JB - M girl is very big but still carrying it somewhat low. She is a maiden so now she now has a bag though it isn’t full but definitely bigger than it has ever been. I really haven’t seen much of a change in her Vulva but most of her muscles in her butt are pretty relaxed & you can lift her tail over your head with no resistance at all. I have the baby monitor set up in her stall and she has been staying and napping in her stall most of the night. I really wish this baby would hurry up & come so I can get a full night’s sleep again…but then I will prob be up a million times over night worrying about the foal so I guess I probably won’t sleep for the next 6 months… 
It’s pretty exciting though isn’t it?
Even when you get three false alarms in one night … like I did last night. Two she was sleeping and snoring, then one she chucked her alarm over the fence and managed to break part of the pouch. Great.
Ruby is 319 days today and I am thrilled. At 310 days my vet told me to prepare for abortion but she’s pushed through and tomorrow we get to the 320 mark I have been counting down to!
On vet’s advice she is off the broncopulmin and the vile regumate (yay!) and we are preparing for the foal to be born.
Her rump and tail head are beginning to soften, not much change on the vulva and the bag is unreliable with Ruby because of her decision that I apparently needed her milk and colostrum more than the baby did …
We have plans in place for plasma transfer and bought frozen colostrum for when the foal arrives because Ruby has lost her colostrum. She lets down her milk whenever I cuddle or scratch her … seriously …
It’s been an expensive, long and scary road but I am ready to see that bub when it decides to join us. Torn between wild excitement and then it comes crashing down because I don’t want to get my hopes up and have something happen.
Breeding is like being a manic depressive, isn’t it? The highs and the lows …
Good luck madamlb!!!
[QUOTE=amastrike;5425770]
Weird thing happened today. What the heck kind of gelding tries to get it on with an enormously pregnant mare??? [/QUOTE]
Had this happen a few times as well as a stallion that was highly interested…maybe there’s some scent in late pregnancy that is close to “mare in season” smell that gets 'em going?
[QUOTE=Dorienna;5441412]
Well i’m also at 275 with my 2 girls, and getting more nervous by the day. The younger one (maiden) has been bagged up for almost 2 weeks now. Should I worry? There are no other signs, just the udder which is swollen (not huge, but very noticeable). Vet is due out for the shots in about 2 weeks, should I get him out there earlier or is it normal?
pass the paper bag…[/QUOTE]
You may want to call the vet as a precaution. Placentitis can cause them to bag up. Seems early to me (also a newbie) so that’s my .02. good luck.
Baby is still lazy. I haven’t felt it move other than that one time a month-ish ago. I’ve tried poking and patting, and the darn thing refuses to wake up. If I let myself think about it too much, I get a little nervous that there’s something wrong… oh crap, where’s the paper bag?
I can feel my Day 316 mare’s baby most every night when I am brushing big momma. Nothing on my other mare who is around Day 285. 2nd mare is also tiny compared to 1st mare. I have worried and fretted and bugged my vet so much that she told me to come get some blood tubes and she would check progesterone levels in my 2nd mare to “help ease my anxiety”. :o God love her!!!
Both my mares have had babies before coming to live with me but I am in total newbie freak out mode at this point…must remember to breathe…paper bag! :eek::eek::eek:
I haven’t felt the baby move yet, but my mare certainly seems annoyed at it from time to time. She’ll stop whatever she’s doing, take a nip at her side and pin her ears at it and then go back to eating and lounging around. She’s keeping it in line already! 
The best investment other than my stallion is my foal alert system that auto dials my cell phone and 3 other numbers with an auto recording that you can program. like “Hi this is KOKO and I’m having a baby” it always makes the panic ring a little humorous. plus an alarm also goes off in my bedroom. It is worth the peace of mind because I have spent hours watching and “a watched pot never boils” when I first started breeding my house would run out of supplies because I would be so afraid to leave to go get anything. I felt imprisoned by fear of needing to be there.
Another tip is do have a bag packed with all your gear for the foal, mare and YOU! don’t forget to pack a snack and water because once your baby is here you don’t want to miss a thing and once the baby nurses you will be starving!
Also all the things you have been studying will not help you unless you remember them so a must have is a note card either laminated or in a ziplock saying the stages of labor and what to expect and a pad of paper to write times and notes on. Ahhh I have foaled so many times but I am still soooo exited! At least we aren’t breeding elephants and need to wait 16 months for jestation!!!
My Rubinstein mare is 249 days today and she’ll go to a foaling facility at 310 days. My question is, should I have a foaling
kit ready before she goes or would it be pointless before 310 days?
Here she is: http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/ad198/HorseFeathersFarm/5a2d8314.jpg
since people are talking about feeling the foals, I felt the foal at 7 months for the first time, and now I’m seeing movement about every other day.
BITS - if i were you i wouldn’t wait until day 310. The mare needs a solid month to develop antibodies to her environment and if she foals early, moving her at day 310 won’t give her enough time. I would move her no later than day 300.
Wishing everyone safe, uneventful foalings! I’m not a newbie myself, but my mare is, so i feel just as anxious/nervous as i did the LAST time i had a maiden… :eek:
Mine is at Day 255 and i haven’t seen much movement, so i was very relieved when the vet gave her a quick rectal on Friday and the baby wiggled around and kicked, lol! She’s carrying it very high and far back, the head was positioned above her stifle - wtf??! I had no idea they could carry up there, no wonder my poor mare hasn’t been able to canter properly lately!
