Animals

animals The clippety clop of little hooves

OKAY, now you have the long-awaited foal! This is always so exciting. Even the other horses love to see a new foal.

Most often you will come out and your colt or filly foal will already be up and drinking from the mare, working out how to use those long legs. There are a few things that you can do and should check once your foal has arrived. Is the mouth formed properly? Is the foal breathing normally? It’s a good idea to dab some iodine on and around the umbilical cord, and see that it is closed and clean. It is good to observe the mare and foal for the first few hours but try to let the mare and foal bond. If it’s the mare’s first foal, you may have to hold the mare while the foal works out where the udder is and latches on for its first drink. Make sure that the mare accepts her foal. A few squeals and confusion is normal. Be very careful with your mare for the first few days as mares can be very protective of their new foals. Only 5% of foals have problems but when there is a problem, the quicker that this can be taken care of the better, as a newborn foal can go downhill very quickly! The first 24hrs are critical to a foal’s survival and the longer you leave it, the more you reduce how the vet can help the foal.

There are five particularly important things to watch.

1) It is critical that the foal gets colostrum within the first 12 hours of birth, as it will only be absorbed by the foal at this time.

The colostrum contains the antibodies that the foal needs to survive in the outside world, so it is at risk of any kind of infection even up to a month later, if it doesn’t get those antibodies.

If for some reason your foal is not up and drinking from the mare, you should milk the mare and keep the first milk /colostrum so that your vet can drench the foal with it. You do not want this to flow onto the ground as Colostrum is considered liquid gold in the horse breeding world. Keep it in a clean sealed bag or container in the fridge or alternatively, it will even last 12mnth in the freezer.

Colostrum is only available for the first 12-24 hours from foaling, and after this, it will be straight milk.

Between 12 and 24hrs, an IGG test can be taken. This is a great way to see if indeed the foal has received enough immunoglobulins from the colostrum.

If your foal fails this test, it means your foal does not have the necessary antibodies for protection from bacterial infections and plasma will be needed.

This is something your vet will be able to help you with.

2)Your foal should drink 5-7 times an hour so they have small frequent feeds and will put on 0.5 – 1.5kgs a day! You should make sure that there is no milk coming from the nasal passage while the foal is feeding as this could mean a malformation of the pallet.

3) The next thing to look out for with your foal is that the meconium has passed. This should be passed within the first 3 - 4 hrs after birth and after feeding from the mare.

This is usually a dark green, brown or black tarlike substance. Failure to pass the meconium results in significant abdominal pain to the foal. 1.5% of foals are affected by meconium impactions with colt foals more likely to have an impaction than a filly. If you notice the foal straining to pass the meconium, an enema should be given to the foal within the first 6 -12 hours. The foal should then be monitored for the next 24–36 hours to make sure all the meconium has passed and yellow milk stools are now passing through. Again, the colostrum is valuable, acting as a laxative to get the foal passing properly.

At the age of 7 – 10 days, you might notice that your foal is quite loose in its bowel movements. This is normal for a couple of days. However if this changes to diarrhoea, you will need to call your vet for assistance as your foal can dehydrate very quickly and will need treatment!

4) Urination is the next important thing to look out for. This usually occurs after 6 – 8hrs of life for a filly and 8 – 10hrs for a colt. If this does not happen in this time, call your vet as this is an indication that there may be an internal problem. You should also take note that there is no urine coming from the umbilical area.

5) Make sure that your foal is alert and active! If it is slow and seems a little dopey, it may be a bit premature or born too fast and can be what’s called a dummy foal.

Call your vet for assistance. It is normal for larger foals to be a bit lax in the fetlocks and these will tighten up in the first week or so.

However if the foal’s legs are stopping them from being able to stand and feed, you should ask your vet for assistance as some splints and wraps may be needed while the tendons adjust.

Last but not least, enjoy watching your new foal grow and play!!