Yeah! Jewel has foaled a 'fool day' filly 4.1.13

[sparklingjewelacres]

Jewel .. I am a little bit concerned as she just is so uncomfortable. Seems to have colic troubles maybe. Her back end is bothering her as she keeps rubbing on fence. Her tail area is clean, we wormed her a few weeks ago, and her udder is also clean. Last eve.. she stood up most the time and never hardly lay down to rest. I am thinking maybe her belly hurts or a bit of edema with her udder is painful. I am thinking to walk her. The tail rubbing has been going on for quite some time and is why she has thin tail. I see no evident signs of those pin worms and she has been adequately de wormed. I am supposing it is from her udder and belly and heat and loosing her hair. Quite warm suddenly here .. even in the 70's.

 

[Eagle]

Don't worry it is quite normal for mares to rub their butts in the last stage due to the pressure the foal is causing. Mares don't normally (I say normally as not all mares have read the book) lay down the night before foaling as they just can't. All seems normal to me but why don't you post a few pics so we can see. I would suggest udder from behind kneeling down though, a shot from the back to see how baby is lying, a full profile, her hooha and one of her tail. So I guess you know what to do for the next half hour

sorry we are a tad demanding.

 

[lexischase]

I am super excited to see this foal. Renee I am also looking forward to the new photos, sorry us aunties are so demanding we just LOVE photos!

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

When I see a more definite change in her udder and her sides from back end.. I will get more picts. It is raining a lot lately here. Warm weather brought on a storm. I know things for Jewel can change quickly but as of now.. the 'teats' are pointed inward, almost touching.. her udder has some growing to do.. nothing too big. She is still light pink inside so.. there is no change there and her sides are still pooching out .. more on right side and I saw movement in the upper flank area.. maybe it is that a few legs were kicking high which is a sign a presume that the baby is still on it's back and hasnt turned yet.. I don't know.. .. I think possible is starting to turn... as the V shape has subsided some and moved more central. Sunny days are soon to come by in few days. I am really starting to look at Sparkles with a question ... It maybe that she is getting too much hay.. but.. wondering if she too is pregnant. If so.. she could be at least 7 months along. I felt a bit of a mushy area in front of her teats. Hmmmmmm...

 

[Eagle]

Be carefull cos her V moving forward is a good sign, her udder and vulva colour can change fast. No pics for a week now

you are mean! Lol

 

[Eagle]

She might not get slab sided as she is well covered ( i didn't say chubby)

 

[AnnaC]

Babies dont normally turn before labour begins. Before delivery, baby is usually laying with its back down against Momma's tummy, which is why a lot of folks report seeking 'foot' movement up around a mare's flank/hip area (its head is towards mare's rear end and its botty is at mare's front end). During labour baby does a massive swivel, front legs unfold and point forwards together with the head and move towards the birth canal, with the whole body twisting from it's lower 'tummy' level to bring it up so that baby's spine is now sitting under Momma's spine as the birthing progresses. Baby is now showing its legs and nose to the outside world and inside the 'turn' is continuing with the hind legs now unfolding and 'hanging down' into the mare's tummy space ready to follow the body in a straight line through the birth canal and into the outside world. It is an amazing proceedure and it make you wonder that it is repeated again and again at so many horse births with so few problems.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

Oh.. thank you so much. It is getting so close. We gave Sparkle a new little hut right outside of Jewels pen for night time, because it has rained hard here. Today, I let Jewel out to wander in larger area with Sparkles.. then at their normal 11am nap time.. I saw that Jewel had lay down inside Sparkles new little hut. She has a huge area of her own with fresh clean dry straw but wanted to claim Sparkles new hut shelter. I tho't she was laying down in there ready to go into labor. Sparkles must have thot that too as she stared down at her.. then went over to check her back end out. That startled Jewel awake and up she jumped... no new happenings in that back end of hers but it was almost like Sparkles expected something to be happening by the way she looked at her back end.

