Nothing beats a sweatpants suit. Add a little tape and a red sweat band and you’re set for just about anything. “Gonna Fly Now” is playing in the back of your mind now isn’t it? It’s a good theme song for running, like when I’m running down the driveway to the barn. Maybe I should change the Foalert ring tone to “Gonna Fly Now”, I might enjoy running more if I did, “I ain’t no bum Mick, I ain’t no bum!”. 

I want to reiterate my gratitude to all who have supported this blog. I’ve gotten comments, questions, and feedback from not only friends but also from new friends. Thank you all for sharing!

“What do I need to be prepared for my mare to foal?” This is the question I have gotten a lot recently. I want to first start off with a disclaimer, I am NOT a veterinarian. I have a wonderful support system, along with my schooling that have gotten me to where I am. The first big step to prepping for your foal is establishing a relationship with your local vet. It’s important to know who to call when you have a problem, there are some things that need to be handled by a vet. Make sure your vet is ok with being on-call for those middle-of-the-nighters, and especially with foaling. Even though they are a vet they may not wish to do reproduction or have a lot of experience with horses. Not to say they can’t help but just like doctors some vets specialize in certain areas. Foremost, if you are at all uncomfortable with delivering baby at home, take your mare to a ranch where they specialize in foaling out mares, like me, or some times certain universities will take outside mares. Trust me, it’s not worth stressing yourself out.

OK so Prep like Rocky! Let’s start with what I have at home. The majority of the time mares foal in the cold hours of the night. This is where the sweat pants suit comes in handy or in my case, Carhartt Full Swing Cryder Bib Overalls. Best investment ever, they are easy to jump into in the middle of the night, warm, water resistant, and crazy comfortable! I may not look like Rocky, but I could still punch a half slab of meat in an industrial walk-in and feel like I was tanning on a Jamaican beach. I put a hook on the wall across from my bed, to hang-up my overalls along with some clothes so I’m not going full commando because that would be frowned upon, and I’m ready to fly down the driveway in a matter of minutes. I also hung a halter and lead rope with my overalls. This way I’m not scrying around the barn trying to find one.

In the past, when I was doing walk-arounds every 20 minutes or watching cameras, I made sure to always have warm clothing on hand and/or a blanket. The nice thing about those days, no running AND everything was right next to me. Trust me, when you are waiting around post foaling, you want to be warm and comfy.

The foaling stall: A double stall (24′ x 24′ or larger), as long as your mare has room to lay down and not foal into the wall. Ideally you want something that it easy to disinfect post foaling, this means either a floor of mats or concrete covered by mats. I realize this isn’t always cost effective or plausible. The biggest no-no is having only shavings, why? Shavings are packed with dust and can cause respiratory and/or eye problems in the neonate foal. The best thing to have is straw, no dust, not all straw is equal though so shop around for the long-cut straw. You can get away with the pelleted bedding, the kind you wet down and it puffs up, it’s still not great but it’s better than shavings. Think about cost too, a bale of straw is usually a couple bucks more than a bag of shavings or pellets but the bale will cover more square footage than one bag of shavings.

What do I do if my mare foals outside? Here’s the thing, mare’s will be alright if they foal outside, usually. But it’s best to bring them into the barn the closer they get to their due date. You spend a lot of money to produce this foal, why not give it the best shot at a safe start in life. That being said, if you don’t catch your mare in time and she does foal outside, bring her and the foal inside. Make sure to have a second person with you to coral baby, incase he/she is an independent little bugger. When should you bring a mare into the barn? Six to four weeks prior to their due date is an ideal time to bring them out of pasture and into a paddock or run near your foaling stall, somewhere you can keep a close eye on her. While watching for signs of foaling, you can start moving her to your foaling stall two weeks prior to her due date. The way we did it in school, in the foaling stall at night, and out into an attached run during the day. It’s always better to be over-on-top of things than to be too late.

The foaling kit: I keep my kit simple, towels, syringes with chlorohexadine (naval dips), flashlight, enemas (yes city folks, we need them to poop), and a gallon jug filled about 3/4 of the way with water (tying to the placenta). I have a load of supplies in the lab should I need to take action for certain events but I’m always under a vets guidance if I need to do anything other than what my kit will allow.

General rule of thumb: Once your foal is born you want to remember the 1-2-3 rule. Stand up in 1 hour (post birth), Nurse within 2 hours, and placenta passed within 3 hours. Their first poop (meconium) should happen during these first three hours as well. I was given a great piece of advice this last year, wait to give the enema until after they have figured out how to latch on. They poop their little hearts out once the enema is given (as long as everything is working properly) and they won’t focus much on nursing.

Everyone does things a little different, there isn’t one absolute way of foaling out mares. My way has worked out pretty well for me and I’m always learning new things along the way. A good thing to remember, stay calm and quiet. Your mare is already going through a lot physically, the last thing that will make her comfortable is you running around and yelling. Not to mention it only gets you worked up and sweaty which then equals potentially cold and grumpy.

Record keeping: Keep track of when the foal is born, when they first stand, first nurse, first pooh, and when the placenta is passed. Your vet will want to know these things in the event they are called out. It’s also good info to have on hand when you do your IgG test. If they didn’t nurse within the first three to six hours this could be a good indicator of low IgG.

Man what a week it has been. A water main broke up the street from us and we were without water for about four days. Not to worry! We are fortunate enough to have hard working staff, a lake, and a pump. It wasn’t easy hand watering the horses but at least we didn’t have to truck in water. Talk about $$$$$. If that wasn’t enough once the water was back on we blew a transformer. When it rains, it pours. Ironic because we just went through the gnarliest storm all winter. But, all the awfulness aside we made it through, dog-tired but finally clean.

The days are filled with teasing mares, ultrasounds, hormones, managing the show barn and foals. Keeping me busy busy busy. Social life is on hold, sleep is a luxury, and tea is life. Having a schedule, other than a breeding schedule, isn’t really a plausible thing. I could make one for every day but things never quite go the way you plan it. Like when I was planning to shower and then the water went out. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I hadn’t showered in two days. It’s all about the dry shampoo when you are tired and pressed for time. Not to mention, when 8pm rolls around you start playing Russian Roulette with the Foalert. How appalling right? How did I survive? One word: Baby wipes. And my boss let us shower at her place. Nothing felt as good as that shower did, three days of grime and dry shampoo. Camping indoors best describes that. I won’t even go into the toilet situation. Here’s a bit of what the storm was like this past week:

Since we are talking about foaling I thought I’d share one of the videos I have of a mare foaling. It’s the real deal. This mare was a maiden (this was her first baby) and it was absolutely incredible to watch her bond with her foal.

 

I have four foals due this month, I’m thinking they are holding out for the warm weather this next week. Our current five foals are all doing wonderfully and getting sassier by the minute. They all are extra feisty from being inside, away from the storms. The turns out this week should call for some juicy photos. Tune in to my Instagram, I’m sure to be blowing up feeds soon.

Until our next foal…

–The Equine Midwife