New and Nervous

[kristi@berrett-ranch]

I recently adopted (rescued) 3 mares that are pregnant. Upon seeing them I noticed that they had not had much attention, the little stud that I took as well had his ribs showing and his backbone. Their feet are a mess, but looking better. I don't know much about their health records as far as vacinations etc., we have wormed them since we went after them. The one mare is getting close to the time they said she should be due and I have not been thru foaling before. She looks like she is getting close as well. I received my books today which help some and in some ways makes me more nervous. One of my concerns is that the book says it is important to be there to assist since minatures tend to have problems. We both work and even though we can watch our camera at work I am afraid we will not be with them when it happens. I have my foaling kit mostly together in case I am lucky enough to be present. Has anyone had their mares to give birth without being present and did it turn out to be okay? Any advice will be most welcome

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

Good for you for rescuing them.

It is ideal to be there when they foal out, but isn't always possible. The majority of our herd over the past 11 1/2 years foal at night, not all but most. Generally between 11:30 and 3:00 a.m. The ones we've had the most problems with (dystocia, emergency visits, c-section) were all during daylight hours.

Have you foaled out a big horse before?

What one person told me once, if you have zero foaling experience and have a cat/dog, feel the way they're constructed (front versus back legs, etc.) so if you should need to help out you'll know the way things feel on a foal when you're up to your shoulder in a mare, what body part you have hold of.

I don't know if Minis have more problems foaling than big horses, but there is alot less room to manipulate a foal when they do.

MareStare I know offers a service where you can have cameras on your horses and people will watch, and hopefully call/text you when they look imminent. If you can't do that, have you're foaling kit ready and the vet on speedy dial.

Good luck.

 

[kristi@berrett-ranch]

Good for you for rescuing them.

It is ideal to be there when they foal out, but isn't always possible. The majority of our herd over the past 11 1/2 years foal at night, not all but most. Generally between 11:30 and 3:00 a.m. The ones we've had the most problems with (dystocia, emergency visits, c-section) were all during daylight hours.

Have you foaled out a big horse before?

What one person told me once, if you have zero foaling experience and have a cat/dog, feel the way they're constructed (front versus back legs, etc.) so if you should need to help out you'll know the way things feel on a foal when you're up to your shoulder in a mare, what body part you have hold of.

I don't know if Minis have more problems foaling than big horses, but there is alot less room to manipulate a foal when they do.

MareStare I know offers a service where you can have cameras on your horses and people will watch, and hopefully call/text you when they look imminent. If you can't do that, have you're foaling kit ready and the vet on speedy dial.

Good luck.

 

[kristi@berrett-ranch]

Thanks Michelle! No I have not foaled out a big horse either. We have several big horses but nothing in foal. My husband has had a little experience with foaling in big horses.

 

[ohmt]

When my great grandparents started in the minis, they had about 30 foals a year and ALL mares foaled out in a big pasture together without assistance. In their 8 or 9 years of this they only had one problem and it was a foal that had one leg back and was an easy fix. Luckily they found the mare right away. Now that my grandparents and I have taken over, we keep all mares in the barn at night and take shifts staying up all night with them to watch. If we have 10 foals in a year, we'll have one dystocia without fail. That's not meant to scare you, just our statistics with foaling for the past 20 years or so. I know most others have much better odds! Almost all of the dystocias have been easy fixes-just a front or back leg in the wrong position (Michelle gave great advice-try to familiarize yourself with a foals anatomy as well as you can and make sure you have all the supplies needed in case you have to go in and adjust things). So dystocias have rarely caused us to lose a foal. When we lose a foal, it is almost always because we missed the foaling and the placenta didn't break-which is why someone is always with them at night now. Some of our mares have very thick placentas (I have 2 in particular) and I've had to use scissors to (very carefully) cut it open in a few cases.

That being said, like Michelle, we rarely have a mare foal during the day. Almost all of ours are born between 9pm and 5 am without fail.

How long does it take you and your husband to get to your home from work? Do you have a neighbor or someone within 10-15 minutes of your farm that you could talk to about maybe contacting in case one of your mares does foal while you are away? If the mare starts foaling, you could call them and have them get to your house to make sure things are progressing ok until you can get there.

