Peace of Cake
Apr. 29, 2008, 02:42 PM
Over the weekend one of our QH mares foaled a nice colt. She was outside in a small paddock with a donkey. I had run up to the feed store and wasn't gone more than 2 hrs. She had no wax that morning and wasn't showing any other signs she was ready, however she was 11 days over due.
So this mare decides to foal while I am gone. I come home, open up the back door of the barn looking into the pasture, and see a foal laying on the ground with one of my geldings watching over him. I was stumped at first. The foal was in the wrong pasture for one. And I thought he was dead, but when I ran up to him he blinked. Obviously dehydrated and wounded, I picked him up and carried him over to the mares pasture. The gelding followed me and was in my face nickering to the colt the whole time to make sure he was ok. I set the colt down in the pasture, and notice the mare has the placenta still in her. I go over to grab her and ears pinned and teeth bared she went to attack the colt. So I pick up the colt again and run him in the barn to a stall. He is obviously hurt and in need of some attention quickly, and now I realize what has happened. Upon further inspection, it seems the mare may have grabbed the colt by the neck and flung him out of the pasture.
I stay with the colt in the stall, call the MO to get out and call the vet asap. She arrives very quickly, and I let her watch the colt while I go grab the mare. Come to find out the mare thinks the donkey is her foal! :confused: So I catch the mare and bring her in (w/out the donkey) and put her on crossties in front of the stall. She sees her foal and immediately realizes that this is her colt and wants to see him. So we pick him up, get him on his feet and let him nurse. The mare is totally ok at this point.
The vet arrives, the foal has an injured front leg, not broken but maybe a tendon. His neck wounds are pretty severe, and he is immediately started on antibiotics. Otherwise he is nursing well. By that evening he can manage to get up on his own and nurse, even on 3 legs. We keep a close watch on him all night.
The following day he was doing much better until late afternoon. He took a turn for the worst. He would no longer get up, and stopped eating. The vet is called again and he is out quickly. We run IV fluids to him, which seem to help. About 2 hrs after the vet left it just doesn't look good at all. The colt started thrashing, and we knew he was dying so we gave him some banamine and ace to quiet him. He was kicking at his head with his front legs, so we think maybe there was some head trauma. He passed before the vet could arrive back out to put him down. He went very quietly.
The mare is ok, the placenta was removed with no issues. She was a fine mother AFTER the whole attack. She allowed us to be in her stall and she kept a close eye on the colt. She allowed us to milk her when the colt could no longer get up on his own to do so. She saw the donkey the next day and went nuts to try to get to him. I refuse to put her with him at this point, and probably never again. I think she realizes that her colt is dead now. But has anyone ever heard of this? I have heard of mares rejecting their foals, but never have I heard a mare get confused about which one is her foal. She was a maiden, and at this time I really don't think I want to rebreed her. She is a very nice cutting bred mare, with a good show career.
So this mare decides to foal while I am gone. I come home, open up the back door of the barn looking into the pasture, and see a foal laying on the ground with one of my geldings watching over him. I was stumped at first. The foal was in the wrong pasture for one. And I thought he was dead, but when I ran up to him he blinked. Obviously dehydrated and wounded, I picked him up and carried him over to the mares pasture. The gelding followed me and was in my face nickering to the colt the whole time to make sure he was ok. I set the colt down in the pasture, and notice the mare has the placenta still in her. I go over to grab her and ears pinned and teeth bared she went to attack the colt. So I pick up the colt again and run him in the barn to a stall. He is obviously hurt and in need of some attention quickly, and now I realize what has happened. Upon further inspection, it seems the mare may have grabbed the colt by the neck and flung him out of the pasture.
I stay with the colt in the stall, call the MO to get out and call the vet asap. She arrives very quickly, and I let her watch the colt while I go grab the mare. Come to find out the mare thinks the donkey is her foal! :confused: So I catch the mare and bring her in (w/out the donkey) and put her on crossties in front of the stall. She sees her foal and immediately realizes that this is her colt and wants to see him. So we pick him up, get him on his feet and let him nurse. The mare is totally ok at this point.
The vet arrives, the foal has an injured front leg, not broken but maybe a tendon. His neck wounds are pretty severe, and he is immediately started on antibiotics. Otherwise he is nursing well. By that evening he can manage to get up on his own and nurse, even on 3 legs. We keep a close watch on him all night.
The following day he was doing much better until late afternoon. He took a turn for the worst. He would no longer get up, and stopped eating. The vet is called again and he is out quickly. We run IV fluids to him, which seem to help. About 2 hrs after the vet left it just doesn't look good at all. The colt started thrashing, and we knew he was dying so we gave him some banamine and ace to quiet him. He was kicking at his head with his front legs, so we think maybe there was some head trauma. He passed before the vet could arrive back out to put him down. He went very quietly.
The mare is ok, the placenta was removed with no issues. She was a fine mother AFTER the whole attack. She allowed us to be in her stall and she kept a close eye on the colt. She allowed us to milk her when the colt could no longer get up on his own to do so. She saw the donkey the next day and went nuts to try to get to him. I refuse to put her with him at this point, and probably never again. I think she realizes that her colt is dead now. But has anyone ever heard of this? I have heard of mares rejecting their foals, but never have I heard a mare get confused about which one is her foal. She was a maiden, and at this time I really don't think I want to rebreed her. She is a very nice cutting bred mare, with a good show career.