First time foal (myself and mare!)

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ToltingDonkey

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Hello,
My mare is due anytime from 19th april, just wondering about signs i should look out for to say foal is near?
Currently she has a large belly.. but not 'dropped' like alot of mares i have seen on here that are close to foaling..
Her udders have started to grow over the last week or so..
and her belly is visably moving..

will post pictures tomorrow but wondering if there are any other signs i should look out for?

Thanks!
 
Highly, highly recommend milk testing - my maiden (my first foal too) last year was starting to show a few signs but not what I'd have called ready from all my reading and pics but the milk testing said she was about to drop and she did! Roo didn't really drop, a lot of maidens don't seem to as they ahve stronger abdominal muscles I'd guess, but she had slackened off a bit and developed a decent udder but the milk testing was definately key to us not missing anything :-)

Good luck, it's awesome :-)
 
With my mares, I always look to their bums to know when they are ready!

The vulva really elongates, and the muscles either side go super wobbly.

The udder is a good indication but not one I would go on unless actually dripping milk or really waxing up.

Really good luck, you don't have long now, very exciting!
 
Milk testing is the only way you know for sure. I am on full blown foal watch for a mare who I am having to work with all the traditional signs; yes she's waxed up, yes she's dropped and foal is in position, yes her bag is full, yes she is like jelly at the back and you can flip her tail right over her back and yes her vulva is ready. However she has not foaled and it's very exhausting having to watch her 24 hours a day. I milk test every mare of mine so I know they'll foal within 24 hours. This particular mare is a maiden and her bag will not let down for me to test. I have managed to squeeze some fluid out and it is sticky but it's not enough to be able to test. Maidens do different things to seasoned broodmares so you never really can tell what will happen and sometimes they will foal without all the traditional signs in place, hence my mare being on foal watch now. I do not miss any foalings but I also don't normally have to stay awake for longer than one night, so this mare is giving me a good understanding of what those people who don't milk test have to put up with lol! I will be trying again to see if I can even get just 1/2cc milk out as I can test that small amount, but I fear she's going to be one of those rare mares who don't let down until after foaling.
 
How is milk testing done? She isnt producing any milk yet, her bag has only recently started to get larger.. so is still not a full udder.. but sounds like a good thing to do nearer the time? :)
Thankyou for the replies! I'm excited/nervous!! X
 
Milk testing is easy to do BUT you must be good at judging colour fading. You need some distilled water (from Halfords or a car parts place), some swimming pool testing strips but you must make sure the pH values go down to at least 6.2pH (if they don't then they are no use to you). I use Aquachek strips which you can get either at a swimming pool shop, garden centre which sells fish or on eBay. The strips are only a few pounds to buy. Finally you'll need two 10cc syringes.

Take the plunger out of one syringe and place your finger over the bottom. Milk the mare into the syringe and collect 1cc fluid. Measure out 6cc distilled water in the other syringe and squirt into the 1cc milk. Take your strip and put it in the mixture and then take out and watch to see what your reading is. At 8.2pH with say 100 calcium (marked as Total Hardness on the strips) then your mare is doing nothing. The first thing to change usually is the calcium. Once it starts to go up you'll see the pH will start to go down. When the pH gets to 6.2pH or below, combined with a calcium value of around 500-800 then you know she'll foal within 24-48 hours.

You must be very disciplined about reading the shades though; I've known so many people who do it for the first time and they totally misread the strips; I'm sure they're willing it to be what they want it to be, but when I see their strips I can see they've misread them. I've been milk testing for years now so I know the stages that the fluid/milk goes through so I rarely have to test more than once or twice per mare as I know by colour/texture when the colostrum has come through.

It is very exciting having your first foal. I still find it exciting after having many foals :smile3:
 
Spring Feather said:
Milk testing is easy to do BUT you must be good at judging colour fading. You need some distilled water (from Halfords or a car parts place), some swimming pool testing strips but you must make sure the pH values go down to at least 6.2pH (if they don't then they are no use to you). I use Aquachek strips which you can get either at a swimming pool shop, garden centre which sells fish or on eBay. The strips are only a few pounds to buy. Finally you'll need two 10cc syringes.

Take the plunger out of one syringe and place your finger over the bottom. Milk the mare into the syringe and collect 1cc fluid. Measure out 6cc distilled water in the other syringe and squirt into the 1cc milk. Take your strip and put it in the mixture and then take out and watch to see what your reading is. At 8.2pH with say 100 calcium (marked as Total Hardness on the strips) then your mare is doing nothing. The first thing to change usually is the calcium. Once it starts to go up you'll see the pH will start to go down. When the pH gets to 6.2pH or below, combined with a calcium value of around 500-800 then you know she'll foal within 24-48 hours.

You must be very disciplined about reading the shades though; I've known so many people who do it for the first time and they totally misread the strips; I'm sure they're willing it to be what they want it to be, but when I see their strips I can see they've misread them. I've been milk testing for years now so I know the stages that the fluid/milk goes through so I rarely have to test more than once or twice per mare as I know by colour/texture when the colostrum has come through.

It is very exciting having your first foal. I still find it exciting after having many foals :smile3:
Click to expand...

I'll second the being disciplined about reading the strips - it's quite easy to convince yourself that the readings are higher/lower than they actually are becuase you want foally to turn up.
When I was testing we started with every other day once she started producing fluid and then as the values began to change up'd it to every day and once she was nearly there I was testing twice a day. We ended up on foal watch for 4 nights (in part as I think I was convincing myself she was further along on the milk testing than she actually was - the difference, esp in the ph was obvious once it dropped further but kinda subtle at the same time) but still foudn it really useful and accurate. If it wasn't for the milk testing we wouldn't even have started foal watch by then as she didn't 'look' ready to go
 
ToltingDonkey said:
How is milk testing done? She isnt producing any milk yet, her bag has only recently started to get larger.. so is still not a full udder.. but sounds like a good thing to do nearer the time? :)
Thankyou for the replies! I'm excited/nervous!! X
Click to expand...
I had a maiden at that stage.Thought to myself install the camera, as about two weeks to go.Came out the next morning and there was the foal! First time for a long time that I had missed a foaling.
 
I was watching Mare Stare and noticed they did these: I hopefully have some coming back from USA next week (a friend on holiday over there), they look easier to use than the pool strips which I used in 2009 when my last foal was born - I slept in the horse trailer for 6 nights!!! Without strips, and a maiden in 2008, mare foaled when I popped home for tea early evening!! No need for strips. Hoping I might need these next month but the jury still out on whether mare is in foal or not :(
Maybe Baby by Mare Stare - Test Strips
Reduce the "guess work" by using our Maybe Baby test strips! These strips have been tested extensively by Mare Stare customers and have been deemed exceedingly reliable for predicting when your mare will foal.
Super easy to use and read:
Pull a test strip from the packet
Express milk directly onto the test strip
Read results instantly.
http://www.marestarestore.com
 
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