The "My mare waited 'till I'd turned my back to foal" Threads.......

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Alec Swan

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This is really just carrying on from another thread on here. A week or so ago, I met up with a very experienced repro vet, at a Newmarket stud. He said that, when at this stud, he'd witnessed, on camera, a mare start the foaling process, and then as soon as they've heard the back door open, they've shut down, and stopped.

I'm slowly reaching the conclusion that cameras aren't just in place for the comfort of the "watcher", but for the mare too. Once the serious contractions start, then that's the time to put in an appearance. That said I once foaled a mare, out, and it was dusk. As I walked away, to give her some space, she followed me where ever I went. So I stayed with her, but all so often mares want to be alone.

Am I right, anyone?

Alec.
 
my mare definitely wanted to be alone, she foaled almost a month early, showing no signs beforehand, in the field, in the middle of the night! Gave everyone a fright - a lot do seem to be popping early this year though.
 
Totally agree Alec. We never ever go to the mares, or even into the stables, until they are in full labour. Webcams have to be one of the greatest resources on a stud farm because it allows us all to watch but not disturb until there is no going back for the mare.

I'm not an irritable person generally but speaking frankly, yes it does frustrate me somewhat when I hear of people "just going down for a look" every time the mare rolls or paws.
 
Good thoughts Alec - would be great to know for certain wouldnt it?! Can only imagine everyone will have an exception to the rule though, so maybe it depends on the mare - and to a certain extent what they are used to?

My example, this year my mare was out in a paddock by herself all day - I went to fetch her in (she was waiting patiently at the gate as per 'normal') and within 2-3 mins of being in and while I was still with her she just dropped on the floor and pushed him out! Was she 'waiting' for company? For a straw bed?! To be away from the pony in field next door? Her paddock was right by the house and all afternoon she had ben calm and grazing... This is a mare who has only ever foaled in a foaling barn at a TB stud before, so very well used to having people taking a keen interest of every step of the labour...

I would be fascinated to know - but I wonder whether we ever will?!
 
I agree that most mares will want to be alone, but Seren lay down on my makeshift bed to start foaling, and most definately wanted me there!
 
I've always said that 90% of the time getting the tail bandage on a mare is like the kiss of death. As in it will stop her in her tracks and she'll go back to sleep. That said, it's not often I've foaled anything without a tail bandage on and I've only ever missed one foaling and that was because I was busy foaling another mare (red bag delivery) at the other end of the barn.
 
Rosehip said:
I agree that most mares will want to be alone, but Seren lay down on my makeshift bed to start foaling, and most definately wanted me there!
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Well you were sleeping in her stable so she didn't really have much choice :D

I do have one mare who will call to me when she is ready but she is very much the exception.
 
its obvious that any prey animal is going to be vulnerable at birthing time, hence most mares foal at night and it follows that they may have some preservation capacities to temporarily delay the birth even if contractions have started, but having said that humans start and stop contractions but perhaps not for the exact same reasons.

we all have noticed most mares preference for foaling alone, so make your presence known hang around in the night then think, sod it i'm going for a cup of tea, it works most times, come back 10 minutes later, mare is in labour
 
When I worked in Australia.. the mares foaled outdoors... They were in 2 floodlit paddocks at night.. and were used to the nightwatch staff going in and out with the quad to check them etc.... When a mare broke water they were then taken into an individual yard that backed onto the paddock to foal down so they could do so on their own.
One of the nightwatch staff used to put them in the yard if they looked a bit uncomfortable or were doing lots of marching around etc....

I have to say by that person doing that... we had a hell of a lot of daytime foalings!!! It is my belief They used to switch off completely because they had been disturbed.. and felt comfortable enough to get on and foal during the day. I'd say almost a quarter of our mares foaled during the day last year (that's out of around 150 mares!).
Obviously there are a few mares that do like to foal during the day - a good few do seem to follow the trend over there).. which i suppose is nice to think they feel safe and relaxed enough to!!??
 
One oif my mares refuses to foal if you are around. I have literaly had staring contests with ehr out in the little paddock where she wanted to foal, waited for me to disappear for 5 minutes and lay down and popped the foal out, and looked very smug when I peeked back over the fence.
One of my Trakehner mares really likes to have the moral support of her humans there
 
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