Mare ready to foal?

[AnnaC]

Morning all!

Sorry i dont post much at the moment - really busy round here just now, not horsey work but 'business' work, solicitors/accountants/legal papers etc. But I keep checking the cams everytime I pass my laptop.

Cassie I'm so sorry about your young bull, sending you and the family sympathy and ((((HUGS)))). Your new little Cashew is absolutely gorgeous - a very cheeky looking fella!

Please dont worry about Suzie laying down a lot, all our mares sleep for hours during the weeks before foaling - they snore, grunt and dream too! LOL!! A thick, deep bed will always encourage more 'snooze' time. In the big cattle barn that daughter is using at the moment, she has the 'foaling' stables down one side and the big 30 x 30 cattle sections down the other. The 30' wide centre passage has our lorry standing in it (daughter's resting place and coffee supplies!). Most of the time the big doors at the end are left open and the mares, one foal, five yearling fillies (and two cows) can wander in and out from the field at will. In front of the lorry is a big bale of straw for the foaling stables, this straw gets 'pulled down' by the animals milling about and guess what, several times a day you can find 4, 5 even 6 of the girls curled up asleep on a nice comfy bed of straw!! No lying down on the hard ground outside for our lot!! Lazy creatures. LOL!!

Anna

 

[LittleRibbie]

your place seems lovely and so animal friendly Anna, I'd love to visit you some day

 

[cassie]

I agree with Heidi, Anna your animals must absoloutly love living with you and your daughter!!

I have the same for Suzie, I leave her stable door open, and often find her in there snoozing, and find extra poops LOL

nothing new, to add tonight... Suzie is just the little snuggle bunny

 

[Eagle]

Of course we will hang in there with you Cassie and hold your hand through this exciting experience. One of mine has just been confirmed so I only have another 300 days to wait

Will you hang in there for me

 

[cassie]

YAY!! how exciting for you!! Renee!! Definatly I will be here the whole time!!!

It is crazy how long it takes isn't it LOL when we plan breeding our mares we have to pick a good time for NEXT YEAR, I'm thinking of putting my other mare into foal, maybe September October, LOL its so weird thinking about putting them in foal a year before they have it LOL (for me anyway) even cattle are only 9 months

Oh and as long as Suzie has her foal BEFORE September I will be happy, though I would prefer the foal to be at least 1 month old,

we are going on a holiday to FIJI!!!

Can't wait! will be so awesome!!

 

[cassie]

Suzie hasn't been lying down for as long as usual tonight... Not flat out like normal mega kicks to the belly earlier too that baby must be real active tonight

 

[Equuisize]

We need music in Suzie's stall.

How about - Wake up little Suzie?

Like - Wake up and have a baby!

She is zzzzzzzzzzzzzz-ing nicely at 1:30-ish your time.

 

[Equuisize]

Nearing 6 AM, your time.

Suzie snuggled in, dreaming of breakfast.

 

[AnnaC]

I love watching the snuggly Suzie - do you think she will pass this trait on to her baby? LOL!! Or will she continue to want her sleep time and find that she is interrupted by an impatient baby, pawing at her to get her up so SHE can feed, (like little Annie kept doing to Tease.)

It is very kind of you all to say that you like the sound of my place, but in fact it is quite 'rough and ready' not posh or anything. Stables are home made usually out of gates or sheep hurdles, which does mean that we can make them as large as we want. We board in the sides for mares and foals, and sometimes the stallions if they need to stand next to someone else, but mostly everything is left open so they can see their friends. We only use stables for anything we might be showing, mares to foal in and the weanlings once we are ready to give them a little individual work. The stallions are 'stabled' then share the two stallion fields between them during the day (and night in the summer/good weather) Other than this all our girls live out doing the natural thing - grazing the acres with supplimented hay in winter. They are not groomed at all (except for the mares having a tidy up when they come in to foal), all foot trimming and worming is done out in the field, anyway as there are at present some 43 of them at the last count, we certainly dont have enough stables or barn space at my place to house them all!! But go out to their fields to viit them and you are immediately mobbed, go for a walk round their fields and you have an entourage following in your footsteps, very often they will then decide that this is a good game and start running, then racing, then dashing like mad things through their fields, round the boundaries and back again. One just has to stand still and hope that the stampede that is heading back straight at you in a fun, leaping and bucking mass, remembers to divide and to avoid running you over!! LOL!!

Anything that is regularly stabled is fed food/grain and more or less add lib hay, and always gets the chance of a daily outing in the fields to play with friends etc.

Our Mummy mare now has as much udder thrusting out between her hind legs as she has under her tummy. Her belly is really pointy, her tail loose, but her vulva is still not elongated enough and the colour inside is a delicate pink! So daughter Cathy continues to watch!

