Little Red Lady_Questions

[LittleRedLady]

Hi we have a 11 year old sorrel mare bred to a black and white pinto. She is due sometime in early May but we feel she could foal as early as the end of April as she had her last foal at 315 days. This is my first experience with a bred mare. Im trying to read as much as I can esp from this forum. It has been extremely helpful to me.

I have a few questions I was wondering if anyone could answer..

Is it ok to put her out in the pasture each day..? She is not huge at this point.

Any idea on the color foal she may have..? Sorrel bred to black and white. Both pinto.

For feed she is eating 2 small cans of grain a day. I mix Trotter pellet and Omoline, equal parts.

She gets about 1 flake of Timothy which she just picks at. She is also on a scoop of Mare Plus

vitamin Farnam. She has pasture grass as well. (not too green at this point)

This ration seems to be working out well but she is beginning to gain in the belly area.

Thanks

=)

 

[LittleRedLady]

Hi we have a 11 year old sorrel mare bred to a black and white pinto. She is due sometime in early May but we feel she could foal as early as the end of April as she had her last foal at 315 days. This is my first experience with a bred mare. Im trying to read as much as I can esp from this forum. It has been extremely helpful to me.
I have a few questions I was wondering if anyone could answer..

Is it ok to put her out in the pasture each day..? She is not huge at this point.

Any idea on the color foal she may have..? Sorrel bred to black and white. Both pinto.

For feed she is eating 2 small cans of grain a day. I mix Trotter pellet and Omoline, equal parts.

She gets about 1 flake of Timothy which she just picks at. She is also on a scoop of Mare and Foal

vitamin Farnam. She has pasture grass as well. (not too green at this point)

This ration seems to be working out well but she is beginning to gain in the belly area.

Thanks

=)

 

[kaykay]

Hi there

She should be showing pretty good by now if shes due in April/may, so I wouldnt worry that shes gaining in the belly. I would only worry if she had not

Cant really comment on her feed as I have no idea how tall she is or her current condition. But normally its really best to weigh feed on a scale and feed in pounds instead of cans.

She should be fine on pasture but as she gets closer to her due date you will want to keep her where you can see her while shes out. I do not believe in overly stallion pregnant mares as they do need to get out and move around and it just makes them happier.

Do you have a camera you can watch her on when she gets close? In general miniatures due tend to have more problems and you can see by forum posts they can foal suddenly and without a lot of warning. This is why many people accidentally sleep thru the foaling and lose a foal.

Sending good thoughts!

Kay

 

[Miniv]

If your pasture doesn't have fescue with endophytes in it, I would say to go for letting her out........It will be good for her gut and good for her mind.

As for the foal's color.......A lot depends if the sorrel mare is carrying a black gene. If she is, it raises the chances for a black based foal. Pinto is a crap shoot unless there is a homozygous gene working. It always helps to know what the grandparents' colors are too.......

 

[LittleRedLady]

Hi, thanks for answering questions.

I have another one... The mare has a stall and fenced paddock. She spends most of her time in the corral even at night. We awoke to find frost on her back.

Is she ok overnight like this or should she be closed in..? She doesnt seem to like being locked in the stall. I havent doent this with any of my previous horses except during a storm. But my husband thinks maybe we should. So, wondering what others think about this.

Thank you!

 

[kaykay]

If she was mine she would be in every night especially if you are still getting frost. We have had mares that were never stalled before so we started early with them and after a week or so they start to love it. They usually start to associate the stall with feed and run in

I would just not want her foaling out in a corral where a foal could roll and get stuck or get too cold etc etc.

 

[LittleRedLady]

I understand what you are saying. She hates being locked in though. I think she has lived out for most of her life. She starts tossing her head early if we dont turn her out to the pasture. It is a big paddock area too. We had a bad storm and she was in overnight for 3 nights in a row. I have never stalled them at night because they seem healthier out. She is still at least a month out. Ok I will take this into serious consideration.

 

[Miniv]

We would also be pulling her in at night. (We have one right now we is turned out daily, but stalled at night.) Do you have any way to watch her? Even using milk test strips would narrow down your time "camping out" if you don't have a camera system.

 

[LittleRedLady]

Temp here is 54 degrees under starry skies. Im leaving her in and out for tonight. I dont like locking them in the stall after they eat. She is nibbling on grass at the edge of the paddock. I think I will look at her on a day by day basis.

 

[Contessa]

When you say you are feeding her "2 cans" of grain a day, are you talking about soup sized cans or small 13 oz coffee cans?

 

[LittleRedLady]

She gets 2 small 11 oz cans a day. One AM and one PM. She gets a flake in the evening but she is not eating, just picking at it.

