I had a situation similar to Suzanne’s at Bloomington Farm, where I saw violent kicking about 2 days prior to delivery. No colic in the mare, though. Late that night, she expelled some amniotic fluid - yep - down with my nose in the bedding to smell it, to make sure. Once the kicking stopped she didn’t appear to be in any distress. Had the vet in first thing in the morning. He checked her out, found everything to be fine. I don’t think he believed that it really was amniotic fluid. We kept a very close eye on this mare, who was at 327 days when I saw the violent kicking, which nearly put the mare off her feet. The next evening, she expelled a bit more fluid, and the foal was born at 5:12 the next morning. We watched her like a hawk because I knew something wasn’t right. I was standing behind her when the vulva lips parted and I saw the placenta. I was not at all surprised by the red bag, being already aware of Suzanne’s experience, and was prepared as much as possible. I got the foal out as quickly as possible. Still, the foal was mildly hypoxic, with not much suck reflex, and in mild shock. We syringed colostrum into the foal and kept him warm until the vet arrived 4 hours later. The vet tubed him with high-test colostrum I had frozen and thawed from another mare. He came around quickly after that, and had a strong suck reflex, but was still too weak to stand to nurse. He was bottle fed for the next 2.5 days, kept stalled for the next 10 days, by which time he was normal in every respect. He is now two and very sound and healthy.
If I had not been right there, there is no question I would have lost this foal, and possibly the dam as well. Even being there, the foal cannot always be saved in the matter of a red bag. The foal was a normal presentation once the placenta was out of the way. I can only assume at day 327, the foal was in distress from lack of oxygen, from a twist or what-have-you. In struggling to break free, he either partially dislodged the placenta or ruptured the amniotic sac, but then his body plugged the hole. According to my vet, if the water had broken, by the time he arrived the next morning, I would have had a dead foal on my hands.
I am very sorry for your loss. If you’re in the business long enough, you will lose a foal. It’s a statisical probablity, but sucks, just the same. It is very generous for you to offer your mare as a nurse mare.
I do remember. In fact, I may have a picture floating around somewhere with Otto doing the branding.