Your closest "near misses" in foaling

[nootka]

you aren't looking?

Just curious how short the times have been between checking on a mare and no obvious signs to when you would find a baby either out and up or....?

My closest call/near miss was with Gramma Pony.

Granted, I did not know as much as I know now, but I checked on her at exactly 11:45 a.m. I went out and gave her her "lunch" feeding of Senior, checked her bag, it was full but not tight, there was no waxing, and there was no pacing or sweating (it was a warm, sunny May day, I would think she would have been sweating, at least?), so I felt ok to go in and start watching a tv program that began at noon. Gramma chowed down on her feed, another sign that reassured me she was not "any minute close".

I did so, and when the first round of commercials started, at 12:05 pm, and Gramma was not near the house w/her food, but lying in front of the barn door, and there was a little red head sitting up behind her!!! All but the hindquarters delivered and all without me! *LOL*

So in twenty minutes' time, she finished that two or three cups of Senior feed,a nd then went out, laid down and pushed out her daughter....!

I was impressed with her aplomb and downright sneakiness.

Luckily all was well, and I arrived in time to treat the navel and make sure she nursed ok later on (took her four hours and I did bottle feed her the colostrum the first time).

Cherry Bomb tries this same maneuver, but she has done so in a half hour, gone into labor and foaled while I was either doing something else and not looking at the tv or while I tried to take a half hour nap.

Liz M.

 

[Shari]

Lets see the two most interesting ones...

Ready to foal showing all the signs, up for 12 hours,,, have to run in to use the bath room because I really, really need too. Didn't take too long.

Foal was born, am sure the minute she saw me shut the door to the house.

:

Maggie was almost 4 weeks early...no signs at all. Even keeping a fairly close eye on her.....That was a suprise,, just glad it turned out so well. Would say the filly was born for a full hour before I looked out the window early that morning.

Her filly was born happy and healthy.

 

[minimule]

I have one mare that refuses to give you any signs. Two years ago, I was out of state for my job. I had an experienced (actually previous owner) watching the mare with my hubby. She checked on her just before leaving home for the day, around 8 am. Told hubby no way was this mare close to foaling, no bag, not squishy, not elongated...... Hubby got home at 10 am and went out to check the horses. Mare walks out of the stall followed by a completely dry little foal.

Last year was the first time anyone has ever seen this mare foal. I had her under camera and watched her very carefully. Never a sign, she just laid down and started pushing. I think it actually made her mad that I saw her foal.

:

 

[minih]

Last year in July we were getting ready to leave for a show for the whole weekend and Dolly had not delivered yet. We had it worked out with our neighbor she would be on mare stare for us, and friends of ours would be stopping by several times a day also to check on her while we were gone. The alarm would call me and then I would call my neighbor/and or friends. I had a long talk with Dolly the night before leaving and asked her to pleeeeease have it before we left. I guess she listened, just not really what I meant, the next morning I finished packing while my husband went and fed everyone, he had turned her out with the other mares for a little while before we left, then we would put her in a show run by herself when we actually left. By the time he got back from the other barn, 15 minutes tops, she was up and the little one was trying to stand! Right out there at the hayrack with all the other mares and babies. Everyone acted like it was an everyday occurance, they just kept eating their hay. We got a late start on our trip that morning, had to round her and baby up, put them in the show run together and waited to make sure all the important stuff was done, pooping, peeing, and drinking. :bgrin Neighbor and friends were happy to have a foal to love on while we were gone, he gots lots of imprinting that weekend. It's a good thing Dolly likes company too, she is a very friendly mare and had no problems with this.

