Still no baby. I went to see her today with the owner. She is definitely bigger than last I saw her. No udders at all still really. Her tail still seemed pretty strong but her rump was fairly mushy. Other than her belly… she didn’t seem at all different than the last I saw her so not sure that means she still has time to go still or what…
This waiting thing is really getting old! 
Let’s see, you started this May 5th and the vet said any day now…
And how is that vet explaining this to the bill payer? Everyone tried not to snark back on page 1 :lol:
Better, what have you learned from this now?
If she turns up open I would be having a long talk with the billing office…
She is definitely pregnant!
I guess they are giving a break from the normal stall fees but not sure how much of a break it is…
I have learned to NOT use this vet!
[QUOTE=Laurierace;8714703]
If she turns up open I would be having a long talk with the billing office…[/QUOTE]
This is exactly what I’m thinking at this point.
Something just is not right. Only thing I can think of now is that they totally got the breeding date wrong. Or, she is not pregnant.
I was logging on tonight to actually ask some questions about the whole fescue issue and came across this posting. I just bred my mare (have only had the 15 and 30 day ultrasound to this point), and she is maiden. I’m in an area where fescue and bermuda are prevalent. I have a .2 acre paddock that I was planning on putting my mare in about 90 days out from her due date. It has a little fescue in it, but mainly bermuda. My intent for this year is to mow it like crazy at 2 inches with the goal to have everything but the bermuda die out over the heat of the summer.
My vet isn’t too concerned about it, and said if I start turning her out at new year’s in that paddock…any little bit of fescue left she will eat, and then by early April, which is about the 330 day point, the fescue would be gone.
I’m concerned though, because I’ve read that even a single blade of fescue can wreck havoc with birthing and milk production (don’t know if that’s true though), and come April, the fescue will start coming back in. Unless we just have a really late winter.
Do I get it tested over the winter? Is there any chance it’s not toxic? This property I live on has been grass fields for 30+ years and was just used to cut hay on before we bought the property and built our farm.
Naturally, no one here can tell you for sure that everything will be just fine with your mare Krose. BUT, I was in a similar situation with my mare, small paddock with mixed grass and worried. I put the mare in there for that last 90 days, with plenty of timothy and alfalfa hay (not free choice, but generous) and mine was totally fine, textbook perfect. No delay in bagging up and the mare foaled at 347 days, no issues at all. I did a ton of reading on fescue before the breeding and while I can’t at this point recall all the details on the research, I felt pretty good about my strategy by that point. My vet wasn’t too concerned either and was the one who said to put her in the paddock 90 days prior to expected foaling with non fescue hay etc and he felt that was enough. We had the grass cut short when she went in there, and there was very little left of the grass by the time we were 60 days from foaling, (just walking around on it destroyed the grass).
Thank you, that is encouraging. And I’m lucky to have a vet with quite a bit of breeding experience, mainly with TBs before this area. I’ll have PA alfalfa hay and timothy to feed her, but she has always loved her turn out time and prefers grass even over the alfalfa (assuming the grass is green!). I’ll stick with the current plan then.
Not sure where you are, but unless you’re in the deep South where things heat up really quickly, April is a great time for fescue to grow
If you really do mean a .2 acre paddock, not 2 acres, then there will be hardly any grass at all pretty quickly with a horse grazing on it to the point it means anything of significance.
That said, the endophyte is in the seeds, and dormant fescue usually tests very low to nothing, so if it bothered you enough to have it tested, you could do that.
Yes, I meant 0.2 acres…just a little paddock. And I’m not in the deep South…you are correct my concern was that by April, around foaling time, that little bit of fescue she may have eaten down to the number over Jan-Mar…would be starting to grow again. But if the endophyte is in the seed…then I’m likely ok. Even if it starts growing a bit, she’ll eat it before it gets more than 2 inches high!
I think I’ll plan on testing my bigger pastures next spring after she foals. I really want to be able to turn her out in a bigger pasture once she foals, if at all possible. Not wanting to risk her stopping producing milk though…but I have concerns about her mental state being in a paddock for that many months. She is used to 4 acre turnout, 12 hrs a day, year round. Maybe I’m overthinking it and she’ll be so big with the baby pre foaling she won’t care, and so busy watching her baby after she won’t care.
