My Imaginary Friends

Foaling Season at Fields Quarter Horses comes with many changes in habit. Our sleep patterns become erratic as do our feeding patterns- human and horse alike. Day and night blend together based upon the needs at hand. And our staff becomes a little larger and more broadly based.

For several years now, we have included Kathy and Judy in our fold during foaling season. This fine pair of ladies provide a service which is critical to the health and well-being of the horses. They are the primary camera watchers overnight while we sleep. They selflessly volunteer to sacrifice their daylight hours and lives to become beings of the night, creatures of the shadows, and keep the solitary vigil over the mares who are waiting to deliver foals.

Thanks to the evolution of technology and the marvel of the internet, Kathy in Florida and Judy in California have sat up with our mares for several years now- night after night- honing their watching skills and our singular lifeline to the well-being of the mares here.  Kathy is a storehouse of knowledge when it comes to the personal habits and behaviors of each mare. She and Judy are the usual voices on the other end of my phone line waking me from a deep sleep with a call to action.

When my cell phone rings tugging me back from whatever dreamscape I am exploring, I answer robotically and Kathy begins informing me in a concise and scientific manner of the situation. In less than a minute of hearing her voice, I am usually dressed and sprinting through the crisp night air into the foaling barn. All the while, she gives me up-to-the minute details as well as information regarding the mares labor that may be useful. By the time I reach the barn, the sleep fog has worn off and I am ready to deliver a foal and make harrowing life and death decisions.

I spoke to Kathy on the phone yesterday morning and she was so sleepy she could barely speak. I noted that we were in a bit of role reversal. Sometimes I wake in the morning and try to decipher if I spoke to her at 3:00am or just dreamed it. I've always been one to talk in my sleep so there's really no telling what conversations I may actually be having with Kathy in the middle of the night.  In fact, it would be easy to call her my imaginary friend.

She's disappears in the light of day, no one ever really talks to her except me, and she only comes in the deepest part of my sleep. Or, maybe she's more like a guardian angel- I know that I rest well knowing that Team Chevy has such an experienced night shift on duty!