Okay, I took these pictures day before yesterday and we're still having a hard time figure out what she's leaking from her teats. Can someone please look at my pictures and try to explain the whole waxing/colostrum thing, as it pertains to this particular case? Any help would be great! http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g59/betnanj/ This stuff I'm talking about, well, you can see the color, but it's about the consistency of syrup. It's pretty sticky once it's on your hands. And there's A LOT of it. The pictures don't do it justice, it was almost running out of her that morning, before I even touched her, I could see it. And the picture by herself, it's hard to see because of the lighting, but to the naked eye, her belly looked more pointed, and her tail bone and butt bones back there are REALLY pronounced. Thanks in advance!
This looks to me like the first part of the milk..the colostrum.. if you can help it. Don't milk her out.. This is very precious to the foal. it will get very sticky to the touch and sweet to the taste before she foals.
She sounds and looks close...
When is her due date? has she ever foaled before? what does her vulva look like? elongated, puffy?
Beverly, I know! I'm trying REALLY hard not to! Like I said though, it's just dripping out like crazy, so I don't have to milk her to get it anyway. I felt like a nerd, but I got really brave yesterday and it tastes... salty? I guess that would be the best way to describe it. (I figured everybody else was doing it! haha) I bought her last fall, already bred. It was an accident from the previous owners and they have NO IDEA when she was bred. (Their guess was that she was due the first of April. Ya right.) She's 4 years old and she's never foaled. Her vulva, it's weird. Some days it's way long and stretched out, then others it's just kind of wrinkly and you can't really tell anything's different. But if you touch by the side of it, it opens up pretty easy. Color is just a pale pink though. Her back end was really Jello-y a couple weeks ago, but then it firmed back up. Is that supposed to happen? All the questions, sorry!
looks to me like she may be positioning.. she may do this for a little while longer.. just keep an eye on her, because the minute you go to sleep or go to the store....BOOM...there is a foal..
Our maiden mare did that to us last year.. showed NO signs at all and then wham...woke up to a foal.. Thank God it was healthy and she needed no assistance! LOL.
Well, I don't think I am an expert by any means, but have had my share of some ups and downs in the breeding business.
maybe a few days maybe less. it is really hard to tell when i am not there in person and even then you never know... that is just the way these mares are. when her milk starts changing the color to like a skim milk color, that is when it is close. or look for a difference in her as far as if she stands in one corner all the time and then she just changes the spot all of a sudden or she starts to stay away from other horses... she is close. just hard to tell how close...
http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g59/betnanj/ Beverly, here are my newest pictures I just took. See the guy on the top of the trailer in the background? He was staring at me weird the whole time! haha "Why do you have such a facsination with your horses' privates?" hehe I feel like a nerd. Anyway, comparing the ones from two days ago, it almost looks like she has less of a belly, (looking at the same side at the same angle) and from the front she hardly sticks out at all anymore. But she's in by herself, so I can't judge from how she's acting around others, but she's been digging up the corral like crazy. She'll walk a little bit, then paw at the ground, the walk a little and bite her belly, and she just repeats this over and over. She doesn't stay still for very long. Is it just me or does it look like her teats are starting to fill? Because they look different than before and it looks like she's getting a little ring of fat around the base of them. I don't know if I told you, but she's a Welsh Pony, so she's only about 11 or 12 hands (you can see that picture of my boy with her, he's 2 years old...) so I'm wondering if some of these changes are hard to see because her shape is a little different to begin with. This is my first mare, our first pony, and both of our first baby!
Anj - there is a term called "stall walking" where a mare just can't seem to get comfortable and moves from one thing to the next - pawing, grabbing a bite to eat, sniffing the water bucket, looking out the door, etc. That is a late pregnancy/1st stage labor sympton. Unfortunatley, it is during the stage where they can stop labor still. Her udders look good, but the teats are still pointed inward. If they change to outward, I would say you are there.
