Foaling- advice please

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buzzles

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Which would be better for a foaling box; a 11x15 stable in a barn with quite high walls and rubber matting or a 15x16 pen in an open sided lean-to attached to the barn and fenced in with 4 foot high walls. She will be bedded down on straw. She's happy in either of them and although I think she'll have more room in the pen, I'm worried she mightn't have as much privacy. What does anybody think?
 
Size wise the pen sounds a better prospect but I wouldn't want that if there are any horses in the next box to her that would be able to look over into her pen. That would make her very wary about the safety of the foal so I prefer a more private box. Whatever you use, do make sure that any other horses are unable to be near, definitely not able to poke their noses in; as you say, they need privacy for foaling and after otherwise you could be having nasty injuries.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.
 
MFH- there won't be other horses able to stick their heads over as that would certainly upset her as she's very terratorial, the pen looks into the yard so I think it might just be a bit public for her
Amymay- she's due in June so hopefully weather won't be too bad and the pen is quite sheltered
machannah- shes 15 hands

I think I'm opting for the stable at the moment as it's more private but will 11x15 be big enough?
 
It's always difficult to decide where is best. I had initially planned on my pony foaling in one of our stables; however in the end I felt it was best for everyone if she were to foal outside in her field shelter. Our foaling stable is 12 x 18 and the field shelter is 36 x 12 so it really was no contest. I could also keep a very close eye on her 24 hours a day if she was in the shelter and this shelter is familiar to her as she has lived here all winter. I knew exactly where she was going to foal a few days beforehand as I could see her deciding on the best place.

She foaled with no issues and with a number of geldings as bystanders and I think this was definitely best for her having all her friends around her. My horses are all very close friends though and she has known them for quite some time now. She is also not the type of mare to go nutty over other horses being around. If you say your mare is...then no I wouldn't have any other horses around.

It's interesting to see how man is really making horses evolve - I try to keep mine as close to natural as possible and it works for me and mine; of course this doesn't for others, so you have to think long and hard about it and then do what you think is best.

My little filly has been having a blast today - and her mother has finally taken her over to meet her father this morning and all of her other herd mates.....that was so nice to see her finally going to rejoin her herd - although she won't be going back in with them for a little while longer.

Here's how I found them at 7am this morning; Daddy is the coloured one:

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P.S. At the moment it's any excuse to post photos of her
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Aww Tia they're lovely photos and the foal looks a real sweetie just like her mum! I think with my mare she will definitely be foaling inside where I can keep an eye on her, she lost her foal last year and Im' being particularly paranoid about her foaling this year. She did foal in the stable last year and I don't think the size of the stable was a problem and had nothing to do with the death of the foal. I'm just thinking she might be better with more room and I've since had these pens built and they might offer her more space. She'll be next door to her gelding friend in the stable and the walls are high enoough so he can't annoy her. At hte moment she's out all day in the field with another quiet mare and at night is in the stable, I'm changing her onto straw this week and so this is why I have to decide now where to put it down. I'm having very mixed emotions about her foaling this year, there was such expectations about her foal last year and I was devastated when it died during birth, due to a number of factors, he was premature and was dogsitting, she was a maiden and he just got crushed and couldn't survive. We were lucky we were there or we could also have lost her. It was also revealed later when she was scanned that there were signs of placentitis. I wasn't sure whether to try again but after talking with a lot of experienced friends and the vet I knew if I didn't try again now I never would and it was really just down to bad luck that she lost it. I said I'd let her tell me and if she took first time after than it was meant to be, which she did. I'm still having doubts even now but it's too late to do anything at this stage! She dropped very suddenly a few weeks ago and the vet came and gave her a course of antibiotics to reduce the risk of placentitis. She's still very dropped and looks like she's due next week but I think that it's to do with the fact that she's now been out of work for over 2 years and it's her second foal. Her udders were also slightly swollen last night so I think the vet will be coming out to check her again as she still has 5 weeks to go. She's on a stud balancer as she's a good doer and ad lib hay. I've kept very quiet about the foaling on HHO as I don't want to jinx anything but I do feel better after sharing and maybe we could do with some HHO good luck vibes.
 
I foaled my mare ina box about that size and she is 15.1 (TB type) and it was big enough for her, and had a big straw bed. I would personally either want them out in a nice big field or a suitably well protected/built shelter/barn/stable

Good luck!
 
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