Gracie's Mini Mommas' To Be Page- All done foaling! Five Healthy Foals!!

[Eagle]

Safe foaling Sandy and Gracie

 

[AnnaC]

Praying that all goes well for you!

 

[targetsmom]

Adding prayers that all goes well.....

 

[Sandy B]

Its a Silver Bay (?) pinto colt with two blue eyes! He is absolutely gorgeous but if we had not been on top of things and my vet not close, it would not have gone well. Her only labor signs was that she lay down and got up and lay down again a different direction. I told Gracie to keep watching the camera but that I was going to go out and bed the stall deeper. As I was doing that she got up and had one soft pile of poop and I knew we were on our way to having a baby. I came in and dressed warmer and she went back down again so we got the vet kit and went out and I noticed her water broke (a slow trickle). I then went in to check position and thats when I knew we had a problem as I could only find a solid mass. I quickly found one leg and located an ear and forehead but it was tipped down and I could not get it in position nor find the other front leg. I am not experienced in correcting dystocias and my large horses only have had very minor issues that were easily remedied (I have been lucky). Not wasting any time Gracie called our vet who did not answer. So I kept trying to correct there problem but knew my limitations. We kept calling and got no answer. So not wasting more time I jumped in the truck and drove like a wild woman the mile to their house and our vet had just gotten out of the shower. She quickly dressed and arrived within minutes of me getting back home. I felt so bad for Gracie as she was alone with just her BFF and memories of last year had surfaced. Sami (our vet) quickly went to work and was able to get the head up and in position while I held her still. She could not get the other leg forward so she actually delivered the foal with only one leg and the head delivered first. It was a tight fit and Sami said he is big. I have nothing to compare to but he seems tiny to me. Gracie burst in to tears of joy when she realized that the lil guy and mom were gonna be okay. When he was born the placenta came out right after him and he is strong and pretty good legged. He was up within about 20 minutes and with lots of help to find the spickets, finally nursed. Lexi is an amazing mom. She acts like a very experienced mother, lifting her hind leg and pushing baby in to position. Her colostrum tested off the charts as "very good". The colt passed meconium on his own but we still gave him a small enema and Lexi got her IV Banamine and a hot bran mash. Gracie is ecstatic to say the least and so relieved that everything turned out well. Oh man, it was so scary and I was so scared of doing something wrong trying to correct the dystocia and with not having my husband home to go summon the vet, I felt it was up to me to go get her and not waste any more time. I know I did the right thing but I do wish I could learn more on how to fix these things myself. Here are a few pictures of Gracie and her lil guy. This is our stallions first baby and we think he and Lexi did darn good!

Also how do you measure cannon bone size to determine height? I would like to know so that we can do that. I will also stick him to see how tall he is tomorrow when we draw blood for a IgG.

Gracie and our vet drying the baby off



Gracie and her baby boy



FInally a nap after a full belly

 

[Eagle]

Omg he is gorgeous and that pic of him and Gracie is priceless! You deserve a pat on the back for your quick thinking, Well done girl!

Yippeeeeeee congratulations grandma

 

[AnnaC]

OMG!! That must have been so scarey for you and poor Gracie!! Many congratulations to both of you for coping so brilliantly.

What a beautiful little boy, I'm absolutely thrilled for you both.

 

[eagles ring farm]

what a handsome little guy congratulations to you all and prayers answered having you vet there intime to help

 

[Becky]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! So, happy for a good outcome after a very scary delivery!

I can tell you that I always call my vet if I don't have at least the nose and one leg coming out. A head down is very difficult to correct in a miniature as there isn't a lot of room. Generally, my vet sedates the mare to stop contractions so he can manipulate the foal into position. You did everything right and a vet's skill is generally needed to reposition these foals.

Great job and I agree - the picture of Gracie and that foal is priceless!!

 

[Eagle]

Yes I remember well, good thinking to mention it as antibiotics might be a good idea.

