Squeeeee!!!

We have a blob!

And only ONE blob, so no need to pinch a twin!

Now it's a not-so-anxious wait for the next scan. the vet has suggested either 40 or 60-65 days, the latter to sex. Both aren't totally required, as if it is gone by 60-odd days, it will probably have disappeared before 40. Very pragmatic - if it's going to pop out, it'll pop out, according to Babiche ;)

D-day tomorrow!

Two weeks of waiting is nearly up... I have to hitch the horse float up tonight and get an hour of work off tomorrow afternoon, so I can get to the clinic for a 4.30pm appointment.

Fingers crossed! Indy has been super grumpy while out and about, frequently making faces and putting her ears back at Pav (who she is often incredibly friendly with) and Billy, and threatening to kick them if they get too close to her. I'm hoping the out-of-character behaviour is indicative of her being in foal.

On track!

The only time I could see the vet today without leaving Indy at Hannah's (with the resulting two trips to drop off and pick up) was 7am. Fine by me! She was a right tart to catch, preferring to race around the paddock and rark the grazer up, even after I got oats and Scarlett was hanging out eating them! 
NORTY!
Indy hasn't been a pain to catch for the float for a while now, but I'd decided not to take Scarlett along, which may have been what set her off. Loaded up perfectly though and travelled well on the short trip to the clinic.

The scan confirmed she has ovulated and there is absolutely no sign of fluid. We have done everything we can do to ensure she gets in foal this time around, and Indy's done her bit too.

The 15-day scan will be Wednesday 21 January.

FINGERS CROSSED!

A little girl waits...

I couldn't resist that title!

I ordered another dose of semen yesterday, to be sent today, so that Indy could be inseminated after I got home from work and took her to the vet clinic. I still hadn't heard when it would be sent at 11am, so I feel like I spent much of the day waiting to be sure it would actually arrive! In the end it was sent to the stallion owner's partner (I am unsure whether it went on a plane or a courier) and arrived at 3pm. I expect there were several people wanting semen so they did a combined delivery to save costs. Sean picked it up as he's not at work this week, and I thought it would help get us to the vet sooner if I didn't have to detour into Matangi on my way to Cambridge.

The vet sorted Indy out and has recommended a scan in two days to ensure Indy has ovulated and to check for fluid (it is relatively common that mares react to the semen itself, and relatively uncommon, but possible, that they react to the extender used). She may treat for fluid anyway, especially if there is any doubt, as this is our last shot at a foal for the season (Campion was only going to be collected for one month due to his competition schedule). It is also getting very late in the season for a foal.

And so, a little girl waits, again....... (haha!)

Nothing to report

I took Indy to the vet clinic for her scan today. The vet couldn't find an embryo, and suggested re-scanning in 4 days (Sunday), in case Indy took a day or two to ovulate and the embryo is still too small to be seen. They are usually only able to be detected from 14 days, and today was just barely 15 days since insemination (technically not even 15 days, as she was inseminated at about 8.45pm, and today's scan was at 1pm).

Keep those dark-filly-with-bling jingles going for another few days! If there isn't anything on Sunday, we will have to PG and try again. At this stage, giving a PG injection could cause abortion, if there is an embryo, so it is safer to wait a few more days until the embryo will definitely be large enough to detect.

The vet who scanned Indy was also the vet who helped save Scarlett when she coliced a few weeks ago, so it was nice to be able to tell her Scarlett had recovered and was looking as good as ever! Bright moment in the otherwise fairly dismal day.

On that slightly melancholic note, I hope your New Year's Eve is filled with fun, laughter and love. Roll on 2015!

Hay and a new friend

We had approx 8-10 ac of grass cut for hay around 11am on 24 Dec. It wasn't turned until this morning (27 Dec) but looks set for baling tonight. I've had the horses in the driveway because I was expecting tractors, but the contractor didn't want to pay stat holiday rates to his staff so didn't send anyone to turn it on 25 or 26 Dec... Would have been nice of him to tell us that in advance!!!

In any case, the driveway grass was getting quite long and was overdue for the horses to spend a weekend in there.

