The days before a horse gives birth to colt?

Question

How to know if my Mare is days, hours from giving birth to her new colt? Her deliv. date is 3-20-07 What is the best sign to watch out for , what happens when she is ready? For a Farm Horse

Answer 1

My mare didn't show any signs that day. She was not due for 2 more weeks, but horses are all different.

Left for 2 hours and when I came back, she was laying down and pushing.

When I did Mare watch, which is a business a breeding ranch does that is 24 hour watch and care over people's Mare's ready to give birth, each horse expressed different signs.

The best way to know is know your own horse. Her pain tolerance. Her comfortability and specific needs and desires. Some horses like to be alone while others are only comfortable with those who she trusts (my mare only allowed me there, no one else).

Horses have the ability to shut down the whole birthing process. Do not stress nor panic. She will naturally do what she needs to do, if you are there during this process.

Signs are:

Two weeks to two hours, Wax teats begins. Yellowish sticky drop wax and crust over.

The doc of the tail and the croup will soften 2 weeks to 2 hours. They soften due to hormone releasement.

Within hours, her teats will begin to swell and become a warm tempt to the touch.

Once detect signs, it should be soon.

Stage one labor usually consist of: sweating over the chest, neck and flanks, urinating and small amounts of manure, increase heart rate and respitory rate. This can last at least a day actually.

Stage two labor is when the mare's contractions are much stronger, her legs may strain and grunt (as my mare did with each push). Wiatt's feet came about roughly about 3 minutes. It is normally roughly 15 mins normally for mares once lay down. I wasn't sure how long she was down for when I showed up.

Just watch for the foal's front feet to be slightly crooked (one more forward than the other) that allows the shoulders to slant through the birth canel.

I do not agree with aiding the mare if she doesn't need it. but people do, so if you do, only pull gently on the front two legs down to her hocks angle, only with her contractions as it can cause tearing and harm to the foal.

Once that process is done, the foal comes out quickly. Help remove the mucous and make sure the foal is breathing on his/her own. foal will be exhausted him/herself, so a lot of movement isn't always present. Allow the mare to stand up to break the umbilical cord.

My mistake was freaking how it was suppose to break and I paniced when my mare wanted to get up. She got up and it broke and the vet said it was natural, which reassured me greatly.

Trying to break it on your own can cause infection and even death and giving blood is flowing through it to the foal.

Stage three is the passing of the placenta. Usually 10 mins to an hour later. Allow the placenta to come on it's own. My mare's came roughly 15 mins later. some mare's will get long and drag and best to tie it so it doesn't drag on the ground while it is still being passed.. allow vet and yoursel to take a look at it to make sure it is healthy and no tears.

If doesn't pass with in 1.5 or so hours, call vet.

If mare doesn't have the foal within 30 to 40 mins of pushing, call the vet asap as the foal might be positioned wrong.

I normally just kept her tail wrap, but that day, she unwraped it by getting up and down while I was gone. Keeping her tail wrap during labor helps get it out of the way (especially if it is thick).

Once the foal is born, do have a vet present and have Iodine solution or tincture to douse the foals naval stump to help prevent infection.

My vet gave my foal some stuff to help aid him in passing the meconium.

When your mare gets up and down a lot, rolls and shows sign of discomfort, do keep an eye on her and not allow her to fully roll. She could be colicky, to which is common when getting ready to foal.

I hope I helped.

Answer 2

Well, know that horses rarely actually foal on their delivery date.

Drafts go 11 months minus 4 days roughly, if that is what you man by farm horse. Lighter horses go usually a little over 11 months.

1st sign- her milk bag fills up and you see a waxy layer or dripping milk on the teats. My mare always did this almost a month in advance (poor girl) but that is an exception.
Also- you will see the baby move back. Basically your horse will look like it grew skinnier overnight. Her sides will not stick out as much.
You also can keep a watch on her temperature. Whatever her normal temp is, when it drops a few degrees, she will probably foal that night/next day.
You also will see contractions, sometimes slight ones that start early.
When she is ready, the contractions will be close together, she will be pacing and laying down/standing up, and making "nests" out of hay. When the baby comes, you will hear a rush of water (amniotic sac breaking) and she will start pushing. Do not be worried if the foals front feet (make sure both are hanging out of her ) sit on the outside for a while. Some mares will actually eat during this time (and scare the crap out of me!) but the baby turns out fine, as long as she is still contracting. After the nose starts to show, it is only a short time before the baby falls out. Usually the baby is falling with the mare standing, and she quickly drops to the ground for a shorter landing. After a while (1/2 hr to hr sometimes) the afterbirth should expell. If that doesn't happen, call the vet immediately, you do not want it rotting inside of her. Same with if the foal doesn't try stand within an hour. Sometimes we have held up the foal for it's first drink. Draft horses have long long legs and always have more trouble than reg sized foals, I think. Otherwise, you can just call the vet the next day to come out and give the baby it's first shots as well as a health check.

Now this is just a guide. Sometimes mares will have small contractions for a week or two if they are waiting for something, My girl would always wait for me to come home. Some mares have pretty much no signs whatsoever. One day they start waxing, the next day there is a foal on the ground. Other mares pace the whole time they are in the stall (not increasing towards foaling time).
Each mare is different, and no guide will tell you exactly what to expect. If she is doing something similar to what I mentioned above, everything is going good.

Answer 3

Horses are generally pretty on top of things like delivery dates, they carry a pregnancy to term for 11 months and 11 days. If you know her conception date all you need to do is count forward that amount of time. Since you know her expected delivery date however. i would reccommend getting the horse into a large,comfortable yard where she is close to your house in case you need to call the vet, she must be away from other animals - especially other horses and be left in peace. Put her in the yard a week or two before her due date as vets can be off by a few days to a week.
The main sign that you will notice when your horse is ready to give birth is that she will start wandering around the yard frequently lying down then rolling and getting up again. This behaviour is for two reasons, she's looking for a quiet, comfortable spot to lay down and have her foal and she's helping the foal get into the birthing position. Don't stress, just keep things calm and quiet and she'll take care of the rest.

Good luck with your foal.

Answer 4

You don't even make a good troll. One month ago you claimed your mare had started being bred around the time she was 18 months old. That would mean she wouldn't give birth until she was 2.5 years, since horses are pregnant for 11 months. You also claim that a month ago you had *just* noticed her belly getting large, and you would have seen it long before a month before delivery if she had been. You're full of crap. And if you weren't you'd be the single most irresponsible horse owner in history for housing a colt and filly together at that age.

Answer 5

Firstly keep your mare in a comfortable area where you can keep an eye on her. She will start acting out of sorts. Lying down every now and again and you will notice that she looks a bit uncomfortable. It is very rare that you will catch the birth of the foal as the mare will tend to give birth at the quietest time of the day when no-one is bugging her (Thats why most of them give birth at night) I really hope you get to see the birth as it is a wonderful sight. If this does happen, try and bond with the foal after the mom has.
All the best

Answer 6

Mare Giving Birth

Answer 7

Watch for waxing teats. That can start around 2 weeks before she gives birth. I had one mare thought that showed no signs. She didn't even get very big so we thought she was bred late. One day we just walked outside and there was a foal standing next to her. Almost all of our other mares though, had waxing teats and we knew they were close.

Answer 8

Mutchkin has great advice but the only other thing I would tell you about when your foal is born is to not break open the sack until the foal is all the way out because the mare can suck the foal back in during a contaction and drown the foal if the sack is broken too early. I hope you get to see it born.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

it looks like other people have you question answered already but just somethin to know.. all of our brood mares have foaled during a storm. so if there is going to be a thunder storm or something, be ready! good luck