Page 36 - March 2005 The Game

36 The Game, March 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Equine Health
by Karen Briggs
Dave Landry Photo
DEALING WITH THE DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY
What can you do when the bond between a mare and her newborn foal doesn't seem to be developing normally?
by Karen Briggs
Most mares are excellent mothers to their foals ... but every now and then, something seems to go awry with the maternal instinct. When that happens, you may end up with a neglected, starved, or even savaged foal.
What can you do to help steer an abnormal mare/foal interaction in a more conventional, healthy direction? Sometimes it's a matter of quick interven- tion -- and other times, it's more about getting out of the way.
"A lot of problems result from too much commotion and too small a confined space," says Sue McDonnell, Ph.D., head of the Equine Behaviour Department at the New Bolton Centre, University of Pennsylvania. "If a mare has space to move around, she can get away without trampling her foal -- and the foal is far less likely to be injured or killed. If they're in the open, the owner can then observe and figure out what's truly going on between the two, whether it's overprotectiveness, or fear, or true aggression."
An overprotective mare will benefit particularly from more space. In a large paddock, she'll feel less 'trapped' than she would in a stall -- and her foal will have room to scramble out of the way when she crowds him. Of course, the overprotective mare should also be conditioned to gradually accept the presence of 'intruders' near her foal, not only because she herself will need to be handled but also because her foal will benefit from gentle daily interaction with humans at this impressionable age. A bucket of grain can be a powerful persuader for such a mare, but you'll need to remain cautious around her until you're sure she's truly relaxed and accepted you.
That said, there is such a thing as too much intervention. "Management style seems to have a lot to do with the incidence of abnormal maternal behav- iour," says McDonnell. "Close confinement and too much human interference seem to increase the risk.
"I think there may be some merit to the idea of going back to letting mares foal in the open," she says. "It's certainly important not to go overboard in terms of intervention."
One case where intervention is necessary is the one where the mare won't allow her baby to nurse. In this instance she may have to be cajoled into a nursing chute (a narrow stall with an opening at udder height which allows the foal to reach in and suck without being kicked or chased away) or otherwise confined. Even a bale of hay or bag of shavings, placed between her forelegs and hindlegs, can help keep the mare from cow-kicking or squatting down to prevent nursing. She can be distracted with a small grain feed or a hay net while the foal drinks.
Tranquilizers, judiciously administered under the supervision of a veterinarian, can sometimes help a great deal when a mare is having trouble accepting her new role as mother. Make sure the drug adminis- tered is one which can't pass to the foal through lactation, however; you want to keep the foal as active and agile as possible! Some mares will gradually come to accept having their foals nurse after a few sessions with confinement and/or tranquilizing, and can eventually be turned loose with the broodmare band in the normal manner. But others never come to terms with it, and must either be confined at regular
intervals so their foals can nurse, or should be sepa- rated from their babies to minimize the risk of injury. The foal essentially becomes an orphan at that point, and you have the option of finding him a nurse mare or feeding him by bottle until he's ready to be weaned.
A rare, but potentially serious problem is the mare who doesn't seem to respond to her baby or recognize him as hers. "An ambivalent mare can often be stimulated into more normal maternal behaviour by her foal, who'll trigger 'retrieval behaviour' in her when he wanders off," says McDonnell. "Even a sick or weak mare will usually gather all her strength to retrieve the foal and bond with him. If she doesn't respond right away, the foal will keep trying for up to about three to five days, attempting to get her to recognize and protect him."
Keep in mind that a mare's behaviour may not be the same from one baby to the next. "I've had mares who were lackadaisical about their first foal, then fiercely overprotective with subsequent foals," says McDonnell. "Fortunately, most older broodmares eventually get very sensible. A mare who's fearful of her first foal doesn't usually repeat the behaviour, but mares who truly reject their foals are at very high risk of repeating the behaviour, and probably should not be bred again."
When a mare savages her foal, "the relationship should be considered OVER for the health of the foal," McDonnell says. "Before you decide your mare is truly trying to hurt her foal, make sure she's isn't charging at you, or the farm dog, or something else. But once you determine she really has savage intent, you need to separate them permanently. If you can, have a nurse mare lined up."
Fortunately, many less-than-perfect mare/foal relationships can be salvaged. As long as the foal isn't in physical danger, it's worth trying, at least for a few days. McDonnell suggests that you do the following:
• make sure the foal gets some milk into his system somehow, so he has energy and antibodies to keep his strength up
• then get the mare and foal out into a large paddock, where the foal can move far enough away to stimulate retrieval behaviour in the mare.
• don't handle the foal more than absolutely necessary -- you don't want to confuse his distinctive odours with yours
• try repeating the olfactory triggers for the mare by rubbing the fetal membranes on the foal, or even a bit of his meconium (the sticky first manure he passes)
• avoid switching to an artificial milk source for as long as possible -- some researchers feel that it may change the odour of the foal's manure, which may be an olfactory trigger for the mare. If possible, keep milking the mare and offering it to the foal by bottle or bucket.
• consider the use of tranquilizers to facilitate nursing.
• Once you decide to make the transition to a nurse mare, however, move on it; don't wait until the foal is too weak from hunger to nurse.
With any luck, you'll never have to face any of these abnormal behaviours; all your mares will be excellent moms, and all your foals will grow up straight, strong, and well-adjusted. The odds are certainly in your favour. Here's to a season of uncomplicated foaling and healthy bonding -- and being prepared for the unexpected. Just in case.
Get Tied On
with Chaplain Shawn
I like to think that it is a normal thing to be a Chaplain. Last January, I attended the annual RTCA convention for Chaplains in Orange County, California (Please don't think, "Must be nice"- it rained every day I was there and all the races were cancelled! As the late Johnny Carson once said "the mudslides are putting out the fires.") All week I was surrounded by Chaplains from all across North America and even one from England. Those who weren't Chaplains regarded this ministry as normal. Yet something that never fails to surprise me is the response I get from people who:
a. Discover that I'm a Chaplain.
b. Discover that I'm a Chaplain at a racetrack.
One of the perks of my profession is free parking at
hospitals when I'm visiting someone from our community who is laid up. The process involves get your parking stub stamped by an authorized individual who has to verify that you are, in fact, clergy. At Trillium Hospital last month, the conversation went something like this:
Q: You are a.?
A: Chaplain.
Q: And your church is at?
A: Woodbine Race Track.
At this point the Q and A stops, replaced by disbelief,
amusement, delight or shock. I have a lot of explaining and I'm pleased to say that all I have encountered have a much better impression of our racetrack as a whole and are very encouraged to hear there is a ministry for those associated with
it. In fact, they tend to be extremely supportive. Most are surprised to find out the number of horses and people that care for them. Many think that everyone shows up only on race days. Because most of the people I interact with are older, they wax nostalgic about the "good old days" of racing and haven't been back to the track for a while. But that is a reflection of horse racing in North America as a whole.
As we prepare for the 2005 season, I hope that those who are involved in racing can see our Chaplaincy as "normal". We will be holding Chapel Services at 6:30 on Tuesday evenings and have started a new discussion study called "Soul Survivors", on Wednesdays at noon in the trailer. As with last year I will be walking the barn area and please forgive me if I can't remember your name, as there are a lot of people on our backstretch. I do hope to get to know everyone and hope that you feel free to call on me throughout the season.
Chaplain Shawn Kennedy (right) of Race Track Chaplaincy of Canada (Ontario), is pictured here in California with a handful of new Chaplains to the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America program.
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