Kita's foaling thread *Updated pictures Sep 4. New clipped baby pics =)

[Watcheye]

I have been hemming and hawing for the longest time about whether to start a foaling thread for Kita or not but here we are.

I am a big fan of this mare and have wanted her for years before the opportunity came along and I was able to get her. At the last minute last summer we decided to expose her to my stallion Keegan. Keegan is bay and likely LWO positive like his sire. Currently I treat him like he is and test all of my mares. Kita, like my other two is negative.

Here are the two of them saying hello. You can also see Matt's outrageous red shorts. The lacing on Keegan's back can almost be seen here. His son Ari has gorgeous lacing on his back.

Here she is being her pretty self.

Kita was bred between August 1 and August 7. I have never had her foal here but her previous owner says she usually foals around day 325 (take this with a grain of salt I realize). I am struggling as I want to put in for some vacation time around her time of foaling. She hits day 325 on June 28 and 330 on July 3. Picking the days to request is a challenge.

My mom currently lives at my house so she will be watching her as well. I do have a monitor on a stall that I will be putting her under it at night when we are at day 300. I also hope to get the milk test strips. I think they are the Maybe Baby ones. I have to double check which ones I put on my wish list. I have been taking pictures mostly just as they eat with my phone. A few with the actual camera. I have to figure out which ones to post. I have quite a few.

I have not had her vet confirmed in foal so there is the chance that she is not but if she isnt thats one heck of a false pregnancy we have going. I have felt thunk thunking when I do the backwards hug that we do on the pregnant mares to feel the kicks. I also felt the creepy alien drag. When I say this I mean a mass pushes out and drags across her belly from the inside.

I will get some pictures together now of side shots and such and post them. I dont really know how much to do at this point for the thread. She is at day 272ish so its a little early I suppose.

 

[Watcheye]

Here she is March 6

March 16

April 19

April 25. She kind of looks like shes yelling at me to get that camera out of here.

Ill get some more on the next post. I dont recall what the pic limit is per post and I dont want to hit it on this one.

 

[Watcheye]

Behind her on April 27

May 4th

Today May 6. You can see I am trying to get some of the hair off of these guys. It feels like a loosing battle!

 

[Ryan Johnson]

She is a lovely Mare, thanks for starting a thread on her it will be great to see how she progresses. Best of Luck for a safe foaling .

 

[REO]

How old is she and how many foals has she had?

 

[Watcheye]

I believe she is 12. Id have to double check her papers and she has had at least 3 that Ive heard of but I have not looked up the exact number.

 

[Bonny]

She is a very pretty mare, I hope she is in foal for you... She is kind of small , but sorta has that pregnancy shape... fingers crossed!

 

[Watcheye]

Alright so here are some updated pictures of Kita. As of today (June 25) she is at day 322. I was told by her previous owner she tends to go a little early (She said roughly 325 days or so - take it with a grain of salt I know - different place, different stud but its still something to keep in mind). She does not have much of an udder. Mostly puffiness in front.

We had a bit of a fescue scare 2 weeks ago or so. I thought I found the plant in my hay and immediately took her off of it and put her on different hay from a friend. I have been giving her alfalfa pellets also. I do have the maybe baby test strips which look to be reading at 6.8 approaching 6.4. 6.8 says foaling could happen any day and that I should test twice a day. 6 follows 6.4 and that says foaling with in 12 hours. Thoughts on the way she/the foal look?

June 19

june 22

June 25

Hips and tail head June 9

Hips and tail head June 25

 

[Watcheye]

She inspired this sketch from my other post.

 

[Watcheye]

Alright she is on day 345 or so today. Here are some pictures I took this month. Shes hanging on to this one it seems. Im have trouble believing she could hang on to it much longer but she keeps trucking right along.

July 10

July 12

July 14

She does have milk now. I can try to get pictures of her again later today if anyone who would like to give me their thoughts thinks it would help. Id love opinions. Thanks

 

[happy appy]

Seems like she just needs to roll that baby into position!

 

[Eagle]

Hi, Wow!!! What a gorgeous couple, this baby is going to be adorable for sure

I agree that it looks like the foal has to get into position yet so expect plenty of rolling (which makes for a dirty pony

) and I can see that you love to keep her nice and clean

Have you foaled before and do you have your foaling kit read? If she is on cam, can we help you watch her? I am in Italy so I often help watch during American night time.

I don't know anything about your mare's background or where you are but by looking at the pics it looks like she could do with gaining weight, pregnancy often drains the older girls so you might want to up her rations, what is she on at the moment? Whatever it is she looks great and has a lovely shiny coat so just increase what it is you are feeding her

OK enough questions for one post lol

Oh, I am the annoying Aunty in case you hadn't noticed. lol

 

[Watcheye]

Hi and thank you guys! I noticed she could stand a little more weight. I feed her twice a day and have started upping her food a little more. She is on complete feed, oats, alfalfa pellets and a flake of hay per feeding. I dont know the weight of the hay though and would have to double check her oats and pellet ration. I do know its two cups of alfalfa twice a day and I think its 2/3 cups of oats and another 2/3 of pellets. Her bowl seems so full and it takes her quite a while to eat, I dont want to over do it all at once and make her sick. Perhaps she needs to be fed 3 times a day.

She did do some rolling today. I dont know that she looks that different though. Here is a quick image I took of her this afternoon outside in her lean to with the cell phone. I brushed her off a little bit so she didnt have quite so much dust on her side. It wasnt a lot of intense rolling. Just a little.

 

[Eagle]

That sounds ok. I would just gradually up her hay to a couple of flakes per feed but lets see what the others that are more familiar with american food say. My preggo girls would have hay available more or less all night and grass during the day so I didn't feed grain but it really varies from country to country.

 

At this late stage, upping her feed won't hurt her a bit, and will give her the little "extra" that she needs to do the great work ahead of her.

She is looking beautiful, and can't wait to see this little one!

 

[Watcheye]

I am continuing to up her food. I have been testing her with maybe baby strips. She has been fluxing between 6.4 and 6.8. We need a 6 but Im told that they can flux a lot. This evening when I went to check on her she had a large poorly formed pile of manure in her stall. She is laying down a lot earlier than usual. Her tail is usually flagged but it is even more so this evening. I have a screen shot here. Maybe I am imagining things but we will be keeping an eye out.

 

[Eagle]

Fingers crossed she will get that foal in position soon and foal safely

 

At 6.4-6.8 she could go at any time. We've had them "drop" here from 7.8 to foaling in one day.

She needs to do a bit of rolling to get that baby lined up and in position. I hope you're giving her some outside time during the day. Normal outside time is perfect for these ladies in their final days. It gives them the freedom to exercise, but also to do the rolling she needs to do to get baby lined up.

With a score like she's showing, she may well go before I get back tomorrow night from classes. If so, I'll be praying for an uneventful foaling of a healthy new born! Best of everything, and I will be looking forward to your announcement, should she decide the time is right! After all, it's all up to them! LOL

 

[Watcheye]

Thank you guys! No foal yet +_+ She does indeed go outside every day for several hours. Ive seen her do a little rolling but not a whole lot. =/ I try to keep her coat brushed off so I can tell when shes been rolling in between checking on her.

 

[Watcheye]

These past two days I have been putting her out a bit later in the morning so she can stay in and finish her hay before joining the other ladies. She is in a large box stall while she eats and then again at night when we put her back in. I do try to get them to trot around for 3 to 5 minutes in the evening. Her udder is getting pretty hard as well.