Shadow is getting closer?

[Squeaks]

Boy she's getting wide! Fingers crossed

 

[Ryan Johnson]

She certainly is getting big

Hows she doing ?

 

[dwallen1969]

She is doing great. No changes in her behavior. Her bag seems to be filling a little more. Her muscles in her rear end are relaxing. Weird thing is, her vulva seems to have tightened up. I don't know if this is normal? Her belly seems like it is dropping, but she is not slab sided tho. I will try and get some updated photos tomorrow.

 

[dwallen1969]

Updated photos:

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Her bag needs a little more filling, nipples will point straight down. Foal also needs to more more forward making her lower belly look V'd.

Vulva can change but she looks like she is elongating nicely.

If you dont check on her during the night, you should start. She is close and those small changes may take days or hours.

I had a mare that never looked slab sided until she was in labor, while had two others that looked slab sided for weeks before they ever foaled.

I would keep a close watch because she is looking close.

 

[dwallen1969]

Thanks MMM for your input and all your excellent knowledge. We are checking her as much as possible. We are trying to learn as much as we can for the safety of our minis. We bought a 27 acre ranch with one barn and sense have built another one for shelter regardless of which field they are in. Our plan for next year is to have all the stalls built with camera access. The fences were terrible, so we've been fixing those so nobody gets out or hurt.

Maybe she will foal by weekend.....

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

Just understand miniatures can have problems.

We had a maiden that it was a tight fit. Had we not been there, she may have not been able to deliver him. Also had a mare that went into labor because foal had died. Since foal was not in position we had to go in and get foal in position. In the end we lost both the foal and mare. The third mare did not give me her usual signs she was close, so wouldnt have been in barn if not for another mare. Foal had contractes tendons so her back legs didnt lay straight back. We had to pull and pull hard. She would have never delivered without our assistance. The difficult deliver ended up costing us the filly.

We have also had a mare deliver without our help but we were there and three deliver without our presence. They were all healthy.

Mini foals sometimes cant get out of the sac and dies if dam doesnt get up and break sac. Have had that happen three times. Also had mares go down and deliver foal and placenta at the same time, resulting in foal not getting sac off head in time.

When we lived in AZ I stayed in our truck or car at night with alarm set. Hee in MO we have a barn, but a lounge chair is not very comfortable. But a necessity.

We borrowed a camera but our barn was too far, so didnt work. Borrowed a foal alarm but couldnt get it to work either.

We have two mares to go.

Out of 9 mares, we have two to go, five healthy foals, and lost a mare and two foals.

Be prepared for sleepless nights. Watch the mare to notice any changes. Little changes may be all you see. We had a mare this year that the noticeable change was her attitude to other horses, otherwise she acted nothing like she did with her first delivery.

I dont want to scare you but I want you to be ready for anything. We have had numerous ups and downs this year with foaling. We had never lost a mare until this year and it was heartbreaking because we also lost her foal. Then to lose a gorgeous filly less than a week later, made us a little gun shy. We were very nervous with the next mare until the foal was out and up.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

I couldn't agree more with Magic Markers Post.

Your at that stage now where it may only take a few good rolls to line baby into position.

Its time to check that foaling kit to make sure you have everything you need if she needs help with the delivery.

Best wishes for a safe delivery

Ryan

 

[dwallen1969]

Thank you MMM and Ryan. I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me. I have read many stories good and bad trying to prepare for whatever may happen. I hope I am ready and able to assist if necessary. I will keep everyone updated.

 

[paintponylvr]

your mare is really cute and I hope for the safest foaling for you! Do you know what/who she is bred to?

Your place sounds GREAT, we, too moved into a new property 2 years ago and we are still building, repairing/putting up fence etc...

Of our 21 acres, about 7 acres are fenced for the ponies (ours are a bit larger, smallest mature pony is double registered 37" at the withers, largest 1/2 shetland pony is about 13.1 or 2 and 14.1 hh arabian mare).

MMM really hit all the points - clear & concise - even if seeming a bit harsh (we've also had some serious reality checks regarding the ponies in the last two years - most not related to breeding/foaling).

We have been lucky. We have lost a couple of foals at birth - no hard foaling - but in both cases the foals' lungs weren't fully developed, were filled with material NOT considered to be from EHV1/4 (both were necropsied).

Lost one colt in utero - twisted cord. The mare delivered him fine, already dead about 6-8 weeks before due, in between checks, put on antibiotics but vet didn't feel she needed to be "flushed" (I wish we had though).

