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Orphan Foal :( I didn't like sleeping anyways

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Here is what has been happening. Day in and day out for the last 6 days we have done nothing but worry about our "Bunny" Cielo Spring Thaw - aka Bunny was born Thurday April 21st at 8:00pm. Orphaned. :sad She is not totally out of the woods yet, and we have been working with our local vet to get things where they need to be, but well you all know what its like with foals... you never know until you know. We didn't think she was going to be alive with how bad the fight was just to get her born... then its was cold and damp so we cleaned out a space to build a stall in the heated garage (in the floor heating) and got her in there. Needless to say it has been all about milk, feedings, colostrum, plasma, poop, peeing... agh! Did you know you can over feed a foal? Did you also know that a lack of sleep is very much like being drunk? Here are some photos, they are of her at 3 days old, and outside at 4 days old. [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_9999-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_9980-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0041.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0115.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0142.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0149.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0180.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/AdellEquine/IMG_0217.jpg[/IMG]

Hey What The Wed, 04/27/2011 - 15:28

Bunny is just beautiful. It is so sad when they are orphaned and such a lot of work yet so rewarding also. Congrats! and hope to see more of your Easter Bunny :)

Krickette Thu, 04/28/2011 - 00:49

My you have gotten some gorgeous babies! So sad to hear about losing mum, but she's a doll! I'm sure it will all work out fine! I just want to kiss that pink nose! Also, those are the cutest ears everrrr!!!!

critterkeeper Thu, 04/28/2011 - 11:30

She is so beautiful, I just want to cuddle her...I am sorry about your mare, and raising an orphan is a challenge. ~x( I love her little "color" points on her forelegs... :love , but I see from her legs that on foal shed that will change.

Yes, I knew you could over feed (often signaled by diarrhea). :BH Also, that lack of sleep was like walking around 1/2 drunk (still remember all those late nights of cramming for exams after working a full-time job, taking care of 5 kids/hubby and going to night school full-time)...the good thing is that they say "nobody ever died from lack of sleep". %-(

Adell Thu, 04/28/2011 - 14:07

People may have never died from lack of sleep... but maybe they have drove off the road. I don't live at the barn/farm yet. Give me an other few weeks (totally an other reason I am not getting any sleep) so I have to get up after the night shift and drive my kids to school an hour away, turn around and drive back and then drive back to get the kids... you see where I am going with this. :BH

Adell Sat, 04/30/2011 - 07:17

The vet gave her a thumb up! Now we just have to wait for her 1 month check up to get the all clear and she will be totally ok.

How about some input - would you wait until all the weanlings are weaned to turn them out together or do you think if Bunny gets a buddy she could be turned out with the other newborns and their moms?

rabbitsfizz Sat, 04/30/2011 - 12:03

No, get her out with a quiet, gentle mare and foal ASAP. Also, get her off the bottle as soon as you can- a bucket is not only better it is easier and a foal does not become dependent on it in the way it does a bottle. Get her onto hard feed soon, I start offering at ten days, and hope to have them eating properly by 30- to the point where they are all but weaned (YES, honest!! an orphan will be weaned long before a normal foal as there is no "Mummy" bond to break- foals need their Mamas far longer than they need milk, once the milk hairs have dropped off it is safe to wean- I always kept up with milk pellets/ powdered milk in the feed until around three/ four months at least.

Did you know that it is possible to get up, go out to the barn, milk a mare and feed a foal without actually waking up?
It nearly killed me BTW!!!

This is when Minis come into their own as you can just put them in the kitchen but, having said that all the real orphans I have done have been Arabs, I have had awkward births and difficult foals in Minis but as yet not a true orphan.

Bunny is a beautiful girl, no doubt.

Adell Sat, 04/30/2011 - 22:12

Rabbit - Thanks for the advice. We have moved her from bottle to bucket already, once she got past the point of drinking a full bottle at one go, we moved her to a bucket and everyone is much happier with it.

The night Bunny was born there was a TB mare that was calling for her, but has yet to have her own foal... that mare I think would be ideal to turn Bunny out with. She is an older mare, so she is not likely to be "spooked" by the idea (but you just never really know). But as soon as she does have her foal then we can see how that set up would work. **Next question on that - would you just put the one mare and the two foals or would you try to find a mate for Bunny before hand? We have some yearlings that may suit. There is a yearling mini... and I know your stand on full size horses with minis, but what about newborns? And there is also a yearling Morab colt that is only going to be about 14hh - so he is not that large now. There has been some votes to the yearling mini filly because she is not going to be put up for sale so she can be a buddy for as long as it needed (and safe) where the colt is going to be going up for sale alittle later this spring.

We got some foal hard feed just the other day, so she will have that when she is ready. She is just over 7 days old now, so maybe in a few more days she will start having some interest in it. **An other question, would you make a mash out of the hard feed until she gets a taste for it and slowly make it less and less wet?

