No, don't use those either.
The mares that I've stayed up and watched nights & nights in a row - usually foaled in the 5 minutes I went to other room(s) to eat dinner or to potty.
One mare foaled (Koalah - 2011 - filly now showing - Flashi) after I moved her out of my kennel stall under out carport right outside of our kitchen. She walked up the hill to the barn, stood and whinnied while tied at her feed bucket while feeding, ate, and I checked her again before going back to the "stall" to clean it. I was taking the 2nd load of manure to the burn pile when I heard the "plop" and looked up at the barn. Couldn't see anything, so ran up to check. She'd not even laid down - just popped out the foal who was all gangly legs. I wrapped a towel around her, turned mum loose to follow and carried her back down to the stall. quickly got it re-bedded and shredded paper put down over shavings and she went on to do the standing and nursing, while mum worked on passing placenta (was very "crampy" - and was up and down).
Stuffy did something similar in 2010. Had a "feeling" she was ready - kept her in all day and watched her off and on from kitchen window over the sink or the window in the door. Went out several times and checked her "bag" and her vulva. She held off... did get to eat lunch - tho my friend and I kinda swapped out going back and forth to look. Friend stayed while I went out to feed the rest of the ponies. Then cooked dinner while friend went home to take care of hers. Went out and put hands on her before fixing my dinner plate. I'd then sat down on the couch and had taken maybe two bites when oldest daughter arrived home from work and asked when ".... did the new Cupid arrive?" and raced out (dogs got my dinner, LOL) to see him. His hind legs were still caught in the sack (think she'd just stood up) and he'd tried his legs at least once ...
Arab mare in 2005 - stayed up with her all night several nights in a row - checking every 2 hours. She was out in the barn. Had a house full of middle school girls (6 - 8th grades), who helped feed and groomed ponies/horses while on spring break. Really thought mare was ready and was soooo disappointed by the fact that she hadn't gone yet. I joked with the girls, as I left for work, that she'd wait a little longer and then "go" before I was anywhere close to being able to leave work. SHE DID! I left around 0830, then got the call at 1030 that she'd had a filly (it was close to Easter so she became "Gel e Bean") and all the girls watched! Several of the girls were really grossed out, others were fine and 1 was interested in handling the mare and foal along with our youngest daughter. They all forgot the camera & pics until the filly was almost dry...
The mare above had both of her 1/2 shetland fillies - during the day. The first one was in the afternoon - maybe 2 hours or so before I went out to the pasture to feed (I was w/ hubby signing the contract on the property where same mare is standing on grass above while she was preparing to foal in the pasture)... That filly became "IC" because the temps dropped fast, and the snowstorm hit... Pic shows what's left of the snow when the filly is 3 days old.
Most of our mares seem to foal right before we are headed outside to do chores or to check on them... LOL. Some in stalls or pens set up for foaling and some in the fields on grass. I've yet to see the actual "birth" of any of my ponies - though in the past 10 years I've delivered 10 foals for other people.
Just missed the abortion "birth" 3 weeks ago as well...
a lot of our foals have been named for the weather or for holidays...LOL. We have 6 winter/weather names - Autumn, Blizzard, IC, Wyndy, Rainy & Frosty. 3 holiday names - Gel E Bean, Cupid & Shamrock. Several "space" names - Star is the dam of Comet and Rocket. Several from markings - Pixie wing, "Toy" (white marking on croup off of her tail looks like the toy Fisher Price take apart Giraffe, barn name GG), Flashi, Lacey, Simi (short for Symmetry), Jewel, Velvet. Several off of dam's "indian" name (Black Eyed Sioux) - Jammin' Sioux, Cherokee, Shield, Apache. And then - just some names, LOL.
Hmmm- need a Flutterby, Butterfly & Spring.
