Mare-Foal Incompatibility

Last year we found out that one of our best broodmares had produced antibodies in her colostrum against the stallion's red cells. We found this out when the strong, beautiful new foal born early that morning was getting weak and turning yellow. We rushed her up to MSU where she was given two transfusions and bounced back like nothing had happened. This was the mare's 6th foal and we had no history any problems so it was a big shock!
It is called neonatal isoerythrolysis (NI). It happens when the mare comes in contact with a previous foal's blood that is the same type as their sire's in the last few weeks of pregnancy. We don't know how or when this could have happened or with which foal as we do not typically blood type the foal and don't know which ones have her blood type and which ones have the stallion's. It does not happen very often, so I was fortunate that my vet had recently suspected the condition with another foal and was up to date and familiar with the symptoms. It can be fatal for the foal in as little as 24 hours so quick treatment is mandatory.

The worst part is that once the mare produces these antibodies, she will continue to do so with every pregnancy. We had the stallion, the foal, and the mare's blood analyzed and the result was that the mare would produce the antibodies to every horse blood type but her own - apparently unusual, so breeding her to other stallions would not solve the problem - not to mention that most stallion owners do not know the blood type of their horse anyway.

The danger to the foal only exists during the first 24 hours after birth. After that the mare stops producing colostrum and the foal's gut closes to the antibodies. So we could prevent any future foals from nursing with a muzzle. and bottle feed it frozen colostrum from outside sources for the first 24 hours after which the danger to the foal would be over.

After weighing this strategy and the quality of the foals the mare and stallion had produced (pictured here) in the last 4 years we decided that is was a small inconvenience to milk the mare and bottle feed the foal for 24 hours. So we thought! Future posts will detail the unforeseen problems we had with this year's foal. She is fine now - see post A New Filly

Keeping Track of the Yearlings and 2 Year Olds

This time of year it is easy to lose track of the yearlings and 2 year olds. As you can see from this picture, they could care less, but they enjoy the scratching and treats I frequently bring. We are breeding the mares, keeping a sharp eye on the new foals, starting the 3 year olds, and marketing the 4 year olds and the stallion. The younger horses are out in their big pasture living on mainly grass. Since I have someone else who handles feeding the grain, I have to be sure that I put my eyes on those youngsters at least once a week, if not more often. I know that the people feeding them would let me know if anything were awry, but sometimes they can miss the little things you don't notice when you see them every day.

Today I went out to their pasture to check their waterer and to see how much they have grown in the last few days. Their manes were suddenly long and shaggy! We had just had them all in in the spring to bath and trim them up for the summer, but even though they had shed all their winter coat those manes were wild. Soon they will be matted with burrs and if they stay this long they will be horrible to clean up. They look hot under all that hair, too.

They need the socializing with a human other than at feeding time, also. I like to see that they all will come up to me to be petted and scratched and that I would have no trouble catching them if I needed to. I put my hands all over their head, in their ears and mouths, and run my hand up and down their legs. I try to get out any burrs they may have in their mane and tail and look for any nicks that should be cared for.

Before I left the barn today I added this to the list of things to do next week - schedule some days or evenings to pull manes on yearlings and 2 year olds. It doesn't sound like a high priority, but that's because I won't let it get so bad that it is!

A New Filly

The last foal to arrive for this year was a beautiful filly we named Paristar. She was born chestnut with a tiny star on her forehead and very little in the way of socks or a blaze. She came into the world a little earlier than we expected and had to fight for her life for a few days, but she is a strong little filly and is growing stronger every day. In the coming weeks I will talk about the challenges we faced with this foal and every foal her dam will have in the future. In the meantime I am catching up on all the things that didn't get done as well as getting back in the saddle myself.

Here are some pictures I took of her the day before we rushed her up to Michigan State University Large Animal Hospital.

Every new foal rewards us with new learning experiences and helps us to evaluate our breeding program and procedures to ensure that we are producing top quality horses that will go on to have a successful life that enrich the lives of their future owners. Some require more time and resources than others, but I don't believe on giving up on them too quickly, especially if their dam and sire have already proven to be a good match. Paristar's pedigree and conformation speak for themselves; her strength, and sweet, cooperative nature during her ordeals at MSU told me that she will be an outstanding horse in years to come.

