Treasure Trove's Journal

[Lottii]

Treasure Trove

Background Information
Treasure Trove, better known as Trinket, is a fourteen year old Norwegian Fjord mare. She is dun in color and stands at 13.3hh - one inch under the breed median. I began caring for her as part of my Equine Reproduction course when she was 9.5 months pregnant. She has had seven foals previously and is currently in foal to the college's Silver Grullo colored Fjord, Silver Lining. He has sired five of Trinket's previous foals.

History
This is Trinket's history from her information sheet in the college records; "Trinket has been at the college for years, one of the first ever bought." When another student asked to find out about the history of their mare, I also got contact information for Trinket's previous owner.

I contacted them and found they owned Trinket for four years, from when she was six years old. Her previous owners ran a small, Western riding school in the North of England. They used her in the riding school for a year for new students as she was always reliable and steady. When they started to get less and less students, Trinket started being used as a broodmare, and had three foals with them. She has been in foal every year since she was seven. They also gave me contact information for the people they purchased her from.

Contacting those people, I found out that Trinket is also trained in English! They purchased her as a three year old from her breeder, and retrained her in Western as they wanted a Fjord with good bloodlines to compete in Western pleasure. They persevered for a few years, eventually deciding she didn't have the oomph to be a show pony. They put me in touch with her breeder who confirmed she was first started in English and has offered to send me a fifteen generation pedigree.

Foal Background Information
This foal will be the the resulting offspring from the sixth breeding of Treasure Trove and Silver Lining. Previous offspring have been almost equal in gender - three fillies and two colts. From the sire and dam's genetics, the foal with be one of the following colors; Red Dun, Silver Grullo, Silver Bay Dun, Grullo or Bay Dun. Red Dun is the most likely with double the chance of the other colors. Treasure Trove and Silver Lining are completely unrelated tracing back ten generations, so the foal is not at risk from inbreeding issues.

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[Lottii]

Nine & Half Months

Exercise
Trinket is currently 9.5 months pregnant and she was fit before coming into foal. Before I took over the care of Trinket she was being ridden four times a week for half an hour at a time. For now I am continuing this amount of exercise. I have found that some mares enjoy exercising until the last few weeks before foaling, and some are unhappy to be ridden after the start of the third trimester. As Trinket is currently still happy to be ridden, I plan on slowly decreasing her exercise over the next two weeks until she is being ridden three times a week for fifteen minutes a time. During her final month she will be led out on the trails in-hand three times a week for fifteen minutes until she becomes unhappy to be exercised or reaches the time when she could foal. When I have been exercising her this week we have been going out on the trails at walk and and occasionally trot, although she seems unhappy trotting. I have learnt from other students that even when she is not in foal she is unhappy to go faster than a walk, but to be on the safe side I am doing mostly walking exercise. She is steady and easy-going to ride, and does not spook easily.

Eating and Drinking Habits
Trinket has been eating well. She is fed three times a day, and has small feeds containing un-molassed chaff and Bailey's Stud Balancer. She clears up her food quickly and it is very rare for her to leave any. If she starts leaving food this could be an early indicator that she will foal soon as it is not normal behavior for her. Trinket has water from a bucket so that I can measure how much she drinks. Her bucket hold one gallon of water and is filled twice in twenty-four hours. Therefore she drinks two gallons of water daily. The amount of water each horse drinks varies greatly by the individual, but for Trinket's not in foal weight, she should drink - on average - just under two gallons. She may drink slightly over average normally, or it could be due to her pregnancy.

Behavior
Others have told me Trinket is always calm and friendly around people, which confirms what I knew from her from my time spent in this barn already. This is the behavior I have seen when spending time with her this week. She enjoys human company and likes nothing more than a crowd of people fussing over her. If her behavior changes I think this will be a strong indicator that she is soon to foal as currently it is very open and friendly. In some cases, a mare's behavior will not change as it approaches labour though, so it cannot be relied upon.

