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Discussion on Pregnant owner foaling mare? | |
Author | Message |
Member: lexi |
Posted on Sunday, Mar 1, 2009 - 5:37 pm: HiI wondered if anyone knows whether it is safe for a pregnant woman (will be 8months when mare due)can safely handle afterbirth etc and whether there is any risk other than the obvious physical risk with being involved - I know there is a risk of toxoplasmosis with lambs and ewes lambing so pregnant women are advised to avoid this but would it extend to horses? I know the question is a bit off the beaten track but any thoughts? |
Member: minikim |
Posted on Sunday, Mar 1, 2009 - 11:55 pm: Hi Jo,I have delivered about 20 foals while pregnant while working at a breeding stud and never had any worries |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Monday, Mar 2, 2009 - 9:20 am: Safe is always a relative term and there are small risks of zoonotic infection that represent an increase risk to a pregnant women which include:
DrO |
Member: lexi |
Posted on Monday, Mar 2, 2009 - 3:37 pm: Thanks for that info - would the risk be just from actual contact with inside of mare/amniotic sac/placenta or would there be a risk to just being present (ie in air) too? |
Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Monday, Mar 2, 2009 - 3:56 pm: No one has mentioned the impact of sleep deprivation on very pregnant women. Even though the risk of disease transmission is low, I would think carefully before committing to foalwatch late in pregnancy, only because it's not a great plan to go into delivery exhausted (though most of us did it, and look how great we all turned out!). |
Member: lexi |
Posted on Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009 - 3:21 pm: Thanks for those answers. I plan to use CCTV camera, foaling alarm and calcium strips to reduce the lack of sleep aspect and will have other folk on hand to foal watch but the mare is not used to them as I am the only one who has handled her regularly so do you know if protective gloves, apron etc would be enough protection or would there still be a risk from just being present? I didn't want to call the vet out unnecessarily and bother him if the foaling was normal but will do if there is a risk to the baby. |
Member: ekaufman |
Posted on Tuesday, Mar 10, 2009 - 3:36 pm: Hi Jo,Has the mare foaled before? Do you know how it went? I would try to make sure that your backup people spend some time with the mare beforehand. Things rarely go wrong foaling, but when they do, they go wrong very very fast. You don't have time to get a vet. You have minutes. I thought of you briefly yesterday when I had to pull, catch and carry an almost 200lb foal. That would have been a challenge for me in my last trimester, to say the least! So in the spirit of planning for the (very unlikely) worst-case, make sure that someone strong and capable will be acceptable to your mare, just in case. Very likely, it will work out great. Good luck and let us know how it goes! |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 - 7:52 am: Though barriers may reduce chance of exposure there is still risk.DrO |
Member: stek |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 - 1:03 pm: Good point elk, delivering can be a very physical job. If the mare is having trouble passing the shoulders it can require some very energetic tugging on that one foreleg to help them slip through. I can't imagine doing that now (at 7mos pregnant). Or if you have a dystocia where for instance a foreleg is deflected back and you have to go in after it .. again, I don't think I'd be of tremendous use in the foaling stall all pregnant.On a positive note though, in my experience 99% of mares when they are in active labor are not terribly concerned about who is handling them. It's once the foal is on the ground that they 'come to' and start caring about who is in the stall. So if you have experienced help around to do the dirty work I think you'll be fine. And of course remember that most deliveries go fine and require no outside assistance at all. Good luck and congrats on your coming foal and baby! |
Member: lexi |
Posted on Wednesday, Mar 11, 2009 - 2:28 pm: Thanks everyone.The mare will be 5 years old this spring and has bred 2 foals prior to me buying her (I know she was covered at 2 years old poor thing), the first was healthy and the second was found dead with its head out of the sack in the field the next day but the previous owner left all the horses to run and foal as a herd with no supervision. I don't know whether there was difficulty getting it out and it died during the process or if the mare and foal were weak as she was in poor condition when I bought her and she is a mare that is bottom of the pecking order. I think it will be in her best interests to have someone else to hand when her time comes. Incidentally I recently attended a stud on a foaling course where the vet showed us a placenta and amniotic sack etc on the table in front of us - I didn't touch it but would there have been any chance of infection from being near that? It was a few days old and I think it had been frozen or chilled to keep it from going off. |