We also found by poking around in her mouth that my poor girl is in DESPERATE need of a float… we did her last May, hoping it would hold for a year but she very badly needs a float and we can’t tranq her cuz of the baby. :no: I feel very badly for her, and i hope to heck this doesn’t affect her ability to eat all the food she’s going to need in the next 3 months!! 
ASBJumper, would she tolerate hand floating at all? If she’d put up with getting the worst of the points knocked off, that might hold her over until she foals.
[QUOTE=ASBJumper;5443188]
BITS - if i were you i wouldn’t wait until day 310. The mare needs a solid month to develop antibodies to her environment and if she foals early, moving her at day 310 won’t give her enough time. I would move her no later than day 300.
Wishing everyone safe, uneventful foalings! I’m not a newbie myself, but my mare is, so i feel just as anxious/nervous as i did the LAST time i had a maiden… :eek:
Mine is at Day 255 and i haven’t seen much movement, so i was very relieved when the vet gave her a quick rectal on Friday and the baby wiggled around and kicked, lol! She’s carrying it very high and far back, the head was positioned above her stifle - wtf??! I had no idea they could carry up there, no wonder my poor mare hasn’t been able to canter properly lately!
We also found by poking around in her mouth that my poor girl is in DESPERATE need of a float… we did her last May, hoping it would hold for a year but she very badly needs a float and we can’t tranq her cuz of the baby. :no: I feel very badly for her, and i hope to heck this doesn’t affect her ability to eat all the food she’s going to need in the next 3 months!! :([/QUOTE]
You can safely float a pregnant mare’s teeth, even with sedation. Pregnant mares often have to be sedated, and if mares can be sedated and anesthetized for major procedures such as colic surgery and go on to foal safely then teeth floating shouldn’t be a problem. It is a procedure we commonly do here at our practice.
I would do it now, knowing that she needs to get the most of her food.
Mine was certainly sedated to have her Caslick’s removed, same drugs as if she were to be floated
One boob has started getting a little filled!
[QUOTE=amastrike;5443251]
ASBJumper, would she tolerate hand floating at all? If she’d put up with getting the worst of the points knocked off, that might hold her over until she foals.[/QUOTE]
No - she tolerated the vet feeling around with her fingers (barely) but as soon as the vet tried to gently slip the rasp in her mouth she lost it, even twitching her did nothing… she’s REALLY, really sensitive… and the points are digging into her cheeks and so anything going up there is causing her pain.
We’d have to knock her out almost completely - last time (late May 2010) we had to give her 2 doses of tranq just to do a basic touch-up float. She had been power-floated in early February before that, believe it or not. This mare’s teeth have been a constant issue since i got her in 2009.
Hillside - that is good to know. That makes me feel better.
I am moving my mare this Friday to a new (foaling) barn and i will get the new barn owner to watch her carefully for signs of spiling/spitting food. So far, it doesn’t seen to be affecting her eating (thankfully she’s a piggy who’s obsessed with her grain). IF she starts to spill food, i will have the vet sedate her and float her asap. :yes:
[QUOTE=JB;5441568]
Only a negative if you have a fatty
Well, that goes for the straw too if she decides that’s yummy.
Oh c’mon, get excited!
JB - Oh thank goodness! I don’t have a fatty! And with hay less than twice the price of straw around here, I might start sleeping in it myself … Okay, maybe not.
And, alright, I’m actually sooooo excited, but trying to stay calm and rational - this baby has been a long time coming - many disappointments before now, so that’s why i’m trying to keep a handle on the excitement.:winkgrin:
It’s a wiggler so far though, that’s for sure. Last night, baby was galloping around mum’s belly.
Good luck with your foaling! It’s getting super close for you.
[QUOTE=ASBJumper;5443188]
BITS - if i were you i wouldn’t wait until day 310. The mare needs a solid month to develop antibodies to her environment and if she foals early, moving her at day 310 won’t give her enough time. I would move her no later than day 300. [/QUOTE]
I was basing 310 days on the fact she’s gone exactly one year at least 3 times. First with her donnerhall filly (first one) and then her salieri colt, and then her Sir Donnerhall filly.
But yea, she could go early so good suggestion. I sent uga an email asking for a cost estimate and a time line of when she should go.
Day 320 here!!
I am so happy with her for getting this far, and she’s showing no signs of having bubs anytime soon.
I was just hanging out with her while I picked up her poo and she’s getting very big, the foal has moved into position, tail head and muscles in her rump are softer in the morning and less so in the afternoon … does that sound remotely plausible? I swear that’s the case! She’s in good spirits, just her normal self with a HUUUGE belly.
I think there could still be a week in it which a) is fabulous for a mare with placentitis and b) is terrible because I go back to uni on Monday and will miss all my classes!
This is my mare Ruby on Sunday at 317 days
http://i54.tinypic.com/2eusl75.jpg
I am not a newbie but had my first dystocia one year ago tonight so I am feeling newbie like jitters this evening. I think my next foal is likely to be my last foal but I am really hoping that is a voluntary decision and not because something happens to my mare. Thankfully the last foaling had a happy ending even though it was scary as hell. Watch at your own risk!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRyuugSga2I
madamlb, she doesn’t look all that enormous… I think pictures don’t capture the vastness very well, because my girl looks fairly trim in photos and she most certainly is not. Is her udder developing at all?
Okay, so this isn’t entirely about breeding and pregnant mares, but.
Tonight I was petting and fussing over the mare, and next thing I know, there’s a darned cat clinging to her blanket and climbing his way up to sit/walk/roll/lay on her back. WTF?? Good mare didn’t object, not that I would have blamed her if she did. But that’s a first. I’ve never seen that cat climb onto a horse before.