I would agree that .2 acres, is like a sacrifice lot- she’ll destroy anything green walking and running around on it before she can possibly eat it. This is really true if you have her out when it rains in winter/early spring I had almost no grass in her area by then. My area was maybe 100 feet by 100 feet, with a barn taking up some of that space. My mare was not one I thought would be ok with a small turnout . She was fine. She was so big and fat, she didn’t care and would have gladly just lived in her 12x24 stall 24/7 by then. This was a previously anxious mare that had to be within 5 feet of my gelding at all times. Once the baby came, I think I kept them in the paddock for a day or so, then let them wander out on a pasture alone. Although she again wanted to be near the barn and would bring the foal into the stall to nap, and yes, like you hope, she was so busy worrying about being 6 inches from her baby at all times she didn’t care about having more space.
Well baby was born today around 4pm. Wish I could say everything is fine but it’s not. The baby is REALLY tiny. They thought maybe it was a twin but there is no twin. It is small like a small pony foal but both mom and dad are 15h horses. Seems like a premie… Vet has said it could be due to the mare being a maiden that is older (16yrs?)
The front legs are not straight - tendons are too tight so it has not been able to stand yet. They said the heart rate is elevated - possible heart murmer? They could not tell bc the heart rate was so fast I guess. I was told that she just suddenly popped it out without warning… or rather it was pulled out as it took 3 people to get it out even though it was soooo tiny. They said that if she had been out in the pasture they would both have died because she had that much trouble.
They tubed it for the colostrum even though it could suck. They did not try a bottle at all. Was told they do that will all of the newborns that need nutrients. Said it was the fastest way to get it in them without wasting anything since it is expensive. Seemed like the mare did have something but I don’t think they used it. There were not large bags but I know something was there.
I am fairly upset right now over the whole situation. My stallion is the daddy and this is his first foal. A foal that I spent the past 3 years trying to produce with this mare for the owner. I took care of this mare at my farm for the past several years and I have so much invested and care deeply for the mare and the baby. I know I do not have a say in anything but I feel very frustrated in the course of things. NONE of the issues presented here seems anywhere remotely due to fescue at all (and the mare was off pasture completely for the past 45 days at this point confined to a stall 24/7 at the clinic) I was also told to leave the clinic by the vet because visiting hours were over (it was around 6pm) despite the foal having just been born and things being a bit critical. I was not interrupting anything and remaining on the sidelines just watching everything without obstructing anything (in case anyone would wonder if I had been distruptive etc… I was not). I am fairly disappointed I cannot be there to offer support and see how things turn out.
I will NOT be using this vet for anything in the future. Completely awful bedside manner to say the least not to mention completely backwards policies of care.
I am sorry things aren’t going well but am glad the wait is over. Jingles for everyone involved.
[QUOTE=zoehesed;8719995]
Well baby was born today around 4pm. Wish I could say everything is fine but it’s not. The baby is REALLY tiny. They thought maybe it was a twin but there is no twin. It is small like a small pony foal but both mom and dad are 15h horses. Seems like a premie… Vet has said it could be due to the mare being a maiden that is older (16yrs?)
The front legs are not straight - tendons are too tight so it has not been able to stand yet. They said the heart rate is elevated - possible heart murmer? They could not tell bc the heart rate was so fast I guess. I was told that she just suddenly popped it out without warning… or rather it was pulled out as it took 3 people to get it out even though it was soooo tiny. They said that if she had been out in the pasture they would both have died because she had that much trouble.
They tubed it for the colostrum even though it could suck. They did not try a bottle at all. Was told they do that will all of the newborns that need nutrients. Said it was the fastest way to get it in them without wasting anything since it is expensive. Seemed like the mare did have something but I don’t think they used it. There were not large bags but I know something was there.
I am fairly upset right now over the whole situation. My stallion is the daddy and this is his first foal. A foal that I spent the past 3 years trying to produce with this mare for the owner. I took care of this mare at my farm for the past several years and I have so much invested and care deeply for the mare and the baby. I know I do not have a say in anything but I feel very frustrated in the course of things. NONE of the issues presented here seems anywhere remotely due to fescue at all (and the mare was off pasture completely for the past 45 days at this point confined to a stall 24/7 at the clinic) I was also told to leave the clinic by the vet because visiting hours were over (it was around 6pm) despite the foal having just been born and things being a bit critical. I was not interrupting anything and remaining on the sidelines just watching everything without obstructing anything (in case anyone would wonder if I had been distruptive etc… I was not). I am fairly disappointed I cannot be there to offer support and see how things turn out.
