FRIDA FOAL WATCH kicked into full gear on Sunday night when we noticed some signs that she might be getting close. Being the overachievers that we are, we began checking on Frida every hour and logging our observations. It’s now Wednesday afternoon and no baby yet…but we’ll keep watching. Foal Watch is very repetitive, so every once in while we get a little cheeky, mostly due to lack of sleep…check it out:
Sunday 6:59 PM– From Dr Lewis: Sounds like Frida’s is getting close! I’m on call tonight, but it’s probably best to call the er line to wake me up if you need it (but hopefully you don’t!). Remember, mares and foals love dark and quiet!
Sunday 7:07 PM– our girl is laying down, seems quiet
Sunday 8:08 PM–Mostly just eating. Shifting weight a lot and a couple circles of the stall. Seems quiet.
Sunday 9:09 — Miss Mare totally forgetting I hung her a bale net pacing her windows a lot as to not be forgotten
Sunday 10:02 PM — Happily eating on the hay net. 2 . No foal this hour…
Sunday 11:02 PM –Eating hay.
Monday 12am Eating hay, shifting weight, pawed at ground once.
Monday 1am. Quietly sleeping, flat out.
Monday 2am Loving her hay bag. No fooling around.
Monday 3am, same as 2am.
Monday 4am Sleeping/relaxing; flat out or lying sternal.
Monday 5am lying sternal and quiet
Monday 6am Back to the hay.
Monday 7am, eating.
Monday 8am — up and eating
Monday 9am — up and eating grass in pasture 22. Stall camera charging.
Monday 10am still on grass, no rolling or signs of agitation
Monday 11am. Active, no signs of being in labor
Monday 12pm. Had a good romp on grass with Arionna right before turn-in. Drank water and munching her hay now. Sara is mounting the cam now.
Monday 1pm — hanging in paddock, no signs of labor, camera 2 is up
Monday 2pm. Just munching away and trying to ply me for scratches (it’s working)
Monday 3pm — munching hay in her stall
Monday 4pm –If you guessed that at 4pm she’d be munching on her hay, you would have guessed correctly. Well, until I went in to adjust her hay bag then she made me scratch her again! Insatiable.
Monday 5pm happy hour at the hay bag.
Monday 6pm clear liquid on left teat. Not dripping or appearing milky in consistency. It’s more like a very small drop of water on the end. Munching happily on hay bag. Unsure that there is enough to last through the night, so it will be a good indicator tomorrow morning if we need more in the PM bag. I did not add any to what was there.
Monday 7pm. Big Mama is down on her side. She doesn’t even look like a horse, just a blob with legs. I can’t see indication that anything is going on.
Monday 8pm. What’d’ya know… eating hay. No signs of distress/labor.
Monday 9pm. Still far too busy eating hay to contemplate giving birth. Chill and munching. Lights are on so NC is around.
10pm. Mare has an eating problem… she never stops long enough to get with the birthing program. I feel like we will be doing this for days!!!
Monday 11pm. Standing, eating, not having baby.
Tuesday 12am ‑Lying flat out at the moment.
Tuesday 1am. Right where I left her at 9, eating hay. No baby right now.
Tuesday 2am — laying down sternal no foal or signs she would like to push one out.
Tuesday 3am. Walking around her stall, idly poking at her hay bag. Yawned about 10 times.
Tuesday 4am — just chilling in a horse ball — no signs of labor
Tuesday 5am. Lying down sternal. Quiet and calm.
Tuesday 6am. Looking well rested and very pregnant.
Tuesday 7am. Had a pee. Looking out her window.
Tuesday 8am. All hay is gone and she’d like to go outside now please. No signs of baby.
Tuesday 9am. Grazing in the style of any other non-pregnant horse.
Tuesday 10am looking about the same as 9am. It was about this time yesterday she got her tail wrap off, so she’s making that a trend as well.
Tuesday 11am in paddock, hiding in the shade, all I can see is her tail wrap when she swishes her tail.
Tuesday 12pm in shelter calmly, not eating, no signs of labor
Tuesday 1pm — still just chillin, sans food
Tuesday 2pm in her stall for Arrionna’s dental. No signs of labor.
Tuesday 3pm in her stall, eating straw.
Tuesday 4pm drinking water, eating hay, keepin that baby in
Tuesday 5pm bellied up to the (hay) bar
Tuesday 6pm—Happily eating her hay with some curiosity about what’s going on in the barn.
Tuesday 7pm — hanging at window, no baby signs
Tuesday 8pm — happily munching hay while wearing her bedding, bun firmly in oven
Tuesday 9pm. Took a break from eating to stand restively by her window and stare into my soul. Got a drink of water and went back to eat. No baby.
Tuesday 10pm. Was eating but took a break to look out into the barn wondering why it was so bright (NC is still there with lights on). Drank some water and contemplated life…still no baby, so back to eating.
Tuesday 10:40pm. Frida and I spoke in person due to my unexpected visit to the barn to put Moshi in a stall.
Tuesday 11pm, this may come as a surprise but she’s up and eating hay.
Wednesday 12:12am Much more active tonight — some pacing mixed with some eating, lots of weight shifting — think we’re getting closer, but not in labor yet
Wednesday 1a. At first sleeping laid out, both flat and sternal. Got up, did a few laps, got a drink of water, over to hay bag, eating.
Wednesday 2am—Very focused on eating her hay.
Wednesday 3am. Flat out, trying to get some sleep.
Wednesday 4am — laying flat out with some moves to sternal
Wednesday 5am. Eating hay
Wednesday 6am. getting some more sleep in, was sternal, now flat out and snoozing away.
Wednesday 7am, at her hay bag. Her belly is enormous! Foal is still in there.
Wednesday 8am — ate grain and now waiting to go out
Wednesday 9am. Grazing
Wednesday 10am. Grazing. The bugs are bugging her and she gets to running a bit. But mostly she’s just grazing.
Wednesday 11am. Grazing quietly. Kicked at her belly a few times but that’s probably bug related, not baby related.
Wednesday 12pm — back in paddock hanging in shelter with small hay nibbles
