# Hoovers mare is having contractions! (updated 4/19)



## redtailgal (Apr 16, 2011)

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## GrowURown (Apr 16, 2011)

Mucous is as Mucous does I always say...bet you fall asleep before she foals...or the batteries in the camera die...I'm just teasing...but have you had your coffee and checked your batteries? 

GOOD LUCK TOOO!!!  baby horses are ALWAYS WONDERFUL!  kinda miss doing that...it's much easier than goats!


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## redtailgal (Apr 16, 2011)

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## Roll farms (Apr 16, 2011)

I babysat our bred mare for days.....she foaled at 3 or 4 am.  
I'd given up and went to bed at 2.  Found the foal nearly dry at 5 am.

Of course, she was "open" when I bought her, she wasn't supposed to even be bred, so we only figured it out when she bagged up about 3 wks before she foaled.  At least we didn't have the whole time to go crazy.

Is this your mare or a neighbors?

Either way, good luck!


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## redtailgal (Apr 16, 2011)

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## redtailgal (Apr 17, 2011)

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## freemotion (Apr 17, 2011)

Is she waxing?  I used to also measure the vulva against the handle of the brush that I did tails with....   A sudden lengthening means don't leave!


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## GrowURown (Apr 17, 2011)

SEE! I TOLD YOU about that mucous!  I'm going to go take the phone away from Bambi...I think I saw her texting directions to that mare on how to "tease the people around birthing time"....


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## redtailgal (Apr 17, 2011)

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## GrowURown (Apr 17, 2011)

MY BAMBI GOAT JUST HAD A BUCKLING! Bet you get a foal soon...


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## Roll farms (Apr 17, 2011)

I'm having a mental image of a kid bouncing up to nurse a minute, dangling, then falling off and having to bounce back up and latch on again........


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## redtailgal (Apr 17, 2011)

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## GrowURown (Apr 19, 2011)

redtailgal said:
			
		

> I've been watching your thread on bambi, a big boy!  Congrats!
> 
> We are having a foal tonight.  I may have to chase her around the pasture with a broom and howl at the moon, but we ARE foaling tonight.


Okay...where's the update on this one?  Where's the foal?  I gotta know...I can't sleep...might as well head out to your place with a broom myself...


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## redtailgal (Apr 19, 2011)

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## Zanzabeez (Apr 19, 2011)

RedTailGal,

Lol, I feel your frustration with this mare.  I have been there too! Mares have such a wide safe due date range that they can truely drive you nuts. I longest healthy pregnancy on record last I checked was 417 days. *Cue the scary music*

Don't worry too much yet.  All can be perfecty normal and she will foal when she is ready. Not sure if it will make you feel better but one of my mares waited until 370 days to foal in 2008 with a known breed date.  She had "jello booty", no tail muscle tone, lengthened vulva, huge full udder, the works. She had foaled in 2008 from the same breeding combo at 335 days and was in foal when I got her and foaled that time at 332 days.

I was listening to her on a baby monitor from the time she looked ready at 330 days. TC deserved an Oscar for her performance. LOTS of moaning and groaning, panting, and she would do this sort of breath-holding grunt when she would lay down. She had me running out there 3 - 4 times a night when her groaning would wake me up.  She is just as bad on a foal camera, btw. Up and down with shifting weight, tail swishing, and even laying down and stiffening her legs straight out. 

Best of luck again and can't wait to see what Hoover's mare has when she finally pops!

Tracy

***Edited to fix a typo.*** I accidentally typed 230 instead of 330 above.  Corrected now. 

Adding this info too. 320 days is considered by most to be the earliest safe date for a full sized horse. It is possible for foals to survive after 300 days gestation but most born before 320 will be premature with a fine hair coat, possible "soft joints" due to cartilage not yet being replaced by bone, and of course possible breathing issues due to lung maturity. Miniature horses can actually have surviving foals as early as 280 days but it is not common.


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## PattySh (Apr 19, 2011)

My pony mare went a full month overdue. The baby was huge. It was an accidental pregnancy (we rescued the pony stallion and planned to geld him asap but he broke the fence immediately middle of the winter and bred 2 mares!). We are pretty sure it was Ladybug's  first foal and she is mid teens. The foal   Penny now 3 is cowhocked (pretty sure because she was so stuffed in there) but fine otherwise and almost as big as her mother.We know she was a full month late because they only bred one nite and the other mare delivered on the due date. Ladybug had milk for several weeks and was HUGE. I spent many nites in below zero in the barn and then missed the birth! She was standing and still wet when we found her.


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## Araylee (Apr 19, 2011)

Wow on the mare! I had no idea they had such a huge range of gestation, that's crazy!!


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