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Ten Months

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Exercise
Trinket is now ten months pregnant and her exercise has changed to as I planned - she is now being ridden in walk and on occasion trot for fifteen minutes three days a week. Trinket seems happy on this routine, although she is starting to show discomfort at trot. Although this is normal behavior for her, I am sticking to the safe side and over the next two weeks Trinket will be lowering her exercise and she will stop be ridden. She will be led out in hand at walk on the trails, but stick to her current routine for amount of exercise. This will be her final exercise routine until two weeks after foaling. If she starts showing discomfort doing this amount of exercise, I will decrease it until she is happy with how much exercise she is doing.

Eating and Drinking Habits
Trinket has continued to eat up all her food, although she has started to lose condition slightly. The vet (and Equine Reproduction teacher) - Mr Harman - checked her over and said it was likely to be simply due to her pregnancy. He also commented her foal was on the large side. As the sire is only one inch taller than Trinket, this isn't a bad sign. If the stallion was much larger, it could cause problems with foaling. Trinket is an experienced broodmare though, and is expected to go through delivery easily. She has slightly increased the amount that she drinks, Trinket is now drinking roughly two and a half gallons daily. This increase could either be attributed to the weather starting to warm up, her pregnancy being further along, or just a coincidence.

Behavior
Trinket has been her normal, friendly self over the last two weeks. Her general mood has improved, which I believe is due to her getting even more attention from loads of other students. The only time she has shown discomfort or unhappiness is when she trots during exercise. Trinket normally gets on well with other horses, but she has started being grumpy towards Brewing Storm - her paddock mate. The two most likely reasons for this are that it is due to Trinket's pregnancy, or Trinket could be frustrated that she does not have Brewing Storm's full attention anymore as the mare now has a foal at foot. Trinket shows no bad feelings towards the foal though, and happily tries to play with it. Overall, her behavior is still normal.

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[Lottii]

Ten & Half Months

Exercise
Trinket has adjusted wonderfully to her current exercise plan. Without the trot work, she is much happier about being worked, although she is unimpressed that she is not being ridden. Trinket is going out in-hand on the trails for about fifteen minutes, three times a week. This suits her current condition and at the moment she is still enjoying this gentle exercise. When she starts to show discomfort, her exercise will be reduced in her final weeks until the birth. The foal is due in two weeks now, and it is better for exercise to continue for as long as possible. Mares in better fitness find labour easier, and even though Trinket is experienced at foaling, it is preferable that it is as easy for her as possible! Her pasture time has now been reduced, previously she was spending four-five hours turned out during the day time. Now she is close to foaling, she doesn't move around or graze much whilst she is turned out and prefers to be indoors. Because of this she now has about an hour turned out, and I lead her out in the evenings to graze the long grass at the start of the trails.

Eating and Drinking Habits
Trinket still eats up all her food, and although she has now recovered the condition she briefly lost, she is staying on four meals a day. The amount of food she is having is staying at it's increased amount as she will soon be producing large quantities of milk for her foal. At the moment she is currently slightly under the ideal weight for just before foaling, Trinket could use a little more fat to be stored so that she has extra reserves to supply the milk. Trinket's drinking habits have not changed from last time, she is still drinking around two and a half gallons a day, sometimes closer to two and three quarts of a gallon. The weather has stayed roughly the same, and I believe the increase now is due to her pregnancy reaching it's final stages.

Behavior
Trinket is starting to become more closed. She is content with one or two people around her, but she gets easily frustrated and unhappy if there are more than a couple of people near her. This change is more than likely due to her pregnancy and near due date it is expected of the majority of mares. Trinket had a brief episode with her paddock mate a couple of days ago, and although nothing serious happened, Trinket will be turned out alone until she has foaled now. If she starts getting into fights she could damage herself or the foal, something that should be avoided. It is an easy problem to solve by keeping her in her own paddock, and she spends only a small amount of time turned out now anyway. Her behavior overall is a clear indication her due date is close by, the signs she is showing would be looked for in a mare with an unknown due date, and would normally give an estimate of two weeks until foaling - which is Trinket's due date. Obviously that method is just guesswork and depends on the individual mare, but I thought it was interesting that she fits into that framework.