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Re: [RC] [RC] Overdue Mare - Karen Sullivan

Here was my recent, one and only experience with a bred mare, take with grain of salt.
 
The mare was accidentally bred when I bought her  in July, so no idea of due date. My vet was pretty sure that she would not foal before Feb., as he guessed she took in March, given when they go into heat.  He did two palpations this past fall, and again, could not really pinpoint it.  Vet does not have ultrasound equipment.
 
Said to start preparing for foaling after the first of the year, but would most likely be Feb,  I never saw or felt the foal move, and up until last week of December I was dealing with recurring pigeon fever abcesses in her udder....a nightmare.
 
Two days before our worst storm, January 4th, I strong armed my son and husband to move some really heavy pipe panels to divide off a huge run in shed behind the barn, into a big stall and paddock, so she could be separated from the other horses, and have bigger than a regular stall.  .  I got mats down, and still had to pad around some concete piers, and then bed really well when she started showing some signs of impending birth.  I was looking for signs like dropping back, looseness of tail head, waxing up or dripping milk.  My hope was for dry weather so I could bed down her favorite napping spot out in a huge paddock, I figured this would be safest place to actually have the foal, and was not muddy at all at that time.  The pipe panel overhang and stall was going to be my back up if it was raining.
 
That night I checked on all horses at 11:00 and refilled her hay feeder.
 
Next morning the rain was starting; I got out to the barn at 8:00 a.m. since I had topped off all feeders the nigth before.  Al the horses whinnied at me, and there was a NEW WHINNY!!! To my horror, a foal was lying on the bare mats, hours old....but scrambled up right away.....seemed okay.
 
I felt totally awful the mats had not been bedded, but at least he was not dropped in the rain and mud.  Pretty stressful couple of days, this was maiden mare, she had one huge, swollen nipple from the pigeon fever, and he didn't seem like he was latching on early that morning. ......I had to rebed a warmer stall, make her a warm mash and run out and get a heat lamp as the baby was shivering and it was COLD, and he had manure stuck to him with amniotic fluid, a friend ran around and got goat colustrum just in case the mare didn't have any milk (we couldn't get any milk out)...panic, panic....I did get navel dipped right away.....and it actually took a couple of days, and a good friends help to get all the mud and manure balls picked off his coat so he could fluff his coat..By the time I got back with the heat lamp he was nursing and the milk letting down, big relief!!!  ..we then went into several day REALLY bad storm....so they didn't get to move around as much as I would have liked....but the birth was apparently uneventful, she delivered whole placenta....baby is healthy and strong.....nature generally does figure this out.......but again, no signs of impending birth, nipples were hard, no milk, no waxing.
 
Good luck!
Karen

 
On 2/4/08, Jan Flaningan <jan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Any suggestions would be welcome on an overdue mare. She was bred February
12th, 2007 and was due January 25th. She is acting ok, but I don't feel the
foal move. She has a hard udder and no milk in her nipples. I bred her and
she was two weeks late but I felt movement in her mother. When does one
start worrying and call a vet? This is an Arabian mare, first foal, bred to
an Arabian and she is 10 years old.

Thanks for any advice from the RC'ers.
Jan


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Replies
[RC] Marwari Horse Genetics, Linda Marins
[RC] Overdue Mare, Jan Flaningan