The delights and dismays during the foaling season at MH Ranch
By Tanya Hoida
When I first visited MH Ranch about a month ago, I fell in love with the furry miniature horses and was further amazed by the pregnant mares. I couldn't believe a mare shorter than my waist could carry another horse within her.
Kathleen Virch, employee and daughter of the owners Ron and Barb McHugh, talked about the mare's determination during the birth and later, her attachment to 16- to 18-inch little ones. Ron said his first foaling was a time-consuming erratic process yet rewarding afterwards. I soon scheduled another visit during their foaling season so I could witness this wonderful event.
Three separate visits and 22 hours later, I made friends with the newborns but didn't get to see one being born.
I learned that, similar to human mothers, due dates for miniatures don't mean much, the mares might get moody and they often want privacy.
All 12 mares with April 14 due dates decided Saturday wasn’t the right day to bare a new foal.
After arriving at the ranch at 7 p.m. to take some last-minute photos before nightfall, I joined ranch employee Matt Virch who was checking the pregnant mares in their outside paddock every 15 minutes. The ranch keeps a 24-hour watch on them because miniature horses need help with the birth. Matt said they're probably close to giving birth when they stand alone, act unusual or anxious by getting up and laying back down multiple times.
During his 9:30 p.m. check, Little Princess was showing some of those signs. She had been acting anxious earlier that night and was lying down in a darkened area. The miniature mare’s legs were flailing and she appeared to be pushing. Yet after Matt rushed her inside and called the owners, she was back to normal and wondering why she was brought inside.
By midnight, Kathleen began her shift and Matt went home to sleep until his 7 a.m. shift. By 2 a.m., she joined me in visiting the foals in their stalls in efforts to stay awake. Newborn filly Whippoorwill hadn’t been touched as much as the other foals and was little frightened of our presence.
"You need to rub her all over so she becomes accustomed to being touched for when we later clip her," Kathleen said. She said the foals’ furry coats are clipped within four months of their birth in time for the warm summer.
"The petting stimulates her blood and imprints her."
We continued to play with the foals and check on the mares for the remainder of the night. I drove home at 10 a.m. Sunday when I realized I wasn’t going to see any action.
I returned for two separate visits on April 19, a day with due dates. While I waited during what would be another foal-less night, employee Cheryl Clift shared some foal stories from that week.
She had learned the hard way that sometimes no noticeable warning signs appear before a foal birth. She kept up with her mare checks but she said they began to expect her at exactly every 15 minutes. "I swear they were saying 'hey girls she just went in, we have 15 minutes,'" Clift said.
And two of the miniature mares used those 15 minutes to give birth to their own wonders. As Clift walked outside, she knew something was different because the mares had circled around something. "All of these mares were looking down and I thought oh no, it's a foal," Clift said.
The first black and white colt of MH Ranch was born outside on April 16. On the next night, a black and white filly was born outside as well. It seemed the mares figured out how to have their foals in privacy.
When I left the ranch at 1:30 a.m. on Friday, I knew the purpose of my trip was stomped upon, but I don’t regret bonding with the tiny horses so full of spunk.