A special record in Berghem. Chantal van den Heuvel’s horse gave birth to a foal seven weeks after she was due. And that is also exceptional for horses. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think this has happened before,” says Chantal.
Normally horses are pregnant for eleven months, about 335 days. Four weeks overdue is not surprising, but Foal Toscane stayed in the belly for seven weeks and two days longer. “My father has been breeding foals for fifty years and had never heard of this. It is really exceptional,” says Berghemse.
“The doctors told me not to worry and to wait.”
Many people who heard Chantal’s story thought it couldn’t be right. They wondered if she had simply miscalculated the due date. But even the vet could confirm it.
“She was inseminated on April 21. That is written in black and white,” says Chantal. “Once that has happened, it can take a maximum of a few days before a horse becomes pregnant.”
When the heavily pregnant Delveux did not give birth, Chantal started to worry. “I regularly called the vet and the horse clinic. Because I was afraid she would be born dead.” But the doctors reassured her. “They told me not to worry and to wait. Nature would do its job and it has proven to be so.”
“Extremely glad that everything ended well.”
As if nothing had happened, the mare and her brand new foal run happily through the meadow. The foal is perfectly healthy. “Tall, with long legs, but not bulky,” says Chantal. And remarkably enough, mother herself had little trouble with the last stretch. “She wasn’t overly fat. And she hadn’t really gained weight in the last two months either,” Chantal concludes. “So it’s extra nice that everything ended well.”