Hello from Southern California

[PasoVicki]

Hello.

I guess I'm not technically a "Newbie" since I registered here last fall -- but this is the first time I've come out of lurker mode.

I'm in Southern California, east of San Diego, and there are very few Pasos or Paso owners around here, so I've been learning as much as I can online.

Right now, my husband and I have two Pasos: a seventeen year old bay gelding (Dancer) and a six year old black mare (Danesa). Our family also has two ponies: a five year old black mixed breed mare (Starlight, for the white star on her forhead) and an eight year old gray Welsh mix gelding (Billy). I'll try to post photos, but I'm fairly inept, technologically, so it probably won't work.

The reason I'm coming out of lurker mode is that Danesa is pregnant and due to foal in about five weeks. (She was pregnant when I bought her last summer; I'll also try to find and post a link to the foal's daddy. He's a gorgeous grullo/gray stallion owned by a breeder in Colorado.)

I'm so nervous!!! I've never even seen a newborn foal, much less been responsible for one. So I need all the help, advice, encouragement, and hand-holding I can get. (This is Danesa's third foal, so she's really calm about the process.) I'm following the vet's advice, of course, and he keeps telling me that everything is fine. Her weight is perfect; she's in perfect health . . . . But his calm "Well, next time I see you, you'll have a new foal" when he was here to give Danesa her final pre-foal vaccinations a couple of days ago made me realize how close it's getting . . . and I keep reading about all of the things that can go wrong.

So, if anyone has any good advice, please post it.

Thanks for listening.

Vicki

p.s. I've already figured out that I can't figure out how to post the photos. Can anyone point me toward the instructions?

[Pasogirlz]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/3.gif
We are so glad you came of lurkdom :D

We better get you all straightend out w/the pix before the foal comes...this crowd can get nasty if they have to wait too long for baby pix. ;-)

So glad to have some West Coast folks here.

Congrats!

[Brigitte]

Welcome!! Can't wait for the foal :D

[hast]

Oh how cool 8-) We'll get more baby pictures :lol:

[CarolU]

To bad you didn't quit lurking a little sooner, I was down that way in January for the PFHA meeting in Redondo Beach. There are Paso owners down there. Are you in contact with California Region?? They have some very nice people...including one of my very favorite Vikie's...Vickie McQuin is a PF trainer, wonderful person.

Welcome to the BB. Lori will get you squared away with the picture posting, but go ahead and set up an accoung (they're free) at either www.pethobbyist.com or www.photobucket.com, and there are some others. Some albums, like Webshots and Yahoo don't allow sharing, so don't waste your time with them.

And welcome to "foal watch" with me (and a few others). I hope to beat you to the ground, but have no idea when Bella is due, so you may well win. If you haven't got it yet, buy "Blessed are the Broodmares" and read it. It's all about foaling, delivering, what to watch for, when to call the vet, diet, etc. It's the best resource for first-tim foal deliverers. I walk around wtih my copy now. LOL

Keep your batteries on your camera charged. Mares KNOW when you're not ready. LOL

[Barbwire]

http://www.jammerbabe.com/flotilla/images/smiles/groupsmile.gif

Thanks for the welcomes. I now know that I have to open an account somewhere to upload the photos before I can post them here. I'll try to do that by tomorrow. My kids are home on Spring break this week, so I don't have a lot of time to spare.

Carol : You're more than welcome to win the foaling date contest. I think the more successful foal deliveries I read about, the less nervous I might be. I have Blessed Are The Broodmares and several other books. The problem is, I seem to only be able to focus on all of the things that can go wrong. The more I read, the more nervous I am!! I'm hoping to get some advice here to calm my nerves.

Thanks again, everyone. I'll get photos up as soon as I can. With luck, I'll have the process down pat before I have baby pictures. And with luck, I'll have baby pictures. That's all I want: a healthy baby and a healthy mom.

Vicki

[Blameitonbrio]

We better get you all straightend out w/the pix before the foal comes...this crowd can get nasty if they have to wait too long for baby pix. ;-)


Yep...don't even think of a foal announcement without pictures!

Welcome!

[PasoVicki]

I don't know why that last message came from "Guest." It was from me, and I was logged on. Sigh. I warned everyone that I'm technologically inept.

