MyNutmeg

my mare came in from the field on thurday with her hock making a clunk noise. She's sore through the leg but not particularly lames. Something above the hock at the back is moving like it's catching and then going suddenly.

The vet came and saw her, can't feel anything abnormal, there is no heat and no swelling.

She will go up for xrays etc middle of next week if no imporvement.

Come across anything similar before?

Because the weather is going downhill I'm looking for a no-fill turnout rug for my young foal as I don't want him getting to wet and cold. All the foal specific ones have some sort of fill and he will be far too hot with a fill in as he's a hairy little monster. If it was wet and warm I wouldn't be fussed but it's looking like getting down to 5-6 overnight and wet with quite a strong north wind where I am over the next few days / week. Having him in overnight isn't really an option for more than one or two nights for various reason. I have been looking at pony rugs as he will be about a 3'6 -4 or so but was wondering if anyone else had used a pony rug on a foal, whats the fit rounf the neck like?

My foal is 5 days and is a little shyt - he's an absolute dude, very confident, likes his scratches and quite happy to come to the stable door to say hello to his admirers - however - he is a bit free with his hind legs. He's been double barrelling mom for a few days when they're turned out but this morning both times he was released from being led (out to and in from the field) he's kicked out. He isn't aiming or deliberatly kicking I don't think however while it's not painful yet (he managed to catch me) when hes a few weeks bigger and stronger it's not going to be pleasant so I'd rather get on top of it now but am not sure how to go about telling him off without putting him off people. The mare is just letting him away with it - she's more concerned about keeping him under her nose. I think this will eventually change but she's a maiden so not done it before. The only time so far he's done this to people is when he's been released from being led in and out but I really don't want this to develop into a habit with him.

He is a proper little colt but we do want him to have some manners as I don't want to be tackling a 6 month old with no manners.

My mare is due early May and I initially hadn't planned on buying any foal rugs, at the very least waiting until the thing is here so I can measure it however given the recent weather if it doesn't warm up towards the end of april I'd like to have at least one rug I can stick on the foal right away if it's cold or wet to get them turned out. Her foaling box is a decent size, thick stone and can be quite cosy and will be deeply bedded with straw - I figure this means unless we're ridiculously cold then it shouldn't need a rug while stabled but if it's wet/cold then it will need one for turnout.

My basic question is what sor of size should I be buying? This is the first foal from the mare but vet said it felt big when he last checked her (about 2 months ago).

Mare is 15'1 cob and dad is 15'3 tb.

Thanks

I'm planning on doing some showing with my mare and foal this summer. Mare is due May 15th but when vet examined her about 3 weeks ago he reckons foal will come on May 4th - brave vet stating a date like that :o I'm hoping he's right tho.

Anyway the first show I would like to do with them is June 8th - obviously if the foal is too young I won't be going but there are only 3 shows close enough for us to do (I won't travel over about 30-40 minutes with a foal) so how old do you think the foal has to be to go?

All the show rules I've read through require you to be on the show ground from about 9.30 (may be earlier depending on the class time) and you have to stay till after the parade at around 3.30 or so. It's a long day. I will have a trailer set up almost like a stable that I can pop mare and foal in to have some peace together.

As well as how old you would want the foal to be whats the best way to manage the mare and foal whilst at the show grounds? This is my first time doing anything with a foally :-)

I am going to be doing some in hand classes with my mare and foal this summer but am unsure over the turnout as have only ever done a little ridden showing previously.

They are being shown in hunter classes.

What should the turnout for the handlers be?

What should the turnout for the mare and foal be?

Thank you

My mare is about 8 months pregnant (unless the vets got it very wrong) but this morning she has started bagging up. Is it normal for them to develop their udders this early or do I need to start getting ready sooner?

