Baby Basics for Horses-What You Should Expect of your Birthing Horse

Helping your mare bring new life can be one of the most exciting yet stressful moments of your life. With so much time and money invested, not to mention the great emotional investment, it can be wonderful yet stressful to help your mare deliver a young and healthy foal. Here are some baby basics for helping your mare birth a new life.

You should strive to learn everything you can about parturition before it takes place. Some mares make it very obvious that they are ready to give birth, while others may simply lie down with no other indication. How can you tell that your mare is ready to give birth? The first real indication of parturition involves the distension of the udder that first appeared two to six weeks before giving birth. The second indicator should become obvious around seven to ten days before birthing. This happens when the shrinking muscles in the hindquarters become evident and the ligaments and pelvic muscles begin to relax. Roughly four to six days before giving birth, the nipples will fill with milk. You may notice a waxy secretion on the nipple that will stay until roughly 24 hours before birthing. The waxy secretion will fall off and the milk will be allowed to drip when the mare gives birth.

In the first stage of birth, the mare may appear restless and nervous, constantly getting up and lie down. You may notice the following signs: sweating, switching her tail, frequent urination and mild signs of colic. This stage takes about two to three hours until the uterine contractions begin. Stage two is characterized by the ejection of up to five gallons of chorioallantoic fluid, such as when her water breaks. This first stage tends to begin at night.

The second stage of birth is technically known as activation. In this stage, uterine contractions will increase and the cervix will become dilated. You may notice that the mare lies down and gets up several times. The feet of the foal will come out, the bottoms of its hooves facing down with the nose just behind them. This activation stage usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes.

The expulsion of the foal comes next. This is stage is when the mare lies down and begins her labor. An increase in uterine contractions will push out the foal in roughly 15 minutes. In most cases, the mare will lie down, allowing herself about ten minutes of rest. Meanwhile, the foal will orient itself to its new surroundings. If the umbilical cord does not break immediately following birth, the chord will probably break off when the foal stands up for the first time. The stump should be treated with a solution of iodine after the chord breaks off.

The last stage of parturition involves the ejection of the membranes. During this period, the mare can very well experience abdominal pains. These will be similar to symptoms of colic. This final stage normally happens within 15 to 60 minutes. Contact your veterinarian immediately if the placenta has not been passed after six hours. The placenta must be passed; otherwise it can cause serious problems including infertility, laminitis and metritis.

Fortunately, most mares do not have exceptional difficulty during parturition and develop dystocia. Allow your mare plenty of privacy during this period, but do keep an eye on progress carefully. Your mare does not need you in the stall coaching her, but you should definitely watch the process through a window or by using a monitor. The parturition process most commonly begins at night, with special delivery occurring normally in the early morning. The process can occur fairly quickly. Problems are most likely to occur during stage two, also known as the activation stage. Whatever you do, never rush a mare into delivery. Keep your vet in close contact in case anything should go wrong.

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