Founding of Valdemar prequel opens with a graphic horse birth but the horse doesn’t even come out…

Founding of Valdemar prequel opens with a graphic horse birth but the horse doesn’t even come out white and make the protagonist think he just went through all the turmoil of a breech horsebirth just to get a foal that will die in three days. Apparently Mercedes describes herself as a hack, in the equestrian sense of being a workhorse, but she’s so allergic to recognizable story beats I would not…