Sometimes I learn cool things while doing research for my novels. Many times, my research findings are too specific/obscure to share, but this one is quite fascinating. The other night after dinner, my husband asked me if I had ever heard of dummy foal syndrome. No, I hadn’t. He hadn’t either and had just found out about it on Reddit. It’s this thing where a baby horse is born too fast or too slow, and it remains asleep after birth. Which is terrible!
He explained to me that foals have this special hormone in their bloodstream while they’re in their mother’s womb that sedates them and keeps them from kicking too much. During the birthing process, this hormone production is switched off, so when the baby is born, it can stand up and move around, and its suckling reflex is activated. Without the off switch, the foal is limp, and when/if it eventually gets up, it remains disoriented, doesn’t want to feed, and dies without help from its human caretakers.
This is a frame from that Reddit video. The foal is limp on the ground, its head hanging as the man tries to lift it. So my first breathless question was: What can they do to save the baby’s life? Turns out that if the baby goes through a careful simulation of the birthing process—a rebirth—that critical hormone production most likely stops—and the foal springs to life. The procedure involves tying ropes around the foal’s chest and pulling on them to simulate the constriction of the birth canal. The pressure must be applied for around 20 minutes, which is the average time of the birthing process in horses. Other ways of waking up the foal could help too, but are not as efficient.
Here’s a scientific article describing this phenomenon: Neonatal Maladjustment Syndrome in Foals. It also happens to sheep, goats, and alpacas.
Once I felt better that there was a way to save the foal’s life, my brain went into Writing Mode, wondering how I could use this cool detail in my new novel.
I’m currently drafting the sequel to The Exiled Queen, and my protagonist is a hardened and cynical 44-year-old man who has given up on life and love. He’s not very likable, which could be a problem for readers picking up the book. But if I show him at the beginning of the story saving a foal’s life (using this rebirthing procedure, because he’s good with horses), then the reader might like him better.
This narrative technique comes from screenwriting and is called “save the cat.” It helps make an unlikable character at least acceptable to the reader when the character does a good deed at the beginning of the story.
Another dramatic thing that happens to my character in the beginning is that his daughter drops his baby grandson in his lap and asks him to take care of the child. He knows nothing about babies, so he’s in trouble. And it makes for a nice juxtaposition that he’s good with baby horses but not with baby humans. Plus, most protagonists experience some kind of rebirth over the length of a novel—so this could also reinforce that transformation theme. Oh, the possibilities!
I’ve outlined the needed scenes, but I haven’t written them yet. They might not end up in the main draft if my story’s needs change later on. In any case, I hope you enjoyed hearing about this amazing phenomenon.
