(Pictures above kind permission of: Trevor Waters, Western Mail). Well what a shock we had here this week at Greenvale Stud. Our tri-coloured mare Madame Sheba, a Thoroughbred cross 9 year old was due to foal on 18th May. She had been carrying really heavily and we had joked several times about her having twins, but felt confident all would be OK as she had been scanned and no twin embryos had been found. Sheba had been waxed up a few days and we knew she was imminent. She went down to foal at around 23:15 on 11th May, and foaling began fairly normally. After about 15 minutes we were absolutely delighted to have a brown & white foal, our first home-bred foal by ALDERFARN VII, our coloured Warmblood stallion. We knew this was a test for his ability to throw coloureds as although Sheba is a coloured mare, last time she was covered by a coloured stallion she produced a chestnut so to have a skewbald was great. This was now his second foal born, and both were coloured! We cleared the foal’s airways and checked the sex, it was a colt. Delighted, we sat and watched waiting for the mare to get up and the foal to struggle to his feet. Sheba however looked very unsettled and started straining again; we assumed she was having a little difficulty with the afterbirth. We went over to see if all was alright and noticed a huge bag, at first glance it looked as if she was beginning to prolapse, fear struck us. We felt the bag trying to find what was happening, after a few minutes and deep within the matter we felt bone, two legs in fact, it was another baby! Our hearts sank, twins, this one was bound to be dead. It was born by 00:15 12th May with little effort. We burst the bag and cleared its nose, watching in desperation hoping all would be ok. Then the head moved, and shook, it was alive! We could not believe it. Driven by adrenaline we did all we could to help, we knew the odds were stacked against us, but Sheba had got them this far so there was hope, there is always hope! We called the Vet just in case there were complications, although both did seem to be healthy. We checked the sex of the second one, it was also a colt. Both colts and both brown & white what a bonus! Sheba passed her afterbirth and got up, she seemed fine despite her ordeal. The first born colt, now called GREENVALE DOUBLE TROUBLE I, got up with a little assistance and we helped him drink to ensure he got his colostrum. The second colt, GREENVALE DOUBLE TROUBLE II, was weaker but had plenty of fight, so we did the same. We administered both with enemas to be safe and watched in amazement. The odds of them surviving pregnancy and then birth were certainly stacked against them. After veterinary examination the vet left thoroughly satisfied that all were fit and healthy. Over the next 12 hours we assisted when we were needed in getting them to their feet and drinking. By the next evening they were both totally independent of our help and had had a run in the school. Mom is superb, she has plenty of milk and stands patiently letting them drink one from each side, she is the most amazing mare you could ever wish for. What a miracle, we are still overwhelmed by it all, for both twins to survive in twin cases is extremely rare and we have certainly never come across coloured twins in all our years with horses. Once again Mother Nature has shown us all just how amazing she really is!