Nicole Schnell

Hello, hello...sorry for the delay in the post.  I've added new pictures on webshots for you guys to check out.  Only a little over 6 weeks left of the internship, and I'm getting a little sad it's all coming to close to being over.  Just to catch you up with what I've been up to the past few weeks...

Keeneland has been going on, and I've been able to get up there to watch the races a couple of different times.  I was able to make it up to see the big Blue Grass Stakes race.  I actually was able to fight the crowd and get a spot right on the rail to watch the race, so that was really exciting.  It was a really good race, 4 horses finished pretty close including a few of the top Derby contenders.  It was pretty exciting to get to see those guys close up.  I also watched a horse that was born on our farm that raced that day.  Midnight Lute, his dam is actually still a broodmare on our farm.  I gave her a pat for good luck that day, but Midnight Lute didn't live up to his favoring odds.  He finished 4th in his race that day.  I've got a few pictures posted of him as well.  Last Thursday we spent the whole day out at Keeneland as class time.  We met with a bunch of different people that day, trainers, jockeys, exercise riders, media personnel, and sales managers.  We toured the entire facility and got to stay to watch the races that day.  That was a lot of fun.  I even saw Gary Stevens hanging out around the track that morning while we were watching some of the horses work out.  He's the jockey who plays in the movie Seabiscuit. 

Back at the farm we've had a lot going on over the past few weeks.  We've started leaving the older mares and foals out at nights now.  The foals seem to be enjoying all the freedom, but they don't object too much to coming in in the mornings to eat.  We've had a couple of sick babies in the past couple weeks.  We have 2 foals we're currently treating for rhodacoccus, and we've got another couple who have had temperatures that we're monitoring.  A lot of breeding shed trips and grooming and pulling manes for shed runs.  I actually got to go on a run Sunday night to Darley, which was really exciting.  Darley is gorgeous!  It was later in the evening so all the stallions were up and in the barn and I got to walk around and see all the big guys like Bernardini, Holy Bull, Elusive Quality, Cherokee Run, and Street Cry.  Our mare was being bred to Henny Hughes who actually was bred by our farm.  His dam Meadow Flyer is still a broodmare on our farm.  Henny was a top sprinter and won quite a few races, so his momma's pretty valuable. 

We've had another wave of foals come.  They all seem to be doing really well, we had to give plasma to one who's IgG levels were a little low, but he's doing really well now.  We did lose another baby last weekend, and we lost the broodmare also.  It was a pretty bad dystocia from what I heard.  They couldn't get the baby out, and ended up having to euthanize both mare and foal.  That was sad.  It's really no fun when you lose one or the other, and it's definitely sad when you can't save either one.  I made it out to see part of a foaling last night.  The mare already had the baby halfway out by the time I got to the farm, but it was still fun to get to help out at the end.

I spent the day yesterday riding with our farm's vet.  That was a lot of fun.  It was cool to get to see what he does all day, and all the different farms that he visits.  He stays pretty busy during the breeding season.  At all the farms there were a lot of mares to palp and scan and it was fun getting to watch for the day. 

Derby is a week from Saturday!  We got our tickets at class Tuesday night, so I'm getting pretty excited about it!  It should be a lot of fun.  Again, I apologize for the delay in posting.  As things start to wrap up it?s getting even busier.  We?ve got presentations at the end of May that we?ve started working on, and our portfolios due about the same time, so besides working a lot, there?s been quite a bit of school work to keep up with too lately.  Take a peek at the new pictures.  I?ll post again soon.   

Few New Pics

Hey guys!  I've uploaded a few new pictures for you to see, it's finally green here and the farm looks so pretty!  Things are staying busy, we haven't had another explosion of foalings and the nights have been pretty quiet, but it's still yet to come.  We had a 24 year old mare foal out Saturday night, and unfortunately we lost her the next morning.  The foaling had gone well, but being as old as she was it seemed her body just couldn?t handle the stress and we suspect she might have hemorrhaged.  It all happened pretty suddenly, so thankfully she wasn?t in a lot of pain.  She seemed fine that morning, then right before lunch our manager checked in on her and she didn?t seem to be doing well, she died just shortly after that so there was no time to have anyone come out to check her.  The foal is doing really well though.  He?s a little guy, and he has a new adopted nurse mare mommy he seems to have become quite attached to.  He?s a very cute baby, and he?s pretty sweet, at least for now!

