Foaling Season - A Learning Experience

Thank you to twosuperstudponies from marestare for this collage of pics!

Foaling season is in full swing even though I don't have a foal due for a couple of months still. I know the peak of the season is coming on because I can't visit Mare Stare without catching a mare foaling. Of course, I'm not spending a lot of time on the site watching for mares who are close. I have way too much work here to be doing that. But checking in the evening hours, I've watch three mares foal in two days.

The number of live webcams on foaling mares has shot up through the roof. Mare Stare has divided threads in the forums to separate Mare Stare cams from others just to help the "Starers" be able to keep track of horses more easily. There were so many mares due at the same time that confusion was the name of the game.

The separations of the cams by location and then moving the newly foaled into the nursery was supposed to make it easier to keep track of information mares getting close. I'm not sure if that's the case with the huge increase in numbers of live webcams So I just head for the chat room and ask if anyone thinks any particular mares are worth watching. Those are the mares I watch - that and I have a few of my favorites I've been watching for three seasons now.

If you're wondering what I'd doing on Mare Stare when I don't have a mare even close, it's strictly for the experience. Sure I've foaled out around thirty foals on my own but I know I have a lot to learn. The more foalings I see, the more I learn.

Some go like clockwork and that's good. That's what we all hope for. But with that large number of mares foaling there are bound to be problems. Those problems are why I watch. I can see the signs instead of read them in a book. I also get to see how different people find solutions.

Just last night I watched a dystocia. (difficult birth) I'm still not sure if the foal locked a shoulder or had its head turned back, maybe even both but clearly the birth required intervention. I knew early that there was a problem. The reason I knew, I'd seen the signs before. The farm owners knew exactly what they were doing. It all ended successfully.

In the two previous seasons that I've watched on Mare Stare I've seen some real heart breaking foalings. But what I have learned from watching has made me more prepared for problems in the future. I know my first red bag delivery I saw on Mare Stare. I've also seen two sets of twins and a lavender foal born through that site. I've seen enough that my first foaling last year that was a dystocia, I knew immediately. I was on the phone with the vet before I even got to the barn. I could tell by the picture on my computer.

There's no amount of reading in books that compares to watching mares foal. I wish I had this resource when I first got started in horses. I've learned more in the last two seasons on Mare Stare than I've learned the rest of my foaling experience.

For anyone expecting their first foal, I strongly recommend some time watching mares foaling AND studying your own mare's behavior. There's nothing more helpful than knowing how mares behave when left alone. Watching from a distance can give you a baseline to go by. Mares behaviors will change in some subtle ways that clearly tell you the time is coming IF you have something to compare.

If you do this on Mare Stare and you don't understand what you're seeing, ask questions either on the thread for the mare or in the chat. Most likely someone who knows will tell you what you're looking at. I know I answer a lot of questions in the chat room. I also post what I see that are important signs. It's a learning experience I just won't miss.


The pictures above were taken off the computer by someone on Mare Stare watching while my mare, Bey Aana, was foaling last year.