Oh, Carol, I forgot to answer your question about the California Region. I got a free one year membership to the PFHA when I bought Danesa last summer, and I got a letter from them saying someone from the California Region would contact me, but I never heard from anyone else. Eventually, I need to make some contacts, because Danesa will probably need a training brush-up after having foals three years in a row (two before I bought her). However, I haven't been too concerned about that yet. One step at a time! I have to survive the foaling.

[Terri]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/15.gif

We will definitely need those foal pictures. Some of us have to live vicariously through the babies of others.

We are not exactly in the Paso Fino capital of the world either, but through diligent search and destroy methods I think we have pretty much identified all in the NE. So I am sure you will find some in hiding around you.

So practice your picture skills on your existing horses so we can all start guessing what color the baby will be.

Oh, and I suppose I should ask how many human kids you have, how old are they and most importantly: do they share you love of horses?

[PasoVicki]

Guessing baby color is one of my favorite passtimes, but I think there are a lot of possibilities. Danesa is black, but (just guessing here, because I'm not great at genetics) probably not homogenous black, since one of her previous foals was (I think) chestnut. The other was definitely bay. This time, she's bred to a different stallion; his registered name is Anfitrion de Bochica. He's grullo but turning gray. So I think the new foal could be . . . just about anything, right? I think grullo is black dun, so the foal might or might not get a black gene, might or might not get a dun gene, might or might not get a gray gene . . . .

[PasoVicki]

well, gosh, I guess I should answer human questions, too. I have two daughters, ages 8 and 9. Both love horses and are learning on the ponies. We also have an eighteen month old foster son, who has been with us since birth. His biological parents' parental rights were recently terminated, and we're in the process of adopting him.
And, just to round things out, we have three dogs (two of whom are elderly), a cat, three Holland lop bunnies, several parrots and a few fish.

[Terri]

Well, I think you will fit right in with the rest of us animal lovers. Most of us even like kids. I have 4 kids, ages 7, 14,15 and 19. I have 1 extra large golden retriever and 2 cats. Also 2 Pasos: geldings - hence my pining away for a baby. And 2 boarder horses. One is a Paso and the other the token Quarter horse. My 14 year old daughter loves the horses and rides with me. My 7 year old is just learning. The 15 yr old is allegeric to them and my 19 year old just thinks they are smelly and gross (go figure). I am glad your daughters love them too, it makes them a real family activity. And what better way to keep kids out of trouble than to keep them in the barn.

[CarolU]

Vicki...I've had bad luck in the past foaling, but this is a great place to read about and see a lot of successful foalings every spring. Just looking at all the pictures makes you yearn...and KNOW that a lot of people haven't even posted their's...Grrrrrr. I think the percentages are in our favor to have healthy deliveries and healthy foals/dams. I sure hope so, because I'll die if anything goes wrong. I am like you, I read that bad stuff and freak out, but having been an EMT for many years, I feel it is better to be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best.

7 Paso Finos, 1.9 Peruvian Pasos, 2 dogs, 4 cats, and one large turtle eating fish. ;-) Oh yea...and a pair of Barn owls that are nesting, but we don't know on what yet. :-)

[Thomasj]

hello and welcome to the forum :)

[PasoVicki]

Carol -- What do you have in your "foaling kit?" Every book I've read has a completely different list of supplies you MUST have on hand, just in case you need them. I think I could fill an entire shed with emergency supplies and not have everything from every list! And, while I'm asking questions, what method(s) are you using to determine when your mare (didn't you say Bella?) is getting close to foaling time? It seems there can be a huge range of time in which a mare might deliver -- and very few reliable predictors. I'm scared of not being there, in case something goes wrong.

I'm lucky enough to have a video of Danesa delivering her last foal. She foaled in the middle of the afternoon, and former owner caught it on video.

[Laura S]

Hi Vicki,

Welcome to the board! The people here are very nice and good at answering all kinds of questions. I bought a mare last year too that was pregnant and she just had her foal 3 weeks ago. It was her first and my first. It could have been a recipe for disaster, but everything went perfect. I was a nervous wreck. I read 2 books, Blessed are the Broodmares and The Complete Book of Foaling. Both books scared the sh"t out of me, but I felt prepared. I must have read each of them 5 times. She had the foal just before midnight and I got to see her water break during my "midnight check". But it all happened so fast I didn't have time to run back to the house to get my foaling kit and my husband. The foaling kit was at the house because it was still freezing temps out. Basically my box just had towels, string, scissors, flashlight, iodine for the naval, enemas, ivory liquid soap, gloves, tailwrap and lubricating jelly. I was just so amazed at how everything happened just exactly how the book said it would. It was a wonderful experience! I hope everything works out well for you too!! Good luck.

