Unexpected Foal?

[georgie2]

Hello, I have had my 6 year old mare for about 7 months and think she is in foal, she started to get pretty fat and has had 2 positive wee checker tests. Vet is coming next thurs to scan, talking to the old owner she must be about 9 months...but

She has been ridden and competed alot and sedated to have her teeth done, will any of this effect the foal?
I am a bit concerned not having expected or planned for a foal

Thanks

Also does anyone know of any foaling services places in Auckland?

[appy12]

She has been ridden and competed alot and sedated to have her teeth done, will any of this effect the foal?

Shouldn't do. There are several documented instances where a mare was competed right up until foaling because people didn't know the mare was preggers or her proper due date.

Don't expext the mare to go bang on the 11 months as most mares tend to go long, and if mum decides that things arn't quite as they should be she will hang on. Good luck.

Arthur

[teresac]

I am pretty sure the foal will be fine. I brought my mare (4years old at the time) down off the station where she ran as an unbroken youngster. I got her in to break her in, hadnt seen her for a year as I had been overseas and she was basically running wild on a friends station.

Anyway, I broke her in, did quite a lot of training with her (I had her with me when I did a level 4 sporthorse course). I was doing cross country training up to open level, a couple of ODE's, dressage comps, and a little bit of baby SJ, and then I found out she was preggs, about a month before she dropped. She ended up holding onto the foal for over 12months, and she must have got pregs a couple of days before we got her from the station. She liked to jump fences, and she apparenty was a fair way away from a stallion, but there is a will there is a way!!

So she had the foal, who we still have (she is rising 5) and its all great. The mare had a great birth cause she was pretty fit. I was super worried, but we just fed her really well in the last month and a beautiful, healthy foal was born!!!

Good luck, I am so jealous, I love foals they are beautiful creatures.

[Tash1172]

Congrats

I had exactly the same thing happen to me this yr, bought my horse Feb, confirmed pregnant in May and had a gorgeous chestnut filly hit the deck 25th July

No idea she was in foal when I bought her, no idea who the sire was or when the deed was done.

It's a huge learning curve, but so worth it.

Is she a maiden mare? if not, find out what she was like with foaling signs before the due date, did she wax up? etc etc. More than likely to show the same signs again this time round, or not if she didn't before.

Very Important :
Make sure the mare is up to date with her tetanus.

If you can't find anywhere to send her to foal down, make sure your paddock is FLAT.
I had the option of a hill paddock with stables/good shelter or a flat paddock that was fairly open and exposed. After lots of advice I went for the flat paddock, and so glad that I did. When the foal starts to walk, if its on a hill it cant stop, will go right to the bottom and could get injured.

Get the mare used to having her udder handled.

PM me if you want to chat

Good luck and don't stress, now's a great time to enjoy loads of ground work and bonding time with your horse.

[georgie2]

Haha yeah I read your post Tash, these things seem more common than I would have thought!!. Although $700 vet check and I still bought a preggas horses ill never live that down.

HOw did you get on foaling your horse at home?? Would like to foal mine at home but am not to sure on loggistics. Did you have a foaling alarm or just keep an I on her. I think she is due on the 10th of jan, so the palce I contacted to foal her had finished foaling by then

[Tash1172]

I can't believe the people you bought her from didn't tell you she was in foal !

I looked into sending her away to be foaled, but to be honest I couldn't really justify the expense. I had friends on hand and the vet was on call, so decided that I'd take the gamble she'd be one of the 99% that foaled without complications.

I set up some floodlights in the paddock and had them on constantly during the night for about a week beforehand, so she'd be used to them and I could see what was going on.
I'd set my alarm to go off every 1-2 hrs and just have a quick look out or the window to make sure she was all calm. So no real sleepless nights
Then one morning she waxed up so I knew it would be soon.
That night she just paced the fence line outside my window as if to say, don't go to sleep, I may need you soon !
So I just check every 30 mins or so.
At 12.07 I saw the bag and Chilli was on the ground by 12.24
It all happened so quickly, I didn't really have time to panic or anything, I was on a high with the adrenalin.
I'd read quite a few books/articles on the stages of foaling so kept an eye on the time to make sure everything was going to plan.

You need to have someone on call to help if you need it, that's invaluable.

I have no regrets deciding to do it myself, but I can completely understand if you want to send her away.
Just weigh up the pros and cons for you and your mare.
She may hold onto the foal longer if she's unhappy about her surroundings, it can also be traumatic moving her a great distance when shes in the late stages of pregnancy.
Other than the stud having foaled before, what service are they providing, there won't be a LFG as it's not one of their stallions that serviced the mare.
A friend of mine lost her foal recently which was at stud to be foaled, the birth was difficult and the foal died within 20 hrs. Sending the mare away, doesn't guarantee success. Nothing the stud did wrong, just one of those things that happens to the best of them.

Anyway, don't know if that help with your decision, you'll probably change your mind so many time before you decide, I know I did