Apart from aspiration pneumonia at about 20 days (spending a week in the vets on IV antibiotics etc), somehow she kept the foal and has had an uneventful pregnancy since then. She's on recommended amounts of a stud balancer and hayalge

My mare is now about 2 months pregnant and I'm working out a schedule for everything I need to do with her. This is something I'm gonna to talk to my vets about but in the meantime what vaccines do I need to be giving her and when? I'm in the UK and she normally gets flu and tetanus.

My mare has just been confirmed in foal, she's due next may.

I'm not bothered what she has so long as it's healthy however I'm curious as to the possible colour we may get: the mare is a dark bay, her mom was bay and her dad was a coloured cob, piebald I think.

The sire is a bay and he seems to have quite a few chestnut foals on the ground.

I'm guesing the most likely is a bay but I was wondering is the coloured coat can skip a generation - I have very little information on the mare's sire other than he was a coloured cob :-)

I've just taken a collie on foster who has some sort of neurological issue. He's about a year old and is pretty poorly co-ordinated, he seems to have pretty stiff muscles when walking - he's quite funny really. He doesn't seem able to be still and is constantly moving. It's a generalised thing although his back end is worst affected, but even his tongue is affected. To my knowledge there's no issue with seizures or anything like that. Because he's been picked up off the street there is no history on him but the vet's thoughts are that it's probably a brain injury from birth.

Anyone dealt with this before and what sort of treatment (if any) was given, outcome of any treatment and any other experiences.

Thanks

History for you - I have a usually fit and healthy 7 year old cob mare, on Friday night she choked whilst having her 16 day pregnancy scan. The vet scanning her (not our usual as using the stud's vet for repo work) said she'd clear it herself within a hour or two and left without looking at her. I had to go pick my sister up and left her with no food but water. Was back within about 2 hours and she had gunk coming down her nose, I called my regular vet who came immediately. He gave buscapan and penicillin but didn't tube as he wa worried about putting water into her lungs due to where the choke was. I stayed with her till about midnight. After the buscapan she started coughing and was bringing a decent amount of liquid up but no food. I had to go for the night but she was checked overnight by the yard owner as she has a mare ready to drop. I got back early morning and she was obviously worse, struggling to breath with noise all the way through her lungs. The vet came back right away and tubed her. She wouldn't swallow the tube and it kept going into her lungs - was definitely a good thing judging by the amount of fluid that came out the lungs. He managed to get the tube into her oesphagus and got most but not all the choke cleared. She was given more buscapan, 2 litres of IV fluids as she was getting dehydrated due to not drinking and the vet said to call in a couple of hours once the sedatives wore off and let him know how she was. Because of the amount of fluid that came out her lungs her breathing was better but she was consistently at a heart rate of 80, temp of 39.2 and resp rate of 26 and after a couple of hours with no improvement the vet came back and we decided to take her to the vet hospital.

She got to the hospital (one of the best in the country) last night and was descended on by the vet students and vet. She was examined, had gentamicine, metronidazol, frusimide and lots of fluid. This morning they've scoped and scanned her and she has longitudinal ulcers down her oesophagus, lungs looked ok and scan showed some consolidation in her lungs. She's staying at the vet hospital on the IV antibiotics for at least 4 days and they're going to re-scan and re-scope her mid week and see how she goes.

Sorry for the long question and I guess the actual question is what sort of time scale are we looking at for recovery from this?

I'm seriously angry at the vet who was scanning her, our vet has said that if she'd had the buscapan right away she probably would have cleared the choke without all the complications, as it is our regular vet saved her life, of that I have no doubt.

My mare is at stud and I'm looking at feed balancers for her. She's a very good doer and gets fat from looking at grass never mind eating the stuff so is on restricted grazing and hay. I've tried her on a broodmare supplement but she's quite determined that she is not eating that!

Usual diet is a chaff with general vit and mineral supplement but I want something aimed at broodmares and she definately doesn't need a stud mix or cube.

