Maiden Mare Help!

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Bailey@SmallWonders

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2008
Messages
127
Reaction score
0
Location
Hopkinton, Rhode Island
My maiden mare is at 334 days today. She was brought inside a few hours ago. She keeps laying down and getting back up, Kicking at her belly, laying down on the other side, holding tail up and swishing it. Please help, does this mean anything? Should we be keeping a close watch on her? If you saw it I posted pictes of her a 330 days. Please Help! Tell me what your experiences are and what you think we should do.

Thanks in advance! ~Bailey
 
She's probably in first stage labor-- don't take your eyes off of her, and I hope you have your foaling kit ready! Good luck!!
 
Oh wow! We have had our kit ready for a while now, thank goodness. Maybe we'll see a baby tonight!

Update! After her second time laying down she started roling, got back up and has still not stopped swishing tail!
 
If she keeps this up, it won't be TONIGHT that you have a foal, it will be SOON.
default_smile.png
 
they dont always wait for night to foal dont stop watching her!!! the foal is probably getting into position
 
Ok I have been keeing a very close eye on our camera and she kees laying down and getingback up. She has pushed all of her sawdust away from where she is laying down by swishing here tail so much. Here is what I have observed so far.

Not sure when she went down but got back up at 4:14pm

Went down again at 4:49pm and got back up at 5:28pm

She is still up at the moment.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sounds to me like she's ready to blow!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!! And keep us posted.
default_yes.gif


Jodi
 
Good luck to the both of you!! Immy's in the same boat with Summer, so maybe we'll have TWO new babies in New England tonight!
 
Ok I have been keeing a very close eye on our camera and she kees laying down and getingback up. She has pushed all of her sawdust away from where she is laying down by swishing here tail so much. Here is what I have observed so far.

Not sure when she went down but got back up at 4:14pm

Went down again at 4:49pm and got back up at 5:28pm

She is still up at the moment.
You said "pushing her sawdust away". No No - get her out of that stall and bed a stall with clean straw!. If a baby comes and gets a nose fll of sawdust you have pneumonia at best. Besides all that little dust and durt can get in her and cause infection. Sure hope you can do this quick enough!. Foaling out in a grass lot is better than on sawdust.
 
Keep a good eye on her, she is going to go and it sounds like she is going to go soon.

Woodchips are just fine for foaling, just use a towel under the foals head for when it is first born. I used to use straw all of the time, but most barns now use the wood shavings without a problem.
 
She seems to have calmed down now. I think she is probably getting close but at the moment she ate her dinner and is now currently munching on her hay. Wood shavings is what I meant and we plan to put a towel under the foal at birth. Once the foal is born we plan to use grass hay to bed the stall for the first few days. We dont like straw because our mare is not used to it and she is the type of mare that would eat it. We have seen too many colics due to a horse eating straw and we dont want to take the risk.
 
If you are planning on using grass hay go ahead and put it in now before she foals. If her tail isn't wrapped get that done too.
 
Well? Do we have a baby yet?

Please let us know, I am getting excited just reading this post.

Beth

* Yes, put the grass hay in there now, good idea!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wood shavings or rice hulls here for bedding with a bed of grass hay ontop!

A really great thing a clean bedsheet put that under your mare and deliver on something really clean. It's also big enough and bedding doesn't cling to sheeting as much. I use towels primarily to dry them off and stimulate their circulation if mom isn't doing that.

We keep a variety of towels and a sheet in our foaling kit. Amazingly this year all our foals (minus the c-section mare) were born unassisted - four were maidens too.

Best of luck with your mare!
 
I wish she was on marestare or wefoal or something. It woud take a little bit of pressure of, but she isnt so... Last night she layed down and got up about every 30 min. She is laying down right now but i havent been recording when she gets down and up tonight. We'll see if she has the baby tonight. Shes on camera in our house and she has a halter alarm so if she lays flat an alarm will go off. I want a baby already!!!
default_please.gif
 

Latest posts

Back
Top