The Mare Diaries

Or the Ramblings of an Expectant Owner

Come back to this page often and see if you
can predict when the foals will be born.

2008 Foaling season

Pilar foaled this morning (May 27, 2008). Pretty little filly.

Surprise, surprise On May 3, 2008 we woke up to a new baby on the farm! Pizzazz gave us a GORGEOUS full of stamina colt! She was due May 7-10 as guessed on the last breeding date. We've been checking her regularly every day for the last week. Late night she did seem a bit more cuddly, she gets like that before foaling, but nothing else..I should know better by now. Anyhow, all went well. Check out more on the Foals page.

2007 Foaling season

Another foal is born: May 26, 2007. Pizzazz delivered a beautiful colt! Chocolate with a beautiful blaze. Please seen images on the Foals page.

A foal is born: April 24, 2007. On day 338 of last breeding, at 6:15 in the morning Pilar of Hope delivered a beautiful and strong little filly. The filly struggled to get up for about an hour then finally made it!

She walked around looking for the pot of gold- or at least a teat!.
It took her another hour to find it but she did. Meanwhile she passed mecomium regularly during that time. She's a spunky little thing with lots of perseverance.

Only one hour after birth she was up and walking around, looking kind of stunned by all the new sensations, but she explored her new environment with curiosity. Her mom was great and trusting as she normally is. Pilar and her filly are both doing great 5 1/2 hours after the joyful event!

This is Pilar's 3rd foal and second filly.

2006 Foaling season

A foal is born- sequential pictures of Spitfire's birth on May 24, 2006. First picture taken at 9:34 and second last picture at 9:50, Pizzazz stayed laying down until 9:40. While the foal was struggling to get out we broke the membrane for him. He layed quietly until 10:00, then the umbilical cord broke. He kept struggling to get up and was finally up at 10:20 for a few seconds. He by 10:45 he had suckled and by 11:00 he passed some mecomium. Pizzazz passed the placenta at 11:20. We confirmed that it was all in one piece. Spitfire and his mom are doing really good. You can see pictures of him on the sales page.

I hope you have enjoyed following the birth of our babies this year. Please come back next spring for another exciting count down!!!!

May 25, day 1 after birth! I am working on pictures. Mare and foal are doing great!

May 24, day 330 from last breeding. My predicted foaling day! This morning at 6:30 her milk was thick and white. She is dripping slowly. The waiting game has begun! I'm not leaving the farm today...cancelling the orthodontist appointment!

IT'S A COLT Born at 9:50 this morning, all black with 3 socks....just a gorgeous little guy!

May 23, day 329 from last breeding. No report.

May 22, day 328 from last breeding. OOOOH When I checked her milk at about 7 this morning it was very thick and slightly opaque. Now, at 8:30 (still in the morning) she has a tiny drop of wax on each teat! Will she foal today? She isn't eating much and appears restless! If anything else develops I'll post (if I can!).

May 21, day 327 from last breeding. Getting closer but still not close enough! She's getting really big and easts very slowly. Good thing she doesn't have to worry about other horses chasing her away from the food. She eat a tid bit at a time, rests, and eat a bit again. She's quite affectionate.

May 20, day 326 from last breeding. By milking her all I get is a thick slightly opaque (but still see though) liquid. She wasn't very happy go to for a walk.

May 19, day 325 from last breeding. Nothing new today...

May 18, day 324 from last breeding. Pizzazz is just being Pizzazz! LOL. The big veins under her belly are really starting to pop out. The swelling is still there. By milking her I get a bit of quite sticky liquid. While it's thick, it's still quite clear. These reports are getting pretty boring. Oh! Why don't you drop by and check out our Sales page. There you can see the full brother of this coming baby...How much better can they get?

May 17, day 323 from last breeding. Pizzazz is just very in foal. Today she is developing a slight swelling under her belly, close to the udder. The vet is not concerned as he said it's normal this close to foaling. The secretion form the udder is clear so I don't expect anything soon. I'll wait a bit for this baby...my brother became a father yesterday. Baby boy named Caleb, 7 lbs 5 ounces...and that's all I know so far!!!!

May 16, day 322 from last breeding. Pizzazz is being generally boring today! Nothing new to report. Appetite is good, temperament is good. Her udder is very firm but no bigger than yesterday.

