Dollie: 365 days from first breeding: COLT!!!

[fantasykiger]

Such a pretty girl it shouldn't be to much longer.

[Michelle Clarke]

She really looks slab-sided like the foal has dropped. Bet you are as anxious as I am!

[gotkiger]

oh yeah... and this is my first foaling of and on my own. I have been around a lot of pregnant mares up to and just after foaling but i have never been through it alone. Super nerve racking. Dollies last foal was 7 years ago so i am a little worried about that as well as having such a big sire for the foal and all the stray/wild dogs and cyotes. Luckilly her best friend, besides me, is a wolf hybrid that patrols the dairy all day and most of the night. I never thought a horse would enjoy the company of a preditor like that, but she does.

Michelle- Just as a point of refference about how long usually after the foal has dropped will the foaling take place?

[nrly]

Stormy Aka: Little Dunder Storm is the mare, she is out of Louise and Hardluck. We feel we will be getting a very good minded foal, and we've been told that Riddle has 6 fillies only, so we are hoping for a colt, and since it is 3 days past, maybe we will get a colt...but both sire and dam have wonderful minds, and dispositions. Riddle also has a chicken and a rooster that hang around him, he allows the chicks to peck the red wheat bran off his muzzle, and the hen he shares his bran with. not the rooster though, he scares him away.

[gotkiger]

Stlll no foal however her milk is coming in more cloudy white then yellow and clear. Though i fear we might have hit a slight set back last night as she cast herself in the fence. She is up and walking and putting weight on both back legs and not limping but one leg is pretty scratched up and the other her hock is pretty swollen, though not tender to the touch. Oh how I wish I had a different place to keep her at night with solid walls. Back to the drwaing board to figure out how to make a stall like structure that is also portable... good thing i am an architects daughter

[kimk]

bummer. i hope she's okay. Yeah, it would be a good idea to have her someplace more secure for foaling.... God forbid the foal get onthe other side of a fence from her right after birth somehow.

[fantasykiger]

OH how scary for her to cast herself..thankfully she is OK and just a few scraps...come on Dollie be careful girl...before you give us all a worry wart

[gotkiger]

She is doing okay. A little sore and swollen but that is to be expected. It took me about an hour to find the spot where she did it as it was not in a spot where she normally lays down. Normaly she lays down in the middle or just off the middle of the corral, no where near the edge. The foal going under ot through the fence has been my biggest concern but i dont have many other options as far as foaling locations. I think she will be fine in this spot as i doubt she will do that again. I just hope the foal is cautious of the fence and doesnt lay down next to it.

[sbutter]

I am glad to hear she is ok! Is there a way to ziptie a tarp so it is taught(sp?) on the fence? It may only need to be on the bottom, since that is where the baby would roll out. I am trying to think of other options to baby proof a metal fence, since you can't nail anything to it and the wind is also a factor. hmmm...

[gotkiger]

Size is also a factor. The corral is probably 100' x 75' if not bigger. It is a dairy corral so it was made to hold more then just one horse, i want to say there are 50 stantions to feed cows if there were any there but i have closed off the gate so that Dollie and the foal can't get to them. It is a big corral, lol. Shortly after the foal arrives i should be able to move them into a small pasture where i wont have to worry about the foal slipping under the fence too much (same cable just smaller openings and about twice as big), and soon after that into a 12 acre pasture.

[gotkiger]

oh goodness it is raining and the storm is supposed to last possibly into saturday a little. AHHHH!!!!!! She is so close i would rather it not come durring a storm (though I do have an awesome name picked out if it does, lol)

[lindad]

If storms are due, she will likely have it then. At least that has been my experience twice. Do you have bedding in the corral? If you make a nice bedded area in the middle or the safest place perhaps she will use it. Best of luck!

[gotkiger]

I tried to save old feed to put it out for her to lay on, she got pissed because she thougth i wanted her to eat it so she kicked it around the entire corral (a huge mess for me to then clean up) and peed and pooped on it... all of it. If i had a smaller stall like environment to contain the bedding better i would in a heartbeat but sadly the corral she is in is more like a big dirt pasture that is packed pretty hard (hangs head in defeat by the horse and corral). I had a nice big 12 acre grass pasture that i had her out it with grass up to her knees... She got kicked out because the cows needed to get moved over to mow it down faster then she was able to do. That is where I was hoping she would be able to have her foal. Nice and out in the open like the wild kigers do. Not any more. Bummer. The next time i breed anything I will have a better set up as I am already planning how i am going to build my barn and where All I need to do is save the money to buy the materials and then I will have the best birthing stall around, lol.

[stormyranch]

Sara, don't beat yourself up. The horses in the wild are born in the dirt, not on lush green pastures. she will be fine.

[fantasykiger]

stormyranch is right..I set up a lovely area with lots of clean straw inside a large open end stall for my Mustang Salsa to have her foal..early next morning she stepped outside in the dirt of the paddock and had herself a foal.