Jan. 31st, Good riddance to January!!

Buffy is at day 297 days today. Healthy miniature foals have been born at this gestation with no problems, so I up my observations at this point, and as of tomorrow the barn cam goes on at night and there will be hourly observations throughout the night for the upcoming month. Buffy has foaled previous foals from day 316-331, so I'm not on full alert. Her udder has stopped producing the opapue runny liquid from her previous pregnancy and begun the clear, thin slightly sticky liquid that is the very beginnings of the milk she will be making at foaling time. Exciting times are a foot!! Stay tuned for Buffy updates as she goes through changes in prep for the big day.

Nelly is looking more and more pregnant now, she is at day 150. I have been told by her previous owners that her weight will start to fall as she approaches 240 days gestation, so I am on constant alert about her body state. So far, she is gaining weight and showing no loss at all. I'll be watching her.


I have not felt any kicking in Ladybug yet, she should be at day 175 today and she has always had palpable foal kicks by day 185, so that excitement should be in our near future too.

Great fun for these winter days when spring seems oh so far away.

Happy foaling

amanda

34 days to foaling

Buffy is getting close. She got her tetanus booster today. It is given 30 days before foaling to ensure that the protection of the booster will be in her system long enough so that it is transferred to her foal through her colostrum (first milk).

Jan. 26, 2010

The girls are now at 292-Buffy, Bug-173, and Nellie-146 days! Boy time flies. Buffy's udder has started getting just a tiny bit puffier than normal and her milk is testing at 40% chance of foaling (up from 10% last week). She will need to be up in the 95% chance range when she foals. So not any time soon, but we are edging our way there. She is refusing to eat her grain in a timely fashion and so I leave it with her in her stall all night and she finishes it in her own time. She did this last year right around this time also, so I'm not concerned. There just isn't room in there for baby and a lot of food.

Nellie is starting to show a bit. She's a slender gal, so it is not obvious but I can see it.

Got the heat lamp and the barn camera set up this weekend in Buff's stall.

That's it for today, I'm off to work.

Jan. 22,2010

Time is flying along. Buffy is 41 days away from her due date. Her udder is not filling yet, but her milk is slightly more oily than usual. Milk goes from watery and clear, to oily and clear yellow, and then to sticky, thick and opaque yellow. When the milk is very sticky, thick and the test strips are reading in the foaling range, we will have 12 - 24 hours to foaling. Of course that is the normal progression, but there are always mares who dont want to follow the rules. Last year Buffy followed all the rules perfectly, so here's hoping she does again this year. It makes it much easier to go to work if I can be sure she is not going to foal while I am away. Only missed one day of work last year.

Test Results are in!!!

The urine test arrived yesterday and I ran them right away. As expected Liberty and Sugarplum are NOT pregnant. Nellie and Ladybug are. As the detection limit of the test is 120+, I can assume that Ladybug is 160 days pregnant and not the 96 days. (She had a odd heat after the first breeding that obviously was not a real heat). So the counting begins in earnest, with baby number one due to arrive in 48 days!!!

January 1410 Pee mission accomplished

I've finally gotten my last pee sample! Liberty saw me coming in this morning and squatted to pee, thank you very much. So now I just wait for the samples to arrive in the mail. Come on Canada Post.

January 9th, 2010

Gestational Count: Buffy 275 days, Ladybug 94 or 157 days, Nellie 130 days

I've been spending my time trying to catch the girls peeing so I can collect the urine for the upcoming pregnancy tests. I've caught Sugarplum, Ladybug and Nellie so far, so just have to keep watching for Liberty. No, I'm not standing around waiting with the container all day, but I have it in my pocket (along with a clean syringe) and if I am in the barn with them and hear someone peeing I run to see who it is. If I hurry, I can easily syringe enough pee off the floor and into a vial. So I've got three pee vials in the fridge and one more to collect. Does the fun never end in my world. LOL. I live for this stuff.

Sugarplum

I've been looking at my daughters show horse lately and thinking she getting quite a gut on her for a non-pregnant horse. She's been bred every year since I got her (5 years ago) and never taken so we just assume she isn't. So I have a pregnancy test coming to test her also. The tests are due to come hopefully next week and then I'll have some definite answers about who is and who isn't pregnant here at my barn. I'll also be testing my show mare Liberty as she also has been bred for 5 years and never carries to term. She has been pregnant several times but never holds on for a full term. Liberty is the black one, Sugarplum the sorrel (almost looks palamino)

Jan. 08 2010

Well we are at day 274 for Buffy,
129 for Nellie
93 or 156 for Ladybug
And I've been noticing lately that Sugarplum is putting on some belly. I will test her next week.

I'm just heading out this morning to feed and put everybody out for the day. Will do an udder check on Buffy and will update if there is anything happening there. Last pregnancy she did not start uddering up until day 319, but you just never know with these mares. I also have milk testing strips which I will use once her milk udder starts to develop and we get closer to the due date. On day 300 I turn on the barn camera and start watching her through the night. That's when the fun begins. Try only going on 30 minutes of sleep/30 minutes of awake all night for a month and see where your brain ends up. LOL. I've done it for two years now and the reward? I've been there to help at all three foalings and I wouldn't have it any other way. There's nothing in life quite like the birth of 20 pound teddybear size horse in the wee hours of the night when it's just me and my horses and God. Just can't wait!!!

The Daddy of them all

This is Orion, my AMHA registered Silver Dapple Stallion. He is 32.75 inches tall. He has sired two other foals for me in the last two years, this year we hopefully will add 3 more to his total foals sired. The other two were very loving correct foals. So far, I'm very pleased with what he produces.

Ladybug

Ladybug was bred to a pinto in early spring but aborted. She came back into heat in June so I rebred her to Orion. She came into a so-so heat (not very strong) a few months later and I rebred her again. So Ladybug is either 91 days pregnant or 150+. I will be testing her next week to verify if she is 120+ (that is the detection limit of the test). If she tests negative I will have to assume she is either 91 days or not pregnant at all. A bit confusing I know, but it will all be clearer in a week or so.

Nellie

Nellie is my newest mare. I bought her in August 09. I quickly got her bred to Orion and hopefully she is now slightly more than 4 months pregnant. I will be testing her next week to confirm the pregnancy. She is not showing yet.

Buffys Pregnancy Journal - day 272

Well, Buffy is at day 272 now. She is my miniature mare. She is a Blue Roan Appaloosa. She was bred to my own Silver Dapple miniature stallion, Orion.

She is definitely showing her baby belly. There is no sign of udder development yet, which is good because it is too early for that and it would be a sign of Placental infection. So everything is going according to plan