Double Take: Twin Thoroughbred Fillies Defying the Odds

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On March 10, Lori Hendrickson experienced the surprise of a lifetime at her family's Meadowbrook Farm in Shelbyville, Kentucky, when her client's mare, Kona Kai, delivered a surprise set of twin fillies by Oscar Performance.

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00:00On March 10th, Lori Hendrickson received the surprise of a lifetime at her family's

00:08farm in Shelbyville, Kentucky, when her client's mare, Kona Kai, delivered a

00:12surprise set of twin fillies by Oscar Performance. After a week spent at Root &

00:17Riddle, the mare and her foals, owned by Debbie and Howard Appel of Surfside

00:21Stables, have returned home and connections say they are thriving.

00:26The bae, who's a tad bit smaller, that's Mary-Kate, and from the gecko, she was the

00:33boss, really. Came out really strong, even though she was smaller, she came out really

00:39strong. Those personalities haven't changed. Ashley is much more social, but yet if you

00:44hold on to her and you let her go, she's the first one to try to kick you.

00:48So Kona Kai, one day we were walking her out and one of my guys said, she's really

00:53big this year. And I said, well, she's had her first baby, this one will be bigger.

00:57And never really thought much, obviously would never think about the fact that she

01:01could be carrying twins. It was 2.30 in the afternoon. I was driving back in, talking

01:07to Debbie on the phone about her horses that were at the track, asking her how they were

01:11doing. And I drive up the hill and they're in the paddock over here to my left. And she

01:16was in the way back and she was laying down. So we get her almost to the barn. Her water

01:21breaks. We have to make her go into the stall. And she just kind of turns like a half turn

01:27and start pushing. I had a guy on my, on one side of her and I was on the other. We caught

01:32the baby and laid it down slowly. And then two steps forward, she lays down. I thought

01:39something was really wrong with Kona at that time. And we heard her push and I just whipped

01:43my head around and my guy ran back behind her and he said, there's another baby. What do

01:49you do now? I mean, you just have to make, I wouldn't say a bad situation, but you got

01:54to make something, you know, hopefully positive out of it. And I hooked up the van and took

01:59them to Runerola right away. When we drove up, I remember looking out and there's people

02:05standing in like all the different buildings and they're all watching. So that was kind

02:09of neat. I was kind of proud of them, you know, walking in. It's just, I was so nervous

02:14that they would be okay. Anything can happen with foals, especially in this situation.

02:20They were always nursing, but they did have to give them a feeding tube to make sure they

02:24were getting enough colostrum in the beginning. They got plasma, obviously. And now the chestnut,

02:31Ashley is, well, about five days ago when we weighed them last, she was 102 and Mary Kate

02:38was 98. As long as they keep gaining, you know, a couple pounds a day, I think, I think we'll

02:42be okay. It is stressful, but once they're born and you get past all that, it's, it's

02:48pretty entertaining. Who would have thought we're going to have twins and of all things

02:52by Oscar performance, it could not have been a better stallion for this.

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