This message is from: Joanna Crell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
saskia,
you raised some good questions and will get good answers here I'm sure!
Lucky for you that its a fjord being born, they thrive in the winter and
this hopefully will go well.
]yes get a foal blanket, you will be happier knowing you can cover your
babe when its drizzley and miserable. ( I remember Belgium in the winter)
Your mare will sweat while birtyhing but you dare not blanket her, during
labor she could get castor a hoof througha strap and the last thing you'd
want would be a stressed out mess of a horse trying to get free. Old
blankets tear well sometimes, new ones can break a leg before they "give".
Have lots of towels to help dry out the wet baby , only mother dogs or cats
lick enough to warm their young. This will be part of your imprinting time
if you are there. Use a nursery monitor to help you catch the moment. after
listening to eating,drinking,farting,and pooping for a few weeks you'll be
exhausted by your own false starts but able to tell the difference between
a grunt and lie down and the uncomfortable turn ,sweat turn, ughhhhh
contraction baby coming now sounds. ( we have a very quiet mare, 1 push and
her foal is saying " Hello, are you my mother?" Have on hand good betadine
to swab the foals umbilical. Your mare hopefully wil be fine, collect and
check your placenta once it is delivered. This has been important for us
with other types of horses, the fjords have been remarkably trouble free. I
do tie up the hanging bag once my mares are up so that they don't step on
and pull it out before its ready. I have had only one bad experience after
birth , a few days later with a hanoverian mare that had a terrible colic.
She had plum sized hematomas that wanted to push out, I thought she might
be having either a uterine prolapse or had retained placental tissue, it
looked so strange. (Summer heat is a perfect medium for bacteria and it
also alters the colour of living matter.) Any way my vet was on a far away
dairy emergency and talked me through it, I pushed back the interior based
swellings and got her up and moving. Apparently the bruising and trauma
that is so common during a birth can lead to almost melon sized hematomas
(blood collected between tissues, not hemmoraging) that the body must
re-absorb. Careful monitoring of animals that have undergone events will
help to ensure that they are given the correct drug therapy should they
need it. I have been lucky and careful, I stay aware of temperature changes
thet might indicate a (post-partum)infection and keep banamine on hand to
ease the distress of a normal colic. I know how to take an equine pulse and
check capillary refill time. So get a thermometer and be prepared. Mineral
oil, and possibly an enema kit would be good to have on hand. Some people
here are very in favor of immuno gobulin just in case your foal doesn't
recieve what it needs through your mares colostrum. I collect every early
drip that doesnt get drunk.A Baby bottle with a nipple and a huge bodied
syringe are excellent tools!
You will probably have beautiful baby fjord, and be in love and in awe.
Hopefully your mare will birth and nurse easily, and be a good maybe fierce
mama. Some mares choose a nursemaid for their foal out of the herd, some
hate everyone who looks crosseyed at them. Most fjords are so food driven
they have tough choices to make. I try to promote security,each new family
is treated like royalty until the excitement is gone, then I pamper the
mamas with brunch ,lunch and tea time so that the babies love us and the
mamas remember who we are. my gelding is the worlds best nanny. Having
horse babies keeps you young. Good luck and 2000 joys!
04:03 PM 12/16/99 +0100, you wrote:
>This message is from: "saskia schoofs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Hi all,
>
>to those awaiting or having or having had winterfoals, please tell me all
>about it! Kitty will have her foal in January (at last!) and I begin to be
>very nervous:
>
>- should I buy a blanket for the foal? what if it freezes and the foal is
>wet and so on, how do you protect it?
>- does a mare sweat a lot during delivery (it's my first foal) and should I
>have a blanket for her too?
>- she's still full-time in the pasture now, with the other horses. Do you
>isolate your mare from the others? When? Do you lock her in a stable at
>night? Do you lock her when the birth is announcing itself and how long do
>you keep her "in"?
>- How big should the stable be? My farrier (he's a Fjord breeder!!!!) just
>told me that the stable I was arranging for birth is too small... so I'm
>arranging the carport now...
>- Do you have a warmth-giving lamp in the stable?
>- When I isolate Kitty from the others, is it a good idea to have my
>Shetland pony with her, to reassure her? He's a very calm and gentle little
>horse and Kitty's very dominant.
>- When can I return her and her foal to the others? Sybren (2 years and half
>old) and Zeno (16 months) are still not gelded and as Belgium is covered
>with snow now, I don't know if I'll be able to have it done before the
>birth. In each case they should be gelded before I reunite them with Kitty.
>- what should I have in my medicine locker?
>
>thanks in advance!
>
>Saskia
>
>
>
>
===============================================
Joanna Crell - David Folger
Willowind Therapeutic Horseback Riding Center
Phone & FAX (207) 288-9506
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