Foaling

[Nickysminis]

Hi

I have 2 unplanned babies due any time now, so i have been reading up on foaling etc, i have read that mares can hold off foaling if they get disturbed, but i was just wondering how long they can hold off for, is it hours or days?

Thanks

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Weeks They can prevent themselves from foaling if they are in a very disruptive barn or they feel unsafe. But usually if you have a nice quiet barn they'll foal in the early hours of the morning. Once they get into second stage labor they're committed, and can't stop.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Foals choose the day, mares choose the hour.

Dr Taylor

 

[nnadams]

Foals choose the day, mares choose the hour.

Dr Taylor

Wow! Is this really true?

I have a mare that I posted about last week who's pH had been dropped to 6.2-6.4 and calcium level close to 1000 for 2 weeks. Then her very full bag got very hard and swollen and started leaking white milk for 2 days. At the beginning of all this, she was acting very uncomfortable doing alot of getting up and down and I just knew she was ready to go. Then she stood and would not lay down for over 24 hours and I again just knew she was about to go. Well, then all that passed and she started acting very normal again and I am STILL waiting on her. She seems very comfortable and content with her situation of being in the barn with the other mares at night, but I have not locked her in a stall. I leave the stall door open so she can walk around and have her choice of foaling in a stall or the 60' x 40' dry lot in front of the barn. It has been over a week now and she acts no more closer to foaling this morning and last night her pH was testing quite high.

Is the foal just not ready, or is it her? Should I try actually confining her to her stall at night from now on? Could that be it? She's been acting like queen of the barn, roaming where she wants, so I thought she like the set-up!

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Wow! Is this really true?

I have a mare that I posted about last week who's pH had been dropped to 6.2-6.4 and calcium level close to 1000 for 2 weeks. Then her very full bag got very hard and swollen and started leaking white milk for 2 days. At the beginning of all this, she was acting very uncomfortable doing alot of getting up and down and I just knew she was ready to go. Then she stood and would not lay down for over 24 hours and I again just knew she was about to go. Well, then all that passed and she started acting very normal again and I am STILL waiting on her. She seems very comfortable and content with her situation of being in the barn with the other mares at night, but I have not locked her in a stall. I leave the stall door open so she can walk around and have her choice of foaling in a stall or the 60' x 40' dry lot in front of the barn. It has been over a week now and she acts no more closer to foaling this morning and last night her pH was testing quite high.

Is the foal just not ready, or is it her? Should I try actually confining her to her stall at night from now on? Could that be it? She's been acting like queen of the barn, roaming where she wants, so I thought she like the set-up!

Wow! Is this really true? What? I'm seldom wrong and never in doubt.

 

Yes, birth occurs when the fetus completes the development of the pituitary-adrenal axis. In horses that window is short, about 24 hours, in other species it is a bigger window.

 

I don't know what's up with your mare, remember each is an individual.

 

As for all of the tests etc.. to help predict birth, just remember if any worked well then they would use them in humans. In the end all are just a guess, some guesses are better than others.

 

Dr Taylor

 

[Nickysminis]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

My girls live out with a run in shelter in a very quiet village location here in the UK, so not much to disturb them. other than me turning up in the middle of the night to keep a check on them, but i was wondering if i am actually putting them off foaling and if this is the case how long can/ will they keep holding off, surely they have to foal eventually?

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

My girls live out with a run in shelter in a very quiet village location here in the UK, so not much to disturb them. other than me turning up in the middle of the night to keep a check on them, but i was wondering if i am actually putting them off foaling and if this is the case how long can/ will they keep holding off, surely they have to foal eventually?

We sold a mare to a friend, they did the "sit in the barn, watch for a few hours, then switch with someone else" routine. Mare was bagged up for two solid weeks. Last Monday it stormed pretty bad down here no one made it out to the barn for a few hours... and the mare foaled then...

Both were OK.

Our mares are on a CCTV camera, so we don't disturb them at all. Normally when they bag up hard they go within two days.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

A mare can hold a foal for more than one day after its ready. I've had mares that have been very sensitive and were clearly seen in stage 1 labor several days in advance of when she finally popped. I've had it last as long as several weeks with very upset mares and disorganized barns.

 

[nnadams]

Wow! Is this really true? What? I'm seldom wrong and never in doubt.

 

Yes, birth occurs when the fetus completes the development of the pituitary-adrenal axis. In horses that window is short, about 24 hours, in other species it is a bigger window.

 

I don't know what's up with your mare, remember each is an individual.

 

As for all of the tests etc.. to help predict birth, just remember if any worked well then they would use them in humans. In the end all are just a guess, some guesses are better than others.

 

Dr Taylor

In humans, a woman sometimes fails to go into labor on her own for whatever reason, and then there is the worry of the placenta losing some of it function and causing harm to the baby so she has to be induced or the baby taken by c-section. Does this ever happen in animals, specifically horses?

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Dogs can and they have a similar placental type as humans.

Horses don't.

Dr Taylor

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

The human placenta attaches is a small portion of the uterus, whereas the mare placenta fills all available space. That larger area of attachment means that the transfer of oxygen and nutrients has a larger area to take place. In women, that area starts to degrade past 40ish weeks. In the mare I do not believe that anything similar takes place. They only start to have issues of the placenta detaches early (red bag delivery). In a mare, the placenta and cord are still active and efficient with the foal outside her body, for a short time at least. That's why its not recommended to break the cord if they are lying quietly and still.

Edited cuz I stink at speling.