Papa knows this, too... and he also knows someone who raises horses for a living. And a few weeks ago, he heard some very exciting news: A mare was about to give birth! Papa gave us the contact information to these wonderful people and told them we should call and maybe, just maybe, Violet would get to see a baby horse being born!
Well, we got the call early one morning that the mama horse had indeed gone into labor overnight, and the baby was here, having arrived at about 4 am... and, although we missed the birth, maybe Violet could come by to participate in the little guy's very first checkup with the vet so she could see just how it's done! UM YEAH!!!!
This first checkup is done when the foal is 12 hours old, so at 4pm we headed down to the ranch to meet Mrs. Bonnie and some of her other prize cutting horses. One of them that Violet met was a little guy named Cookie who had been born last month...
And then we walked over to meet Mama and Brand New Baby Boy...
Violet was completely fascinated...
I loved it when the baby stuck his tongue out at us... HAHA...
And also how Mama was so protective of her little guy, staying right by his side.
Violet got to be the first kid ever to pet the baby, and she learned to make slow, gentle movements so as to not frighten him...
We couldn't believe we were there with a tiny horse only hours old!!
The veterinarian came by and brought Violet her own stethoscope to use! He said Violet had to be his assistant today, so she helped him out. Here he is checking a little hernia in the horse's belly and showing Violet how to do it...
And then it was Violet's turn....
She also had to check the baby's heartrate with the stethoscope...
And listen for the breath sounds...
The vet showed her how to check his gums and make sure they were properly pink...
And she stood back and watched as he drew blood right from the baby's neck!
Finally, it was time to check out the placenta and amniotic sac (SUPER COOL AND GROSS!).
HA. Violet thought that was pretty disgusting, but in a cool way. lol
She's probably the luckiest 8 year old ever. Hopefully next time she will get to actually watch the birth!
5 comments:
So Awesome congrats to Violet for being an amazing helper. I love the pictures...how great where those to take :)
yay, i loved it all......... except for the placenta part.....ewwwwwww ......... you know that gets me!!!
That is the absolutely coolest thing! What a great "field trip". You'd make a great homeschooling mama if you didn't have that super awesome photography gig! :-)
Truly, Violet is one very blessed little girl. It also sounds like that vet was a good one- willing to teach and share like that! Wow. I'd love to do that and I'm not eight!
Tisra
Those pictures are beautiful! What an experience for Violet!
That is so fantastic!! Great pics of it all, friend. I love when we get to give our kids these types of experiences! She will remember this forever.
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