This message is from: Lori Albrough <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cheryl Beillard wrote: > Finally .. just wanted to say how comforting I found the references to easy > foaling in fjords .. I've been reading Blessed are the Mares, ..... > <snip> ...... I can see myself camping out for weeks ahead > of time, draped in towels, plastic gloves and surrounded by buckets of > disinfectant, ropes, whatever.
Cheryl I got a real chuckle out of your imagery, that's pretty much how I felt before we had our first foal (now I'm old hand at it - NOT!) I had chosen Dr. Karen Hayes book "The Complete Book of Foaling" to be my bible, and it does have a pretty complete section on dystocia let me tell you. Every evening I pored over all the way things could wrong and what I'd have to do. I was calm on the outside and inside scared to death. Anyhow Dr Hayes contention is that the most important thing you can do for your foaling mare is "be there" and, as other list-members have pointed out, that can sometimes be quite the challenge. In our case as we approached and then passed the due date I was duly going through the checklist of things to check several times daily, making notes and looking for trends. At the point I saw wax on her udder I figured we were almost there and set up hourly checks through the night. That only lasted one night (thank heavens) because the next evening I went out a 10:15 pm and she was standing as usual, with her head in the corner of the stall as usual but when I went in and bent over to look at her udder, SHE MOVED AWAY. She had never done that before, and we'd been through this routine so many times so I decided THIS MUST BE IT! Stefan was a bit dubious, but we installed ourselves in the tackroom with books, foaling kit, etc. About 10 minutes later we heard the straw rustling and then her pawing around. Then sploosh as the water broke and she layed down. At this point, according to the book, you have about 5 minutes to wash the mares genitals, put on a sterile sleeve, and put your hand in to check that the foal is not malpositioned. Well I didn't have time for any of that business because right after the sploosh out came a foot! And then another foot! And then a nose! I was so happy I was smiling all over my face. It was all going so great. And then SHE STOOD UP. About this event the book says some mares will foal standing up and you have to catch the foal and prevent it crashing to earth, no small feat with a huge slippery baby. "Lay down mama" I pleaded, and thank god, she did. I exhaled and started breathing again. Then SHE STOOD UP AGAIN! She walked around with the foals legs and nose sticking out and then layed down. I guess she was just getting comfy, but I grew a couple more grey hairs there. Then she pushed once, out came the head and neck, another push and the shoulders and torso came and this perfect little foal sat up, the amnion even broke itself so I really didn't have much to do that night. I couldn't believe how perfect and beautiful the foal looked, I guess I had expected it to be like human babies, all funny and squished-looking at first, but it was just gorgeous, wet and silky and floppy-eared. I cradled it in my arms and after a minute it tried to stand up. The book says to "allow" them to lie still for 5 to 10 minutes to let the last quart of blood flow into the foal, but I had to restrain this dynamo who was determined to be up in the first few seconds. Eventually the foal relaxed into my arms, so I guess that was our first imprint training exercise. At that point I realized I hadn't checked the gender yet, so I lifted the tail and IT'S A GIRL! Just what I wanted! Everything proceeded uneventfully after that, the foal got to her feet and delivery of the placenta happened right away, then I did a time check, it was 11:10pm, so if we hadn't noticed Cindy acting that little bit different we would have come back for the next hourly check to find the foal already up! Well now we're expecting 3 babies this spring, two from maiden mares, so I'm sure it will be "interesting" I have my fingers crossed that Mother Nature gives us as smooth of a ride as last time. I'm sure others have many interesting foaling stories to tell, for me that was my first foaling and what a great and exciting experience. Lori A.