Today I picked up our new temporary grazer. It is a new client's horse who is really not doing well on the grass where it has been grazed to date (very spooky and staggery) so we'll see if it does any better on our place. Indy is busy telling the newbie the rules - "No, you cannot speak to me."  "No, you cannot speak to Scarlett."  "No, you cannot come over here." So far it's been ugly faces and ears back only, and I hope it doesn't escalate to anything more harmful! After the hay is baled they can all go into the vineyard paddock where there is tons of space to move around and get out of each others way.

I best go have a nap so I am alive for hay baling! I expect we will get well over 500 bales (we had 500 last year and I've had two more acres locked up this year; though it hasn't been growing for quite as long, it's pretty thick). At least it won't be super hot at 6pm, and we'll have a decent amount of light to pull the hay in. I will take 100 bales and we also need to take in 100-150 for the neighbour. In theory the rest has been spoken for (6-8 people wanting an average of 50 bales each). It isn't supposed to rain/shower until after lunch tomorrow so we should also have time to clean up tomorrow morning if we get stuck tonight.

Progress - but first, a palaver

At Indy's initial scan, the vet suggested waiting 5 days for PG then another 5 days to scan. We revised that and gave the PG at 6 days (last Friday evening) then followed up with a scan on Monday around midday, so that we didn't miss her ovulating. On Monday the vet said she's good to go, so we ordered the semen for Tuesday.

Campion was due to be collected in time for the shipment to make a 10am flight from New Plymouth to Auckland, and would get to Hamilton from Auckland at 4pm... Well... What a palaver it ended up being!

First, Hannah was called to say "we will get it on an earlier flight to Hamilton, it'll arrive at 12.30," so she rescheduled the vet for 3pm. Then "oops, the NP flight was late, it'll arrive at 4pm as planned originally as it didn't make the 12pm." Vet rescheduled for original time of 4.30pm.
Then at 4.15pm....  Oh, guess what, it was forgotten at Auckland and will be on the next flight to Hamilton. Unfortunately I only got THAT message after I'd raced home from work early and taken the float straight to Hannah's to be there in time for the vet! FRUSTRATING! I unhitched the float and went home, as it was too long to bother waiting there (if it had been an hour I would have done some groundwork with her, but thought I could go home and ride Scarlett instead).

At 6.40 I checked the flight schedule and realised there was no flight from Auckland at that time... Rang several numbers to get hold of the airport people. Of course, there was nearly no one around as it was after normal working hours. The people who WERE around could only find out that there was no parcel in Hamilton... And let me know they'd get back to us with the details of where it was, when it was located.

We were all incredibly frustrated and annoyed at this point, especially considering the vet had said "must be inseminated TODAY" but trying not to be grumpy at the poor airport staff who weren't the ones who had caused the problem in the first place.

In the end, the semen was on the 7.40pm flight from Auckland that was scheduled to arrive in Hamilton at 8.05pm. I raced down and.... the flight was nearly 10 minutes late! I also had to wait for ALL the baggage to clear then the now-infamous shipment to be brought out to the front desk. I rang Hannah to call the vet and drove there with the Very Important Parcel safely on the front seat (more than 4 hours after we should have collected it!).

Thankfully we did not have to wait long for the vet. It was a very uneventful process to put Indy into the crush and inseminate her, yakked to Hannah for a bit then went home. Scarlett was VERY happy to see her bestie again, and I am sure Indy was happy to be home, though I bet she wished we could have taken Hannah's teaser stallion "Lucky" home with us. She spent the whole time she was there talking to him, trying to convince him to jump out of his paddock and into hers! Hannah said the other horses can't stand him, but Indy was besotted with him which was quite hilarious!

So, a quick pat and "no orange colt, thanks" request before I could finally go inside, no longer worrying where the damn swimmers were and if they would arrive at all.

All the "dark bay filly with bling" jingles you want to send our way will be greatly appreciated!

Her 15-day scan will be done on 31 Dec. I've got my fingers crossed for a better reason to celebrate than simply  ringing in the new year :D