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The Final Goodbye

4/26/2017

Tonka - Avalon Equine's Boston Terrier that was recently euthanized after a very long life.

By Kathy St.Martin
Last week was a rough week here at Avalon Equine. We had to say goodbye to our longtime companion, buddy, friend…confidant, Tonka. He had been with us for almost 16 years and when we traveled giving our equine reproduction short courses, he was a constant in our lives that many of you had met along the way. A funny, cantankerous, grouchy guy, he was one of the richly colored threads that make up the fabric of our lives. We kept hoping he would make the hard decision for us and just - wake up dead - but sticking to his life’s dictum, he didn’t make even that choice, easy for us. It was time.

Tonka - Enjoying a sunny day at Avalon Equine!

Which leads me to this week’s Blog topic - when do you make the decision to say goodbye? Especially when dealing with large animals and weaving that with the business end of things? We are often asked, when do you say enough? And that is a tough question to answer.

LA Express, a Hanoverian Stallion that lived until he was 23 here at Avalon Equine.

Well before foals start arriving here, we have adopted a pretty hard line protocol that helps to take the emotion out of necessary and sometimes heartbreaking decisions. We will make heroic efforts on foals that we know can overcome whatever adversity a bad foaling or early illness may bring. However, if what we are addressomg will result in a foal that will live out its life as a “pasture ornament”, we draw the line. Obviously, there are things that require awaiting the outcome and tincture of time. Even if the foal may never be competitive in the show ring, if it can live a happy, comfortable, useful life, we will work to save it. We also have to realistically, look at the costs involved, as well. Typically, we will put a dollar amount on just what is acceptable WELL before foaling season begins. That figure will vary for everyone and should be established before your mare foals in order to make a decision without the emotions of dealing with a new foal. Those are ALWAYS tough decisions and knowing you are dealing with something that didn’t have a choice, doesn’t make it easier. But, in order to offer the best care for ALL of our horses, we recognize investing large sums of money into one, is not a good moral, business or fiscal decision. And of course, one has to look at whether or not the horse will live a comfortable life. There are definitely fates worse than death.

Mata Hari - Belafonte's dam, earned her retirement at Avalon Equine - with our granddaughter, Zoey.

We will mark our horses' last resting place with their halter plates placed upon the fence post above them.

Every year, we have to make one or two of those gut wrenching decisions. Our elderly horses live out their days here until they are no longer happy, comfortable and thriving. They have typically lived with us for many years and have earned a soft retirement. When the time comes, a quick and humane end is the final kindness we can offer. We don’t re-home our ET recipient mares or our elderly mares that “may” produce one more foal. We want to ensure that their final years are gentle and kind to them. When they are no longer comfortable, or no longer able to maintain their weight, we feel responsible for making their ending easy – if not for us, for them. It is, as a horse breeder, animal lover and human, our biggest responsibility. Their halter plates tacked to a fence post, mark their final resting place.

The Oak tree under which Tonka is buried.

Except for Tonka - Tonka got his own tree to sleep under. In time, we will look for some sort of memorial to mark his spot. But for now, we will watch the tree grow and change and mature.

Godspeed Tonka...until we meet again.

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What's In Our Foaling Kit? - By Kathy St.Martin

4/6/2017

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Welcome back to the Avalon Equine Blog! After a particularly rough week for a few of our breeder friends, we realized that some of the simple things we do here that we've learned through experience, may be helpful to those that may not have attended as many foalings! I'm going to walk through what we have in our foaling kit and what we do immediately post foaling.

First, we recognize there are oodles of articles on what to do during a foaling, IgG testing, what to expect, red bag deliveries, dystocias, etc. This Blog is just about what "we" do immediately following a normal foaling and why we do it.

Above is what we here at Avalon have in our foaling kit. It includes a dose of Ivermectin, Vetwrap for the mare's tail, packages of sterile lube, a navel clamp, a 50ml centrifuge tube with .5% chlorhexidine solution for dipping the navel, ob palpation sleeves, a baby bottle for collecting colostrum, a ziploc bag for freezing collected colostrum, a 30 ml syringe, an insemination pipette that has been cut down to about 8 inches, an enema and one of those hay cutter safety knifes in case of a red bag delivery or to cut the umbilical chord if necessary. We then put all of that into a palpation sleeve and hang it on the stall door!

