[GingerSnap]

What an exhausting weekend/week I have had! I will try to type it out so it all makes sense.

Friday my friends were going out of town and they asked if I would check mares for them. They always pasture breed and let the mares foal in the pasture and are completely unworried about all the what if's...keep in mind that their way IS NOT my way and I don't agree with the things they do. But these are not my horses so I don't have a voice in the matter.

So Friday evening I went over and checked mares, I called them and said that 2 had bagged up and either one could be the next to go, but the others either didn't have bags or had no changes. They came home late Friday night and then left again Saturday morning, saturday afternoon we went over to check mares but they didn't call to tell me that a new filly had been born. So I am walking through the pasture and I see this new baby but she is nursing on a Palomino mare that already had a foal. So I called to ask which mare foaled, and it was suppose to be Dottie's baby and overo mare. So when I told them the baby was nursing on the Palomino they asked that we seperate mom and foal from the herd. Ok not hard right....WRONG.... the mare is not halter broke and she doesn't let strangers to close to her. So we caught the boss mare of the herd and we scooped the baby and started guiding it towards the pen.

Well on the way I noticed a bay mare was waxed up (she was one I said would foal soon) so they had us put her up too with Dottie and the baby. Ok all was good. We got horses moved and everyone was settled. So I went home for the night and checked back late that evening and early the next day. All was good still. I went to the horse sale and came back that afternoon and checked again. The foal was laying at the bottom of this HUGE pen and the mares were at the top of the pen. So I started calling to the baby to make noise (she was laying very,very still) I went in the pen and she didn't wake up, so I started rubbing her light at first then harder and harder and finally she woke up and barely opened her eyes. I was curious as to why she was sleeping so hard. About that time the bay mare walks past and bites this filly and she jumps up. So then Dottie gets curious and comes back (oh Dottie is a maiden mare)to the foal. She takes the baby and walks away so I watch for awhile, the foal is trying to nurse but about every 15 seconds the mare half heartedly kicks at her. After a time I call my friends and tell them I didn't think the foal was doing that well, she was lethargic, her sides were really drawn up and the mare is kicking at her.

So they tell me that the Farm hand had been reporting all day that the foal was up and nursing and doing well. I told them he misinformed them and something was NOT right. Well the farm hand comes down and starts yelling at me and I told him he didn't know what he was doing or talking about and he best back off, because I was running the show as of NOW! He didn't like that one bit.

So here is where it gets fun...The previous owner of the bay mare comes out, my friends daughter and her husband come out, my husband, me and the farm hand are all there. I called the vet and he shows up.

The reason for the vet, the bay mare had a very small amount of blood on her back legs indicating that she could have foaled. So the vet palpates the mare and guess what the Bay mare is the mother not Dottie. But the bay won't have a thing to do with this baby. We figured that when the baby was foaled the boss mare seperated the mom and foal and took over. So the vet milks out the mare and we get some colustrum into her but it's already been 36 hours and he isn't sounding to positive. Another vet told us 72 hours so who knows. All I know is now we are bottle feeding every 3 hours. Acutally the foal nurses off the mare but doesn't get enough so they are subing with a bottle afterwards. She drains the mare in about 5 minutes.

Ok I left out somethings because this is long, talk about a mess. And now more than every I see the need to do hand or AI breeding and have mares in there stalls. I just pray this baby makes it since she has had such a hard start and mommy that doesn't want her. So meet Annie....

[HUS_WP_lovr]

Awww she is so adorable! What a stunning girl! I hope she is okay!

[CrazyHorse]

Awww what a cute, flashy little girl! Sending up prayers for her

[Amber.Molly]

I was wondering when her thread was going to be made... she's absolutely stunning!! You were definately her angel. Such soft eyes she has!

Keep us updated for sure!

[GingerSnap]

I plan on taking pics of her progress...I wish she were mine she is such a sweetheart. Her owner keeps telling me that if I hadn't check on her that 2nd day and took over, she wouldn't be here. I am glad I was there and had the knowledge to know something was off. even when it looked ok.

I have bottle duties for the next 2 days so I am gonna be one tired puppy for sure. But will take pics.

[oldhorsehome]

Awwww! Good for you for getting things sorted out. Poor little girl. She is so sweet looking.

[GingerSnap]

Originally Posted by crazi4horses2

Awww what a cute, flashy little girl! Sending up prayers for her

Thank you for the prayers, mine haven't stopped since this all started and she needs all she can get.

[touchofdandy]

She's adorable.

[Paxo]

At this point if the other mare is willing to take her Id let her, if your not going to do anymore Plasma or what have you , her best chance is with that other mare that is willing to take her if she can handle 2 foals,ive had some let a couple nurse off them and their mother was in the same field, granted they get the first few weeks with their own mother, but it wasnt uncommon for some to share.

[Lindsayanne]

So momma has rejected, but another mare adopted (and just isn't producing enough milk?)

Sounds like being born in a herd actually really helped that baby!

Did the vet give anything to the surrogate mare to help milk production? Domperidone/Equidone will stimulate lots more milk production. I believe it's also available for oral dosing.