Playing Catch Up

Quiet on the blog post front, and I apologise for the lack of content recently… But not so quiet on the foaling front, with lots and lots of newborns to fill you in on, and we’re also racking up on the number of pregnancies too!
 
First up, on Saturday night we welcomed not one, not two, but three newborns during the very sensible hours of the evening. With three foals born within three hours of each other, this made a huge dent into the remaining number of mares left to foal – and with the Easter Bank Holiday weekend looming in on us, it was a very welcome sight.

​Our first foal of the night, born at approximately 7 pm – was a big, strapping chestnut filly by Sergei Prokofiev out of a Dutch Art mare from the family of Foodbroker Fancy and Femme Fatale. This was the mare’s fourth foal, her fourth filly and her fourth chestnut! Following closely afterwards was First Secretary, who foaled a big colt foal by Tasleet. Initially believing she would be the first mare to foal, First Secretary dragged out her labour by pouring up her bed and rubbing her bum up against the wall. Her colt foal is the picture of her with the same white star and plain bay body. And just as our first foaled filly was on the suck and passing her first droppings of meconium, the waters on our third mare of the night went, and we were back in action. Our final foal of the evening came from Bella Vita, who foaled a bonnie filly by the very exciting Havana Grey. Typically, out of a grey mare, and by a grey stallion, it is inevitable that this filly will eventually turn grey. Bella Vita, bred and owned by Mrs Heather Raw of Shoreham Stud, won 4 races on the flat, including 2nd in the Chalice Stakes (Listed Race), and has her first foal running this year.

The following morning all post-foaling checks were performed by our vet, and all three newborns passed with flying colours – great success! Our first foaling mare recorded a score of 30% + on the refractometer, so we harvested some of her milk/colostrum for our bank. It was only the previous week we had a mare with a score of 18% on the refractometer, and so the foal was given 300 or so ml of frozen colostrum previously stored from another mare with a recording of 25%. Another great success, with the IgG results returning and passing, this added colostrum helped with preventing having to give plasma to the foal.

​The fillies are still dominating the colt vs. fillies tally, with a total of 14 fillies born vs. 8 colts. But there is still time for the colts to catch up. Thankfully, the last couple of recently foaled mares have been eventually distributed between colts and fillies.

In other news, Devon was the theme for Cheltenham week, with the Devon-trained Golden Ace triumphing in the Mares Novices Hurdle (Grade 2) at the Cheltenham Festival for owner Mr Ian Gosden. This was a fantastic result for connections, coming in at 10/1, this daughter of Golden Horn looks like she has a huge career ahead of her, and we’ll be watching her every step of the way. Also rounding up a brilliant week, was our homebred Devon Dude, winning gamely first time out in a bumper for Evan Williams. This is the third and last foal out of our homebred mare, Weather Babe, and so far, the only one to hit the track. Weather Babe, unfortunately, retired from stud duties due to previous foaling complications, and lives out a happy life in the fields with us here at Byerley, along with her dam Bathwick Babe – who both cause absolute havoc windsucking fences…

​​Baking has been a bit slack recently, but with Easter fast approaching, I’ve got a few Mini Eggs sweet creations up my sleeve to keep the team’s energy levels and positivity high.

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