Phoebe was the loveliest of mares temperament and build wise.     She spent time with Caity at Burton, South Australia, where she was started under saddle by Troy Coombe of Light Park Equine & Champions Horse Transport.     Sadly, what appears to have been on old injury to her back/hips/pelvis, she was not comfortable being ridden, so it was decided to retire her solely to broodmare status after being given a clean bill of breeding health by the vets, chiropractor and massage therapist.      She had given birth to three foals prior to us getting her in 2012, so she had a little break til we bred her in 2013 to Billara Beersheba. 

 

She was due to foal on the 28th November 2014, and was getting enormous - the image above right was taken on the 3rd of November 2014, and she had just started to have the belly drag everything down - from the front or rear view - she was even bigger!      

 

At lunch time on the 4th of November 2014, Phoebe was happy, grazing in the paddock and all was 'normal'.     Around 3:30 - 4pm, Ron and Linda rang Tracey and myself to say that they had just arrived at the paddock, Phoebe was down and looked from a distance like she was starting to foal.     We raced down, and by the time we got there - it was evident that this was NOT her foaling.      Without going into all the gory details, as it is quite distressing, we were extremely lucky to be able to get on to Dr Rebel Skirving from Gambier Vets immediately, and she was there within an hour.    

 

Bloodwork was taken, she was given a drench and some electrolytes as well as pain relief as she was clearly not comfortable, was unable to control her limbs and was having muscle spasms and just generally affected by tremors throughout her body.      Ron was the one holding the end of her lead to stop her crashing into a fence, and he was the one able to get out of the road quickest should she go down.  

 

Rebel headed back to run the bloodwork, and a little over an hour and a half after leaving us, she was back with Emily, one of the Veterinary Nurses from the clinic, armed with antivenom, pain relief and a whole arsenal of medications and equipment.     The bloodwork indicated that the muscle enzymes were higher than they should have been, and that of course suggests snake bite as a possible cause of everything.     It was clear that she was not going to make it and was not responding at all to the medication given to her, and the decisioin was made to euthanize her - but to anaesthatize her first, and perform a C Section to remove the foal and give it a chance.     We had nothing to lose and at least we would know that we tried our hardest.

 

Thankfully - an enormous colt was delivered, and with Rebel and Emily, Linda, Ron, Tracey and myself - we have a huge and very healthy lad in the paddock.    Jonah (his paddock name) is just an absolute delight and is being retained.      You can see his information on the Youngstock page and we will add a link to his page here when we have it ready. 

 

Phoebe is very much missed and we are shattered that we have lost her - however thankful that we have Jonah, and just so thankful to all the team at Gambier Vets, and that we were able to end her suffering as soon as we could and she did not spend the night suffering slowly and lose both of them.

 

She lives on in three mares produced at Jazdan Park Warmbloods, and our gorgeous colt here at Reigate Cleveland Bay & Sporthorse Stud.   Caity and I are thrilled with how he is progressing.