Great "Foaling" Expectations

Pregnant mares seem to be few and far between these days with the economy on a rocky road. With all of the doom and gloom, several fillies and a couple of colts have arrived in 2009.  One in particular was quite an event, so of course I had to vent!

I received a call last week with a new horse owner who had recently purchased a pregnant mare. The clients had been casually anxious in anticipation of the newborn's arrival and had contacted me several times in the past regarding what to do when the baby was born.   I assured them I would be available when they called, and so we waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Honestly, I waited long enough that I forgot.  Weeks went by until I received the call.  

"Good news! The baby was born yesterday," said the client.  "Our only concern is that she is not moving around a whole lot." After a brief discussion I made a few phone calls to other understanding clients and was on my way to the new little filly.

The client was right, the filly was not moving around if at all when I arrived.  (Not to worry for those of you who are getting worried at this point. It's all going to work out, trust me.) The filly was hanging in there, but mom was less than thrilled about allowing her new little one to nurse.  I was concerned that the baby had not received the all important colostrum (aka "liquid gold") that is necessary for happy and healthy fillies to live strong and prosper.  A SNAP IgG foal test confirmed that she had not.  The next step was to begin quiet negotiations with mom on the nursing angle, and then place a nasogastric tube into the filly in order to pass the much needed colostrum and IgG serum.  

As I set to work I noticed a small crowd of family members and neighbors gathering outside the stall door, and I thought I was nervous when I tried out for the musical, "South Pacific" in high school!  I placed the tube, transferred the fluids, and then, wait for it... YES, baby stood and nursed.  Okay, so I was pretty proud of myself.  With a big smile on my face I turned back to the crowd at the stall door and scanned for a response.  A few smiles, good... smiles are good, more smiles, and then... a scowl on a young woman's face.  A scowl? The client introduced me to her daughter, the actual owner of the mare and filly.  I introduced myself and attempted to say something, anything, that would decrease the frown on this woman's face.  I explained the work I had performed in order to care for her filly and explained that we would need to perform another IgG SNAP test to ensure that the baby had received an adequate level.

She continued to stare at me, finally uttering a few words she asked,

        "How will all of this affect her imprinting?

Wow...  There it is.  For all the talking with clients that I do, this question left me speechless... I took a deep breath and smiled, and smiled some more.  I had two very different versions of what I wanted to say, but I went with the better one.  I explained that unfortunately sometimes care needed to be given in order to preserve the health of the animal.  My hope to her was that the filly would not hold the nasogastric tube up the nose against me, especially the next time I see her. What I really wanted to say was that if it weren't for the tube, there would not be a next time.  

I just checked in with mom and baby, both are doing well.  The client's are happy and excited, and the "imprinting" is underway... Take care.