Classic K Miniatures thread. pics and updates on my mini's

[MeganH]

Penny is lucky because Cassie is very caring and patient.

Why is there not an easy and very accurate pregnancy test for mares? I know there are tests but they don't seem to be accurate all the time I have read so many different posts saying they were wrong. If they can make the milk foaling strips you would think it would be easy to have a test just for the pregnancy that detected it just like a human test. Horses must not have the a strong hormone or whatever you need to test for a pregnancy?

 

[a mini dream come true]

WOW! 372 days?? Incredible! Some Falabellas have been known to carry a full 13 months -- so around 396 days! They generally don't have "early" foalings -- and tend to lean toward the "late" range from what I've experienced. Mine generally go at the 340-355 range. That's one reason I'm giving Delilah some more time. Heck -- she could go into May -- although I'm posting it here to "hide" it from Hazel!!

Hi Hazel!!!

I know you'll read this -- but unfortunately, the wait is possible since Delilah is pure Falabella. But the benefits in the end will be worth ALL the wait!

 

[cassie]

Well they weren't very helpful were they Cassie LOL!!

As you have had Penny sharing a fence line with Smartie for the past month or thereabouts, plus she used to live with him, I really think that she would have shown in season before now if she wa going to???

I have just read on the main forum that it was Dan's maiden mare who went 372 days from a hand covering - so our Penny has a while to go yet! LOL!!

Just throwing out hopes and still keeping my fingers firmly crossed for you.

Thank you Anna, yeah I was thinking the same thing. I sent a reply back to the lady, this is my reply and her response... it confims something else that Diane had mentioned in another thread...

WOW 372 days that is crazy!! gosh he would have been going up the wall LOL

"I can't say what is happening... Very odd, indeed. We have seen in a few mini horse cases that there will be a low reading which jumps back up to high in situations where difficult births have occurred. I am in no way saying this is what is happening with your mare but just want to give you a heads up based on a pattern we are thinking exists. The milk getting sticky and the opague quality of the milk is promising. To be safe, I would stay in close contact with your vet... I love Marestare, too. It is revolutionizing foaling.

"On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 2:48 AM, cassie king <[email protected]> wrote:

Thank you so much for your quick reply Karen,

yeah 355 days LOL as you can imagine I'm exhausted! Luckily I use marestare which is absoloutly brilliant!

the colour of her milk is an opaque white and last time i felt was a little sticky.

I put My mare up near my mature gelding I have heard they react to geldings as well as stallions if in heat and she didn't react at all...

I did have a strage thing happen when I tested the day before I got the 7.2 (it has been 7.2 since I first started testing ) up to this day when she had been acting very pregnant, I tested her milk and got a 6.4!! was a very light gree 6.4 and definitley not a 6.8, so obviously I said she is testing ready and I stayed up half the night watching LOL then then next morning it was back up at 7.2 and has only now almost two weeks later just dropped back to the 6.8 and stayed there... have you ever had this happen? what could make it happen? it was a definite 6.4 n the testing strip is still the light colour green...

Thank you so much for your help, I will keep you informed on how she goes...

Thanks

Cassie"

So given that I think we still need to keep a big eye on her... if she isn't pregnant... what is happening to cause her to act like this I wonder...

i also have found some old photos and an old video,... I'm going to post them all up here so you can all decide... but I figure she has had a bit of a tummy since I first got her... I would like your opinions please as I don't know if the growth in her tummy is enough to have a baby growing inside there... will try to do it at lunch but if I don't have time I will have to do it Saturday morning in between getting ready for mum n Dad to come back... they get back tuesday morning!!! so happy!

I am still going to keep her up on camera and I think she needs close watching just in case... I need to pay the vet bill today and I will try get Finn booked in to get gelded... if they do it in the paddock like I'm hoping they will do I might get them to check Penny... it will be more expensive and I am TRYING To save money lol (I want to buy a horse float LOL) but if penny isn't pregnant there might be something else going on that we need to know about.,.. do you all agree? thanks!

