Years ago a family in town wanted to go to their second home about 60-80 miles inland via snowmachine for Thanksgiving like they usually did and asked me to watch their Icelandic Horses since I had two of my own. They said they didn't know if one of their mares was pg or not and if she was, she'd deliver that weekend...I went over and fed and watered twice a day, one one day, the mare wanted me to know something, the others were standing at the far end of the property near the fence. The young mare kept trying to tell me something and I thought she just wanted to eat more but I'd already fed them twice that day. When the family got home, they called and told me that the mare had delivered and the colt was born so that it was tangled in the fence...I couldn't see it cause the other horses were like a wall in front of where the colt was.
Boy did I feel bad after that mare tried so hard to tell me...so NO, if it had been one of mine, I would definately would NOT have gone and I would have put that mare in the barn with the top half of the dutch door open and checked constantly, had straw bedding thickly placed and spent my entire weekend in the barn. I shouldn't have listened when the owners told me they thought she was just fat. Normally I listen to animals, not people and that time I didn't and regret it.
We did make sure we knew the next year when the same mare was impregnated and knew her due date so we walked her down to my barn and she delivered there with my two geldings to keep her company in the corral. I left the top half of the dutch door open and monitored her and the colt, ensuring nothing happened that would cause another disaster. The mare and colt stayed a week and my geldings enjoyed their company, too
They did have their own twice as big stable area but I can't remember if the ducks, chickens and geese were in theirs or why they didn't want to use their own barn/stable.
