Mare foaled six days ago- strange episode !

[frozzy]

My friends little mare foaled six days ago (thats another story!) no problems and foal feeding and very healthy.
My friend just rushed into the house as she thought her mare was dying!. She took her a small feed and the mare took a mouthful then passed two lots of droppings in quick succession and dropped to the floor and kept curling her lip. She wasnt heaving, wasnt distressed and wasnt trying to roll. She got to her feet and the lip curling continued. She then dropped to the floor again and got up again a couple of minutes later. We washed around the mares mouth and the lip curling lessened and eventually within ten minutes she was looking for the rest of her feed !
The only thing I have seen resembling this was a mare at a show with a foal at foot and the owners had put baby oil on the mares udder and the foal wouldnt feed so the mares udder got very full and the mare collapsed and stayed on the ground. A vet was called and gave the mare an injection of (I think) zinc and she quickly recovered.
Any ideas what might have caused this type of behaviour ? I was set to call the vet but the mare is fine now and mares owner not keen to have an unneccessary bill.

 

[Bennions Field]

could the mare have taken an overlarge mouthfull and swallowed it too quick? my geldiing does this sometimes and then bows right down at the front end. he had collic surgery around 3 years ago and when i spoke to the leahurst vets they said it was possibly just he had tried to take too much down his gullet in one go. it does pass but he lip curls and bows for a few minutes. to prevent this he has a salt lick (round hymalayan type) in his bucket to slow him down. he's also fed a forage only diet nowadays, no corn / nuts, which also helps.

hope the mare is ok, but to be honest it sounds worst than my gelding and quite alarming, if she did it again i would speak to your vet as a matter of precaution. best of luck

 

[Spring Feather]

Just as a precaution, has the mare been checked post-foaling to make sure she does not have a uterine infection? Uterine infections can take hold quite quickly and can present in a similar fashion to what you are describing.

 

[JanetGeorge]

My friend just rushed into the house as she thought her mare was dying!. She took her a small feed and the mare took a mouthful then passed two lots of droppings in quick succession and dropped to the floor and kept curling her lip. She wasnt heaving, wasnt distressed and wasnt trying to roll. She got to her feet and the lip curling continued. She then dropped to the floor again and got up again a couple of minutes later. We washed around the mares mouth and the lip curling lessened and eventually within ten minutes she was looking for the rest of her feed !

When did this happen in relation to foaling?? If it was shortly afterwards, had the mare cleansed. Mares DO show some odd behaviours when they have cramps trying to dislodge the placenta.

 

[frozzy]

This episode happened as posted when the foal was six days old. Mare cleansed within the hour and the placenta was complete when checked (we always lay them out and check that they are ). There has been no repetition of this episode and both mum and foal remain fine. We are of the opinion that it was food related (she is a greedy mare) but did not present as choke. Just strange!