Premature foals and Joint Ill

One year we had a premature foal. She was about 5 weeks early. Friesians are known for having their foals 2 weeks early but 5 weeks was very scary. The mare was healthy, there were no indications that the birth was complicated or that it was going to need to be early. But the foal came early.

We want to share our situation and some of the information that we found when we started trying to help our premature foal.

We noticed that the first day she spent most of the time on the ground “pushing” herself in circles. She was obviously very small but her behavior was very “fetal” she was moving around on the ground as if she was still in her mom. She was clearly mentally/behaviorally not ready to be born. With her not getting up we were giving colostrums and feeding her. It’s good that we didn’t force her getting up because we found out later that there was a HUGE chance that her joints were not ready for her to get up. There was a case where a foal was born early and they had to actually keep the foal strapped down so that he didn’t crush his joints that were all cartilage. Her x-rays came out healthy at a week and her follow up x-rays were very healthy so we got lucky. But now that we know more about the premature foals joints we thought that it was important to share so that you can prevent lifelong damage to the foals joints.

We also noticed that her skin was like tissue paper. It was delicate and would snag on everything. It was so sensitive that even the straw bedding was tearing her skin. She got open sours on all her joints. We dressed her in a spandex jacket and wrapped her fetlocks to protect her but even the skin around her eyes was very delicate. She was put on several antibiotics to protect her from infection but she was falling apart with every move. This situation can commonly be called Joint Ill. It’s an infection that affects foals and appears in the joints. She developed a bladder infection despite all the antibiotics. The signs of this was that the foal was peeing out her umbilical cord. She got special iodine treatments to her umbilical cord to treat this infection. She was under attack from the world.

Giving her colostrums orally and from her mom was not doing her much good. Her intestines were too premature to actually absorb the colostrums. We tested her levels and they were very low. She needed a plasma transfusion. The coolest thing happened after the transfusion. Within 2 hours of the transfusion her skin started reattaching to her body. The tissue paper affect stopped and healing started right before our eyes.

After seeing the greatest healing power of the transfusion we now have a post birth procedure in place for any foal. We get a snap test to test the IgG levels (colostrums in the blood) on any foal. If they are low we give them a plasma transfusion. A snap test is relatively cheap and well worth knowing the IgG levels of your foal. Insurance companies require and IgG level to insura a foal that is 24 hrs. old. We have found that mares that have a lot of milk can cause the foals to have low IgG levels also. It’s a test that will save you a lot of money on any infections or problems that your foal may have.

To heal all the wounds where her skin peeled back we used Doc Underwoods till they were sealed then to get the hair to grow back without having white hair grow in we used Dynamite’s Wound Balm. http://sableranch.net/woundbalm.html . Today she has NO WHITE hairs!!! Not one scar and that is AMAZING. Friesians are not allowed to have white markings and if they do get them from injury then you have to present a vet’s explanation of the injuries. That makes it very important that the Friesians not get white hair when they have an injury.

In short, check your foals IgG levels, take extra caution with the joints of a premature foal, and take care of your wounds so that you don’t get long term white hairs.

This filly at age 2.5 years old!

Entered into the studbook with the KFPS at 2.5 yo (normally 3yo) which is proof of soundness and confirmation quality! (photo Nadeen Davis)

 

Babies!!! – How do I know when my baby is coming

I’m going to start out a list of signs that your mare is about to have her foal, I encourage everyone to add their unique signs and any that I may not have listed…. The more you know about your mare the easier it will be to predict that your mare is going to give birth. Be very careful, a lot of the signs of giving birth are very close to colic signs. You should take them seriously either way. (photos will be added soon to help visualize)



5 days before birth (Grace)

- Widening and dropping of the belly. There is a band of muscles on either side of the mares belly that become very obvious. They run from the hip down towards the bottom of the belly. When the baby is heavy or in exit position those bands will look like they are holding up the belly. The mare’s belly can be low from the size of the baby or the position of the baby. Also the belly can look wide at the bottom like she is carrying a triangle in her tummy.  


37 days before birth (Monkey)



37 days before birth (Monkey)

-Growing a bag of milk, you should expect this about 6-8 weeks before the baby starts to come. If it’s a few weeks out and you don’t have a bag you should prepare by getting a bag of supplement milk and supplemental colostrums. Some mares don’t bag up till right before but it’s better safe than having a sick baby.  These mares are very good givers to their foals you can tell when they are about to have the foal because from the back view the nipples will start to part because the bag is filling in in the middle. I have had bags filling up all the way back between the tail and still not part the nipples till right before birth. Not all mares have this much bag these are just some examples. some mares are not this full even at birth but be ready.



-Waxing on the tips of the nipples, some mares run around a lot or hit the nipples with their tail so they may not have wax on them. But some mares do have wax “caps” on their nipples to hold the colostrums in. Some mares will be walking around spraying milk. You don’t want that, but it’s sometimes happens. Just prepare by having extra colostrums on hand because all that good first milk is squirting out before the baby is even born.

-Softening of the muscles around the top of the tail and around the hips. Give your mare a poke around the tushy to get to know what she normally feels like. As the baby settles into the exit position the mare’s hip muscles relax to allow the hips to spread for birth. You can feel this a few days before the baby arrives.

-Lengthening of the vulva. Take a peak under her tail well before she is due. Get to know how long she is from anus to bottom. Before birth she will relax all those muscles and the vulva will look longer and droopier. All the muscles on either side will start to get mushy and soft.


18 days before birth (Vness)

-You will also notice that when the milk bags are partially full the nipples point in towards each other. As the bag gets more and more full the nipples will start to point down and then even point away from each other. Milk will flood into the teats as part of the pre birth process so watch how full they are. Some mares don’t have much milk so don’t always count on this but be prepared with a bag of supplemental milk just to make sure.


-Decreased interest in exercise. I had a mare that when you lunged her in a group would stop and stand in the corner while everyone was running. She did this about 3 days before she actually gave birth. It was her red flag to us that the baby was knocking at the door.

-Less interest in food, not in a way that she stops eating all together but in a way where she may pick up some of her food and then eat slowly then leave it alone. Mares will try to chew to help relieve some of the pain but contractions and shifting are not pleasant for them so eating a large meal will not be on their mind.

-Irritability like she is just at the end of her patience
-Circling and nesting, pawing, looking for a good place to set herself down.
-Showing signs of abdominal pain. Signs like looking at her belly or scratching at it with her teeth like it hurts, not like there is a fly. Laying down and getting up, circling means you are getting much closer. but also be observant to make sure it isn't colic. Some mares can colic while pregnant. We had one colic because when the foal got in exit position it restricted her cecum and she impacted and coliced.
-Increased respiration. Birth hurts she will be having labored breathing.


under the tail you can see softened vulva, she's got a bit of dirt showing she's been down a 2nd time, if she'll let you clean her up and sit back and wait for the baby. this mare was not that sort so we went inside and came back out 10 minutes later and the foal was just out. She was not the type to let us near her at this time, all went well and the foal is now over 2 years old.

When it all goes right you have a beautiful healthy baby

Please feel free to add signs that I forgot or signs that are unique to your mare’s the more information we can share the safer our horses will be.