Post by duhorse on Apr 21, 2007 20:41:38 GMT -5
Okay, maybe this is a bad trend to start but I guess if it is then it will be in the rules on posting soon enough:) I unfortunately have no way to put my barn cam online, but I do have a cam so I can see my beauty from my bed! Now for some background so I can share my frustration with you all!
Reasonable Rita aka Cady, is my 10 yr old dark brown OTT Thoroughbred mare. Pedigree at www.pedigreequery.com/reasonable+rita
When I bought her 2 years ago she was in foal with her first and had a beautiful appendix colt for me, who I still have:) The first foaling was textbook which is amazing for a maiden. Developed an udder starting 5 weeks before...never had wax or had distended teats until after but still fairly normal. She foaled at 343 days exactly since she had been AI'd only once.
This year she is finally in foal to a baby that has been 4 years in the planning for me. I had to search for the perfect mare to breed to a wonderful stallion that I knew, then when I found her she did not take the first year (to worried about her foal to think of boys) and then she did catch last year in May. After being confirmed in foal, the stallion, beautiful 17hh black and white overo 1/2 Percheron 1/2 paint, had to be put down after he was struck by lightning. So there were a lot of hopes riding on this baby not just by me but by the owner of the stallion as well since he was a young stallion and only had a handful of foals on the ground. Then since my husband is in Iraq, I have also stupidly been looking forward to this baby getting me through the last long months until he finally comes home for good. Such huge hopes for a foal not even born yet!!
Anyways to get on with this novel I am writing, at about 300 days, she suddenly did not look in foal anymore. She looked as fit as she did coming off the track, all tucked up. I was so disappointed and heartbroken. I scoured the pastures looking for anything, and I had never seen any signs of a miscarriage. The vet could not make it out to check her for 2 weeks, so I just waited in agony of the unknown. When it came time for the vet to come out I canceled since I was finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that I would have no foal from this cross. (I have a foal from the stallion who is 2 this year by my paint mare).
I fed Cady in the morning, and she still looked tucked up and had no bag whatsoever. By the time I fed her that evening, she still had no bag but BHAM! There was a pregnant abdomen back where one had not been! This was about day 315. So I counted the seconds that passed between now and then, still trying not to get too excited but concern growing after all the problems I have seen mares having on marestare.
It is now 337 days, and only the slightest bag to speak of...the same as it had been since this ordeal started. The fluid from her teats is just cloudy white...no different than some mares that are not bred and produce fluid. She is loosening in the back but no relaxation in her "woo hoo" as I have heard some others refer to it as:) (not sure if we are supposed to use the correct term) and her belly really has not dropped per say. She has really filled out in her flanks...they are bulging, so I am wondering if she will V her belly at all before she foals. Okay I think I have rattled on long enough. I am just looking forward to sharing this with others since I have nobody to share this with, other than my hubby who is 6000 miles away!
Good luck reading the novel...I should have put chapters on it!!! I will post pics when I figure out how
I will also put a video of the foaling online if I manage to get good footage of the birth.
Reasonable Rita aka Cady, is my 10 yr old dark brown OTT Thoroughbred mare. Pedigree at www.pedigreequery.com/reasonable+rita
When I bought her 2 years ago she was in foal with her first and had a beautiful appendix colt for me, who I still have:) The first foaling was textbook which is amazing for a maiden. Developed an udder starting 5 weeks before...never had wax or had distended teats until after but still fairly normal. She foaled at 343 days exactly since she had been AI'd only once.
This year she is finally in foal to a baby that has been 4 years in the planning for me. I had to search for the perfect mare to breed to a wonderful stallion that I knew, then when I found her she did not take the first year (to worried about her foal to think of boys) and then she did catch last year in May. After being confirmed in foal, the stallion, beautiful 17hh black and white overo 1/2 Percheron 1/2 paint, had to be put down after he was struck by lightning. So there were a lot of hopes riding on this baby not just by me but by the owner of the stallion as well since he was a young stallion and only had a handful of foals on the ground. Then since my husband is in Iraq, I have also stupidly been looking forward to this baby getting me through the last long months until he finally comes home for good. Such huge hopes for a foal not even born yet!!
Anyways to get on with this novel I am writing, at about 300 days, she suddenly did not look in foal anymore. She looked as fit as she did coming off the track, all tucked up. I was so disappointed and heartbroken. I scoured the pastures looking for anything, and I had never seen any signs of a miscarriage. The vet could not make it out to check her for 2 weeks, so I just waited in agony of the unknown. When it came time for the vet to come out I canceled since I was finally beginning to come to terms with the fact that I would have no foal from this cross. (I have a foal from the stallion who is 2 this year by my paint mare).
I fed Cady in the morning, and she still looked tucked up and had no bag whatsoever. By the time I fed her that evening, she still had no bag but BHAM! There was a pregnant abdomen back where one had not been! This was about day 315. So I counted the seconds that passed between now and then, still trying not to get too excited but concern growing after all the problems I have seen mares having on marestare.
It is now 337 days, and only the slightest bag to speak of...the same as it had been since this ordeal started. The fluid from her teats is just cloudy white...no different than some mares that are not bred and produce fluid. She is loosening in the back but no relaxation in her "woo hoo" as I have heard some others refer to it as:) (not sure if we are supposed to use the correct term) and her belly really has not dropped per say. She has really filled out in her flanks...they are bulging, so I am wondering if she will V her belly at all before she foals. Okay I think I have rattled on long enough. I am just looking forward to sharing this with others since I have nobody to share this with, other than my hubby who is 6000 miles away!
Good luck reading the novel...I should have put chapters on it!!! I will post pics when I figure out how
I will also put a video of the foaling online if I manage to get good footage of the birth.
Don't get me wrong, I would love for her to pop that baby out any second, but it would be tons of fun to test out these strips, and she is the only mare I have this year so what else will I do with the strips...test my water lol!