Horses!!!!!!!!

[IrishAcreFarm]

Aha! Finally got a nice camera so I got outside and took a few pics of the horses.

I love nose pics, so cute!!!

 

[PBGGG]

Haha thanks. I had to take the pictures quickly though, Arizona tried biting the camera.

 

[ederob]

There are lots of good books and videos out there to show you what a normal birth looks like. If the birth isn't progressing normally then you call that vet you've got on standby. The mare will give you pretty good signs when she's close. Brush her or massage her and you might even feel the foal moving by now. Inspect and touch her udder every day. When she's close to birthing her udder will feel hard and drip milk. That's when you put your vet on alert. They're usually happy to help because they don't want any losses either.

I will definitely get in tough with the vet. I will start touching her udder and looking at it. I am so nervous!

My mare, the one that had to be euthanized cause of cancer. When we adopted her she was pregnant at age 22. She had a hard time and her and her colt almost died. Friends of ours checked on them before going to work, 4 am. He helped her and saved them both. She gained weight and muscle, but not enough to do it all on her own. However it was amazing to have a little one around. Felt bad for momma as she would try so hard to keep up but couldn't. Drove her nuts

Poor girl!

 

[ederob]

Your mare will need a larger stall for birthing and foal care. Foals are small but they rocket around like anything! Stall should be bedded with straw, not shavings. Foal comes out wet so shavings would stick to it. Yetch. They should probably hang out there for a day or two until the foal is a little stronger, then it can go outside for short periods, but not with any other horses than mum. It will need a securely fenced area, ideally a board fence, not electric, with the bottom board low enough to ensure it can't roll out. We left mum and foal together for a year, despite advice to wean early. Mum weaned the foal herself when she got sick and tired of it! By then the foal, we had a little filly, Hattie, will have found other occupations.

I have her in a large stall. I have shavings in the stall right now, but I will take them out. Thanks!

Another reason not to use shavings is that foals, like most kinds of babies, tend to put their mouths on everything. If a foal decides to eat the shavings (and some do) he can get an impaction. That can be a life-threatening situation.

Alright thanks!

White bubble is a good sign when in labor.
Red bubble mean really bad news! That means red bag and you must rip it open to get to the foal asap!
Unlike calving, you do not pull on legs to get foal out. You could pull the mares uterus out and that is not good. Let mare deliver on her own and only assist if needed and mare is in distress.
I highly advise you to watch u tube videos of good and bad births so you know what to watch out for.
Also with the teats, they will wax within a month or so before birthing. That is normal. Watch her milk. It should be yellow and sticky the closer she gets. Currently it should be cloudy clear and sticky.
Clean her teats off also. Make sure all is nice and clean down there so baby dont get a mouth full of dirty nasty guck. I also say to shave all around her teat inside legs and belly area so baby dont get mouth full of body hair and choke on it.
Also u tube what to shave so ya can see exactly what to shave.
When baby os born do not cut umbilical cord right away. Let it come off on its own. If its hrs later and foal still has it attached, then cut and iodine and clamp off area. After baby is born, and standing, help guide foal to nipple to drink that colostrum. It must get it! Dry baby off but also let mare groom and bond as its important to both.
Also babys come out with slippers on bottem of feet. Dont freak out. Its okay and normal. They will harden and fall off. Lol!

Again please watch as many videos as possible. Dont matter the size of equine or donkey/mule as birthing is the same.

Hope this helps

Alright thanks. I tried squirting milk our but nothing came out. She does not have a wax cover and she is due tomorrow. Should I be worried? Thanks for the red bubble advice! I will definitely watch out for that.

Can't pass up a chance to share our girls

We have two at the moment - both are primarily pleasure horses, and my daughter uses them for 4-H.

Aero (aka Lady Brave Heart during her short and unsuccessful life on the track) - a 9 year old TB mare. She is my daughter's horse - the two of them have grown up together since we brought Aero home for my daughter's 12th birthday.



(in the background is Holly Hula, a mini mare we had who foaled out a beautiful filly for us - both of whom were later sold to allow the addition of our second riding horse)

This is them warming up at last year's 4-H show


Which brings us to my little short-round, Yahzi - grade mare, estimated age somewhere around 12-15

really beautiful horses! I love the paint! lady brave heart is beautiful!

 

[Bunnylady]

I tried squirting milk our but nothing came out. She does not have a wax cover and she is due tomorrow. Should I be worried? Thanks for the red bubble advice! I will definitely watch out for that.

With horses, due dates are just an average. They can go earlier or later; it is far better that the foal be born "late" than early. While there are certain signs and behaviors that often indicate that the mare is getting close, the gals don't read the books, and each mare is different. Until you have experience with one particular mare, you can't know what she will do. Some mares wax up a lot; mini mares often don't wax at all. Some mares drip milk for days, a few don't really get a filled-in udder until the are very close. Maiden mares are particularly difficult to figure out, since they haven't a clue, either!

 

[heartsizedfarm]

I agree. Miki was over a week late and we knew her breeding date to the minute. I wouldn't try to express milk too much. That first milk is loaded with colostrum and necessary for the foal's antibodies.

 

[TherryChicken]

Ederob thank you, she was about 350-400 pounds underweight and hadd no muscles. We adopted her from houston spca and she is on tv every now and then.

 

[PBGGG]

Ugh, Arizona is being very bratty lately. Yesterday my dad went outside to pet them and such, and Arizona first bit him, then turned around and almost kicked him! Her legs were actually off the ground! Its weird because she was being such a sweet baby in the morning.

 

[Bunnylady]

How old is Arizona? Horses being herd animals, they observe a pecking order within their group. They include us in their "herd," and they don't always understand that we are at the top of that pecking order. This can be especially true with young horses.

When my mini Syd turned 2 years old, she decided that she wanted to be the "boss mare." My mini mule Betsy was OK with that, but when Syd tried to be the boss with me, I let her know that was a major mistake. We got that matter straight very quickly! Around here, we jokingly refer to Syd as "Syd, the Man-eating Mini," because over the years, she has tried to be the boss with everybody - especially children. I told my daughter (who was about 7 years old at the time), "I can tell Syd how to behave with me, and I can tell her that such behavior toward you won't fly when I'm around, but only you can tell Syd how to behave toward you when I'm not around. Syd is the kind that needs everybody to remind her that she's a horse, and humans always outrank her."

Syd has gotten a lot better over the years, and DD has been a large part of that. We did a pony party a few weeks ago, and one of my "mental snapshots" was of Syd standing with half a dozen small children petting her, and her behaving beautifully.

 

[PrettyHorsez]

This is not my horse, nor my photo i found it online but i thought i was beautiful.