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Foal Watch 2023

:heart_eyes::heart_eyes:. Wow he’s a good looking lad!! Pun intended bc I love that name too. Hope to see him have a great future!

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@EventerAJ I am so sorry to hear about your losses. Entice was lovely, and a Justify foal…
Heartbreaking.

Wishing you a New Year filled with great experiences and much better luck.

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Long time lurker, and I also finally made a profile so I could comment on this thread :stuck_out_tongue:

I am expecting my first foal ever this year out of my OTTB mare by this year’s USEA Theodore O’Connor trophy recipient, Coud’Poker Tartifume. I have never owned a Connemara or Connie cross, but I am super excited for this baby! Foal is technically for sale, but as we closer to her due date in March, I am thinking this may be one I want to hold onto for a few years.

Here is my mare. She is by a son of Unbridled’s Song and also has Affirmed and Storm Cat on her dam’s side

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DH’s mare is due in March to Cloud Computing. Hopefully his three year old crop turns the corner with how they’ve been running. Regardless, we are hopeful that it will do well in the state program.

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Buyer (filly option) asked if i could send her a “belly pic”, so i’m sharing it here. Can’t really tell she’s pregnant from the side, but Arya is 7 months along now! :slight_smile: So exciting!!

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Yeah, I’d say she’s carrying that pretty secretly

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Bumping up for @iberianfan!

No real news so far on my end, which is good news! My mare looks good. Most of the mares at the farm are due around the same time so almost all of them are off pasture/fescue and so she has her favorite friends with her and she hasn’t “needed” to jump the fence in a while, thank goodness…

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Thank you!! Don’t know how I missed this.

My mare Sunny hit day 280 this weekend and moved into the dry lot. She’ll be going to the foaling facility in about 5 weeks. She’s always been a narrow framed mare, so her baby bump is very evident :grin:

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Saxony (TB, Hard Spun x Even Song) is due the last week of February. (Hoping for a filly!)

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No foals for me this year. I have my 10 month old colt and a new 2 year old to train… That’s quite a handful right there! I’m hauling them all over for exposure. Starting to get the 2 yr old backed. She’s great except for a bit of attention deficit… “Oh what’s that? Oh what’s that over there?” Super curious but her attention span isn’t great. Standing still is a struggle.

My older mares are approaching/getting too old to carry. If finances allow I might try for one more foal next year, but I’m not certain that will happen.

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I would love to see your Britannia Royal baby! I have one due in May out of a Musketier mare.

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I have a 2022 Cooper colt (now gelded). He was a bit of a stinker as a baby, but now is just super - friendly, athletic, laid back. I think you will be pleased!

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That’s great! My mare is super sweet, but can be a bit of a worrier. From what Donna has told me about Cooper, he is chill as a cucumber, so I’m hoping baby gets some of that attitude. Would love a nice mid-sized hony (my mare is 16.1).

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Phew, we’re only on day 286 and my mare is already stressing me out lol. She’s a maiden, and I’ve been periodically checking her udder, but not every day since I figured I wouldn’t see any changes for a while still. Took a peek on Wednesday night, and suddenly noticed we had a significant change! I texted both my vet and foaling manager, and both agreed to monitor her overnight and if there were any changes, to have her examined. Udder looked slightly fuller in the am, but she was still eating and acting normal otherwise. Decided to run her in to the repro vet just to be sure. Luckily all looked good on ultrasound, placenta was normal thickness and baby was healthy and kicking the crap out of the poor vet :joy:

Probably just first time mom jitters, but I definitely feel better that I had her checked. Vet said the udder changes were development of mammary tissue, and not actual milk dropping yet. Do most people see this with their maidens? I wasn’t expecting to see any udder changes until at least day 300. Will obviously be monitoring her more closely from this point on.

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Arielle checked open at her 14 day ultrasound, on a ~5 month ultrasound/palpation, and on a ~6 month urine test. If I wasn’t very sure that she’s open, I’d be thinking we were right on schedule for a late May/early June foal. :flushed:

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I’m assuming you’ll be monitoring this closely. But how would a fetus be missed on 5-month ultrasound? She really doesn’t just look “fat” in that photo!

Since I’m here… I am eagerly awaiting baby photos! I am aware that the main TB breeder here, who would be wanting foals born early in the year, did not have a good breeding season in 2022, so that would slow things down. I also vaguely remember people saying that last year was a tough one for getting mares in foal on the first try, so maybe everything’s just going to be late this year.

(That said, I keep track of Morgan births through a not quite randomly selected set of FB groups and individual breeders, and have only seen 2 “baby Morgans!” (my term) so far. But, Morgan foal registrations have recovered since being barely over 1000 per year around 2010, and we might hit 2000 in the next year or two. Good news!)

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I went back through the thread the other day and wrote down when everyone is due. Correct me if my list is wrong, guys, but here’s what I had

EventerAJ Feb
LaurieB Late Feb
FromTheGalaxy March
Arzny March
fordtraktor April
weixao April
greymatter April/May
ASBJumper May/June
Old_Mac_Donald Oct (southern hemisphere)

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It wouldn’t be unusual for a vet to “miss” one in mid gestation, I don’t think. But to miss one twice in a mare this small (13.2), especially coupled with a negative urine test (not that those are the good standard at all), seems unlikely to me. I’ll still be watching her, just because I have the strangest luck in the world. Lol. And also because I’m hoping to get both mares bred in a timely fashion this year. I feel like fate owes me a good season after the debacle that was last year!

She’s in good flesh, to be sure, but nowhere near as fat as the rear view suggests. Please excuse the mud; it’s been raining for a week straight.

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I would say mine is due in May. She’s due middle of the month, so she might go a bit early or late, but she went 337 last year, so chances are good she’ll go sometime in May.

Almost at the 8month mark now… I’ll be starting her on her special alfalfa hay in a week or so. :stuck_out_tongue:

She’s doing so great. SO low maintenance. I love it. With the weird yo-yo weather we’ve had this winter, a LOT of the horses are colicking. It’s made me a smidge nervous… but so far, so good. And god love her, she drinks like a fish. Inside and outside. Even at shows, she would drink strange water out of the bucket right after her classes, no hesitation.

She really is the ideal broodmare in almost every way… except she’s too lenient with her kids. I’d like her to be a touch more of a disciplinarian… but that’s being SUPER nitpicky. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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