Is this the most chaotic foaling? Filly enters the world during farm inferno
A foal has been born in the chaos of a fire, while bulls and horses ran loose on the yard.
The filly, aptly named Ember, was foaled during a blaze at a farm in Ryhill, South Yorkshire, on 21 June.
Sarah Scott, the owner of the dam, a 13.2hh coloured cob called Mica, only realised her pony was in foal two weeks prior to the birth, having recently bought the mare.
Sarah Hall, whose aunt owns the farm, had been helping with the birth.
“I had a call at 7.45pm saying she was about to foal,” Ms Hall told H&H.
“I shot over to the yard and went into the mare’s stable. A nose and two front feet were out.
“Then I heard shouting and screaming. I saw the smoke and knew there was something wrong.
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“I jumped over the mare, ran around the corner and all I could see was a wall of flames.”
Ms Hall ran into the neighbouring barn to let out the nine bulls who were also kept on the farm.
She returned to the stable and found the foal on the floor.
“She was still stuck in her sack, so I got her out and freed her airways,” Ms Hall said.
“Meanwhile the stampede of bulls came out of the barn. A friend was herding them and one ended up in the stable.
“The mare was doing a fabulous job, she didn’t even react. The little baby was like, ‘What’s happening?’
“Next the bulls crashed into the horses’ paddock so they were released too.”
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Meanwhile, firefighters from six forces battled with the flames.
“Gas cylinders were exploding and machinery was crashing around,” Ms Hall said.
“There was a massive diesel tank on the front of the barn — if that had gone up we would have been annihilated.”
The fire destroyed buildings, machinery, hay and straw, but the farm’s 15 horses and nine bulls were not hurt.
“The next day we brought the mare and foal out,” added Ms Hall.
“Ember’s in perfect health and has become a bit of a celebrity and the mare has been superb throughout.”
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.