New to This and Foaling Soon

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Holly Chisholm

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Location
Chino Valley, AZ
Good morning!

My husband and I adopted a mini horse who had been on her way to becoming zoo food. The rescue told us that she was pregnant, and that when she arrived at the rescue, she was skin and bones. She is not so thin anymore, but her skin is thick. The vet said that was because she had not been fed well in her past. He also said to call when she goes into labor (expecting problems?).

Anyways, she is bagging up. I have the test strips and baby cam on order, and I just hope they get here in time. We are nervous wrecks! I have read all the scary stuff that can happen.

I just found this forum last night, and it has already been so helpful!!!! Here's Sally.

Holly



IMG_20200407_164605.jpg
 
Oh my....yep is round! Have you been able to get any liquid from teat(s)? If you can, put a little between you thumb and index finger and test how sticky it is. If it feels IMMEDIATELY like honey, she is very close. Bless you for rescuing her!!!

Thank you so much for your reply! No, we haven't been able to get any milk out, but dang, she is bagging up fast!
 
Good for you and thank you for rescuing her!! She's a little rough looking but absolutely wonderful :).
Just a thought... if her coat stays patchy or you notice her being really itchy you might want to ask your vet about lice. It's not as bad as it sounds and easy to get rid of.
 
Good for you and thank you for rescuing her!! She's a little rough looking but absolutely wonderful :).
Just a thought... if her coat stays patchy or you notice her being really itchy you might want to ask your vet about lice. It's not as bad as it sounds and easy to get rid of.

Thank you! We did have the vet look at her. He said that her skin looks thick from poor nutrition. That make me concerned for the foal, although it's usually the mom, not the baby, who suffers the brunt of malnutrition. If all that fluff doesn't shed out, we will clip her when it gets warmer. :)

When I tried to check her bag just now, I got a little buck. She seems cranky. She has also been backing up to the gate and scratching her back end. Both of those behaviors are new. I don't have my baby monitor yet, and I'm afraid of her foaling when we're asleep.

I have read a lot of scary stories about minis having issues when foaling. Someone please tell me that there usually aren't any problems.
 
I've only done this once before but after weeks of watching and worrying my little girl had her foal so fast and easy I watched it before I could get out of the house. This one has had more than 10 foals(All before me, I don't think I will ever do this as a planned baby) the last 4 without anyone even on the property and she's never needed any help. It doesn't stop me from freaking out but it helps.

If you have a cell phone you can use on her halter and either wifi or data in your barn there's an app you can get that lets you use it as a foaling alarm. It's called foal app(foalapp.com). It works by sounding an alarm on your phone if she's on her side for an amount of time that you can set it to. Have a look, I used it last time and it worked. It will wake you up for false alarms but might help you relax some until your camera gets there. I use them together, works great but I'm still up watching the camera.
 
Forgot to add, you don't have to wait and get their pouch. I used a ziplock bag duct taped onto her halter, worked great.
 

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