MINNIE'S STORY
By Roy Cole
It started as a normal summers day. Most of the horses on the stud were out and only the selected yearlings that were being prepared for the autumn sales were inside plus the old mare, all 24 yrs of her and 21 days over due to foal. Passed the governor in the yard and the only comment was, "is that old B any closer". " I guess she will have it when she is ready" was my reply and I carried on towards the cottage for supper. It seemed a long way from those cold January days when I had some doubts about whether she was in foal as she was struggling to hold her condition and was looking very barren. It was decided to call in the vet to confirm whether she was still in foal. "No doubt" was his diagnosis, about the size of a terrier and healthy but she needs more food to help her. The old girl received 5 star treatment from that day to give her the best chance of producing her replacement in the stud, a healthy strong filly.
Went and checked her after supper and found her relaxed and resting and no sign of her evening meal. Her bowl was empty and she had made a large hole in her hay. I returned to the cottage to catch up on the TV news and a cup of tea. I went back to check her after about an hour and she had started and was walking non stop around the foaling box. Two hours later and nothing much had changed and it was apparent that all was not as it should be. Finally she got down and started to push and things looked like they were going to happen but try as she may nothing seemed to be happening. I considered the options and decided to investigate and found a bulk blocking the cervix. I finally managed to clear the way and 10 minutes later we had a healthy bay colt foal on the ground. I went about the normal tasks of cleaning up a bit and then mixed up a warm mash for her. On returning I found her once again straining and obviously very uncomfortable so I decided to investigate once again and found the same obstruction blocking the cervix. I managed to grab hold of it and pulled out what seemed like a mummified foal still in the bag. I tossed it to one side so I could concentrate on the handsome colt who by now was attempting to get to his feet. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the discarded mass move and I tore open the bag to find a tiny little foal drowning in its own fluid. A quick shake and a squeeze soon had it breathing and with a little chest massage it soon stabilized. I called the governor and after a quick conversation it was decided to give the little filly a chance to live so I went to the house and picked up a feeding bottle. I milked the mares colostrum into the bottle and fed the foal who was now called Minnie. This procedure took place every 2 hours for the next week day and night and the determination to live that Minnie showed gave me the strength to keep going. Although Minnie was doing ok she did not have the strength to get up herself so I needed to lift her up each time I fed her and the she would follow me around until she got tired then she would lay back down again. She was about the same size as my terrier Badger and he took her under his wing which helped her get along.
It was day 8 in Minnie's life when she suddenly found that she could actually get up on her own so suddenly she became a free spirit and was all over the place like a rash. It was necessary to confine her to a small stable which she hated so it was time to find her a foster mother if that was possible. A phone call to the foaling bank proved to be of no help but a local vet told me of a possibility of a mare with a foal with navel ill which had no chance of surviving. She gave me her phone number and I called the owner and she agreed to let me try and see if she would accept Minnie. We bundled Minnie into the back seat of the car and drove the 20 miles to were the mare was stabled. The mares own foal had died earlier that day and she quickly accepted Minnie who after a few minutes found her new mothers milk bar and was happily drinking her milk. We stayed with her for a few hours and left happy with the situation between Minnie and her new mother who seemed to have bonded really well. We were back there early the next morning to check the nights progress and although she was pleased to see me she left no doubt that she was happy with her new mum. The mare and Minnie were let out in a small paddock later that morning and although Minnie was a little unsure of the great outdoors she followed her mum and explored the new surroundings. The next 6 months were straight forward with mother and daughter getting on with life with the only contact from me being the mundane tasks of worming and trimming her tiny feet. It was now December and the weather was turning cold and wet so I decided it was time to wean Minnie and take her home. Little did I know what was about to transpire?. I had arranged with a local transporter to go and pick her up and phoned the mares owner to let her know what was going to happen. She was out but her husband told me he would let her know. I received a call from the transporters to say that the women was refusing them entry and that she had decided that because her mare had reared Minnie that the foal should be hers. I got in the car and drove over to her place and had to threaten her with my solicitor before she would allow us to remove Minnie. With that episode behind us Minnie settled into her winter quarters with a small friend called Pennway Strauss who we had bred out of one of our welsh mares and the two hit it off immediately.
The next 3 years went without a problem and by the June of 1996 Minnie had grown to 13.00hh but was still 3 hands smaller than an average thorobred, and a decision needed to be made about her future. Should we break her in? which Pat was very much against or should we put her in foal. We decided on the latter and Beckside Little Toff was chosen as her first husband and the result of that mating was Pennway Money Penny who is now in Ireland with Johnny and Gillian Kyle.
We mated her again the following year to Ninfield Millionaire which resulted in another filly called Pennway Millionaires's. The following two foals were by Ninfield Midnight Mink , a filly in 1999 and a colt in 2000. A three were sold to Chris Willett.
In 2000 We mated Minnie to our own Welsh Sec B Stallion Cottrell Jitterbug and she produced a lovely filly we have called Pennway Tapdance. We have retained her for the stud and she was placed in both her shows in 2003 and we will show her in Welsh partbred classes in 2005.
We mated Minnie again in 2002 to Westacre Comic Opera but this again caused a major problem for Minnie. The foal was huge and drastic means had to be used to save her life. The dead foal was pulled from the mare as she was in grave danger of dieing from this traumatic experience but the gifted hands of our local vets saved her life. Minnie was left empty in 2003 and we have mated her this year to our Sec B stallion Wharley Grenedier. I am sure this is not the last chapter in Minnie's tale.
It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of MINNIE who died while foaling. We are very privileged at PENNWAY that this lovely mare gave us so much pleasure during her stay with us and she will live on at PENNWAY through her daughters P.TAPDANCE and P.TRUFFLE and through them her story will live on.
Pennway have brought back the 1999 filly by Ninfield Midnight Mink out of Minnie and she has joined our band of broodmares. She will be sponsored by the Market Research Company Northern Lights and hopefully she will prove to be a valuable flag bearer for this growing company. She is in foal to an early covering to Westacre Comic Opera and she will be covered by our T/B Stallion Hever Golf Ranger and hopefully will breed us a nice hack. We will also cover P.Tapdance with Ranger and in doing so we will have kick started the next chapter of Minnie's story.
We have weaned P.TAPDANCE'S foal who is called P.PUCCINI (Lionel) and Tapdance has gone on lease to the Worsley's to try her hand at Pony Racing. We will leave mating her for another year which will not matter much as she is still a young mare. Once Puccini is properly weaned he will return to Shaun McLoughlin and we will then decide wether to geld him or leave him a colt
Pennway Tapdance had her first pony race at Detling point to point and she ran a very creditable 3rd against the 14.2's. Tapdance ran at Ascot in a novice 13.2 and won really well. She then went to Penshurst a finished a really close up 2nd in her first open race. Pennway Tapdance then ran in the Point to Point Novice 138 Racing Pony final at Peper Harow and after controlling the pace in front she ran on strongly under a very clever ride by Tabitha Worsley to win with a lot in hand. Her mother Minnie would have been very proud of her Cottrell Jitterbug daughter. Tapdance then ran at New Market and was 3rd in an open 138 and followed that up with an easy win at Lingfield over 6 furlongs. She then qualified for the James Owen final with an easy win at Yarmouth and a close up 2nd at Bath.
Tapdance went to Aintree and ran her heart out on heavy ground which did not suit her at all but still managed a very brave 2nd. A very promising end to her first year as a racing pony.
