Every delivery is special at horse ranch
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A foal keeps an eye on a visitor to the ranch with the security of knowing its mother is nearby.
Darkness Night did a favor for Ellen Jackson on Tuesday by giving birth at 10 p.m. Once the mare’s foal was safe and sound in the barn, Jackson could finally go to bed and catch a few winks.
A foal takes a nap in the sunshine.
This is a restless time of year for Jackson, who owns and runs the Victory Rose Thoroughbreds ranch on the outskirts of Vacaville. She often spends her nights in the barn so she can spring into action when a mare begins foaling.
The delivery of a foal is a race against time for Jackson. If the foaling lasts longer than 15 minutes, she said, there is a risk of complications for both the mare and foal. And those complications can be fatal.
On one recent night, a foal became lodged in its mother’s birth canal because its hind legs were bent. Jackson’s desperate efforts to save the foal were in vain because the legs were stiff. The foal had died.
The only hope of saving the mother was to surgically remove the foal, but the mare was in such agony from her powerful contractions that Jackson was left with no choice but to put her down.
“We had to put her out of her misery,” she said. “Horses don’t make noise when they’re in pain, but she was groaning. It was heartbreaking.”
Ellen Jackson comforts Darkness Night's foal in the barn less than 24 hours after the mare gave birth.
Fortunately, the mare was Jackson’s horse. She was spared from having to call the owner and explaining what went wrong. Horse breeding is a big money business, and Jackson is held accountable by her clients.
Along with the tragedies come the triumphs. Take the tale of Blue Corn, a mare that lost her foal at the ranch last year. It just so happened that Jackson also had a foal that had lost its mother.
Jackson never imagined Blue Corn would accept the orphan because “their instinct tells them no.”
Once Jackson led the foal into Blue Corn’s stable, however, the mare quickly warmed to it. No longer would Jackson and her staff have to feed the foal a bottle of milk every two hours. Jackson repaid Blue Corn for nursing the foal by supplementing the mare’s meals with carrot sticks.
And so it goes at Victory Rose. Jackson is already looking forward to the next foal’s arrival. It could be any day – or night – now.
