Foal News

I've had a few people ask me to move this to/add another blog on Blogspot.com, since the majority of people don't have LJ accounts.

Here you go. ;) foalnews.blogspot.com 

Well Lexi came home a couple days ago. She missed both ours and the vet's farrier appointments, so her feet are looking pretty bad. Hopefully we'll get that taken care of in a couple days.

I had left her tail in the tail bag when I dropped her off at the vets, because dry it was dragging the ground about an inch and wet it was between 2-3 inches on the ground. I was so proud of myself!! Then we took the bag off at the vets and it turns out she had rubbed it on everything in sight, so after an hour and a half last night I finally got all of the tangles out and re-washed/conditioned/MTGed/mosturized it and put it back in the bag. Hopefully it stays there.

Here are some pictures of her first few minutes with the rest of the crew. I'm really really hopeful that the baby gets that athletisism. Holy engaging the hind end, huh? :)





 

She's FINALLY pregnant. :D :D :D She was bred June 3rd and checked on the 16th, and there was a little baby waiting for us!

Hey everyone! Sorry for lack of updates but I do have quite a bit of news for you.

After Lexi's ultrasound turned up no pregnancy, it showed that she had a follicle growing almost to a 40 (which is what she ovulated at last time) so I ordered more semen. They bred her and checked her the next morning, and the follicle had shrunk. Lexi had fluid accumulation in her uterus so they just flushed that out and did a culture on it. It had no bacteria growth in it. They didn't crush the cysts. 

I brought her home and decided to switch vets to a reproductive specialist Dr. Laura Chamberlain, Lexi was dropped off there last week and started on shots for a short cycle again. Laura said that she didn't think that the cysts were interfering with Lexi catching,  rather that she probably had fluid accumulation from irritation last time as well and they didn't catch it which killed off the embryo. So this time six hours after breeding no matter what she is going to flush her out.

Ugh. So much for an early baby. But she is doing well, her butt is healing up nicely, and she is happy and healthy. If only her reproductive system would cooperate...

Well, Lexi got ultrasounded Monday and it turns out that she didn't catch. :( *sigh* So they're going to try and crush the cysts on her ovaries that may be giving her a problem, flush her out, and try it again. We left her there Monday night, and I'm picking up more sperm (for another $275) tomorrow morning. 

This is frustrating, maddening, and disappointing all at the same time...I hope everything goes well this time, if not, we'll have to wait until next year and try again.

Time to run up another tab...

I know that they're a bit overdue, but here are some pictures from Peacock Equine Reproduction Center when we went to get the sperm.


Mom fell in love with this guy. He was our tour guide through the facility. :)


Lucks came to greet us at the fence. Isn't he gorgeous!?


My baby's baby daddy. :)


But of course, mom preferred this guy.

Lexi has an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30 to be palpated. Here's hoping that we find ONE little fetus looking back at us!!

Well, the vet gave us quite a surprise today. Since Lexi hurt herself at their clinic, they didn't charge for stitching her up, only for her antibiotics. I won't add those to the "overall vet cost" though, since it didn't have anything to do with reproduction. :)

She ovulated!! Yes! So now it's just up to those little swimmers to do their job. :) Wish us luck with the pregnancy test on the 28th!

Well I picked Lexi up from the vet's this morning. She hadn't ovulated when they checked her earlier so they bred her again with the second dose before I got there.

She needs to be at the vets at 8:30 in the morning Monday to see if she's ovulated yet, if not, we'll have to order more sperm...at a cost of $275. Pray that she ovulates, please.

As you all know, I dropped Lexi off at the vets earlier this week for her AI. They have a very nice facility (they had better, as I'm paying $45 a night for it) and wounderful turnout. She's living the high life for the week, being pampered and coddled and ooohed and ahhhed over. So what does she decide to do?

Of course, because it is one of my horses and they cannot go a month without hurting themselves (Anyone remember Sneak and his Phantom That Nearly Cut His Leg Off incident a few months back?) she takes a chunk out of her rear end.

And when I say "chunk" I mean "huge gash in which muscle is bulging out of." Ugh. At least it was at the vet's, right?

But that's not the best part! What's great is how she managed to do this in the nice, wonderful, safe, secure vet hospital! Apparently Miss Priss did not like the feed bin where it was at. Oh no. It would look much nicer on the floor. At which time I can then lay on it, effectively cutting my rear end open and adding ANOTHER $100 or so dollars to momma's vet bill.

For Pete's sake, I already owe them just about my first born, now they'll want my 2nd and 3rd, too!

*sigh* 

However, mom and I did go on the Sperm delivery today. She had never seen Lucks before and the breeding farm was only a couple hours away, so we (being the silly girls that we are) figured ROAD TRIP. Maybe not such a good idea with the thunderstorms and tornado watches and what have you, but hey, we're McCardell/Bokkon girls. We aren't known for being rational. We even came up with a name and slogn for ourselves: Sperm Girls, "We haul it as fast as you can blow it!" 

