Performing mouth to mouth on a horse is an odd feeling.
Chances are you’ve never done it. Most people, including the most experienced of horsemen, haven’t.
But Jackie Congdon has.
On a now-memorable night in September 2020, the long-time employee of Swettenham Stud’s foaling unit literally breathed life into a dying filly foal.
Congdon noticed something odd about prized mare Manhattan Maid, who wasn’t due to drop her Puissance de Lune foal for several weeks and hadn’t yet started to show any signs of producing milk.
It turned out that the mare, who produced Group 2 winner and G1-placed filly Moonlight Maid, was having a dreaded ‘red bag’ foaling and was quickly rushed to the farm’s foaling yards.
In a ‘red bag’ delivery, the placenta separates from the mare prior to foaling, limiting or restricting oxygen to the foal.
How long the filly went without oxygen isn’t clear, but the signs when she was wrenched out of her mother weren’t good.
With few other options, Congdon began resuscitating the sickly chestnut filly, who was barely clinging to life.
As she cradled her tiny head, waiting for further veterinary intervention, she willed the little horse to live.
Swettenham Stud Principal Adam Sangster recounted Congdon’s heroics to Racing.com.
“The mare wasn’t due to foal, she wasn’t producing any milk or waxing up, so she was actually still in the paddock,” Sangster said.
“Jackie went checking the mares out in the paddocks as she does two or three times a day and she noticed that the mare was looking like she was about to foal.
“She saw the bag and it was a red bag foaling, so whether the mare was trying to abort the foal or whether it was just natural (we don’t know), but it was a very strange circumstance.
“Jackie quickly led her to the foaling paddock and phoned up Jason, our assistant manager at the farm, who came out with some oxygen.
“It was an incredibly hard foaling and they basically had to pull the foal out.
“The foal came out and she wasn’t breathing at all, so Jackie started to give her mouth to mouth.
“The foal exhaled but wouldn’t inhale, so Jackie kept trying mouth to mouth.
“The foal started to become a bit more alert, but it looked like it had been deprived oxygen to the brain for a period of time.
“Jackie stayed there and nursed the foal’s head for two hours while they got her completely out of the mare.”
Jackie’s Maid as a foal (Image: Swettenham Stud)
While Manhattan Maid emerged from the foaling in good health, the same could not be said of the filly.
She remained in intensive care for several weeks as vets battled side effects of the horror birth and attempted to pair her back with her mother.
But with persistence, came results. Despite the initial challenges, the foal showed consistent improvement and by the time she was weaned, she was completely healthy.
At Echuca on Sunday, the filly had her first start and duly saluted in head-turning fashion for Ballarat-based trainer Mitch Freedman and jockey Jarrod Fry.
Her name is Jackie’s Maid and she might be well above average.
For some, she’s already a star.
Sangster explained that owners John Sutcliffe, Gerry Ryan and Tony Merrifield chose to honour Congdon’s commitment and love of the horse in those early hours.
“It took quite a bit out of the mare herself, so things were looking bad for both of them, but luckily Manhatten Maid survived, which was great, but the foal was in dire straits,” he said.
“Jackie and the team nurtured her all night and into the morning before Tony Merrifield (from Limerick Lane) picked her up and took her up to the emergency unit at the veterinary practice.
“It was touch and go for about two weeks.
“The mare still wasn’t producing milk and she actually refused the foal because she was so sick.
“The foal was a dummy foal, but she made a remarkable recovery, the mare eventually accepted her life was pretty normal for them after that.
“It’s a remarkable story and one that involved some incredible horsemanship from the team, most notably Jackie.
“John was so enamoured by and so taken with what Jackie did that he named the horse after her.”
