“How long’s she been in labour for?”
“Four hours. She’s been in stage two for nearly an hour and no foal yet. We had her scanned last week and everything looked fine. It’s not breech.”
She saw his worry and fear. No one liked to have an animal in distress, in some ways it was worse than a person because they couldn’t tell you what was wrong, and they didn’t understand always when you were trying to help.
“Let’s go. Is Scott on his own?”
Jake shook his head. “His dad’s there too. He had the farm before me. He knows what he’s doing, but they both need to go home.”
Jake’s walk was more of a jog, though Lainey kept up without effort. She was fit from riding and the general labour she had to put in, even with a few months where she’d been more based in the city than on a farm.
The stable smelled of sweat and horse, the mare whinnying and her tail swishing, clearly fed up of what was going on.
“How old is she?”
Jake was already in there with the horse, his brother stepping away and wiping his hands on the towel.
“We think about three.” Jake petted the mare’s nose. “She’s called Raine.”
“Nothing’s changed while you’ve been gone, Jake,” Scott said. “I’m going to head back to Keren and Eden. Keren needs sleep and Eden’s really crabby.”
“What’s the matter with your little girl?” Lainey stepped in with Jake, giving Raine space to get the measure of her.
“Chickenpox. I’m pretty sure her spots have got spots. Trust me when I say I’d rather be here, but if I don’t get home soon, Keren will hang me by the balls.” He gave her a nod. “Phone me if you need. I won’t be asleep.” Scott had the look of a man for whom sleep was a rare pleasure.
“Will do. Uncle Iain, are you going with Scott?” Jake looked over at the older man standing nearby.
Iain shook his head. “I’m going to put a pot of coffee on and find some food for you. We don’t need you being as weak as a newborn foal. I’ll give Graeme a call too; let him know where I am.”
“Thanks. This is Lainey, by the way.”
Iain gave her a smile that was the same as Scott’s. “Excuse my nephew’s manners. He was brought up by my brother, which is pretty much the same as being brought up by wolves.”
She spotted Jake almost crack a smile, his attention pretty much still on the horse. Silence shrouded them. They washed their hands, gloving up, not needing to speak. Lainey had been here before, a few times, with a mare in distress. She was all too aware of how easily this could turn and go horribly wrong.
Jake’s phone rang, Iain answering it to save Jake having to glove up again. He put it on loudspeaker, and a woman’s voice came through.
Lainey listened in as Jake spoke to Lizzie, the local vet who seemed to know Raine already. There was advice, and she talked Jake through inserting his hand up the mare’s birth canal, giving him confidence as he described what he was feeling.
Lainey watched as Jake tried to work as gently as possible, switching over with her so he could get a second opinion. The foal needed manoeuvring it seemed, but it wasn’t breech, just awkward. Worry turned to relief, which turned to hope.
Twenty minutes, a half-gallon of sweat and a ton of lube later, and one fore leg appeared, the mare then able to finish off the job herself.
They stood back, Iain having taken himself off, leaving them with coffee and low lighting, the mare’s body contracting as it started to push the foal out, Lainey and Jake helping by pulling on the foal until he was completely out. Lainey rubbed him down, Raine seemingly exhausted until she wasn’t, turning round to nuzzle her new baby, giving him a few gentle licks.
Bandy legs tried standing, Raine guarding closely by. Jake hovered around, helping deal with the afterbirth that the mare was now almost unaware of. A worrying few hours had now turned into the peace that Lainey only found with animals and a select few humans.
The baby started to suckle and the two humans stood back, finding the coffee pot that Iain had left when he checked in one last time.
“She’s going to be fine.” Lainey couldn’t take her eyes away from the foal and his mother. “You did well.”
“Team effort. I really thought it wasn’t going to end so well.” Jake had turned round to look at her. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.” There was more she wanted to say, to explain. Maybe justify that she was here just for the horses and it had nothing to do with him, or his arse. “Are you sleeping here tonight?”
“You know it. I think my uncle dropped off a load of blankets. Won’t be the first time I’ve slept in the hay.” He eyed her in the same manner that she’d seen before, when he was about to come out with something irritating. “Or rolled in it.”
“Stop right there.” She was sitting down against a bale of hay and wasn’t sure she had the energy to move her legs. They felt less stable than the foal’s right now.