WOW! 372 days?? Incredible! Some Falabellas have been known to carry a full 13 months -- so around 396 days! They generally don't have "early" foalings -- and tend to lean toward the "late" range from what I've experienced. Mine generally go at the 340-355 range. That's one reason I'm giving Delilah some more time. Heck -- she could go into May -- although I'm posting it here to "hide" it from Hazel!!

Hi Hazel!!!

I know you'll read this -- but unfortunately, the wait is possible since Delilah is pure Falabella. But the benefits in the end will be worth ALL the wait!

Thanks Diane, wow poor Hazel!!!! We are with you in this Hazel! don't worry we won't desert you!

Penny,

This message is for you.

Where does one begin?

Penny, you are making your mum CRAZY! Your desire to be the one in control, the one who holds all the cards...well...it's just really starting to seem a bit self-serving. Did you not read the book???? Ok, obviously you didn't. You can read, can't you? Nevermind. See, basically, it's like this. You either need to get the lead out (in this case, the baby) or you need to start acting like a non-pregnant mare so we can start planning your "real" pregnancy. You have lots of aunties that worried about your mum's lost sleep.

So, Penny my dear, here is the plan. You either get busy real quick like, or no more treats for you! Period.

Sincerely,

Auntie Parmela

PS: If you are hiding a baby in there, can you make sure you have it when I'm watching? Thanks!

Haha Thanks Parmela, you don't know how much your kind words help me through this!! just knowing you guys are there! on the other side of the world taking your time out to support me and help me with this crazy girl! lol make sure you keep that barn alarm up then Parmela and I'm sure you'll catch it!!

Ok Cassie yes this is a hairy topic but alot of Pennys signs could be explained by being prego or by hormonal spikes-now in saying that, dont know why the spike is it heat, prego, or something else going on...IDK but either way she should be watched and if asking my opinion Im not the greatest on wait and see...I cant, I have no patience for that, I would have a vet look at her...I dont know your situtation on this but something is going on and maybe a vet can shed some light. I know this must be killing you because its killing me and Penny`s not even mine :arg! now in saying that I will say Ive watched Penny in pasture and from a distance if I knew nothing about her I would say prego...I have had several prego mares (carrying colts) mount other mares in heat, but My gut and heart says prego, but my mind is not so sure and only due to the time frame can it be poss? yes but everyday that passes the poss gets lower and lower which Im sure you know so for now Im saying prego and hopingPenny gives us a definite sign or Penny visits the vet

but just know that I will be watching her closely and if I see anything to add to this topic Ill add it.......you do know how lucky Penny is to have a owner like you cassie right? Some people would just turn a blind eye to this and leave up to faith.....

Thank you Liz

your wisdom and love is so appreciated right now! as I said above THANK yOU! I couldn't do this all without you, I will ring the vet and have a talk to them and see what they think... I'll try talk to Kylie who is Finn's vet as she is lovely and always is willing to answer my silly questions

Oh Hael, you poor thing!!!!!

don't worry we will be here for you!!!! and you never know Delilah could be a good girl and foal early for you!!!!

come on Delilah we will give you yummy treats!!!

 

[a mini dream come true]

Thanks Cassie and you know I'm here for you and Penny. So far they have tried to stay out of the camera since I got home, but I do have your cam up

. As far as Delilah I'll just have to

on and

wait her out.

 

[cassie]

thats fine Hazel thank you

and yes, the waiting is horrible!! I remember with Suzie lol and now with Penny lol my breeding time has gone off to a great start! lol

 

[Equuisize]

I am watching you from afar Penny and your Mom really needs you to whisper your secret in

her ear. We'd all like to know but your Mom needs to know first and she'll let us know right away.

I have a friend with minis and many years of experience that says her foaling dates have never

gone off, either way by more than 2 days, by using 11 months minus 1 day. I tried that and it didn't work for me and I hand breed.

My earliest was a 1st foal at 312 days and my latest, until Zakky, was 328.

