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Topic: foal watch (Read 4077 times)
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Joy
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As I'm sitting here existing on 3 hours of sleep a night, it got me wondering how other do this. I have a camera set up in the stall, run coax to the house, and plug it into a portable TV. Then I read, or play on the computer half the night, and when it gets too hard to keep my eyes open, I doze on the couch--actually, it's a love seat, very short, and very uncomfortable. My feet hang over the end if I'm on my back, and I'm in fetal position (fitting, eh?) when I'm on my side. The upshot is that I'm so uncomfortable I can't possibly miss waking up to check the mare every 20 minutes or so. Oh, well, it sure beats sleeping in the barn--and I used to do that until I got the camcorder.
Last night I was sure there'd be a foal. Mare's been very quiet over the past 2 weeks, but last night she was up and down, stretching her neck, licking and chewing, rubbing her nose on her knees, tail swishing, lifting the tail up and down and to the side, even backed against the wall to rub. ..... Nothing. Due date is Saturday, but I want it now so I can get some sleep again. She's definitely looking much rounder than 2 weeks ago.
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Karen P.
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Joy, have you considered using the milk tests? I didn't spend a night in the barn with either of my 2 foals. At least it pins down the time you have to be exhausted! Here's hoping its tonight and uneventful!
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Joy
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I have been using a milk test, but not the squares--I use another method. Last time I used them, it still didn't tell me. The mare changed only a short time before foaling. This mare is very reluctant to give up those few drops. Still lemony yellow, though, but her tail had doesn't have the normal tone. Lift her tail and she doesn't clamp it down as usual, so it's got to be close.
Thankfully, I'm not in the barn. I'm in a warm house watching a monitor.
Last night she was rubbing her hind end vigorously, carrying her tail to the side, then finally stopped everything and decided she'd try for another day. Since she was so uncooperative, I did get more sleep last night. Full moon coming soon...
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Shawnda
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I have had good results with the Chemetrics milk test. For mares that change at the last minute, you can test them twice a day or more if necessary.
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fuzzy
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I haven't done a 'real' foal watch in eons. The first foal born here was to mare that one night would NOT come for her carrot or even let me shine a light on her. I knew there was no way I'd ever get her in the barn, so I let her be and found a nice healthy filly in the pasture in the morning.
The other one was early with no warning - while I was out of town, no less. Now this time she's late (a year on Wed if she goes until then), but I have yet to sit up with her as her udder is still only a hair past half full. This slow cooking thing is getting REALLY old with me. I have a weekend trip planned for a couple weeks out, and I want this kid to be well established before I take off for two days. I swear this mare will do anything she possibly can to be a pain.
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Joy
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Don't let that udder fool you, fuzzy! Mares have been known to go from nothing to full in the time it takes to deliver.
I knew a breeder that had a mare that she never was with out of 8 births. The last time, she let her out around 9:00 in the morning, went into the barn to get some things done, came out 15 minutes later, and there was the foal. Some mares just do not want to be seen.
I tracked down a foal alert that one of the local vets had for rent--for $275. Since the actual unit is about $500, I decided to pass, but that's got to be the ideal monitoring device. About the only downside that I can see with it is that it won't warm you about a dystocia, so I see it as an addendum, and not as taking the place of watching the mare. It would definitely allow more sleep, though.
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fuzzy
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Well, I think we might be within a couple days now - the udder is a bit bigger than it was last night, and there was a tiny bit of leakage one one side - very odd that it would leak when it's not full and hard, isn't it? She's got a very flabby tail, too, as of yesterday. Perhaps I'll leave her gate to the front pasture open as she'll spend most of her time out there where I can see her from the kitchen window as opposed to in the lean-to where I can't.
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Joy
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What do you call a "flabby tail"? Can't clamp it? Sinking around the tail head? This in one of the signs that I often miss until the very last moment, so it would be nice to know what you're describing.
My fingers are crossed, fuzzy! Here's hoping for the end of a looong pregnancy and the arrival of a healthy baby--before you have to leave. 
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fuzzy
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Joy, yes, the tail is quite limp. If I was to harness her up, she feels as though she would be unable to clamp her tail in protest of the crupper. (And she really does hate the crupper, but is a very nice horse to drive - better than under saddle, in fact). The butt muscles haven't "melted away" from the peak of the croup like they will in some mares, but they are softer to the 'poke' than normal. I actually learned to rely more on these signs than udder-watching when I had dairy goats. They are usually around 48-hour signs, but at least it's a "heads-up" that you're close. But the udder is continuing to slowly swell as well, so It should be the first part of the week.
And thanks for the well-wishes, of course with the same headed your way. 
