Foaling Season 2011

[HK]

The horse that is, not the garden. That grows whether I like it or not :ninja

 

[freakofnature]

The horse that is, not the garden. That grows whether I like it or not :ninja

I suspect a foal might do the same thing as your garden.

 

[HK]

Dammit. Have you got any o dem mini-at-choor horses?

 

[freakofnature]

Dammit. Have you got any o dem mini-at-choor horses?

Just the big purty ones.

 

[GoldDust Woman]

i got to work this evening and the mare was gone. apparently the vaginal tear was the least of her worries. She also had a ruptured cecum. My co-worker told me that shortly after i left this morning the mare crashed (meaning her vital signs went downhill fast). There was nothing they could do so they had to put her down.

Rip natalia k

 

[GoldDust Woman]

Little orphan Annie (that's what we're calling her right now, lol)


And here's the other filly that was born yesterday.

I love, love, love these pictures!!

 

[RedRyder]

I got to work this evening and the mare was gone. Apparently the vaginal tear was the least of her worries. She also had a ruptured cecum. My co-worker told me that shortly after I left this morning the mare crashed (meaning her vital signs went downhill fast). There was nothing they could do so they had to put her down.

RIP Natalia K

So sad.....

 

[Thornless]

Nah, that's cool. Different strokes for different folks. I have no problem with such things and I'm sure there are things you'd do that I wouldn't be caught dead doing.


I got to work this evening and the mare was gone. Apparently the vaginal tear was the least of her worries. She also had a ruptured cecum. My co-worker told me that shortly after I left this morning the mare crashed (meaning her vital signs went downhill fast). There was nothing they could do so they had to put her down.

RIP Natalia K

Poor thing, hope she didn't suffer much.

We are currently bottle feeding her and looking for a nurse mare in the area. If they can't find a nurse mare they might try to stimulate one of our barren mares to produce milk and see if that will work. If all else fails we'll just keep on bottle feeding her until she can sustain herself on solids, which would probably be a few months at the least.

Awww poor baby. At least she will get lots of love and attention.

 

[GoldDust Woman]

Will any of the other brood mares (who've recently foaled) allow her to latch on?

 

[freakofnature]

Will any of the other brood mares (who've recently foaled) allow her to latch on?

I'm assuming you mean a mare that still has her baby? It's an excellent idea but not really feasible, even if the mare would let a second foal nurse (and most of them wouldn't). Supporting two foals would be too hard on the mare and it would also be detremental to both the foals as neither of them would get quite enough nourishment and both would suffer. However, if there's a mare that has lost her foal we would try to use her as a nurse mare IF she would accept the foal. (I don't think a foal has ever rejected a nurse mare.) We had one of our mares die giving birth last year as well and we were fortunate enough that there was another farm out here that had a mare who had lost her foal about a week before. Everything worked out and she accepted our foal as her own and let it nurse.

They're looking for a nurse mare for this one now too. They might even haul one in from somewhere if they have to. I don't think they'll find one here, not at this time of year. Only insane people breed their mares so that they foal this early out here. It's too cold for babies at this time of year. We're having a heck of a time juggling stall space for the ones we have and they can't go outside when it's minus stupid degrees so they get turned out in the riding arena for a bit each day. This is the first year we've had foals this early and the owner says we're not doing it again. :ninja

 

[HK]

What happens if a horse has twins?

Or.... can they even have twins?

 

[freakofnature]

What happens if a horse has twins?

Or.... can they even have twins?

It's possible for a horse to conceive twins but most of the time the mare will end up aborting the pregnancy because she can't support two fetuses. In the unlikely event that a mare will carry twins to term they will be small and sickly and often one or both will die shortly after being born.

Having said that, we had a set of twins last year and another this year. This is possible via the wonder known as embryo transfer. When a mare is bred and conceives the embryo can be taken out of her when it's 14 days old and implanted in a host mare. If a mare double ovulates and both eggs are fertilized then you have twins. Each twin is put in its own host mare. The twins we had last year were born hours apart even though they were in different mares. Our twins this year were born 10 days apart.

 

[purpledove]

This is a tear in the vaginal wall so I don't think an episiotomy would have helped? :dunno Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what an episiotomy is. :unsure: I know next to nothing about human deliveries. :ninja

The vet said it wasn't very far in so they're hoping it isn't into her abdomen. If it isn't they say that it ought to heal fine on it's own. If it is then that's a whole other kettle of fish and much more serious. Not sure what they can do for her then. The way the mare was looking when I went home I have to wonder if she's hemorraging somewhere else too. I really hope not. She's a nice mare.

