4 Mares due April - May

Eagle said:

Do not use KY gel but vaseline oil and just go very carefully and slowly. Hopefully you won't need to go in. Of all my girls I only have one that needs help. I give Benamine to help with pain relief after they have passed the placenta.

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why not KY? I have vaseline gel, not oil, do they make an oil?

There is something in KY gel that should not be used during contractions, I can't remember very well what it is I just remember that it can't be used. I have a big bottle of Vaseline oil that I bought here in Italy, you will have to check if you can get it theere but I don't think it will be hard to find.

Thanks for sharing pics of your horses, they are real cuties

What a beautiful herd of horses you have and I am so excited for you. I too have just joined in here after a horrible foaling mini year last year (my first with minis). You can read our story on page 2 here "New To This Forum- Expecting 5 Foals" as well as the foaling thread we began "Gracie's Mini Mommas-To-Be". I use a wireless card so my girls can not be on Marestare either

I have a fantastic foaling kit that I just bought this year after having just the basics for many, many years. You can use a Sterile Lube that comes in a small tube or you get the gallon jug of lube (I have both). Both are for OB use. I plan to check foal positions after the water breaks as I figure that will buy me time to get the vet called if I feel something not quite right. I have a great vet minutes down the road from me, but she is not always the easiest to get a hold of. I have two other vets ranging from 30-45 minutes away. We also built a hoist this year to be prepared. Luckily I can give IV shots, but only have Banamine & Ace on hand. You pose a good question though on what kind of sedative to use, and I have not talked to my vet about a sedative, but think I will call her tomorrow. I want to be prepared and even over prepared this year.

I wish you the best of luck and can not what to see your babies!

That's a really nice herd of little ones that you have there.

We get a bottle of lube stuff directly from our vet - same stuff that they use. We also use banamine for pain relief after foaling, but wouldn't use any sort of sedation unless the vet was already in attendance. But dont forget the Ivermectin wormer for your mares within 12 hours of foaling.

Sandy B said:

What a beautiful herd of horses you have and I am so excited for you. I too have just joined in here after a horrible foaling mini year last year (my first with minis). You can read our story on page 2 here "New To This Forum- Expecting 5 Foals" as well as the foaling thread we began "Gracie's Mini Mommas-To-Be". I use a wireless card so my girls can not be on Marestare either

I have a fantastic foaling kit that I just bought this year after having just the basics for many, many years. You can use a Sterile Lube that comes in a small tube or you get the gallon jug of lube (I have both). Both are for OB use. I plan to check foal positions after the water breaks as I figure that will buy me time to get the vet called if I feel something not quite right. I have a great vet minutes down the road from me, but she is not always the easiest to get a hold of. I have two other vets ranging from 30-45 minutes away. We also built a hoist this year to be prepared. Luckily I can give IV shots, but only have Banamine & Ace on hand. You pose a good question though on what kind of sedative to use, and I have not talked to my vet about a sedative, but think I will call her tomorrow. I want to be prepared and even over prepared this year.

I wish you the best of luck and can not what to see your babies!

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Hi Sandy, I did read your prior posts and I am so, so sorry for what you had to deal with last year and I can't wait to see the beautiful babies you will have this year! My vet is an hour away so I am also planning on checking as soon as the water breaks to get as much chance of fixing a problem as I can. My vet comes out on the 9th so I will get lube from him but I hope my mares know we are waiting lol. I do have to ask, how did youbuild a hoise?

Castle Rock Miniatures said:

Your stallion certainly is showing his Egyptian King heritage. He is just beautiful. What a wonderful cross on your girls. These babies should have that "elegance" that EK brings to the mix!

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Your ladies seem to have nice foaling hips -- and daddy is nicely refined, so I wouldn't expect any problems with these crosses for your ladies. I also purchase my lub from my vet by the gallon and just keep it on hand.

Thank you for showing all the wonderful pictures of your herd. They are quite beautiful. It will be interesting to see if daddy throws his dun gene!! Can't wait to see these babies!

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Thank you so much, I am very excited to see what he throws seeing as he has a cream gene, a silver gene and the dun characteristics. Crossing him with the red & bay pintos and a palomino (who also has a silver gene) is going to be interesting to say the least. Maybe I will get a perlino or a cremello with a dun stripe. Is that a color?? lol, the options are endless..............

griggsmel said:

Hi Sandy, I did read your prior posts and I am so, so sorry for what you had to deal with last year and I can't wait to see the beautiful babies you will have this year! My vet is an hour away so I am also planning on checking as soon as the water breaks to get as much chance of fixing a problem as I can. My vet comes out on the 9th so I will get lube from him but I hope my mares know we are waiting lol. I do have to ask, how did youbuild a hoise?

