I attended a Scottish Equine Breeder’s Association Breeding Day last month, held at Oatridge College, entitled The Health & Welfare of the Foal and Young stock.

The main speaker was Professor Derek Knottenbelt, who spoke at length about the medical conditions and problems, at foaling and of the newborn foal. The main points of his talk that I considered important were:

a) You can tell a lot about the condition of the foetus and the mare by checking the udders and vulva of the mare regularly during the weeks before the birth. Any weeping from the vulva or leaking from the udders, contact the vet immediately.

b) Ensure the environment the foal is being born into is as clean as you can make it, and the mare too, as the foal is born with NO immunity to its surroundings. This is the reason why it is so important for the foal to drink the mare’s colostrum as soon as it can.

c) Collect the placenta – it can also tell you much about the health of your newborn foal.

d) A foal who does not sit up on it’s chest after being born, but lies down is a sick foal not a sleepy foal.

e) NO IODENE or purple spray! Foals are intolerant to iodine)

f) DO NOT stick your finger into the rectum of a foal if it becomes constipated. Ask your equine vet for a recommended enema preparation, which breaks down the compacted faeces gently. Soap & water is not the answer or any other concoction. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the Professor’s recipe for this enema, but any Equine Vet worth his salt should know it.

g) For straight limbs, you only have 4 months from the birth of the foal to do any corrective intervention. So if there is a problem get it sorted as soon as possible, either by a blacksmith or a Vet.

There two other Vets that day, Dr Scott Pirie and Andrew McDiarmid who talked about the older foal to weaning, skin conditions, limbs and laminitis, digestive problems & teeth, and of course worming.

My head was spinning by the end of the day. I do think that I was not alone in thinking how foals ever manage to reach maturity when all the odds seem stacked against them not survive!

So taking the points on board that professor Knottenbelt discussed about regularly checking the vulva and udders of the mare, I took some photographs of Ruth’s udders and vulva last night. I have noticed that her vulva has distended quite a bit in the last two weeks and that the flaps of skin which are her udders have also distended recently too. I will take some more pictures next week for comparison.

Ruth was wormed for the final time on Monday before the foal arrives, and she due to have her Tetanus booster on Wednesday.

I’m suffering from “Foal Fever” at the moment; I’m just so excited about Ruth’s first foal, which is due early April.