What do you think of these:

http://www.baileyshorsefeeds.co.uk/studareahome/st... m

http://www.spillers-feeds.com/products/stud-feeds/...

http://www.topspec.com/products/topspec-stud-feed-...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

My mare is getting a pregnancy scan on friday afternoon. The stud said she was not the easiest to scan there and I don't have stocks. My plan is that we have a narrow passageway with a door I can close so was going to use that with some straw bales to the side and behind her. Makes it harder for her to go sideways and gives the vet some protection. He will be able to stand round the side of a small wall to scan her so she can't kick (don't expect her too but not fair to expect the vet to risk it). I've spoken to the vet and they're happy to do her at mine as we can sedate her if needed but would like to avoid that if possible so any advice on getting her to stand for the vet?

My sister's cob has been having recurrent chokes - not major, he clears it himself within a couple of minutes. Its always about half way down his neck. He's not bolting his food, we've tried him with really wet feed as well as drier feed with no difference. He had a nasty spasmodic colic a couple of weeks ago and this has started since then so not sure if they're conected or not.

He has had his teeth done within the last couple of months and no problems. He's 16 years now, we've had him for 10 years and in that time he's choked once because he bolted his food and he's had one mild colic. Again, not sure if it's connceted but he has a moderate prolapsed larynx which was diagnosed about 6 months ago.

We are going to talk to the vets on Monday but was wondering if anyone has dealt with anything similar or had any ideas as to any possible cause?

There's an illness/syndrome which presents with similar symptoms to tying up but is seen in horses who wouldn't normally be associated with tying up. Normally presents in horses who aren't very fit, grass kept types.

I cannot remember what it's called - any suggestions?

Thank you

My mare went onto Regumate on Wednesday as she's going to stud next Saturday. I took her temperature this evening and she's up around 38.1C which is pretty high for her (normal would be around 36.8 or so).

In herself she's normal, isn't ill in herself. She doesn't have a snotty nose or anything like that, she's eating normally etc. Her salivary glands are swollen up but that does happen with her on occasion (the grass has just started to come through so is sugary but short)

I'm wondering if it could be the regumate causing the high temperature? Has anyone else had this sort of reaction with the regumate and is it a normal reaction?

If her temperature is still up in the morning I will be contacting my vet.

My mare is going onto regumate for 10 days (she's going to stud and this is at the recommendation of the stud and my vet). I'm a little nervous about handling it due to the warnings on the information leaflet etc - I have read elsewhere online that latex gloves don't prevent it getting on your skin. I normally use nitrile gloves - are they ok to use?

Any advice on safe handling of this stuff? I have the correct syringe for drawing it out the bottle etc.

Thanks

My mare is going to stud next month. She has all her swabs etc up to date. She's going with her headcollar (with her name on it) as well as a rug or two. She's unshod and will be trimmed just before she goes. Is there anything else I need to organise before taking her to the stud.

I have been talking to the stud about getting her ready, I have a tendacy to plan lots and am trying not to be constantly bugging the stud, hence asking here.

I have a 8 1/2 year old collie, she has pretty bad hip with a lot of arthritis. She's on joint supplements, metacam and swims once a week. I've noticed recently that she's getting much sorer. I am going to my vets this week with her but was wondering if anyone on here was aware of any other, stronger pain meds I can try with her?

My mare has a hole in her tendon and although it will heal completely she's going to need at least a year or so out of work so I'm looking to put her in foal in the spring - please note the vets have said she's absolutely fine to carry a foal, she'll be completely sound by the time she goes to the stallion in the spring but they've advised the best chance of not injuring her leg again is to give her a full year out of work. I do know what a big undertaking it is, how expensive it is etc and I have people around me who have experience with breeding.

My question is how much influence does the size of the stallion have on the size of the foal - this is my mare's first foal, she's a 15'1 cob and I'm a little worried about putting her to something much bigger than her in case the foal ends up so big it could cause problems with the foaling, can a big stallion cause this sort of problem or am I being paranoid about it?

I'm looking towards tb types but would love to put her to a Frisian but am worried that a big baroque friesian is going to throw a big foal and cause problems, especially given she's a maiden.