Foal at home or not?

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Fattie_Hattie

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My mare is scanned in foal due in June and this is my first homebred. I have worked at a stud and foaled a few mares down at my current job. I have the opportunity of foaling my mare at home but not sure if I can handle my own and if I should just send her to stud ! Obviously there are pros and cons to having her at home and at stud for other reasons, just looking for some overall advice and if anyone else has been the same!
Thanks in advance :)
 
Everyone has to start somewhere and you have the experience of foaling already.

My advice would be to foal at home if you are confident, have the opportunity of taking time off work and access to someone who can take over some daytime checks when you are absolutely knackered!

One mare I had went a month over and I was exhausted - but it is a very special thing and I would do the same again - very exciting and I hope it all goes well whatever you decide :)
 
I foaled my maiden mare at home and my hands-on experience was not as good as yours! I read loads and watched videos (Ok, I know that's not like the real thing!). Our vet was 10 mins away, so I felt happy and confident to cope and I did. All went well and I called in the vet to check that she'd cleansed and to give mare and foal the once over. I had a baby alarm in her stable, with the speaker in our bedroom - worked really well! Good luck!
 
I foaled my mare at home three times, my experience was not as much as yours and I had mixed results.
First time she managed to foal alone after showing no signs of being imminent. Lovely healthy foal gambling around her stable when we woke in the morning.
2nd very sad, foaled a month early again alone (she's a crafty one) but it was a red bag so sadly woke to a perfectly formed but dead foal. It was devastating.
3rd time after much soul searching and a few years gap we foaled at home again. This time cctv cameras x2 in stable, taking temperature and milk testing and watching for all vital signs like a hawk. She started to drip milk at 4pm I prepared for a long night. Was watching the cameras and just about to shut my eyes for an hour at 1pm when she lay down and started to push after no other signs. 20mins later we had a healthy filly. All I did was check that the feet were the right way round! The vet did have to can in the am as my mare didn't cleanse (that's a whole other story) but with hormones injected it all came away fine. Nothing more magical than when it all goes well and nothing that a stud could of done to stop it when it went wrong according to my vet.
If you can and are happy to foal at home. At least your mare will be settled whatever.
Good luck.
 
You sound experienced enough to know the pros and cons of both.. You have to weigh up what suits you and your circumstances best.

Ours foaled at a 'normal' livery yard. Of course it was stressful waiting, but we made the best of our circumstances and she duly foaled in expert style at 11am in the field (after having a huge cosy extra bedded straw pen every night in the run up). But she was and is an experienced broodmare and a model mum.

It was quite emotional watching (from distance) and all we needed to do was check foal presented the right way, then check everything was happening when it should (which it did).

But I can completely see why some choose to foal down at stud.
 
GemG said:
But I can completely see why some choose to foal down at stud.
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I did this. I was going to foal at home, but lost my nerve so sent my mare away to a stud.

Which was just as well, as 1. She was 19 days late (which is a very long time when you're the only one doing all the checks), and 2. Foal was big, and turned upside down during the delivery. Two very experienced studs grooms managed to turn the foal and get her out safely before the resident vet arrived. Mare and foal both well.

I'd have lost them both if I'd have foaled at home, I wouldn't have had the expertise to deal with such a tricky delivery, and the vet would have arrived too late to help, even if phoned at the first sign of trouble.

Of course, most foalings are straightforward, but the ones that aren't..
 
I'm going to foal at home but my neighbour is a stud so help is always at hand and his yard is familiar to mare should she need moved.

Since you work at a stud I would say let her go there just so you can see her and foal all day but in a selfish way :p but honestly I think you are experienced enough to do it at home if you can tolerate the lack of sleep for a few weeks and work too.
 
GemG said:
But I can completely see why some choose to foal down at stud.
Click to expand...

We have bred 5 foals over the years prior to our recent babies, and of those five, four went totally smoothly - foals popped out and were up and about without delay. One however went very wrong indeed, and we lost that foal. Her dam got an infection and it passed onto the foal - the vet was due the next morning to give her antibiotics, but she foaled that night and the foal died in horse hospital less than 24 hrs later. We felt wracked with guilt and regret knowing that had she been at stud she'd have been given the antibiotics in an IV and we could have (possibly) saved the foal.

So when we had the foals this summer, we decided early on to send them to a stud to foal. I would have rather paid the extra to know they were in the most experienced hands, and as it was we nearly lost Paloma as she was early.

I really don't want to be the voice of doom, but our loss is a reminder that it can go wrong.We had 4 foals that were easy deliveries, I really do think it's just the luck of the draw.

If you have a good vet moment away, can sit up with them without work commitments the next day, and you are confident then go for it.
 
My mare foaled down at home, her 2nd foal but first time for me! Stressful is an understatement lol!! We had a foaling camera on her from 300 days as she started to bag up early! Day 324 she was restless during the night & when I went to her the following morning she was running milk, she foaled that night at 10pm, foal was presented with just one foot but fortunately my hubby has delivered many calves so he went in & pulled the other leg forward! All turned out fine but could have been a different story had she been pushing for too long and her other leg was stuck backwards!
 
I've lost count of my foals now (off the top of my head) and very few have I called the vet for. Vet never arrived in time and I'd almost always managed to deliver a live foal in the meantime. Aart from oversizes, I had one interesting mispresentation where foal presented head, 2 front legs AND a hind leg. No WAY was the mare going to stop straining to enable us to straighten things out - but with care - managed to deliver a live foal (who was nicknamed Tripod.) The worst mare problem was after a huge foal that took an hour to get out (he was fine) but an hour later she was on the floor acting pretty much like a mare with severe colic. Junior vet was on call so I told her - "I don't want you - this is too much for you - get Bill!" (at 6am!) He rushed over, bless him - the mare had bled into the broad ligament and it was touch and go for a few days. Colt foal was fine - he ended up 18hh!
 
My first is due next spring and I was having similar dilemma about whether to foal at home (read livery yard) or send to stud. I really want to be there for it if possible.

I did a bit of ad hoc foal work at a large local stud this summer and have decided to send mine there to foal down - more because there is someone so very experienced there in case of a problem. I don't think I'd forgive myself if something went wrong at home and I couldn't do the right thing. But I'm hoping they will let me do the foal watch for mine!
 
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