Zakky foaling broke my rule book as I figure he foaled 365 days to the day of the day I removed

Zoe from that paddock. She was pastured with Zee for 7 days only when I decided, "Nah, we're not doing this".

Does anyone have any experieince with false pregnancies in mares? Would/could that cause the fluctuation in her milk ph readings?

I've read that over long gestations can be attributed to how many days the egg takes to attach

to the wall of the uterus.

PLUS boys take longer to cook, evidently, in my case anyway

Penny looks very healthy and you come a long way with her getting used to more handling.

If she is not in foal you know she'll be a lot easier to handle when it comes

to breeding season and foaling out in the next foalng season.

You're doing a goooooood job, Cassie.

 

[vickie gee]

here are some pics...

tummy pic View attachment 6801 you can see her edema from this pic... you couldnt before...

behind shot View attachment 6802

hooha shot with comparison from january.

January View attachment 6803 today View attachment 6804

and another one from today, she didn't like me taking pics LOL View attachment 6805

and edema pics... they aren't big like Odette's but they are hard, Im hoping you can see what I mean by the side ones, was really hard to catch them on camera View attachment 6806 View attachment 6807

can you see it?

also she has a vein under her tummy... don't know if thats normal... Suzie was always to fluffy to see LOL

View attachment 6808

so there you are updated photos... what do you all think? lol

Cassie, my gosh looking at those hoodiehaha pictures I would tend to think that you do have something cooking and about ready to take out of the oven! This is more suspenseful than Unsolved Mysteries!

 

[cassie]

Thanks Nancy and Vickie lol

but Nancy I don't want a colt LOL oh well hehe

yeah she is sure more relaxed then normal...

I spoke to the vet, Doug he will probably the one to come and Do Finn's deed LOL

he said he can come and have a feel of her when he gelds Finn, and we can go from there... If I got Finn's tetnus shot done at the same time it will cost $425.75 otherwise if I can do the tetnus myself (which I can aslong as I can get the shot which I think I should be able to) it will cost more like $350... and then any thing I get done on Penny... will probably book him in next week... Penny would be 360days then. do you think thats the best idea?

 

[cassie]

Penny is in for the night, I am off to youth group and a storm is headed our way, I think it is interfeering with the camera. so don't be surprised if it cuts out, I will be about an hour away tonight so I can't really do anything if the camera goes down. I will be back around 11pm my time

see you all later

 

[Eagle]

Nancy I had a mare with a false pregnancy last year, she really looked preggo with a low tummy and her milk dropped to 6.8 and the she stopped and went into heat 3 days after her "due date" she had aborted at a few months and had beenput back out with the stallion, I guess she never realised she had aborted

 

[cassie]

Just letting you all know that a big storm has just rolled in... Got a massive clap of thunder which woke me up n now it's absoloutly pouring down out there just in case we lose power that's where we are at!!

 

[Eagle]

stay safe Cassie. 2,10 am and Penny is quiet

 

[AnnaC]

Well i'm having trouble with Penny's cam. First it wouldn't appear - then I cam here and read about the storm! Popped back to the cam and it worked for a minute then froze, and now wont work at all again!

But at 4.11am - for the minute I was able to watch, Penny standing quietly snoozing - loads of droppings all over the place so I guess she got a bit worried about the thunder and rain, poor girl!

Sorry I'm not around very much just now - things very 'stressed' here anyway at the moment, plus had a couple of visitors staying this passed week, g/son, Kyrian's 4th birthday two days ago and DD and Kym (plus the two noisy JR's) also arrived for his Birthday and are staying over for a few days. So been a bit busy keeping the house/food/dogs organised (wont add 'people' to that list coz as far as I'm concerned organising people is impossible!!) Anyway after tomorrow night ALL will be gone and I will have the house entirely to myself - plus my dogs M and Mrs Nest and the cats Mr Pick, Fuzzynoballs, Callie, Twitchywitchy, and The Lean Mean Killing Machine, so BLISS for a few days!!

