Another poorly foal! Vibes needed.....LONG!

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No1_in_particular

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Some of you may remember in September I posted about a poorly foal who's mother had taken and infection (mastitis) anyway he's thriving like mad and is totally out of the woods now!
But now I have another mare who has taken Mastitis and I'm totally gutted........ the foal has gone down like a stone overnight!
I have no idea what is causing this. I have bred cobs for years now and never had a problem....
I bought 4 mares last September from a 'settled traveller' and they were in a very poor state........... the old owner didn't think they were in foal because the stallion wasn't 'performing' and he was also in a poor state and I worked on putting weight on him all winter and he's great.......... covered 10 mares this year no problem and all in foal for next year.......
Anyway I took all winter and spring to get them up to weight and wormed all the rest of it and was going to give them a year off breeding because they had been so poor but it turns out they were all in foal and all had healthy foals. One in May and 2 in August (obviously caught just before I got them) the other mare I sold also had a healthy colt in June...
First foal was 4 weeks old when he took ill with mum's mastitis (him and mum are fine thanks to hard work and a great vet) but now this one is 14 weeks old and has really gone down like a stone.
I just wondered if anyone else had any experiences of this?
OH worked on the family dairy farm that was here before me thinks it could be something to do with flies but I'm beginning to think it may have something to do with the fact they were poor when i bought them........ or the fact that they are both late foals (August) or maybe it's that we have strange flies at august time I don't know........
Anyone any Ideas?

Chocolate fudge cake and / or strawberry cheesecake for anyone who amde it this far!!
xxx
 
Thanks MrsM...... Much appreciated........ Vet is great and I'm an obsessive compulsive when it somes to feeding ......... vet even said well you saved the last one against all odds......... we'll see how this one goes.... will hopefully have a positive update in the morning
 
Dad is a dairy farmer and is familiar with mastitis in cows (which I think is more common) however a quick google search has confirmed my suspicions that they are broadly similar.

As you mention the common causes are normally flys or insects infecting the teats however it has been known to be caused by lush grass causing an oestrogen boost in the mare...

I wonder if this could this be a possibility with you?? or perhaps if they haven't even been on 'lush' grass, the boost in the general health of the mares during gestation and since foaling might have caused the same effect?

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mum and Baby x
 
You know...... you could be right...... i know that the mares were on very poor grazing..infact i couldn't get one of last years foals home because it wouldn't load and had to give it hay in september..... which is nearly unheard of here as i'm lucky enough to have excellent quality grazing because my land is so low lying..... and was fertilzed for the cows.....
Thanks for your response...... It helps......... and I'll speak to vet tomorrow when they come. As long as I can get the two of them in!!! (Mare willing - foal doesn't believe mum that it's ok!) I have many bodies organised for tomorrow!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Dad is a dairy farmer and is familiar with mastitis in cows (which I think is more common) however a quick google search has confirmed my suspicions that they are broadly similar.

As you mention the common causes are normally flys or insects infecting the teats however it has been known to be caused by lush grass causing an oestrogen boost in the mare...

I wonder if this could this be a possibility with you?? or perhaps if they haven't even been on 'lush' grass, the boost in the general health of the mares during gestation and since foaling might have caused the same effect?

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mum and Baby x

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be very inclined to agree with you as we are on ex-dairy land too and have to be careful that we don't over fertilize for that same reason as different, more lush (for cows!) grass is sown than ever horses need. We didn't fertilize at all for the first five years and even now, 20 years later, only do it by missing two years, do one and that at only half strength. In between we roll and harrow as normal but nothing else apart from poo picking half a dozen times a year too; this was all on the advice of our old vet then but it's a system that has suited this land and the horses so while it's not broke, we're not changing!

Good luck with foal; have you tried Suregrow as you only need very little but it does give them all the goodness they need and it should line his stomach to help. Either that or natural yoghurt although you better check that that is suitable for him at this time if it is mastitis related.
 
We are on ex-dairy land too and have only fertilised once in eight years.

Have had three foals born here but with the last one my mare went down with mastitis. Fortunately we caught it very quickly and as her foal was five months old we weaned him immediately with my other six month old foal. I don't like weaning them so young but in discussion with my vet felt it was the safer option for him.

We thought it may have been caused because I had put a rug on her for a few days as the weather was very bad and some dirt may have rubbed off onto her teat.

Fortunately all made a full recovery. Best wishes for your foal.
 
You could try him on powdered milk, but sounds more like the mares milk isn't giving him what he needs, could try small handfuls of feed and as egg says you can rug up against the cold wet weather.
 
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