She is one month old today!

Training Horses - Individual Differences

The best way to recognize whether or not a person or animal has really mastered a lesson is to see if they can apply what they know to different circumstances. Horses frequently demonstrate that they haven't really learned a lesson when they do things like spooking at an object that has been moved to a new location or because they are moving in a different direction. Yes, the object may look slightly different from a new perspective, but that is exactly the point, they are not applying what they know about the object by recognizing that it is only a different view point. They were conditioned not to spook at the object as it appeared previously, but they did not really learn that the object is not going to hurt them. For horses it usually takes repeated conditioning using as many possible variations of the lesson as possible for them to really master the problem.

Even the cues under saddle must be taught in both directions, at all the gaits, under different circumstances, but yet consistently the same, for the horse to be confirmed as mastering that cue. Otherwise, another rider will not get the correct response from the same cue because it is not possible that they will perform it exactly as the horse was taught. The horse must be able to recognize that the cue is like one their first trainer taught and choose the correct answer. Sometimes they might pick the wrong one due to the fact that many cues are similar and riders have as many differences in the way they use their hands, leg, and seat as horses have in the way they respond to them. A sensitive, experienced rider will calmly repeat the cue and reward the horse with a pat or "good!" when he responds with the correct answer. If the horse has been trained correctly it is very likely that it will be able to figure out what the new rider is asking.

Just as in humans, some horses learn faster than others, some have shorter attention spans, conformation issues that make the lesson harder or easier for them, differing sensitivities to stimulus, and different physical strength or weakness in different areas of their body. So it is very important that the rider/trainer consider these differences and apply their knowledge to each horse individually. Too often a trainer falls into a "system" that they apply to every horse without recognizing the individual differences in each horse and then declared that a horse is "difficult", "inferior", or "untrainable". A young horse might also be labeled "superior", "talented", or a "star" because they have the mental and emotional make up to excel early in their lessons, but no consideration is made to whether or not they have the conformational or physical development to sustain the level of training and they break down. In many horse sports these talented youngsters appear to be expendable - there are always more coming along - so the long term quality of life is not considered.

Many sports, both human and equine, are striving for the perfect athlete. Perfection is rarely possible, but the ability to recognize individual differences and develop a training program that will address them without force or unrealistic expectations should be the goal of every trainer. I have seen horses and humans who were able to perform at levels that conformationally they appeared not to have the ability for, but someone had brought them along with patience and proper conditioning of the mind, body and spirit, and they easily and happily won the gold!

Gelding Your Colt

I already wrote about whether or not you should geld your colt on
Should You Geld Your Colt? If you decide to take my advice and do it you might want to know a little bit about when and what to expect. If you want to know how it is done - talk to your vet.

Here are some things to consider:
- Gelding a colt early will usually add another inch of growth as testosterone seems to inhibit growth.
- The longer you wait to geld your colt the more masculine he will be - testosterone builds those thick necks, big jowls, and masculine muscles.
- The longer a colt remains intact the more stallion like behavior he will retain after he is gelded.
- The soonest you can geld your colt is after he is weaned and preferably after he has had his shots - which would usually be around 5 months.
- Colts are usually gelded standing - gravity helps insure that everything that needs to be cut is down and easily accessible.
- Older stallions require a surgical setting and are more likely to have complications.
- It will take several weeks for the hormone levels to go down so don't expect any major behavior changes right away.
- Most of the time stitches are not required, in fact most vets prefer not to put in any stitches so that the area can drain and there is less chance for infection.

When you plan on having the colt gelded you will need to bed a stall with straw as shavings or other bedding can get in the incision area. He will require cold hosing on the area for a few days and should be kept quiet so as not to pull anything. They usually don't act like they are even aware that anything has changed and do not seem to have any discomfort.

Your vet will give you instructions on after surgery care - most of the time it is minor and the gelding continues on like nothing happened. If he was less than a year old any studdly behavior that he was exhibiting will soon fade away, if he was older the behavior won't completely disappear, but he will become more manageable. I have observed that the later they are gelded the more sensitive they seem to be about their environment, training, other horses, and just the world in general. It is not bad behavior, just not the "whatever" attitude of most geldings that were cut earlier.