The Foals Are Coming…Watch For Fairy Fingers!
An Uplifting Story On The Glory of Mother Nature!
I couldn’t believe my eyes!
I recently saw an article featuring this picture of the bottom of a new born foal’s hooves, and I was stunned! Now, I’m not a breeder, so I haven’t had the privilege of being present during the birth of a new baby horse…except once. It was quite a few years ago. Early one morning I sauntered into the boarding barn where Denver was residing at the time. There was no one else around. It was relatively quiet, except for a little snorting and blowing, which is to be expected.
However, as I passed by one mare’s stall, I heard an unfamiliar sound…a sort of grunting. Yes! The long awaited event was in progress. The miracle of birth! Yikes!
My brain immediately raced with everything that could possibly go wrong! I shifted into panic mode, and heard the echo of words famously whined by the incomparable Butterfly McQueen … “I don’t know how to birth no baby, Miss Scarlett!” I spotted the farm hand riding his tractor far in the field, and sent out an S.O.S He made haste got there in just in time to see the final push. She managed quite nicely, without any help from us.
If only I’d known what to look for…
Maybe I would have seen the phenomenon of the Golden Slippers or Fairy Fingers as they are sometimes called. Actually they are eponychium, the soft capsule that protects the mother’s uterus and birth canal from the sharp edges of the foal’s hooves during pregnancy and birth.
When horses are born, their hooves are covered in a rubbery layer called a deciduous hoof capsule. This capsule covers the sharp edges of the foal’s untried hooves, protecting both the foal and its mother from injury during birth.
Predators are attracted to the smell of the placenta, so it’s necessary for the foal and its mother to be able to move away from the birthing spot as quickly as possible (assuming that the birth takes place outside!) The foal needs to have fully formed hooves at birth.
The capsule itself quickly wears down to a level hoof as the baby takes its first steps.
During the foal’s first venture across the ground the soft hoof capsules are worn down, revealing the hooves we’re used to seeing.
Trust Mother Nature to do it right!
Let me know if you’ve been fortunate enough to see the “Fairy Fingers” before they disappeared?
