Within a 10 hour period I was reminded twice how fragile life is and how little I can really control.
Last night, I went to roll over in bed and because I hurt my knee at Rebecca Farm a little over a week ago, I wake up in pain every time I move to lie on my stomach. Of course, my stomach is usually my go-to happy place but my knee has caused me to rethink comfortable sleeping positions. As I squirmed in pain and started to reach a different level of consciousness, I became aware of a strange noise outside. I thought, "it's raining and the hay is not covered". Frustrated with those consequences, I gingerly lowered myself out of bed to go to the bathroom. After hobbling to the bathroom like a stiff old woman, I opened the window to see how hard it was raining. The wall of flames not 30 feet away was probably one of the most frightening things I have ever seen. I immediately knew we had only a few precious minutes. I moved fast and woke Sean, Sydney and Taylor up. Sean later told me that he has never heard me use that tone and that alone scared him. Thankfully, there was very little wind and Sean had the sprinklers on and the hose running immediately. I told Taylor and Sydney to get all the animals in the car. I called 911 as I ran to get the barn foreman, Larry, from his house about 200 feet away. Once I had him rustled out of bed (it was 3am), I ran back to my house to get the cars moved with the animals. Sean was doing an amazing job keeping the flames off the house and putting that part of the fire out; Larry went to the other end of the fire which was threatening all the paddocks. I found myself directing the fireman through the barn so that they could get to the different hot spots.
While it was happening I was too busy to think of taking pictures but here are the pictures from the morning after. That fence is less than 25 feet from our porch and you can see how close the fire got to the horse's shelters......inches.
Just a few hours later, as I drove up the driveway after going to morning Mass to express my gratitude to God for keeping my family, my animals, and the farm from harm, I looked out over the pastures and noticed one of my mares had a white sack hanging under her tail. Again I had a rush of adrenaline and knew I had to act quickly in case there was a problem. Obviously, this maiden mare hadn't realized that she was suppose to foal at night in her comfy stall with all the straw! La Coura was having some difficulties, but there were two black legs and an adorable little muzzle showing, so I told myself to be patient. Larry, once again, came to the rescue, showing up just in time to help La Coura with the next set of contractions; once the head and shoulders were out, the rest slid out easily. A Girl! I love my mares and am very happy to have another blessed one by my stallion Virginian Sky (owned with the Fontana Syndicat)!
My adrenaline roller coaster certainly left me exhausted.
I am so thankful for this beautiful foal......and for the safety of my family. Hug your family, kiss your ponies, and say your prayers. We really have no control over what life throws at us.