I am not surprised that you can do all that while you are still sleeping... I am not sure I remember waking up for any night feeding for my own kids and they are alive and well :rofl

There was talk of putting Bunny in the house that first night. We have the great danes so we have a 8x8 welping box that is set up in the bedroom its made from chainlink fencing and would normally be used outside... But as much as Steve didn't want his garage turned in to a barn he HAD to put his foot down to having a foal in his ROOM! :rofl

Adell Wed, 05/04/2011 - 07:59

In reply to by Daylene Alford

[quote=Tianateke]They can shove a leg through and de-glove the whole hoof capsule yanking it back through.
Is bunny a cremello? I haven't been on in a while, it's lambing season here.[/quote]

Sorry my bad I was unclear, yes we have a chain link whelping box set up in the bedroom for the danes, but Bunny was put in a standard horse panel 10x10 stall in the garage (with the bottom 2 feet boarded up, so that she couldn't slip under the panels). It was writen more as a joke, I guess you would have to know Steve to understand, he loves his garage so much. :grin: Mom was so tired by the time Bunny was born she would have been ok if you had told her that Bunny was going to sleep in her bed :rofl

Yup Bunny is a Dom. White.

rabbitsfizz Wed, 05/04/2011 - 12:18

Funnily enough I have always found foals have more interest in dry feed than mashes- of course it can vary but I would not waste the feed until she is eating a good wack- that is when I start adding beet pulp and other things. To start with I offer everything separate- for the minis I use a polythene sand tray- a kids one on legs- and put little measured heaps of everything in it. I weigh stuff out so I can tell accurately how much has been eaten!
I would definitely NOT put her anywhere near yearlings- the quietest one can turn into a thuggish bully with a new foal.
There is a chance the mare about to foal would take Bunny as well, which would be an ideal answer. I would keep the afterbirth, rub Bunny all over and offer her up and see what happens. You have to be careful to handle both foals lots, and really be prepared to interfere, so the mare is a little bit dazed by it all and will not notice that Bunny is not nursing at first (important for the new foal to get all the colostrum which would only upset Bunny anyway) They would need to be watched carefully, of course, and the mare would need loads of extra food, but this would be the very best outcome all round.

rabbitsfizz Mon, 05/09/2011 - 12:04

ARGH....loose halter alert!!!
Honestly, it only takes a second, a leg could go through that halter and you would no longer have a foal.
PLEASE?????

critterkeeper Fri, 06/03/2011 - 15:22

Yes, we are anxious for an update on this lovely lady...keep ups posted on Bunny grows.

Adell Mon, 06/06/2011 - 18:43

Well Bunny is a bad Bunny! She hasn't taken to eatting anything other then her milk and it has to be right on time or she will give you a blast of ... well you know.

Other then that, she has had the vet out a few more times to check her over, and gave her the :-bd Her joints are good, she is growing like a weed, she plays (with us) other horses scare her. Big ones, little ones, quiet ones, ones in stalls, ALL the other horses scare her. But she is ok with following my car to the end of the driveway if she thinks I will have some milk in there for her.

Bunny gets lots of baths, mostly because she is always around when we are watering the plants and she won't leave us alone - that equals baths.

She is going to be something for sure. I love having her around the place with the kids and I now living on the farm. I am not sure if we could have made it without all the help we got from all of our friends.

I need to get photos of her, but she is starting to be one of those horses that are really happy to show off ears, eyes and noses but a full body is only possible if you are really really sneaky.

I need to find a bit more time in each day so that I can get back up todate with photos... I hate getting behind, they grow so fast, but really, if I have to pick taking photos of my foals or of my kids, the kids win everyday :grin:

Adell Sat, 06/11/2011 - 18:02

:bounce :HB I SAW HER EAT SOME GRASS!!!! Ok maybe she played with it... but I don't care, she tried and that is what matters to me :rofl

Short list of things she has tried to suck on.
- Fingers
- Back on knees
- Ears
- My car
- Sticking out parts on my car
- Shoes
- My kids (all parts of them) Ty was covered in Bunny spit the other day.

But until today I had not seen her try to put anything Horse like in her mouth. Tiny Bunny hop forward.

Adell Sun, 06/12/2011 - 11:16

In reply to by Daylene Alford

She will be 8 weeks on Thursday.

Oh and she found a friend... sorta. He is the last foal we had, he doesn't so much "like" her as he is ok with her following him around and doing what he does :love

She is growing into a horse right before our eyes :rofl

Daylene Alford Sun, 06/12/2011 - 11:21

Well, I have to say that I'm a bit relieved that she has found interest in a horse. That is good news indeed!

whitehorseluvr Mon, 11/28/2011 - 15:46

WOW. So cute! :grin:

You must be proud. Sorry 'bout mum.
What is her base color? It appears to be Chestnut from the photos, but I could be wrong.

critterkeeper Wed, 11/30/2011 - 05:45

It has been quite awhile since I had my "Bunny" fix so am hoping you will give us an update with pixs...

and I PROMISE I will get new "Thor" and "Storm" pixs as soon as it quits raining (but as it is coming full on winter here, they are just white(fur balls with toasty/creamy points...(with lots of brown and red mud spots ~x( )