So we?ve had some pretty strange weather the past week.  It?s been back in the 20?s over night and in the mornings and on Friday it actually snowed here!!!  Yes, snowed, and it stuck to the ground!  I thought the saying was ?April showers? not ?April SNOW showers!?  But thankfully it?s supposed to warm back up for us the rest of the week which should be nice.  Our group of older foals and mares are getting ready to be left out over night soon if it will get warm and stay warm for them.  I can?t believe how fast they are growing.  The newborns look so tiny now, and the older ones are as tall as me if they stand with their ears pricked up!  Time really is flying! 

Last night we got to volunteer at the charity team penning event out at the horse park.  One of my managers road in the event, so it was fun to get to watch her and cheer her on.  Each team of two was given a jockey to pen with, so it was pretty funny watching these guys trying to herd cattle when you?re used to seeing them race lightening fast horses.  I also got to meet Robbie Albarado the jockey!  He?s riding Curlin this weekend in the Arkansas Derby, one of the Kentucky Derby prep races.  Another big race, the Blue Grass Stakes is this weekend up at Keeneland, so hopefully I?ll be able to get up there and see that.  Tonight is the Thoroughbred Farm Manager?s meeting, Todd Pletcher, the trainer who has several horses vying for the Derby is going to be speaking tonight, so that should be pretty cool.  I feel like I keep meeting all these local celebrities, it?s so cool!  And I?m learning a lot more about racing which has been fun.  I?ll post again soon!  Enjoy the new pics!

We had a pretty eventful night this past Monday I thought you guys might enjoy hearing about.  We had a mare that experienced a severe dystocia and we had to take her to Hagyard's to be worked on.  I got called out to the farm a little before 7 Monday night because one of our mare's was foaling, I was pretty excited when I got there because she only had a little of the front feet out so I was going to get to see the whole thing.  Well, the feet looked upside down, so our managers had checked the position of the foal and couldn't feel the head, they suspected it might be coming out backwards at first, and then determined the head was turned backwards towards its rear.  For the safety of the mare and the foal they decided to hook up the trailer and we'd take them to Hagyards.  This particular mare is a wobbler, she has pretty bad neurological issues so that was also a concern.  I got to go to Hagyards with my manager and the mare, and I saw the entire thing!  We got her there and unloaded her and she was taken into one of the exam rooms.  The veterinarian decided to put her under anesthesia that way he could work on her more easily because at this point she was having a really hard time standing and staying balanced.  They put her under and laid her down on her back with both her hind legs held up and the doctor got to work feeling inside for the positioning of the foal.  It took him quite awhile feeling around and moving things to get the head free and facing the correct direction.  Once he had gotten the foal's positioning right he started pulling the baby out, and I mean he was pulling hard!  They ended up using the chains on the baby's legs, and there were 4 grown men pulling the baby trying to get it free, but he wasn't budging too much.  At this point the baby had a heartbeat, and I even remember seeing it flare it's nostrils a couple of times, but the situation didn?t' look good.  One of his forelegs was bent at the knee in the wrong direction, which was suspected as a developmental issue, and it almost looked like there was a hock in the place of the knee.  The leg was so badly deformed there was really no hope for the foal, and the vet was still unable to get him free from the mare completely so the decision was made to euthanize the foal and cut him to remove him and save the mare.

            At this point it definitely got a lot more graphic.  The doctor placed the cutting wire into the mare and around the portion of the foal that was hung.  He had said one of the back legs had become hooked under the mare?s pelvic bone and this was the reason the foal couldn?t get out.  From here they proceeded to cut the foal, and remove all but the hind leg that was hung up.  (Sorry no pictures from this event, it really was like a scene from a horror movie at this point).  Once the majority of the foal was removed, the doctor went back in and freed the remaining hind leg.  The stifles of the foal were contracted, and this is what had caused it to get hung up and stuck inside the mare. 

            After the foal was completely removed the mare was placed in a sling for safety as she began to wake up.  There was a bit of concern regarding how she would recover from the anesthesia since she does have neurological issues, which is why she was placed in a sling.  We left the hospital before she woke up from anesthesia, but the doctor had called my farm manager over night when she did wake up and let him know she was doing ok.  She was taken out of the sling and turned out in a paddock and seemed to be doing well, so we got to bring her back to the farm yesterday afternoon where we turn her out in a small paddock with one of the maiden mares in the afternoons.  It was definitely an experience I was glad I got to be a part of, but everything about the situation was just so sad!  At least we still have the mare, and she is doing well, but it?s so sad that there was just no hope for the foal.  It was something I?m glad I got to see, but I sure hope we don?t have to worry with anything that terrible again.