Charm had her five month sonogram on September
28th by Dr. Bob Smith. All looks normal – heartbeat, backbone, and
clearly only one baby in there. I hope Dr. Smith isn’t following this blog, but
considering what he has to do to complete a trans-rectal sonogram on a horse, I
don’t think he charges enough. I may have to deal with a lot of horseshit in my
profession, but it is the theoretical kind, and when I say my hands are full of
it, I don’t mean it literally. Anyway, according to my internet research, the
foal at five months is between 6-11 lbs and 8-14 inches long – roughly the size
of a human baby. Jordan was 7 lbs 10 oz. and 19 inches at birth. (See the below
attached chart – pretty cool stuff.)
Size of
Fetus
(unborn
foal)
Period
of
Gestation
|
Weight
of
Fetus
|
Fetal Length
|
Other
|
1 month
|
¾ inch
|
Vesicle 1”
diameter
| |
2 months
|
1/6 oz
|
2-3 inches
|
Vesicle football
sized
|
3 months
|
2-4 oz
|
3-6 inches
|
Vesicle basketball
size
|
4 months
|
2-3 lbs
|
5-9 inches
|
Hair on
lips
|
5 months
|
6-11 lbs
|
8-14 inches
|
Hair on
eyelids
|
6 months
|
7-15 lbs
|
14-24 inches
|
Hair on
nostrils
|
7 months
|
9-17 lbs
|
14-28 inches
|
Hair on
tail
|
8 months
|
9-33 lbs
|
20-32 inches
|
Hair on
mane, back, ears
|
9 months
|
37-44 lbs
|
24-36 inches
|
Thin
hair
throughout
body
|
10 months
|
55-99 lbs
|
28-52 inches
|
Mane
and tail
developed
|
11 months
|
66-132 lbs
|
30-58 inches
|
Normal
hair
coat
|
To celebrate the great pregnancy check-up (not really), Drew
and I went off to Freeport, Bahamas, for a few days, where I unashamedly cheated
on Charm by riding a gorgeous buckskin mare, Fiji, in the ocean. Fiji is the
one on the bottom (looks like I have to recommit myself to my diet). She was
great, although she did share Charm’s penchant for trailride eating. If you
find yourself on Grand Bahamas, make sure to visit Linda and Chris at Pinetree
Stables for a really fabulous riding experience.Finally, congratulations to third-time-grandma, Mona Fisher, and the entire family, on the birth of Aria Gem on 10/7. I don’t have Aria’s birth weight, but safe to say she’s about the size of a five month old foal-in-utero!
-AB