 

[targetsmom]

CONGRATULATIONS to you and Gracie!!! And Lexi too!! He is gorgeous and that picture with Gracie is just too perfect.

That is almost exactly the way Bunny's birth went except our second call to the vet finally reached him so we didn't have to drive over!! So I know pretty much how you were feeling then and SO glad it came out the way it did!!

 

[griggsmel]

Wow, so, so happy for you to have a healthy birth after all that, good job and good quick thinking!! You are so lucky to have your vet that close, mine is at least an hour away so I don't know what I'll do if I have a situation like yours. Beautiful baby!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[chandab]

Congratulations on a new foal.

 

[MountainWoman]

Ohhhh, congratulations on a beautiful baby and I'm so happy that you made it through successfully!

 

[mthowdy]

Congratulations!!! He is amazing!!

Glad everything turned out well! Definitely a learning experience for me reading this thread!! Good thing my vet is just down the road too- of he doesn't answer I'll send my brother down to drag him out of bed!

Can't wait to see more pictures! Hope momma and the new lil guy are doing well this morning!

 

[griggsmel]

I have a question, when you discovered the dystocia, did you break the sac inside the mare to get better grips?

 

[Sandy B]

I have a question, when you discovered the dystocia, did you break the sac inside the mare to get better grips?

Not at that point since he was still viable and completely in the uterus. It was easy to maneuver the one leg out in the embryonic sac. When the vet got here, she did not break the embryonic sac until his head was in the vagina and then at that point she tore it and slipped a pull cord on the leg. I am not sure what everyone else does though.

 

[Sandy B]

We are getting ready to go out and dip his navel and draw blood on him for his IgG. I will take some current pictures and post those soon. Lexi is being a bit obsessive and wants him to nurse all the time. She will roll him around like a bowling ball until he nurses. Not sure what that is all about but we almost tied her up last night as I was getting tired of watching him get shoved around so much.

Also, how do I measure the cannon bone?

 

[LittleBittyBritches]

Oh my a difficult birth! Great job and thank you for posting, we can all learn from other peoples experiences which is why this group is so great in my opinon. Congratulations! So happy for you and Gracie!

Measure from the middle of the knee to the top on the coronet band

 

[palsminihorses]

Congratulations on your beautiful colt!! So glad you had a vet close by, too! We are not that lucky here. Our vet is 45 minutes from us.

Diane, I didn't know about giving antibiotics to a foal with a difficult delivery. Thank you for the info!

Sandy, to measure the cannon, you measure from the middle of the knee to the top of the coronet band. Take that measurement times 4 and add 2. That will give you an estimate of his mature height.

 

[Sandy B]

Well we are happy to report that "Superman" (cause he came out in a Superman flying position) and Lexi are doing great. I drew his blood and ran his IgG and it was over 800

. We gave Lexi Ivermectrin and with the trauma of delivering the foal last night I can't believe how great her hooha looks. We turned she and Superman out on the grass for about an hour(it started to rain) and they enjoyed it. Then Superman took a nap in Gracie's lap. She is walking in the clouds.

We measured him at 17" tall using a mini measuring stick with level at the last mane hair. When I measured him from mid knee to coronet band I got 6" but I must have done something wrong. I will re-measure tonight at chore time.

I talked to my vet and she said that because I quickly recognized the problem by checking the foals position and that the time between her water breaking and his delivery was less than 30 minutes and the dystocia was "easy to correct" (her words) that she did not at all feel the need to put either of them on antibiotics. She said if he had been slow to start or deprived of oxygen or if it had been a bad dystocia with a long delivery, she would have put them both on antibiotics as a precaution. She said at this point the benefits of antibiotics did not out weigh the risks of giving them at this time. Since she handles a lot of minis in our area, I feel comfortable with what she said especially with how quick we all reacted and I did not waste time trying to correct the dystocia myself for more than a few minutes. We really are lucky she is right down the road.