This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >She's always foaled 2 - 4 weeks after her due date and always between 5:30 >P.M. and 10:30 P.M. so even though she was 15 days past her due date I really >never suspected a new addition this morning.
Congratulations on the new foal! It is wonderful that a 23 year old mare can still have babies with no problems. Just wondering, have all her babies been born at this time of year? Late in the winter or in very early spring? I just read in the book "THE REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF THE MARE" by O.J.Ginther, that several studies have shown that mares who foal in winter or early spring on average have longer gestation lengths than mares bred to foal in the summer! It appears that mares are able to make a limited adjustment in gestation length such that foals tend to be born in the apring! My mare Stella had her two last foals in mid summer (around the 1st of July) and she foaled two weeks before her "due" date each time! (I don't know what her record was for the first four...Anita?). I wonder if a mare who foaled "early" in mid summer each time would foal "late" if she were bred to have her foal in late winter? Or vise versa? Or does each mare do it on her own time table each time? Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, where it will be sunny and +25 today! Fjords are starting to shed but have a lot of hair to get rid of. ************************************************************ Jean Ernest Fairbanks, Alaska mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
