close to foaling?

Question
QUESTION: My mare is 341 days or 339 days, depending on what day you use. She was bred to a stud that with all of his offspring, have been at least 2-4 weeks late. My mare has had a bag for about 6 weeks now. She has been biting at her sides, swishing her tail ALOT and kind of quivering on her back end.. it appears the quiver is when the baby is moving alot. Her milk is not white, it is golden and sticky.. not real thick, but getting thicker. My question is this.. how close do you think she is to foaling? This will be her 3rd foal, but my first with her. Her milk has no taste now, it was salty and thinner, now no taste and thicker.

ANSWER: Hi Sandi,
         There are many things that factor into when a mare will deliver. The gender of the foal, the weather, if other mares are delivering.

         A mare's milk can can vary in taste and texture. It bounces around from bland to salty to sweet. The color when the Colostrum comes will be white. It will also feel sticky.

When the Colostrum comes in, the mare will usually foal within 48 hours.

The signs that she is showing, are the first stages of labor. Mares can be in this stage for 4-6 hours. It is important to note that the mare can stop this stage if disturbed.



Enjoy your new foal.

Lisa



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Lisa, thanks for this info. She has been in this first stage of labor for a few days, the quivering in the hind end has stopped, her vulva is getting darker inside, her tail head and vulva have softened, we have had 2 blizzards in the last 7 days. I figured she would foal during one of these!! LOL.. I guess the only thing we are waiting on is the color of her milk to change to white.. then we know it is within 48 hours. I have a milk test and she had tested all 5 squares red within the 60 seconds for 3 days now, which was a 90% chance of her foaling in 12-24 hours... We closed her in the foaling stall when the weather is bad, and it seems she has stopped stage 1 since then. How long can she keep the stage 1 labor stopped? We have a foal cam and all night she "dances" on her back feet.. kicking up at her belly and swishing her tail.. eats all the time and sleeps laying down.. Thanks again.

Answer
Hi Sandi,
         A mare can stop the first stage for a few hours, until she feels safe. Can you bring her for a walk to make sure that the baby is positioned properly? You might want to stand her on a hill with her feet pointing down. That allows the foal to move down. The exercise will also help her. If she is displaying the same symptoms in 24 hours,then I would suggest just having the Vet down to palpate her.

Good luck.

Lisa