Cold feet or normal pre-foaling nerves?

[Laurierace]

With my one and only mare's foaling date quickly approaching (day 307 today) I am starting to feel the nerves kicking in big time! This will be the first time I have ever been the one responsible for being there and attending to the birth. I have been studying feverishly so I am well versed in the text book part of it, but with pretty much no real life experience. The barn owners have foaled out many mares over the years, so I do have a wealth of help there but they do not want to do foal watch, so that part will be up to me.
The vet comes tomorrow to do the pre-foaling shots and to open her caslicks and in the next few days we will prepare and move her into the foaling stall. I guess I will ask her opinion, but I am starting to think I should have moved Jess to a facility with around the clock observation just in case. I love the idea of being the one to help guide my foal into the world but am scared to death I will miss it. I can not be there 24/7 for weeks on end. In reality, I can't be there much at all during the day, I guess I need to talk with the barn owner's and figure out exactly how much they are willing to watch her during the day.
I am working towards getting a foal cam up and running so I can watch her from home when I am home, but that won't help me when I am at the track. With the barn being 15 miles from home, it may not help me at all since there is no way I could get there in time if I see her lie down and start pushing.
At this late date, is it safe to move her to a foaling facility? I know they need time to build up antibodies to the bacteria and such in their environment. Not to mention the stress of leaving her home could upset her.
She aborted last year about 6 weeks after I moved her to Pennsylvania to foal which weighed heavily on my decision to keep her home this year. She has been on regumate since day 260 when it looked like her bag was a bit bigger than it should have been. I am going to ask the vet tomorrow if its time to start weaning her off that as well.
I wish I could put her in my living room, it would be so much easier! Thanks in advance for all your opinions.

[DLee]

I don't have an opinion on what you should do, just wanted to say I'm right there with ya. :( Went through the "what to have on hand" post, and while it's awesome, scared the crap outta me. No wonder people send out! Thank God my barn is only about 100' from the house, and we're not due til March. Sigh.

[Hillside H Ranch]

If she can't be watched around the clock, and you're not sure if someone will be able to be around to help her, my honest opinion is to send her to a foaling facility. It would be better to send her late than to risk loosing her and/or the foal because she foaled unsupervised. The vast majority of foalings go well and you will have people chime in that their horses have foaled unsupervised for years and been fine, but I feel like it is a huge risk to do that.
I foal mares out, both my own and clients and last year I had one foal at 9 am, one around noon and what at 4:30 in the afternoon, so not watching during the day is a risk. Good luck with your mare! I know how nervewracking it can be.

[clint]

If I couldn't be there at all during the day and was far away at night, I would send her to a foaling facility. A friend of mine took her mares to a large, private equine hospital in my area to foal, and they didn't have her bring the mares until a week or so before they were due. I was surprised at that, as I was always told they needed to be in the facility 30 days prior, but the mares foaled healthy foals that returned home within a couple of days.

[Laurierace]

I am willing to stay in the barn at night, but when do I start? I need to talk to the barn owners and make sure they are clear that they are on duty during the day and I will take over during the nights. But again, when do I start? Would the milk testing strips help answer the when do I start question?

If I do decide to send her to a foaling facility, how soon can I bring her home afterwards? The reason I ask is there is a big TB nursery not far from me that I could send her to, but that is not the farm that stands the stallion she will be going to this year. The farm with the stallion she is going to this year is over an hour away. I don't want to take her directly from the one farm to the farm with the stallion, but I also don't want her over an hour away this whole time. That would introduce the foal to three farms worth of germs though.

[VirginiaBred]

Is this her first foal? With caslicks I will assume not.................
How many days did she go before?

[Laurierace]

This is her third pregnancy and hopefully her second live foal. She aborted at 273 days last year after being sent to PA to foal. She carried 351 days with the first foal. She was caslicked at the track and we have just kept her stitched up ever since. It wasn't done because they suspected a problem.

[VirginiaBred]

Well, I would call her a higher risk, and definitely think she should be sent out if you can't be on site. That's what I would do if she were mine.

Edited to add, I wouldn't remove the caslicks until after she was moved, which I would do very soon (like this week if possible).

[Home Again Farm]

From the description of the situation, I would send her to a facility. If you decide not to do so, be sure that your barn managers will truly be on day watch for you. Get a Chemetrics milk test and as soon as she can be milked start checking her. Since she has had previous foals the milk test should give fairly reliable results.

Link to Chemetrics test:

http://www.chemetrics.com/visprods/foalwatch.htm

But, I would still vote for the facility. Best of luck with whatever you do!

[M.K.Smith]

I second the milk tests as a good guide... nothing is foolproof, but they usually help prevent you from wasting too many nights sleeping in the barn.

A lot of people here swear by the Chemetrics test... I haven't used it, so I can't personally provide testimony.

This is the one that I used: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c4f0-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5

Good luck & keep us posted!

