Dry lot with NO grass or stubble. We even make sure there isn’t any grass growing less than a foot from the other side of the fence. I had a mare that insisted on sticking her head through and snatching the grass (fescue). She went 370 days and had a tough delivery, but she did have milk. But I’d never confine a pregnant mare to a stall…that is torture for the poor mama.
I can’t imagine stalling a term mare constantly (this long).
I’m not in a fescue endemic area. If I was I’d kill off a section and dry lot.
My mare is currently in a huge stall (due to concern about being imminent I have an idea this may change tomorrow) at the vet’s. The stalls at this clinic are large anyhow and then two were made into her birthing “suite.” She was confined once the indicators pretty much said she would be any day now (her dry lot was just too far away from the barn to alert the vet’s from the Foal-Alert going off). She has plenty of company (lots of rehab horses) and she has a lot of open windows. In the past day, she stocked up behind so I have been hand walking her. My mare was on a 6 month stall rest with rehab last year and is a pretty content mare even on a long stall rest. She is a pretty small compact mare anyhow so the birthing suite is quite large (meant for much larger warmbloods).
Still, I can’t fathom a mare in a small space for weeks on end, closed off from other horses, the outdoors (my mare loves standing at her window) and watching the goings-on. Seems horrible.
I’d never stall a mare that long either.
I have mostly fescue pasture. I bred for an early March foaling (340) and she went 353.
Short Winter stubble that hasn’t started really growing yet has a low risk of containing edible endphytes You can sample the pasture and get it tested as well - a friend in KY did that and found no endophytes, despite it being infected fescue. Her mare foaled within a few days of mine.
That’s also why there’s Equidone. Spend a few $100 on Equidone, or stall the mare for 90 (or more!! ) days? Seems like a no-brainer to me. Feed non-fescue hay to dilute any possible contanimation.
This vet pretty well disgusts me. She’s so blatantly wrong about so many things she’s got to be doing this on purpose, as opposed to just sheer ignorance.
[QUOTE=JB;8701227]
I’d never stall a mare that long either.
I have mostly fescue pasture. I bred for an early March foaling (340) and she went 353.
Short Winter stubble that hasn’t started really growing yet has a low risk of containing edible endphytes You can sample the pasture and get it tested as well - a friend in KY did that and found no endophytes, despite it being infected fescue. Her mare foaled within a few days of mine.
That’s also why there’s Equidone. Spend a few $100 on Equidone, or stall the mare for 90 (or more!! ) days? Seems like a no-brainer to me. Feed non-fescue hay to dilute any possible contanimation.
This vet pretty well disgusts me. She’s so blatantly wrong about so many things she’s got to be doing this on purpose, as opposed to just sheer ignorance.[/QUOTE]
Ugh I agree - I mean I am by NO means an expert breeder, I am a blind novice in this world (and it is terrifying to think about the things you cannot control) but I would have A LOT of questions as to why my mare was pinned up when the birth was not imminent as that is far more controllable. So I am a little appalled why the mare owner has not pushed the issue a little more (and maybe she has and I am just being too judgmental).
My mare is now waxing and milk is thin skim milk like - I am still hand walking her twice a day as much as my sweet girl herself dislikes it (yesterday and today she really just prefers to stand by her window wringing her tail) so as we go throughout the whole farm any open stall she tries to make a beeline for which I get, she is uncomfortable, hot, lots of flies, but the exercise is good for her.
The mare’s owner is going off of what the trusted vet is telling her to do. I am in no place to be telling her what to do with her horse. I am no expert and “I read it on a forum” isn’t really a good argument to stand up against what the vet is telling her needs to be done for her horse.
I mean I can’t blame her really… if you don’t know any better… what are you going to to? Trust your expert vet or your friend who has no experience in breeding? Only thing I can do is make suggestions but if she doesn’t do anything than what the vet is telling her to do (which should normally be the BEST thing to do - normally) there isn’t anything I can do or say about it.
I am only left with watching the whole situation and trying to learn the best I can from it. I know one thing is for certain - I will not be using this vet. I will keep everyone posted on the outcome of this and post a pic of the baby when it eventually gets here… 
I appreciate everyone’s input and advice! It has been very helpful in my understanding of things!
[QUOTE=zoehesed;8702553]
The mare’s owner is going off of what the trusted vet is telling her to do. I am in no place to be telling her what to do with her horse. I am no expert and “I read it on a forum” isn’t really a good argument to stand up against what the vet is telling her needs to be done for her horse.
I mean I can’t blame her really… if you don’t know any better… what are you going to to? Trust your expert vet or your friend who has no experience in breeding? Only thing I can do is make suggestions but if she doesn’t do anything than what the vet is telling her to do (which should normally be the BEST thing to do - normally) there isn’t anything I can do or say about it.
I am only left with watching the whole situation and trying to learn the best I can from it. I know one thing is for certain - I will not be using this vet. I will keep everyone posted on the outcome of this and post a pic of the baby when it eventually gets here…
I appreciate everyone’s input and advice! It has been very helpful in my understanding of things![/QUOTE]
I totally get it zoehesed and I KNOW I was probably judgmental. It is because I don’t understand it.
