I have a 15 year old pregnant mare who is 6 months pregnant. We bought her 3 months ago and we were told that she has never been stalled. She gets very anxious when confined to a stall and I am concerned about this when it comes time for her to foal. She is due during January or February and it will be quite cold (for Texas). We don't stall her now - she grazes all day over our 3 acres. Can I let her have her foal where she grazes, or do I need to confine her to a stall for her safety and that of the foal's?
Thanks.
S Smith Posted From: 65.118.224.162
Posted on Friday, October 03, 2003 - 07:23 am:
It depends on how cold you're talking. If it will be in the 40's & 50's, she could foal outside without a problem. If it gets below freezing down there, then there is a possibility you could lose the foal if it is born outside. My next question is how big is your stall? For a mare to foal in a stall, it should be a minimum of 12x20, bigger if possible. Sometimes a mare will do a lot of thrashing around and you should make sure neither her or the foal could get hurt. If your stall is that large or larger, I would start putting her in for a few hours at a time, then slowly increase it. When she is about a week away from foaling, leave her in most of the time and just give her short turn outs. Good Luck! I'm from Michigan, so it's difficult to have January/February foals.
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