The High Risk Mare

must be awake to check the monitor. The transponder methods set off an alarm when the contact is broken or the temperature changes awaken the attendant. These methods sometimes give false alarms and may not be activated in cases of abnormal or difficult labour. The advent of prefoaling mammary secretion testing has taken many of the long nights and much of the guesswork out of foal watch duty.
The foaling environment should be clean and well lighted. The list of supplies to have on hand for foaling includes halter and lead rope tail wrap buckets soap cotton obstetrical ropes or chains with handles sharp knife or scalpel towels and navel treatment solution.
Preparation for parturition in the mare varies from the visually obvious to the visually obscure. Ventral edema abdominal swelling is common in late pregnancy and the edema is usually pitting indentation persists after applied pressure has been released. Exercise will reduce the amount of edema which is usually of no clinical significance. Occasionally treatment with diuretics may be required particularly in postpartum mares to allow comfortable movement and to assist with milk letdown. The connective tissue around the tailhead and sacrosciatic ligaments in the normal mare become palpably relaxed the week before parturition. In older mares there may be a visible sinking in the croup region of the mare. The vulva of the mare may also relax with walls thickening and the creases or puckers in the top will straighten out typically within 12 hours of delivery. To follow these useful signs the mare should be observed twice daily.
An increase in mammary development usually occurs over the last month of gestation. The secretion of fluid into the udder begins as early as six weeks before foaling and the secretion itself goes through a series of changes in colour and consistency. The prefoaling mammary secretion goes through ion changes which may be used reliably as a predictor of impending foaling in normal pregnancies. Waxing up where a small amount of secretion is seen hanging from the teat opening often occurs within 24 hours of parturition.