Meet Hazel

She arrived on her due date! We knew Penny was getting mighty close to delivering and her udder looked close to bursting. We put her in a stall for the night and checked the camera almost hourly but to no avail - no baby. We watched her closely throughout the day. Finally, just after dinner, I went out to check on Penny and found her pushing! She was out in the barnyard surrounded by the herd giving their moral support. I stood by to watch, hoping everything would progress smoothly. After a bit of a struggle with pushing and knowing the foal was another big one, I took a hold of the front hooves and just created a little resistance. It was a lot of hard work but she finally made it!

The color was a massive surprise! Penny is a very dark brown and Inigo was a lighter brown and this little foal was a light red and a jenny to boot! All the donkeys wanted to get in close and offer their congratulations which was a little unnerving for the mom. One jennet in particular wanted to assist in licking off the foal which I quickly stopped, knowing that donkeys will steal foals that don't belong to them.

Once they were both up and walking around, I moved them into a nicely bedded stall for the night. The night time temps were going to be in the low 20's so we made sure the little gal was sufficiently dry and blanketed.

Look at that cute white star on her forehead!

We have decided to keep little Hazel. She is mellow just like her mama but has a little spark of spunk like her dad. She is the end of Inigo's line and has perfect conformation and a lovely color that will add so much to our breeding program. So glad she arrived safe and well!