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Discussion on Foal born at ~ 319 days - Seems perfect - What about mare vaccine?
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 9, 2014 - 3:02 pm:
One of our mares was about three weeks from expected delivery. Due April 3rd. Born either last night - March 8th or this morning March 9th. Mare was just beginning to show development of teats. Last night seemed fine. She was in the pasture with another pregnant mare and this morning had a colt nursing at her side. Totally surprised us. We have foaling stalls with closed circuit tv so unattended birth doesn't typically happen. The milk is plentiful and white this morning and the baby is keeping it drained. He is up, has normal perky ears and just doesn't look premature or dysmature. This is this mare's first foal. We did AI and there is no question about the date. We normally give full vaccines a month prior to foaling which should have been last week for this mare. But we had an ice storm and lots of wind and decided to wait until this week. Now, with the foal on the ground, should we vaccinate the mare today or tomorrow with her annual vaccines? Or should we give her a few days to recover from the delivery. She was utd on all vaccines including the Pneumabort K, and was just going to be given this 1 month early to increase her antibodies for the foal. So what do we do now? Vaccinate mare immediately or wait until the baby is a few days old?
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Monday, Mar 10, 2014 - 5:04 pm:
Follow up: The vet thinks the foal has no sign of dysmaturity despite being born at < 320 days. She says some mares just have shorter gestations. Since this is her first baby, we had no history to compare to. The colt's IGG was normal. The only thing she found was some blood spots on his eyes which she thinks is due to pressure at birth. The mare has significant vaginal bruising. Heart and lungs were fine. They did do a CBC because of the blood spots just to R/O sepsis, but they really don't think there is a problem since he is running and jumping, nursing like crazy, and appears completely healthy. We hadn't pulled his eyelids open enough to see the white of the eye or the blood spots. Is this common? Anyone else seen that? After just losing our older mare a few weeks ago I worry about everything! This colt's birth 6 days short of a full month early was very worrisome to us.... If this conception wasn't the result of a one time AI, I would have thought we had a wrong date.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Monday, Mar 10, 2014 - 6:30 pm:
Hi Judy, When we were breeding, we had foals born early, born late - al with no problems. I learned to consider the due date just a guideline, even when we bred AI. I can't advise about shots; your vet would be the best one to do that. Glad the IGG was normal. And the fact he's bouncing around and eating good is always a really good sign! Is mare o.k. too other than the bruising? Eating, pooping and acting normal? Out of curiosity, was she a maiden mare? The mares we had that foaled early were usually maidens or young mares. The old, experienced brood mares seemed to always be late, to the point of driving me crazy! Our stallion Asmar was a month overdue! He was bred one time, AI also. Talk about worry! His sire died of colic right after his dam was bred, so we had one chance. As you know by now, breeding isn't for the faint of heart! LOL
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 - 9:57 pm:
Geez Sarah! You are right on target. Maiden mare. Thankfully the baby is doing very, very well and is a little love bug. All tests have been completely normal. :-) Really, really cute little colt. Spunky but peaceful eyes. Eager to explore and loves to give kisses. We only had one foal born a full month late. That was the single most exhausting experience imaginable. Out of a mare we had sold, while retaining the foal. They brought her back 6 weeks prior to foaling. She looked close to being ready. We pretty much watched her for 6 weeks + 4 more. Ready to shake the baby out of the mare by that time. Huge foal, needed help with delivery but came out galloping. Poor mare couldn't believe it. So.... we can empathize with you re: Asmar - who was clearly worth the wait!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 12, 2014 - 10:52 pm:
Big foal! At least to my Arabian clouded eyes LOL NIce! Looks like a pretty mare also. I'm so glad they are doing well.
Yes, Asmar ( aka "Mikey") almost caused two divorces. LOL We were very good friends with our vet and his family. The two families had rented a ski cabin up at Whistler for Spring Break, knowing by then our mare would have foaled and the foal would be old enough to be past the danger period and safe to leave with our helper. Ha! He came three days past the first day of our rental! Mike ( our vet) said he would stay and watch, but his wife said if he did she would divorce him; and my husband said the same thing. I finally was persuaded to have a very good, very experienced breeder friend come and baby sit mare and foal...only to save my marriage!
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 - 9:38 am:
HaHa! Too funny! It's amazing what we go through for our equine friends! Our problem almost 20 years ago was a rash of premies. Some we lost, some survived. One (Andalusian colt) was born at 305 days gestation and was in ICU at Tx A & M for 5+ weeks. The other survivor (Peruvian) was born at 310 days and was in ICU for a couple of weeks. Both ultimately did fine. This has sensitized us to births < 320 days though. In both cases the mares' cholinesterase levels were extremely depressed. Found out it was because of a feed thru fly control organophosphate product (Equitrol). Stopped it and all the premature births stopped and all the herds' cholinesterase levels returned to normal within I think a couple of weeks. Anyway, it almost made us change our minds about breeding at all! Now we are glad we persevered!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 - 9:44 am:
Hello Judy,
Hemorrhage on the sclera of a postpartum foal is not a usual finding and would make me want to check for hematological abnormalities but if that all looks OK and the hemorrhage resolving (it will time and look a bit like a bruise resolving) I would not worry. Lovely looking foal, I do miss breeding horses.
DrO
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Member:
judyhens
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Posted on Sunday, Mar 16, 2014 - 2:07 pm:
Yes. All the blood work came back completely normal. This little guy is all over anyone that comes close - wanting scratches, pets, and kisses. He can, however spin on a dime and buck happily. So....he is in need of some lessons in appropriate foal behavior. I definitely think this rascal was ready for the world! He is dynamite. Funny thing is that both his mom and his dad are pretty laid back. :-) Thanks for the kind words. Welcoming new babies is wonderful!
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