I will NOT be using this vet for anything in the future. Completely awful bedside manner to say the least not to mention completely backwards policies of care.[/QUOTE]
First, I hope both the mare and foal survive.
I think tubing colostrum to get the foal’s IgG levels up is reasonable, since that is critical for the foal to make it through the first days. Especially if the foal was unable to stand, or make it to the mare, due to the contracted tendons. If the foal has a suck reflex, and the dam has milk, then hopefully the baby can be assisted in nursing. Even if from a bottle at first. A Snap IgG test will tell if the foal has good, protective numbers after the colostrum.
The contracted tendons may be able to be treated medically, if I remember.
Besides the size, what was the foal’s appearance that made it seem premature? Does it have a full hair coat? Does it seem to be breathing ok, or having trouble? Is it alert? If it seems to show signs of “dummy foal”, please look up “the Madigan Squeeze” to address that. If the foal was tiny, and is showing signs of being a dummy foal, the Madigan Squeeze is worth trying, IMO, depending on what other issues the baby is dealing with.
Was the placenta examined? Maybe there are clues there about the size/appearance of the baby. Is the mare OK, or was she injured during foaling?
It must be by frustrating to want to observe, and then get booted out due to “visiting hours”. I find that ridiculous, actually, especially if the mare owner wanted you to be there. (Has the mare owner told the staff that she/he wants you to be there as a support person/mentor/friend?)
Please update when you can. It was a long wait, and now that the foal has arrived, I hope you, the mare owner and vets can focus on keeping mom and baby well and healthy during this critical time. Jingles!!!
I have been with the mare’s owner at EVERY vet appointment and ultrasound. It was a joint effort and although the owner is in charge of everything, I have been included in everything involved with the foal up till not being allowed to stay at the clinic by the vet now. It felt very painful to be told to leave.
I am not even sure they allowed the owner to stay much past when I left. I left the vet office without hearing any additional conversation that may have taken place after that point but I know that the owner is no longer there either at this point.
The foal is just super super small and the head is a bit dished in appearance… neither parent has a dished head. I was shocked at how small the foal was when I first saw it. It has all its hair though and seems normal other than the legs and high heart rate and the dished head.
Sounds like a dysmature foal, usually resulting from placental insufficiency. We seen a few. Sometimes they quickly turn the corner and never look back others just develop problem after problem. The dished head may actually be hydrocephalus. Hope things improve. Sucks after waiting so long.
Actually I think kicking you out is just another example of their incompetence. They don’t want witnesses to see that they are clueless. There is no way to know if the IgG was low that early so no need to tube a foal with a suck reflex. Hopefully you don’t end up with pneumonia on top of everything else. It is not unusual for foals who go longer than normal to appear dysmature which is why you never want to induce labor. If he or she (you called it it so not sure which) appears dysmature now, imagine if they had induced a month ago. Hope things are turning the corner for the best today
I was sent a text this morning telling me that they decided to put the foal down. It was a boy and looked just like his Daddy. He was a bay with a star and two hind socks.
Only information I know was that he was tired from trying to stand all night and his front legs were too tight for him to be able to stand up. I think the costs of having to tube the colostrum at $200 a feeding was just too much on top of everything else.
I was forced to put one of my older pony mares out with my stallion at the beginning of all of this when we took away his mare to be at the clinic (she was a difficult mare to get pregnant so she has been living with him for the past 3 years) and he was fretting too much when she didn’t come home. With no end in sight as to when the mare would return home, I made the decision to give him one of my pony mares. All of my mares are older and I was not planning on breeding but I got desperate. My mare was confirmed in foal last week. I realize it is risky to breed an older mare but this is the one mare on my farm that I would absolutely love a baby from. This particular mare is in good physical health and the vet I am using has no concerns with her having a healthy baby at this point. So here’s hoping for a happy ending next year with a different mare and a different vet… I am determined to not let this horrible experience discourage me. The plans are for this foal to be a nice sport pony for my daughter to ride in the future.
This decision to put the baby down makes no sense to me AT ALL!!! They did not even give the baby one full day to try to live. I am sorry for you, OP, but this vet seriously needs to find another job.
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