Now suddenly there was a little colt on the ground and everything all hit home. That we now had a new life to be responsible for. Thank goodness Rose did most of the work!
After calling or texting our friends and family to notify them of our new addition, we stuck our phones in our pockets to admire the little baby Rose had just produced. I called Berto to tell him about the foal and he was on his way over. The baby was bright and alert and looking around. He was wiggling around in the straw, trying to straighten out his mile-long legs and figure out how to get them underneath himself for a few minutes when he made his first attempt at standing. He pulled himself forward with his forelegs and attempted to push with his hind legs but his back legs were crossed and didn't function very well yet. He collapsed back down into the straw in a heap. He gave the tiniest little snort I'd ever heard and shook his head as if to say,
"Wow, that was a little harder than I anticipated. Maybe I'll just take a little break."
Berto arrived a few minutes after I called him. He came in and petted the foal and stood back to watch the baby's attempts at standing.
When he looked ready to try again, I walked to him and pulled his forelegs out from underneath his body and straightened them out in front of him. He was in a better position to try this time. Again he thrust himself up into the air but it was more forceful than the first time and he surprised himself with his own strength. He catapulted himself forward and was unable to keep his legs underneath his body to support his weight. He landed nose first back into the straw, legs splayed in every which direction. Rose nickered her support and touched him with her nose. His little sides were heaving with effort, nostrils flaring. After another few minutes he curled his legs back up under himself in preparation for another try.
Right then, Catherine was texting me and asking about the baby. My phone vibrated in my pocket, signaling a new message. I glanced down and wrestled my phone from my pocket and flipped it open to read the message. I started to formulate a reply when suddenly there was a commotion in front of me - the foal had pushed himself to his feet again but didn't have his legs braced in a way to hold himself up. He was about to topple over but was trying to keep standing up. It had quickly escalated into a falling/running sideways exercise that was headed right for me. I had enough foresight to crouch down a few inches and put my arms out to catch his body, which promptly slammed into me. He spread all his legs as far apart as possible to give himself a big base and was standing up! I was gently balancing him by keeping my arms around his chest and under his butt. He switched his tail around triumphantly.
Then I remembered that my phone used to be in my hand. Where had it gone? Oh no. It must be lost somewhere in the straw, under Rose's hooves or my boots or somewhere.
"Teri, do you happen to see my phone?" I sighed.
"Yeah, it's in your hand." she cackled.
"What?! No it's not!" I looked down, "Oh. It is in my hand."
I didn't realize it was in my hand because my hands were holding the foal. So the phone was pressed into the foal's chest and neck and was now covered in the remnants of amniotic fluids left in the colt's coat. Ugh.
"Yuck." I couldn't remove my hands from the foal and so I had to leave the phone just where it was. I just hoped to myself that the moisture wouldn't kill my phone.
After the baby stood for a few moments, he wanted to take a step. He wobbled along with some assistance, and I attempted to guide him over to Rose's side. The problem with this situation is that Rose has been whickering at the baby the whole time he'd been off the ground and following him around. So when we finally did make it closer to Rose's side, she moved away to follow us.
"Berto, can you come in here and hold Rose still so I can try and let the baby nurse?" I asked.
"Sure." he let himself into the stall and clipped a lead onto her halter and held her head so she couldn't continue to follow us around in circles.
I nudged the colt up to her side again and he started poking around with his nose, looking for breakfast. After a few minutes' effort, he still hadn't located the teat. He was heavier in my arms now as I was supporting more of his weight. He gave up trying at that point and just allowed himself to fall back down into the straw. He lay on his side and stretched out and closed his eyes. He kept switching his little tail back and forth, back and forth. Rose stood protectively over her newborn miracle, nosing him all over and licking the areas she didn't get to before.
Rose let him rest for ten minutes but then started acting a little agitated. She started lifting her front hoof and pawing the ground next to the foal. Then she lifted her hoof again and placed it on his hindquarters and pushed on him. She was whinnying at him in earnest, and kept nudging at him with her hoof. He sat up and looked around, surprised. He quickly gathered all his limbs together and leapt into the air. He managed to catch himself on all four legs this time and shakily remained standing. Proud of himself, he tried to stumble forward again towards his mother. Gently, Teri caught him in front of his chest and under his butt and guided him over to Rose's side to try nursing again. I stood on Rose's other side and crouched down. I reached under her belly and tried guiding his muzzle to her teat. He spastically nosed at her belly, the insides of her back legs and around her udders. He still couldn't latch onto her teat to nurse and Rose's udders were swelling with considerable amounts of milk, now that the baby was born. Milk was starting to stream out of Rose's teats and the foal wasn't receiving any of those precious first nutrients.
The baby stood up and moved around within the hour allotted to complete that important first task but he wasn't nursing and we were long past that deadline. It was time to call the vet. I left a message, trying not to sound frantic but worrying all the same.
