Amanda's Good News

Good news for Amanda!

Earlier in my broodmares post I related the histories of two of the farm's thoroughbred broodmares, Amanda and Lottie and how they were given last chances to produce something or it was curtains for them. Well, for Amanda, anyway, she has finally managed to earn her keep, barely. Here she is pictured with her first baby and the only filly of the year, Chrissy (short for Crystal and Kayli. Amanda is Amanda and Kelly, the mares in that line always have two names.)

Chrissy is the foal that almost wasn't, several times. In reading the past post you learn what a hellatious time it was trying to get Amanda in foal, last year she finally catches but the ultrasound reveals twins - the kiss of death for a Thoroughbred. One of the babies must be eliminated for the other to have a chance. The day of the procedure the vet finds that that Amanda has taken care of it herself and is working on the other. The remaining embryo looks barely viable and the vet begins making plans with my in-laws (who own her) to wait for the inevitable and decide what to do with her next year.

On top of that, three weeks later I went out to feed the horses and Amanda was barely hobbling on the most swollen, infected leg I'd ever seen. Her front leg from pastern to shoulder was so bad I couldn't wrap my hands around her cannon bone and have my fingers touch. The vet had to drain her leg and put her on antibiotics three times a day for a week that said in big red letters on each syringe "Do not give to pregnant or breeding animals." Our vet said that if that mutated embryo was still around, this would finish it off.

Well, the leg healed and time went on, the other broodmares grew fat though Amanda stayed as trim and spry as ever. Then the month before her due date, we noticed she was just a little thick around the middle, and then, early, but not too early, out came Chrissy. This is not the happy ending however. When she came out, Amanda said "no thank you." This was the only baby we've ever had to bottle feed because the mother rejected it. When Amanda finally came around, I'm sure Jodi, my mother-in-law was ready to retire as nursemaid.

Then finally, at three days old Chrissy just decided to get sick and die, as foals sometimes do. It took a quick vet arrival, some quick thinking with Jodi's natural exhuberance where the horses are concerned, and some touch and go hours before Chrissy decided to make it. She is now big and sassy enough to hold her own with the boys.

So that's the story of Amanda's amazing baby, a miracle if there ever was one. Isn't this the perfect story behind the underdog Triple Crown winner that becomes a national hero and Disney makes a movie about it starring Dakota Fanning? Here's to hoping, keep the name Crystal and Kayli in mind when the Derby rolls around in about three years.