 

[Becky]

The most recent for me that I recall, was just this past year with Misty. All signs were go for her to foal. She was in the stall at night under camera and I had just started putting the Breeder Alert on her. The stall was well bedded with shavings, but I hadn't put hay in yet as I was waiting for her to actually be in labor before I put the hay down. The Breeder Alert went off around 12 or 1 am. I looked at the monitor by my bed and saw Misty laying up on her sternum, so I just closed my eyes thinking that if she went flat out the pager would go off again. The pager started beeping again but it was about 2 hours later. I looked and Misty was again laying up on her sternum. I didn't see her doing anything so again I closed my eyes. The beeper went off again around 4 am and this time I saw Misty laying on her sternum as before, but I decided I would watch just a little closer. The next thing I see is something walking around the stall!! Well, knock my socks off!! I flew out of bed and threw on my coat and shoes. Tellling myself that if it was up walking around that all was probably ok. Ran to the barn to find a dry filly and dry stall. More than likely Misty had delivered sometime around when the Breeder Alert went off the first time.

Needless to say, Misty is under close observation this year. She is my next mare due to foal and is at 316 days today but doesn't look imminent. You can bet though, that when she has the Breeder Alert on and it goes off, I will sit up and watch for awhile!

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

We have a bunch of mares that haven't read the foaling books! Fortunately as we've observed them over the years you can predict how they're acting - we still miss some - cameras, breeder alert, personal observations - we have some masters of privacy.

One mare while my son was cleaning out the shelter (for her to deliver in the coming days) laid down outside and had the baby without him noticing!

Two mares foaled like Beckys - one was delivering the foal while up on her sternum - she was watching herself like 'oh wow look at that'! (She's the one Bonnie Fogg told me is pretty much a Blonde!) My breeders alerts didn't go off, I had just happened to go out and check them and found her delivering. We checked the breeder alerts too - both were fine. One mare hated the beeping or my checking and would sleep with her head up on the feeder.

My first mare ET though is the master. We have had six foals from her and I've never caught her yet. Always half done, or baby is up and walking around - once was literally outside my living room window where I had been watching her! She's a super sneak.

 

[HJF]

I've got one!

A few years ago I found my horse's sister for sale. (BTW she is a Quarter horse) She was pro trained 1 year for western pleasure and the lady said she was ready to show. Well, we bought her and I rode her lightly for a few months. She's 16.2 hands and not the easiest keeper so she got fed quite a bit. Well, she was getting fatter and fatter so we cute back a bit. People that came over kept asking if she was in foal , but we just kept saying no! One day I went out to the field to bring China in and what I found was this little (not that little..actually pretty BIG!!) colt standing beside her! It scared the ...out of me! The lady didn't even mention that she had been with a stallion. Turns out she took her to get bred and had her vet checked and it came up negative.. :new_shocked:

 

[littlesteppers]

Last year I took a picture of the mare..went in the house and uploaded the picture when I looked out the window while uploading..she had a filly next to her

 

[Viki]

I got one I didnt miss, but was close! The mare was acting totally normal. Not up and down or pacing or nothing! Her bag was fairly tight, but I thought it would get tighter. I'm sitting on the bed watching her on the monitor. Ate her dinner just fine.

Laid down. I NEVER even SAW a contraction! She rubbed her nose of the stall floor. I thought, that's odd. Rubbed her nose again. THEN I see what it's all about! There was the foal coming OUT!!!!!

Ran to the barn as fast as possible! Keep in mind, its only about 150 feet away! When I got there, the colt was fully delivered and head up looking at me!!!!!!

After that, first nose rub and I was on my way!!!! She did it every year that I owned her!

Viki

 

[Miss_Fortune]

I remember there was one mare who never much liked attention.

We checked on her & she didnt seem like she would foal soon.

We were all getting ready to go for a drive & just before we headed out, the foaling buzzer went off, before

we could even get to her stall the filly was out past her sholders. I ran to get towels & came back (30 seconds maybe) & she was up & taking care of her new baby.

It was a bad time if she didnt want attention.

Middle of summer with a bunch of school age kids around...

 

[CAM]

We had a maiden Arabian mare that was my first horse and is still my baby and the sweetest big horse we own. This was her first foal so I was more than nervous because I wanted everything to be ok and I certainly didn't want to miss this much anticipated foal. I used test strips daily and checked her so many times a day she was probably saying, "Oh great, here she comes again to manhandle me."