 

[Contessa]

That seems to me like a lot of grain but you might want to hear from someone else on that matter. I don't feed that much grain until the mare is nursing the foal.

 

[LittleRedLady]

She needed some weight when we got her. I was not sure she was pregnant until recently. I probably have her on 3/4 of a can twice a day but she needs the trotter as she is not really eating the hay. I think it is about right for her right now. It will probably change after she has the foal.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

As for the foal's color.......A lot depends if the sorrel mare is carrying a black gene. If she is, it raises the chances for a black based foal. Pinto is a crap shoot unless there is a homozygous gene working. It always helps to know what the grandparents' colors are too.......

If the mare is genuinely sorrel, she can NOT carry black- period. If she did have a black gene, she would be black or bay. Now, if the mare is silver bay, that's something else.

The question is, what does the stallion carry? If he has one black gene and one chestnut gene, you could get a chestnut foal or a black based foal. If the mare carries agouti, it could be a bay. Pinto, because both are pinto, you have a 75% chance of pinto, unless one or both are homozygous, then the foal WILL be pinto! And if the stallion carries a hidden creme gene, you could get a palomino. smoky black or buckskin foal. Being chestnut, she could be hiding silver. At least you know it won't be grey!

As for the in/out thing, our mares are always in at night and out during the day once they pass the 300 day mark, or they are building an udder (we just has a filly at about 293 days- and she was fully cooked! This mare almost always foals around 300 days- the udder gave her away!) It keeps the mares in tone and fit more if they are out. And happier, and the stall cleaner!

 

[Contessa]

I am not familiar with trotter but I do know the more grain they get, the less hay they will eat. At least mine do. You said she gets some pasture too so that would cut down on the amount of hay she is eating as well.

 

[LittleRedLady]

Thanks for the explanation on color. It is very interesting. I found a website that calculates color based on parent genes etc.

http://www.animalgenetics.us/CCalculator1.asp

I think she is carrying the bay gene. Her Mom was a bay and white pinto. He full brother was almost solid bay and her last foal from the same sire was a bay and white 50/50 tobiano. Sire is a black and white falabella with strong black and pinto lines. My guess is black and white or bay and white for the foal. But would be open to a surprise. She has strong red on her side.

 

[LittleRedLady]

After much thought on this, Im going to close her in at night. She is about 37 days out. I thought I would wait until she was bigger bagged up etc. But Im getting nervous about leaving the house now at all. So shes in for the night but out for 4-5 hours a dayin the pasture . She can also go in and out in the paddock up in til about 9 pm.

 

[wcr]

I like leaving my mares out as much as possible as I think it helps get the foal in the right position for foaling. I have 3 mares foaling this year and they are in a paddock near the barn where I can get my hands on them to check their bags and look for signs. I have one mare close to foaling that I put in the barn every night and turn out during the day. She can go into the paddock of her stall but when she is imminent I will close the door at night and watch her under cameras.

If the mares aren't used to being stalled they need time to adjust to being in the barn and feel comfortable enough to have the foal. My mares will all be stalled for a couple weeks before foaling with day turn out.

 

[LittleRedLady]

Hi Kathi, Ive had 3 full size horses, a mini and a pony here and never kept them in except during Blizzards etc. Our barn has an attached paddock so I leave the back door open and let them come in and out. They seem to like it better and cuts down on the stall. We have a 2 acre pasture that is fenced that they do out in all day. Since we built this barn I never kept them in. She doesnt seem like she will foal anytime real soon although Im watching her carefully. She is biting at her flanks and even kicking at her belly a little each day. I would say she is in for a end of April or early May baby.Thanks for your input.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

My mares are out all the time. The only time they ever come near a stall is when they foal.

They graze all day and most of the night, and they are just fine.

You have to take a deep breath and realise that, nine times out of ten, the mare will wait till you go for a cup of coffee, or the five minutes you are asleep, and shove the baby out so she can grin at you smugly!

I am not advocating leaving her to get on with it, and I can see you are far too conscientious to let that happen anyway, but calm down

She will be fine!

I would not, personally, shut her in if she dislikes it, as she does not need stress at this time, she needs peace, quiet and routine.

It just is not possible to guess what she will have, it is never possible. I bred two jet blacks and got a Sorrel with a star....go figure!

Almost anything is possible and only a few things are carved in stone.

Oh, and there is no "Bay" gene, there are only two colours in horses, Red and Black, everything else is pattern, dilute or modifier!!

As a Chestnut she can have Agouti, which causes Bay on a Black based horse, so, if she has Agouti she could have a Bay foal.

You can test her to find this out, it is a simple hair sample, that is all.

If she is due in May, foaling in April would really be quite normal, the only day the mare is guaranteed not to foal on is the day she is due!