A Mare's Tender Care for Her Foal
If foal rejection is expected because of experience with a mare in previous years, handlers can ask a veterinarian for assistance. Some success has been achieved by using mild tranquilizers like acepromazine or reserpine to decrease aggression. Regumate® is another drug that has helped in some cases. An analgesic like flunixin meglumine or phenylbutazone could decrease post-foaling discomfort or pain from a swollen udder. If there is serious inflammation or infection of the mammary glands, veterinary diagnosis and treatment will be needed.
Inexperienced mares that don’t seem to know how to care for their foals are sometimes assisted by being turned out with another mare-and-foal pair. In other cases, nothing seems to help and the foal must be taken away from the mare to prevent injury. In this situation, finding a nurse mare is the best alternative. The last resort—hand-raising a bottle-fed foal—is an undertaking that calls for an enormous investment in time and energy.
undervalued colt who grew up
to be one of the most successful
horses in the long history of Thoroughbred racing and breeding. He was born in Kentucky, where he was bought in 1975 as a yearling by Mickey and Karen Taylor of tiny White Swan, Washington, for a relatively modest sum. In 1977 he became just the 10th horse to win the Triple Crown -- the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes -- and the first to do so with an undefeated record. Seattle Slew never trained or raced in his owners' home state; his lone appearance in Washington was as a celebrity, galloping around the track between races for two days at Longacres racetrack in Renton. For more than 20 years after he retired from racing in 1978, he was one of the world's most-sought stallions for breeding purposes. Seattle Slew died in Kentucky exactly 25 years after winning the Derby, with the Taylors by his side. His offspring and his offspring's offspring keep adding to his legacy as "the people's horse" who became one of all time greats
