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Roxy (195.92.168.171)
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 05:46 am: | 
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Hi,
I am in the UK, and have only bred one horse before, a TB mare,8 years ago, text book case, did everything on time, waxed in the morning and delivered the same night. I am a real novice, and can't remember back 8 years for all the finer details.
Purchased a coloured cob mare at the beginning of last July. She is rising 6 yo,around 15h, very well built, and by the look of her udders, had already had at least one previous foal.
Suspected she was pregnant in January, Vet confirmed she was by rectal on 23rd Jan, and said she was between 5 and 9 months. She had to be around 7 months, because that's how long I had had her, and she most certainly did not get pregnant while she was with me.
Since then, I have managed to contact the people she came from and they said she was running with a 2 year old, 15.2, heavy black cob colt, "around May time". That's the best date I could get.
She did have a short period of around 2 weeks between "homes" - at the dealers yard, before she was delivered to me, but she was certainly pregnant before she went there. So, as far as I can say for sure, is that she was bred before 20th June.
She has been shaping up for a some months, with slack muscles either side of her tail, and a VERY soft long vulva (although I do not know about what to look for as far as the colour is concerned). It is very soft and flabby, and looks swollen.
She already had something of an udder and nothing changed with that, until the end of March, when she started to fill up and get much bigger. Some days she looks more like a cow than a horse, but I have only noticed that the last couple of days the teats have looked fuller.
I have been staying with her for the last week, because I don't know the exact date in May when she was bred, and at 3.40am last Monday morning, she started stamping,pacing,digging the straw, and was sweating a lot. I assumed she was "on her way" and observed from a distance. She went down and stayed down for around 45 minutes, grunting, but not straining, and lying on her side, and then up on her sternum. Her water bag did not break. She got up at about 6am, decided it was time for breakfast, and that was that!
The vet checked her and said she could feel the foals head, and that it was placed ok, and that she was ok, and she would be "any time".
Up until now I have seen no wax or milk.
A few days later, she took her self into her stable, at 2 in the afternoon (she is out at pasture during the day, but has access to the well bedded stable at all times) - which is very unusual - she loves to be out eating grass! I just went in to see her, and she was sweating down her neck, legs, and chest, and looked very unhappy. Again, she went down, and lay alternately on her side and up on her sternum for another hour, then she got up, ate her tea, and had a peaceful night - I was there for all of it!
Since then, she has been relatively quiet, eating very very well, and spends a lot of time lying down during the night.
The vet said that they could give her something to "help her along", but as I am not completely sure of the date she was actually bred, I am not convinced that this would be the right thing to do. Also she still is not showing any milk or wax.
She is bringing me to the point of hairlessness!
Something else I should mention, which is causing me some concern is the fact that one week after I got her, my other mare, who was very anti-social, and kept separately from the others because of this, broke into her field for the sole purpose of attacking her, and opened up her leg to the tune of 40 stitches, and gave her a slab fracture, which it took 3 months to recover from. Needless to say, the injury caused the mare to have all the relevant painkillers,sedatives,x-rays and drugs necessary to bring about the recovery. All at a time when she was between 1 and 2 months pregnant. I am concerned about the effect these drugs might have had on either the placenta, or the foals development. The vet just said "if she didn't slip it, it should be ok". That does not help.
Sorry this is such a long tale, but I feel that any input from anyone would be helpful.
Could she have had a couple of "warning" shots at labour, or is this quite natural?
Could she foal before she shows any milk or wax, even though I believe this to be at least her second foal?
Does anyone know of any side effects which could be caused to the placenta or the foal from the medication administered in the first trimester of the pregancy?
What else can I be looking for as a sign of foaling - everything is slack and loose - all her muscles around her back end, she is concave in front of her hip bones, but it would take a lot to make her look thin - she is a big cob mare, and she is fed well. Her vulva is so long, loose and flabby, I don't believe it can get any slacker!
She has no milk for me to test - and I wouldn't know how to go about milking her. She accepts her udder being cleaned every evening, but is a little more against it being touched in the morning. She is too placid to kick or bite, but she threatens to when I check her udders in the morning. The are always hard and full, but very slightly less so when she comes in from pasture in the evening. The teats look full in the morning, but less so at night.
The weather here is not bad. Around 9 degrees at night, and anything from 14-18 degrees during our spring days.
I think I have covered everything! All comments suggestions and help would be very much appreciated (If anyone has the time to read this monologue!)
Thanks
Roxy |
Alison (203.59.82.163)
| | Posted on Sunday, April 28, 2002 - 11:48 am: |
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I don't know how much this will help Roxy, but a vet had to administer anti-coagulant drugs to my pregnant mare when she was about 9half months. The drugs could have cased placental bleeding and separation. Separation of the placenta means the foal gets reduced support from the mare's system and, if severe the foal can die. I too was told that if there wasn't a problem faily quickly that the pregnancy would probably go along all right. The mare foaled approx three weeks after the expected due date. The foal was fairly thin, but perfectly healthy. Six weeks on and my foal is growing like a weed and is fat and healthy.
As a purely personal opinion, if the vet thinks the mare is OK I wouldn't stress too much about what the mare is doing. It seems that mares go about foaling in a million different ways. Mine showed NO signs of preparing to foal, so by the time she was 3 weeks overdue I was practically hysterical because I was so sure something was wrong. Hope this has been some comfort. |
Roxy (195.92.194.18)
| | Posted on Monday, April 29, 2002 - 03:25 am: |
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Alison,
thanks so much for your reply. I have just got back from another night watch, and although she was uncomfortable, nothing materialised. Still no milk or wax, but massive udders!
Your reply helped greatly.
Roxy |
Alison (203.59.82.237)
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2002 - 10:52 am: |
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Roxy I,m looking forward to hearing good news from you. Had to laugh at your description of spring weather. Here in Australia it was 31degrees today and we are well into autumn. Hope you survive the cold night watches. Best of luck |
Roxy (195.92.194.15)
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 02:58 am: |
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Alison,
lucky you! Freezing last night - well it felt freezing, sitting in my car, in the dark, tired..........
Still nothing
Roxy |
ELizabeth Hardy (12.38.198.125)
| | Posted on Thursday, May 02, 2002 - 09:23 am: |
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You Guys are talking freezing Temps... I wish it was cooler here Dallas TX. Yesterday it hit 92 and it is only May... It looks like it will be a long hot summer and my poor mare will not foal til Sept/Oct.
Good luck with your mare |
alison (202.165.67.252)
| | Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2002 - 09:17 pm: |
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Roxy, What is happening over there? I hope you aren't still hanging about in your car every night. Hope all is well. |
roxy
| | Posted on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 09:15 am: |
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So sorry - it all happened and I completely forgot to update the board! Still, 10 months late is better than never, I suppose!
My mare had a beautiful HUGE coloured filly at 3.40 on the morning of 7th May 2002.
She needed a little help to deliver the shoulders, but apart from that everything was fine, and she is a wonderful mum.
Even now, 10 months later, I remember every second of it like it was yesterday!
The filly is a typical heavy colored cob filly - more hair than legs, and has been weaned, gone through her first winter, and is growing into a fine, well-balanced individual. She has a black body, white legs, and a big white face. As you can probably tell, I am very, very proud of her.
So sorry I forgot to tell you about it. |
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