As a new “breeder” (first and last!) I am constantly insecure about how little I know which means I obsessively read different books and lurk on various forums constantly. Even though my mare is at the vet’s under their very careful watchful eye I constantly look at the cameras, make sure to visit her and I have even did my own milk tests and tasting the milk lol. It is not that I don’t trust my vet, I ABSOLUTELY do, but I have to be more mentally and physically engaged so that I feel even more comfortable (and plus so I don’t panic and probe the vets constantly with questions).
With that said, a lot of people are not the same way. And I almost wish I were ignorant because the more I know the more terrifying all of this can be.
I wish the absolute best for this mare, the mare owner, the foal, and you.
This is why people need to not blindly trust their professional staff. If it seems wonky to you, there is PLENTY of information out in The Google that you can easily figure out what reliable sources are saying. If it’s on The Horse, or UC-Davis, or Cornell, or New Bolton or any animal hospital, or in the Merck site, and it directly contradicts what a vet is saying, someone is wrong and it’s probably not the sites (but to be fair sometimes you occasionally dig up an decades-old article, but again, a little logical thinking goes a long way)
It’s just not that hard to find information on this vary issue, and it ALL directly points to this vet being a fraud.
Sounds like an inexperienced vet to me. How many mares have they foaled out?
Even with the mare at the clinic the vet I bet will miss the foaling. So if a disaster happens, it will be the same disaster that would have happened at the owners home barn, just with an additional big a$$ bill.
Mares can have their milk come in very quickly within just an hour or two of foaling. One should always have a source of colostrum available, and in this case I would have another (more experienced) vet on stand-by.*
IMO, keeping the mare cooped up like that is putting both the mare and the foal at risk. Mares will move around alot, lay down, roll, get up, paw, move around, roll again, etc. for a while before foaling. What are they doing? Besides being uncomfortable with the imminent birth, they are REPOSITIONING the foal for a proper delivery. Keeping a mare cooped up like that 24/7 is not something I would do. Not to mention the mare is getting NO exercise to help her own condition.
Has this mare’s belly dropped? They don’t always, but MOSTLY their belly will drop obviously lower, even pointy looking when the foal shifts into delivery position. Imagine the foals pointy little butt at the bottom of the mare’s belly. Little foal head and front legs aiming for the exit.
Many mares foal out in stalls, but no exercise? Not even hand walking?
All that said, things will probably go just fine and I hope they do. Just not the way I would handle it.
Good luck! And hope to see pictures of healthy mare and foal!
[QUOTE=partita;8702661]
Sounds like an inexperienced vet to me. How many mares have they foaled out?
Even with the mare at the clinic the vet I bet will miss the foaling. So if a disaster happens, it will be the same disaster that would have happened at the owners home barn, just with an additional big a$$ bill.
Mares can have their milk come in very quickly within just an hour or two of foaling. One should always have a source of colostrum available, and in this case I would have another (more experienced) vet on stand-by.*
IMO, keeping the mare cooped up like that is putting both the mare and the foal at risk. Mares will move around alot, lay down, roll, get up, paw, move around, roll again, etc. for a while before foaling. What are they doing? Besides being uncomfortable with the imminent birth, they are REPOSITIONING the foal for a proper delivery. Keeping a mare cooped up like that 24/7 is not something I would do. Not to mention the mare is getting NO exercise to help her own condition.
Has this mare’s belly dropped? They don’t always, but MOSTLY their belly will drop obviously lower, even pointy looking when the foal shifts into delivery position. Imagine the foals pointy little butt at the bottom of the mare’s belly. Little foal head and front legs aiming for the exit.
Many mares foal out in stalls, but no exercise? Not even hand walking?
All that said, things will probably go just fine and I hope they do. Just not the way I would handle it.
Good luck! And hope to see pictures of healthy mare and foal![/QUOTE]
So my maiden is 340 days today and I can say what she was like last night (745pm) for our night walk and what she was like at noon for our day walk today - changed pretty quickly. Her udder is more full, the teats are massive, and the milk is undoubtedly milk now (sweet and sticky with a PH of 6.8 earlier today). Her sides are far more slab sided than what she was days ago. So one thing that I have seen first hand with this one anecdotal experience is when things starting changing, it can change FAST.
I sent my mare to the vet’s farm because honestly this is all alien to me (and most of the horse people I know locally). Plus my job leaves me with the unpleasant nature of traveling frequently enough (though thank heavens I have been able to skirt out of business travel until later this month). I was so nervous while my vet was out of town (although his family lives at the farm and there are multiple vets at the clinic plus other workers from regular farm workers to those who work directly with the horses in rehab) because I knew other vets did not live on premises and were like me around 20-25 minutes away.
My vet is sleeping with my mare last night and tonight so that makes me feel a lot better.
I will say that today was the first day I noticed my mare was miserable even with our hand walking (I normally do 15-20 minutes twice a day), we kept it at 10 minutes. She dragged her feet, had her head lowered and just seemed incredibly uncomfortable and overall miserable - the misery dissipated as soon as we got back to her birthing suite and she got to the carrots I had brought her - that was met with a happy nicker.
