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| Preparing for the new foal (March 2005) |
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Anxiety is a pretty normal feeling when a foaling date approaches, especially if it’s your first foal. The best tonic for this anxiety is a little knowledge about what lies ahead.
“Most sources confidently state that gestation is 340 days,” says Angela Eveleth, equine scientist at Colorado State University, “but it can vary from 310 days to 365. So before you start camping out all night, learn to recognize some signs.”
First, she says, as foaling approaches, muscles in the mare’s abdomen relax and it grows downward. This change in muscle tone occurs with two to three weeks of pregnancy remaining.
Another obvious change is when the udders begin filling. Near the foaling date milk often will leak from the udders. The first milk, called colostrum, is vital to the foal’s survival because it carries important antibodies. During the first 12 hours after birth the new foal should drink lots of this milk.
Movement
“About three weeks before foaling you’ll also see a lot of movement in the mare’s abdomen,” Eveleth says. “The foal is extending its neck and stretching out its forelimbs, usually for about 10 or 15 minutes each time. It can be uncomfortable for the mare, but it’s important that the foal’s activity keep increasing. It’s an important component of the birthing process.” Eveleth says another common question concerns shoes.
“When the new foal arrives,” she says, “the mare will be moving around a lot in close quarters. Some foaling attendants believe that removing her shoes allows the mare to feel the foal more easily while it is lying on the ground. That allows the mare to avoid stepping on the foal when it is sleeping. It’s much safer for the foal.”
Concerning close quarters during the birthing process, Eveleth notes that foaling stalls need to be roomy and “goof proof.” That means a size of about 20 by 20 feet with smooth surfaces. Wood shavings and sawdust should not be used as bedding because the porous wood fibers make good hiding places for bacteria. “There is an increased correlation between increased foal illness and wood shavings,” she says. “The best bedding is clean, dust-free straw.”
Eveleth says one of the best things to do before the mare foals is to put together a foaling kit that contains a halter, lead rope, tail wrap, two clean buckets, terry cloth towels and hand towels, Fleet enema, tincture of iodine, flashlight, baler’s twine, and cotton string.
“You should also have two phone numbers of 24-hour veterinarians,” she says. “And remember, don’t wait until there is an obvious foaling problem to call. By that time you are already in deep trouble.”
At birth
Once the foal is breathing and the umbilical cord is clean and disinfected, just sit back and wait. “Give them some time after birth,” says University of Kentucky horse specialist Bob Coleman. “Watch the mare and gauge her attitude to you and the foal. We had a horse here who would have hurt you if you got in the stall. So don’t rush in, it’s almost never the right thing to do. Let the mare get to know the foal. You are going to have it for a long time.”
Brown is heating his 4,000-square-foot house with a 46,000-BTU stove. He attributes the stove’s ability to heat the entire houseto where it sits—in a great room with 12-foot ceilings. The stove’s fan simply blows heat into the room. Then ceiling fans circulate it throughout the house. Brown appreciates the minimal maintenance required to keep the stove working. “I just remove the clinker once a day and clean the ash box on a weekly basis. It’s clean, safe, and, most important, it’s economical.”
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