Abbie, that poor horse down in Norco, is still pregnant...366 days as
of today. Her friend Prissy, who was not as pregnant as Abbie when I first started
watching the two of them, had her little filly, Penny, about a week and a half ago.
But Abbie hangs in there--and "hangs" may be the
appropriate term, for someone whose belly is holding a baby horse that isn't eager to come
out.
(I'm sure this must be how she is feeling right now!)
Even from the camera vantage point high over the stall, you can see
that she is as unhappy about it as any human mother who goes beyond her due date (I can
sympathize with her...all of our children were at least a week late!)
She paces and paces and paces, then she lies down, then gets up, then
paces some more, then lies on her side, then gets on her belly, then rolls on her back,
then gets up and paces some more. Sometimes she turns and looks at her belly as if
to say "what are you doing to me!"
Around the world, people sit glued to their monitors on Abbie Watch.
Karen's husband, who checks the stats on the barn cam says that about 50
people are watching it at any one time. I don't know if it is the same 50 people,
but that's a lot of people glued to a little barn in Southern California.
There are comments posted to Karen's Facebook page about things
people have observed her doing. I once offered that a watched pot doesn't boil, but
we are still watching the pot and surely any. minute. now. Abbie is finally going to birth
that baby!
I am reminded of the opening chapter of "Thunderhead, Son of
Flicka," which I read a bazillion years ago when I was a kid, but I always remember
the difficult birth of the colt, who didn't want to come out into the cold storm that was
swirling around and fought the forces that were pressing him into the birth canal. At
least that's the way I remember it. I wonder if that is what is going on with Abbie's
baby. Is s/he just wanting a few more days in the womb before having to face the big scary
world?
Abbie was so restless during the day yesterday that I was certain she
would foal last night and almost stayed up all night not to miss it. But Sheila
convinced me that I really wanted to go to bed, so I did sleep until 4:30 or so
and the first thing I did when I climbed into the recliner was to check barn cam and there
was Abbie. Still pregnant.
I had lunch with some friends today, reluctant to leave barn cam, and
then went to the store, and then stopped at Atria and I was sure she would give
birth while I was gone, but no. When I returned, she was still pregnant.
We went out to review a show tonight and when we got home, the first
thing I did was to check barn cam, and she is still pregnant.
Today, someone who works in the barn decided to show her how it's
done.
But other than giving us all a good laugh and apparently surprising
Abbie, it has had no effect. Abbie is still pregnant.
We went to see Sister Act: the Musical tonight and I need to
write the review before I go to sleep (or at least a significant part of it), so I will
keep Baby Watch while I am working on that and hope that just maybe she will finally
settle in and have this thing.
People have asked if she is really pregnant, or just faking it, but
the vet says that everything is fine, baby is OK, and moving, and it is just not ready to
be born yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment