First, I have been wanting miniature horses since I was a teenager. There is not an animal as sweet as them. I fianally bought a colt and a bred mare. The only downside was the mare was kicking and bighting at me after one week of her being here.
The foal (Little Lynn) was born Monday morning at 8am. Her and my mare did not bond until the next day. The mare would not let her feed off her because she was tender.
This was my first foal and from reading websites was under the impression that she could wait for 12 hours to take the colostrum. The next day I went out and she was still alert and healthy. I thought great, she is nursing, everything is good. As I watched for an hour to see if she would nurse , I didn't see it. I kept putting her on her mom but she would not nurse. I called the vet immeditaley but it was too late. The vet took her blood and gave me the milk supplement, gave her an enema and left. By the time I made the milk and went back to get her she was weak and was not walking good. I had to force feed her (which was awful) and she got more weak by the minute. I tried to call the vet again, but only got the voice mail. The temperature had dropped down to 45 degrees, so I brought her in my house. The vet called back around 8pm and said that her blood test showed that she had no colostrum. He advised me that she only had a 10% chance of living.
I held her and fed her on the hour, every hour, but she took a turn for the worse and died in my arms at midnight. I have cried and cried all day long today. To think that she was so healthy and because I thought she might of got the milk in the evening, that I lost a perfectly good foal.
I have now read forums and now learn that I could of bought a breast pump and got the mare's first milk and bottle fed the baby. I should of took her and done this in the first 6 hours of her life.
I wanted to share my story so that if your foal is born and not nursing to call the vet asap.
This is a terrible experience and I feel I will feel guilty about this for the rest of my life.
Joey
The foal (Little Lynn) was born Monday morning at 8am. Her and my mare did not bond until the next day. The mare would not let her feed off her because she was tender.
This was my first foal and from reading websites was under the impression that she could wait for 12 hours to take the colostrum. The next day I went out and she was still alert and healthy. I thought great, she is nursing, everything is good. As I watched for an hour to see if she would nurse , I didn't see it. I kept putting her on her mom but she would not nurse. I called the vet immeditaley but it was too late. The vet took her blood and gave me the milk supplement, gave her an enema and left. By the time I made the milk and went back to get her she was weak and was not walking good. I had to force feed her (which was awful) and she got more weak by the minute. I tried to call the vet again, but only got the voice mail. The temperature had dropped down to 45 degrees, so I brought her in my house. The vet called back around 8pm and said that her blood test showed that she had no colostrum. He advised me that she only had a 10% chance of living.
I held her and fed her on the hour, every hour, but she took a turn for the worse and died in my arms at midnight. I have cried and cried all day long today. To think that she was so healthy and because I thought she might of got the milk in the evening, that I lost a perfectly good foal.
I have now read forums and now learn that I could of bought a breast pump and got the mare's first milk and bottle fed the baby. I should of took her and done this in the first 6 hours of her life.
I wanted to share my story so that if your foal is born and not nursing to call the vet asap.
This is a terrible experience and I feel I will feel guilty about this for the rest of my life.
Joey