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It is a very simple hoist. We used a steel box purlin and laid it across the existing roof trusses in one of the stalls and bolted it down. Then my hubby added a large rope with a hook to the middle of it, along with a pulley clamp. That way if the mare needed to be hoisted, we use a softer cotton rope around her hind legs and hitch it to the hook and pull her up. Of course the vet would be here for this part and the mare would be heavily sedated. But at least it would be ready to go as soon as the vet got here.

Gorgeous herd you have there! Your stallion is just stunning! I also love all the mares! Can't wait to see the foals!!

Last night was such a sleepless night, all three girls kept laying down and acting strange. What does everyone else do when you have more than one foal due? I have cameras but I can only see one stall at a time so I have to keep switching them with my remote. And no matter how I place them, all three mares figure out the one spot I can't see them in and camp out there!

Is it possible to set up your cams so they rotate? You can always put a bale of hay or straw in the "hiding" corner so they can't get there.

If only we could help you watch

We have a hay rack and feeder in Stormy's stall so she cant "hide" as easy from us

We invested in the Equipage system this year! I suggest that for you. It really does give you a better peace of mind. The system comes with one halter alarm and the special is get the second halter alarm free and then I bought a third one just in case. I am keeping my two mares together right now until one is imminent to foal. Then I will move the other in to the adjoining paddock where they can still see one another and then plan to bring the next one due in and stall with the one who has yet to deliver and have a sort of assembly line I have two stalls equipped with cameras. I like to watch my mare's and newborn foals for at least 5 nights if I can since neonatal problems can happen so quickly. I have a older third camera we can install if needed.

I wish you all could help me watch, too! Not only do I stay up all night mostly, but I run/own a decent size boarding facility and have to work too! I almost fell asleep mowing today . I am going to do the straw thing right now, great idea. As for rotating pics, i wish. I wish they could all be on one screen!

Sandy B said:

We invested in the Equipage system this year! I suggest that for you. It really does give you a better peace of mind. The system comes with one halter alarm and the special is get the second halter alarm free and then I bought a third one just in case. I am keeping my two mares together right now until one is imminent to foal. Then I will move the other in to the adjoining paddock where they can still see one another and then plan to bring the next one due in and stall with the one who has yet to deliver and have a sort of assembly line

I have two stalls equipped with cameras. I like to watch my mare's and newborn foals for at least 5 nights if I can since neonatal problems can happen so quickly. I have a older third camera we can install if needed.

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If my mares didn't lie down so darn much the foaling halters would be nice, but they all lay down a lot! Sounds like you have a great set up. I have 3 foaling stalls that are 24 x 12, with cameras. I sleep behind my barn in an rv and watch the cameras all night. They all get turned out in private paddocks during the day.

wow what a great setup you have! only thing you need is the cameras on marestare for us to watch!! next year ok? lol

I really hope all goes well for you! you must be exhausted!!

OMG I cannot believe that as soon as I sent my post Heidi went down and I knew this was it! It was picture perfect and we have a healthy little filly, and it wasn't twins! Yay! I can't add pictures from my phone so will post some tomorrow. Back to foal watch, lol

OMG I am so happy for you hurry up with the pics

Congratulations and Welcome to the world little girl

Congrats!!

Wow, what a night! For some reason when I hit the button to send my post last night I thought to myself that it would be funny if we went ahead and just had it, and we did!! I saw Heidi laying in the middle of the stall on the camera, and she never lays there, she always had her favorite corner, so I knew something was up. By the time I got to the barn she was already up, though. So I decided to just sit in the stall with her for a little while because she is such a nervous horse and I like to do that with her so she is used to having me all around her. Well within about 2 minutes she laid back down again. No pain, no rolling, just quietly laying down. Then she got up and I figured I may as well check her udders for a drop of milk to test even though a couple hours earlier I couldn't get anything out to test. Same as the last 5 weeks, lol. Well I was shocked to see all kinds of colostrum coming out. Just to confirm everything and to see exactly how fast this was going to happen, I tested her with the pool strips. Well the ph was 6.2, so I knew it was going to be fast. I was so glad I noticed her when I did because that was the only sign she gave me. It was an easily missed birth so quick and so fast. So...I ran back to the stall, texted my daughter and started cleaning it up and putting down the straw. It was a fast pace birth I will tell you that! As soon as the straw went down so did Heidi and she started pushing. I was worried for a red bag, but water broke (on me of course) as I was checking and cleaning her and hurrying to wrap her tail. Then we saw the white sac. My daughter, Vanessa, gloved and lubed up and went in to confirm position and all was good. Of course, Vanessa, who's never done that before, was going on and on about how gross it was. She loved it, I could tell. There couldn't have been more than 10 minutes from push to standing for Heidi. Placenta came out with legs and all so we had to break that. It was so much harder to tear than my large horses! Baby was walking within 30 minutes of birth and nursing within 90 minutes. All seems well this morning. Sorry such a long story and rambling, I'm just excited Anyone want to venture an opinion on color???

Congrats!!! I have no idea what color that is.. others will be ale to help you there though.