Hope for Spring, and the wonders of the internet

It is that time of year again. Yes, indeed, I now have at least two screens open at all times watching for baby horses to be born. Ah the wonders of the internet. The site for many that I watch is called http://www.marestare.com/ Generally it goes like this: Watch, switching screens back and forth, for a week or two with a certain mare. Every time she lays down the adrenaline begins to pump and folks on the message boards go crazy..."is this it?" Then she gets up from her power nap and wanders and eats. On and on for a week or two. Each morning when I get up I expect to see eight legs instead of four. Most of the time the foal appears during those few minutes when I make a mad dash to the store. The worst was the time that I had been watching for about two weeks. Suddenly she was down and the feet were sticking out. Someone decided to post a "high alert" on Mare Stare. The resulting rush of people made the live feed begin to pixelate, and then crash. It is now an unwritten rule that no one touches that "high alert" button. Only once had I seen the camera go black after several minutes with little progress. That is a bad thing. Another unwritten rule is that the camera gets turned off if it looks like a bad outcome. Luckily those are pretty rare. For the most part it is better than watching "reality tv" as it is indeed real time and unscripted. I don't think I would put my horse on Mare Stare for the simple reason that I dress funny when out in the barn. It is great for the working person, as they will have hundreds of eyes on their horses. (There are emergency numbers posted if the mare really starts to push; usually the owner's cell phone.) I remember last year the owner's mother was out there in her bathrobe looking very distraught and calling her daughter every few minutes in hopes of teleporting her home. It was quite humorous, but gave me a pretty good sized reality check. The other fun one was when the barn cat at one farm decided her job was to keep the mare company. She made herself a bed by the horse's head. For a while I was thinking she was going to jump on top of the laboring mare. Some of the bigger farms will have several cameras going at once. That makes me a bit crazy because they hop from one to another and I don't always want to move on when the cameras decide it is time. And then there is the pile of poo. Could it be? Is it a nice wet little foal? Nice and wet, indeed, foal, nope. Yes indeed, the wonders of the internet....

I am missing my partner in crime. I won't call the hospital, because I hated having the phone ring when I was just falling into the narcotic bliss. She will be home next week and I will be picking her up and taking her there. I am hoping that she will feel back to normal, whatever that may be. Send her some healing "vibes" after you read this, please.

For now, it is time for a salad and some water...as I watch a mini horse pace in her stall somewhere waaaay east of here.

G2

S2 called last night and sounded pretty darn good. All went well and she will hopefully be sprung on Tuesday.