There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one. I have used tonight Photo page for Emmi and her new Foal.
You can never be 100% sure when a Mare is going to Foal. After seeing the amount of colostrum that she was loosing yesterday daytime, I was pretty sure that it would be sometime overnight. Although I was a little surprised at what time it was. I had fallen asleep on the settee and checked the webcams when I woke. Emmi having a rug on didn’t help me to see the birth sack that I caught a quick glimpse at it as she turned around. Fortunately Emmi was standing when we took the rug off, she had sweated up a little, but she was quite calm.
Once something is hanging out of the Mare it is important to make sure that every thing is in the right place for the birth. I could see one leg. Feeling inside Emmi I could tell that other than one leg slightly over the foals head, every thing else was as it should be. The leg would probably have righted itself as the birth progressed, but I believe if you can help, do it, and I positioned the leg. I could also feel that it was a big Foal and that I was going to need to help Emmi. You know that the Foal is coming out, so help. The longer that it is in the Mare, the more things can go wrong. As long as you help at the right time, it can only be beneficial. I don’t take any notice of these wise people who tell you to let nature take its course. I have seen to many dead animals after a birth has gone wrong.
We always use a lubricant to help in the Foaling. Once part of the Foals head is showing with a rope attached to both legs, when the Mare pushes we pull in the direction of the back of her legs. This Foal took a bit of pulling, but once the head was out it got a lot easier. Once the Foal was born we got the birth sack off, made sure that the Foals mouth was clear of any fluids or any other debris that would stop him from breathing. Other than the Foal being big it was probably the easiest Foaling that I have been involved in. Emmi was on her feet very quick and the Foal wasn’t far behind. It is a big strong Foal. Once it had found its feet it stayed on them for longer than any other Foals we have had without falling down. Normally you would expect a Foal to up and down a good few times before it was able to balance.
Emmi is a big Mare, she would be a litter over 16hh. The Foal is also big and was having a few problems getting his head under Emmi and attaching its self to Emmi’s teat to suckle, it didn’t help with Emmi, when she kept moving. I wouldn’t have normally worried, but as the Foal had been standing for as long at it had, I was getting a little concerned that it may have tired before suckling. You would want it to get the colostrum within the first six hours, without it the Foal would be unlikely to survive. So you need to make sure that the Foal receives the anti bodies from the colostrum. Once they get a little of the colostrum it seems to make them keen to get more and they seem to make more of an effort. I milked a few ounces off of Emmi and gave it to the Foal. I used a syringe to feed her with it, this way it is then not a teat to the Foal and she will continue to look for the Mares teats. It worked and the Foal very soon found what she was looking for, and the few ounces that I gave the Foal would have given him the anti bodies that he needed if he had taken longer to find the teat.
I waited up until about 2.am to make sure that every think was alright with both Emmi and the Foal, and checked on them every hour through the night. Lady was very interested in the Foal, but Emmi wasn’t best pleased when she kept putting her head over the stable door and stable partitioning wall, giving her with her ears back a few threats. Every thing looks fine with both Emmi and the Foal.