Page 15 of The Rancher's Addiction

“How long has she been in labor, how old, and is this her first birthing?”Jenny asked as she started to examine the mare.She could tell she’d been in labor longer than she should have been, which usually meant breech.

“Close to two hours.She’s six, and it’s her fourth birth,” Gary said worriedly.

Jenny’s stomach twisted.“Has she had any problems with the others?”

“No, ma'am.”

Jenny pulled on a long glove, lifted the horse's tail, and shoved her arm into the horse.Right away, she could feel the hind legs.

“She’s a breech,” Jenny grunted.

“Dammit.Sorry, ma’am.”

Jenny ignored him.Her concentration was all on the horse.She could tell the foal was in distress.“I’d try to turn the foal, but we need to get it out now, or we might lose both.”

“Tell me what you want me to do?”

Jenny crouched and grabbed some chains and then shoved both arms into the horse.That was one good thing about being small.Both of her arms could easily fit in the backside of a cow or horse.

“I’m going to tie both hind legs together, and then we’ll pull.Have a bucket of cold water on hand.”

She vaguely heard one of the ranch hands race away.

Within a few minutes, she had the foal where she wanted it.She pulled the ends of the chain out.“You grab onto this handle, and I’ll get the other.When I tell you to pull, pull hard but don’t jerk.”

“You got it.”

Jenny counted in her head, and when the horse started to have a contraction, she yelled.“Pull.”

She and Gary did this four times, and finally, they were making progress.

“This should do it.One more pull.”

The only sounds she heard were Gary and herself grunting in exertion and the horse whinny as the painful contraction hit her.

Jenny felt the foal slide out and drop to the hay-covered ground.She could tell the foal wasn’t breathing and would die if she didn’t do something instantly.She bent and started pulling the membrane away from its head and the mucus out of the horse's nose.

“Hand me the water.”

Gary handed it to her.

She dumped it on the foal's head, making the baby jolt, gasp, and then start to breathe.She patted the foal’s sides as it gasped for breath.

“Well, I’ll be,” Gary said.

Jenny stood and pulled the foal off to the side and stuck her arm back in the horse.

“What are you doing now?”

“I want to make sure there was no internal damage done to the mare, and she needs to expel the placenta.There’s still a chance we could lose her.”

The crowd that had gathered waited with bated breath.

She felt the placenta start to slide out and stepped back.It plopped onto the ground, spraying mucus and blood all over her, which she overlooked.

She stuck her arm back in and felt around.She exhaled.“I think she’s good.Let’s take care of the foal.”She pulled the chains off the legs and examined him.“He looks to be in good shape.Congratulations, Papa, you have a colt.”

Gary grinned and then laughed.

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