 

[kaykay]

We have had quite a few mares foal during the day. More at night but still do have some during the day. If ours do foal during the day 10 am seems to be prime time.

Make yourself really familiar with foaling signs so you can narrow down the window.

Crayonbox Miniatures has some great foaling signs pages on their website of what to look for.

Bless your heart for taking them in!

 

[Eagle]

Hi and welcome to the wonderful world of mini's. I have not much experience with mini's as I have only been breeding for 5 years but for what it is worth I spent every night for a month in the stables last year watching the mares to be able to help and because I really want to watch.

Well mare one decided to give birth at 14.30 (Time I never go to the stables as I have to collect the kids and I'm sure she knew!!) in the pouring rain in the middle of the field, not even in the barn. When I saw the rain I charged down to put them in the stables as I was worried about them getting cold, you can image my shock/horror

when I saw the whole group stood in a circle looking at the wet bundle. I tried to grab the mother or at least the mare that looked likely to be the mother but she didn't want to know. At this point I was so wet and to top it off it started to hail so with a drastic decision I picked up the foal and ran to the stables with the whole group running after me. (now I look back it was funny) Need I mention that I had spent a fortune on the best straw in the area which I put down nice and thickly, I cleaned her stall regularly so it was nice and clean and for Xmas I had asked father xmas (hubby) for infra red lights to heat the stables. Well.... Madame obviously didn't appreciate any of it.

Mare 2 gave birth at 10.30 on the gravel in front of the stables ( 10 meters further and she would have been on the grass at least) whilst I went to take my car to the garage.

Mare 3 I sat with her all night until about 4.30am and she was fast asleep with NO signs what so ever therefore I decided to go and have a cup of tea and a pee as I was cold and tired . well I went back at 6.30 and it was all over, she was licking a beautiful filly.

In 5 years all my mares have always foaled alone and i have only ever lost one due to a red bag.

They do their best to be alone seem to know when!!!!

Good luck

 

[GrullaBlue]

This site'll help ya out! We've had several (big horse) foals here and one mini donkey foal....you'll probably, like others said, be waiting for overnight babies.... however I had one QH mare who always waited till 7am....which was my morning feeding time. Like she wanted me there. I just thought it was so funny...she was always having her babies at the same time....scheduled for when she knew I'd be there...when usually horses like privacy.

My mini donkey jenny, I had her on a camera...with the volume turned way up. Her pacing in the straw actually woke me up....and I could see it was coming by her pacing, and up and down...etc. I just stayed there watching with the camera until I saw the bag...I didn't want to interrupt her...then I went down.

If possible to set up a camera, that'd be great. And like someone said, even better if you can put it on MareStare....you'll have lots of eyes helping you! I bought my camera at Harbor Freight for maybe $20....works like a charm! So it really doesn't have to be fancy....although I didn't use the computer or anything, I just had it hooked up to a TV and VCR so I could record the event!

Angie

 

[Mona]

WELCOME to L'il Beginnings.

Yes, you will find a wealth of information here. Crayonbox (a member here) has some good foaling info complete with pics on her site, and also be sure to check out the INFORMATION pages here on L'il Beginnings for a little more foaling information! This combined with all the many years of experience from fellow forum members, you will find invaluable! Good Luck with your mares and welcome to the wonderful world of Miniature horses!

 

[Charlotte]

Bless you for taking in those poor horses and seeing to their care.

I think everyone has given you good suggestions here so I am just going to add one other....have a good relationship with an equine vet nearby. Know what his arrangements are for emergency visits at night. It never hurts to have 2 or 3 vets you can rely on. See if you can have one or two of them come out to your farm for a 'get acquainted' visit, or, have everything arrnaged to make an emergency run to the clinic in the middle of the night. Probably none of this will be necessary! but being prepared can make you feel less worried.

If you've never foaled out a horse before it would probably be best to have a vet you can call if all isn't going normally rather than trying to manipulate a mal positioned foal yourself.

Everything is probably going to go 100% normally and soon you will have fuzzy babies running around.

Charlotte

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Bless you for doing this, it cannot have been an easy decision.

You do need to get the stallion gelded if you do not want the mares back in foal straightaway!! He may even try to get the work done before they foal, it has been known.

