to make sure each is getting their fair share of the milk bar. To compensate for her down time, we go down on occasion and hold on to the colt to give her unchallenged time at the teat. This of course makes him pretty mad at us! He gets over it fast. You will also notice we put a feed tub on the floor of the stall. This is so the foals can experiment with what mom eats. Pickles is getting about all the grain she can eat so while we see her in that tub as well as her own, we are not too worried about them not getting that opportunity to experiment. Since there are two of them, even though Pickles seems to be milking very well now, down the road when they are much bigger, they are going to need early supplementation. The sooner they get started eating "big horse food" the better. I notice that both of them are mouthing hay. Do they have teeth? Yes, some little buds in the back- not enough yet to do much with. The tendon issues are already starting to resolve. The colt is just about perfect now. The filly is coming up on her back pasterns but is still down. Again, this issue is only temporary. Its a good thing foals are so darn flexible.
We've had tons of visitors! I do require that if you would like to see them to call first. I've still got my schoolwork to consider and while I would much prefer to be playing with the twins, I just plain don't have that option right now.
This morning, there was a wonderful article and big picture in the Watertown Times about the foals. I hope you all get a chance to see it.

Good Morning w Coffee....
Posted on 3/21/2010 at 06:19:34 AM by John and Julie

All of our "kids" are growing by the day, particularly our newest twins! They continue to grow stronger and truly there is very little difference in their behavior then those of our other foals. There can be some competition between the colt and the filly, and we watch closely so that each gets adequate nutrition...but even that competition shifts from time to time. We are starting to see a bit more meat on their bones and both are experimenting with eating hay and the grain we put out in the tub. The small wound on the colt's leg from being stepped on is healing nicely. He is up on his legs now. The filly is still down in her back pasterns but we see progress every day. Both run, buck and kick about. We make sure they get "out time" at least twice a day. We also have them on DAC supplements which I think has helped them overall. Bonnie's colt, just two days older, is a flashy, elegant colt. He is tall! It's hard to really get an appreciation for how small the twins are until you look at him.
We are really pleased with all of our foals this year and we have one more yet to go. It has been a wonderful season so far, but I must admit, I'll be glad to have the foaling all done.

THANKS MOODY FOR POSTING THE PICTURES............................HOLY SMOKES........WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO for the mother and the babies........the little white one looks just like my old horse Skipper......red ears, tail and white......but when wet you could see his spots...........god I wish we had smellavision..........

Twins are doing well and they have another mare on the cam right now but you can click on the link and go to the message board for updates..

Thanks! I'll be checking on them!