What an experience, waiting for pics.

Wahoo! Totally cool.

Wonderful news Bob!!!! I'm glad you were all there to help.

Oh, cute. I can't wait to see the pictures. I'm glad the foal is here and healthy.

Looking forward to seeing pictures & glad that they are both doing well. How exciting for you & your wife to watch!!

And what is the name going to be for this little guy? And how/why did you pick it?

Congratulations. I didn't even know there was such a device. You sure do learn something new every day.

Congratulations! I hope mom and babe are doing well. Looking forward to seeing some pics of the little one.

Glad all is well, "Doctor Bob". (Including the alarm you rewired.)

Neither the mare nor the foal are ours, but the mother's name is Athena, so keeping with the Greek God theme, I've heard the suggested name of "Artemis". I stated that I was sure that was the name of a Greek Goddess, but its not up to me.

These photos are from last night:

These photos are from this morning:

Beautiful, both of them. You must be feeling at least a little parental, having helped in its safe arrival. I still find it a wonder these large babies can stand, walk, feed within minutes of birth.

It certainly looks like this beautiful creature got the 'feeding' figured out - what a beautiful thing - thanks for sharing with us!!!

Adorable! Hope Mama is feeling better today.

The pictures are wonderful, thank you. He's so big, and yet so little!!

Beautiful!!

Magnificent Animal. Thanks for the pics. He's beautiful!

Thank you for my weekly dose of cuteness. Love the pictures. He's gorgeous.

Once upon a time, I had a job as a foaling assistant, which basically meant I lived in the barn all night with a bunch of mares keeping an eye on them, and calling somebody when they were in labor. Long before cell phones and technology, due to rapidly happenin' circumstances beyond my control, I learned to assist before the cavalry arrived :-)

Aren't newborn foals INCREDIBLE! I still am amazed how they can coordinate those long, spindly, wobbly legs so quickly. That was always my favorite part - watching them get up and take those first steps.

Thanks again for sharing!

Awesome!

Thanks for giving us an update and the really great pix, Bob. You said, "I've heard the suggested name of "Artemis" and you are absolutely correct. Artemis is a goddess, another name for Diana, I think. ☺

A couple more shots from the middle of the first night. The mom comes over to check him out.

What beautiful photos. He is beautiful, and so is his mama. I scanned the text briefly, but didn't see a mention....what breed are they?

I'm not sure what breed they are. I think I was told that they are some sort of warmblood cross.

I asked today how they were doing, and was told that the mother was taken to the vet hospital, for colic, and might need surgery. So please send kind thoughts or prayers for Athena.

Oh, my goodness. I hope not. I am terribly worried about that. Please keep us posted. I used to raise Quarter Horses...have always had and still do have Quarter Horses, and raised about 50 foals back in the day. Never had trouble with a mare. Had a foal that had to be put down because he was what they called a "dummy foal"...wouldn't nurse. That was so sad. We offered the mare to someone who had lost a mare...situation similar to Athena's, and had an orphan foal, but our mare wouldn't accept him. Our mare had already started to dry up. Fortunately, they had another mare who let him nurse along with her own foal. It is a tremendous job to raise an orphan foal. Saying a prayer for Athena.

Oh, what horrible news. Prayers for Athena. Does the baby have another mom that he can nurse from?

Never leave a foal until it nurses Hold the mare. Milk her a bit and smear milk all over her udders for foal to smell. Help him up there if needed. Should be up and nursing in an hour or you need to do something!

So glad Athena is doing well!

So happy to hear that Athena didn't require surgery. Hope everything goes well for Athena and her foal from here on out.

Our foal that wouldn't nurse, we tried everything. Years later learned that sometimes dummy foal syndrome is caused by foals that aren't "squeezed" enough in the birth process. Thinking back to our foal...perhaps that is true. It was the mare's fourth foal...she foaled quickly and foal appeared to be big and strong. We kept him alive on IVs for a couple of days but opted to put him down because he wasn't getting better and it was very sad to watch.

I always tried to be on hand for the foaling. Have spent many nights in the barn. I remember one foal that I had checked on the mare every 30 minutes and finally at 8 a.m., went to the house to go to sleep. A few minutes later, neighbor was knocking on the door...the mare had foaled, in the paddock in front of the barn. Even when you try to keep a discreet distance from them, the mare often knows and will foal the minute you are out of the barn.

Nope,
We did leave before he started nursing, but the barn owner and someone else who works there were still at the barn with the mare. Part of the reason we left was that the barn owner asked us to find the funnel we had used a couple of years back when our foal couldn't figure out nursing. She said if after a half hour the foal still hadn't started nursing she would call to have us bring the funnel over. However before then he figured it out so we stayed home and got some sleep.

With our foal, Carmen, it was all night before she figured out how to nurse. We used the funnel and a bottle with a rubber nipple and milked the mare about a half dozen times through the night, which Carmen greedily sucked down. Eventually around 7:00 A.M. the vet came and gave her fluids and electrolytes to stave off dehydration, and by 9:00 A.M Carmen figured it out.