Strange maiden mare

[Sandravm]

Hope you can help me.

I have a miniature maiden mare, now 315 days.

Her name is Poppy, she's 4 years old and bred to an cremello stallion.

Her udder is not so very big yet, but never got smaller, even when she' all day outside. It's hard and it's difficult to extract some milk of it. The Calcium level is already 3 days very high (highest on my testingstrip). PH is a little bit lower than 8, so still has to go down.

Her temperature was first 37,7°C and is since two days always something around 37,1°C. According to the testbook, she should already had her foal.

Here some photo's:

What do you think? Is she close of not? Is the low temperature bad?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Eagle]

Hi and welcome to the Nutty Nursery

Your Poppy is gorgeous and looks very close to foaling. Her nipples could point down more but her being a maiden she could do this after foaling. Keep a close eye on her from now on as she will probably need your help. What is your set up? Is someone with her during the day and how are you watching her at night? We advice that you should move into the barn when the mare looks this close. Take a chair and sit quietly outside her stall so that you are there and ready once she starts to foal. The same goes during the day, is her paddock close to the house?

How far is your vet and have you warned him/her of an immanent birth? Is your foaling kit ready? Check out our pinned thread on what you will need.

Enough questions for now. lol

Renee

 

WELCOME to our Nutty Nursery!!! Poppy is a beautiful mare, and we are so glad you have brought her here!!

As a maiden, the first thing to remember is she will probably not show us all the "normal" foaling signs. So, from what I'm seeing, she's nicely elongated, looking pretty slat-sided (so it appears baby is in position), and she is carrying that baby high and up tight -- which most maidens do, but baby is "forward of center" and looks to be in the "go" position.

As to her udder, she is filling, and could foal without filling anymore, as some maidens just don't produce a "full" udder, but foal and the udder fills with the foaling. So, in a "perfect" world, we would like to see her fill her udder a bit more, and get those nipples separated and pointing straight down. I would hope, that since she's started filling her udder, she will continue to over the next couple of days, but there is no guarantee.

But with all the signs she's showing right now -- you should not leave this mare unattended. She is past her "300" mark, so your foal is perfectly ready to be born.

Is someone going to be with her from now on? Remember, checking on her at LEAST every 10-15 minutes is essential, and at her stage it's VERY important she be watched at all times. We encourage all to sleep in the barn at this stage, as a very few minutes can make the difference in getting a healthy baby to the ground. These miniatures are notorious for babies not getting out of the sack, and usually need some assistance in that department, so we STRESS that she be watched VERY carefully. A baby left in the sack will be gone in 6 minutes without assistance, so please have someone with her.

She is beautiful, and we are very anxious to see what little present she's holding for you. Again WELCOME, and please ask any questions you have, as we are here to help in any way we can.

Is she on cam? where we could help watch her for you?

 

[Sandravm]

Thanks a lot for your answers.

First I'm going to give a little more information.

The paddock and the barn are next to our house. She's already under camera at night and wearing a birth alarm.(which calls on your cell phone). The foaling kit is ready too.

I never leave her unattended, except the 10 minutes a day to pick my children up from school.

She's our second miniature mare to have a foal. The last one was a maiden mare too, but she followed the textbook completely, so that was very nice.

But it seems like she never gave the book to Poppy.

Would there be a chance that she'll go this weekend?

 

[Eagle]

Would there be a chance that she'll go this weekend?

If only we knew ! She looks like she could go and as Diane said she has reahed the 300 day goal so if she wants to she could but you had better see what she thinks of the idea, try telling her you have better things to do

These mares can be all over the place, we had Toffee foal the other day with no real signs of being ready then PAM in the middle of the day she popped it out without even going down hardly, then there is Summer that has looked and tested ready for days

Sorry not much help but we can only say what we see the rest is up to them.

They say that the foal chooses the day and the mare chooses the time.

 

[targetsmom]

I just saw the title "strange maiden mare" and felt I needed to point out how redundant that is. Maiden mares ARE strange.... ask any of us who either had one foal totally unexpectedly (saw that on FB) or are waiting forever when all the signs are there. (Toffee is our mare that foaled Wednesday, mostly standing up, and nowhere near ready 14 hrs earlier.)

 

[Gone_Riding]

You ought to check out my "strange maiden mare", Sadie the Yo-Yo! That being said, she can go now or 45 days from now, even looking ready. Hopefully, your mare hasn't been bouncing back and forth on her vulva, colostrum, and baby position. Hopefully, she's been just steadily getting more elongated and soft in the hind end. I wish you the best and hopefully, your girl will go sooner than later! And yes, they really can pop one out with no warning in less than 15 minutes. Mine, however, is doing everything she can to stay pregnant...

