Hopeful for 2020

[elizabeth.conder]

Hahaha, I really don?t understand them as much as I wish I did. All I know is that nd1 creates the primitive markings but doesn?t dilute the coat. So she looks like she has a dorsal stripe. But she isn?t technically a dun.

[Anna]

Cam is working perfectly for me, well done you! 3.30 pm and she is laying down but seems to be breathing quite fast?? Not that easy to see. With that udder I wouldn't have thought she would keep going much longer. Cant wait to see what she's been hiding!

[Ryan]

  Good Luck Elizabeth

[elizabeth.conder]

Cam is working perfectly for me, well done you! 3.30 pm and she is laying down but seems to be breathing quite fast?? Not that easy to see. With that udder I wouldn't have thought she would keep going much longer. Cant wait to see what she's been hiding!



I noticed her doing that earlier. I don?t know if it was the exact same time, but she was as kicking in her sleep too. Needless to say I was on my toes.

Crazy enough she lost almost all of it 2-3 days ago. But it is back and just as big if not bigger. She has been pretty elongated for a couple of days. Still testing at 7.8 with clear sticky milk. She has been pretty uncomfortable the last 24-36 hrs, which isn?t surprising at this stage.

Good Luck Elizabeth

Thank you!

[dcwolcott]

Was just checking and she is standing quietly by the door. Guess she wants her exercise for the morning!!  LOL

[Anna]

Does her udder reduce when she goes out and then fill up over night when she's stabled? Staying filled all day is often a sign that they are really close to foaling.

[elizabeth.conder]

More like fill up over a couple of days and then disappear in like 12 hrs and then fill again over a couple of days. I do agree she has a bit left though.

[dcwolcott]

Elizabeth, here's the reference material on preparing yourself for the birth of your foal, that was a combined effort with several of the friends here, like Anna, that help with deliveries and how to help get babies on the ground safely.  It was actually what caused this forum to begin, but that's another story.

Anyway, you can print it out for reference material so you're ready for any problem!  Thanks Anna and those that contributed to its writing!

[elizabeth.conder]

 This is perfect! Thank you so much! It is printing now and will join my foaling kit. Here are some pictures from tonight. Right about now till midnight is when it is the fullest. But I think she still has some filling to do. I just don?t know how fast that will happen. Still testing 7.8. She is still elongated, although not as much as it has been. I think she still has bit, but I guess we will see!

[Silver City Heritage Farm]

DAAANNGG!!  I think she's the most flexible horse I've ever seen.  She's even more flexible than Gumby's horse Pokey.   

I'm on a Samsung cell phone, and can see her very clearly.  Was that you I saw go in and brush out her tail and mane?  She sure looked small next to a person.

Here's a  that everything goes smoothly for you both.

Julie in NC

[elizabeth.conder]

Hahaha, yes that was me. I just clipped her. It has been so hot and she was so itchy. She sat through the entire thing with a look of pure bliss. She looks pretty funny right now because I had done a partial clip a couple of weeks ago so she has some hair of different lengths, plus it was a rush job.

She is 32 inches so pretty small but not tiny. I had to go with plan c on where to foal her out with the coronavirus and everything. So the stall is smaller than I wanted but she is 20 seconds from my bedroom which is nice.
 Her udder is still fluctuating back and forth, but she has stayed pretty elongated. Somehow she is still testing 7.8. He belly has changed shape a lot today. Resulting in her topline looking pretty bad. I cannot feel ribs or hips. She is getting fed 2.5 - 3.0 lbs of a good mare and foal feed and plenty of hay. I had her on alfalfa, but she was having really sloppy manure so I cut that out. Adding stabilized rice bran now. But anyway, just felt I should let y'all know that.

[dcwolcott]

Nice view -- even easier to see, and she looks just happy munching her hay!

[Anna]

Is she getting plenty of outside exercise Elizabeth? A lot of mares need (and enjoy) the chance to have a good roll (or two or three lol!) as it can help to adjust the foal's position this late in the pregnancy. I also have a lot of overwarm minis here at the moment as we seem to be having a bit of a heatwave. Not that I dare to think about clipping as the weather could change at any moment - some are talking about snow next week!!

[elizabeth.conder]

Yes she is now. The other places it was hard. I tried taking her for walks though. Now she is out with another small mare during the day.

[Anna]

She is certainly looking rather uncomfortable right now poor girl, are you there with her just in case ..... Also a small word of warning (yes I'm a worrywart!!) - I would remove that haynet and put your hay on the floor inspite of the mess it might cause. If she does decide to foal and does a lot of rolling around or even simply spends some time lying on her back (lots of mine have done this!) then she could catch her feet in the haynet.  One year when we had 13 to foal all in the month of May I was doing my usual visit to the barn (we live on site so easy for us), I went down the length giving everyone a few large handfuls of hay (useful to see who was keen to eat and who might be thinking about foaling and did this about every half hour throughout the night). Found two mares not wanting to eat, one of whom was showing signs of 'any minute now', so I waited and sure enough she was soon in labour. Went in to assist and lovely easy foaling. Came out again to check second mare and sure enough the foal was already on the way. So two lovely babies within 15 minutes (seasoned brood mares). Walked back down the barn to find another mare who had been happily munching her hay now on her feet again, mouth still full of hay, she gave her new baby a quick sniff to say hello, looked me in the eye as if to say 'here's another for you' and returned to hay munching!! I had to laugh she was just so laid back over it all - the older experienced ones are just so great!!