Dougie

A huge thank you to George for lending us Moo, to Mark and Debbie for giving up their weekend to help and to Angela for getting up every two hours for 3 nights in a row to help me make it work for Douglas. Thanks also to the Foaling Crisis Bureau for getting us together.

The biggest thank you goes to Matilda for being such a great girl!

Unfortunately Feline died during colic surgery at Newmarket on Thursday 2nd August, she will be sorely missed, she was a lovely gentle horse and a brilliant mother. Douglas is now an orphan.

Thursday 23rd August - Douglas and Moo enjoy the sunshine

We registered Douglas with the National Foaling bank as soon as we lost Feline. On Saturday we had a phone call to say there was a mare available that had sadly lost her foal during birth but the owner had kindly made the decision to loan the mare out for fostering. Matilda hadn't cleansed so didn't arrive until Sunday morning with George, Mark and Debbie in tow to help.

We had very detailed instructions from Joanna Vardon as to the steps to take and the process began. George, Mark and Tracey kindly stayed the first night and helped with the 2 hourly feeds, we were all present as we were so anxious it was going to work! Despite all the sadness we had a great time and a good laugh as well.

By Tuesday we had managed to discard the skin and she has accepted him but doesn't seem overly motherly, they are talking to each other constantly however.

It is now Wednesday morning at 6am and we have just had a breakthrough - we decided to turn Moo out for a pick of grass after the 5am feed and yes, she wouldn't leave the gate opposite the stables, she just ran up and down the fence staring at his stable, so after only 2 minutes when she reared up we really believed she was bonded with him and bought her back in.

Angela and I feel like the walking dead at the moment and I know I want to sleep for at least a week when they finally get together!!


Dougie's stable is 40 x 16 so he can run around indoors	Dougie drinking his milk	What we get covered in every feed time!

Dougie stayed at Newmarket till Saturday where they managed to get him drinking from a bucket but not from a bottle. Thankfully he is a big strong foal and is drinking plenty of milk. He is also eating very sloppy Sure Grow mixed with milk. We are also wearing it as he seems determined to give you a hug every time he has eaten!

We have a small paddock next to the stables where he goes out for some exercise and sunshine for an hour at a time. I have put every mare next to him and they have all been horrible!

Today (Tuesday) we had a breakthrough and put the three year olds next to him for company - here are the photos of them being nice to him!


Treliver Drambuie 3 year old gelding by Don Vino says hello

Treliver De Chandelier 3 year old filly by Dimaggio says hello