This message is from: Sini Seppala <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Saskia, our Kaci had one of her foals here in Finland when there was still some snow on the ground in places. Guess what - the baby (Troia) must have known it was cold outside as she was born with a thick, wooly coat - quite different from e.g. the following foal Somnus who was born with a silky coat next summer! So she was definitely warm except when she ran so much she got wet one evening. We actually had to use a hair-dryer which she enjoyed so that she fell asleep in our hands. (A good form of imprint training!)
Kaci didn't have a blanket when she was foaling in her pasture. However, had she been sweating more she might have needed one afterwards. The temp was about 2-4 degrees Centigrade. I think it's safer to let the mare foal outdoors if possible because there's no way the foal can end up in a difficult position between the mare and a wall or anything like that. Kaci also seemed to be happy to be able to choose the actual place herself. She picked up a nice, even, safe place under the trees. (Quite many Fjord people around here also think the foals who are born outside often become even healthier than other Fjord babies. At least Kaci's foals have always been completely healthy.) >From then on the baby and Kaci were outdoors all the time. If Kitty likes her herd I would probably let her foal in the company of the others. It may be a nice experience for her to know that the others are there to guard her safety - especially since she is a dominant mare: I don't think the others will disturb her. If you want to keep them separate you could still turn them out with the others quite soon. The idea of having your Shetland pony with her sounds very good. In any case, Kitty will protect the foal from the others if they tend to get too wild. It took Kaci about an hour before she recovered well enough to realise what she's supposed to do. First she didn't protect the foal as much as she perhaps could have when the rest of the herd wanted to get to know the newcomer. Everything went well, however. I don't think it matters to the foal whether the colts are gelded. But I guess you mean you can't put them together with Kitty so that they won't breed her. There are a lot of good foaling-related sites on the net. You could try 'foal', 'foaling', 'imprint training' and words like that on some of the search engines. You could also check these sites out: http://horseforum.com/tjones/manual.htm http://www.cyberfoal.com/ All the best to all of you! What a wonderful way to start a new millennium! Sini. http://www.saunalahti.fi/~partoy/Juhola6.html
