Foal reluctant to stand

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Wendy9464

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Hi my friend's mare gave birth to a beautiful coloured filly early hours of this morning, foal is strong and appears healthy, but will not stand unaided.
Has anyone experienced this before??
Mare and foal are currently in intensive care in University of Liverpool Vetinary Hospital
All help advice or much appreciated
 
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One of my mares had a weak foal that could not stand so it was a matter of helping it to it's feet and guiding it towards the udder every few hours, then it had difficulty sucking!

Fortunately, the mare was a saint. I'd encourage the foal to suck for as long as possible, then milk the mare out and top the foal up from the bottle. After the first day, I did not even bother to tie the mare up. This had to be done every three hours for the first few days, day and night. I was on my own with no help and a bad back. Incidentally, the rain jacket was made out of one leg of a pair of waterproof leggings!

There seem to be various theories on how to get a foal to suck but brute force is the only practical way in my experience. Guide the head with the right hand and push the back end with the left knee. When the head is in the right position, try to open the foal's mouth with your fingers and stimulate sucking by squirting some milk into it's mouth. After a couple of days (!), they get the idea. Ideally, you need at least three hands to do this! It is very tiring but the only way when you are working alone.

The foal grew and thrived....then, at a year old, got it's head stuck in the hay rack and had to be PTS. Such is life!:rolleyes:

http://s162.photobucket.com/user/lagopus_lagopus/media/Gracies_foal1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=374
 
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