: I spent many evenings out in the barn for hours watching her as we didn't have our foaling cameras at that time. One night before bed I could express some milk from her bag and of course, the test strips indicated it's coming soon so I called my husband who was at work 3 hours away and told him if he wanted to see our "baby" foal he should hoof it home asap. He canceled his patients for the next day (Of course it was an emergency! :bgrin) and raced home over the mountain pass. We took turns sleeping on the cot in the barn and taking hot showers in the house with a walkie-talkie in hand because we were freezing in the barn. The next morning my husband got the kids off to school while I stayed in the barn, warm coffee in hand. The hours went by and the kids came home from a half-day of school with two extra friends. Still nothing. I could no longer keep my eyes open and laid on the cot at 2pm for a quick snooze. At 2:30pm I heard a strange noise and jumped up to look in the stall to see the head out. I thought, "You little turkey. I have been awake for 30+ hours and NOW you decide to foal!" We had a beautiful homozygous black pinto filly. Of course, my husband was in the house and wouldn't answer the phone when I called so everyone else missed it.

: What a neat experience for the kids' friends though, to see this new foal up and nursing for the first time.

Last year we had an experienced Arabian broodmare who was on cameras day and night and due May 24th. I was getting ready to take the kids to baseball practice at 4:55pm on May 24th when I stopped at the barn to check the mare for any signs of imminent foaling. Mind you, I checked this mare many times a day. Sure enough, this time she was waxing so I told the kids, "No baseball tonight." I drove the car back to the house and unloaded the kids, walked straight to the tv monitor to turn it on with phone in hand to call my friend who wanted to see this mare foal. My friend answered the phone just as the tv screen lit up and I said, "Oh crap, she just foaled!" My friend headed over to see the new foal while I ran up to the barn to take care of business. She is the only one I have truely missed so far. So much for middle of the night foalings. :bgrin

 

[EAD Minis]

Well this one happend like 2 years ago.My friend still had his grey arabian mare (Niska) and she was in foal to a percheron.She wasnt showing any signs so we let them out in the feild to clean the stalls.We opened the door to let them in and they all came running except for Niska!So we trudged out there and she was standing over a little brown colt.I got to name him Cybro!!I couldnt help it i just started crying...guess im a big softy after all

:

 

[wildoak]

I've only had two real "sneaks" - one an old Quarter mare I had for many years. No cameras or monitors then, but we checked her frequently and through the night. Never caught her anywhere close to foaling, and she had four babies for us. The other is the little mare who foaled last week. This is her 4th foal for us, and the closest I've come to catching her. The first two were born in the pasture, last year's I just missed and this one we found right after she delivered but was still down and attached. Milk strips had only turned two squares the night before and milk wasn't as sticky as I expect it to be, so I wasn't expecting anything quite yet. Watched her for 5 minutes mid afternoon because she was looking back at her sides, then she went to grazing. It wasn't more than 15 minutes later that the electrician working on the house came down to say she had foaled.... She's a good old mare who just pops them out with no problem, and much as I like to be there for them, I wish they were all so easy.

Jan

 

[virginia]

Well guys after Misty made a fool of me two times, I got her on the third go around. Had just got back fro checking all the mares and turned on the TV monitor. I watched as Misty paced her stall, then laid down and started contracting. I ran out to the barn and of course, made a lot of noise doing so. Misty was up and munching hay when I got there. The barn is only 100 feet from my house. but I had banged the gate. So I go back to the house and watch the monitor. Sure enough two minutes later Misty goes down again and starts pushing. Out I go again. Again, shes standing munching on hay and I swear she looked at me and was laughing. I went back to the house. This time I watched her go down and start pushing and didn't run out. (I was winded by now) I watched till I saw a head appear, then went quietly out. Gottcha!! It was too late for her to suck the sucker back in!!! One live, beautiful little pinto colt...We both smiled!!!