Silverbirch. she’s at the point that my husband announces when he gets back into the house "we’ve got sticky ankles!’ only a breeder would ever know what that means…
[QUOTE=pony grandma;8704415]
Silverbirch. she’s at the point that my husband announces when he gets back into the house "we’ve got sticky ankles!’ only a breeder would ever know what that means…[/QUOTE]
Well, we are definitely progressing. I got a call from the vet about an hour ago saying that based on all of the testing and how she was acting, he really felt like it would be tonight - although she is a maiden so, well baby and her may change their minds. He invited me to come stay at the barn and pull in my car this evening, and of course I am totally going to do so. I am opting out of her evening walk tonight-- she was so miserable I don’t want to push it.
Although I tried to get a nap just now, my nerves, anxiety, excitement, and everything in between is not allowing it.
Honestly, I don’t know how all of the breeders do this year in and year out! I have the utmost admiration for the sheer stamina, expense, and care that goes into all of this.
I know I’ve had plenty of 2 hr apart alarms set. We’ve had a lot of good fortune tho. One mare, a friend who’s up early to milk her cows, she came over to do a barn check for us at 6 am, and came and knocked at the door and announced ‘now!’ We had been up every 2 hrs all that night. We had one mare foal at 3 am so I’d thought oh well not tonight… Another, I had taken the kids to an evening 4H meeting and 7 pm Gramps called me on my cell phone and I’m trying to make out what he’s saying ‘we have a hole here!’ He’s so excited and it’s a cell phone, yrs ago. I say what do you mean, ‘a hole?’ He repeats ‘a f.o.a.l!’ He’d been working in the garden next to the barn and he’d heard the mare go down! By the time we got there it was a done deal. The last one well she foaled a week early before we’d even prepped the stall … Gramps went out there at 6 am and lo and behold there was a dry foal standing up looking at him!
It is not an absolute science!
[QUOTE=pony grandma;8704494]
I know I’ve had plenty of 2 hr apart alarms set. We’ve had a lot of good fortune tho. One mare, a friend who’s up early to milk her cows, she came over to do a barn check for us at 6 am, and came and knocked at the door and announced ‘now!’ We had been up every 2 hrs all that night. We had one mare foal at 3 am so I’d thought oh well not tonight… Another, I had taken the kids to an evening 4H meeting and 7 pm Gramps called me on my cell phone and I’m trying to make out what he’s saying ‘we have a hole here!’ He’s so excited and it’s a cell phone, yrs ago. I say what do you mean, ‘a hole?’ He repeats ‘a f.o.a.l!’ He’d been working in the garden next to the barn and he’d heard the mare go down! By the time we got there it was a done deal. The last one well she foaled a week early before we’d even prepped the stall … Gramps went out there at 6 am and lo and behold there was a dry foal standing up looking at him!
It is not an absolute science![/QUOTE]
No kidding! I can’t wait to hear the outcome of the OP’s boarder’s mare. I love hearing all the foaling stories now, it somewhat keeps me a lot more calm.
One of the vets where my mare is at told me when her own mare foaled at a breeding facility they only foaled out in the field and she said it was a 10-15 minute walk out there. I told her I think i would have died. That kind of lack of control is well… wreaks havoc with my tendency to want to micro manage things like this. lol
Well as of now we are still waiting! 
Spoke with the owner today and asked how things were going. She told me that about two days ago when she tried to take her for her usual walk that the mare planted her feet and did NOT want to leave the stall. She also told me that the staff has claimed she has been sweeter latly. (previously she has been quite evil up till this point - this is one very opinionated mare and a force to be reckoned with - especially if you don’t really know her all that well to know she is mostly bluffing)
Here’s hoping that this means that the baby is coming sooner rather than later… though she has yet to bag up at all still.
[QUOTE=zoehesed;8704793]
Well as of now we are still waiting!
Spoke with the owner today and asked how things were going. She told me that about two days ago when she tried to take her for her usual walk that the mare planted her feet and did NOT want to leave the stall. She also told me that the staff has claimed she has been sweeter latly. (previously she has been quite evil up till this point - this is one very opinionated mare and a force to be reckoned with - especially if you don’t really know her all that well to know she is mostly bluffing)
Here’s hoping that this means that the baby is coming sooner rather than later… though she has yet to bag up at all still.[/QUOTE]
If it makes you feel any better, the refusing to want to go for a walk may mean she is exceptionally close. My mare was like that a day ago (I mentioned it earlier in a post).
Today at day 341, in the middle of the afternoon at a busy vet clinic, my mare and foal said it is time!
She gave birth standing up with my vet’s assistance and was fully delivered by 3:54pm. I got there in time to help dry off the baby. One of the vets mentioned to me that she knew maidens could so quickly change and she said she was a little gobsmacked at how my mare started streaming milk, then boom water break and labor.
No baby yet? How many days today?
No baby yet… about 384 days I believe… next full moon is on the 20th? so maybe then? fingers crossed!
Silverbirch, what does mares’ milk taste like?
Yes, thats an easy test.