May 15, day 321 from last breeding. This morning she had a bit of a crusty deposit on each nipple. Nothing exciting, though and she is acting as normal as a 321 day broodmare does!

May 14, day 320 from last breeding. Pizzazz's can now officially have a "full term foal"! She is often kicking at her sides, lifting her tail and rolling once in a while. It's easy to tell that she is not comfortable. Her udder is getting round but not dripping or waxing yet (which is good since I think she needs to keep it in for a few more days!

May 13, day 319 from last breeding. Pizzazz's udder is getting a bit fuller, but the most important change yesterday was the relaxing of the muscles, she's certainly loosening up. At times we can clearly see the outline of the foal as it moves and I assume positions itself. Pizzazz is now in the foaling stall and seem grateful to be able to lay down with no fear of other horse bothering her. Her belly is HUGE and if I were her I'd want to lay down too!

May 10, day 316 from last breeding. Pizzazz's udder is getting much bigger. I'm in a bit of a quandry as we have taken apart the foaling stall because we had a guy supposed to come and get some work done in that area...but he's not coming...my poor Pizzazz needs a place to call "home" until she foals. If he doesn't come today I will re-build the stall.

May 8, day 314 from last breeding. Pizzazz's is slowly developing a larger udder. The vet was here last Tuesday for health checks and said everything looked good. She is getting larger every day.

April 28, day 304 from last breeding. Pizzazz's temperature is 37.8 this morning and her heart rate is 46. Her respiration rate is normal but seems a bit labored and she appears a tad depressed...Maybe it's because she is alone in the paddock now?

April 27, 2006, day 303 from last breeding. Pizzazz has started to develop an udder, and it is slowly increasing in size. She is rather large and is starting to seem annoyed with her size. It think she may be a tad jealous that Pilar has her foal at her side! We'll keep you posted on a near daily basis from now on.

Pilar of Hope

This will be Pilar's second foal. For her first foal, a colt she carried to day 343 and foaled easily in the early afternoon, she has been a wonderful mom. On March 17 she quickly developed a bit of an udder, quite different from last year where it took her weeks to get something. This year it developed during the day.

We predict that this year she will carry into the to 330+ range but below the 340. She was bred between May 11 and May 15, 2005. Our prediction is that she will foal between April 5 (day 330 of first breeding) to April 17 (day 338 of second breeding). We are again hoping for a little colt. Her first colt, Charlie -visit him on the foal page or in the sale barn- is simply the BEST little guy one could want. He is smart and gentle and has quite the nice conformation.

Pictures & additional information as promised. This morning Pilar gave us a beautiful filly. She foaled at approximately 9:30 am. The filly ripped the bag and started trying to get up very quickly. She did about 10 minutes later. Of course she didn't stay up long! But she got back up and was quite steady on her legs for a newborn. She looked for the udder and found it, but Pilar made her work to keep finding it. Finally at about 11 she found the teats and began sucking around 11:15 and she nursed almost every 10 minutes from then on. She stayed standing up for about 2 hrs before taking a well-deserved nap. She seems to LOVE running around, much to her dam's chagrin as she has to keep going in circles looking for that happy gal. The filly passed mecomium soon after birth and seems to be passing more as the days goes by. The placenta and bag both came out perfectly when Pilar go up initially. There are no rips or tears in them.

Click on any of the pictures to get a large size.

The way this baby's behaving we're thinking ENDURANCE...

April 11, 2006, day 333 from last breeding. It's a filly! Born at 9:30 (or so) this morning. I will post more later with pictures!

April 10, 2006, day 332 from last breeding. Today Pilar is fully "waxed", she is definitly uncomfortable and was sweating a bit this afternoon. I really thought she was going for it, but no...We're still waiting. Last year she waxed for about 42 hrs prior to foaling....We'll keep you posted!

April 9, 2006, day 331 from last breeding. Nothing much new with Pilar this morning. She's eating and pooping and pushing her butt on the stall side. She's very mellow. Afternoon update: It's 13:30 and she's waxing (not a lot mind you but a start!)...

