Pregnant horse being monitored on Internet

Cape Breton Post
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Page: A3
Section: News
Byline: Matthew Daye

Blogs and images from webcams are popping up all over the Internet and a popular one from the Northside is mostly of a horse's rear-end.

Joanne Phillips is usually a private person, but when it comes to her 13-year-old pregnant quarter-horse Sugar Caliber, otherwise known as Kelly, she's showing her off to the world.

Phillips has been using her webcam for the past two weeks to send video to a company in the United States which hosts the video on the site marestare.com.

"I put it on there for peace of mind. When I'm at work I can have people watch my horse."

People from around the world are watching her horse and e-mailing her or posting on the message board, Equestrian East.

"When I go to work, I know there's a lady in Illinois named Marybeth that says 'I've got her till 4 a.m., can somebody take her after that,'" she said. "There's somebody watching her around the clock."

She's got the idea from a friend on the mainland.

"A friend of mine in the valley had done this. It's a contest between me and her. Our horses are due one day apart to the same stud."

The stud is called Salty Hobby Boy and the other pregnant mare is called Twobit. Both are owned by Judy and Kevin Bateman of High Meadow Quarter Horses.

"I'm really cuddly with my horses so I get e-mails like 'I just wanted (you) to know how touched I was by the affection you show her.'

"We have friends we call the poop police. As soon as she poops the phone will ring."

There are other e-mails and messages that are not about the horse.

"You get some e-mails like 'Girl what are you thinking when you put that jacket on? (It doesn't) match your pants.'"

Those criticisms are fairly minor to what she expects in the near future.

"When she births, I'm not going to be in the stall. I want to let her do this naturally. Some people get really upset when you're not in there. If there's trouble, I'll be in there."

Those e-mails should be coming sooner than later based on what she's seen and what the vet has told her.

"She's been having contractions for two days, so we're getting pretty close to having this foal," she said. "Her due date is April 1."

The webcam system might not work for everyone however.

"This is quite expensive to set up. My husband doesn't know that, I didn't tell him. He thinks it was $50. It was almost $300."

That's the initial cost, but she said it will only cost her $20 to host the video each month.

Phillips said this might be valuable for some people to watch.

"I bet you, especially anyone interested in animal science. Kids wanting to go into veterinary medicine

"Parents too. When the kids are bugging them to get a horse they can say 'You watch that lady and see how much work it is, you're not getting horse.'"

The expected foal has been tentatively named Sweet and Salty and will go to her 10-year-old daughter Morgan for barrel jumping. Morgan is the high-point small-fry champion for Cape Breton Western Riders.