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Eileen
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As the owner of a mare who until this year, never bagged up until after the foal was born, I have found the soft tail to be an indication of getting closer but not necessarily really close. I found her behavior to be the biggest indicator. she would suddenly hesitate just a fraction of a second before coming in to dinner. By the second night of "hesitation", we knew we were getting close -- usually that night or the next day. You really have to watch some of them -- if you don't really know them, there is no indication whatsoever. Good luck and hope it comes soon!!
Eileen
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Joy
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I've had mares that bagged up weeks before foaling. The one I'm waiting for now has been bagged up for about a month, and has displayed almost every sign of impending birth you can think of, including a "flabby tail", which by the next day wasn't flabby any more. She hasn't waxed or dripped milk, though, although she has little "grains" on the ends of her teats. Last night she really had me going. It was almost dusk and she was way over in the far pasture and not coming when I called her. This mare ALWAYS comes when called. I finally went running out there and after about 5 minutes, here she comes, sauntering along like nothing's the matter. She saw me and took off for the barn at a gallop. I closed off the far pasture this morning, so she's in a much smaller area to graze now.
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fuzzy
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Joy, sounds like your mare took a lesson from mine in finding ways to amuse herself by aggravating you!
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Deb
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I've only had two but, with the first one, I was going over what to look for with my vet. She starts to tell me about the tail being limp as she gets close to delivery. Picks up the mares tail, you guessed it, completely limp already. It was still a month before she foaled. I was really obsessive with the first baby and literally slept in the truck for 9 nights straight. Good thing I'm short and glad I bought a crew cab. The second time (same mare), I had a better idea of what to expect and only spent two nights in the truck.  The advantage to this is that I could hear when she was restless and could just sit up and check on her. I'm just glad both babies were born on Saturdays.
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Joy
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I have a copy of "The Complete Foaling Manual", which I highly recommend. But it all comes back to this, doesn't it? Mares don't read books!
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fuzzy
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Gosh, I hope I don't have to wait a month. We're at day 363 and counting! Anyhow, I'm thinking I should get up a few times again tonite. The fluid I was able to get from the Fuzzmonster's udder at her dinnertime is still just a bit cloudy, but was thicker than a couple days ago, and it is now sticky. I'll let you know if seems to mean anything!
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Joy
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The foal is here--see my announcement. When the mare finally went into labor, there was NO mistaking it. She was pacing, and pacing, and agitated as all get out. Did NOT want to be touched, but I got a few drops of milk anyway, and the color had totally changed. After the birth, the foal was barely born and Angel jumped up so she could see, smell, and lick her foal. Luckily, there was no hemorraging from the umblicus.
Now it's your turn, Fuzzy!
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« Last Edit: May 16, 2006, 09:05:53 AM by Joy »
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fuzzy
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Congrats, Joy! I'll be looking for your announcement momentarily.
I'm thinking my turn may come tonite. The Fuzz's udder is a hair bigger than last night, and the stuff in it is definately turning yellow! I'll be getting up regularly all night to check her, Plus, I've changed my work schedule fro tomorrow so I don't have to shoe any horses until 10:00, so I can try to get a little sleep.
I'll be so glad to be done with the waiting and being jolted awake by nightmares about dead foals, which I would put off as basic paranoia, but with the TB a few years ago, I had bizzarre dreams about nothing but chestnut fillies with small stars, and that's what she had . . . . .
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fuzzy
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AAAUUUGGGHHH! Tomorrow will be ten days shy of the 13 months that a local vet and a longtime breeder of TB's and Standardbreds told me some mares go. At least I now have a good name idea for a colt or a filly: Fashionably Late.
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Joy
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We're still rooting for you, fuzzy! Maybe you'll have the most fabulous filly that ever hit the ground, and it'll make the wait absolutely worth it. 
We'll start a chant now for your mare. "baBY, baBY, baBY! YOU GO, GIRL!" 100 chants a day by several of us should surely send the energy of that mare to foaling time, shouldn't it?
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fuzzy
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Thanks, guys!  She's had a fat udder for weeks now (about 2/3), a "dishrag" tail for 2+ weeks, almost the same for the flabby butt. I left her at the vet's house (same one that told me some mares go 13 months when she hit twelve and wouldn't look at her then) for the weekend as I was out of town (had a BLAST - motorcycle ride to Indy to benefit the children's hospotal) with instructions to check her out, find out what's going on in there, and call me. He didn't. He is no longer on the list of vets I'll use or reccomend. A different (and better) vet will be stopping by Sat after another appt in the area to see of we have anything viable or if she needs to be cleaned out, straightened out, and started over. I'll let you know how that goes, but in the meantime, please cross your fingers and anythings else . . . . . 
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fuzzy
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Not yet. The vet's running late.
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Joy
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Darn! When I saw the post with your name on it, I thought maybe she'd foaled!
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Now begins the countdown for Baily...she is due the 15th....I'll be joining the sleepless nights club again soon.. 