"United we bargain, divided we beg."

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Pretty Sure Poppy's Okay



I spoke to the vet this morning, and asked him how I could differentiate between a normal, self-limiting bout of foal-heat diarrhea and something more serious. He told me that the foal's attitude will be the most important, easiest to tell thing to watch. Is she bright and active, or kind of down? Appetite? Is she nursing frequently and vigorously? Palpate the mare's udder to see if it's soft or turgid. And check her temperature (normal is up to 101). 


Poppy's running around like a wild thing, jumping and kicking, rolling, and charging around like she's on a racetrack. She's nursing every ten minutes or so, a little bit at a time. She looks like the picture of health, except for the diarrhea plastered to her croup. I haven't taken her temperature, but I will this evening when I put them both in the barn. If it's normal, I'm not going to worry anymore. At least until I see if it clears up in a couple more days.

P.S. horse people: I was told to check if the mare's in heat. When I asked how to do that, I was told, "go behind her and take a look at her rear end. If she 'winks' at you, she's in heat." Sorry to be dense, but can anyone be a little more explicit? Unless a horse can do things with her vulva that a human can't do without years of training in a south-east asian brothel, I have no idea what "winking" is.

6 comments:

Dr24Hours said...

wOOt!

D said...

Check You Tube for "mare winking" that will clear everything up!

When some mares are in heat they will squirt urine and flash their clitoris. The lips of the vulva will part and a nub of tissue will appear at base of her open vulva. Some mares do this as they eliminate the last drop of urine when they pee. Some mares show little sign of being in heat and others are absolute sluts. Naturally most fall somewhere in-between the extremes.

Aimee said...

Thanks for the tip. But there's not any doubt. Her complete and total buttiness makes it absolutely clear that she's in heat. Today she kicked the farrier. Hard.

Penelope said...

south east Asian brothel should get you some hits :-) hope the farrier is ok!

Dr24Hours said...

So when are you going to eat the philly?

Aimee said...

"filly" cheese steak?