Equipage or not?

[charli]

Hello-My mom and I are waiting for a foal from a mini mare that we purchased bred (we are not sure of the date). We have installed a barn camera and have purchased the Equipage system because I have read (on the internet) that a lot of the mini farms out there use these. WE have had some issues with it going off for no reason causing a lot of interrupted sleep. I have been watching mini foaling on YouTube and MareStare but have not seen any of the mares with a halter and equipage system on. Was I wrong in assuming that most use these? When do you put them on, how and...any advise would be appreciated.

Also, I would love to have our barn cam run on Mare Stare but seem to be incapable of comprehending how to make this work--any help?

Thanks for all of the things that I have learned in the past couple of weeks. I just wish that I have more time to read the forum.

 

[Becky]

Hi, and welcome! I do use a camera and Equipage system. I love mine and wouldn't live without it! As to it going off for no reason, there actually are a few reasons. First, as you know, the system will go off when the mare lays flat on her side. Some mares lay flat just long enough to send a signal to the repeater and then they roll back up on their sternum or are up on their feet by the time the pager receives the signal. I also have mine go off sometimes when a mare is eating out of her bucket and catches the transmitter on the side. I occasionally have mine go off when a mare is biting her side and tilts the transmitter long enough to send a signal. Unfortunately, any of these can cause lack of sleep, but I'd much rather lose sleep than lose a foal.

While many on Marestare may not use an Equipage or Breeder Alert, for me it is peace of mind, knowing that I will receive a signal when a mare is foaling. I personally don't want to rely only on others viewing far away to let me know. Having said that, I would be on Marestare too, if my camera system was not so outdated.

I try to not have the transmitter on a mare longer than 3 nights before foaling. But, it has taken me years to get comfortable with knowing the right signs to look for and be comfortable with only a few nights of listening to the pager. There again, I am watching a mare now that I assumed was coming along faster than she was and I have had the transmitter on her for going on 2 weeks now! And yes, many sleepless nights, but I'd rather lose sleep than lose a foal!

Make sure your transmitter is adjusted snugly under the mares' jaws. If it's too loose, it can send false signals. And do make sure your mare isn't catching it on a feed bucket while she eats. Sometimes feeding in a pan helps that.

Good luck and I hope to see new foal pics posted soon!

 

[Mini~Madness]

I do use a camera and Equipage system. I love mine and wouldn't live without it! As to it going off for no reason, there actually are a few reasons. First, as you know, the system will go off when the mare lays flat on her side. Some mares lay flat just long enough to send a signal to the repeater and then they roll back up on their sternum or are up on their feet by the time the pager receives the signal. I also have mine go off sometimes when a mare is eating out of her bucket and catches the transmitter on the side. I occasionally have mine go off when a mare is biting her side and tilts the transmitter long enough to send a signal. Unfortunately, any of these can cause lack of sleep, but I'd much rather lose sleep than lose a foal. Make sure your transmitter is adjusted snugly under the mares' jaws. If it's too loose, it can send false signals.

I agree with the above!!! I love my equipage system used in combination with my cameras! I usually put my foal monitor on around day 300 and go from there, yes, sometimes I get some false alarms, but I am okay with losing some sleep. Plus with the camera I look up to see what is going on and if false I go back to sleep. If not I head out to the barn. I also have a close neighbor who also has the equipage system and sometimes we get a beep when one of their horses lie down, but honestly that doesn't bother me. Good luck!

 

[kaykay]

We dont use a breeder alert as almost every one of my mares sleeps flat out on her side. So for us it would just be going off continually.

Email heather at marestare and she will show you how to get going. We love marestare!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

I've heard too many problems with false alarms. I've had much more luck with FoalWatch system, a milk calcium test. Never had good luck with any of the alarm systems, too many expensive false alarms, and the times they work, they're oftentimes too late to allow for repair of dystocia problems.

As far as the best alarm, I've had the best luck with Foal Alert. Least number of false alarms, but more expensive, requires a vet to "install" (except in rare cases where the owner is a psudovet), and can sometimes give a late alert. It works by stitching a magnet and a trigger into the mare's vulva. When the foal forces the vulva lips apart, it separates the magnet from the transmitter, and sets off the alarm.

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

Hi, and welcome! I do use a camera and Equipage system. I love mine and wouldn't live without it!

I agree with everything you've said, Becky! I have ours also hooked up so that it'll call my cell phone, and if I'm running errands, I can bring up our barncams and see what's up.

false alarms are better than losing a foal or mare. It seems that if a mare breaks her halter, the transmitter ALWAYS lands upside down - sort of like dropping a slice of buttered bread!

Then there are the mares who don't read the books and lay flat - but even then, I get a sense of when and where they take their naps, and can notice when things change.

Our Katie, who just had her first foal, slept flat out up until the night before she gave birth during the DAY. She'd often go down every 2-3 hours and just snooze away. I wanted to kill her!

Since it calls my phone, I can see exactly how many times it goes off - and the night before the day Katie foaled, she'd set the pager off 66 times!

I'd made a couple trips down to the barn to see in person what she was doing, but she was konked out snoring! Finally she had her foal at 2pm the next afternoon and all was well!

Because I foal out mares for other people, I sometimes call my job "professional insomniac" - but I sleep better in between the alarms knowing that the chances of my missing something are greatly reduced.

