Mare down - foaled yesterday

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AJ

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A seasoned mare foaled at 10 last night. It was a big foal, red bag and third foot appeared when foal half out. With the red bag aspect we needed to be quick to extract foal. Took some serious hard pulling but foal popped. Required artificial respiration to kick start the breathing. For at least the past 3 hours the mare has laid out flat which does not seem normal although she is not rolling or thrashing. She will get up to allow foal to nurse. Any ideas as to possible reasons for this?

In same setting, the foals one hind leg is not functioning at this time (dragged along) and am wondering if this is from the pulling or if the leg was obviously not positioned properly during the last part of the pregnancy. Hopefully with exercise the leg will strengthen and function. The foal is mobile , albeit slow, but really only needs to go to the snack bar.
 
Have you, by chance, given the mare Banamine for pain? Perhaps that would help her.

I will be anxious to hear what others have to say.

Peggy
 
I would consult my vet if I were you. The foals leg my have been pulled out of socket or something during birth. Good Luck. Praying they both will be alright.
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I would second the suggestion to have your vet take a look. I would be a bit concerned about the foal's leg given the difficult birth. Mare may just be sore or may have some more serious issues. One of mine this year - with a normal foaling - spent more than a normal amount of time laying down for the first few days, ended up with a pretty good impaction. She was oiled and came out of it just fine but did need some vet intervention.

Jan
 
I too would have the vet check both the mare and the foal out. I have no idea what it may be...I would suspect internal damage of the mare's uterus. I hope both she and the foal will be OK, but again, I would have the vet out to check both mare and foal.
 
I also would have the vet involved in this. Make sure the full placenta came out, plus that there aren't any internal tears. She sounds like she's in pain for longer than normal.

The vet can also check the foal's leg to make sure it isn't a serious problem. Hoping for all the best.
 
I ditto the suggestion to get your vet involved!! In the meantime.....have you milked the mare out and fed the foal?? I had to do that with my mare this year.....she was very crampy and didn't want to get up and let the foal nurse despite banamine. I went ahead and milked her while she was lying down and fed the foal. I ended up giving her a second dose of banamine after a couple of hours and then she finally was standing enough for the foal to nurse.

Oops sorry, re read your thread and saw she would get up to let the foal nurse!
 
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[SIZE=10pt]Hope they are both doing better this morning. I would have the vet come check both of them. As far as the foal goes, I had a filly born with a dislocated hip and fractured femur and one of the symptoms was that she dragged her leg. It did not prevent her from getting around really well so the initial diagnosis over the phone from my vet was stress during birth. She was a couple days old when I had the vet out, the next day she was at the surgical hospital and the day after that she was in surgery. I'm hoping there is nothing more wrong with your foal than a stressful birth.[/SIZE]

I'll be waiting for an update.

Barbie
 
Vet was out and indicated that the mare still had some pain on day 2 likely due to some bruising during the difficult birth. Placenta came out in tact. If uncomfortable, give some banamine. She is OK on day 3. The foals leg seemingly checked out OK to a degree, and he thought that the leg being malpositioned during the latter part of the pregnancy, it may just need time to strengthen. The foal is very active now and motors along well, although he is not using leg for propulsion yet. Thanks for all the replies.
 
That's great news. Glad to hear your mare and foal are feeling better.

Tammie~
 
Great news!!
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I hope both of them have a full recovery very quickly!!!
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