stabling when foaling?

[LadyRascasse]

i am very new to breeding (ok i have never bred a foal) i know you need a very large box to foal in. but how do you keep the stable foal safe? what bedding is best straw/shavings/paper? what about haynets/haybar? and water buckets?

just interested in the safest way to foal down?

 

[Enfys]

i am very new to breeding (ok i have never bred a foal) i know you need a very large box to foal in. but how do you keep the stable foal safe? what bedding is best straw/shavings/paper? what about haynets/haybar? and water buckets?

just interested in the safest way to foal down?

When you say very large what kind of size are you thinking? It all depends on the size of the mare of course. I'd love to foal my mares down outside, but my Vet would hate me if I had to call him out at 3am, mid March with snow still on the ground and minus temps. Comfort, convenience, power and water all the way for me.
My foaling boxes are 20' x 11' plenty of room for most mares to bimble about in, but regardless of size, a lot of them do like to jam the business end in a corner!

Safety? I take everything out. Water bucket is rubber with no handles, on the floor. Hay is on the floor.

Bedding? My stalls are bedded down with shavings, but when the mare is due to foal I just top it with a few bales of straw, shavings tends to stick to foals, after the first day I whip all the straw back out - hate the stuff.

I wouldn't use paper as it does get very soggy, but again, I don't like paper either, just a personal thing. I am quite sure that loads of people use it with no problems whatsoever.

I don't bank walls either.

 

[minime]

I always put straw down a week or so before the foal is due as it is much better ( as said by enfys shavings stick to umbilical cord.) My foaling box is two stables in one. No haynets and only rubber buckets with handles removed. They do prefer to give birth outside if possible which is much easier for all. I spent the month of May sleeping in the stables waiting for the big moments and all three gave birth during the day. One in the pouring rain whilst I went for a quick bite at lunchtime, one at 10.30 on the gravel outside the stables whilst I was out riding and the last at 9.30 as soon as I put her out. (it was almost like she had her legs crossed and was waiting to get out)
NONE OF MY MARES SHOWED ANY SIGNS OF BEING IN LABOUR.

 

[Holly831]

My foaling boxes are 12 x 16 and give plenty of room to work around mare and foal - provided the mare co operates and doesn't stick her bum in the corner to foal Once the foal is a few days old they move into my normal boxes which are 12 x 14.

I only use straw to foal on as shaving can be sucked back into the mares uterus during delivery and can cause infections.

I remove my huge water buckets and replace them with rubber skips but I do have 'hay bars (Eezihays) in all my boxes. I would never use haynets with foals as they are a serious accident waiting to happen.

 

[Alexart]

We deep litter ours for a week or so before - just skip out the poo and the worst wet bits and keep adding lots of clean stuff everyday so it's nice and deep and more difficult to dig up - so when the mare starts faffing about she doesn't end up on concrete also helps keep the dust down. We take everything out way before she is due and just put the haylage in a corner on the floor and take out what she spreads about in the morning! We have automatic water drinkers as drowning in water buckets does happen, and the boxes are 23 x 16 so plenty of space!

We have had them foal out during the day in a small foaling paddock, I just get my deck chair out and watch from a distance! I've only foaled 2 out at night - warm still moonlit night and I have sat out and watched - but I would only do it if the mare is experienced and you know how she reacts to the whole process and she is easy to handle if anything goes wrong and you have a stable ready very nearby.