Sleeping Throught the Night: Priceless

For those of you who haven't heard Christie tell stories about birthing foals, let me sum it up. She generally starts sleeping in the barn when the birth is near, and wakes up at every little noise, in case the birth has started without her. She goes days without a decent night's sleep, and when the foal is finally born, she just goes to bed. She's not neurotic, most births go on without a hitch, but once in a while there is a complication, and if someone is there to help, it is easy to solve.

Take Echo's baby this year. Echo had some trouble pushing the baby out, and Karen and Christie had to each grab a leg and pull. Even with help, it was a difficult delivery, and Echo had some tearing, which shouldn't happen. If Christie hadn't been there, we might have lost the foal, the mama or both.

This year, however, Christie didn't have to sleep in the barn. She didn't even set an alarm to check on Echo every couple hours. In fact, Echo wasn't even on our radar because her milk hadn't turned white. I won't lie to you, we're incredibly lucky, but luck isn't what saved that foal.

What saved the foal was Foal Alert. My mom gave us the money to buy a Foal Alert system this year, and it is already paying for itself. Christie was able to sleep through the night, and when the alarm went off, she was up, dressed, and out the door in less than 30 seconds! She found Echo laying in the pasture struggling to deliver and was able to assist immediately.

I know I sound like a commercial, and this won't help most of you (except maybe Mb ;), but you should check it out, and tell all your friends who raise horses, cattle, sheep, goats, or even llamas about it. This thing works, and works well. We had the vet install the first two on Mariah and Echo, but we've been doing it ourselves since then. Even for us rank amateurs, the procedure only takes about 30 minutes, and the peace of mind is priceless.