For breeders aiming for a January foaling date, your wait is almost over! However, after eleven long months, it's important to remain vigilant as the finish line approaches. Before becoming an Extension agent, I worked as a vet tech for an equine vet in Texas. One of the worst calls we answered while I was working there was a weekend emergency call from a non-client. The horse owners had purchased a pregnant mare a few months prior but had not established a relationship with any of the vets in the area. The mare had gone into labor overnight and due to the large size of the foal and other presentation issues, the foal did not survive. In order to save the mare, the vet and I had to remove the deceased foal from the exhausted mare, whose labor had stalled hours prior. The worst part about the situation was knowing that if the owners had been on foal watch and conducted night checks, there was a strong possibility we could have saved both mare and foal.
If you are a new breeder, I encourage you to take foal watch seriously, and if you are an experienced breeder, remember to never get complacent. Horses don't read text books, so even if you think you've calculated your foaling date perfectly, there can be surprises. While 330 days (11 months) is the average gestation length, the range can be anywhere from 320-380 days. With such a wide range, it's important to be observant throughout the mare's pregnancy so that you can spot the signs of impending labor.
Knowing your mares normal behavior and appearance is the first step. If you know her baseline, you can monitor changes such as a "drop" in her belly, swelling and lengthening of the vulva, loss of appetite, agitation, etc. These can all be signs that labor is about to begin. Keeping a notebook with observations can be a good way to document changes, especially if more than one person is monitoring the mare.
Most mares will "bag up" three to five weeks before foaling. Her udder is filling with milk and the teats will become enlarged. The closer she gets to delivery, you may see white discharge or "waxing" on the end of the teats. There are products available that can be used to test the mares colostrum (first milk) to measure the amount of calcium present. Calcium increases right before foaling. While these products can be helpful aids, nothing is more valuable than consist monitoring.
When to start foal watch and how often depends on your experience in assessing pregnancy signs, whether the mare is a maiden or an experienced broodmare, and the health status of the mare. On my family's breeding operation, we started doing night checks for an average pregnancy a month prior to foaling on a three hour schedule. 9PM, Midnight, and 3AM. If we saw any signs of labor at those three hour checks, we switched to hourly checks. While this may seem exhausting, remember that it only takes 30 minutes of stalled labor to create a potentially life threatening situation for mare and foal. There are a number of stall cameras on the market that can make night checks as easy as checking your phone. Consider sharing the load with family members or barn staff to avoid foaling season fatigue.
Whatever your method, whether it's a stall cam, trudging out to the barn in your pajamas, or putting a cot in the tack room, make sure you're keeping a close eye on your mare and keep the vet's phone number on speed dial. It's always better to establish a relationship with your vet before you make the emergency call. If you need help locating an equine vet in your area, contact your local Extension Office.
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