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Felina's First

4K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  ww farm 
#1 ·
I have a large 10 years old Azteca mare that is expecting her first foal. She is at day 351. We are quite sure of her dates as we had several ultrasounds performed following her AI.

She had been carrying her foal fairly high but dropped significantly yesterday. Her bag has slowly grown over the past week and this morning the base of her teats are quite full. She was waxing both yesterday morning and again this morning. We tested her milk last night--watery, sticky yellow--that tested high for calcium and pH. The vet felt she might go last night as we had a horrific storm and a full moon. Did not happen....

Today she seems a little out of sorts--she seems agitated and a little uncomfortable. Part of it might be that she cannot go out into the paddock today due to the muddy conditions and I do not want to put her out in the pasture so close to foaling. She is quite sunken in her flank area today as well and is raising her tail slightly.

Thoughts--words of encouragement? I raise goats but this is obviously at a whole different level and will be my first foal.

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
Agree she sounds close, but like Draco said, you never know, lol.

I'd love some pictures. Azteca horses are gorgeous (from what I just looked up, had never heard of them, lol)
 
#6 ·
She is very pretty!
Post lots of pictures and updates of her!
 
#7 ·
Wow, she is hanging on to that baby. She could go any day now but she's probably agitated for not being able to go out.
She's a really pretty mare from what I can see of her. What did you breed her to? Andalusian? Lusitano? Quarter Horse? Something else?. Can't wait to see photos of the baby.

Words of encouragement. I would say that in general, mares have fewer complications giving birth than goats do.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Update: Anout 20 minutes past midnight she started with strange behavior. She would lie down and stretch out--looked like she was playing dead. She was constantly shifting weight and kicking at her abdomen--just on one side. (Looks like a stork pose). I thought I actually saw the foal turn over right before this all began. At 4 she reverted to normal, just looking out her Dutch door--this is when I caught some sleep. At 6 she looks just fine. I read somewhere she cod repeat this behavior at 12 hour intervals and it could predict the time period she will foal. Has anyone else heard this? Thoughts about how close she might be?
 
#13 ·
I would not force exercise her. Leave her alone, except checking on her, of course.
She sounds very close to foaling.
Mares can delay labor for awhile, but not indefinitely.
How long have you been bringing her in at night? That should have been done at least for a few weeks before foaling, to get her used to that routine
 
#14 ·
She has been brought in at night almost her entire life so that is her normal routine. The reason we exercised her is because her paddock was quite muddy from the 3" of rain we got the night before so I did not want to let her out to roll in it. She certainly wasn't forced and just walked alongside another horse that was being ridden outside and was quite calm and content afterwards. We are now day 353. Her udder is full and her teats look engorged.....
 
#15 ·
Daystar--here is a photo of the Sire, Saltador ORO. I thought for sure she was in labor last night. I'm afraid I might have I interrupted her when I went to wrap her tail. Today her udder has stayed full all day and I see a lot of foal movement. She is definitely uncomfortable.
 

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#17 ·
She's here! She arrived at 25 minutes past midnight, very quickly, and without any help from me! She was up in 35 minutes and nursing on her own in a little over an hour. I am amazed at how attentive and patient Felina is with her.

We all had it wrong about this being a colt but I am thrilled for an easy birth and no complications.
 

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#20 ·
We have decided to call her Aviva--the Hebrew word for Spring. I have to work with the breeder regarding her registered name. I would like to incorporate 'Whisper' from my farm name Whisper Way Farm. It is named after my beloved Silky Terrier Whisper. Can you believe April 15th was her birthday also!!?
 

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#23 · (Edited)
Thank you to everyone for your comments, encouragement and support. I thought I would share some of the clues that Felina showed when labor was imminent:


1. About 48 hours prior her flanks really sank in
2. 24 hours prior, she "shelved out" I heard that term used before and I think it refers to her belly flattening out.
3. She started waxing approximately three days prior. We tested her milk on this evening and it was watery, sticky and yellow. It tested high for calcium and high for pH.
4. 2 nights before, she started having some strange behavior. She seemed restless and was constantly shifting her weight. She would kick at her abdomen (raise her back legs in a stork pose), and lie down for extended periods of time--I mean stretched all the way out. This activity began after 10:00 p.m and continued for about four hours.
5. The night of the birth at around 9:30 she began backing her rump up to the walls of the stall--I mean really hard like she was trying to prevent something from coming out, lol. She rubbed some. She paced a lot and the stork poses were more frequent. That day I could see waxing that appeared like a droplet of milk on the end of her teats. Her udder stayed full all day and her teats were full as well.


Some pics of Aviva venturing out this afternoon for a few minutes in the paddock. :love:
 

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#27 ·
Red Dun Paint--Your horse is beautiful!


Little Aviva has a valgus deformity so the vet is limiting her time out to 30 minutes a day until he can check her this Friday. I am hoping it will correct and just looks a little pronounced because her legs are so long. She certainly does not have any problems getting around!
 

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