Last year Gloa had a foal and I want to tell you the story of Kyppa's birth, not to support either side of the "To Watch or Not Watch" debate, but to just let you know how my vigilance affected Gloa's behavior.
When it came close to her time, I started waking up in the middle of the night and checking on her. One night I found her lying on the ground and she appeared to be well into her labor. I ran back to the house and woke up my daughter and got a better flashlight. When the two of us returned, Gloa was on her feet and eating hay, showing no signs of giving birth. My opinion is she was able to stop the process. I watched all through the day, mostly from a distance and that evening at dusk, I was standing on my upstairs balcony and saw her looking back at me. We stayed that way for a long time, me watching her, she watching me as the dusk deepened into night. I swear she was waiting for night to finally give her privacy. At midnight I went out and found the healthy filly, on her feet, nursing and already dry. Is it possible that it was so important for her to be alone when she foaled that she was able to postpone her labor all those hours? Annie
