Fescue and pregnancy

[cng]

Start looking for a new vet. The one you have is an idiot. She'll have the foal when she gets ready.

[spex4me]

lol, actually the only fault I can find with my vet is that he is a conservative!
He really is excellent all the way around and equine reproduction is his specialty, but we are in an area of trail and show horses so he hasn't had scores of opportunities to run wild with it. Plus he has TB sport broodies personally and produces some high quality high dollar well cared for specimens with those. Not to mention he knows mine are not just horses, they are family members, and I always go with better safe than sorry in any situation I am unfamiliar with. This foal has meant the world to me even before it's actual conception and he knows it, so I know he does not want to get into a situation of , damn maybe I should have done this.....

But update on my Biddy. She started developing a slight udder 4 days ago, so we will see when she decides it's time. She is still into eating and running/bucking like a mad woman so I not feeling like its gonna be any day soon. Though I was wondering if she would foal on the birth date of the filly I lost the 26th.... though I thought I was aiming for a Pisces foal in the onset lol!
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Pick a side already!

[griff]

what is the green stuff she is grazing in the pictures ???

If it's fescue get her off it ASAP.

With cows the amunt of fescue is important; with horses it's a digital thing.. Yes the horses is expsed to fescue or no the horse is not exposed to fescue.

And, she's not really getting that much feed from that limited amount of green..

griff

[spex4me]

Actually that is struggling bermuda grass in my yard. I let her and her buddy wander around for 2 hours a day picking at it but they mostly stay on the hay that is also set out. This morning is the first day she has been super restless and kicking out every once in a while. The little bugger is pretty darn active in there today. She was trying to eat her alfalfa in her stall but got too irritated and decided to head out and stand in the so called snow that is coming down now. Her bag has also doubled in size from yesterday, but no waxing. Tail muscles no different relaxation wise and she surely does not look like she would be able to push a volleyball out yet let alone a foal.....so we'll see.

[griff]

let us know when she drops her foal..

Will it be a VABRED or are you going to foal her in WV or PA?

griff

[griff]

let us know when she drops her foal..

Will it be a VABRED or are you going to foal her in WV or PA?

griff

[freshman]

If you're very worried, just plan on having your vet come out to check the foal within a few hours after birth and do a snap test to make sure IgG concentration is within normal range. If it isn't adequate, or even if it just makes you feel better, then they can run a liter of plasma, wait, then check levels again to ensure immunity. If not producing enough milk to feed the foal, then it the mare with domperidone right away.

[spex4me]

Well shes delighting in making everyone pull their hair out and scratch their heads. We even went back and double checked last cover dates which were even backed up by the text messages I saved about her ultrasound checks and her being confirmed in foal lol.
She is definitely sticking to her own timetable. On the 27th of March baby was rambunctious in there and that was the only day she showed much agitation. But she also began developing her udder which is flacid no more!! She will rival my friends Holstein cows in the udder department ! So now it is wait and see..... and wait and wait and wait according to her.
So very glad I did not waste the domperidone. She was nowhere near ready, and has shown no problems with milk production with this foal. But none the less my vet knows he's going to get drug out no matter what!
I plan on (go ahead and laugh) foaling her here so Envious Bid (now watch me not get the darn name) will be a WV Sired VA Bred. I am hoping maybe one day VA gets it's head out of it's butt and really supports racing again. I also would like to get DE certified. PA has a great program but honestly I really have NO plans what so ever to breed her again no matter how nice the foal and I just loved the match of the sire with her physically and on paper best, even if he's not a hot commodity. But I'm putting my faith in the blood mixing the way I envision it . Even if it can't run a lick should be a handsome devil who will have all sorts of options for a useful and happy life.
Now back to waiting........DAY 364!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shannon]

I **think** you can reserve names at the JC...
You may want to do that now that you have broadcasted your intent!

[madelyn]

You can reserve names, but it costs.

