Autumn Wind, the First Day--July 1996

The mare, Meg, continued to have no signs of impending birth, so I left her out on the back hill lot with the other horses. She wasn't really due for a few days yet, so it was not a surprise that nothing was looking ready yet.
However, it was a surprise, to come out one hot July morning and see her standing by herself with an extra set of legs behind her. Oh, nuts.
I fed the other horses, gathered up a rope and a grain bucket with grain and headed out to her. I caught her and moved her and the colt into the birth pen. Oh well, better late then never. He looked healthy and fine and had been nursing. Meg was ready to eat and settled in with her feed. I went out for a look for the afterbirth and finally found it way over in the other corner of the 2 acre lot. While looking I also found little tiny hoofprints everywhere. It looked like Meg had taken him on a tour of the entire 2 acres, up and down the hills and ravines.
Later that afternoon, despite having shade, the little guy was not feeling so well and was actually panting. A call to my vet got me draping him in cold wet towels and moving him into the shade and keeping him there. He came out of it and his temperature dropped. My vet, who was in a series of emergency calls, decided that since he perked up so quickly, he could wait until the next morning's scheduled foal check appointment.
Once the sun went down, the colt was frisky and happy again. But I decided to move them into the barn the next day for better sun protection. What an epic that turned out to be.

to be continued