Marestare - Mare looks like she is in labour (?)

Paint Me Proud said:
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Is it just me or does his white patch look a bit like a heart?
 
BSJAlove said:
tbh i feel sorry for the lady. she cant do anything right. she helps the mare. but shes doing it wrong. she checks on the foal. but she should leave him alone. she told us it was a colt. she shouldnt have told us. i think she done a bloody good job. well done to mare and foal and all those involved.
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This is the problem when you have a live webcam stream on the internet - you leave yourself open to criticism from anyone who can access it.

I can't personally pass comment as I'm not experienced in breeding/foaling, but seeing this birth it certainly made uncomfortable viewing.
 
BSJAlove said:
woa :( all she done was towel the foal down, which needed doing.
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No - I agreed with the intervention with the birth - mare was tired. But I would have left them alone once the foal was out a little longer. The mare would have cleaned the foal - doesn't need so much towelling. If they had been left alone as soon as the foal was out the umbilical cord may have stayed attached for a little while longer giving the foal a vital blood transfusion.

I really hope that they give them a few hours to bond now (under passive supervision). It's obviously necessary for the foal to get colostrum, but also really important for them to bond and for the foal to struggle to its feet on its own if it can.
 
lurcher98 said:
ive never seen one take so long to start moving
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Joey and Irish were exactly the same; she was very tired even though it had been a quick birth and he was just an idle sod who didn't want to get up even though he'd suck on anything that passed near him. When he did get up, TWO HOURS later, he didn't lurch or stagger once but went straight to the milk bar and latched on. Never had one so quick to know what and where he had to go or what to do. It sure beats the heart in the mouth times while they get up, stagger around, fall over and lurch about until they finally find the milk bar. Let's hope this boy's just as quick to learn.
 
Loving the fact that they helped the mare out when she was foaling but have now left her alone to get to know her baby!!! Could any of you have just stood back and not helped if she was your mare !!!!
 
jrp204 said:
We have been watching the mare, on and off since last evening, i don't blame them for helping her, she is obviously knackered as is the foal. Since the cost of not helping can often result in a foal/calf/lamb been born dead or brain damaged or taking on a whole load of fluid and getting pneumonia i would rather intervene. OK, to non farmers that may have looked brutal but i can assure i have seen far far worse.
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I'm a horse breeder and there was no risk of damage to this foal as far as I could see. It was a totally normal presentation and at the stage she started pulling backwards instead of downwards and against the contractions, not with them, there was no reason to intervene at that stage. I'd say that was a pretty brutal delivery for this mare.

And to answer the earlier question, no it is not usual for a foal to be as listless as this, however given the awful birth I'm not too surprised. Our foals are crawling around while their hind legs are still in their dams and they are all up by this stage. I presume the foal is incredibly tired at this point.
 
RatzFatz said:
Loving the fact that they helped the mare out when she was foaling but have now left her alone to get to know her baby!!! Could any of you have just stood back and not helped if she was your mare !!!!
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Maybe not in this instance, but I would have gone WITH the contractions. A big factor in this for me is that they intervene EVERY time and yank EVERY foal out - totally unnecessary IMO.

Agree entirely with Spring Feather.
 
Spring Feather said:
I'm a horse breeder and there was no risk of damage to this foal as far as I could see. It was a totally normal presentation and at the stage she started pulling backwards instead of downwards and against the contractions, not with them, there was no reason to intervene at that stage. I'd say that was a pretty brutal delivery for this mare.

And to answer the earlier question, no it is not usual for a foal to be as listless as this, however given the awful birth I'm not too surprised. Our foals are crawling around while their hind legs are still in their dams and they are all up by this stage. I presume the foal is incredibly tired at this point.
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^^^^^This! Much better put then I have just tried and deleted!
As a breeder this woman should know that if you are going to 'help' you go with the flow-you pull with the contraction never against.
 
Well. its no good, i only turned it on for 10mins after coming in from checking the ewes which are due to lamb, giving the twin rams born by C section at 5 this evening some colustrum and getting covered in blood from the ewes fleece (the vet didn't clean her up) and now its nearly midnight!! No doubt both these 2 will be looking rather different in the morning.
Night all.
 
Cobrastyle said:
This is the problem when you have a live webcam stream on the internet - you leave yourself open to criticism from anyone who can access it.

I can't personally pass comment as I'm not experienced in breeding/foaling, but seeing this birth it certainly made uncomfortable viewing.
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I agree with both comments here, but I do think she is being more closely scrutinised because it has become apparent that this is a NORMAL foaling for her, not an unusual, necessary intervention. People far more experienced than most of us have commented that the majority of foalings are trouble free and the mare copes perfectly well on her own. I have spent time lambing and it is much more intense, due to numbers, but even with sometimes several onoing at once, if the ewe can manage alone, she's left to it!
 
I don't think anyone is arguing that animals sometimes need help, but what happened then wasn't conducive to a productive and happy birth. The mare was clearly agitated by her interference and kept trying to get up, and she was pulling against the contractions, even laymen know that's wrong.
 
I'm a horse breeder and there was no risk of damage to this foal as far as I could see. It was a totally normal presentation and at the stage she started pulling backwards instead of downwards and against the contractions, not with them, there was no reason to intervene at that stage. I'd say that was a pretty brutal delivery for this mare.

Actually I did say i would rather she kept pressure on the pulling, not yanking and that she pulled downwards, which she then did as i was typing.
 
MM&PP said:
Maybe not in this instance, but I would have gone WITH the contractions. A big factor in this for me is that they intervene EVERY time and yank EVERY foal out - totally unnecessary IMO.

Agree entirely with Spring Feather.
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This is the first I've seen a foaling from there and if this is the norm then I won't watch again. I'm all for helping the mare if necessary but she wasn't a good helper for me, got stuck in far too quickly and harshly although I'm the first to agree that being an armchair critic is mightily different from being there yourself.
 
Mare looks utterly confused by the woman carrying the foal around the stable... Surely he's more likely to hurt himself panicing to get away from her?!?!??
 
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