 

[MeganH]

Yea the cam is freezing for me a lot. She said the weather was going to be bad so it must be really nasty out there for it to be this interrupting to the cam.

 

[MeganH]

Sounds like it has been hectic- hope everything is at ease soon, Anna!

 

[Equuisize]

I know Cassie...but boys are so cool and if you get a boy you'd love him like crazy.

"Eagle"

Nancy I had a mare with a false pregnancy last year, she really looked preggo with a low tummy and her milk dropped to 6.8 and the she stopped and went into heat 3 days after her "due date" she had aborted at a few months and had been put back out with the stallion, I guess she never realised she had aborted

"

That's what I think my friend's mare did, then.

She brought her down and she was bred to my little guy, later had her confirmed by a US and was told she was about 4 months along .... which was correct to the breeding time.

Then she moved about 3 hours away, thought the mare was just progressing normally, 30 days out started her on alfalfa and more grain and she never had the baby but was never visually seen in season, either.

There was a neighbor man, who was helping her mare stare, who had years and years in a foaling facility with thoroughbreds who thought she was coming along normally but couldn't explain why she had not delivered. He thought she was pregnant, too.

The mare had gotten huge but in comparison to a long legged thorougbred all minis looked pregnant to him LOL

So we popped in the car and drove to where she was living. Obviously the mare had gotten huge from all the yummy extra food and treats. I stepped out of the car, she had her all prettied up with ribbons, to looking nice for company, and my friend looked at my face and said, "She's not pregnant is she?"

Obviously, I do not have a good poker face. I said, "I don't think so honey, but you need to get her on a serious diet." So we located a good vet, kind of close to her remote area, and we drove down again at the end of the week and were there to support her, when the vet came and did a physcial exam, told her she was not pregnant and gave her guidelines for a diet to get the weight off her. My friend was so disappointed it broke my heart.

Obviously the mare had slipped the foal at some time after the US was done...maybe on the long trailer ride or? Who knows?

I felt awful for her that I hadn't driven down for a visit, at some earlier time, to see that the mare wasn't progressing the right way.

It would have saved them a lot of lost sleep.

 

[Eagle]

How sad Nancy, we wait so long for these little ones so it is understanding how disappointed we get if they aren't pregnant after all.

 

[cassie]

nancy how sad for your friend...

such a long wait and then to have not had a little foal

poor thing.

yeah sorry about the camera last night friends.

I think the storm and the rain stuffed it up.

and the rain has hung around

we had plans to do painting of our front fence and pool house today!!!!!!

get some projects done for mum n dad to come back on Tuesday!!! so today i will be inside doing a big clean up of the house! then hoping tomorrow will be sunny

lol

Anyways back to penny, while we all couldn't watch her.... she decided to do some shopping!!!

its not much but a definite change posting pics now!!

please let me know what you think..... I thought I was seeing things at first LOL then I thought I imagined it LOL

lol so I had to have another feel then get the camera LOL

here are the pics...

comparison from the 10th.... its the 17th here today. each left pic is the 10th the right pic is today

do you think she could be thinking about bagging up?????

lol





and again today



and I don't know if this shows any tummy change... but here are comparisons for tummy...



ok so am I seeing things or could this be the start of the end...??? maybe? lol I think I see change anyway

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Goodness Cassie. It's so hard to know. Every mare is different even though we always talk about "norms" and the majority. I am hoping for you she is, but sweetie, I just don't see it. I just want to reach through the puter and give you a hug! You are SO good to your babies!!! Bless you.

 

[cassie]

Goodness Cassie. It's so hard to know. Every mare is different even though we always talk about "norms" and the majority. I am hoping for you she is, but sweetie, I just don't see it. I just want to reach through the puter and give you a hug! You are SO good to your babies!!! Bless you.

so you don't see any changes Parmela? thats fine I put them up here to see what people think... as I get excited over every little possibility lol

Thank you for your advice...