Penn State Vet School Foal Cam-My Special Girl

[Della]

This little guy seems like he's needing a lot of help....

[swale1984]

I've never been around a foaling barn...is it typical for a foal to have this much trouble nursing?

[Ridan_Remembered]

I've never been around a foaling barn...is it typical for a foal to have this much trouble nursing?

I wish we could hear what's going on. I've never been around a foaling barn either, so might very well be overreacting and misunderstanding a lot of this. But my gut instinct says there's been a lot of human interference, which interferes with the foal's own instincts and seems to tire him out. They seem to be trying to force him to nurse, but they gave him that big bucket of stuff earlier. Maybe he's just not hungry. But they could be upsetting him.

[lurkey mclurker]

104lbs... that doesn't seem all that large? but if his shoulder/s hung up a bit, good to have some help I reckon

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... nt_count=1

[swale1984]

I wish we could hear what's going on. I've never been around a foaling barn either, so might very well be overreacting and misunderstanding a lot of this. But my gut instinct says there's been a lot of human interference, which interferes with the foal's own instincts and seems to tire him out. They seem to be trying to force him to nurse, but they gave him that big bucket of stuff earlier. Maybe he's just not hungry. But they could be upsetting him.

Hadn't thought about that. I'm also surprised that he's still so wobbly. I guess I always thought that, by 2 hours old, they were a bit more steady (because of the whole 'prey" thing and needing to be able to get away if necessary).

[Ridan_Remembered]

Little guy seems to be just getting used to those long legs of his for now. Maybe he did nurse, because the vets have left him and mom alone for awhile.

[Ridan_Remembered]

I wish we could hear what's going on. I've never been around a foaling barn either, so might very well be overreacting and misunderstanding a lot of this. But my gut instinct says there's been a lot of human interference, which interferes with the foal's own instincts and seems to tire him out. They seem to be trying to force him to nurse, but they gave him that big bucket of stuff earlier. Maybe he's just not hungry. But they could be upsetting him.

Hadn't thought about that. I'm also surprised that he's still so wobbly. I guess I always thought that, by 2 hours old, they were a bit more steady (because of the whole 'prey" thing and needing to be able to get away if necessary).

He does seem really wobbly still, but getting stronger doing laps around mom, lol

[BaroqueAgain1]

I have a friend who breeds Gypsies, and she'd probably roll her eyes and say, 'of course it's taking longer...it's a boy.'
She swears that fillies are much quicker to get the hang of things...standing, nursing...and that it takes colts twice as long to figure it out.
Of course, that's all anecdotal and not terribly scientific.

[Ridan_Remembered]

I have a friend who breeds Gypsies, and she'd probably roll her eyes and say, 'of course it's taking longer...it's a boy.'
She swears that fillies are much quicker to get the hang of things...standing, nursing...and that it takes colts twice as long to figure it out.
Of course, that's all anecdotal and not terribly scientific.

[swale1984]

I have a friend who breeds Gypsies, and she'd probably roll her eyes and say, 'of course it's taking longer...it's a boy.'
She swears that fillies are much quicker to get the hang of things...standing, nursing...and that it takes colts twice as long to figure it out.
Of course, that's all anecdotal and not terribly scientific.

Too funny! Of course, now they're back in, barely giving him time to figure things out. Poor little fella...

[Ridan_Remembered]

I have a friend who breeds Gypsies, and she'd probably roll her eyes and say, 'of course it's taking longer...it's a boy.'
She swears that fillies are much quicker to get the hang of things...standing, nursing...and that it takes colts twice as long to figure it out.
Of course, that's all anecdotal and not terribly scientific.

Too funny! Of course, now they're back in, barely giving him time to figure things out. Poor little fella...

Well I can't watch anymore. Hopefully everything goes OK overnight. To my uneducated eye, they all just seem to be forcing things too much. The little guy didn't really have a chance to do anything normally. Maybe he's not healthy, or maybe he's just totally confused.

[Della]

Well, there's no better place to be than New Bolton's NICU if anything is amiss with the foal. Glad he's there and not out in a field somewhere.

[lurkey mclurker]

[wondering if my posts are even visible...?]

They're tubing him. Poor little guy, hope everything gets better.

[Della]

...and he's fighting them hard. Poor little guy is having a rough first few hours.

Six medics in with him now.

[Ridan_Remembered]

...and he's fighting them hard. Poor little guy is having a rough first few hours.

Six medics in with him now.

I'm just not impressed with all this, but then I'm a natural skeptic. Why couldn't they let him rest a little then try feeding him from a bottle before doing all this stuff? Wish they would explain what's going on, because this is hard to watch for people like me with no understanding of it all.

How many times have they tried to put a tube down him, and all that seems to have happened is the foal is worn out and probably totally terrified. He's not moving at all now.

[lurkey mclurker]

Tubing over, they turned out the lights and yay! he stood up by himself. Maybe now they can get some quiet time together.

[Della]

New Bolton posted this on the foal cam page:

"The foal at birth was not as responsive as normal and had a lower heart rate than normal, and had other indications that he was slow to start, so we did give him a dose of epinephrine to stimulate his heart rate and to support his circulation at birth,” said Dr. Jonathan Palmer, Chief of Neonatal Intensive Care Service and Director of Perinatal/Neonatal Programs at New Bolton Center.

“You might have noticed we attached an ECG to monitor his heart rate and rhythm because of his slow start. Within minutes he responded. We routinely in high-risk pregnancies take a blood sample from the umbilical cord at birth. We found mild abnormalities that showed the foal had some stress in utero and this may have led to a slow start. He was somewhat slow standing on his own and somewhat slow nursing on his own, but we fully expect that he will come around. But because of his slow start we will be monitoring him very carefully. We will be watching his behavior closely and we will be taking more blood samples to make sure he continues to make a smooth transition."

"My Special Girl is a wonderful mother but she is still unsure of how to fully fulfill that role. You might have noticed that she stood as still as a statue. A more experienced mare tries to position herself so the foal has an easier time finding the udder to nurse. She is being very attentive and nurturing with her colt," added Dr. Palmer."

[Ridan_Remembered]

For whatever reason, I woke up about 3:30am (Pacific time). The foal has gotten much stronger through the night and appears to be nursing on his own now.

[swale1984]

They must've been doing more blood draws this AM. I just checked in, and they were comforting the little guy, then left. He does seem to be a bit more steady this AM. Hope he continues to improve.

[carole]

It looks like they're collecting milk from MSG's udder, is the little one gonna be bottle fed now?