hi! i have a mare that is almost 20 and she had a colt back in August. we lost the baby 3 days later, but we never bred her back. We thought maybe 20 was too old to have a baby.. is it? also how late in the year are they supposed to still come in season? she was moved the other day and she backed up to our stud and winked and lifted her tail and was trying really hard to get bred. we wouldn't let her, because we were worried about her age.... how late in the year are they supposed to be able to come into season? we live in South Carolina. Thanks!
Renee Posted From: 202.92.102.220
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 07:20 pm:
Outlawpaints, your mare will come into season all through summer, and the warmer months, i am not sure what the weather is like there (as i am in australia) but when it starts to cool down, she will stop. Has she foaled before? Do you know the reason of death for her last colt? If she foaled ok, and seemed to carry the foal fine, then she should be ok to foal again, if a mare is too old then they will usually have problems being tfertile enough to get in foal, and they tend to have problems during the pregnancy more so than the actual foaling. So my guess would be that she is not too old at all if she carried it ok, and foaled ok, then your loss of your last colt was mere bad luck, which unfortunately happens in this game!!
outlawpaints Posted From: 64.53.77.60
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 08:39 pm:
Thanks Renee... it has been cold here for about a month.. we live in South Carolina... it hasn't been really cold, but down into the high 20's at night and Low 30's and then in the 60's during the day. She has had alot of foals. probably 8 or so... the foal that we had last was a dummy foal the vet said. it was unable to nurse. we don't know other than that. she is a "natural" mom. she loves babies. maybe we will cover her this spring.
Renee Posted From: 202.92.102.220
Posted on Monday, November 29, 2004 - 11:10 pm:
Oh ok. I had a dummy foal as my first foal for this season. He was stuck in the birth canal for more than 2 hours, yet managed to survive. When he came out he was dummy. And my mare is only six.These dummy foals can sometimes reverse their brain damage (normally within 24hours) otherwise they are put down, for the exact reason your little bloke didnt make it, because they are deprived of the instinct to drink from the mare, and eventually die from starvation, infection(they didnt get their colustrum), or just being too weak. It is the saddest thing to see. My little colt was one of the exceptions that did reverse his brain damage, but later died from toxins being in his liver and kidneys (the "infection" that i mentioned) as the mare had no milk, and the vet couldnt get her hands on any colustrum, so we double dosed him with plasma. But unfortunately his traumatic birth, and his being dummy, didnt lean the odds in his direction, and we too lost him. So the age of the mare really doesnt have anything to do with these dummy foals, they are normally born dummy beacuse of lack of oxygen to the brain (being in the birth canal for too long), and as in my case, it can happen to any mare. She has had four foals before, and never a problem, but she is now back in foal as a dummy is just a dose (a big one!!) of bad luck. I hope you do cover your mare again this spring, as if she is such a good mum, and we all love these little babies, it would be such a shame for both of you to miss out!! GOODLUCK!
outlawpaints Posted From: 64.53.77.60
Posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 09:05 am:
sorry to hear about your loss too. Our mare had been looking like she was going to give birth for several weeks, you know udder tight and all, and we had already seperated her and put her in a small pasture where we could keep an eye on her about a month prior to this. She had the option of either a stall or pasture to foal in. anyway.... I took her out and put her on the lead line and walked her around and let our 2 & 4 yr old ride her around in the yard, later that afternoonshe started dripping milk and that night about 10:00 she had the baby. it almost makes me think i did something wrong. I had just checked her like 20 minutes before and the next time i looked out the baby was on the ground and out of the sac and she was standing there looking at it. I dont know if she had problems with the birth or not, but it evidently did not take that long to have it because he was already out of the sac and up on his sternum....Then when he got up he started "wandering" almost immediately. he tried to nurse, but couldn't find it and we tried to help, but that did no good. he just kept on walking and walking. we called the vet at 2 hrs and they came out and milked the colostrum out and tubed him and gave it to him... he was up and running around and nursing the next couple of hours and running the next day, but by the end of that day he was getting where he couldn't stand. i guess he was beginning to be septic. we tried to nurse him with a bottle and nothing worked, vet came out again and said to put him down so we did. he was very beautiful. I am going to try and cover her with our stud this year and see what happens. hopefully we wont be in for the same sad event this year. we have two other mares especting in May. Wish us luck!!!! Do you have any others in foal? Thanks and look forward to hearing from you again...
