The calcium test kit arrived today. I also had the farrier come to trim her feet as they were starting to crack. I managed to bring penny and Lilly in quietly as bailey was at the end of the field and didn't notice that they had gone. So I tied lily up near Penny's stable. It appeared to work a treat as both of them were nice and quiet and Penny was good for the farrier.

Whilst Penny was in I took the oppertunity to give her some feed and draw some milk from her, in order to perform the test. She was very good and didn't bat an eyelid -and I remembered how to do it! I followed the instructions in the kit to the letter and I think I did it right. According to my test result, Penny had a calcium content of 100ppm. Which I think means that she will foal withing the next 14 days, but not the next few. As soon as she goes over 125ppm I need to do the test twice a day. When she goes over 200ppm, it means that she is very likely to foal withing the next day.

PENNY READING: 1545hrs 31/05/07 = 100ppm

There have been no significant changes with Penny over the last few days. Her udder continues to develop with wax appearing now and then. Her field companion, Lilly, has changed shape however. Lilly has 10 days to go and is definatley slowing down rather. Her udder is pretty under developed though, in comparison with Penny's.

On the advice of my vet and others, I have ordered some calcium strips. These will help determine when Penny will foal, hopefully saving me many sleepless nights. They are able to predict when a mare will foal within 24 hrs, in which case I would keep her in and take the day off work.

This is a bit about how they work:

Changes in mammary secretion electrolytes most commonly occurs at night, coincident with the period when the majority of mares foal. Stall-side tests are available to measure calcium (Ca++) or calcium carbonate (CaCO3) concentration. Test kits measuring mammary secretion Ca++ typically employ a colorimetric change of pads on a test strip from green to red (Predict-A-Foal tm) or titration of a diluted sample until an indicator dye changes from pink to blue (Titret tm). The dilution kits are somewhat more labor intensive than the test strip kits. Of the commercially available mammary secretion test kits, Ley [12] found the Titrettm test kit to be the most reliable and repeatable test for predicting foaling within 24 hours. Using this kit, mares with mammary secretion CaCO3 > 200 ppm had a 54% probability of foaling within 24 hours, 84% probability of foaling within 48 hours and 97% probability of foaling within 72 hours. Most mares foaled within a short period of time if the mammary secretion CaCO3 was between 300 and 500 ppm. Mares with mammary secretion CaCO3 <>

Lilly appears to have developed a kind of blood blister near where her belly button would be. I haven't seen this in an adult horse before though hernia's in that area are common in foals. A friend of Kim's assures her that it is nothing to worry about but to do with her milk production. I'm a bit sceptical about that theory as I have seen probably about 200 pregnant mares and never seen that! Her mammary glands are further back than the site of this lump. I think it more likely to be as a result of a kick or something. It doesn't seem to be bothering her though so I think Kim is going to leave it for a while and see what happens.

Well having sat up for two nights, I think Penny has settled back down again. She is not waxed up this evening and doesn't appear to have run too much milk. She was very quiet when I brought her in, probably because it's warm. I have plaited her tail again today, so that it keeps out of the way while she heals from her stitches. I thought it would be a good idea as I can't leave a tail bandage on her.

She seems to be happy in her paddock on her own. I'm very pleased that she has it, it means that Bailey isn't bothering her and she can graze undisturbed. I have been giving her a scoop of feed (1/2 chaff and 1/2 mix) at about 11 when I bed her down for the night. I will continue to do this even if I don't say up there.

Penny is running milk now as well as being waxed up and her tail muscles have relaxed. Because of this I stayed at the yard last night so I could keep a close eye on her. I don't know whether I will stay tonight, I am not as paranoid now I know that she has been unstitched. I will see how she looks when I bring her in and check her before bed.

Chris came and cut Penny this morning. It looked awful, very painful. However she had a local anaesthetic so she didn't feel a thing. I turned her straight out with a tail bandage on as she was stressed being in. She has gone in a separate paddock today so that she will not be bothered by Bailey. She seemed to take to this ok, grazing along the fence line with Lilly on the other side. I went to remove the tail bandage a few hours later and she has managed to get rid of it herself! When I bring her in tonight I am going to plait her tail in order to keep it out of the way, that saves taking a tail bandage on and off.