YAY! I just wish she'd make up her mind. Some days I go out there, and all she wants me to do is hold her. (Yes, I hold my horse, how weird is that. hehe) But other days, I go out and she runs away. I've bred dogs my whole life and I had two that, as much as the books say they like their privacy, they would hold out until I was there with them and would want to have their babies on my lap. I just wish I knew which my mare was, if she would progress further if I left her alone, or if she's the same as my dogs and wants me to be with her before she feels comfortable enough to go ahead with it. Also, I wonder if I locked her up so she didn't have as much room to roam. You can see her open shed behind her in the pictures, but she has all that big area to go. Would it be better if I start locking her up in her little pen (about the size of a stall but open) or just let her do her thing out in the open?
Anj - My mare did all of the things you are describing the day she foaled! Youd better watch that girl... The night before and the morning (she foaled just after mid-day) she had that ring around her teats and she was 'stall walking' from about 5.30 in the morning, I put her out in the field at 10.30 and knew she was just waiting for uss to leave, less than an hour later BHAM, standing foal - I reckon youve got a very short wait on your hands : )
Hey Anj- I personally don't think that restricting her space would make her foal sooner, but others are WELCOME to disagree, by all means. I've had mares that were kepst up at night and waiting til morning when I let them out to foal. I've also had both as far as wether they want you there or not. I have a mare who is spoiled rotten and will do anything for me, but I've gotten to see her foal both times, but ONLY because I caught her in the act. But then I bought a mare last year that waited until I got home from work. As soon as I got home, I went to site with her. She was pretty mcuh fine when I went out...I'd been sitting for about a half hour. Then she started acting funny. I figured it was too goo dot be true. She rolled a couple times, got back up, turned around and went to aly down again.....her water broke and she had that baby right there! THen there's goldie who can have a foal in less than five minutes while I RUN in for a pee break while on foal watch. SO it's for sue hard to say about that until you've foaled her atleast once. How long has she been dripping milk? My best friend had a paint mare who dripped milk (rapidly.....more like squirted milk) for three days. She was getting really worried, but baby and mom are fine . Has she been squirting heavily for longer than this?
She started with the yellowish stuff Saturday morning. It was kind of like a leaky faucet (*drip* *drip* *drip*) but then in the evenings it kind of stops. It wasn't dripping at all this morning when I went out, but there was still a little bit shining on the end. Kim- I sure hope it's not too much longer! We keep teasing that she only has till Saturday then we're taking her to the Sale Barn! hehe I couldn't bear to part with her, but we thought we'd put the scare into her at least.
I told my mare she had to have the foal by friday night or she was glue - and she had it friday afternoon, so its always worth a shot ( BTW, incase you arent sure - she would never have been glue : )
Kim, haha I know! I'm all too familiar with those empty threats. If you're as attached to yours as we are this one, there's no way you could ever get rid of them. When I first bought her, I was so excited she was having a baby because I wanted to keep the foal and raise it the way I wanted then sell her. (We have to sell one or the other.) But now that we've had her this long, I couldn't imagine being without her. She's so great! Yes, we can leave all the gates open and she can do whatever she wants. The only thing I've done is lock her out of the field because I don't want her to get down in the gulch and have it in the water. But that happened a couple months ago so I don't think she's missing it.}
Sounds like you have a set up for this and she sounds like she about ready to put it to the test. Had mine four years, planned to breed from her before she got any older!! Now or never kinda thing, Im 22, in a field on my own and working 8.30-5.00 all week - not sure if I have bitten off more than I can chew, but if I have I will learn to cope - Theres no way either of them are leaving me now : )
Sorry! My internet went Haywire and I posted the same thing twice somehow... They're way good friends to have around aren't they? I always said growing up that my horse was my boyfriend and any guy I ended up with would have to get past him first. I've had this gelding of mine for around 16 years. And I'm just BARELY doing the baby thing after having horses my whole life. But I'm like you, we'll cope no matter what, and won't it be fun! BTW, update on Maggie, she's really upset about this storm coming in, but she's spent all day rolling and biting her sides. She just wants held! Poor thing. Probably sleep out there again tonight...
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, Because you know a HECK of a lot more than I do, would you guess, hours, days or possibly a week or more?
