How to Help Your Mare when it Has a Foul

The process of helping a mare through its pregnancy can be an extremely rewarding experience to you. There is a catch here and that is there is a lot of hard work involved. The very moment you have decided to allow your mare to become pregnant, you have to make sure that you are the one responsible for this medical condition. This is going to involve not only your mare but also an extra life that is going to come. Breeding horses can be a great career if you have enough time and are willing to put in that needed effort.

The very first and foremost thing to bear in mind is that mare's pregnancy will be longer than that of a woman's. Normally in general conditions, a mare will carry her foul for about 11 months. So, during this time, good care and regular checkups from a good vet are very crucial. At times, you may also want to find a vet who is specialized in this particular field. As the time passes by and your mare's due date approaches, make sure to keep a watchful eye on her health. Always, keep your vet's number handy and call him/her immediately whenever the horse goes into labor so that they can arrive on time to help with the birth. In some cases, a vet's help may not be needed during labor, but if you are inexperienced with the labor process, or if the birth takes more than a half hour, your vet should come in to help with the birth.

The most important aspect is cleanliness. Thought you do not have to clean the entire barn with pressurized water hose and use a disinfectant, make sure that you can arrange clean bedding in a clean stall for your mare. One more important point to keep in mind is to tie up the horse's tail so that it does not get in the way. But never tie this too tightly and don't forget to leave it free as soon as the birth is over. After the birth, make sure to rinse the mare's hindquarters and remove any soiled bedding. Replace the soiled bedding with fresh bedding.

If you observe anything unusual going on with the birth, it is highly recommended to call your vet right away. Here you have to remember that a horse birth will look very different from that of a human birth. So before your mare goes into labor, make sure that you talk to your vet about what to and what not to expect. After the birth has taken place, it is also very important to let the mare care for its foul. The mare's natural instinct will lead it to do the proper things for her new born baby. More over, interfering may confuse or make the mare angry. Be cautious and keep your distance from the mother and baby. But, if you think something has gone wrong, call the vet immediately.

Give some time to both the mare and its new born baby to adjust with each other and get to know about each other. This new addition to the family should be walking and drinking milk from its mother rather quickly. Always remember that this is a very tender time in both the horses' lives. It is very important to keep them away from other animals for the first two week or three. This may be a good idea for the obvious reasons. After this period, it is good to talk to your vet about the vaccinations and special diet for your foul. This will ensure that the foul is healthy and helps it to grow strong and develop resistance to diseases.