12/01/2026
The foal we didn’t know we were having …
So our much treasured riding pony mare, Manorvale Diamond Diva, 21, has been battling Cushings disease for a couple of years now.
We have thrown everything we can at the problem and she has told us that she is still comfy enough and enjoying her life.
Last season we sent her to Rhyl stud to be bred to Rhyl Palace Music, hoping that raising a foal might help regulate her Cushings.
She didn’t take on her first cycle and veterinary advice was that given her age and prevalence of uterine cycsts, she was highly unlikely to conceive.
We gave her one more covering and then brought her home.
While I was away at the Sydney easter show, Dixie suffered a severe flare up of her cushings and acute laminitis.
She was spending a lot of time lying down but still eating and drinking well.
She hadn’t yet been preg tested, but under the circumstances, was deemed unlikely to have gone in foal.
Vets recommended that she be PTS.
We were devastated but accepted the advice.
I wanted to bury her at home.
Given the drought-hardened ground, we had to wait 2 weeks for a more powerful excavator to arrive to dig her burial site.
In the meantime we treated her with every pain relieving medication available - from bute to gabapentin and crushed panadol - and obtained some fancy Cloud boots.
Lo and behold Dixie decided she was not done for just yet!
She rallied and made a remarkable return to paddock soundness.
With a special strict diet, Cushings medication, Cloud boots by day and deep bedding stable at night, she enjoyed a happy winter and spring.
She actually had quite a glow in her coat but didnt otherwise look even remotely pregnant.
Even so i was obsessively checking her udder, just in case.
It remained as empty as an old rubber glove.
When i gave her a late night net of soaked hay on December 5th, I once looked at her teats and thought nah, no chance.
At 9am on December 6th I got a frantic call from the backpacker who doing the morning feed run, saying “there’s something wrong with Dixie. Come quick.”
The “something” turned out to be a red bag foaling. 😱
Auto pilot trumped my shock and I quickly ripped open the placenta and delivered foal.
To my amazement he was alive.
He then procceded to collapse and die in front of us.
Two rounds of mouth to mouth brought him back from the shadows.
A further complication was that after months being treated with pergolide, Dixie was not producing milk.
I realised this problem was a catastrophe beyond my skill set!
Within minutes we loaded Dixie onto the float and bundled her foal and a still shell-shocked backpacker into the back seat of the Amarok and took off to the amazing neonatal care facility at Asscher Park, in Violet Town.
I cannot recommend Suzanne Royal highly enough.
The level of care she gave to Dixie and her baby was incredible.
After a few weeks with Suzanne here is the outcome - a gorgeous, healthy and well-adjusted c**t we have dubbed red bag Robbie. 😂
Despite being here on veritable borrowed time, Dixie is loving being a doting mum to her bonus baby, we are equally besotted and the backpacker has nearly recovered from the trauma of it all! 😍
