Do u "Mare Stare" your due shetland mares?

[hairicane]

I am pretty much a fanatic watching my very pregnant MINI mares. I use equipage, cameras, stay at home or have a mare sitter when i leave.

So far my shetland friends say they just find the new baby ponies in the morning and everything is fine. I am having a hard time doing that. My 1st shetland foal should arrive soon and i have an alarm on her, she has a BIG bag for several weeks now and is dropped so low its crazy. Still waiting. Do most all shetland foals live when foaled unattended?

I just cant imagine leaving her unattended, just look at her! See the ridge underneath her belly of swelling. I have had minis do this too. And this photo was taken almost a week ago! She is lower and more miserable looking now :shoc. She is a lovely mare and shown at her worst, shedding winter coat, dirty from laying down and marks on her sides from biting at the active baby in there. Poor thing.

 

[Gizzmoe]

Oh my she looks way more miserable then the last time I saw her. Thankfully Frosty isn't that miserable just yet lol.

 

[~Stacie~]

We have our mares under a cam but it's not up on the net. At least one of us is home most of the time so that isn't a problem for us. I have noticed that the Shetlands don't have nearly the foaling issues that the Minies do. Basically do what makes you feel the most secure and at ease with the foaling process. It never hurts to error on the side of caution and congratulations on your impending foal!

 

[Filipowicz Farm]

We have our mares under camera. Four of them are due to foal at the end of the month first part of April. One of the mares is a maiden mare.

 

[mendocinobackofbeyond]

Hi: Boy, does she look preggers! Think she'll be happier than you when the foal decides to make an appearance. We don't have cameras, but we do watch our mares pretty closely. I know a lot of breeders just let nature take her course, but to me that's just too dangerous. Even watched you can still have tragedies and unwatched, well IMO that's just asking for trouble. We have what we call the 'foaling pasture' that is at the back of house. It's about a 1/4 acre or less and I can watch from the kitchen and deck and during the night, we're always popping up from bed and peering out the bedroom window. It's not right up next to the house, there's maybe 50-60' of lawn before the pony pasture starts. Howard has lights on his shop that shine into it and then there are some on the barn. It's not fully lit, but enough that we can sort of tell what is going on. When in doubt, it's grab the flashlight and take a hike and see what's happening. We foal outside and that's one of the reasons our foals usually don't start arriving until late May, early June. Have bred for late April/early May and we're usually safe then, too. My advice is always watch as much as you can. Good luck. Ta, Shirlee

 

[kaykay]

We mare stare all of our ponies. Last year we had 2 ponies have the same dystocia (one front leg bent back) one was our biggest shetland patches (46") and the foal was tiny but with that leg out of position theres no way she could have had it alone.

I have found though that pony foals get to nursing much quicker and easier then mini foals. Anyone else noticed that?