Renee Posted From: 202.92.102.220
Posted on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - 07:07 pm:
You didnt do anything wrong. I dont think that the small amount of exercise you gave her would have made a difference either way. Like i said earlier, these Dummy foals are really just bad luck. It is sad though isnt it? It may have just been a birth defect or something if she didnt take long to have it. But when you get to see them running around and looking healthy, it gives you false hope, then its all the more devistating when they do go back down hill. Our little bloke was in the wrong position, he had his neck bent back, and i breed mini's, so there isnt alot of room in there to reach in and correct the position. We tried and tried and tried, but the mares contactions kept getting stronger, and pushing further into her pelvis which gave us even less room. We ended up having to drug the mare right out so her contractions would stop, and because we thought the foal was dead, it was just the case of saving the mare then , and getting the foal out. Another vet (the third!!) came out and used callipers (like a big clamp that goes in the foals mouth and pulls him out by the bottom jaw) which worked, but when we finally got the foal out, he had a good strong heart beat, just breathing very poorly. He couldnt stand, move his ears, blink, suck... he had absolutely no reflexes what so ever. But as i said by morning he had reversed his brain damage, and was standing, and drinking from a bottle (the mare had no milk) and was improving out of site!! But on the third day, the vet came out and drenched him (which in hindsight i think was not needed) and some overflowed into his lungs, and he got fluid in his lungs, and i rushed him off to the vet clinic, where he just went down hill, and began his kidneys and lungs failing. It was the saddest thing, he looked so promising, and it all seemed to go downhill after the vet drenched him. I will always wonder if he would have survived had she not, he had drank plenty from the bottle, and even if he did get a bit septic, he was i a much better position to fight it before she did that. It will just always be in the back of my mind now. Yes about 2 weeks after "Miracle" died, i had a very easy foaling of another gorgeous little colt. He was 18" born, and standing, drinking, and running almost straight away, so we knew he was alot healthier than the last. I also have another mare that was due last Sunday, and is very close to foaling, and another due in January. So still plenty to look forward to! What sort of horses do you breed?
outlawpaints Posted From: 64.53.77.60
Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 - 10:54 am:
We breed paints. they are my passion. LOL. we have some pictures of all of them out webshots. here is the link if you would like to see. http://community.webshots.com/user/outlawpaints101 This is some of our horses and our kids. We only have 6 horses right now, but two are coming in May hopefully with no problem. We have our own stud....that helps. he is a big baby too. I love all horses. it doesnt matter if they are big or small. They are all blessings. so take a look. let me know what you think!
horselady Posted From: 67.70.70.197
Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 - 01:15 pm:
Hi Outlaw: I love your paint horses. I am just getting into breeding paints. I have one breeding stock sorrel, and one homozygous tobiano that is Bay. Both are expecting foals next year, one in May and the other in July. I have to learn how to design a webpage so I can post pictures ! Good luck on the two new additions coming your way in May.
Renee Posted From: 202.92.102.220
Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2004 - 05:41 pm:
Wow, they're beautiful. Which mare was it that you lost the colt from? it wasnt that gorgeous little foal from the bay mare was it. What a stunner!! Your stallion looks gorgeous too! He has a lovely kind face doesnt he!?! I should have known you bred paints from your name! It would be pretty exciting when waiting for a foal- not knowing what colour pattern it will be! I have a tobiano mare, and bred her to a tobiano stallion, both with strong tobiano bloodlines, and in august i got a burnt buckskin colt!! It was certainly a suprise, but he's gorgeous. The stallion was very minimal tobiano, he just had stockings, but with his bloodlines, together with my mares, i though for sure i was getting a coloured foal!! Hes still gorgeous anyway, i wouldnt change him for the world, he's like a little puppy dog, he sits on my lap when i sit down. You can see my horses on www.freewebs.com/anyssapark if you go into the memorium page, you will see the little colt that i lost in August, and then another 9month old colt that i lost to gas-gangreen about 3weeks later. Was a very traumatic time!!
Horselady- if you go to www.freewebs.com and sign up for the free webpage, it is absolutley free, and it talks you through absolutely every step to make your own website and upload pictures etc. Check it out!
horselady Posted From: 67.70.68.242
Posted on Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 08:37 am:
Hi Renee!
Thanks for the tip! I will check it out.
outlawpaints Posted From: 64.53.77.60
Posted on Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 06:29 pm:
Thanks Horselady and Renee. yes the mom was the bay. she is a great mom too. we are hoping for a bucksin paint out of our palomino white. both the palomino white and the bay and white are expecting and due in May. hopefully everything will go fine. sorry to hear about your loss Renee. It is always heartbreaking to loose something like that even if you have only seen it for a few hours. you just get attached so fast. They are so cute and it just warms your heart when they are up and running around and nursing and everythings great. everyone try to keep us up to date on where you are in your horses pregnancy. even though most wont foal for a few months, it's always fun to get "psyched" up! Good Luck everyone!!
outlawpaints Posted From: 64.53.77.245
Posted on Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 07:46 pm:
hey everyone....you remember the mare i was talking about. (the 20 yr old)? She had strong heat for 3 months....Nov. Dec. and Jan. well we decided to put her with our stud because everyone was saying the weather was playing tricks on all the horses and just because she is showing signs does not mean she is ovulating.Well I guess about Christmas day we should be expecting a new baby!!! she was checked in foal and healthy and baby is fine so far....Keep your fingers crossed for me on this mare. She is my daughters horse and we would love to get at least one baby from her. Thanks and good luck to everyone else. have fun marestarring!!!!
That is great outlawpaints. I know you will eagerly be awaiting both your christmas presents this year!
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