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  Discussion on Signs for Impending Partruition
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Posted on Tuesday, Apr 2, 2002 - 1:48 pm:

I have a nine year old mare who was showing wax and milk drip yesterday, but a cold front has come through she has ceased. Milk bag is still showing wax, is taut but no mild is dripping. From reading and conversations with a vet I would have thought she would have foaled last night (this morning) but now she seems like she was a week ago. Any thoughts??

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 2, 2002 - 1:52 pm:

PS, she is in a paddock of good annual rye grass, has her companion gelding in an adjacent paddock and is a virgin mare. Her breeding datw was on or about May 8, 2001. Normal calculator places her dur date as 13-15 April.

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 2, 2002 - 2:10 pm:

James,
I have a maiden mare who has been dripping for 2 weeks today. (4/02/02). Her due date is 4/26. If anybody has any answers for this please let me know. My vet was out and did a CBC to see if there was any uterine infection or reason for the lactation but the CBC came back normal. Has any one else delt with this? I've been sleepless for 2 weeks now.

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 2, 2002 - 3:27 pm:

Well, Linda, I guess that answers my question about other's having the same experience. I hope the situation doesn't drag on for another two weeks...........Doc O, what is your take on all this? Are we experiencing abberational behavior in our mares??

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 2, 2002 - 3:59 pm:

James, I hate to be the harbinger of possibly horrible news, but I went through this for several weeks!! I am in Texas and our weather has been as high as 80 degrees some days and then DrOpping as low as 25 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. (My poor horses don't know whether to shed or not.) My maiden mare was due 02/25/2002. She bagged up and started dripping and displaying all the signs of pre-labor on 02/24/2002 and I just knew she was going to have the baby that night, then she stopped when the weather got cold that afternoon. This same scenario went on for weeks until she finally had the baby on 03/30/2000.

I am not sure what the reasoning is, but my own sick horsey psychology tells me that they are protecting their soon-to-be newborn babies from the cold as best they can. (By the way, on 03/30/2002 it was 62 degrees here at 2:25 a.m. when she foaled.) A friend of mine is having the same problems. Two of his seasoned mares are sitting at 12 months and 2 days right now. His vet is giving them until 12 months and 7 days before he even thinks about intervening. My vet is also watching 3 mares who are way overdue as well but displaying all the signs of impending parturition and have been for a couple of weeks now.

Good luck with yours, and if you get any solid evidence as to why this is happening, please pass it on to me, as I am very curious.

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 3, 2002 - 7:08 am:

Well Guys,
From here I cannot tell you if you are having problems or not but all of the above falls within the range of normals. Whenever anyone is having problems around foaling time with milk and/or long gestations the first question is, are you sure there is no fescue in the diet and is there any sign of illness in the mare, taking the temperature is a useful test but of course an exam by the vet is best if you are not sure.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 3, 2002 - 10:06 am:

Dr. O,
Thank You for the reassurance. It does make me feel a little more confident. As for the fescue, I KNOW there isn't any in her diet because I've had blood tests to determine what she's allergic to (just about everything except air and water). She is on a strict diet of Timothy, orchard, beet pulp, soy pellets for added protein because of the pregnancy and Grand Meadows Grand Vite, Grand Hoof and Grand Flex. Do any of these ring an alarm bell? I hope not. Linda

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 10, 2002 - 8:35 pm:

Dr.O,
The horse I posted about earlier that had been dripping milk for 2 weeks continued to drip another week. Last night she tried to deliver but couldn't. The foal was positioned head down and legs folded under. The EARS were trying to come first. My vet was able to reposition the foal and deliver it however it was dead. The foal had a domed forehead and what my vet said was "monkey mouth". My question,could the position in the uterus have caused the deformity or is this condition strictly genetic. This was a 14 year old maiden mare. The stud is 4. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated.
Thank You, Linda

Posted on Thursday, Apr 11, 2002 - 6:01 am:

My condolences Linda I know how dissapointing this can be. The deformity is may not be genetic but neither is it likely that the malposition caused the deformity. The truth is we do not know the cause of many of these type of deformities but often the next breeding goes fine.

The malposition is most likely secondary to a weak foal who was unable to properly extend the arms and legs into the birth canal. If you will study the diagrams on normal birthing I think this will become clearer, see Equine Reproduction: Breeding and Foaling: Normal Birth.
DrO
I moved your post under your earlier posts so that they were easier to follow.

Posted on Friday, Apr 12, 2002 - 5:09 pm:

Linda,
I am SOOO very sorry for you. I lost a beautiful tobiano foal on March 19 at 25 days. I am still dealing with the grief. Please know that you are not alone... that there are people out there who feel for you and this horrible disappointment. I tried to email you directly, but there was no link in your profile. Should you want to talk or share please feel free to contact me at ChristiBender@cs.com.
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