Washed Waxed and Ready to Go

Copy's due date is tomorrow, and this morning we have wax. Mom is betting on tonight and has notified the vets.
I'll go and give her a good grooming today and we will see how she is progressing.

P.S. Thank heavens I've never had my own children. I'm already nervous.
Will everything go OK? Will the foal be healthy? Will we manage to raise it as a good citizen to adulthood through all it's formative years? Training it to stop for fences, lead and tie, stand for the farrier load and haul quietly....
Well, we have two full grown happy well adjusted horses standing in the barn to prove all can go well. And they are just the two latest examples of our many foals who turned out just fine. I remember the first foaling I watched. I was about 11 or 12 and it was my Mom's Quarter Horse mare. That foal was "Noble" the first horse I ever trained to ride. He went on to win many many blue ribbons, and that was so long ago he has since lived a productive life and died peacefully from old age. Obviously, this stuff doesn't get easier with practice!

Baby Watch Begins

Copy has bagged up and could be mere days away from foaling... or this could stretch on indefinitely. You just never know. I can say she is as anxious to get this baby out as we are. The foal has repositioned so the legs are no longer on her right flank, but appear to be where the currently belong ~ underneath. Now when the foal moves, the whole packaged goes "boingggg" or more accurately "bonnngggg" causing Copy to grunt and brace.
We had a spa day on Saturday. I cleaned her up and gave her a trim partly in anticipation of her upcoming photo ops, and partly because I suspect that the foal will interrupt our grooming routine.
The foaling kit is mostly assembled. I've checked the stall from foal height to make sure there is nothing obvious to get hurt on. Mom has begun to bed her with straw. Daily hand walking has solved the edema problem. I think we're good to go.

The wait begins...

The vet was here earlier this week to open Copy back up since she was sutured closed at conception to prevent infections. We have switched her to a Mare and Foal grain which will give her more of the necessary nutrients, and started her on a supplement recommended by our vet. She has not been exercising herself well enough and is showing some edema in her chest and legs, so since the weather has been nice, my mother has been handwalking her each day in addition to her daily turn out.

We are now exactly 3 weeks away from the projected due date.

Your life in pictures

I have been wanting a digital video camera for sometime. I finally decided ithat if I did not record this foal from it's first hours of life onward, I would regret it later, so I bit the bullet and ordered a new video camera.

JVC Everio GZ-MG330 30 GB Hard Disk Drive Camcorder with 35x Optical Zoom


I have also gotten a terriffic idea... I searched the web for a horse baby book... remember when your mother kept those locks of hair, and hospital footprints? I can't find anything like that for horses. I can't believe it. So, I am going to get a scrap book, and start one for this baby. I'll bet there is a market for that.

Foaling Kit

• I have been studying various sources for ideas about what I need for a foaling kit. Here is what I have so far:
  
  Gauze bandages for tails
• Total Foal Care Paste for newborns
• Towels
• Working flashlight
• Thermometer- (and Vaseline)
• Baling twine for tying up placenta
• Plastic pail with lid for placenta
• Baby bottle
• Plastic measuring cup for milking into and then put milk in bottle
• Iodine
• Container to dip the umbilical in
  Sheet cotton or cotton wool
• Another plastic pail for warm water
  Gloves- regular latex and long plastic palpation sleeves
• Enemas-Make sure the 2nd enema is mineral oil and water, not another greenbox/chemical one.
• Probiotic paste and biosponge paste
• Ivermectin dewormer for mare
• Various syringes and needles
• Banamine paste and injectable.
• Oxytocin
• Scissors
• Packed into a plastic box which sits outside mares stall
• Watch or clock to note when water breaks and when baby is born !!
• Camera
• Cell Phone with vets numbers
• Trailer hooked up and ready to roll in an emergency
• Foal Blanket
• Foal Halter
  
  I have read about half of Blessed are the Broodmares to brush up on my foaling knowledge.