Does she look in foal?

We have a new mare that doesn't like her milk bar area touched. She will swish her tail, strike at her belly, and sway back and forth.

The first time I tried to clip her belly, she kept trying to kick the clippers. Tried again about two weeks later and she held still for the most part. Had to go slow. Still hates having a booby check every morning.

Well after complaining that she was being cranky she was back to her usual self last night. I even got to push at her belly a bit and the foal gave me a twitch ( I call it a fish out of water flop when they do that) so I know he's still doing OK in there. She had a really good night, I didn't even see a tail swish, and is still in a great mood today. Her udder has gone backwards a bit but that's normal. I'm going to try to post her pictures again in order so no one has to go back and forth to compare them. I'm hoping you can see something going on that I don't, she is taking her own sweet time. 349 days today going by the breed date I was given. I keep thinking she's going to make some big changes quickly or this baby is going to be REALLY overdue. I understand wanting to do things your way but PLEASE!!

Jan 24



Feb 13

Trying this again...

Feb 13



Feb 20



Mar 1



Mar 5



Mar 10 night



Mar 11

Is this her first foal?

Some maidens can go longer. I had two first timers go 354 and 355 days. Alao have heard of some going as long as 365 days with no problems.

I almost got it right. Ignore the second side shot at the end. Here's her from behind that should have been there.

Hi MMM

She's a rescue and I have no history on her. I'm guessing not her first foal, her teats were longer than my full size mares when I got her in the summer but that's all I'm going on so ??????

From the milk bar picture she still needs to fill more. The nipples will point straight down. Her vulva still needs to elongate and relax. She is still trying to get the baby perfect, so no worries.

Taz I t hought about that last night...that sometimes a person just cannot clip a mares belly at all for one reason or another. I realized that I made it sound like it had to be done, sorry. It is easier, since it gets all the hair out of the way, but currying well will also take care of a lot of the extra hair. You are doing good! I hope she has it soon for you.

Thanks Debby, currying for all I'm worth and I'll be keeping a close eye on the munchkin to catch any issues from it early. No worries

If you look at the pics you have taken from behind, you can see the foal is still riding sideways. She will roll and roll and roll as she gets closer, until the foal is lined into position.

Your doing a great job.

It's a boy!!!!! Black I think.

She had him at 5 this morning. About 1/2 hour of stage 1 labour and as I was going out to watch from the tack room (100ft from the house) and wait for her to start pushing she lay down, had one contraction and he popped out. Wasn't expecting it to be that fast, wow. She didn't look ready last night. Not much bag, no v, no elongating. Her milk wasn't in but pumped some colostrum and gave it to him. Ran to the local repro vet for milk replacer and domparidone at 9, by the time I got back she had skim milk and he was latching on. I pumped some when I got back and got that into him to be safe but have't given him any replacer. He's getting small amounts but nursing every 10-15min and then standing to sleep. He either hasn't figured out to lie down or doesn't want to, oh, just lay down! Yay!! Well, for a couple seconds then back up, I guess he'll get there?

Anyway, his energy looks OK but I'm thinking of giving him a big top up of replacer before going to bed if it doesn't look like she's stuffing him full. That will give him over 12 hours of colostrum since the replacer stops them from being able to absorb it, or so the vet told me.Yes? No? Any suggestions from the pros would be appreciated. Other than that they both look great, she's a wonderful mom and is happy to let me in and do with the foal.

he' adorable sooo cute usually grays are born black and blacks are born gray ????? ??? glad they are doing fine, best of luck oh, does he have a name?

Congrats!!!!!!!!!! Not sure about the milk replacer affecting colostrum absorbsion. Personally, I would focus on him getting as much colostrum as possible for his first 24 hrs.

There is a simple test your vet can give after that to make sure he has enough antibodies. Talk to him about that.

No name yet, nothing seems to fit. Suggestions are welcome though.

Vet coming tomorrow for a blood test to check antibodies. She can also give him plasma if it's needed.

We were told by our vet last year that the milk replacer would cause the foal not to absorb the colostrum.

I would keep an eye on him. As long as he is not getting weak (not getting up or not trying to nurse), I would wait for the vet.

At first, the babies will only nurse for short periods. Also may be trying to figure out laying down. I have seen our babies lay down and then get up right away.

In a couple days he will figure it out. I had a foal figure out how to nurse from mom when she was laying down within 24 hours. She just laid there, didn't care.

That's what he's doing. Lies down then jumps right back up. He's nursing a lot now but will drop his head and sleep 'in position' then wake up and either go back to it or have a canter around mom a time or two then go back to it. I'm thinking some of the nursing is because he's not really sleeping. He's stronger than he was this morning. I think a good flat out sleep and he'd turn into a monster.

Congratulations!! He is precious! I Love to hear "he/she popped out" too bad we don't know that beforehand lol ...would save a lot of sleepess nights. He is pretty but so is his mom. Good luck with him. Let us know what the vet says.

CONGRATULATIONS!! Hard to say in the light of the barn, but he looks to be a silver dapple maybe?? I would not interfere with the milk replacer unless it is very much needed, which it doesn't sound like it is. The best milk for him is from his dam, and especially for colostrum sake.

I've named him Oliver. He's doing much better today although last night wasn't fun. By 7 he was starting to not look as good so I had to give him some milk replacer, it picked him up really fast. Izzy had to have more banamine around 9 and wasn't wanting him touching her until it kicked in so I watched them on camera for a few hours to make sure they were doing OK. He had a big nurse then wandered around looking a little dazed, trying to sleep standing up but falling over instead, roling a lot, and then went back for more food so I stopped worrying he was colicy and kept watching until he finally fell down and stayed there sleeping for 45 min. That was only the second time he had slept laying down. Got a bit of sleep after that but 40 min later he was walking into walls and not being able to find mom well, almost no nursing but energy looked OK. So I mixed up some formula and went out to feed him. Well, as soon as I turned the lights on her pirked right up, cantered around the stall a couple times, went straight to mom and had a good feed. He can't see when the barn lights are out, I never wold have thought about that. I left a flashligh on and he was great for the rest of the night and I got a bit of sleep.

Vet came this afternoon. She thinks he might be very very mild dwarf because of his size(10-12lbs), femurs are short and his eyes are bulgy. She's not concerned about that and thinks he will either grow out of it mostly or not have any real problems. His bite is fine and his hearts good. His eyelids turn in so he's getting cream in then 3-4 times a day and hopefully he will grow out of it so we don't have to do surgery but her clinic is 30min away so that's at least easy. His IGg came in at 400 or slightly above so I'm watching carefully for a month but again she said they normally don't have a problem, here's hoping.

I will try to get a couple better pictures of him so everyone can see how cute he is. He's the most wonderful grey colour, too bad he wont stay like that. Super sweet little guy, going to be spoiled rotten so it's a good thing Izzy is willing to tell him no, I don't think I'll be able to for a while.

Congratualtions Taz, He was certainly worth the wait.