Case Study: Teak
Why a case study?
Welcome along – I’m super excited to have you here to follow Teak’s progress. If you’re wondering why I’ve chosen to do a Case Study it’s a good question – and the answer is pretty simple.
There’s a lot that can be learned from a Case Study – it allows discussion and observation about a mare’s progression through pregnancy with a practical application, rather than just being theory based. Plus there’s the excitement of following Teak and waiting for her baby – she’s going to have quite the following by the time this is done.
Each week from 2nd November 2017 until she foals I’ll be posting updates on Teak.
Each ‘Part’ of the Case Study will be posted on this page and will have a video stream (taken from the Facebook Live recording I do each week) providing updates, as well as pictures and information about how she’s progressing.
At the end of the Case Study all the photos will be put into chronological order to visually display the development.
I’m hoping to Live Stream the foaling (at the very least it will be recorded and posted for you to watch).
To stay up to date with Teak’s progress make sure that you’re ‘Following’ our FoalEd Facebook page and have Notifications for page posts turned on.
So – welcome along to Teak’s Case Study – I hope you enjoy following her progress as much as I am – and hopefully you’ll learn lots from it too!
If you have any questions or anything you would like to know please feel free to head over to our Free Facebook Community where I’m sure there will be plenty of discussions about Teak (plus loads of other foals and foaling information too!)
Part 1 - 2/11/2017
Part One – Introducing Teak. In Part One of the case study we introduce Teak, take a look at her background and breeding history, her stallion and our current predictions for her pregnancy. Includes photos, videos.
Part 2 - 9/11/2017
Part Two – Our first catch up with Teak since her Part One introduction. At this stage we are expecting to see only minimal changes (if any) with her still having over a month until her due date. The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 3 - 16/11/2017
Part Three – Teak is starting to show some changes! Her udder has had significant development since last week. What was previously a very empty, saggy udder is now very obviously starting to fill with milk. This coincides almost perfectly with the one month out from foaling timeframe where you would expect to start seeing the udder begin to develop (for an experienced mare). The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 4 - 23/11/2017
Part Four – Teak’s udder is continuing to develop. While there’s not as much change as we saw between last week and the week before, the udder is still definitely continuing to fill. Because Teak has had two foals already I would imagine that she would develop a relatively decent sized udder and more than likely get noticeable wax. That being said it has been a slightly odd year in New Zealand this year with mares bucking the trend and not showing normal signs or sticking to their normal gestation periods. The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 5 - 30/11/2017
Teak’s udder is continuing to develop. She isn’t showing many behavioural changes yet. We did decide that Teak’s cover was going to come off as she moves closer to foaling (she’s been wearing a light sheet to help reflect some of the hot sun of her dark body). The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 6 - 7/12/2017
Part Six – Teak’s udder is continuing to develop. This week was the first time she had showed any obvious signs of discomfort. She kicked her stomach on a number of occasions and was swishing her tail a lot. The shape of her stomach has also changed quite significantly.The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 7 - 14/12/2017
Part Seven – Teak’s udder is continuing to develop and is noticeably fuller on her off (right) side than her near (left) side. Other than continuing development of the udder there were no obvious changes in Teak this week. However her owner has mentioned that she has been a little more grumpy/flighty/intolerant over the last few days. The post includes the regular photos, videos.
Part 8 - 18/12/2017
Part Eight – Today was had an ‘off schedule’ visit to Teak as I get a very exciting call from her owner to let me know that she had the first signs of wax! After rushing off to get my foaling kit together (details of its contents are in the video), I headed off to check Teak and bring you guys this update!
Part 9 - 21/12/2017
Part Nine – Teak still hasn’t popped her baby out yet – we have been testing her pH each day and while it has dropped slightly we’re still not at 6.2. There has also not been much of a shift in the shape of her udder or the amount of wax she is producing, I would expect that we would see thicker, yellower, less see-through wax closer to foaling time and possibly her teats elongating as well.
Part 10 - 24/12/2017
Part Ten – Teak’s pH is 6.2 on both sides! We will be expecting a baby sometime in the next 24 hours based on this shift.
The Foaling - 24/12/17
The Foaling – Unfortunately Teak went through Stage One Labour SO QUICKLY that I didn’t get to attend the foaling! I missed it by less than five minutes! Fortunately her kind owners recorded the entire thing – so you can watch the delivery of Teak’s foal, and then also the subsequent post-foaling videos that I annotated and recorded as Facebook lives after the foaling.
Baby Darragh
Baby Darragh – keep up to date with Baby Darragh in the following gallery as he grows into the handsome young man we know he’s going to be!