April 8, 2006, day 330 from last breeding. This morning Pilar is calm. Her udder is about the same size, but the teats are getting bigger. A bit of sticky liquid can be milked.

April 7, 2006, day 329 from last breeding. I am told that Pilar was looking at her belly quite a bit and rolled lots in her stall...

April 6, 2006, day 328 from last breeding. No change in Pilar this morning. BORRING! (Don't expect a report tomorrow morning unless there is a foal (which there shouldn't be!) as no one that will be here can do the web update!)

April 5, 2006, day 327 from last breeding. Pilar seem calm this morning. It's easy to tell that she has little room left for food as she eats very small meals. Her udder is about the same as yesterday but a drop of dried milk was on the right teat this morning. Her tail is wrapped in neon pink (very nice against her black coat I might add). I massaged her rump and she LOVED it, she was all mush! I figure she still has about 5-6 days. Again she is very cuddly, and affectionate. Afternoon update Pilar's temperature is 37.8C and her HR is 72 bpm. She has abit of a lump in front of her udder on the left side, it doesn't seem sore, but feels like a swollen muscle.

April 4, 2006, day 326 from last breeding. Pilar seem fine this morning. A bit of a white powdery substance is on her udder. She is very very affectionat this morning. Seems to have a good appetite. Putting her in the foaling stall seems to have been a good move. We will wrap her tail this afternoon.

April 3, 2006, day 325 from last breeding. Pilar's in the foaling stall and will remain there until after the foal is born. This is a small round pen so there is room in there for her to move around. When the weather permits we will take her out for walks just to get her mind off of things. She is very affectionate this morning, udder is big, with small teats, no milk yet. Seems like being alone has allowed her to relax. She's back to being my sweet girl!

April 2, 2006, day 324 from last breeding. Pilar Oops, can't rely on the website person for daily update these days! Sorry about that, on April 2 Pilar was rather pissy, pinning her ears at Pizzazz (her pasture mate) and being nasty towards the stallion (who is in the next pasture, she tried to prevent him from coming near their side of the pasture). Her udder is still enlarging, but not ready for a foal yet. We put her in the foaling stall today so that she gets used to that area.

April 1, 2006, day 323 from last breeding. Pilar Very affectionate this morning, udder is full, teats small. She is still rubbing her sides on anything she can find, guards her food jealously.

March 31, 2006, day 322 from last breeding. Pilar's udder getting bigger. Her teats were very swollen this morning, but returned to "normal" size by evening.

March 30, 2006, day 321 from last breeding. PilarNothing much to report today.

March 29, 2006, day 320 from last breeding. Pilar's udder getting even fuller. She is often lifting her tail and seems annoyed by the pregnancy.

March 28, 2006, day 319 from last breeding. Pilar's udder is getting fuller. She is definitely progressing at a faster pace then last year, but I was expecting this since she now a "veteran" mare! This morning her attitude was a tad nicer...

March 27, 2006, day 318 from last breeding. No change in Pilar's udder, nor her attitude, nor her size...she's simply BIG!

March 26, 2006, day 317 from last breeding. Pilar's udder is definitely getting larger. She is rubbing her body a lot on the tree in the pasture. She did this last year too and no matter how much brushing we do she still does it!

March 25, 2006, day 316 from last breeding. There is not big change today.

March 24, 2006, day 315 from last breeding . Pilar's udder is definitely getting larger. She is becoming quite protective of her space and her FOOD!

March 18, 2006, day 309 from last breeding. Pilar has a bit of an udder, but it is very hard and the nipples are small. She appears in good spirits.

Pizzazz

This will be PIZZAZZ's 6 th foal. Her first two were colts, the third a filly and the fourth & fifth colts. Gestation times (taken from the last breeding dates) were (in days) 343, 334, 330, 331 and 334. Waxing seems to happen only hours before foaling. What will it be this time and when will the foal hit the ground? Seems to me she is due for a gorgeous filly, day 330 of last breeding! Pizzazz has a slight, very slight udder development right now, but she can easily be "milked" and a whitish liquid collected, it is not sticky or thick. This seems to be normal for her... But we will worry about that after we're done with Pilar since Pizzazz was bred later in 2005 we don't expect her to foal before Pilar- but we'll be watching her and if there is any changes we will report.