Hi every one! I just signed up for this thread, so I hope i posted this in the right section!?
I have a pregnant mare that is due soon and decided to make her a foaling thread! So here is her story.....
Gypsy is my 12 year old paint mare, I have owned her for about 4 months after buying her from a rescue. Gypsy was rescued after her owners abandoned her in a feild for 6 months along with a stallion and one other mare. When i bought her she was about 100 pounds or so underweight and we had really no good idea of when she was due. Of course we had the vet out and now she is due any time with in the next 2-3 weeks! She got on a proper diet and gained all the weight in just a couple months and is now beautiful and perfectly healthy! Unfortunatly despite my efforts I could not find out if she or the stalllion is registered, but I love her just the same!
She is bred to a black, gaited Paso Fino stallion! This will be my first foal so love any tips/facts or anything like that! I have done extensive reading, have my foaling kit ready to go and my vets # on hand, so i feel pretty ready but getting oppinions on her "signs" would be really helpful!
So far Gypsy has the start of a small bag and cloudy white milk that is released easily. I beleive the foal might be dropped and around her tail head is jellowy like. I use 6 way pool test strips to test her milks calcium and Ph levels. Currently her calcium is 250 and her ph is 7.8. So im hoping for a foal with in 2 weeks or so!! I will try to add some pictures asap. Thank you for any helpful comments/advice/tips/suggestions!!
So here is a few pics from this morning! Sorry they are nit that great, they were taken on my phone! ;P She still has no obvious physical changes. :/ How long do you guys think?! I know its hard to tell in pics but any guesses or oppinions? Thanks!
Here is try #2 for todays pics! Sorry it took so long, It took for ever for me to figure out to get them uploaded!! lol The only change, which could be nothing, is she has been holding her tail up ALOT today and acting a litttle more...irritable? If you have any comments or ideas of when she might foal id love to hear them!!
Goodness...get out there with a net to catch the baby! LOL kidding. She looks a lot more ready than mine EVER did. Still hard to say when she will foal though...soon. :wink:
She's a beauty (I may be partial to black and whites hee hee)
Aww! Yep. Looks like baby will be along soon enough. But then, ask some of our HF regulars. Some of the forum mates defy all odds of the universe keeping their babies secret. Posted via Mobile Device
Thanks every one, I thought she was looking very close as well but my riding instructer thinks not for 2-2 1/2 weeks so than i thought maybe it was just wishful thinking! lol! So for fun any one want to guess the date/time/gender? My guess was July 24th at 6:03 Am, colt! Btw I will try and update after I do her milk test in about an hour or so! Any one used the pool strips? If so how long did your mares ph stay at 7.8 ish?
P.s "SoldOnGaited" your profile pic looks just like Gypsy, they could be siblings!!
Ok, so i just got the results of her milk test, still at 250 calcium and some where between 7.2-7.8 ph. Closer to 7.8, but she has a totaly different personality all the sudden..she usually is sweet as pie and could care less if we milk her but now she is being a pest! I went to milk her and she would pin her ears and lift leg like she was threatning to kick, or she would wip her tail at me!? What could this mean?
My mare loved having her udder rubbed and cleaned then one day she was acting a little "distant" and when I went to touch her udder she stopped eating, looked back at me and moved back. All new behavior for her.
She ended up foaling 2 hours later.
Not predicting that for your mare though. Sometimes they just mess with you lol. Posted via Mobile Device
Ya it was strange, she had never acted that way befor!? And im out with her now and unfortunetly still no foal.... :/ Last night and this morning she ate her food like a pig, acted like i havnt fed her in weeks or somthing?! I think her *girly part back there* has maybe slackened? I cant tell for sure cus when ever i go to look she clenches.... It seems alot more wrinkley when she clenches now though... Maybe im just going crazy?! Lol Other than that no changes...
by the look of her udders, i would say she has 2-4 weeks left, but she could be the type of mare that fills up completely a few hours before birth. she is huge too! can't wait to see the little one, whose the baby daddy?
Ya, i guessed the 24th so we shall see soon enough....hopefully! Here are few more pics...no udder change so i didnt bother to get a pic of them...do you guys think she looks relaxed *back there*? Also there was some yellowish goey looking somthing? Any one know what that would be or mean? And sorry the pics are not so good, she kept trying to move away from me!