[griff]

this must be day 373.. has she dropped that foall yet?/

griff

[spex4me]

No and I am pulling my freaking hair out waiting. She's just got the yellow sticky liquid when I ,ugh, milk her. Slow changes as far as tail muscle relaxation and elongation of her vulva. (I have so many pictures of her girlie parts over these days she thinks she a Playhorse pinup) I swear I am tired of reading about doom and gloom with late carrying mares. Everything from the foal dies in-utero to they all come out small with some kind of affliction like hyperthyroidism. Well baby is rolling around in there every day so he's alive and kicking. Kind of grossed me out the first time looked like she had a basketball rolling against her flanks, but then it becomes kind of cool.
Lots of theories here from the cover date is incorrect (4/5/10) according to stud farm, to her coming back after 2 1/2 months there having lost weight while becoming pregnant. She loves home and she did not come back looking as good as when she left, but I attributed that to her nervous nelly nature when out of her comfort zone. Apparently there is a phenomena that occurs when baby is skimped out of proper nutrition that nature steps in and prolongs gestation to assure it gets back up to speed. So hopefully she is not going to make up for 2 months of weight loss in the beginning. But at 5 months she was definitely easy to spot as being pregnant so I'm scratching my head on this one. As I said before nothing is ever easy and text book for me. If the odds are 1000 to 1, I will hit it, well unless it involves a lottery ticket then it's the norm of nothing!!
So yes I am still waiting and she seems to content to keep chowing down and bat her white little eye lashes as me as if this brings her great pleasure!!!! If it's a tax day baby he becomes Bid's Zealous Taxman lol!! Has anyone else had anything like this happen?? And please say the foal was fine......

[griff]

hat does your Vet say???

griff

[spex4me]

He thinks that some way some how the cover date is incorrect. But like I said before they sent me the first ultra sound pics so if that's not Biddy's baby on my phone then whose is it??? My vet says she is completely healthy and seemingly not unlike any other broodmare about to foal. Never has had a bad day, actually has been way more active than I would like to see her with that humongous tick belly she's sporting but ...... I would suppose she knows her body. The only thing I can figure is this mare cooks them long. Her maiden voyage was over 350 and the filly was a monster. So I just wait and wait and wait. Vet believes Monday is the day due to the progression of the signs she's exhibiting so we will see. I contacted stud farm and they stick by cover date and told me that for the most part they have a quite a few running late too. So who knows.
Day 373:

[Shannon]

One thing about the cover date...just because the cover date says one thing, the actual fertilization and implantation may have taken longer than the norm. Cover dates can actually be way off from actual conception dates, and there for pushing delivery dates back also . I think AAEP had a paper on it about 6 years ago, and Colorado State University had something about it also when I was taking my repro course. I have personally had the experience more than once, we had a mare U/S, and she looked open, no pregnancy visible, but didn't come into heat when she should have. SO we U/S her again about a week later, still nothing there, but still no heat, and no follicle development of any worth. As she was a mare who was an absolute sleaze when she was in season, and several days prior to actually showing she would get very docile and clingy towards ANYTHING with a heartbeat (even the cows over the fence she'd get all doe eyed over, it was actually kinda rude), we refused to give her a shot. U/S her AGAIN a week later, and there it was, pretty little baby! But was substantially smaller than expected for her last cover date. When the vet measured it, it was almost 15 days developmentally behind where it should have been post cover, and the vet confirmed that she may have been the last case scenario; ovulated at the very end of her cycle, or even a day after she quit showing (QH so we did all AI, didn't have to cover on U/S or palpation, so we bred her EOD even though she wasn't showing as strongly the last breeding day), the semen remained viable for longer than usual (always used an extender so quite possible there were viable sperm after 3 or 4 days post AI), and the fertilization occurred high in the tubes, so took longer to travel into the uterus and implant.
SO, for your mare, even though the last cover date may be correct, the stallion may have been exceptionally fertile, with solid swimmers, she may have ovulated late, and fertilized late, and implanted late, which COULD put her due date back by 2 weeks.