 

[charli]

Thank you for all the thoughts and ideas. We too would rather not lose this foal and pray that we are present to assist Kisses.

Good luck everyone!!

 

[Kelsey - Vandy's Farm]

Having a halter monitor system is an absolute must in my opinion. We would never foal out a mare without one. Yeah, there will be false alarms and you will lose sleep but you shouldn't be breeding horses if you don't want to lose any sleep haha. Sleepless nights comes with the territory. I would feel horrible if we missed a birth and caused the death of the foal because we didn't have them on monitor. We have our mares under camera and halter monitors. We usually put monitors on them around 300 days.

 

[Julie/Azariah]

I use cameras and a Breeder Alert System... I would NOT be without either... but... in my opinion if I HAD to give up one... it would be the cams. (But I sure do like the combination wouldn't want to give up either!)

Even with the cams I can be watching a mare and dose off... The breeder alert catches those cat naps and wakes me up.

Several times I have had mares that showed VERY little signs of being in first stage and were only just "unsettled" and then lay down and started pushing a foal... the Breeder Alert went off and I was THERE for the birth, otherwise I would have slept right through it.

It allows me to allow myself to fall asleep at times.

I always use fresh batteries because I need to know it is working and I test them from time to time.

Also, I keep the Breeder Alert on them when I turn them out. If they go flat out in the paddocks then I know. I don't have cams on my paddocks like some people do.

Though I watch my horses very closely and rarely miss a sign...I am human and sure am thankful that I have these tools to help me.

One thing I learned is you can't use a halter with an adjustable nose band, it allows too much movement of the piece of the halter that you attach the BA to. And the halter has to be snug or some mares will rub the halter off.

I too have had the BA go off when a mare is scratching her neck or head, when it has gotten caught up on the feed bucket or water bucket. But I would much rather have my sleep disturbed to find them doing something silly, than completely miss a foaling.

 

[wwminis]

We have used the Equipage System for 10 years now without and problems! One thing that will cause false alarms is if you insert the signal box in the pouch backwards! It's very easy to do, believe me I'm talking from experience!

The biggest problem we had was about 3 years ago when lighting hit our barn and blew out our repeater! I call the company and we overnighted it to them, they rebuilt the whole system and had it back to us in 48 hours! That was the longest 48 hour wait I ever had while watching 4 mares that were ready to foal! All of them waited for our system to come back before they foaled!

Bill

 

[Kelsey - Vandy's Farm]

One thing that will cause false alarms is if you insert the signal box in the pouch backwards! It's very easy to do, believe me I'm talking from experience!

Hahaha we have done that too xD

 

[Miniv]

I think Becky wrote an AWESOME post.....and ww minis made a great point too about puting the units in backwards. We've done the same thing, but it doesn't take long to figure out that something is wrong.

We have an (older) Breeder Alert system, and from what we've read and heard - Equipage has improved the system a lot.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I agree with all that have posted, it's well worth a few false alarms in order to get some sleep! I'm like Becky and only put it on the last few days, I think a week at the most. Before I had the Equipage I got up every night at 2am to check on the mare for months, until they were close then I woke up more often. It's so much better to be able catch some naps here and there.

And like Bill I put the signal box in the pouch the wrong way at least once a season, LOL!

 

[Hunter]

We have used Equipage for 5 years now, and have never missed a foal. Well except the one that my 18 year old mare had and she was US not bred. Yikes anyway what I found is that the adjustable straps loosen up as the mare scratch and rub. This year I used duc tape and taped it to the center of the halter. Now it sits nice and snug against their cheeks. It has only gone off when they are laying flat out. I am getting a little more sleep. I agree with everyone else though, won't go with out my system and cams.

 

[PaintNminis]

Thanks for all the information

I want one now!

Now I have a Silly Question, Does it make any noise that would bother the Mare?

I had an Alarm in 2008 that everytime she laid down it would start buzzing and Drove the Poor Mare Crazy

She then Started Sleeping with her head Propped up on a wall, so decided it should come off. because she was very uncomfortable.

Thank You

 

[Joanne]

We bought the new Breeder Alert system last year and it is a great improvement over the older Breeder Alert we had for 15 years!

Lost of new technology and bells and whistles.

We have six transmitters as we have had times when several mares are running late and several are going early. Only four foaling stalls with cameras. Two mares off camera that may also have transmitters on. The transmitters are each programmed with a number and you know which mare is setting off the transmitter as the pager has that number when the alarm goes off. Quite handy so you know which way to run !

You can have the alarm call you on your phone, but my theory is that if you are far enough away that you have to be called, you are too far away!

Combined with barn cameras and Mare Stare I think you have the complete package. There have been many times that I have just left the foaling barn and get a call from someone on Mare Stare that my mare is about to foal. At these moments it seems incredible that they could possibly be foaling as I JUST left the barn.

But they have nearly always been correct. I have had very few false alarms by the people on Mare Stare. These people are amazingly good at watching and often have waited weeks for the foal along with you!

 

[Magic]

Thanks for all the information

I want one now!

Now I have a Silly Question, Does it make any noise that would bother the Mare?

The Equipage and Breeder Alerts don't make any sound from the pouch that the mares wear, it just sends a signal to the beeper, so it doesn't bother the mares a bit.

 

[PaintNminis]

Thanks Lori

I'm SOOOOO BUYING ONE! lol