Advice needed

[choo]

My mare is due to foal in April. Do I foal her in or out as had so much different advice lately.

[holiday]

My personal opinion is in, and under camera if at all possible, it gives you access to light should anything go wrong and you need help from a vet, not so easy in the middle of a field to keep an eye on her or deal with a problem at the time.

I am certainly not saying out is wrong and im sure as long as the fencing is foal proof so baby cant roll under and there are no water courses in the way, many mares are foaled outside equally as well, but knowing things can go wrong very quickly and badly I prefer to have the mare close to home and well supervised.

[Guestless]

Depends on how you usually keep her IMO. My mares live out and are happier in the field than they are in a stable, so my foals have all been born in the field (although I have always monitored things). I use a field that is right next to the yard for foaling, so that makes keeping an eye on things fairly straightforward.

[sarahp]

Whatever you feel most comfortable with. Holiday gave all the advantages in foaling in, personally I'm with Guestless and mine all foal out - I strongly believe that you get far fewer problems when they foal out (they all live out). They do use a huge area when foaling, walking around and getting up and down. Mine live out 24/7 anyway, and I do have a small and handy paddock I use for first timers and any that might be funny after foaling - some go VERY feral!

My old vet, a horse breeder himself, always foaled his own out, including TB hack mares, and said if they felt things were going a bit slowly they would get up and have a yomp round the field, hoping it would shake the foal into a better position. I always took this with more than a pinch of salt until once I had a ewe with a very oddly presented lamb that I couldn't cope with myself (and I did most of them) so put it in the back of the LR and drove it to the vets - only to find a perfect two feet and a nose presentation when I got there! Now I'm convinced.

[flj]

I foaled my last one outside, and think i will foal this one out to as she prefers to be out.

[karynk]

I like to foal all the summer foalers out, I have a small purpose built paddock with lighting and if it's warm I'll sleep out with them, if not the caravan or the horse trailer will do. They are much happier and relaxed out and have much more room to reposition if they need to.

I use test strips to make sure I am around if there are problems and the paddock is very near the yard.

My TB is more fertile in early spring so she foals early and has the paddock and a field shelter so she has the choice herself. She chose to give birth in the field shelter last time, (March foal) it was very cold that night and she had baby inside, next morning the weather was bright and dry and she took baby straight out! she hates being in and I would cause real problems if I tried to confine her, out she is happy and relaxed and was eating happily 20 mins before she had her last one!

I use test strips and you can see them picking the right weather to foal as they power the milk up and down and are better forecasters than on telly!!!!

[tigger]

Most of my mares foal in - but they are happy to do so. If they were not comfortable being in then I would let them foal out, but I am lucky I have nice big purpose built foaling boxes at 17'x15' and the biggest mare is only 15.1hh so they have loads of space.
I now have a welsh mare who has always foaled out and I will leave her out to foal. I'm sure she'd hate to be in and it would stress her too much!

Personally I would go with whatever you think your mare will be happiest with but if you are foaling out just be prepared - ie make sure they have a secure safe paddock.

[choo]

Thank you for all advice, the one problem I have is my mare is very attached to my big overpowering Irish Draught stoppy gelding, and being she is a delicate little riding pony I am worried about separating her as she is next door to him in my internal stables, when I have attempted to separate her she will even rear to get over the door to him! She is calm and no problem when near him, but I certainly don't trust him around a foal!. I have a large stable she could go into to foal as this mare doesnt even like being out in a sun shower but hope it wont cause her stress being the stable is not near her internal one.

My little mare has foaled before and foaled out with the previous owner but the foal was very poorley and she lost tremendous weight being it was a chilly April. My fields are well fenced but the one closest to the house does run on a bit of a bank. I'm in a real pickle as what to do

[snobbykate]

Personally if she was mine and couldnt be seperated from the big gelding i would send her away to foal where she can instead bond with other mares preferably her own size.
Hopefully by sending her away it will break the bond she has and she will settle down but i certainly wouldnt want a big gelding in the field with a mare foaling

[mattie01]

hi i had a mare a bit like that and i left her foal out with my old gelding and when she had her foal i got them in as she just wonted to be mum and forgot about my gelding not sure if that will be the same for you but something to think about ? good luck too hope it goes well for you .

[sarahp]

If you do decide to foal her in the big box I'd suggest getting her used to it well before her foaling date.

