Nursemare foals are foals that are taken from their mother, so that their mother can be used to raise a foal that is not her own. Nursemare foals are orphans in that they do not have a mare to raise them. The most critical time for them is their first month of life. They are at a high risk for illnesses at this time due to the high stress that they must tolerate, ie. being separated from their mother, being shipped repeatedly, etc.We are taking daily logs of our foal's TPR's (Temperature, Respiration and Pulse Rate) to monitor his health.
Normal parameters for a healthy foal are
Body Temperature:
99 to 102 Degrees F.
Respiratory Rate:
60 - 80 breaths per minute at birth,
30- 40 breaths per minute after 1 hour.
Heart Beat:
60 or more beats per minute at Birth,
80 - 130 beats per minute after 1 hour
80 - 120 beats per minute after 5 days of age (normal).
Orphaned foals are fed replacement milk. Our foal is readily drinking out of a bucket and is fed small amounts frequently.
Orphaned foals also need to be socialized properly. They need regular exercise and handling.
I am soo excited for our new baby! I know that our baby will be just fine it has a big family supporting it. I am sooo excited to watch it grow up and watch it do stupied yet, funny little foal things. I know everyone will keep a close watch on the foal. And the foal will have a new friend very soon.
ReplyDeleteHe is soooooooo cute!I`m very excited also. But,is his name happy or rex?Any way, he is in a very good family. bye
ReplyDeleteHi Carollee. Looking like he's got two names for the moment. When he's sweet and quite it's happy, when he's a crazy man it's Rex :)
ReplyDeleteI think his name should be Moose, because when you scratch him under the chin and he makes a face and he looks like a baby moose ahah. :)
ReplyDeleteI like Rex better then Happy though, i think Rex fits him.
Hi!I think his name should be Happy because he looks like a Happy.Moose is a good name to.By the way,Kaitlyn posts this stuff.
ReplyDeleteI like Moose too. We'll have to wait to see what his personality comes out as. He's starting to act like a little monster, which is very good,means that he is feeling good.
ReplyDeleteKaitlyn I thought that is was you posting but I wasn't sure, Way to go, Luv you all - Kate
Baby was doing great today! I stopped by the barn to check on Velvet again and spent some time with little RexMoose (lol). We worked on some imprinting that Kate showed me and walked around the arena, too! He's being such a good boy!! I can't wait to get him playing with our little one.
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