I too would think about two weeks except her milk is pretty white, her udders are warm and her calcium is decently high and her ph starting to-very slowly-drop silly mares always making things unpredictable! And she is bred to a black, gaited Paso Fino stallion! I will try and get a couple pics of him! He is only 3 so is not fully filled out ect...but very pretty just the same! And he is already 15 hands!
i think the goo would just be discharge? unless she passed the mucus plug, which would be impossible to know, does her side seem smooth straight to the hip? or is she sunk in, in front of the hips?
the biggest thing i look for is, a full udder, a very relaxed, almost falling open vulva, a V shaped Belly, and sunk in sides, as well as wax. i would say if she is showing any combination of 3 of the signs, then i myself would be doing nightly checks.
Yes she is sunk in alot infront of the hips, its hard to see in these pics though! And her belly is pretty v shaped, and her vulva seems really relaxed but when ever i try to look closer or take a pick she clenches it so its hard to tell for sure....and im not an expert. Btw Thank you every one for your replys they are very helpful!
Here are a couple of her vulva when she just lifts her tail, and dosnt know im taking a pic! :wink: And one pic of how she is still holding her tail up all the time.:? Does she look relaxed back there to you guys? Also I checked her udders again and they havnt gotten bigger but i noticed what looks like little crystaly looking dots on her udder, but i dont know if thats what it is or not.. Thanks! Ill update again after i do the milk test at 6:30!!
Also, the speckling sounds like it could be "salting" and I think it means that a mare could be getting closer to foaling. Not like hours away close, but a few weeks or days. I'm no expert though so take what I say with a bucket of salt! Hope someone who knows more can tell you for sure what it is.
Thanks! And i just read online they can get the crystal stuff 2-3 days befor, but im now thinking it was just dry skin or somthing..but it could be i guess!! so....any one thinking her vulva looks slackened? I think it does but im not sure! And has any ones mare foaled with udders like Gypsys, or had udders like this until right befor or after foaling? She is showing other signs that is making me think the magic day will be mid next wek but her udder seems so small, yet she has white milk? She is making this not so easy on me...
I will be doing her milk test in like an hour and a half and will post the results then!!
Guess no foal tonight... Test results are the same.. Calcium: 250
Ph: 7.8
She was a brat when i tried to milk her again so maybe her udders are getting ready to fill more so they are sensitive...?
So exciting! I have two that will be foaling on my property. >_< They have a ways more to go. But the donkey's due date is anyone's guess. She came to me pregnant and we had no idea until lately.
I'll live vicariously through these threads until we get close. XD
Two pregos?! Im jelous!! We actually didnt know when Gypsy was due either ( reason in my first post) but she is showing signs ect and my trainers/ riding instructers said for sure with in 2-2 1/2 weeks. Which makes sense with how she is acting and physically look ect. i am sooo excited, this is my first foal so I can not wait! Even 2 weeks seems like for ever! Any one thinking I need to be checking her in the night? Im trying to get a barn camera but might not get it in time! Lol!
Also who wants to guess a date/gender/color!? Also name ideas would be great! this was my guess from a while ago, so im probably guessing a little sooner than it will be but oh well: july 24th/colt/black and white tobiano.. Though id live a chesnut tobiano..not sure what i can get out of this mix?! Any ideas on that either?! Sorry i just like multiple oppinions!! Thank you
So exciting! I have two that will be foaling on my property. >_< They have a ways more to go. But the donkey's due date is anyone's guess. She came to me pregnant and we had no idea until lately.
I'll live vicariously through these threads until we get close. XD
Will you start a "foaling" thread when they seem to be getting close? (I don't know what a baby donkey is called).
Also who wants to guess a date/gender/color!? Also name ideas would be great! this was my guess from a while ago, so im probably guessing a little sooner than it will be but oh well: july 24th/colt/black and white tobiano.. Though id live a chesnut tobiano..not sure what i can get out of this mix?! Any ideas on that either?! Sorry i just like multiple oppinions!! Thank you
I'm guessing August first/filly/black. I don't know if black would even be a possible color but I think it would be neat! :lol:
I suck with names so I'm gonna pass on that one!
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