We lost one colt at 3 days of age - failure to thrive, dummy foal syndrome. We don't feel that the mare necessarily had a rough delivery, but hard to tell as she was/is one of our "wild ones" that we do very little handling of - safer and less stressful for everyone. She DID let us handle and milk her out while trying to help that first colt, until he died. Then she went back to her wild, striking, kicking, biting self. She was somewhat ok the first few hours after this years colt - now she has a halter/drag line on and we can safely draw her in/tie her up to handle her colt. They are doing FABULOUS this year and the colt is SUPER nice.

While breeding 1/2 and purebred Shetlands, we have never been RIGHT there when the mares foaled! Yet, I actually delivered more than 1/2 the foals we bred/raised at home as a youth and young adult (full size horses - about 1/3 the number of foals we've had since we started breeding ponies in 1995) AND have mid-wifed/delivered foals for other full size horse owners. Had a vet that would call me if they had a mare that foaled and they couldn't get the foal to nurse. She swore up/down that I was magic for those mares/foals - I have no idea how many total but I do know 5 the one year - getting the foals to stand/nurse and the mares to accept those foals.

I have had foals born in between me checking on them and 10 minutes later while I grabbed a piece of pizza in the kitchen next to the stall (she was in our dog kennel in the carport - cars parked outside. Cupid born 2010); one mare foaled while I was setting up feed in the feed area - while standing with her head in the feed bucket she'd just been fed in (Flashi born 2011). Had one mare that milk tested ready 6-12 hours. Again in the carport but it had been raining a lot and stall was water wet. I put the mare in the pretty much dry, round pen while I stripped the stall. She foaled on the sand before I had the stall ready (Echo born 2013). Also in 2013, had the same mare that had Flashi, deliver about mid-morning about 15 minutes after being turned out on grass - of course she chose the nastiest part of the pasture (no grass, where they went to manure). These were all Shetland mares from 38" to 43" in height - all experienced foalers.

Had an Arab mare in 2001. She was let out of the main pasture into the area in front of the tobacco barn we used for storage, to eat. While I was setting up feeds for the evening and putting bags of feed into the various feed containers, she "disappeared". One of the girls alerted me - the mare had gone down along the outside of the perimeter fence and into a thorny thicket, laid down and delivered her colt and was headed back to her feed tub while I went to move her colt. That one was a purebred Arab. He was born about 9 am. In 2000, she foaled a 1/2 shetland colt that was dropped in a snowbank about 2:30 pm while turned out, before we got back out to the pasture to feed. We trailered the pair two miles back to the main barn, where the mare was treated for a retained placenta. They stayed there a week while treating and we waited for the snow in NC to melt away... Same mare at a VET's barn in 2008 - bred to a purebed arab. Foaled on a non-bedded, sand floored stall while they were getting in a new load of shavings!! All of the foals Chaunter had were fine.

 

[dwallen1969]

Thanks Paula for letting me know your experiences. It sounds like you had a lot of sneaky ones. Shadow is one of our bigger mares at 35 inches. She was bred to a 30 inch stallion. I will try and get some photos of him. I wish she would hurry up get this over with, we are a nervous wreck.

 

[dwallen1969]

First picture is two colts from last year. Second picture is the stallion of these two and shadows foal. He was a little cubby last year. Lol

 

[paintponylvr]

O! U have a "double" chance at spots, since Shadow appears to also be a minimal tobiano pinto.

Our first Shetland mare's 2nd foal, born in 1997, was a filly that we named "Shado" (no w). I sold her and she went out of state - only to come back to us a year later. I kept her for years - leasing her out. Then I sold her in 2003 and I've always regretted that sale... I lost track of her not long after, too, when the family moved and didn't leave any forwarding email, addy or phone number(s). I was soooo bummed!!

 

[dwallen1969]

It would be awesome if she had a little filly with some spots. Most of our mares are solid in color.

 

[dwallen1969]

Updated photos. Storm coming tonight, I hope she waits.

 

[chandab]

If she's close, the change in barometric pressure could set her off.

 

[Magic Marker Miniatures]

We live in MO and glad our mares were not close. We have had to rearrange horses so all mamas and there babies had shelter.

Luckily we live on a knoll so no flooding. Our pond is probably overflowing but the horses and milk cow can get away from standing or running water.

All I can say is green grass growing otherwise ready for the rain to stop. We libe in the eastcentral area so still have heavy rainfall.

 

[dwallen1969]

Well no baby. Had terrible storms tho. 4 tornados, one so close I could hear it. In the bathroom for hours yesterday. Still have no power. I am hearing it could be a week. Wife went to stay with our daughter about 1 1/2 hrs. away. Not a fun situation. Gonna be roughing it for a bit. I think Shadow could tell it was getting bad, so maybe she put it off for a couple days.

 

[dwallen1969]

Am I wrong about her date or what's going on? Her udders are closer together tonight.

 

[dwallen1969]

New photos tomorrow.