MAKE SURE YOU ARE PREPARED!

Early signs

Signs that you will see when your mare is preparing to foal:

The udder

The udder will begin to swell three to six weeks pre-foaling. Then 6 – 48 hours pre-foaling the mare will ‘wax-up’ this is when small droplets of colostrum form on the tips of the nipple.

The vulva

The vulva becomes slack in preparation for the foaling.

Foaling

Most foalings occur at night and the whole process can take as little as 30 minutes.

The foaling process can be divided up into three stages, although you will not normally see a clear division between any of them:

Stage One – This can last between minutes to hours

The mare will appear restless and may show variable clinical signs including sweating, kicking at her stomach and getting up and down. The mare may flank watch and paw at the ground. This is because the uterine contractions start and the foal moves into position. The bouts of pain may come and go and the mare may appear normal in-between and even nibble at her food.

You may see colostrum (colostrum is a form of milk which is a complex of fats, proteins, sugars and electrolytes, it contains the immunoglobulins which pass on immunity from the mare to the foal) running from the udder.

Mares seem to have the ability to postpone stage 2 of foaling – therefore it is important the mare is not disturbed unless you are concerned.

Stage 2 - Delivery of the foal

The mare will straddle her legs and the chorio-allantoic membrane will rupture (waters break) and there will be a large amount of yellow fluid passed.

Keep calm do not panic!

Within 10 minutes the amnion (light blue coloured bag) will appear. Initially one fore – limb should appear followed by the second fore-limb then the foals head.

IF THERE IS ANY DIFFERENCE IN PRESENTATION PLEASE CALL US NOW.

You should observe quietly.

The most difficult part of the foal to pass is its shoulders and the mare will be straining quite hard now. When the hind legs are passed they are often left resting inside the mare – do not rush to pull the foal out or you may break the umbilical cord. Once the foal is out of the mare the cord will break on its own at a pre-determined place usually 6-8 minutes after delivery.

THE TIME FROM THE WATER BREAKING TO COMPLETE EXPULSION OF THE FOAL  SHOULD AVERAGE BETWEEN 10-30 MINUTES.

The foal will attempt to stand after 30 minutes but will fall down several times and probably wont actually stand up fully until 90 minutes.

The foals navel should be treated with dilute iodine within 30 minutes of birth.

The foal should then start to search for the teat with increasing accuracy and it MUST suckle within 90 minutes. Make sure that your mare has milk and that she has not been running milk/colostrum for a long time before the birth. Your vet can check the quality of the mares colostrum for you to tell you how good it is and therefore how good it is for your foal. If your foal does not get sufficient good quality colostrum it will not be able to fight off infection effectively now or for the rest of his life and this is potentially fatal for your foal.

After feeding, the foal will lie down again and rest but should be feeding every couple of hours.

The foal should pass its meconium (the first bowel movement) within 4-6 hours and has passed urine within 3 hours.

The foal may remain wobbly (ataxic) for up to 24hours.

18-24 hours after the foal is born you can have a blood sample taken from the foal to determine the level of immunity that the foal has gained from the mares colostrum. This is important because if the immunoglobulin level is low this may be life threatening for your foal.

Stage 3 – Delivery of the placental membranes

The placenta should be passed within 6 – 8 hours.

The mare will normally lie down and strain to do this. The placenta should be checked to ensure that it is whole and it should look pink and healthy. If the placenta has not been passed within 6-8 hours or if it is not whole PLEASE CALL US, your mare can potentially become fatally ill if all of the placenta is not removed.

Straining after the placenta has been passed is NOT normal.

* IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY AT ANY STAGE PLEASE CALL US