oh gosh…that’s sad as anything. Good luck with the baby. So sad. 
Can you get a nurse mare?
I raised a TB orphan colt many years ago-mare died at foaling. We milked out the mare, so foal had colostrum from the get go. We used a pop bottle with a lamb nipple attached to feed him goat milk, which, because of our family business, was readily available. It is highly digestable, and did not cause any stomach/diarhea problems at all.
During the first week, we fed every two hours during the day and every three at night…midnight, 3 am, 6 am. After second week, we omitted the 3 am feeding. Worked out fine and foal was never starving. He was taught to drink from a bucket, and to eat foal starter as soon as possible, and we had to wean him at one month, as he was getting way too fat! We tried the nursemare routine, but she was having none of that.
He grew to be 16:2, and was one of the best looking foals I’d ever had. His manners were quite good, as we were warned about what the possible consequnces might be, and as I had other horses, he was turned out with them to learn the ‘herd’ thing.
No advice here, but… So sorry to hear about your mare. Good luck with Annie. Sounds like she’s in the right hands.
I just want to add my good wishes (and condolences). It seems you are getting experienced advice from the COTH community.
Hope all goes well with this special foal.
Oh no…sounds like this was your Innkeeper mare. So sad. She sounded lovely.
Sending positive thoughts for the little one and you! Hope it all works out.
Sending jingles!!
We had an orphan foal in 2007.
Here are a couple of tips of things I found useful:
To keep your milk chilled – take a 16 oz H2O bottle, clean it well to take off the outside paper, fill it with H20 or the original H20 and freeze it. You then can put it directly in the milk and use it like an “ice cube”. This way you don’t get any extra H20 diluting the milk and if would happen to leak it is only H20 and not harmful to the foal.
I also added some extras to the milk to help prevent loose stools and ulcers:
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Mix plain or vanilla yogurt with live cultures (we used the Publix brand) into the milk
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Add the powdered Probios to the milk
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Add Zantac (or generic) to the milk. Right now Zantac is on sale at Publix (until 4/18) and if you go to this link: http://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=FIOBSDI4NL3DK
you can get a $5 off coupon (after printing the first coupon – go back to link and it will let you print out 2 per computer) which will make it cheap (can you tell I coupon? :D)
the experts have provided excellent advice - I am 
to add to the condolences re the lost mare. I am so sorry !
Again, I appreciate all of your condolences and advice. She took to the Igloo immediately, but now that I’ve read Fred’s post, I’m headed back to the barn to make sure the Igloo is high enough. I think it’s kinda level to a little high right now.
I couldn’t find any place close by to get the Buckeye stuff and by then everything except Tractor Supply was closed, too, so I got this Ultra 24 stuff. I’m a bit annoyed because I can’t find anywhere how long it will keep.
sfstable, special thanks for the coupon!
Hi Wynn: This is Sandy here. The voice of reason and of “been there done this”. The very best thing you can do is get a nurse mare.
Feeding out of the bucket at first is the best thing. All the equine facilities do that. The bottle is just not a good thing. IMHO. Have you put out the word that you need a nurse mare? Peterson/Smith got mine for me. It was just 1000K and this mare who had 10 foals and lost this one, came to my tiny little pony mare (she was 16.3) and took her on immediately.
Best words of advice…get a nurse mare and raise your foal as it was intended to be raised, by an momma mare.
Call me anytime if you want help. 352-232-2795.
So sorry, pwynnorman!
I second the Zantac
i raised an orphan about 12 years ago. He was tooth-grinding and so we put him on Zantac, mixing it with the milk replacer (we used Foal Lac - he loved it). UlcerGard was just coming out at the time and I don’t think it was approved for foals yet.
Commercial milk replacers are good; at least one vet I’ve read thinks that foals raised on it are better and healthier than most foals on mare’s milk. If you are getting diarrhea try adjusting the amount of water in the mixture a little. Each foal is a little different and a mixture that is fine with one can be a little rich for another.
Mine learned to drink from a bucket at about 3 days old. The thing they have to learn is not to submerge their noses in the milk (mine got excited at the sight of ALL THAT MILK when he first saw it in a bucket). He dunked his nose once or twice and learned quickly.
i recommend halter-breaking as soon as possible. we waited a week with mine and he was a strong, healthy little dude from the get-go, with a dominant personality. I think it would have been easier if we’d just slipped a halter on that first day.
