which yard would you choose for your foal to be born at?

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tillyd

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Hello, my mare is due to foal first week June, and I have two options as to where to send her. They are each completely different, and have pros and cons - which would you choose?
Yard 1
Knowledgeable yard owner
Very busy competition yard - lots of comings and goings, traffic, horseboxes etc etc. Prob about 40-50 horses on site.
Two other mares due to foal there - one in April, one in June. My mare already knows one of these. Both mare owners nice and normal.
Mare would foal in a large straw barn. YO would sit up/make use of foaling alarm/ring me if anything happened.
Yard large enough that at weaning time both could stay on same yard - mare could just be moved to a field out of neighing easrshot etc.
However, yard is a little, erm, untidy/scruffy/rundown - don't think there's anything actually dangerous there, but its certainly not the prettiest, and things like worming are a bit haphazard. Plus the turnout field for mares and foals is pretty poached.

Yard 2
Knowledgeable yard owner.
Very quiet, self contained private yard - just 6 boxes. Beautufully managed, very tidy, worming very thorough etc.
Little/no passing traffic etc.
One other mare there due to foal, beginning April - owner is odd.
Mare would foal in large rubber matted stable.
At weaning either mare or foal would need to relocate to another yard.
I would need to sit up (potentially a problem as I will have my day job to do still).
Nearer my home than other yard.

My main concern is which 'atmosphere' is best for foal -somewhere quiet and peaceful with lots of one on one handling, or somewhere with exposure to lots of hectic comings and goings.
What do you think?
 
I'm afraid if it were me I would not use first one. Haphazard worming routines and poor turnout are not good for babies, unless you could improve this.

Re second one, depends what oddness the owner has, if your mare and foal are going to be in a field with her two what sort of things may she do? Also will be very hard for you sitting up night after night if you work days too.

Edited to say I would not foal down on anything but a very deep bed of straw either.

No other alternatives? Perhaps on a specialist stud?
 
I would prefer the busier yard with more to see but as mentioned the poor turnout and haphazard worming would put me off . If you can resolve those issues I would chose the first yard.
 
yes I do agree with you re the worming and field - it does worry me. My vet however, knows this yard, and thinks its ok.

Sorry - would obv have straw bedding in the stable at the other yard if we were there. Or actually mare could foal outside there if I wanted, as field is very safe.

Mare owner on that yard is just odd as in I imagine she could be a nightmare to deal with on a daily basis if your horse is out with her. I can't put my finger on exactly what she'd do!

Sending to stud is an option I suppose but anywhere suitable is quite a long way away, and I would miss out on handling etc due to that.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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Yard two.

Organise your work so that they are aware that at short notice you will be asking for leave once the foal is born.

Sitting up shouldn't be too onorous - the YO being knowledgeable will help you with what signs to look out for, so hopeuflly you won't be doing it longer than a week or so (and there is always weekends to catch up).

Rubber matting is fine - just get a good straw bed on top of it.

Or send it to stud.

Where is the mare now??
 
I would go for yard 2.
Last year I spent 10 night sleeping in the barn with the mare waiting for baby to arrive - but still managed to get to work every day - and i was completely DIY

It can be done.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks - it is lovely, I'm just worried about the foal not seeing enough of life and the big wide world.

[/ QUOTE ]

It doesn;t need to see the big wide world - it just needs to be safe, happy and in a good environment.
 
See I would probably opt for yard 1. But I would take responsibility for my own worming and would see if the field could be rolled and prepared a bit, even if it meant paying extra. I think yard 1 will be far less stressful come weaning time, and with 2 playmates for the foal plus get to see comings and goings.
 
thanks - yes that's what I'm erring towards at the moment - see i I can do anything with the field, as that's my biggest worry as can see that potentially being unsafe. I don't know how easy it will be to do though, and how the YO would take me suggesting it.
 
I'd stay at yard 2... yard one sounds a bit too busy for my liking and there would be a greater lack of control as to the things your mare / foal will come into contact with (in terms of germs amongst other things)

Just to put your mind ata rest re the 'seeing the big wide world' thing, both of my youngsters came from a field / barn history with minimal handling and minimal goings on and been moved to a busy working farm with industrial units - mechanics, highway repairs firm and a skip hire company and have taken all the strange goings on completely in their stride!
 
Okay, have experience of both options. We like to breed from a couple of super brood mares we have but my sister and I (who own the horses) both work full time so need to rely on quality studs for the foaling-down and time consuming care of young progeny.
Our first foal was born at a well known and reliable stud, the girls that work there are incredibly knowledgeable and sooo helpful. It is a little untidy and scruffy around the edges (hence why I don't want to name them) and you do have to run around doing a few jobs yourself, but they came highly recommended and were brilliant with our then maiden mare.
This year we used the well-known Quainton Stud and they have a very tidy smart yard and Ness who runs it is amazing (try and out smart her with a question - you can't, I tried, lol).
The two foals that were born in to the two very different yards are both from the same mare but different sires, however I feel that they both came home to us in slightly different mind sets. The one from the first yard was very quite, easy to handle but still easily startled and a little skitish. He is 2 now and growing into himself, he is now on our busy little yard and seems to have settled, he is doing well. In contrast the foal from the busy stud was slighty easier to handle from a young age and he is very very bold (which can be a bit of a pain at times as he likes to follow us anywere even if that is into the portaloo, lol). He settled quicker into our yard on arrival but he is a lot more bolshy and needs reminding of his manners more. I guess time will tell how they both turn out in the long run, but I think both options are good. In my experience I'd say go with your gut, you have to trust these people to deliver your little bundle of joy and you need to be confident in them and their facilities/experience/equipment.
Well that's my 2 cents worth, don't know how useful it is...
 
thanks Hefty - that is really useful. Mare is a bit opinionated and I think (I could be proved wrong!) that foal may need some 'squashing' which was another reason I thought maybe yard 1, where there are two foals (the one mare at yard 2 is very meek and mild and I imagine her foal would be the one to be bossed around, not the one doing the bossing!)

If I was going to send her away, which I prob won't as I want to be able to handle foal myself every day, I would consider Quainton - Ness is great!
 
um something in between the two?! failing that the second one for health reasons, haphazzard worming would really worry me as would the volume of horses coming and going on such a yard.
 
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