An OB palpation glove to hold the items for your foaling kit

Putting everything into a palpation glove makes a nice, neat, clean package that is ready and there when you need it!

Umbilical clip is great if you have an umbilical cord that continues to bleed or needs to be cut.

A baby bottle with a drop in liner is clean and easy to use for collecting colostrum!

Hay bale cutters are EXCELLENT for cutting open a placenta in the event of a red bag delivery. The blade is covered, so you are less likely to inadvertently cut the mare or foal while cutting through the placenta. They also work great for cutting a tough umbilical cord!

When we have a new foal, we do a few things immediately post foaling. The mare is given a dose of Ivermectin. The foal's navel is dipped with a 1/2% solution of chlorhexidine and an enema is given. We tie up the placenta, and last but not least, we strip off about 150 cc's of colostrum and give it to the foal. We then leave the stall and let the mare and foal bond. By giving the foal it's first feeding of colostrum, we accomplish a couple of things. First, we ENSURE that the foal receives a good healthy dose of colostrum before it even stands. Secondly, we have all watched as a foal attempts to nurse on everything including walls, buckets, legs of the mare, sides of the mare...often everything BUT the udder. And of course, the frustration of worrying WHEN the foal will get it right and realizing valuable time is passing, often to the point that we feel inclined to intervene. By giving the foal that first feeding, you immediately start the absorption process AND you have time to wait and watch and let the foal figure things out as well as leaving the mare and foal to bond naturally. Usually that means you get to go back to bed for a couple hours! And by the time you get up, in most cases the foal is nursing all on its own.

If you don't have a way to warm up the enema before giving it to the foal, sticking it in your waistband or shirt will warm it nicely.

50 ml centrifuge tubes work well for dipping the foal's navel!

The method we use to get that first dose of colostrum in the foal, is also the same method we use if we find we have a dummy foal. With a dummy foal, one of the biggest issues with it is that it has no suckle response. So trying to feed with a baby bottle is futile. Yes, you can tube the foal, but in most cases, that requires a veterinarian's intervention. And when one considers that during the first few days of life, that foal needs to be fed every one to two hours, unless the vet lives on farm, tube feeding is probably not going to happen as regularly as it needs to. So, necessity being the mother of invention, we have found that by taking an insemination pipette, cutting it down to about 8 inches and attaching it to a syringe, once you have expressed about 150 mls of colostrum, you simply pull up 30ccs into the syringe (a 30 cc syringe is easier to handle and depress the plunger), while the foal is still lying down, you simply straddle it, guide the pipette into its mouth lying the pipette tip at the back of the tongue and slowly depressing the plunger, allowing the foal to swallow. Foals with a suckle response will usually suck and swallow easily and readily. Foals that have no suckle response will, in spite of that, swallow as you depress the syringe.

Cut the insemination pipette to about 8 inches. This makes it easy to place it on the back of the foal's tongue when feeding it the colostrum.

Expressing the colostrum into the baby bottle.

Using a 30 ml syringes is easier to handle and depress the plunger when feeding the foal.

All of the above - the navel dipping, tying up the placenta, feeding the foal, giving the enema, etc., should take around 30 minutes. Express another 150 mls of colostrum for freezing. If the IgG test shows that the foal has adequate passive transfer, you then know that the colostrum is good! Store that colostrum in the freezer and make sure you mark the bag with the date and the name of the mare. You can store it for up to two years.

By the time you've completed everything, hopefully the mare has dropped her placenta. Once you have done everything, get out of the stall and leave the mare and foal to bond. And the best part? Go get some sleep! When we check back in a couple hours what do we usually find? The foal is nursing quite well. We will then pull an IgG at around 12 hours. If that comes back above 800, unless there is an indication that the foal has an issue - lethargic, mare has a large, tight udder, foal is running a fever - we don't do anything further with the pair until it's time to start checking the mare to be rebred!

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The Final Goodbye

What's In Our Foaling Kit? - By Kathy St.Martin

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