Carrie's brain has been bouncing all around Eowyn's impending foal delivery. She's had some plans in the works for weeks.
Thursday the first guy showed up. He'd almost been out of a job, but he was available early and Carrie forgot to cancel!
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Carrie wanted to turn Eowyn's run-in into a proper stall, so she could lock Eowyn in at night. Many mares give birth then, and Carrie wanted to be able to lock Eowyn in. That eliminated the risk Eowyn would give birth too close the electric lines and if she did give birth overnight the baby wouldn't accidentally stumble into anything that would shock him.
Carrie asked me to pick up Shane from Sarah's house, because she was overseeing the last bits of work when I got home. The first guy drove in a few posts and hung three stall doors.
The next guy came Saturday morning. Carrie wanted to lay out everything for him ahead of time, so we hauled lumber.
While hauling, Carrie realized she oops'd on the lumber. She'd gotten 2x4s instead of 2x6s. She made a call to Ace and begged them for a delivery. I would've gone out to help unload, but I had COVID.
The second guy I know the name of, Jesse. He worked for Carrie's hunt club on occasion.
His job was to build the fencing between the gates.
It looked like hard work in the heat of the day. Eddie got tired from watching and took a nap.
Carrie took some up close shots since I was housebound.
She was happy with the work and let Eowyn try out her new furnishings (No that Eowyn cared beyond "Is there food?").
The new plan is to lock Eowyn in each night. Carrie hung a pair of water buckets that we have to dump and fill during night chores.
I came out to help some once Jesse was gone. Maddy wanted to know when the fuss was going to be about her and her needs (specifically, more food).
Eowyn's the star of the show for now. It's been 11 months in the making.
Eowyn's due date is May 31st, believe it or not.
Carrie's experimented with a few different ways of feeding Eowyn as the birth draws near. We used to put the hay in netting, but baby wouldn't be able to access it. Carrie tried a water trough, but Eowyn kept kicking it over. Then we tried to leave bales loose, but a huge amount was milled into the ground and wasted.
After more experimentation, Carrie decided on a raised water-trough. It was high enough up that Eowyn didn't knock it over. Eowyn got some braids and a beauty-up to get her ready for the big day.
While Carrie has gotten better prepared, she still doesn't feel fully prepared. She's anxious about the birth and loses sleep at night.
For example: Maddy switched to fescue. She'd been eating brome with Eowyn, but the number of bales was petering out. Carrie did one drive to Culpeper for extra bales, but then decided Maddy could just eat fescue. Only Maddy has been a messy eater and you can see the loose hay strewn about and wandering ever closer to a hungry Eowyn.
With COVID in the house and suspecting she was in line to get it, Carrie asked if it would be okay to drop Eowyn off at the birthing barn now rather than later. "It's $30 a day extra and she eats at least $10/day here, so it's not that much extra," Carrie said. "And I'll be able to sleep at night."
I gave the okay.
What we didn't expect was for Eowyn to spit out her baby the very next day!
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