>>> Nasi was born at a Kentucky Derby party. They all clapped and cheered >>> as he fell out into the world. No wonder he is such a ham :) But I >>> guess once a mare gets far enough along she can't really call it off....
The way I've heard it expressed that makes sense to me is that, the foal determines the day, but the mare determines the hour. In other words, in a real crisis, the mare can probably postpone labor for a short period (you know, until the predator is out of sight) but the stories of mares holding off labor for days on end (out of spite or whatever) are just plain silly. I actually heard an Icelandic breeder (who supposedly is a vet) imply that if she checked on her pregnant mares more than every eight hours, they'd postpone delivery for weeks. I don't buy that - I don't believe that person has ever been in labor herself!!! We've witnessed most of our foals being born here - we've had seven foals and missed two I think. Karen Thomas, NC
