Jet's Independent Folly

I'm going to jump ahead because we have a baby on the ground and I don't want to forget anything. I will continue Kirwan's story soon.

Friday May 9, 2008 a baby girl was born to Kirwan and our family. Kevin and the girls were at a play in Telluride but Kirwan had been acting annoyed all day so I really thought she would go into labor soon. At 8:25 her water broke and as I was thinking "I think her water broke", she turned around, laid down and pushed her baby out in 5 minutes! When she laid down I looked at her bottom and saw a little white bubble, about the size of a softball.

My mind raced, if the baby's stuck, what to do, if Kirwan was in trouble, what to do...then I saw a tiny white foot, then a tiny black foot, followed by a pink and brown (looked black all wet) nose, a small sigh of relief, the baby is in the correct position. Kirwan wasn't even sweating! Then the baby's neck was out, another small push and the shoulders were out!! Oh my God, she made it look easy! The sack was still covering the baby and she wasn't moving at all, little panic set in, I pulled the sack off her front feet and nose, still nothing, I stuck my pinky up each nostril and she blinked and took a small breath, her back legs were still in Kirwan so I gently pulled them out and cleared the rest of the sack off of her so I could get a good look at her, what a beauty!! Kirwan was looking at her and making little "momma" nickers to her, OH I wanted to melt, but since I was all alone I had to make sure everything was OK. I went through a check list in my head and so far so good. Then Kirwan stood up and broke the umbilical cord so I grabbed the iodine and dipped the stump. Sortly after Kirwan stood up the baby gave it a try also, it only took a few tries and she was on her feet, only a half hour after birth. I had been sending texts to Kevin and the girls as it was happening, they arrived just after 9:00, just as the baby had stood up. What a miracle! I feel so fortunate to have been there and seen the whole thing, this will be her only foal so I didn't want to miss it.

Our First Spring

Finally spring arrived, we called the vet out to do spring vaccines and to check Kirwan's back. She had been sound all winter and gotten so friendly she didn't seem like the same horse.
When the vet did his exam he made a few adjustments but said she had healed well just by having some time off. He said go ahead and start riding her. I said, "YOU get on her!" He smiled and went on his way.
From the first time I got on her she never bucked and acted like she had always been ridden. She had a lot to learn but always tried to understand what I was asking, the first time I cued her to canter she picked up the correct lead and has always done so.
Apparently when Standardbreds are raced they have a check strap to keep their nose in the air and some have straps to keep their heads straight, Kirwan seemed to have had both on her as a race horse because when I started riding her she would stretch her head out and twist it side to side looking for the support of those straps. It was funny to watch her moving her head around but also sad to think she didn't know how to hold her head when she had her bridle on. The first time I got on her was in May of 2000 and by August I decided she was ready for her first show, it was a three phase show (dressage, cross country jumping and stadium jumping) I knew she wasn't ready for dressage and this farm (The Eddy Farm- Middlebury, Vt) is such a friendly place to show you can do which ever phases you want. We did both jumping phases at 18", there were 21 cross country jumps and 16 stadium jumps, she cleared them all and never even blinked at all the "scary" cross country jumps!! I was so proud of her, we got a blue ribbon!!