Meet Ziggy Stardust, a surprise BOGOF foal who arrived in temperatures of -5C, as snow lay thick on the ground – on David Bowie’s birthday.
Lisa Philip told H&H the filly was born 11 months to the day after she bought the mare, and it was only last month they were sure she was expecting.
“We bought Dolly for my mum, who’s 72, to hack and have a nice time on,” she said. “She arrived fit and fully clipped and they had a great time, hacking and on the beach and in the sea. She’s such a good mare.
“In September or October, we thought she was getting fat but never thought she could be pregnant as we haven’t got any entire horses. Then the vet came in October or November to do her teeth and we said ‘Do you think there’s any chance she’s pregnant’, and the vet said no, she was just a bit plump. So we thought ‘Ok, then’.”
But in December, Lisa’s father was poo-picking in the field and saw something obviously moving inside Dolly.
“It took a few days of standing and watching, then I posted on Facebook as I’ve got friends who are breeders,” Lisa said. “They said ‘Yep, definitely a foal in there’! At which point we had a bit of a panic.”
Lisa rang Dodson & Horrell for advice and put Dolly on a stud balancer.
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“Then we just waited and waited, and she got bigger and bigger,” she said. “We were sure she was going to have it on Christmas Day – and we’d have had to call it Baby Jesus – but she held out till 8 January.”
The family had started bringing Dolly in at night a few weeks beforehand, as they knew it would be cold when she did give birth.
“Her belly was a bit more pointed and she didn’t wax up but she was pacing a bit,” Lisa said. “I live about 10 minutes away and about 7pm, my mum phoned to say ‘I think this is it’. I jumped in the car and by the time I got there, the head and front legs were out, and Dolly was eating hay.”
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Lisa said it was a textbook 45-minute delivery with no issues for mother and baby, other than the temperature.
“It was -5C that evening, and -7C the night after, so pretty chilly!” she said. “But the foal came out with the most amazing coat, about two inches thick. I’ve never seen anything like it on a foal; nature is quite amazing.”
The foal’s coat was so thick, she did not need the tiny rugs bought in preparation, and the vet arrived soon afterwards to give her a clean bill of health.
“We have no idea what her parentage is,” Lisa said. “The man we bought her from had only had her for a few weeks; he’d bought her from some lads in Ireland and was gobsmacked. We’ll have her DNA tested to get some idea of breed but probably not the sire; I’d been saying to my mum ‘I bet we’ll get a mule’!”
And the name suggested itself, Lisa said, adding: “David Bowie is one of my all-time favourites. We had no idea what to call her then I saw on Facebook that it was his birthday, so she had to be Ziggy Stardust!
“We’d been worried, with these temperatures but it couldn’t have turned out better. She came out like a wooly mammoth and Dolly’s the best mum; a real pro. A better mummy you wouldn’t find.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
