HELP! My newly bought mare is in foal =(

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lauraheads

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I bought a horse about 3 weeks ago. I posted on here about her being a little underweight and I got some good advice.

But she has absolutely blossomed and yesterday I saw her belly "kick" her teats have began to drop. I really don't know what to do with her as she was bought to live out over summer. I have never had a foal before and not sure of the general protocols that go on. She isnt bagging up and isnt waxing up yet. I could ideally do with selling her as she isnt in a suitable field/home to have a foal, but secretly I'd love a foalie!!

So what to do now?! Just let her carry on in the field?
 
Hi

If you have no experiance or you are not prepared then I would recommend that you find a local stud that can do the work for you. A lot of the time foaling goes to plan with no problems, however there are a lot of things that can go wrong and you will need to have some knowlage of when to do if this does happen.

good luck.

The little one are:) great!
 
First step - as others have said - is to get her scanned by a vet that is no stranger to Equine Repro!!! A GOOD repro vet will not only be able to confirm she IS in foal but will also be able to give you a rough idea of when the potentially happy day is!

I would also get in touch with the previous owners (once pregnancy is confirmed) and ask them if they have ANY idea when a colt/stallion might have got to her! Chances are they don't KNOW she's in foal - so I wouldn't go screamingthe odds - be nice (at least until you find out as much as you can about when and who the father might be!)

Mares CAN foal all alone in a field - they can also die there - or produce a dead foal that could have been saved with proper attention!!

If youcan get an approximate due date,then you want her at a good stud 6 weeks in advance. With keep and foaling fee, about £700 at a guess (depending on how accurate your estimate of foaling date is.) Very cheap - when compared to a mare needing urgent veterinary attention and/or a dead foal.
 
Thanks for all the advice, Im in Blackpool. I cant really afford that sort of money, esp after buying a new horse!

I will have to see what the vet says. Otherwise I think I will have to find a new home for her =(

Its really upsetting as she is a lovely a lovely black mare, and I bet she'll throw a coloured because her dad and brother are coloureds. If she has the foal I will not want to sell the foal and then i'll be in a real mess!
 
I know of a very small stud place that is about an hour's drive from Blackpool, near Robinsons if that helps. They aren't fancy by any stretch of the imagination but may be able to help you.
 
Congratulations anyway! Beatrice on here was in the same boat and she has now got a lovely filly foal. See what your vet says and do a crash course in reading up on it. Lots of people do foal them down at home, as long as you can do a proper foal watch and your vet isn't too far away you should be fine. I only sent my mare to stud when she went 5 weeks over and my vet was concerned about her.
 
But I'd better add that I did have an emergency fund in case it all went pear chaped, and I imagine when I get the vets bill that will be it all gone.
 
Hello, only me :)

Yes I did find myself in the same boat and yes so far we have all survived. I read tonnes of books, pestered loads of people with silly questions and went on a couple of courses run by vets one of which was free.

I have so far been very lucky and my mare foaled in her field shelter ( we don't have stables either) in mid March bloody freezing at 2 am I can tell you . So far bar the sharp stick in heel incident we just had, little one ( Henna) is all there and rather lovely :)

I too could not afford stud livery fees but did insure my mare with NFU who did cover any foaling complication to the mare which gave me some peace of mind and cost £30 a month.

If it's a summer baby then you can do it in the field and if you are with her and have the vet on standby you have someone on hand if needed. You need to make a nice local experienced horse breeding friend to act as mentor and this lot of HHO are pretty good too ( there is the odd hyper critical one though so beware !)

Feel free to PM me if you want a chat - It's all a bit confusing and overwhelming when you first find out . But getting some more info from the old owners may well be helpful I had to go back over 7 different owners to get the full story on my mare and she was only 5 when I got her last year - Bless her.
 
This happened to me as well, only worse as I didn't know she was in foal until I came down in the morning and found the little dear waiting for me. Quite a shock I can tell you ! The mare was clever enough to tell me that she was ready to foal, it was October & a bit chilly and she was constantly following me around the field when I went to pooh pick. I had planned to start bringing her in at night anyway in a few weeks and I just thought she was a bit cold & fed up so I brought her in and she had the foal that night ! Despite no planning at all & completely unsupervised she gave birth to a really lovely filly.

It will be somewhat difficult to sell a mare in foal by an unknown stallion. So I would suggest that you try to find a way to keep her. Is there anyone you could ask for advice & or help locally ? It doesn't have to cost a fortune. Perhaps you could move her to a different yard where they have better facilities for foaling/youngsters and can offer you some guidance as well, & perhaps would be willing to be "on call" once she goes in labour.

You can sell the foal at weaning if you don't want to keep it, (which will be at 6 months or ideally a bit older) if it turns out to be nice you may even make a small profit out of it as you have not had to pay vet or stud fees up to this point. Another option would be to sell the mum at weaning & keep the foal, but you will have no horse to ride for 3 years, cute or not & if you are not experienced then dealing with a youngster may not be the best idea. It may turn out to be not suitable for you to ride (e.g. too sharp) as any foal is an unknown quantity and a gamble.

Make sure you are insured and read the small print, most reputable companies cover vets fees for normal foaling just in case there is a real problem. Although the foal will not normally be covered.

Good luck !
 
lauraheads said:
Thanks for all the advice, Im in Blackpool. I cant really afford that sort of money, esp after buying a new horse!

I will have to see what the vet says. Otherwise I think I will have to find a new home for her =(

Its really upsetting as she is a lovely a lovely black mare, and I bet she'll throw a coloured because her dad and brother are coloureds. If she has the foal I will not want to sell the foal and then i'll be in a real mess!
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What happened to your lovely grey? I'm afraid horses are always expensive and I'm surprised you are so ready to move her on. If there is any time she needs standing by it is now! Lots of kind offers on here and I'll offer some grazing if you are really stuck - I'm local to you.
 
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