The Sneaky Arabain Mare and Her New Foal

I watch Aana in the house for a while hoping she would drop her placenta. Around midnight I got on the phone and called the vet.It had been three hours and the mare still hadn't pushed out the membrane and it was clear she wasn't going to without assitance. Dave went over to Jack's house and picked up oxytocin for me to give the mare. Luckily about a half hour after the first shot, the placenta dropped into the stall. I went out and checked it over carefully to be sure it was all there. then I I stayed up a while making sure that the mare made it through the contractions caused by the injection without any unusual reactions. About 3:30 am I finally feel into bed.

Fortunately, the marestares kept an eye on the mare and foal for me keeping a log on the thread that I knew how their night had gone. By morning I was concerned that the colt was consipated. I tried giving him a regular fleets enema but didn't get the response I was hoping for. I did get some meconium but not all of it and it was very hard. I again called the vet and made a run down to his clinic to get a mineral oil enema. Normally, I have those in my foaling kit but must have not replaced them after the last foal.

When I got back with the mineral oil enemas, I administered the first one and was shocked to see that nothing at all came out with the mineral oil. That was not a good sign. It was a good thing I already had the vet scheduled for the next day. In the meantime I kept a close eye on the mare and the foal.

It was beginning to look to me like the mare was not producing enough milk. The colt was not nearly as active as he should have been. Also the mare was not drinking the amount of water necessary for a lactating mare. Her consumption wasn't even a five gallon bucket a day. Many times my mares consume 4 times that amount in one day. Also Aana was picking at her food.

This is the real test with newborn foal and mares, those first 3 days after foaling a lot of things can go wrong. Many of those things show only subtle symptoms in the beginning. By the time they are full blown, things can easily be out of control. The symptoms being shown by both horses could be just a little bit of a rocky start while their bodies adjusted or it could be symptoms of bigger things. I monitored both horses around the clock to make sure nothing there were no more symtoms developing.

I kept track of food intake on both. Took their temperatures and monitored their heart and respiration. For the few hours I went to sleep, the marestarers followed the horses closely and kept glowing records for me on eating, sleeping and drinking and even what they could see of potty functions. All this information they posted on the tread in the marestare nursery.

I was sure going to be glad when the vet got here and flushed out the mare and checked out both horses. In the meantime I kept up my watch for more symptoms. The one thing that was getting better for sure was the colt's contracted tendons. He had figured out how to stand on his feet and I could tell the tendons were strectching with the pressure he was putting onto them with his playing.

By morning, Aana was drinking as much water as a lactating mare should be. Her milk was now coming in strong. As I expected the colt was a little more active now that he was getting more milk. The colt was still a little lathargic like a constipated foal would be. I was glad when Jack finally arrived early that afternoon.

Jack rectally palpated the colt checking for the softness of his stool and then administed another of the mineral oil enemas. While we waited for the results of that, Jack began preparing the uterine flush for the mare. By the time he had that all together, the colt had pushed out the last of the mineral oil enema. The last of the matter was soft like it should be so we knew we had that situation under control. Then Jack began the mare's flush. Several small chunks of matter washed out with the flush. None were large enough or of the type of that Jack was concerned about. He said I could breed her in three weeks and I just laughed. (The last two foaling seasons have been stressful enough I'm not sure I want to even think about breeding right now.)

Within a couple of hours after the vet's visit, the behavior of both horses began to pick up. It was clear that both had been feeling a little rough around the edges, each for their own reasons. The colt had been slightly constipated and the mare had that material still inside her uterus. Even though she was given another shot of oxytocin to cause contraction to flush out the remainder of the fluid, the mare was still feeling better. The added oxytocin would also help with the mare's milk production. Finally we were on the right track.
Watch Bey Aana and her colt on our Mare Stare Webcam Bey Aana. If this link doesn't work for you, try going to the Mare Stare live cams page and then click on the Rising Rainbow Arabians link. I know from the chatroom that sometimes that will work when a direct link like this doesn't.

You can see some of her previous foals on our website, Rising Rainbow Arabians .


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