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I swear our mare is trying to drive
us nuts. She is a 10-year-old Connemara that we have had since she was
four. She is due to have a foal--actually, overdue. She has all the
signs, and each night for the last week, just about dusk, she looked
like she was starting to go into labor. As soon as we went out to put
her in the barn she went back to normal. We stayed up with her every
night for a week. She did the same thing with her first two foals. It
went on for more than a week each time.
Finally, we decided to just leave her out with the gelding and not stay
up all night with her. That night she did the same thing in the evening,
looking like she was going into labor. But we just left her out in the
pasture and went to bed. Next morning, bingo, there was a foal running
around, too frisky to catch. So, we have never seen her give birth. We
have never even used our foaling stall. Thank goodness everything was
all right.
This is my question--why does she do
this? Could it be that she just likes it better outside, and maybe we
should just let her go and take our chances?
Marianna, Alabama
It's very difficult to
know for sure what's going on with your mare, and the many others like
her, but you're certainly not alone in these observations. It sounds
like your horses spend most of their time outside, and only come in when
you feel it is necessary. It's easy to imagine that most mares would
feel less secure in the relatively unfamiliar stall, away from the usual
pasture companions, than out in their pasture with their usual social
group and surroundings. Outside it is normally dark, and inside there
are lights. If it is reasonable weather, pasture usually has better
footing than many stalls, so it is easy to get up and down. Outside
there is also plenty of room to stretch out and push.
I don't think mares
consciously weigh all these issues, but many breeding farm managers and
veterinarians believe this phenomenon of apparently delayed parturition
when we move them and watch them is likely a simple automatic stress
response. If everything is not just right and as usual, then parturition
can be physiologically delayed by the mare.
Another possible
explanation is that in horses, like in many mammals, there can be daily
spells of minor contractions for many days leading up to real labor. So
maybe your mare is fairly uncomfortable during these preliminary daily
contractions, and for many days you interpreted that as going into
labor. Then just by coincidence, on the nights you left her out for her
first two foals, it happened to be her night for real first stage labor.
Your veterinarian can help
you consider all the benefits and possible disadvantages of allowing
this particular mare to just stay out and foal at pasture without close
watch.
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