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Knowing our lack of knowledge and experience a friend of ours offered kindly to take Iniki
and Lani to their home so that they could be stabled and Iniki easily caught and her medical needs met. All I have to do is
be there each afternoon with feed and be a spare set of hands. I accepted the offer greatfully and promised i would not miss
a day. Marj and Scott arrived with their horse truck and easily loaded them so at least no problems there. It will be interesting
to see how they handle this wildfire foal with out being hurt too !!
The first day......... and i am so impressed !! What a difference a knowledgeable pair
make ! A foal easily caught easily needled and easily handled. Tomorrow will be the test when the bandage has to come
off for a change.
2nd day ....... Oh my god !!!! What a mess my baby's leg is in !! When the bandage came off
I could smell the infection and i was standing a few feet away ! It looked like custard. The bandage the vet had put on had
slipped and had been rubbing on the wound and now it is twice as big a mess as it was to start with. But ..... Marj and Scott
took it all in their stride ( they had seen much worse) Salt water wash, cotton wool swabs, yellow lotion and then a handful
of lime to keep the flies off and leave it open as Iniki won't be shown it doesnt matter if she scars a little. The poor little
one kicked and cried out but she was done with as little fuss as possible.
3rd day .......... So much easier today as it was a clean and treatment of the wound
with out having to unwrap it all. Another needle and she is getting the idea that they damn well hurt and to get outta there.
So now we are putting more emphasis on the patting after the event.
4th day ........... The wound is looking so much better - drying out and cleaning much easier.
Another needle which took a while as she thought nope not having one of those today. Poor little girl is in for a shock -
the vet suggests 10 days of needles !!
5th day ........ The wound is crusting over and no sign of infection now. Just a clean with
the salty water, a wash with chloromide and a handful of lime. Marj and Scott have decided there is just no point
in making her bottom any sorer so todays needle is the last one.
6th - 10th day ......... Each day we cleaned the wound, washed with chloromide and a handful
of lime and then concentrated on the good stuff. A good rub all over especially in the spots she loves and then left on a
happy note.
Christmas Day ....... They are home !! A few minor changes to her paddock to make sure she
doesnt injure herself again on the fences. Iniki knows what electric tape is now ! From now on i have to make her trust me
again and look forward to our daily contact. We all have to watch out for those well aimed kicks though!
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January.......... The healing process has continued
well with her wound closing in and hair starting to grow back slowly. Iniki still has a watchful attitude with any of us but
she hass started tyo become a little more inquisitive when I go into the paddock as she knows she gets her petting from me.
We have found she doesn't like strangers and will chase them especially if they run from her !! What a great game !!
February......... Almost healed now and such a little pest! We have her
so that now I can't take a photo of her because as soon as I go into the paddock she comes up for her cuddles. I have so many
photos of her with just a very close image of her nose or eyes.
April
Iniki continues to grow and she gets cheekier by the day. I am just starting to teach her
to lead and she lets me put her head stall on and off. It seems she has bonded with me the most and won't allow any one else
to do things with out a fight or at least a little attempt at biting.
May 13
I've decided that she is big enough now to be put down the back with the mares. So this morning
we took the 4 other mares out and led Iniki and her mum Lani into the back paddock. The mare we left in with them
just came up said hello and walked off. No problems. This afternoon we put a second mare back in ...... again no problems.
In the morning we will put the other 2 back in as well. The only problem we have had so far is the stallion going berserk
because he is now up the front of the property on his own - although he can see them from his paddock.
May 14
All the mares are now in the paddock together with Iniki and Lani. They had to do a bit of
sorting out who was boss etc but now seem to be rather settled. Iniki has been up to all the mares and said hi and as she
is so full of herself she even had a run around pig rooting and all.
July 2006
It seems that Iniki is beginning to strip the weight off Lani and time is getting close to
start weaning. Even with increasing feed Lani is still dropping weight. I am just waiting for the round yard to go up and
weaning can begin.
23 August 2006
It was with huge trepidation that we decided today would be "weaning day".
As beginners to breeding it is a hugely anxious time each step ahead in the pathway to Iniki's growth. We had done quite a
bit of reading and asked a lot of questions of experienced people on the subject of weaning and had come to the conclusion
that it is a time fraught with possible problems.
We decided that we would leave Iniki with the pack mares and remove her mother
- Lani to another paddock adjacent to her. We have birdwire along the fenceline to stop the possibility of feeding through
the fence.
We decided the best time to do the separation would be at the morning feed.
We put the hay all down and let them all get settled then put Lani on the lead and led her away with a bit of coaxing with
more feed. Iniki started to follow for about 10 meters then stopped, looked back at the hay on the ground, back at her mum
being led away and then turned and went back to the hay !! Lani was happy to be in the new paddock with plenty of feed and
a new biscuit of hay all to herself. Iniki put her head up for a few minutes to check where mum was and then went back to
eating.
After a little while the feed was gone and Iniki and Lani had a nuzzle over
the fence for a short time before Iniki went down the back to the dam for a drink. About mid morning Iniki decided she wanted
a drink so came up to Lani and whinnied. Lani came to the fence to supply the drink. Once they both realised that it couldn't
be acheived they went back to a little nuzzle and Lani walked away. I thought "that was easy." All the discussions I
had read about weaning later rather than early were right - the filly is so much more prepared for separation and Mum was
very obviously ready to be left alone. That was until the night!!
Once nightfall hit it was all different. Lani could no longer see ehr baby
and constantly called for her. Eventually Iniki answered and came running up to her Mum and all was quiet
allowing us to get some sleep. During the night i was disturbed a few times by Lani's calling but all in all it wasn't too
bad.
Day 2
All seems to be going smoothly - no distressed mare or foal. Iniki has settled
in well with the pack mares and they are all allowing her to share with them their hay even the boss mare! Lani is head down
eating and not too concerned although she does keep an eye on Iniki from time to time. Nightfall this day brought a whole
new experience! Lani constantly called for hours to Iniki and Iniki's response was nothing !! She completely ignored her poor
distressed mum. We went out to make sure nothing was wrong except for the separation and Iniki finally came up the paddock
in Lani's vision. Then silence fell. At last we could get some sleep after 4 hours of calling !
Day 3
Daylight ! All is fine today again. Mum is happy to have Iniki away as long
as she can see her in the distance. Lani has a large udder but her teats are diminishing. She doesn't seem to be
in any discomfort.
Day 4
So many sleepless nights in a row is just no good for me!! I am so tired and i am surprised
that the neighbours haven't been over to see what is happening because of all the noise. All i was told about weaning was
all the problems that could occur with the foal trying to get back to mum no one thought to say
anythiong about the calling all night of the mare. How do big studs do this? An awful lot of sleepless nights or do they use
ear plugs?
Day 5 to day 11
The last few days were just more of the same - Iniki ignoring her mother and Lani constantly
calling. I was forever hopeful that Lani would eventually give up once her udder was empty and at last, last night the calling
has almost gone. Just a few calls during the night but most of the time it was quiet. Today we decided to let Lani out into
the bigger paddock, still in sight of Iniki but a bit more pick available, the only possible problem is that she is now with
Lady who has only 6 weeks to go before her foal is due. However, there were no dramas and the mares happily grazed for the
day together.
Day 12
Feed time and we let the mares out together again after separating them last night. All was
good for a few hours and then all of a sudden they decided to start fighting! Back legs were flying so it was back into separate
paddocks again. I think the fight was over Iniki as she had come up to the fence to have a talk with mum and Lady decided
she would say hi too. It is never dull around this stud and thats for sure !
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