One of the most exciting occurrences in keeping horses is the arrival of a new foal, especially after waiting almost a full year! The average gestation is 335 to 342 days, but mares can vary; a foal that is delivered before 320 days is considered premature, and a pregnancy that lasts more than 360 days is risky. Both may suffer from health problems.
Life on the farm often is put on temporary hold to watch for the impending arrival of the young horse. Mares typically have their foals at night, and will seek a time and place where they feel safe and undisturbed. It is of great importance to be in touch with your veterinarian during your mare’s pregnancy, especially as foaling time nears. If this is a new undertaking, the mare should be examined to determine her condition and whether she might have a high-risk factor.
Alix Vagnone, proprietor of Foxwillow Farm Gaited Horses in Livingston Manor, NY, is in the middle of her farm’s foaling season, with three “on the ground” and a few more ready to go. She’s been breeding and foaling horses since 1994, and typically produces from five to eight new foals each year.
Typically, a mare will exhibit some advance notice signs that she’s about to give birth. Her udder will begin to fill with milk about two to four weeks before foaling, then she will have secretions of small amounts of colostrum from one to four days before labor. However, Alix related that in the 31 years she’s been foaling on her farm, while she’s had horses that follow suit with the above, there are also the “interesting ones” who show none of those signs, often only partially making a milk bag, then showing up with a baby! She said those mares follow a maternal line, and she’s had three generations of mares who caused her many sleepless nights watching and waiting for the arrival of the new foals.
To begin the foaling process, Alix opens up the foaling stalls and uses very high-quality straw with no dust to get into foals’ nasal passages. She prepares a “foaling pack” consisting of two towels, iodine, a good flashlight, an enema (in case it’s needed) and a colostrum supplement that is administered orally to give an “extra boost” and help get them started.
She brings a bucket to sit on and does not interfere with the foaling process unless she has to, stating that it’s a “relatively quick process – by the time you notice a problem (such as a foal presenting in the wrong position) you should be working on it, as the nearest veterinarian is a half-hour’s drive away.”
She uses cameras in the stalls (helpful if there’s no one right there to monitor). After the foal is delivered, she towels it off, adding that a good mother does a good job herself.
“You do need to know your mare. Maiden mares are difficult, they don’t play by the rules and their bodies are not used to the foaling process,” she warned.
As many of them don’t “bag up” completely beforehand, she cautioned that you need to know the exact breeding dates to calculate foaling dates. She’s experienced some maiden mares that foaled three weeks early, and one that lasted 13 months. Thankfully, the mares and foals were healthy. But she finds her mares’ gestation periods average 11 months (plus five to seven days).
During delivery, Alix’s first step is to get the nose and mouth free of mucus to be sure there is no liquid that could be aspirated into the lungs. She often begins this process even before the foal is out.
She stressed that the passage of blood through the umbilical cord from the mare to the foal is important while the foal’s legs are still inside – you don’t want the cord to break too soon. “Some babies don’t want to be inside and they start to struggle, and in that case I gently pull the feet out so as not to break the cord and injure the mare. I worry about Mom, as she’s exhausted, to be sure there’s no tearing, then it’s just a matter of monitoring.”
She lets the umbilical cord tear off naturally. The longer it is attached, the better – usually five to 10 minutes is adequate. Once the cord is broken she immediately dips the tip in iodine. She then administers 10 cc of colostrum from a tube while the umbilical cord dries. She lets the mare get up to lick the baby; if it’s cold they do more toweling off.
She uses the “1-2-3 rule” to time the process: one hour to stand, two to nurse, three to pass the placenta. Most of these usually occur before the allotted time. She’ll watch to be sure the foal urinates (which usually occurs 20 minutes after nursing) and within hours it should pass the meconium. She doesn’t leave the barn before it’s nursed a couple of times and these events happen.
Alix became involved with breeding and foaling as a teenager, having spent time with Marguerite and Henry Illing of Parksville, NY, known for the outstanding Arabian horses at their Twin Brook Farm. Marguerite’s influence was the encouragement Alix needed to start her own breeding program, and she began at age 24 with Arabians, most from the Twin Brook bloodlines.
But Alix incorporated Missouri Fox Trotters into the program, finding more of her customers were very interested in the gaited breed. She has done some experimental side breeding and produced “amazing foals” – gaited like the Fox Trotters, with the beautiful classic shape of the Arabian, including one at her farm that is now three years of age, starting under saddle, who she describes as “very gaited and very beautiful.”
Now concentrating on her Fox Trotters, she expects seven foals this spring, preferring April/early May for foaling, to begin weaning around Labor Day.
