Gracie at Alabar

As Gracie nears her due date, it’s worth learning a little bit about what her last few weeks have looked like at Alabar Farm near Echuca.

Over winter, the many mares in residence on the farm are kept in big groups in big paddocks, and are categorised generally by their needs – groups of mares with weanlings who need to be weaned in certain time frames, for example, or those who require particular veterinary treatments.

As the new breeding season gets closer, the mares get divided into groups based on their due date, and within four weeks of that date, they’ll get brought into foaling paddocks, situated behind the main yards and office at Alabar. These have been purposely designed by Alabar studmaster, Alan Galloway and their layout means that the mares can be easily seen by almost all the staff throughout the day, making it more likely that changes showing the foal is imminent are seen immediately.

Whilst in these paddocks, they are regularly monitored for signs that the foal is nearing arrival. Once Gracie looks like she’s getting close, she will go into one of seven smaller paddocks where she will be under 24-hour supervision from foal watch staff.

Occassionally the mares will be brought up as a group for a few hours in a yard (pictured above) for worming treatments, feet trims and veterinary checks and scans (like this one).

It’s important not to shift the mares around too much as they come through their pregnancy. Horses can bond very strongly with one or more other horses in a herd, and to put them apart, or even where they simply can’t see each other, can cause separation anxiety, where the horse will fret and call and become physically unsettled.

This is Gracie with another of her paddock mates, very content to take a nap beside her friend.

When one or more new horses are introduced into a herd, there is a process of ‘fitting in’ that takes place where they ‘test’ each other to determine where they sit in the hierarchy, and this can sometimes be very physical, as horses use kicks and bites as a way to communicate and show dominance.

The photo above shows Gracie with a paddock mate when they were yarded for a vet check - the laid back ears and stretched neck in horse language essentially equates to "You're in my personal space - get out!". Both of these situations – fitting into a new herd and being separated from mates – can be very stressful for a horse, and particularly so for a pregnant mare.

Gracie will also be familiar with her handlers at Alabar, her vet, farrier and dentist, and the farm generally which reduces the opportunities for stress. Soon we’ll get to see how Gracie changes as her foal gets ready to drop, and meet the chap responsible for this little one, Always B Miki.

* SIDE NOTE: the chain you can sometimes see around the mares' necks is for safe identification. It is very lightweight chain - which means it's both unobrustive for the mare and importantly, if it gets caught on anything, she can easily break it - which carries a plastic tag (like a cattle ear tag) with her name and due date written on it. By this method, the staff can quickly identify the mare and when she's due to foal if they find her sick in the paddock.