Red bag and Madigan’' by Angus Lamont
Foaling is well upon us at Kooringal with a large number of foals hitting the ground in the last month. There is always a large number of issues that can occur pre and post foaling, which is why we have 24 hour monitoring throughout the season.One such issue I thought I would touch on this month is a ‘Red Bag’ presentation.
In a normal foaling, the amniotic sac, which is a pale translucent membrane is first to appear, closely followed by the front feet and head however, if the first thing to present in a delivery is a red, velvety, opaque ‘Red Bag’ it is very much an emergency and the foal needs to be delivered as quickly as possible.
The red bag means that there has been, at least, partial separation of the placenta from the uterine wall, meaning that the foal is no longer receiving circulation from the mare.The foal needs to start breathing on its own or it runs the risk of suffocation. Foals should be delivered as quickly as possible and given oxygen therapy (placed on oxygen, which most commercial stud operations should have on hand in their foaling unit) for best results to reduce the risk of oxygen deprivation and becoming a ‘dummy foal’.Dummy Foal Syndrome occurs 3-5% of the time in live births.The Dummy Foal Syndrome issue is caused by a lack of oxygen in the womb, causing the brain cells of the foal to gradually die off.
This means that the foal may be seemingly healthy to begin with and then start to deteriorate between 24 - 48 hours after birth.It is a horrible and severe condition that has varying clinical signs, with around a 20% mortality rate.When a foal is born too quickly however, it also can develop similar signs to a dummy foal.
This can often be the alternate issue to a ‘red bag’ delivery and it can be hard to distinguish a difference. Foals with Maladjustment Syndrome are particularly common with quick deliveries and in births using caesarean section. Foals can have trouble nursing, seem rather detached from their mother or are often wandering aimlessly.
One technique that we have been applying in recent years, with great success on the right candidate, is the ‘Madigan technique’. In this technique, the foal has pressure applied to it with a soft rope to simulate the birthing process.When the foal is first tied up and the pressure applied it gently collapses to the ground and generally remains very calm for the entire 20-minute period.
There are plenty of good examples that can be viewed here
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=madigan+foal+squeeze+technique
When the foals have the pressure released, it is almost like they are reborn, they often have a big stretch, get up, sometimes a little staggery to begin with, but often they don’t demonstrate the initial signs of detachment they were originally showing.We have had examples, like the foal photographed this week, who was a red bag delivery and didn’t nurse at all from the mare for 18 ½ hours and then only from one side, (instead stomach tubed and bottle fed for 24hrs) was up and nursing from both sides within 3 minutes of the procedure being completed 24 hours after birth.When a foal is born too quickly however, it also can develop similar signs to a dummy foal.This can often be the alternate issue to a ‘red bag’ delivery and it can be hard to distinguish a difference. Foals with Maladjustment Syndrome are particularly common with quick deliveries and in births using caesarean section.
Foals can have trouble nursing, seem rather detached from their mother or are often wandering aimlessly. One technique that we have been applying in recent years, with great success on the right candidate, is the ‘Madigan technique’. In this technique, the foal has pressure applied to it with a soft rope to simulate the birthing process. When the foal is first tied up and the pressure applied it gently collapses to the ground and generally remains very calm for the entire 20-minute period.
There are plenty of good examples that can be viewed here
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=madigan+foal+squeeze+technique
When the foals have the pressure released, it is almost like they are reborn, they often have a big stretch, get up, sometimes a little staggery to begin with, but often they don’t demonstrate the initial signs of detachment they were originally showing. We have had examples, like the foal photographed this week, who was a red bag delivery and didn’t nurse at all from the mare for 18 ½ hours and then only from one side, (instead stomach tubed and bottle fed for 24hrs) was up and nursing from both sides within 3 minutes of the procedure being completed 24 hours after birth.When a foal is born too quickly however, it also can develop similar signs to a dummy foal.This can often be the alternate issue to a ‘red bag’ delivery and it can be hard to distinguish a difference. Foals with Maladjustment Syndrome are particularly common with quick deliveries and in births using caesarean section. Foals can have trouble nursing, seem rather detached from their mother or are often wandering aimlessly. One technique that we have been applying in recent years, with great success on the right candidate, is the ‘Madigan technique’. In this technique, the foal has pressure applied to it with a soft rope to simulate the birthing process.
When the foal is first tied up and the pressure applied it gently collapses to the ground and generally remains very calm for the entire 20-minute period.There are plenty of good examples that can be viewed here
- https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=madigan+foal+squeeze+technique
When the foals have the pressure released, it is almost like they are reborn, they often have a big stretch, get up, sometimes a little staggery to begin with, but often they don’t demonstrate the initial signs of detachment they were originally showing. We have had examples, like the foal photographed this week, who was a red bag delivery and didn’t nurse at all from the mare for 18 ½ hours and then only from one side, (instead stomach tubed and bottle fed for 24hrs) was up and nursing from both sides within 3 minutes of the procedure being completed 24 hours after birth. The Madigan technique has also been useful in cases of foals wandering the box aimlessly and having troubles nursing. After use of the technique, we've seen these issues cease almost immediately. There is research emerging that indicates for both foals as well as humans, that birth via the birth canal can reduce many birth defects, such as autism, when compared with a caesarean birth. A great article explaining why there may be a correlation is below if you wish to read more on the topic
- https://equimanagement.com/news/madigan-foal-squeeze-procedure-neonatal-...If you are wanting to read further, the below reports on an experiment conducted on neonatal foals - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233766576_Evaluation_of_squeeze...
I believe the origins may have been adopted from ancient eastern medicine and work on meridian lines. There have been some fantastic results with the Madigan technique on maladjusted foals that I have witnessed to date and it is certainly another great tool to be able to utilise.
