Rural Heritage December 2025/January 2026

but make sure you treat them at birth and at least daily for a few days.) We were at a loss. We had never seen a colt in this condition. Though he showed only slight symptoms of being a “dummy foal,” we employed the Madigan squeeze technique (see picture and caption) to rule that out. Usual signs of a “dummy” is lack of suck response, lethargy, disoriented and lack of awareness. We replayed his birth on our camera. It was a perfect birth, probably 12 minutes from the time we saw front feet and nose until he was out of the birth canal and breathing on his own, but, again, it couldn’t hurt to try and “reset” him with the technique. Sadly, it did not work. He still could not get up. Day three, he went for a walk beside mom out on our dry lot. He was as shaky as a foal who was only hours old, not days. His rear feet foal slippers were sort of balled up. His not standing and walking was inhibiting the transition from slipper to frog. This only added to his problem, as he was balancing on what appeared to be half a tennis ball. His front

After knocking his umbilical open, his umbilical was tied to prevent bleeding.

The Madigan technique was applied to simulate the kind of pressure the colt should have felt in the birth canal which is believed to trigger a “reset” of its central nervous system, helping the colt stand and nurse on its own.

Rural Heritage

62