Ginny StP

 

[coopermini]

Last May one of our mares was close to foaling and at bed time I just layed in bed watching the monitor. about 11:30pm we knew she was very close. Then she appeared to have a contraction and her water broke. We ran out to the barn peeked in the stall and nothing happening.Nothing showing at all. We ducked down below the partition in silence. Waited a few seconds and my wife peeked over the partition and there came the little colt in one push! She snapped a pic as I open the door to clear the sack off his head. Never imagined they could have them so quick. We have calved 100's of cows and farrowed about 1500 sows none were as quick as she was.

 

[bluerogue]

Yes... my mare Lady last year was looking really ready... so I checked her every hour or so for two nights. SHe was pacing, and sweaty, and big bag, and the whole nine yards, too, on both nights. But no baby. So the third night, I checked until about 12-1 am, and since she wasn't pacing, sweating, and was placidly eating her hay, I went to bed. I got up to feed at 6am, and the little bogger had had her filly, and they were both dry! She was still eating her hay too. I figured she just didn't want me to see her foal. The other two we had foal last year were both sneaky too. Neither showed any real signs, and both were checked pretty continuously. One foaled at night, with no signs whatsoever, we found her the next morning with her colt. Not a maiden either. The other was a maiden, and I had checked her and pronounced that she was close but not imminent. She foaled 3 hours later. I should really just not listen to myself, because each time I said we had a couple of days or weeks left, we had babies within hours! I guess my girls like to keep me guessing. We'll see what they do to me this year.

 

[nootka]

Ooooohhhh this thread is makin' me think Cherry Bomb is going to be able to sneak one in on me no matter what!

Man, they move fast!

I was pretty shocked when Gramma did hers in under 20 minutes, and I was SURE of the times, too! Some of you definitely have me beat.

Cherry Bomb must know when I've turned my head, because I have only ever been as close as to see one w/the back legs just clearing (Mouse). The others have been pretty much up and at 'em by the time I saw them, though she was under the cameras and on half hourly checks each time.

This is a fun thread to read, so glad they've all had good outcomes.

Liz M.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Less than five minutes!! Checked the old Welsh mare (who HATED being watched) started across the yard for a cup of coffee, just had a hunch and ran back in time to see the foal being dumped out into the water bucket!!! Mare did not even lie down, just HEAVED. Boy, was she cross when we piled back in and started drying baby off!!

Amira was foaling after colic surgery, she had gone a full 12 months and was trotting the paddock fence all might- I had been up every twenty minutes all through the night, altho' I knew she would not foal. Let her out into the field at 5.30 and followed her, as soon as she got below the brow of the hill (by this time I was flat on my stomach playing "Indian Scouts!!!") she folded up and started, then rolled onto her front, looked over her shoulder (I have the photos to prove it) and told me "Well, come on, I haven't got all day!!" I had always delivered Amira's foals for her, and she did not like to start without me.

In spite of sleep deprivation I did join her and foaled out the biggest colt she had ever had.

Precious foaled five years ago, again after a night in the stall, walked out across the paddock, I ran after her- shoved the halter on and hauled her back in. She made it to the doorway where she folded up and gave birth. That was her only foal in twenty years I have ever seen born- some near misses but not actually witnessed it before. She was really cross!!!!

It was also the third foal I had had born that day!!

 

[Kendra]

Bunny was notorious. I think the only time someone was there for the whole delivery was when she had Robin, because there was a leg back and she needed help.

Once, Grandad turned her out in the morning, and she was carrying on, wanting her breakfast. He fed her and went down the row feeding, and around the other side. By the time he got back behind the barn (10 minutes at the longest!) the foal was already born!

 

[MBennettp]

I've had 2 that I nearly missed. The first was a little bitty mare that I had traded for, 18 years old and her first foal. She had been across the fence from an Arabian stallion and he bred her through the fence. We had been watching her very close because we were afraid she was going to have real problems. She showed no signs at all so we let her out for a little while and she foaled within a few minutes. She did fine and foaled a beautiful filly.

The second was Angel last August. Hubby had been watching her and came after me when I got off work. We were walking to the gate when Angel layed down and foaled before we could get the gate open.

Mary