This is Hideaway Sparrow’s Kookaburra, foal name “Kookie” (rhymes with cookie), and new life name, “Wyatt.”

Kookie was our sixth and final foal of the 2024 foaling season.  

Not too long ago, I told the story of his dam, Hideaway Spotted Sparrow.  His sire was Starfire’s The Monarch.  Sparrow was expected to foal near the end of May or beginning of June.  She gave birth on May 31st, 2024.  I was thinking that I might have a foaling season that would run from March until possibly August, but all foals were born in April and May.  That was a huge relief, and I was able to sleep again in June.

It was a near picture-perfect foaling and Kookie quickly hit all the marks.  The humidity from the day five days earlier when Bina had foaled Thistle on a Sunday morning had subsided, so things were not as squishy around the farm.  It was a Friday and the birth had happened right before working hours in the morning.  The entire foaling season had happened with the mares respectfully avoiding my working hours.

The one thing remaining as I headed into work that day was the placenta dropping.  We have cameras, though, so I could monitor them from the home office.  I’m not certain what was happening that day, but I found myself at home alone with the horses.  I saw the placenta on the floor of the stall from the camera video feed.

The workday progressed, and in the afternoon, I did a round of checks.

That wasn’t the placenta on the floor, and it was still dangling from Sparrow.  After waiting for the recommended time for it to descend, Sparrow and Kookie were loaded up for yet another trip to the university veterinarian hospital.

Four of our six expecting mothers were maiden mares this year.  We always seem to have three or four maidens (though, for the upcoming year we only have two).  Every single one of our maiden mares made it to the large animal hospital at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for the 2024 foaling season.  Lucky and Liza for placentitis, early birth, and again for Lucky’s leg.  Mia and Bell for Mia’s bout with metritis after the birth.  Bina and Thistle for the issues with getting Thistle to nurse.  And now, Sparrow and Kookie for a retained placenta.  Both of our experienced mommas, Princess and Jewel, did perfectly well without medical interventions.

So…over $21,000 later (ouch), we had a season with six perfectly healthy foals and dams.  If you’re breeding responsibly, I’d recommend having plans for the costs.  It can get very expensive very quickly.  People complain about veterinary costs.  We don’t.  The horses are way more valuable than the cost to keep them alive.

We do know the vet staff at the university so well now, though, that we joke with them.  “When you are you guys going to put up the new wing that is named in our honor?”  “We know that you guys like our foals a lot, but we’re not going to bring all of them in just so you can pet them.”

They were able to dislodge the placenta (glued in both horns), and she was checked over very well.  They were there briefly and then back home.  Clean bill of health with a little bit of meds to make sure she wasn’t in pain and to stave off secondary infections.

Kookie was, like Fluffy was initially, on the wary side.  He didn’t like to be pinned down, but the funny thing with him was that when we did get him, he gave up arguing quickly and was very compliant in nature.  He was one of the best for first farrier sessions for foals.  He also trailered very well.  Kookie was also very socially keyed-in to other horses.  He always wanted to be part of what the other foals were doing, but he was just more timid with human interactions than the others, so he always stood back yearning to be part of it, but not fully engrossing himself in all the fun.

Every foal has buttons, though.  Sometimes it takes a little bit to figure them out.  Kookie’s big button was interaction with other horses.  In addition to foal care order, I also have my own method of progressing through foal training.  Later stages of that include walking the foals around the farm like I’m walking a dog.  The one thing that I did with Kookie that was a bit extra just for him is that I would walk him to fence lines where there were other horses.  Gypsy Vanner Horses, being the way that they are, of course, always greeted me at every fence line.  He really liked interacting with all the horses on the farm from across the fence lines during our walks.  He also ponied very well.  If there was another horse to do something with, he’d come right along behind them.  If I wanted to gently and stress-free move him and another foal from one place to another, all I had to do was halter up the other foal and he’d come right along.

Kookie ate very well from his momma; so well, in fact, that he had to be weaned just a bit early to give his dam a break so she could gain a few extra pounds before winter.  He  was a very healthy little boy, and he pigged out on grain and hay also.  He was a butterball with a very nice shapely conformation.

He was a bay colt, but one of the things that really set him apart was that he had a beautiful blue chip in his left eye…just enough blue to show who his momma was with her blue eyes.

Kookie went along with Lucky and Fluffy to a local owner that had purchased all three from us this season (along with Poptart who is next).  He is, undoubtedly, living a good life in the company of friends old and new.