The vet called me back and asked if the foal seemed to be weakened or wasn't willing to try to nurse. I explained that he was really strong and didn't seem weak at all. Teri suggested milking Rose and feeding the foal from the bottle until he learned to nurse properly, then at least he wouldn't miss out on the colostrum. The vet agreed with this idea and said that if he hadn't started nursing on his own in the next few hours to call back.
Teri rushed off to WalMart, as it was the only place open at 4am that carried baby bottles. She came back about a half hour later. The foal was walking around the stall all by himself, looking quite proud. Rose stood in the center, rotating on her haunches to keep her eyes on him as he circled. The two of them were quite the sight to behold as he was exploring his new surroundings and Rose just couldn't get close enough to him so it was slightly chaotic. He was quite interested in Teri's return and what she brought with her.
Teri pulled a pack of baby bottles, a Big Book of Baby Names, a couple of cold Gatorades and a banana nut muffin out of the shopping bag. I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Well, he still needs a name and we didn't decide on any boy names ahead of time so I figured we could look through the book." she answered my unverbalized question and hit the nail on the head. I nodded in agreement.
"Thanks for the Gatorade and muffin. I'm not sure how I'm going to get through work today, actually." I smiled grimly. I had called the lab manager earlier to see if there was some way I could come in a couple hours late and she had told me that we were slammed at work, so I could be an hour late but no more.
I unwrapped the baby bottles and washed one out. I held it under Rose's udders and began milking her to relieve the pressure caused by the excessive amount of milk she was producing. Soon enough the bottle was full of fresh milk and Rose looked more comfortable already. I screwed the nipple onto the bottle and attempted to get the foal to nurse from the bottle. He didn't understand the strange plastic thing being thrust between his gums and resisted suckling. I waited another few minutes and tried again, to no avail. I put the bottle into Rose's feeder and gave up for the moment.
In the meantime, Teri had been sitting in a camping chair outside the stall thumbing through the Baby Name Book.
"How about Raiden? Means God of Thunder."
I contemplated it, and said it aloud. "Raiden. Raiden! I like it. We'll have to see how it works on the baby."
Teri continued to murmur names, going through all the 'R' names. We had decided that it would be really cute to name the baby something beginning with 'R' since we already had two 'R' horses - Rocky and Rose.
"How about Remi? Just means something like 'from Rheims, France'. But it's a cute name. And I also like Rhys!"
"Oh I like both of those! Let's try them out on the baby and that'll make it easier to decide." I replied. For reasons beyond me, we started out calling the foal Remi and haven't ever looked back.
I sipped my Gatorade and Teri got out of her chair to try her hand at nursing the foal from a bottle. She tucked Remi's head under her arm and pinned him to her side while guiding the nipple into his mouth. Teri was infinitely more successful at getting Remi to swallow milk than I was, so she became the appointed bottle-feeder. Which was extremely fortunate for us, as I had to leave to go to work.
Being away from Rose and Remi and Teri was torturesome. I wanted to spend every waking moment with the horses. Foals are only brand new for about a day and I was wasting it at work. Teri made the hours pass easier by periodically sending me texts about them. She let me know when Remi finally nursed on his own and when the vet had to come out to give Rose an oxytocin injection to help her fully pass the placenta. My eyes were glued to the clock all day until that glorious moment I took off my labcoat and burst out into the heat of the afternoon.
While I worked, Teri had spent all day outside. She had mucked the whole stall out and replaced the straw on the ground, she had been there for the vet to come treat Rose and had moved the fully passed placenta from the wheelbarrow into a bucket. She had bought more grain and administered the probiotic paste to both the mare and the foal.
My parents were on their way to come see the new baby, and he had already had visits from Katie and Teri's parents. My cousin Nathan also came along for the ride, as he was visiting from the midwest. Everyone was amazed by this little colt. He made the rounds and let everyone touch and pet him and scratch him in those oh-so-hard-to-reach places.
Already, Remi was quite the character. He was hamming it up for sure, jaunting around the stall as if he owned the joint and posing for photos. He had learned how to jump up in the air and kick (he already attempted to kick my father - at one day old - sheesh.) and how to run around and be a rodeo bronc. Rose was ever the good momma, keeping an eye on him but never getting upset at the parade of people through her stall.
As the beautiful sunset curtains drew closed over the mountains and across Remi's first day on this earth, everyone stood outside the stall and watched Rose's miracle trot around the stall and nurse from his mother. Rose stood tall and proud as she kept a careful watch over her new little one. Already, this baby had taught us that perserverance pays off, love will always take you further than obligation and most importantly: to believe that all things serve a purpose.
No one ever said that life would be easy - just that it would be worth it.
Happy Birthday Remi - July 16th 2009, 1:30am
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