Northernhorse.com Blog

I usually see my baby horses being born. My mares think it is perfectly normal that I am busy helping. They would probably miss me if I wasn’t there. Or so I like to think anyway.  Many years of watching, sleeping in the barn and not sleeping at all have taught me some of the things to watch for. There is a nice summary of all the things we learn about predicting foaling time on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.

Just as important as making sure the mare passes the placenta soon after the birth of the foal is examining the mare’s placenta to make sure it is all there. There is an interesting article about the placenta and examining it on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Interesting article from the University of Kentucky:

Neonatal losses are a significant problem for the equine industry. Of the 1,294 fetal, neonatal, and juvenile equine cases presented to the University of Kentucky Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center from September 2004 through August 2005, 259 cases of neonatal mortality were evaluated for this study. Cases included only those that resulted from a live birth and those that had a specific age of less than 180 days, with cases in which the animals’ age was listed as “juvenile” being excluded. Continue Reading »