Am I being stupid here?

[natalie123]

Has anyone had any experience with anything simluar to this... I sent my mare to stud last year upon return she was in foal. by september I had her blood tested and she came back not in foal. We hunted over winter untill she injured her self in the field in march, she was then put out to grass to allow her hock to recover, by the start of may she was really getting fat so I started to bring her in at night and put her on a diet as her hock injury had not recovered enough to start back in the saddle, a few weeks later I noticed udder development at which point I called the vet out who gave her a rectal and declared she wasn't in foal just fat and the development was more than likely fat deposits, I've just returned from the yard tonight where I discovered that my mare was waxed up - for her to be in foal from her covering last year she would now be over 400 days not possible? I just don't know what to make of it I'll be calling the vet out in the morning to explain it, but can anyone give any explainations in the mean time?

 

[sally259]

Maybe a phantom pregnancy. My mum's mare had one years ago. Don't remember anything about it tho.

 

[JanetGeorge]

It IS possible (if unlikely) that she is still in foal - the longest reported pregnancy resulting in a live foal is 419 days. Blood tests are usually pretty accurate if the timing is right though. And it IS possible for a vet to miss a pregnancy late term as the foal can be carried very low. It can also be missed by rectal scanning for the same reason.

I wouldn't get too excited about the possibility of an impending birth - but I wouldn't rule it out either. And if she waits until 420 days, then hopefully there'll be a NEW record pregnancy resulting in a live foal.

Someone on my forum had a mare go over 400 days last year - vets didn't say she wasn't pregnant - but they DID say the foal was dead and wanted to induce it. Fortunately they didn't - because it wasn't!

 

[lhillman]

hi. i see your reply to another post. my vet could not see the foal wen doing a scan as it was low. we believe she was between 9 and 10 months gone. he was sure she was in foal as she had lots of fluid in her uterus and the left horn was not visible as it was too low for him to reach. he took a blood test but i thought it was too late to tell that way. i always thought it was only up untill 110 days of gestation. my mare is still showing all the signs and as i have had two foals from her and owned her all her life, i am inclined to follow my mares instincts. am i right in thinking the blood test could be wrong?

 

[KenRehill]

Actually, there was a live birth in Australia last year at 435 days.

 

[AndyPandy]

And I think the World Record still stands at 445

 

[nikkiportia]

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not a horse

Imagine carrying a lump around for that long!

 

[KenRehill]

That's right, I got a digit wrong

 

[toffeesmarty]

What did vet say?