Foaling Tonight? Not sure, my first

[Lena1]

Celena started a few days ago with some early foaling signs, swishing tail, kicking belly, small amounts colostrum (bag started developing 4 wks ago) always stretching with tail up.

Early thismorning she started with stomping, rolling, rubbing butt on anything she can find, her breath rate seemed to be up a little, yawning alot with HEAPS MORE stretching all this went on for about 1 1/2 hours with a little break here and there. She's done 3 soft poos (not runny) throughout the day.

She ate her breakfast with gusto and managed to pick at some grass in between all of the above LOL

For the most part of the day we still had tail swishing and stretching and slight aggitation. Shes now completely dropped and munching on her dinner, but still with the agitation, stretching and tail lifting.

What Im unsure of is how long after this kind of behaviour can I expect labor?

From one VERY sleep deprived, nervous first timer

:

Celena has had 5 foals, all with no problems before coming to live with us.

She's foaled all of them 4 wks early and she's doing it again

 

[R3]

Keep watching, she sounds close. Someone else posted just a littel while ago about their mare having faster breathing, and asked if it could be an early sign of labor. Within a few hours the mare foaled! Your mare could foal very soon, or she may just be uncomfortable with the position of the baby, and it may still be awhile.

Have you been able to check the color and consistency of her milk? That can also give you a clue. If the milk has turned white looking, kinda like skim milk, that is nearly always a sign that they are very close to foaling. Only a few of mine had the 'white' look to their milk though. Most of mine foal while the milk is in the thick golden syrup looking stage, which comes before the 'white' stage.

You say she is foaling 'four weeks early", do you know how many 'days' gestation she is? If you are using the typical foaling charts, they are based on big horses and use 340 days as the 'average' gestation length. A lot of mini mares haven't seen that chart. For many minis, the average is more like 315 to 325, so that is already three weeks 'early' for their 'average' length. Many here on the Forum have mare that average around the 300 day mark, and their babies are 'fully baked' without premature tendencies.

 

[Miniv]

She does sound very close........Are butt muscles soft and mushy? Can you get liquid from her teats? If so, is it real sticky?

MA

 

[High Meadow Miniatures]

Yes, She does sound very close

: Hope all goes well!!