[holiday]

We had this problem with a mare that came in to foal, she was attached at the hip to her half brother, who was also sent as he wouldnt stay on his own. We separated them to different ends of the yard, she went into a foaling box and he went into a "normal" box out of sight but still within hearing it literally was like a weaning. They got turned out at different times and yes she stressed for a couple of days and drove me to distraction as I was worried about her, but she sorted it settled down and once she had her baby wasnt interested in him in the slightest. Both of these were 16.2hh and big stroppy horses.

I would separate yours sooner rather than later so they have time to settle. Your little girl will be tougher than she looks, although she maybe a fine riding pony type it doesnt make them "break" any easier it is our perspection that they will. It may be worth buying a grill for the door of her stable so there is no chance she can come over the door. We mainly breed ponies and they do usually forget about all other horses when first foaled even their best friends!!! They usually go back to their friends again after babies are a bit stronger!!!

I personally wouldnt think of leaving any gelding out with a mare to foal you really dont know how they will react.

[choo]

Thank you,for all your advice it is much appreciated. I certainly won't be leaving out my big stroppy ID Gelding with her, and I feel the advice given is right when her foal comes she'll be distracted. I'm going to start putting them out separately now and see how we get on! Funny how you get to loners that will only bother with each other, I have 8 at home and neither of these two get on with any of the rest!

[holiday]

When is she due cant wait to see the photos!!! Whats she and whats she in foal to?

[sarah00000]

Chooe - I have 2 pony mares and 2 horses mares - one in foal (Violet).

Youngster Lilly was turned out with Pony charm for 6 months, until Charm got chushings/lami.

I therefore decided to turn Lilly out in the menage with other little pony Mini.

Lilly took one look at poor little Mini and promptly jumped the post and rail fencing and galloped flat out back to her box and Charm...........

These attatchments are very hard to break and the horses can turn very manic, when they think they are being torn apart.

However, I agree with everyone else, once your little foalie is born, your mare will only be interested in her baby and your gelding will be "yesterdays news".

My mare Violet will have her foal in a stable. We have a huge foaling box and she prefers the indoors to outdoors. That is her choice, so we are guided by her.

Good luck with whatever you choose and let us have some piccies! xx

[choo]

Sorry for the delay in answering you Holiday, my mare is Oakley Spring Sybella, by Camargue Tribute out of Oakley Fourteena, she is in foal to a Bladon Section B who is really smart and can move! Her due date is 16th April so I am watching her like a hawk at the moment and x fingers she will be ok. If the weather keeps up like this I will foal her in as it is so cold and windy plus our grass isnt even thinking about growing! I am so nervous I must have read my foaling books hundreds of times. The only time we have had a mare foal at home was a Section D which decided she was having nothing to do with her foal and I ended up feeding him so I hope that doesnt happen!

[bardwellstud]

hi how about putting them next to each other with a grill between them so they can still see one another ?? and you will proberbly find she wont care were he is when she has a foal , would be better than the stress that seperating them will cause her

[choo]

Hi She is in a stall next to him now but her stable isnt really big enough for her to foal in, so I will have to separate them, x fingers it will be fine

[holiday]

Good luck with her oh how exciting!!!! Im still waiting for our first and totally shattered now!!!! She was due on the 5th and doesnt seem to want to do anything at the moment!!!!

[choo]

Thank you holiday, Post some pics once the stork has been!

[choo]

Attempted to put sybella in her foaling box and she has refused, rearing, spinning, screaching you name it she did it all in 10 minutes, but problem is solved as I have put her in the large section of the barn and put the section a in the small section of the barn which is set up as stalls so sybella is happy, not to fussed on our pony next door but much happier in the stall which is really big! My grumpy gelding is in the large foaling box lol and seems to be very happy, so it wasnt the fact she had separation anxiety she has a fear of confined stables! typical!

[Guestless]

Lol - that's why you can never be too fixed with your plans! Glad you found a solution and hope she doesn't keep you waiting too long - although I can understand any mare putting it off during this weather.

[choo]

Yes I would rather her be late as it has gone really cold, and she is a freezer even with a rug on, so now she has no intention of going out being her rug has been packed away!

[holiday]

Im glad you have sorted it and good luck with her, look forward to the new arrival!!!!!!!

[pattendown]

what i do is let them foal outside and as soon as the foals born i will pick it up and put it in the stable for safety and bonding without harrassment from the others

[pencwarreponies]

The broodmare that we have at the moment is recently setting up for her foal (not wanting to be caught) she's not usually like this (due to foal on 14th of April) therefore this occasion I am going to keep her in to handle the foal but all mine usually are out apart from this time as she's being a moody mare in preperation for foaling - which I can't blame her