FOALING season is an exciting, anxious and tiring time. To make things run as smooth as possible it is important to be prepared for foaling, whether it be routine or worst case.

The four-to-six weeks leading up to foaling is an ideal time to carry out everything from vaccinating to worming your mare and ensuring she is accustomed to the environment that she will foal in.

Immune system and colostrum

More important than any feed product to the health of a newborn foal is good quality colostrum.

Colostrum, a yellow, thick, sticky fluid, is produced by the mare during the last few weeks of pregnancy as a response to hormonal changes.

Colostrum is quite distinguishable from milk and is rich in immunoglobulins, specifically IgG.

If colostrum resembles milk this is a strong indicator that quality is poor.

Foals need to ingest colostral immunoglobulins soon after birth, a process known as passive transfer, so that their immune system can defend against pathogens.

This is heavily reliant upon the foal standing and suckling from the mare.

Specialised gastrointestinal cells in the foal’s small intestine will only allow absorption of these crucial, large immunoglobulins for approximately 24 hours and the efficiency of the absorption will start to decline as early as six to eight hours post-foaling.

Additional support Situations can occur where there is a need to step in and supplement the young foal, for example, foals that fail to thrive, or those that have had post-foaling complications.

Foran Equine’s Friska Foal is a palatable multivitamin and prebiotic syrup specifically designed to support foal development and digestive health.

Antibodies Failure of passive transfer (FPT) of antibodies occurs in 10-20% of newborn foals. Complete failure of passive transfer (FPT) is defined as a circulating level of IgG of less than 400mg/dl at 24 hours of age, partial failure (PFPT) is classed as anything between 400-800mg/dl.

Failure or partial failure of the passive transfer of antibodies via colostrum significantly increases the risk of life-threatening infections.

Testing the foal’s IgG level at 24hrs is advisable, if it is below the above figures IgG can be provided via hyperimmunised plasma given intravenously. Complete or partial FPT can be caused by the following:

Prevention actions

In some circumstances it is almost impossible to prevent FPT, but several studies have highlighted the importance of correct management in helping to prevent the situation.

Provide supplemental Vitamin E to the mare during late pregnancy as this has been shown to increase colostral quality.

Monitor the foal closely and make sure it is “latching” on and suckling successfully.

If the dam has plenty of colostrum but the foal is too weak to stand and nurse, the mare can be milked and the colostrum given via a nasogastric tube by your veterinarian.

Assess the quality of the mare’s colostrum by measuring the specific gravity using a refractometer or a colostometer.

If it is not adequate, provide donor mare’s colostrum or have the vet administer hyperimmunised plasma intravenously.

The adaptive period

The newborn foal adaptive period describes the hours after birth when various adaptations to the extra-utero environment need to take place, to ensure survival.

It’s important to be familiar with and check for normal health parameters as deviation from these norms may indicate a problem:

• Heart rate should be greater than 60 beats per minute (typically 80-120 in first 24 hours).

• Respiratory rate should be greater than 30 breaths per minute (typically 60 for the first few days). • Typical body temperature range for a foal is 99.5-102°F or 37.5-38.9°C. Carry out a healthy foal check