[baileyholc]

Welcome!

[Moniece Dickerson]

WELCOME!!WELCOME!!My first and only foal just arived almost three months ago!There is nothing like seeing that baby horse laying there after all the time you've waited...no words can describe the feeling!Now I look at Rosalita's newborn pic and can admit she was not the most beautiful foal ever born but at that moment I first saw her she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and being able to help her stand up for her very first time ever was priceless!Now Rosa couldn't nurse when she was born and the vet I had was useless but i'm gonna tell ya especially when it's your first foal ever if there happens to be a problem survival mode will kick in and the strength will just be there to do whatever it takes to help your little one make it.I had never milked anything but I learned in a hurry how to milk a mare and feed my little girl from my measuring cup and I did that every two hours for eight days till she could nurse on her own and she made it!Your foal will probably be just fine and normal like most but don't torture yourself with the what if's because if things happen not to go just fine and normal your strength and determination will kick in and you will beable to do whatever that foal needs you to do for it to make it ;-) .The people here guided and supported me through it all,they are WONDERFUL people here and you will NOT have to go it alone!Rosa was three weeks early though so start close foal watch very early just in case.I'll work on getting a newborn pic and a now pic posted for you tomorrow.Your new paso friend,Moniece

[lisa l aka marci]

Carol -- What do you have in your "foaling kit?" Every book I've read has a completely different list of supplies you MUST have on hand, just in case you need them. I think I could fill an entire shed with emergency supplies and not have everything from every list! And, while I'm asking questions, what method(s) are you using to determine when your mare (didn't you say Bella?) is getting close to foaling time? It seems there can be a huge range of time in which a mare might deliver -- and very few reliable predictors. I'm scared of not being there, in case something goes wrong.

I'm lucky enough to have a video of Danesa delivering her last foal. She foaled in the middle of the afternoon, and former owner caught it on video.

Welcome! I thought I'd share what I had in foaling kits....NOTHING! LOL....Seriously, both times my Lucy foaled, she did it in the middle of the night, out on paster as a 'surprise'......

Seriously, whe I will have on hand next year.....betadine, scissors, towels, heat lamp, clean buckets, paper towels, vet wrap, .....

I'm trying to think what we used when I worked on breeding farms....pretty much a towel, and let Mother Nature do ehr work.....but we did have a fully stocked equipment room on site too.....

Lisa

[PasoVicki]

Thanks again, everyone, for all the warm welcomes and reassurances. After reading so many horror stories, in the foaling books, of things that can go wrong, it's good to hear that most of you have gotten through foaling without any major disasters.
Right now, my foaling kit contains betadine, soap, towels, paper towels, plastic bags, tail wrap, gauze pads, cotton balls, heavy string, scissors, a children's enema, plastic gloves, lubricating jelly, a huge lantern with extra batteries (because we don't have electricity at the barn), and a copy of the foaling information my vet gave me. I also have a tube of Ivermectin to give Danesa after she foals, and up at the house I have a supply of sterilized bottles, nipples, jars and measuring cups, just in case of need. I still need to get a couple of new pails and a foal halter. I hope that covers everything I might need in a "normal" situation. If something abnormal happens, I'll have my cell phone ready to call the vet (presuming that Danesa is kind enough to let me be present, instead of sneaking into foal when my back is turned). Presumably, if I need to call the vet out, he'll have whatever he needs and can direct me to where to get anything else he recommends.
We're just into our last month. Danesa is holding up great, but I may expire from sheer stress. My blood pressure shoots up 50 points every time she twitches her tail.
Vicki

[Pasogirlz]

SandyM, why don't you tell her how many nights you camped next to the corral last year waiting on your mare. :shock: :lol:

[DebbieS]

Welcome Vicki!!

Can't wait to see pics of what's been cookin'!!

I'm a mom to 2 human kids (and a husband), 5 horses (2 QH, 1 Peruvian/QH, 1 APHA, 1 Paso), 4 dogs (Cairn Terrier, Corgi, Daschund, Golden), 1 cat, 9 chickens, 1 rabbit and too many pigeons to count!!