An owner who got a surprise “buy one, get two free” deal when the mare she bought gave birth to twins has paid tribute to her daughter and vet, who together saved the colts’ lives.
Fiona Sleath bought Lilo, thought to be part thoroughbred, part warmblood, for her daughter Jenna last November. Weeks later, they had three horses instead of one.
“We picked her out of a herd that had come from the side of a hill,” Fiona told H&H.
“We called the vet after about a week and a half and said ‘We think she might be pregnant but we don’t know anything else’. It was mid-December at that point, just as we went into that really cold snap.”
Fiona turned up one Saturday morning to find a foal had been born.
“I rang the vets straight away and said ‘Can you come?’. Luckily it was Jenny Hall on duty, who’s at the top of her game,” Fiona said. “The foal was just lying flat. Then I went round the back and thought ‘Oh my god’. I phoned the vet back and said ‘We’ve got two’ and she said ‘I’m on my way’.”
Fiona said “all hell broke loose” as they battled to save little Theo, who was smaller and weaker than his brother Chilli, in the bitter cold.
“Lilo was fine; she was munching away like she hadn’t had any foals but we had to take Theo home for the first three nights,” Fiona said. “He couldn’t stand to suckle so we were having to hold him up, and Lilo didn’t have any milk at first, bless her. We were so lucky, as Jenny brought some colostrum, which probably saved their lives – plus my daughter, feeding Theo every hour, all night, in the kitchen.”
Lilo was unconcerned, and happy to see Theo back every morning. And gradually, he put on weight – he weighed 15kg on day three while his brother was 34kg, but last week they were 90 and 91kg.
Fiona said they were told there was a stallion in the mare’s vicinity at the right time, who they think was the sire involved in Lilo’s “behind the bike sheds” conception.
“When they came out, the vet said they had really good coats, which meant they stood a chance,” Fiona said. “We’ve been hauled over the coals because if you see twins on a scan, one should be pinched, but we’d only had her three weeks!”
Fiona added that it was Chilli, rather than Lilo, who had some issues accepting Theo when he reappeared in the mornings, early on, but that the pair are “definitely a tag team now”.
“We had to limit the time they had out at first as Theo’s legs were a bit windswept but now they play, and they’re both cheeky,” Fiona said. “As soon as we go up there now, Lilo goes off, and leaves us to do the childcare; she’ll go into the stable and leave the kids out with us!
“I have to give so much credit to my daughter and Jenny as between them, they saved their lives.”
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