Okay...so maybe not such a great idea for the younger crowd. We'll be sure to work on that. :D

Back on track, Lexi was bred today and will be checked tomorrow morning to see if she has ovulated yet. If she hasn't, she will be bred again using the second dose of sperm we got. Either way, I'll be picking her up tomorrow morning.

Wish us luck that she took and NO TWINS! Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Well the vet took a look at Lexi last night at said that her follicle was about at a 27. She is going to check it tomorrow morning and see where it's at, but most likely we'll be breeding her around Friday.

I contacted the breeding farm and they said no problem, so I'm all set. Now we just have to wait for Lexi's reproductive organs to work with us!

On another note, the vet also said that all Lexi does when she's turned out is watch the people at the gas station nearby. What a weird little mare I have...

My mom always says "wear clean underwear to the doctors." So I figured why not use the same principal for Lexi? The weather finally hit over sixty so my dear got her second bath of the year. She wasn't very happy. Actually, she was an emotional wreck (Or rather, as "emtional" as she gets. Which is better than a lot of mares I've met on their good days). Apparently the shot worked. :)

Well I accomplised a couple things to do with the breeding this morning. I managed to get Lexi to the clinic with minimal drama - loading is still hit and miss with little missy. I also faxed over my card info to the breeding center to pay the final amount of $275 for collection & handling.

How exciting! Just a few more days and I'll - maybe - be a grandma-in-waiting!

Well, I pulled in the drive around 12:30 this afternoon and the vet was just leaving! So I missed Lexi getting her shot to jump start her heat cycle.

The vet said she may act "crampy" or "colicy" but don't worry about it. She said it's best just to not look and ignore her for a while. o.o So I just looked out the window about an hour ago and she's out eating with everyone so (hopefully) she's past the worst of it.

Monday we drop her off at the vets! Yay!

Well, there was "no bacterial growth" on Lexi's culture, so it looks like we are good to start the Mare Plus and Regumate today!

As far as maintenance while she's pregnant goes, I'm most likely going to leave Lexi barefoot with regular trims. She will be on Mare Plus the entire duration of her gestation, along with the time she will be nursing the foal. This should help keep up her own nutrients along with those of the foal(FILLY!). I will also try to keep her in shape with some light exercise/riding. Exercise during the pregnancy to keep her muscles in shape will help when she is foaling. 

Anyway, it's off to the mud-pit, I mean pasture. :)

Happy St. Pattys Day everyone!

Today Lexi had her pre-breeding exam. This included a palpatation/ultrasound and a culture, along with some Regumate to start her on at the end of the week. She had a few cists on her uterus, but all her parts were there. :) The vet said that cists are common on mares who have been bred before, and that we just need to remember where they are so that we don't confuse them for a fetus when we start looking.

The culture results should be back within a few days, and if everything is a-OK we can start her on the Regumate. The reason for this is that we are trying to "short-cycle" her. Regumate blocks mares from going into heat, and after about two weeks on it we'll give her a shot to bring her back into her cycle, effectively "forcing" her into producing an ovarian follicle. This will allow us to monitor the follicle and pick the opimum time for insemination.

Oh dear. I've caught the foal bug already, and I've still got (hopefully, if all goes well) a year to go!! :)

Here are the total vet costs to date:

tranquilizer - dormosedan IV $48
rectal palpatation w/ ultrasound $26
ultrasound - reproduction $48
micro - endometrial culture $75
regumate solution 150ml $72
Total vet costs so far: $269 Please note this does not include things such as: feed, farrier, wormer, foal supplies, board, etc.

 

Hello everyone! I recently was looking around the Breeding forum on Horse Grooming Supplies Horse Forums, and was struck with an idea: Post a detailed blog on breeding my mare, from start to finish. Another forum member also suggested I keep a tally of the vet bills as well, so that newcomers to the genetics lottery will know what to expect, and what they're getting into.

So, without futher ado, I give you FOAL NEWS! This blog will follow my lovely mare, Lexi, on her way through gestation and motherhood. 

May I introduce the key players...


Top Of The Times, or "Lexi," is my 1990 own daughter of Scotch Bar Time. She is an Appendix Quater Horse, and has points in AQHA. She has been bred before, but unfortunately concieved twins and was not checked in time to save one of them. One sibling died in utero, poisoning the other and causing them both to be born too early. Hopefully we can avoid that heartbreak this time by doing a 15-day ultrasound post insemination to check for twins.


Lucks Hint Of Hostage is a 1997 Tobiano Paint stallion. He is the 1999 Champion of Champions, a Supreme Champion, Open Show Winner, has his ROM in Halter and Color, and is the sire of a breed association Top Ten World Champion. He is owned by Steve and Lori Brock, and is standing at Peacock Equine Reproduction Center in Morley, MI.

The type of breeding we will be using is Artificial Insemination, and all breeding and care procedures will be carried out by Kern Road Veterinary Clinic in Fowlerville, MI.