19 year old maiden

[Prawnsize]

Hi Everyone!

Kind of anxious so I thought I'd share!

I found out in January that my 19 year old mare is pregnant... she arrived at my home on April 1st last year so she conceived sometime before then because it sure as hell didn't happen at my place! I just looked at her one day and thought she looks a bit too fat!! Vet confirmed with ultrasound.

Anyway, I was expecting to see the little one by now but nobody knows when the naughty little stallion at her previous home got to her.

A foal was definitely not in the plans but I am very excited!

She's just starting to bag up now but still looks like she's a long way off...

Does anyone know, how long is too long for a pregnancy to run? Only 3 weeks until we're up to a full year!

She's a 16.2 h grey Andalusian - big boned girl!

Father is a 14.2 h bay (just turned 3 years) - could it be that she doesn't look very big because the sire is small?

Thank you for your time

Emma

 

[magic104]

They can go a year, depends on when the foal is ready. I had a colt born yesterday & was unable to be there. I therefore relied on others telling me he has suckled when in fact he had not taken the teat at all. So I recommend you either milk the mare before or as someone suggested get some foal stim to ensure the foal has fed. Also if everything has gone ok, leave the mare to get up in her own time. It seems they were in a terrible rush to get her up & the foal suckling & she was exhausted by the time I got to them.

Fingers crossed for you, I am sure she will be fine & may well follow the trend & foal outside in daylight hours.

 

[showingmadfilly]

We had a mare go twelve and a half months, very old girl to be a maiden but seems it wasn't anyones fault sometimes things like this just happen.

 

[mr fields]

milk your mare once a day but literally only get a couple of ml from the mare other wise if the mare is milked to much the mares body was constantly run milk and you will never find out when your foal is due. milk a couple of ml into a pot and if the milk is a clear/cloudy colour your mare could be weeks away but if the milk is the colour milk should be, your foal should be with you in the next 48-72 hours but you must not leave your mare once she has started running proper milk. hope this heps

 

[tristar]

she could look small because its a first foal, and andalusians are quite roomy bodied sometimes.

don't leave her unattended, to foal, it can go wrong very quickly, once the process starts you need to the vet out, foal won't withstand long birth times, get the vet informed now that you are 'expecting'. when the foal is out leave it on the floor next to the mare, so it gets all the blood it needs through the umbilical cord and normally the cord will break as the foal struggles to stand, reducing infection caused by human interference, if the mare runs milk before the birth make sure she has not lost all the vital colostrum, check the foal can feed succesfully, it will do so at frequent intervals, then see that it passes droppings, and get its immunity tested to ensure it has recieved the colostrum.

its not easy being a mother!

 

[Prawnsize]

Thank you for your responses...

Checking the milk sounds like a good idea... she is very tolerant and I'm sure she wouldn't have a problem with me doing that...

I've decided to get the vet to come and check her over in any case, everyone here says just leave the mare to it and one morning I'll wake up with 3 instead of 2 horses - even the vet says that but, I do worry that something will go wrong so have made myself a bed up in the tack room for when she gets close so I can hear and easily see her!!!

Thank you again for advice, hopefully, if I can work out how to post a picture here, you will be seeing a beautiful foal soon!

Em

 

[Thistle]

Search on here for threads about milk testing, you can buy swimming pool test strips which check pH and Calcium. You can accurately predict foaling with these. Saves many sleeples nights. This site is quite useful http://www.yellowhouseranch.com/foaling.htm

 

[tristar]

sounds like you have more sense than the vet and the others put together!

she should be separated from the others, please find yourself a vet that is good at stud work, what if the foal gets a leg back during the birth or suffocates due to a too long delivery? your mare is a maiden older horse also, i think to leave mares to their own devices is barbaric!!! i think you are doing the right thing being there with her, you will be rewarded by the care you are taking, and listening to your own common sense.

 

[Umbrella]

Hi, my horse was a 17 year old maiden when she foaled last year. It all went very smoothly but she didn't show many signs that foaling was imminent.

She had a slight bit of waxing about 10 days before the foal was due but the last few days there was none, she had no milk running and her bag wasn't that big. Her tummy did drop quite a lot about 10-7 days before but nothing that drastic. I put a screen showing cctv by my bed and whenever I woke I'd look and up until 2 nights before she would just be standing eating or dozing. Two nights before I woke to see her laying down and kicking out with a back leg. I watched her for 2 hours in total after which time she was back standing eating her hay and dozing. Two nights later the foal was born. My mare kept coming to the gate saying she wanted to come in and when she came in she didn't eat her food. She was restless for a few hours which gradually got worse. During this time she didn't eat. Then after about 4 hours in the stable she got down on the floor. It didn't take long before her waters broke and some legs poked out, then there was a period where nothing seemed to happen. Finally she got down and pushed and out came foalie! We then went out to the stable as up until then we'd just watched via cctv so we didn't disturb her. Placenta came soon afterwards, foalie stood up in about 20 minutes (chestnut filly!). Mum then got up but wasn't sure what foalie was trying to do when she tried to suckle so I got some food to keep Mum entertained and baby latched on straight away.

All in all a very easy, enjoyable experience. I had never even seen a foal born before but was prepared with everything I needed and the vet on standby along with a friend to help if needed.

Fingers crossed you will have a similar experience.

 

[First Time Mum]

hi my mare was a 18 year old maiden.

You can get night vision camera's that hook up in the stables and relay to a TV so you can watch without having to disturb her every 30 minutes to check. I was down there for 4 weeks as she looked like she was going to drop early we had a full bag then it disappeared her back end muscles went the lot. The day she dropped however she was running milk like a cravendale cow.
Once she decided pushing was a good idea the birth went like clock work.
Vet checked mare and foal over.
She did retain the placenta and had to have some antibiotics.
The night vision camera was a life saver

 

[minime]

Lots of mares have been going late this year so don't panic. I agree that leaving her to do it all alone is just asking for trouble, if it goes wrong you could lose both mare and foal. The milk strips are great and I would suggest Foal-Time as they only need one drop of milk to test. I have web cams up in my stable and I must admit they are fab I get to watch without disturbing, I also put them up on Marestare cos all the extra eyes mean I actually get a few hours sleep. If you get some free time watch MS cos you can learn loads from watching how others do it.
Everyone has there own opinion but I personally would not milk a mare before foaling, a few drops for the milk test is as much as I will do and only when it comes out easily.
I always crinch when I see people over touching the foal once it is out as I think that that is the time for the mare and foal to bond and not for us to be fussing over the new arrival just sit back and enjoy the show, you will have plenty of time to play later and in a few days the mare will almost beg you to babysit for a while whilst she rests
I wish you all the best and keep us updated.
Renee

 

[Prawnsize]

Oh my goodness, webcams would be great! If there is a next time, I will invest in some!!!

Still no foal... sigh... but I feel comforted knowing that many are foaling late this year.

Just wondering... my mare is pair-bonded with her paddock mate so they are always together (their stable doesn't have doors because neither mare likes being closed in). Do you think I should separate them? I could easily put a partition across the paddock...

How overdue is too overdue? Tomorrow is 370 days at least for her.

Em

 

[crellow4]

'Normal' gestation is considered to be 320-370 days. I would suggest a further visit by the vet is in order.

 

[Prawnsize]

I agree,

Calling her tomorrow... a stray puppy showed up here yesterday so need her to give him all his jabs in any case - two birds!

 

[tikino]

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