Chris didn't think that her foaling was imminent, but as I thought, he said that you just can't tell with maiden mares. He said that she could have it tonight or next month. So that helps! I just have to play it be ear...

Penny has started to wax up! She had some wax on her yesterday, but this morning she was properly waxed up. Yesterday I was worried about the fact that she hadn't been unstitched so I rang the vet. The vet advised that it was unlikely that she would foal this early and it's best to leave them stitched as long as possible. I have Chris coming tomorrow to do her so she advised I wait. However, this morning she is waxed up properly and I would normally sit up with them when they start doing this as it's normally within a few days of waxing up that they will foal. I think at this rate I will have to be careful about her running off colostrum.

So I anxiously await the arrival of Chris tomorrow. I have turned her out today though I did initially try a different field arrangement. She has been going out with another in-foal mare, Lilly and a gelding Bailey. I'd like to see Bailey moved out of them now because it is getting so close. However Bailey doesn't like being on his own so we can't move him. Therefore Penny is going to be going on her own from tomorrow, in the paddock next to Lilly and Bailey. This way she will be able to see them, but not have Bailey herding her around all the time which he does incessantly.

So fingers crossed there will be no foal today or tonight and we'll be able to unstitch her and everything will be fine. Please god!

Having said all of this, she'll probably end up being a week overdue and I'll have Tesco carrier bags under my eyes because I've been up with her for weeks!

Penny has started to get used to the idea of coming in at night. The first night she paced the box like a demented animal, but she now settles down within half an hour of coming in.

Yesterday she cut her off fore leg, on the inside just above her knee. She has taken a chunk of skin out. It doesn't look too serious. She has been dutifully purple sprayed, so hopefully that will keep out any infection. I will have a look at it again when she comes in tonight. It has filled a little bit this morning so I must just keep an eye on it. I have the vet coming next week anyway so if it gets worse then I'll ask him to look at it.

She looks to be eating more of her hay at night now which is a good sign. I have slightly increased her chaff ration again because she is not having 24/7 grazing. She is out for a minimum of 12 hrs a day though so it's not too bad.

I decide to bring Penny in on Sunday 13th as the weather has been appalling. The rain has been pretty constant and is set to be the same for at least the next 10 days, if not the month. I felt that it was pretty awful for the mares to be constantly wet and therefore cold, and not have anywhere dry to lie down. They are lying down more and more now as they are heavily pregnant.

So Kim and I brought Penny and Lily in. Penny behaved like a spanner at first, neighing repeatedly and box walking. I then realised that the pony who was in the stable next to her had moved, and so she couldn't see anyone and thought she was on her own. I rang Bev, the lady who runs the yard and asked her if we could put the pony back. She very kindly said yes and so moved the pony back. Penny was much calmer when I put her to bed last night. She will soon get used to the routine of coming in and out. We are trying to leave them out as long as possible and turn them out at 7 am or before. I turned them out at 5 am this morning!

I will ask for the caravan to be brought up this week. Chris, the vet is coming to unstitch Penny on Monday 21st May.

It has at last started to rain, having had 6 weeks without any. This is good news for Penny's field as it has now been fertilised, so hopefully the grass will start to grow. The paddock she is currently in has an abundance of grass which is perfect for her last month of pregnancy.

Penny is looking very well, I'm pleased with her condition. She is resting a lot more now, yesterday when I went to feed her, she was lying down with the others. The photo to the right is a snoozing Penny!

Her bag is progressing every day, I think I may have the vet back to unstitch her before June 1st. Maybe around the 20th actually, as I don't want any disasters.

Chris, the vet came to see Penny on May 1st. He said that it was a bit too early to Unstitch her and to arrange another appointment in a month. He did give her the flu and tet jab though which she needed and yesterday I wormed her in preparation for the foal. Chris said that she looked very well. I am pleased with her condition at the moment, she looks great. it's nice to have a professional opinion though!

The two mares are moving to another new paddock on Monday. This time it will be just the two of them, in case one of them foals while they are out. The paddock is also right next to the yard, so it will be easier to keep an eye on them. The plan was to start bringing them in next week, but they are doing so well out that we think we might leave them for another two weeks. we are playing it by ear!