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"And Allah took the South Wind and created the Horse..."




The Twins at Pearl Island

by Jenny Lees

PURE BAHRAINI TWINS born 23 April 2007

Dam: Shuwaimeh Bint Warda

Sire: Krayaan Dilmun

I had been watching my lovely Shuwaimeh mare for several nights, she was ten days over her due foaling date and at the start of every sleepless night all the signs had been that the birth was imminent. On the fifth night without sleep at 3 a.m. (isn't it always!) she began to foal. I sat beside her whilst she gave birth to a large chestnut colt, helped him out of the birth sac and round to the front of Shuwaimeh where she could easily reach him, lick him and begin the bonding process. At this point Shuwaimeh began to push again, I looked over at my daughter in law Amanda and we both thought the same thing, we had not had any experience of it but we had heard how some mares prolapsed and would push out their uterus. Amanda reached for the mobile and called our vet Peter Jinman. At a loss at to what to do in the meantime I held my hand against whatever it was that Shuwaimeh was trying to expel. It was actually the placenta and by chance I felt what seemed to be a small hoof, just at that moment Shuwaimeh gave a big push and out shot a tiny foal about the size of our Labrador. I shouted to Amanda to tell Peter to go back to bed and call round early in the morning to check the twins!!!!!

Shuwaimeh and her boys

Amidst warnings about not to get too excited or too attached as "they rarely live" Amanda and I and the rest of the family set out to make sure our two boys were given every possible opportunity to live. It is now the 11th June and we are yet to have a full nights sleep because the smaller twin nicknamed "Little Harry" has needed supplementary feeding and this means two night feeds of Dodson and Horrell, Equilac to mix. Thankfully the milk powder dissolves easily and doesn't go lumpy because at 2 and 4 a.m. none of us are at our best!

Harry being bottle fed

The larger normal sized foal "Big George" is fine and Shuwaimeh looks after him.

Shuwaimeh and George

Within 24 hours of birth Little Harry had collapsed and dehydrated and was put on a drip. Harry seemed delirious, legs thrashing uncontrollably and eyes rolling unfocused, things looked very bleak. We sat with him round the clock as he lay under his heat lamp, lifting his head and trying to encourage him to bottle feed. He lay flat on his side and we trickled milk down his throat and massaged him several times a day to keep his circulation going. On about the third day after his collapse, when things looked pretty hopeless and we were becoming resigned to losing him, he lifted his head and tried to whinney, by the evening he was sitting up unaided and by the end of the following day he could stand with some support to drink his milk. He made good progress and then caught a cold and a tummy bug and just when we thought we were over the worse he refused to feed one day and that night he got bad colic. Amanda and I grabbed some old duvets and Harry slept between us in the straw with a hot water bottle on his tum! Early next morning Harrys favourite vet Sara called by and gave him a pain relief injection medicine to prevent ulcers and within 24 hours we were back on track.

Harry and Sara his favourite vet

Both foals had blood tests which came back showing they had picked up very little protection from their mothers colostrum so both of them were given Plasma transfusion to increase their resistance to everyday bugs and infections. The boys are now six weeks old and I am beginning to feel confident that barring accidents they will grow into a fine pair of stallions and follow their older brothers Shuwaiman Al Bahrain, Shuwaiman Al Rais and Al Reeh Janoob into a career in the Endurance world. Possibly they will be the only "twin Endurance stallions" in the world!

Twin foals Shuwaiman Al Kebir and Al Saghir

As pure Bahrainis they should inherit the wonderful "laid back" temperament of the Arabian horses of Bahrain which means they can be ridden as stallions without any problems. They have Arab names George is "Shuwaiman Al Kebir" and Harry is "Shuwaiman Al Saghir" which translate into Big Shuwaiman and Small Shuwaiman. Shuwaiman is given to them as it is their family name, they are from the precious "Al Shuwaimeh" family of The Royal Stud of Bahrain. Their sire is Krayaan Dilmun who does not seem impressed with Little Harry !!!

Krayaan meets Harry

Amanda is weighing up Harry's progress as she has selected him as her future endurance mount!!!

Harry Then and Now

The boys are both quite strong now and (Inshallah) God Willing will continue to gain strength throughout the warm summer months. I will update this page with regular news and photos of the twins.



Jenny & Tony Lees, Mill Farm, Preston-on-Wye, Herefordshire, UK, HR2 9JU

Phone: 01981 500225