Well what do you know? Darcie is in foal. She had her 14 day scan on 27th April and she was confirmed in foal. The black bubble that you can see on the scan is the embryonic sac.
How did we get here?
Well as it is Darcie's (and mine) first foal we decided on Richard Sutcliffe's (our Vet) advice and give her the gold star treatment. So once she came into season I was to call and Richard would scan her to see if she was ready to go to the stallion. Just in case you were wondering mares are scanned via the anus, not such a pleasant job for the Vet especially if your horse never goes in a trailer!
Darcie is as regular as clockwork with her seasons. She only usually has one cycle free in the winter and is very hormonal so I was pretty sure I would be able to tell when she should go but was really interested in the process.
Darcie came into season on 8th April and I duly rang Vet.
"Bring her in tomorrow"
So Thursday morning off we went. After scanning her I was told
"not today".
Well I could have told him that, as he had explained that she would be most fertile and receptive for the last 2 days of her season I reckoned it would be Saturday or Sunday. However what was interesting though was that Richard pointed out her uterus and the follicle which might become the embryo if all went well. She seemed to only have one ready which boded well for not having to deal with twins, just in case you don't know horses have real difficulty with twins, there is a really useful article here
The trouble with twins
Using the scan you can also see the blood vessels on the horse I saw the opening to the femoral artery. Isn't modern technology wonderful?
"Not today, bring her in tomorrow"
Friday morning the same "Not today, bring her in tomorrow"
Saturday morning I was greeted with Darcie who had an air about her "It's today Darcie isn't it" I told her. Off we went to see Away with the faeries at NES sports horses How did we choose him and what happened at the covering is the next posting!!!
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