Page 2 - May 2005 The Game

2 The Game, May 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Ethel, the Nannymare
Ethel the Nannymare with her 2005 foal Photo by Pat Gauvreau
by Pat Gauvreau
This is the time of year when we are expecting beautiful foals and hopefully trouble free deliveries, but sometimes unforeseen problems can arise and you find yourself in a state of emergency. This is when mares like Ethel are priceless.
We met Ethel 2 years ago when our mare decided she didn't want to be a mother after all. Ethel is a wonderful Nannymare that lives at McAllister Thoroughbreds just south of Calgary. Nannymares have a very important job in the event of an untimely death of a mare with a young foal.
Ethel came from Kentucky one year with a newly adopted foal to take care of because its mother, a very well bred thoroughbred mare, was blind, and could not take care of her baby. So Ethel's youngster was taken over by some volunteers (sometimes 4H kids) to continue raising it, while Ethel became a surrogate mom to the other baby.
The Nanny's are usually bred to
the teaser stallion early, so
their babies will be strong
and healthy enough to be
fed by pail, should they
need to be weaned early, to
enable her to take care of
the newly orphaned foal. These Nanny's may be draft or half draft and are great milk producers and are very protective mothers. The Nanny's own foal is eventually sold when old enough and some of them find work at the racetrack as pony horses, or they make very nice, quiet, pleasure mounts, that go on to lead happy, useful lives with loving owners.
If you have a mare expecting soon, it might be a good idea to check into this option before you find yourself in an emergency situation. You can check with local breeders or scan the internet for a Nursemare and Colostrum Registry such as Cyberfoal.com. Another option might be a veterinarian, if they know of a case where the foal died recently and maybe the mother will accept your foal. Sometimes a maiden mare will not accept her first born, as was the case with our
mare, and instead of looking for a nannygoat, you can find a nannymare.
Looking after a foal on your own is very time consuming and requires absolute dedication to ensure its chance for life. If it was orphaned right at birth you will need to find some colostrum right away and hopefully you made plans for that emergency beforehand. Luckily for us, Horizon Farms helped us out with some of their collected and frozen colostrum, which saved our little guy, I'm sure. Our vet also milked our mare and tubed it into her baby right away to make sure he got some immediately, knowing it would be hours before I could get it from somewhere else, if at all. The foal needs to be bottle fed with a special powdered formula every hour on the hour for about a week, then it can stretch its feedings a couple of hours apart. Don't worry, it will wake you up if you were sleeping in the corner of the stall, ours did. After that you can switch it from the bottle to a bucket, because by now they drink a lot more than a baby bottle can hold. I hope you don't have to go to work, because you won't be able to with an orphaned foal to care for. Whatever it takes, it's worth it.
By the time we were able to locate Ethel, our foal was already drinking from a pail, and although Ethel was willing to accept him, he was too afraid to approach her because of his bad experience with
his birth mother. Today, 2 years later, our little orphan is a big and strong colt and has been in
training at Stampede Park since January 23, the date he was born.
In any event, Nannymares are worth their weight in gold and are very important in our industry and deserve our utmost respect and support.
Red Oak Training Centre
• Consideration given to Multiple Bookings
• Customized Programs • Trainer Les Baker -
Over 40 Years of Experience
Located One Hour from Woodbine
Call Today for More Information
905-473-6584
Training Rate $40/day Lay-Up Rate $20/day
OHRIA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Date: Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Time: 10:00 a.m. Place: The Board Room Grand River Raceway, Elora
Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association
(905) 812–0168
Woodbine Racing Broadcast on Toronto 1
Race fans can tune-in to live thoroughbred racing every Saturday from 2pm to 4pm on Toronto 1 for the entire 2005 season.
Live thoroughbred action can also been seen on The Score from 12 noon to 5pm every Sunday. Check your local television listings for channel information.