04/20/2026
This isn’t the post I wanted to be making this week…or ever.
After a very successful first SLF Horse Show yesterday, things took quite the turn. I’ve been up since 6:30am yesterday and sleep is still a long time away for us.
Around midnight my gut told me to check my camera one more time before going to bed. I’m beyond glad I trusted that feeling and checked. Tita was antsy and up and down. She was showing clear signs of the early stages of labor.
We have been testing her “milk” twice a day for a drop in pH with no remarkable changes. But at 2am on 4/20/26, a very long legged baby boy arrived.
Unfortunately, things went downhill immediately. Tita presented with red bag syndrome. The upside was that the delivery was relatively quick and didn’t show any immediate concerns for mom or baby.
Shortly after, Tita showed zero interest in her baby and baby boy was not making any true efforts to stand. This continued to the point where Tita stood pawing in the corner and ultimately left to eat hay. I worked hard to dry the baby and keep him from hurting himself, but it was evident that something wasn’t right.
Several calls to vet and a rather prompt pre-dawn visit confirmed our fears. Tita had no milk - which means no colostrum. And baby boy was not able to get up after 3, to 4, to 5 hours.
After examining the placenta, our vet noted it was the largest he’d ever seen. It weighed in well over 20lbs.
We quickly loaded Tita and baby into the trailer and headed to New Bolton. With a mix of symptoms from both mom and baby, we opted go immediately and not risk wasting any time.
After a 2hr drive and 3hrs of diagnostics, we have ourselves a “dummy” foal. Tita had placentitis which interfered with the fetal development. This mean we basically have a full term premie.
Baby boy still can’t stand, but he is getting fluids, antibiotics, glucose, and plasma right now. Tita presents well other than not having any milk, so cue the oxytocin and domperidome to hopefully kickstart lactation.
Tita is now smitten with her baby boy. Overall, his bloodwork looks good. He will be getting an ultrasound of his ribs today to confirm no fractures. He will also have radiographs of his leg joints to determine his current development and if any other steps are needed immediately.
He is currently stable, but “dummy” foals have a very uncertain prognosis. This fight is completely up to him and can very quickly go in any direction.
At this time, we ask that you hold your messages and respect the very emotional and sleep deprived state we are in right now. Please send Momma Tita and Baby Boy all of your good vibes and whatever else you can out send out into the universe for him.
I am choosing to not name him at this time. Once we have a better idea of what his future will look like, I will make a final decision on his name.
Thank you to the handful of people behind the scenes today who knew what was going on and are taking time out of their day to make sure SLF keeps moving. I appreciate my people more than I can express right now. All of the horses are taken care of and your lessons are on as scheduled.