[Laurierace]

Thanks for all the replies. I sent an email inquiry to the TB nursery nearby, I will talk to the barn owners where I board and my vet tomorrow and see if we can come to a concensus. I could easily go to the barn in the morning to test her milk on the way to the track if that would help. Then go back at night to retest if the morning test warranted it. I just don't know how much sleep I would be getting at night if the test shows its not time to start night watch.

[Laurierace]

I just thought of one more thing to add to the mix. My mare is on kind of a weirdo diet. The farm feeds a pretty generic but decent grain mix, it is essentially a sweet feed but it has very little molasses. At night they add cooked oats into their ration, I would say about three quarts extra. To ensure my mare is getting everything she needs the nutritionist from the feed store had me add two pounds of the ration balancer all phase into the mix twice per day. I also give her two cups BOSS twice per day and red raspberry leaves.
I will find out for sure, but my guess is the TB nursery feeds some kind of mare and foal grain only. I don't necessarily need her to have all of the above, especially if the mare and foal feed is meeting her nutrition requirements, but it would be a huge change in volume if nothing else. Does that matter?

[VirginiaBred]

I wouldn't chance her feed too much at this date, but could the TB Facility feed your regime (or a variation of it) if you provided it? Or is that completely out of the question?

[Laurierace]

I will have to ask them that when I talk to them. I should be able to get them to add the ration balancer if needed and the BOSS but no way they could add the cooked oats. They have a cooker that cooks it all day long at the farm in huge amounts, I can't think if any way to do that for one horse. I don't even think the cooked oats are important except in this case where it would be a big change in the volume of feed she is getting. When I talked to the nutritionist at the feed store about the oats she kind of rolled her eyes and said it is sort of like beer, not a whole lot of nutrition, but they like it. I do think its a good way to get extra water into them in the wintertime. Its served piping hot and sloppy.
Wow this is difficult!

[Home Again Farm]

A lot of people here swear by the Chemetrics test... I haven't used it, so I can't personally provide testimony.

This is the one that I used: http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=2e87c4f0-7b6a-11d5-a192-00b0d0204ae5


I have used both and the Mare Foaling Predictor kit can't compare to Chemetrics, IMHO. I am such a science nerd that the year I started using the Chemetrics test I ran side by side comparisons of the two with my remaining Mare Foaling Predictor tests. That test would have kept me up about 3 extra nights per mare. The Chemetrics test is much more precise. :yes:

[Laurierace]

I have used both and the Mare Foaling Predictor kit can't compare to Chemetrics, IMHO. I am such a science nerd that the year I started using the Chemetrics test I ran side by side comparisons of the two with my remaining Mare Foaling Predictor tests. That test would have kept me up about 3 extra nights per mare. The Chemetrics test is much more precise. :yes:

You know, if that test could get me down to the right week, let alone, the right day, I would be happy. This is a very busy boarding barn with someone in the barn most of the day. That means lots of people popping their head in to see how she is doing throughout the day. That amount of constant activity might just put her off until I get there at night.

[Sugarbrook]

Chemetrics, Chemetrics, Chemetrics!!!!!! I rarely am up more than one night sitting like a silly girl waiting for a foal that is no where near foaling. Teach your mare to have her udder touched ahead of time (you still have time) and do the tests. Makes my life easier and I am happier for it. If you cant check her then as others have said, move her to another facility that is adept at foaling. Good luck.

[Laurierace]

Chemetrics, Chemetrics, Chemetrics!!!!!! I rarely am up more than one night sitting like a silly girl waiting for a foal that is no where near foaling. Teach your mare to have her udder touched ahead of time (you still have time) and do the tests. Makes my life easier and I am happier for it. If you cant check her then as others have said, move her to another facility that is adept at foaling. Good luck.

Oh there is nothing I can't do to this mare. She is actually my first foal herself so we have a long history. When she was at the track I showed off by cooling her out without a shank. She would just match my speed and walk at my shoulder loose wherever I went. The vet can ultrasound her with the mare ground tied so I can stand behind the mare and see the screen too.
I can and have been able to get some fluid out of her teat for months now. I assume I should wait until she gets more of a real bag and not test the fluid that is in there now right?
Even though some of you are saying send her away and some seem to be saying that I can handle it with testing, you have all been very helpful! It gives me food for thought, and something concrete to think about as opposed to just fretting like I have been doing!

[Laurierace]

Well the vet just left. I think we have a workable plan to keep her at home. We weighed the pros and cons of shipping her somewhere this late and it seems like keeping her home is the best thing. The farm owners are going to watch her as always during the day and I will take over at night. The chemitrics kit shipped today so it is on the way, hopefully that will help me avoid too many sleepless nights in the barn.
The foal was jumping around like crazy while we worked on the mare, so she is still alive and kicking in there. She was able to open her caslicks while the mare was ground tied, this mare has a heart of gold.
Thanks to all for your input, hopefully we made the right decision.

[Home Again Farm]

Best of luck to you Laurie. Keep us posted on your girl!