New Preemie colt (video clip on page 2) now 6 days old :)

Well after Faline making us wait almost 2 weeks, Amy decided to do the opposite, she went 27 days early, day 313 and here is
our little boy :) He's small but feisty and has a great appetite, eats every 2 hours and other than being tiny he's doing quite well. He's an appendix QH out of My thoroughbred mare.
Here he is at 14 hours old

5 min old



At first he couldnt quite stand well enough to nurse so we handmilked Amy and bottle fed him, he's still bottle feeding but does nurse a little, (bottle feeding we can make sure of exactly how much he's getting at this point)

Keeping warm last night, boy was it Brrrr out there.


Standing for his feedings at 3 hours old.

Sunday afternoon pics, they went out for a few min so I could clean stalls, took his blankie off for then too but put it back on a min later. He's nursing on his own nicely now, still has a long way to fill out but considering he was just shy of 4 weeks early I think he's looking great. :)

way way way too cool.........what a picture sleeping with him under the bag..............he was born the same night Freva's Chilly

omg how cute is he.. talk about imprinting.. cuddling up is to cute.. congrats on a great little guy.. I think he's name should be Timmy.. tiny timmy lol..

Oh he's soo cute! I have got to get up and visit! ha.. Working this afternoon though how LOVELY!

that is so sweet,I love the picture's of him sleepin with Bailey..... He is going to be a very nice bay...

Congrats! I hope he does well, and continues to thrive! He is very cute!

What a sweet little boy! What does mommy think of you milking her and bottle feeding the baby? Or putting a blanket on the new baby? Is she cool with that?

niceeeeeee colt :cowboyhound.gi forgot to ask why is it she is bottle feeding him...the mare rejecting him?

Mere, you can come visit, ohhh lets say anytime in the middle of the night and take a feeding for me so I can sleep ;P lol
actually he's had a few visitors already and mom and him love attention.
Rude Bottle feeding because he's a little wobbly to stay nursing long enough to get a full meal, plus with one this tiny its critical that he get the maximum colostrum I can get into him and bottle feeding I can measure how much he's taking at each meal to know that he's getting enough nutrition, In a day or so we'll taper off the bottle and encourage him to nurse more once he's strong enough to get what he needs on his own. Amy is a super mare, shes an off the track TB so she was handled alot, then she's had 4 registered foals so she's also been a mother and knows what she's doing. She's my personal baby so she'll let me do just about anything with her no questions asked. She's an excellent mommie and has plenty of milk.

Glad to hear the little fellow is doing good and getting stronger each hour!!

so cute love the picture of him cuddled up in the sleeping bag

OK, I admit it - I'm a sap. I bawled my eyes out when I saw the pictures of him and Bailey snuggling under the blankies. It really touched my heart. I called Lord Gord up to the computer to show him and he even got misty (mind you'd he'd consumed an over abundance of booze at that point!).

I hope he continues to stay strong. Keep us posted on this special little boy. Here's to hoping the weather will warm up for him and all the other little wee ones!

Congratulations he is too cute!!!!! love the cuddle in the bag pic and i love mum she is really pretty !!!

He is just sweet, Syl. You can see how tiny he is in the last picture with his mom. Maybe you should call him Rocky...he's a fighter and won't give up!!!

I agree with Freva, he needs strong name..He is a fighter and a surviver, he is going to be a fantastic horse..He is looking better every minute..thankfully he has you and Bailey..

awww hes a cutie. i love his blankies and the snuggling pictures! what a sweetie!

Congrats onyour early bird :) He seems like he'll be quite the horse someday :)
P.S. I love the pic where he is snuggling under the blanket.. AND his little blanket is SOO cute. It might fit my horses butt... Not even lol

How is the little guy doing? More pictures please ...

Tammy wrote:

How is the little guy doing? More pictures please ...

So far he's doing great, does have a couple scabs on his hocks indicating slight joint infection so he's on antibiotics daily and a topical antibiotic on the marks on his hocks. This is a slight setback but you'd never know he has a problem if you didnt notice the peeling on his hock. At first I though he'd been stepped on but it's now on both hocks,
He gets up and nurses well, trots and canters which is good for his circulation, Mom and him get a little time in the arena daily to stretch their legs. below link is a short video clip I uploaded to youtube of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtXrH0ASh4

He is 6 days old now and I'm quite pleased with his progress so far.

OMG, he runs like a little giraffe He looks very sweet.

Are things like joint infections common with preemies?

SexyDexy wrote:

OMG, he runs like a little giraffe He looks very sweet.

Are things like joint infections common with preemies?

preemies run a very high risk of infections, sepsis, pneumonia, joint or naval ill, and other illnesses, since the probable cause of him being premature was Placentitis (infection in the mare of placenta/uterus) the foal probably had some bacteria already in his system via the placental blood supply. Their auto immune system is also not developed at birth so the only transfer of antibodies is through the mares milk, which is why I spent so much time making sure he had all the colostrum that he could over the first 24 hours. Fortunately I had vaccinated Amy 3 weeks prior so her milk should have been prime with the antibodies from the things she was vaccinated against, e/w/t/rhino. He's not showing signs of lethargy or elevation in temp/respiration etc which would indicate more severe infection. I did notice some swelling in his hocks and fetlocks at day 4, common from lying down edema and classic for joint infection, the heat/swelling in the affected joint causes the skin to be brittle and split easily, if not treated then dirt and bacteria can enter there making situation worse. I have his hocks coated in NFZ which is a topical antibiotic/antibacterial and also petroleum jelly based to soften the skin like a cream would. As long as he's on antibiotics, kept warm clean and dry, nursing well, he should overcome and do fine.

Thanks for the info. Not something you know unless you're into breeding I guess.

Hope everything goes smoothly for him.

He certainly does look like a giraffe running aorund - but glad to see he is running, and he sure is a curious little fellow isn't he?! How ever will you be able to sell him now with all this time and energy you've put into him? :P

sometimes I am truly in awe of all the knowledge that is just sitting here for the asking.........boy, we sure have a great assortment of gals who are brilliant at many different things........makes me really proud to be part of OUR GANG. :cowboyhound.gi

He sure is a spry little fellow. I can't believe how curious he is - you'd think he'd be stuck to him mom like glue. But I guess I just think that because of his size. I hope hs infection clears up. How long does it usually take before it's gone? I find this stuff VERY interesting - I've never been exposed to the breeding aspect of things before (at least not horses )