I agree with those who suggest a nursemare, ASAP. It helps with the socialization. Mine did have some behavioral issues, but by the time he was five you wouldn’t know it. Firm, consistent handling is best. Mine is now an event horse.
Well, I’ll admit that I didn’t think to call Petersen and Smith since that’s where my vet is from and he didn’t even know if they had colostrum (and he sure didn’t make any suggestions about nurse mares). Oh, well. I’ll given them a call tomorrow.
Look, I’m really, really confused about how long I can leave the Igloo hanging in her stall with WARM milk replacer in it. Should I just discard it and replace it with cold stuff and put the icepacks or frozen water bottles in instead? I sure don’t want her getting sick from spoilt milk replacer.
No need for warm formula, also no need for Buckeye with the igloo, as it keeps flies out and formula from spoiling.
When I used foal lac, I used Buckeye Foal Paste as additional minerals and it went well.
Do not worry too much. I think you are on the right track. Keep us posted. I drove CotH nuts with Ballerina, my tiny dancer in 2004.
Hmmmm…when we had to do the milk replacer I remember we kept it in the refrig. until we used it. Then I am thinking we warmed it a bit…like…wouldnt the mares milk be just the perfect warm temp??
Wynn…i am just not the right one to guide you with the igloo because I did not get that far. My one, whos dam died at Peterson/Smith at 3 days old, was there being bucket fed until that lovely mare lost her foal when my SophieSue was 3 (yes THREE) weeks old. We tried the nurse mare facility, but SophieSue got kicked the first day there and had to return to the facility (Peterson/Smith). where she was until the mare walked in, whinnied to Sophie, Sophie whinnied back and it was a match made in heaven. They returned to me the next day.
[QUOTE=pwynnnorman;6249173]
Well, I’ll admit that I didn’t think to call Petersen and Smith since that’s where my vet is from and he didn’t even know if they had colostrum (and he sure didn’t make any suggestions about nurse mares). Oh, well. I’ll given them a call tomorrow.
Look, I’m really, really confused about how long I can leave the Igloo hanging in her stall with WARM milk replacer in it. Should I just discard it and replace it with cold stuff and put the icepacks or frozen water bottles in instead? I sure don’t want her getting sick from spoilt milk replacer.[/QUOTE]
I am not sure if this will help you…but the description of making and using the IGLOO says that they started (when bottle feeding) with warm formula and within 3 days the foal was drinking it cold. It was at that point that they made the igloo and used the Buckeye which stays good for 12+ hours…so they say they changed it 2-3 times per day (she describes using the ice packs in the bottom). She notes that she measured what was left when she changed it so she knew what the foal was drinking.
I am sure you are exhausted so hope these tidbits, that I know sometimes are hard to find when you need them, will help you while you look for a nurse mare etc. While I’ve never done an orphan foal I can promise you (as a mother) that you go with your gut and you do your best – you will never have all the answers and many times you might think you’re doing it wrong! Just hang in there and take your cues from the baby…
PS…You might find (speaking of kids here) that it takes her a bit to go from warm to cold so you will likely have to make that change a bit gradually. I would think that the milk replacer could stay in the igloo (warm) for a couple of hours, but I haven’t found that yet…I’ll keep looking.
PPS…I didn’t realize that the milk replacer is the same for all different animals. If it helps, I know when I had to use it (not a foal) I replaced it every couple hours when warm to avoid them getting sick. So, while your switching her from warm to cold, if it were me I’d replace it every few hours to be safe. Once she gets to cold, it will last most of the day.
I asked that earlier and I bet this is the best thing to do. Thankfully, I haven’t been in this position.
We fed ours famotadine (Pepcid) tablets directly. He’d eat them out of your hand, actually – though I’d recommend putting it in a bucket. You can get mint flavor and also can go with (cheaper) generic.
Sorry I didn’t think to mention that earlier. Our foal had multiple problems (mare stepped on him and broke his leg, meconium impaction, ruptured bladder, umbilical hernia – I think he had two surgeries in his first three days) and was on heavy duty antibiotics, so the vets put him on one famotadine tablet am and pm as a precaution. His problems prevented him from anything but handwalking until 6 months of age, so he really missed out on socialization. A nurse mare really is the best but as others here have shown these horses can bounce back just fine from being bucket babies.
Keep up the good work! :winkgrin:
