We are often asked the following questions:

1. What happens when a foal is born?
   
2. I have just bought this mare and had been riding her and had no idea she was in foal. Then I went into the field and there were two of them, what do I do?
   
3. How do I know my mare is in foal? Well! We can?t do an examination over the internet ? you must call your vet.
   
4. The vet has told me this mare I?ve just bought is in foal, what do I do?
   
5. Another is "There was a colt running in with the mare but he was too young." Believe me, a colt running with a mare in season will soon learn.

Wild, moorland and Native ponies, if bought from annual sales, are probably in foal if they are over two years of age. Some native ponies can be very precocious. A mixed group (fillies and colts) of Dartmoor ponies we rescued from the abbatoir were about eighteen months old and three of the mares were in foal.

It is not always obvious that a mare is in foal. Once you know that she is, it is better to be on the safe side and stop riding her.

A simple check by your vet will confirm the mare?s condition. He will also be able to give you idea of when the foal is due.

Mares in foal will need extra supplements added to their diet but no horse's diet should ever be changed suddenly. Add them slowly and increase to the manufacturer's suggested amount a little at a time.

Ideally, mares in foal need watching all the time, their daytime paddock should be where they can be seen throughout the day. When the foal is due and If they are in a stable at night, you need to sit with the horse or check hourly. During birth anything can happen.

Gestation is 340 days (11 months).

Mares usually foal at night but not always.

The stable should have a good thick bed of wheat straw piled up the walls, if the mare is going to have to foal in a field, the field should be safe, no steep slopes, clean pasture, safe fencing, no barbed wire. One of the fields we rented for Summer grazing in Devon was all hill and we could only use it for native ponies. It had previously been used by a girl who bred Arabs! I had nightmares about the mare foaling at the top of the hill and the little foal rolling all the way down to the bottom.

When the foal is due, hay nets should be removed and water buckets at the last minute. We heard of an unexpected foal arriving headfirst into a bucket of freezing water in February! Not the best arrival.

On good stud farms the mare will be watched, either by a night watchman or nowadays by video cameras.

THE BIRTH

One of the first signs are "waxing", that is the udder bagging up and a thick secretion comes from the teats and dries into wax-like blobs but this doesn?t always occur. If it does, it usually means that the foal is due perhaps in the next forty-eight hours. Sometimes you can see that the foal has moved down and the outside shape of the mare has changed. On the rump the muscles feel flacid. This slackening is caused by the hormone relaxin, which softens the tension of the strong pelvic ligaments to ease the foetus through the pelvis.

When the foal is due to arrive the mare usually becomes restless, pulling up her bed. She could break out into a sweat. As the contractions occur she will be restless, biting at her flank, then be calm and eating her hay. Swishing her tail, pawing up the bed, crouching. Laying down, getting up. If you can, it might help to bandage up her tail and swab out the vagina and dock if she is happy for you to do it. The novice should have a vet handy at this point.

When her water breaks she should foal within 20 minutes or the birth canal willl dry out. The bag containing the foal usually slips out with the one or both the foal's forelegs and the nose nicely positioned to dive out. The foal's shoulders are quite wide so nature usually arranges for one shoulder to be in front of the other. You can break the bag but it is advisable that the novice does not cut the umbilical cord without veterinary assistance, it should be tied in a knot first (the blood should have stopped flowing through it before it is broken). If a hind leg is presented then you should certainly call the vet at once.

In an ideal birth, the foal will gently slip out and the afterbirth will follow.

Watch for the afterbirth, you will need to see this come away (retained placenta is dangerous) it can become infected and the mare die. If the foal has arrived without your knowing that she was in foal, it's a good idea to save the placenta and put it in a bucket for the vet to see. So that he can check it has all come away. Any partly retained placenta could cause an infection. Don't worry if the afterbirth is hanging down for a while, never pull it out, leave it to fall away normally, the mare will still be contracting and these contractions will push the afterbirth out. Some people tie it up to avoid the mare treading on it and therefore pulling it away too quickly. It it hasn't come away after four hours, I would call the vet although some people say eight hours is the maximum safety time.

Clean out the bloodied and dirty straw. Keep the area clean and free from infections. Do it quietly and quickly and leave the mare in peace.

The foal will make many attempts to stand and will probably fall over often, hence the need for foals to be born in a safe environment. Both ends of the unbilical cord should be cleaned with an antiseptic wash. Some people will move the foal towards the mare's head so she can wash him.

His hooves will be soft and strange looking; they will soon harden up.

Rarely, mares reject their foals, and there is a very real danger to the foal if the mare becomes aggressive - should this happen, you will have to remove the foal.

The mare will probably have some afterbirth contractions and this is normal but make sure that if the pain is intense, she doesn't roll on her foal. The vet can give an injection if the pain is severe.

THE FOAL AND ITS DAM

We leave our foals in with their mothers for two days before they are led out into the paddock. Some studs will take the dam out for exercise alone on their first days out for a few minutes just to get the edge of their energy. You will need a very safe exercise paddock for this, as she will probably try to get back to the foal. You could hold on to the foal inside the paddock for a while, whilst she she races round and bucks.

Foals need to be halter broken from the first day that they go out, one person leading and another to gently push from behind. Never drag a foal along by his lead rein and NEVER LEAVE HALTERS ON. You've got to get them used to having it put on and taken off and we have been called out too often when foals have got hung up on trees or fences. They can die! Likewise, NEVER LEAVE HEADCOLLARS HANGING ON GATES. Inquisitive foals will put their head through them and hang themselves. Don't use hay nets in the stables once the foal is born. Feed hay on the floor or in a proper hayrack. Remove handles from water buckets. If you haven't had a foal before you will be amazed at what they can get up to!

ORPHANED FOALS

The foal needs to drink within a few hours of being born and needs colostrum (the first milk from the mare for its laxative and purifying properties). If a mare rejects her foal you can draw this first milk off by hand. I have been told that you can use frozen goat's colostrum which some goat breeders keep, but I've never had to do that. If the mare should die, foals can be successfully handreared but a substitute mother is best and the Mare and Foal Bank (THEY KEEP A LIST OF MARES WHOSE FOALS HAVE DIED AND VICE VERSA) should be contacted. If you cannot find a substitute dam then there are many powdered milk supplements. Never use Cow's milk, it is far too fatty. Goat's milk is all right but diluted, say one part goat's milk, two parts's boiled water and two tablespoons of glucose to start with. Feed at blood heat (i.e. drop on your wrist will not be felt) Initially you will need to feed every two hours. Here on Dartmoor, people who often have to rear foals actually feed them from a bucket like calves but it is better to feed with a bottle as they feed too fast from a bucket. When you have ten foals to hand rear, the bucket is often the only way you can cope.

However you feed, everything must be scrupiously clean and sterilised. Buckets bottles, teats etc. We use Milton to sterilise exactly the same as you would for a human baby.

If a foal should scour then put him on boiled water and glucose only, at blood heat, but you need to call the vet.

We are not vets, they are the best people to help you when you find you have a mare in foal. These notes are only meant to help those with a limited experience of foaling.