In relation to Thorny's Qn re: episiotomy and vets being able to do it- In cases as this one where you guys struggled to pull the foal out during delivery, isn't there like an emergency Vet on call or maybe available in rare, sticky situations as this to further prevent any injury to both the mare and foal? Just curious basing of course how we in the human world- have means and ways to prevent such....so juz wondered if that's also available for horses. It would be nice if there is . To save the life of both mom and baby horse

I earned my pay last night. Holy cow! :willy_nilly: Our fourth and fifth foals were born. I missed the fourth one because she was born just before I got to work.

The fifth one was a doozy. The mare broke her water at 1:30am last night. By 2:00 I could tell she was having trouble so the vets were called. That poor, poor mare. I feel SO sorry for her. She's a smaller mare and her baby was massive! It got stuck twice and we finally got it out of her at 3:00am after a lot of pulling and a lot of lube. Everyone was wiped out and the mare was exhausted. She just lay there. We ran her some fluids intravenously and gave her a pain killer. She finally got up an hour after delivering. She is in pretty rough shape and the vet found a vaginal tear. Given the size of the foal and her difficulties with delivering she could be hemorraging more yet. If she is, it doesn't look good for her. The foal is fine, in spite of her difficult beginnings. It's a big, bouncy filly.

I am wiped out. Trying to pull a foal out that is hung up in the mare's pelvis is NOT easy work. I rewarded myself with breakfast at Timmies. I will sleep well today. I hope the mare is OK.

I admire your expertise in being able to deliver a foal :thumbup Just another Qn arousing my curiosity In that case as you tried pulling the foal hanging out of the mare's pelvis and you stating that she's small mare with massive baby. Very good assessment of course However, during the pregnancy, doesn't the mare undergo examinations/diagnostics by Vet like pelvic measurements, sonograms etc maybe to determine size of the foal inside the mare ..... and ensure the safety of both mom and baby during delivery? Like an anticipatory need to prevent problems that can arise?

BTw- I am so sorry to hear of what had happened to Natalia. RIP

 

[purpledove]

I got to work this evening and the mare was gone. Apparently the vaginal tear was the least of her worries. She also had a ruptured cecum. My co-worker told me that shortly after I left this morning the mare crashed (meaning her vital signs went downhill fast). There was nothing they could do so they had to put her down.

RIP Natalia K

I am really hoping such service as like a Midwife Vet (?) is available or an Emergency on Call Vet for horses. Like the kind of an injury to the cecum could maybe have been prevented if there maybe was a Vet that can do the episiotomy cut and repair of course afterwards. As with the size of the massive foal not congruent with the small vaginal opening of the mommy horse surely will cause that jagged tear Thorny did talk about. The hemorrhaging may have come from both the vaginal tear and of course as you assessed well as an internal hemorrhaging ( Kudos to you on that :thumbup ) could have been from the cecum. You could as well imagine that the foal trying to get out will surely be kicking inside and surely damage lots of neighboring internal organs at that point of struggling. It's unfortunate for the mare as these things should have been prevented-- pregnancy time and delivery per se....that the foal shouldn't have been forced out of the mare the way it was the only way maybe for you guys to do given that circumstance.

We are currently bottle feeding her and looking for a nurse mare in the area. If they can't find a nurse mare they might try to stimulate one of our barren mares to produce milk and see if that will work. If all else fails we'll just keep on bottle feeding her until she can sustain herself on solids, which would probably be a few months at the least.

Bottle feeding as in like human babies you guys use a Baby horse bottle? :eek Wow!! Interesting

 

[freakofnature]

I did not do this by myself. As soon as I realized the mare was going to need help I called a vet. They know better than I what to do in such situations. And I realize you mean well but birthing in horses is nowhere near the same as birthing in humans. There really isn't any way this could have been prevented.

 

[purpledove]

I did not do this by myself. As soon as I realized the mare was going to need help I called a vet. They know better than I what to do in such situations. And I realize you mean well but birthing in horses is nowhere near the same as birthing in humans. There really isn't any way this could have been prevented.

Re-reading your previous post- I didn't notice b4 abt the mention of vets. Since I felt sorry for what happened to Anathalia, juz had to ask ways maybe it could have been prevented. I mean well of course and juz was concerned abt the mommy horse and baby. It's unfortunate there are no ways to prevent eh?

hey here's an idea that can make you millions: Maybe you should try working on such as to measurements etc of pelvis/ diagnostics on horse's pregnancy etc. Whooooo... Lots of money for you for years to come. Your expretise and experience will surely add to what can benefit the horses.

 

[freakofnature]

Annie has made friends with Soosa.

 

[MoonOwl]

Annie has made friends with Soosa.

awwwwwwwwwwww.......... That is adorable!

 

[GoldDust Woman]

How sweet is that!

 

[Siphorous]

Soosa is a floosy.