 

[Sandravm]

She's now back in the stable.

I really hope that she will go only in the right direction. Her PH level was this evening a little bit lower, so hopefully it will continue in that direction.

 

[AnnaC]

I think she still has a little while to go - 315 days is quite early for a maiden mare and, if she is following the book then she will have to position this baby a little more to give her more of a slab sided look (even allowing for the tight maiden tummy), plus her udder needs to gain a bit and her hooha will elongate a bit more and get puffier, and that ph should drop to the low 6's. Most maidens go to 330 - 340 days, although many this year have been hitting the 350's!

But that is if she goes by the book and being a maiden she could be writing her own 'book'! LOL!! Guess we shall all have to wait and see.

But it sounds as though you are well and truely ready for this new little one to arrive, so well done you. I hope she goes soon for you!

 

DITTO the above -- and I'm so pleased that you are watching her so carefully. These maidens just don't always give us a "warning" by showing the "proper signs" -- some just don't like to READ ! But we'll hope she fills her udder a bit more, and gets baby in the full "GO" position!!

Good job YOU for being so attentive!!

 

[Sandravm]

We are still waiting.

PH level stays at 7.6. Calcium is very high. Temperature is nu 37,3° and came from 37,5° this morning. Udder is getting bigger and backdoor is very soften.

Today she was sweating, hard breeding, moving her tail a lot and didn't like any company. Gave a few times fals alarm. I put her in the stable.

Now she seems very calm. Yesterday evening she had a period like that too.

We will see what tonight brings.

 

[Gone_Riding]

My mare gave so many false alarms that I was getting to where I was starting to not believe her. She also went on like that for a full 60 days. However, when she foaled, she never rolled. She barely even kicked at her tummy. She was extremely calm. Her warning was waxing 4 hrs prior and pooping 3x in 5 min before laying down to push. Do you have a baby monitor that you could put in her stall? It was the only thing that gave me sanity. That's how I knew she had pooped. It was a great comfort especially at night, though it took me a couple nights to get used to it. One with a video and sound is ideal. I kick myself for not getting one.

The biggest frustration I had was self-inflicted. Thinking that she could go "any minute now". Yes, she could, and she did, but it was when she was ready. I hope that you are able to take a relaxed approach while preparing yourself and reading all you can about delivery and post-delivery. (I made the mistake of forgetting to read what to do AFTER baby was born!) I had to read the book while watching baby trying to stand to know how long I had before I needed to worry! Ooops!

We're hear for you! For your sanity, support, and cheering! How's she doing?

 

[Eagle]

Thanks for the update, can we have a new hooha and udder pic when you have time please

 

[blazingstarranch]

I agree, the mare that foaled last night for us was testing at 6.4 and the teats were full of milk so it was easy to extract. The only other clue was how irritated she was earlier in the day that there were workers outside her stall. So she waited until 9:30 pm, pawed and circled a little, then laid down and had it. No rolling, she didn't even break a sweat! These mares!

 

[SummerTime]

Welcome! I also had a month long adventure with my maiden mare. The sweet Aunties on here were so very helpful, so you came to the right place!

Your mare is just beautiful! I can't wait to see what color the foal will be, Please keep us updated!!

Mindy

 

[targetsmom]

Just realized that our maiden mare foaled about 3 hours after my earlier post on this thread! Her udder had been full for about 3 weeks and tight and warm for several days and then she waxed right after that post! She gave us about a 20 minute warning that she was ready to foal, by pawing, circling, lying down etc. This was very kind of her as it allowed my hubby to skip a meeting and take photos during the birth..

 

[Sandravm]

Today she was very quiet.

here are the new photos:

PH level is still something above 7 this evening.

 

[Eagle]

She is progressing nicely, she needs to do a little more shopping and her hooha needs to relax more though. All is going in the right direction

 

[Sandravm]

Is it normal that the baby keeps moving like crazy in the belly? At one moment, it was moving so wild that mum looked scared.

I' think she has been laying down this night for several hours. Giving at least 10 fals alarms. Don't know if it came from pulling her head up of standing up and going down.

Her milk seems to get claudy. PH seems to get lower, but not yet there.

The backdoor is more relaxed if I don't tough her tale.

 

[Gone_Riding]

My mare's baby was in position one moment, out the next. Her hooha would relax when she was in position, but then tighten back up when baby was out of position. Sometimes, it would move like crazy and other times it was a couple days with movement just once in a blue moon. Momma moved around less as the belly got bigger too. I hope that helps.

Your mare looks like she will have more development to the udder still as nipples aren't facing straight down.