We are checking on her very often now hardly letting her out of our site. Tonight it has been every ten minutes we check on her.. She is nibbling on hay.. not wanting to go into her barn area too much.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

Thank you AnnaC. for helping me know about the turn. We did watch that amazing video presentation on the foaling video tools. Yes, it does show the foal turning during labor. I find all of this so fascinating and am just so amazed at all of this.

Thanks Diane for your help keeping me in tune to her .. I am afraid I would perhaps get tired of waiting and get complacent if it werent for you all keeping me at this.

Thanks also 'Eagle' the sunshine will be here I think tomorrow. Perhaps more picts of Jewel.

 

[Eagle]

You must be so tired, I just wish we could help you watch her

 

[AnnaC]

Oh how well I remember years of exhaustion watching and waiting for these precious babies to appear. We foaled 13 in 2010 in the course of 6 weeks - several foaling on the same day/night - and even with daughter to help we were getting pretty 'punch drunk'!! Also having managed to get 12 babies safely on the ground we became very stressed and worried about foaling the dreaded numbr 13, but with just a minor 'glitch' number 13 made it safely through the birth process, thankfully!

From then on I have passed the whole breeding thing over to daughter at her place - I just give advice over the phone and visit the next day to coo over the new arrival. LOL!! But we have taken a break this year - no babies due so no stress and just the enjoyment of watching them arrive here in the Nutty Nursery.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

I actually rested well last eve and did check on her 3 or more times out window. She stood up all night. I saw no changes all day.. her udder actually shrunk down some.. it is not tight and needs some more filling. This morning .. still light pink in the back end, BUT this eve... it was a darker pink.. so perhaps now I won't sleep well tonight. I will be sure to get photos out tomorrow. We had a lot of company over today.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

So very glad we took a year off of breeding the Boer goats. I was so exhausted last year. Triplets and more triplets. It was a rainy windy stormy year that blew the goat huts completely over. We had to go out in the storm.. gather up babies and stake huts down. Never had any babies die here even at birth but if I wasnt there I am sure we would have lost some. So... now.. didnt plan for a pregnant horse but am so very happy .. it is so exciting. It is only one and that is good for me. I have learned so much and have always wanted this time.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

the difference with goats.. I had them I guess trained to birth out in the middle of the day. If I fed them at night between 7-9, they were sure to kid either in morning by 11 or early afternoon. In 3 years, we never had a night birth from any goats. Now horses.. they seem to do their own thing and seem to like this secret night foaling. That is going to be very exhausting if Jewel doesnt foal soon. I am thinking she will within 4 days. hmmmm I sure hope so.

 

[AnnaC]

Hang in there, you are doing fabulously - she's a lucky girl to have you caring for her and worrying about her. Pretty soon now she's going to give you a precious little baby and all the exhaustion will be worthwhile.

 

[SugaryCharm]

They do like to keep us guessing...and waiting...and wondering!

I'm excited to see the lovely baby Jewel is hiding

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

Here are photos from today. Not sure what Jewel is up to. She doesnt seem to be looking that ready to do much of anything to me. She badly wants in that green grass pen she is standing by. It is the planted horse pasture mix and is quite small. We will put her and baby in there after she foals to keep baby out of the dirt. So see.. her udder don't look like much at all.

This is a busy weekend as we have company and family coming over. At least I am able to be home checking on her while busy cleaning and cooking.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

She did keep me awake last night as she decided to lay down to rest instead of stand. Fortunately... it is nearly beneath my bedroom window where I can just peer out and see what she is doing instead of going all the way outside in middle of night.

 

[countrymini]

lol Hope she foals for you soon so you can catch up some sleep! Her udder looks good and going off some of the other mares on here it could fill quite quickly and go from that size to teats down and bulging.

 

[sparklingjewelacres]

I cleaned out all the straw beddings and scraped all the yecky saturated stuff off the ground. Lots of good straw bedding is down. Jewel has been rubbing her bottom so hard on the fences. Her poor tail! She also has been switching her tail back and forth and kick stomping her back feet. I think she is uncomfortable.