I know we are not expeting Suzie to foal just yet, but I really dont understand how Peanut can keep us waiting for her baby - she looks so very close. Maybe tonight........??

Anna

 

[cassie]

LOL Anna I'm very much hoping for a SNUGGLY little foal, I can't think of any of Suzie's traits that I wouldn't want passed down, she is the sweetest little mare EVER!! and if the foal does get her temperament then I am definatly breeding her again (later of course) hehe, sweet minis are the best

I do love my spunky little mare Penny, but she is a bit more hight maintanance to Suzie hehe, Penny I think will be great in the show ring (fingers crossed LOL)

how exciting for you Anna, I wish Suzie would copy your mare with the UDDER DEVELOPMENT!! hope your listening Suzie!!!

let us know how your mare goes with everything Anna, can't wait to see pics

don't know if you can see it on the cam, but I was shocked when I fed her this morning, if you were watching you would have seen me checking her flanks and her belly, the foal must have really dropped last night, she looks almost skinny from the top (looking on top of her) and really big in the belly!! I was shocked by how much she had changed... let me know if you can see this too as it might just be me seeing things LOL

her bag is a little fuller this morning, still not much, lets hope it keeps on increasing the next few days

not heaps relaxed behind to look at, but inside is quite open and VERY red, like blood red. (don't worry there is no blood coming out hehe)

just a few changes I have noticed this morning

thanks for the night watch everyone

she seemed to settle down finally which is good, I wonder if the baby might have been changing position early in the night when she wasn't comfy...

I'm hoping she won't keep us waiting too long LOL

 

[bannerminis]

Well I havent been able to keep too close an eye today but should be ok for tomorrow. Hubby heading back to Saudi Thursday so we were out and about. Went to see the The Guard with Brendan Gleeson this evening and it was fantastic really enjoyed it.

 

[cassie]

LOL Diane!!!!!!!!! how are you my friend???

I have been missing our conversations!! where are the new pics of your beautiful granddaughter!!

n I see we are right about the appy thing LOL you must have a sixth sense for appy conversations hehe

Suzie is out for the day, though it is a misery one LOL wind chill factor at the snow of -22degrees celcius don't know what that is in farenheight sorry but its FREEZING!! I hope my Dad n brothers are warm LOL

I think we are going to get some rain today, and you watch Suzie will stand out right in the middle, even though she can go in her nice, clean, dry, warm stable LOL silly girl!

Karina, when you say Saudi... where is that? I thought there was Saudi Arabia... but maybe there is another hehe

glad you and your hubby had a great time together I hope that he is safe when he goes away!!

and Suzie isn't doing anything soon so she doesn't have to be watched like a hawk 24/7 like Peanut does, but thankyou

 

[cassie]

Suzie lying down in her paddock,



she doesn't lie down in her paddock that much so I will keep an eye on her...

 

[Equuisize]

Night Cassie.....

 

[Eagle]

Suzie has disappeared

 

[cassie]

Night Nancy!!

she is back Renee by the fence near the gate going into Smartie and Penny's paddock!!

 

[Eagle]

you really need to spray her blue!

 

[cassie]

LOL na PINK!! LOL Penny and Suzie are dressed in blue so Suzie needs to be pink!! hehe got any suggestions besides the spray paint that I can do to make her stand out better?

 

[cassie]

we just had our coldest day today in 15 yrs!! brrrr I thought it was cold today!! good thing suzie has such a wooly coat, Smartie will be getting an extra rug on tonight!! and I have to play soccer at 9:15pm tonight ahhhhh

 

[AnnaC]

Cassie, if Suzie has changed her general shape (dropped the foal) enough for you to be quite 'shocked' at the difference PLUS she is red inside her vulva, then I would be keeping a really good 24/7 watch over her. Of course she could still go a while yet, but the two signs you have seen (particularly the vulva colouring) are pretty well the last ones we look for.

I'm not sure I would leave her out in the cold or possible rain if I wasn't there to watch her continuously - she would not necessarily return to her nice warm snuggy stable to have her foal! Can you pop her back in for the times you have to be away from the place? A foal being born from the nice warm inside of Mummy's tummy into freezing or wet weather outside, could find the difference in temperature just too much for its system to take. Also remember that foals cannot regulate their temps for at least the first two weeks of their life, so can easily get too hot or too cold, depending upon the weather.

Just be ready - this little baby (filly?) MIGHT just pop out when you are least expecting it!

Hey girls, I have just relised we have a way to get Diane to post on here more regularly, inspite of her busy time having cuddles with the gorgeous Rachael........

APPY APPY APPY APPY. Hello Diane!

Anna