advice please!!

[jackpot]

:)my friend has a mare that is supposed to be due on the 16th of june, unfortunately she went very lame in front a couple of months ago and had to have xrays, they found that she has such bad arthritis in her knees that the bones are rubbing and chipping away, so she will have to be put to sleep once the foal is weaned, so she is very stiff in front, but alongside this on saturday she was making involuntary twitches with her back legs just standing in the field (she isnt moving much at all) but you could see the foal looked like it was practising karateand everytime the foal made a violent movement she would pick one of her back legs up like a stringhalt movement, this is still going on now she isnt walking around hardly at all but when she does (only to get water) she walks like she has stringhalt with both back legs. My initial thought was that baby was sat on some sort of nerve, but shouldnt it have moved by now she is sooooooo uncomfortable she has already bagged up and changed shape over the last few days do you think the dates are wrong and foaling is imminent? or is it just one of those things and she is going to have to put up with it till june?

[holiday]

I would personally check the dates with the stallion owner first as if the last covering was 16th June rather than date due she could well be in the realms of foaling.

If she isnt and she is bagging up, waxing milking then she needs the vet out as she could have an infection in the placenta and would need urgent treatment to help keep the foal.

The baby could well be sat somewhere uncomfortable and could move at any time theres not much you can do about that if it is!!!!!

[sarahp]

Either way I'm sure the mare will be much more comfortable once she has foaled. Was she covered on two consecutive seasons while at stud? If so it's possible that she held to the first season, some of them will appear to be in season again, be covered but hold to the season before's covering. I should at least talk to your vet for his/her advice today though, if she is genuinely due on June 16th and foaling now it would be a very early foal.