Do you know when they are due? That would be the first step, and you can get milk strips that will tell you how close they are, that are a huge help. Ideally you or at least someone, should be there, but the chances are they will foal at night and say nothing, anyway, and you will just find the new addition!

I have had many, many mares foal out on their own, but I have to warn you that I have also lost foals this way, when I have missed the signs and arrived to find a dead foal, so , just be warned. Most mares foal at night, but not all do. I have one mare who "red bags " (placenta previa) every time, so I have to be there, and it is a war of wills to do so, she is quite determined that I should not watch. I have fooled her every time till last year, and then she fooled me and foaled six weeks early. I kept the foal alive for 12 hours but I lost him in the end.

Now, those are a couple of horror stories.

How about the times I have got out to the field with the new sun just rising, the birds singing the morning chorus, and there was the most beautiful thing in the world to greet me- a new, perfect, healthy foal.

It happens far more often than the horror, but we remember when things go wrong far more easily.

Keep your head, do what you can. You have already, by the sound of it, saved them from a nasty life and possible death, so anything form now on is a bonus!

Sorry, dear,

"WELCOME TO THE FORUM"

 

[weerunner]

I have had 7 foals and 2 have been during daylight hours, before 10am just like someone else said. I have been present for everyone of them and am glad as I have had one shoulder lock, one deflected front foot and 2 red bags (in addition to one dummy foal that needed hand feeding for his first 12 hours). That's 5 out of 7 foalings that would have gone horribly different if I had not been there. Luckily I was there and all 7 foalings resulted in beautiful, healthy babies. I never foaled out big horses but from my perspective these little guys seem to need someone to be there. Here's hoping my record holds as I have a mare at day 293 today, and she's one of my daytime foalers.

The milk strips are very invaluable to give you an idea of when to watch more closely.

 

[kristi@berrett-ranch]

Thank you all for your wonderful words of encouragement and advice, they are truly appreciated!! After finding this site and reading the forums I have learned quite a bit but seem to have much more to learn. I am so glad that I found you all

Kristi

 

[REO]

Since everyone else gave you great replies already, I just wanted to say....

Welcome to the forum!

 

[HGFarm]

Yes I DO find that Minis have more foaling problems compared to the full sized horses. I lost my first one that suffocated in the sack. Yes, it was born during the day and no one was home. I had no idea that Minis were a bit different than the big guys. I COULD have lost a few more to the same problem had I not been there to break the bag when the foal was born.

I have also had a few dystocias over the years, saving a couple but not saving a couple. It is heartbreaking but without someone there to assist, you run the risk of losing your mare as well.

Bless you for taking them in and I hope your foaling season is uneventful with healthy babies born. Hope you can get some weight on the mares before they foal... they are gonna need it. Have a good vet close by, and gas in your truck and a trailer handy in case you need to make a run to a vet. I have had to in the past when they couldnt get to where I was.

I have had about five or six born during the day, but mostly at night at various times. Two of the daytime ones needed assistance- one was a lovely colt lost last year. The other was about 10 years ago and slight assistance produced a healthy foal.

Good luck and read ALL you can on taking care of dystocias before foaling starts. The more knowledge, the better prepared you will be.

 

[kristi@berrett-ranch]

Since everyone else gave you great replies already, I just wanted to say....

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you! I am so glad that I found you all

 

[sedeh]

Hi and welcome to the forum!! Bless you for taking in all those mares and stallion!! My husband and I both work also but are schedules are so that there are only a few days where we're both working. Now that I'm finally on day shift I feel a bit more comfortable with the mares foaling. Most of my mares have foaled at night...usually 10pm-3am. I have had a couple that foaled in the morning. One mare probably would have foaled during the night but she absolutely hated being locked into her stall and as soon as I let her out in the paddock in the daylight she foaled.

I usually put them in stalls about a month before they're due so they get used to it and get daily brushings and handling. I don't clip them like some people do but I shed them out daily. You've gotten some good advice and there is a "best of the forum" page that has a lot of information about foaling...hip lock and red bag have been very helpful to me. My poor husband always seems to get the worst deliveries!! I hope all goes well with your mares!