another surprise foal thread

weesophz

weesophz

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 September 2011
Messages
2,536
Location
West o' Scotland.
www.facebook.com
not mine! but a "like" page of a yard i know just posted saying one of their RS mares had a surprise foal this morning! comments from people who work on the yard on the photo say that no one knew the mare was pregnant, and she was used in a lesson yesterday :eek:
wee mare looks awful ribby, if she was pregnant surely they would have noticed a belly on her?

is it really possible to not know a mare is pregnant right the full way through?! :confused:
 
Well you've read the Tessybear thread! We bought a mare who was unexpectedly in foal but we sussed it at about 7 months however her dam was sold as "not in foal" and produced a foal on her first day in her new home:eek: I've also known a riding school who only realised when working a new mare harder and harder just would NOT get rid of the big belly:( They realised with only a couple of weeks to go.
 
yeah but they didnt have a clue! they came in this morning and there was a foal in the stable with the mare haha. surely they would have noticed the mare bagging up or something, especially if these are experience horse folk who see her every day!
 
Yes it is possible to not know. A yard I worked at even had the vet check out a mare we thought may be, Vet said she wasn't and a month later she gave birth so a lovely liver chesnut colt.
 
Not necessarily, it's happened to two very knowledgable and experienced friends of mine. I think sometimes the mares just don't show classic signs.
 
My wee mare years ago showed no signs of being in foal she was a wee chunky type , first thing we knew was when the yard owner phoned to say there's little hoofs sticking out your mare !! Vet was phoned but unfortunately the foal died as was too big for my 12.2hh mare she had been covered at her last yard by a very young 16.2hh stallon and nobody knew , its very irresponsible as we could have lost our mare aswell !
God only knows how they done the deed I'm presuming she stood on a mound lol !
 
I think people can be very unobservant these days which is the problem, they just don't see the minute changes that will have happened whether that be physical or mentally.
There's never a truer saying than 'watch your horse' if you want to learn about it.
 
We have never owned a mare, have no clue about foaling or foals and her belly has only recently just changed shape due to being a broody in the past. We rang vet as soon as she bagged up and lost bum muscle again only later on. I think it's quite easy to do if you don't know what to look for ! :)
 
tessybear said:
I think it's quite easy to do if you don't know what to look for ! :)
Click to expand...

But everyone should be able to notice that their mare has changed shape (as you did) and begin to question themselves why she's changed shape. You don't have to be an expert on mares, you don't even have to have an inkling that she might be BUT you do have to be observant to actually notice and many owners aren't, sadly.

Very old but true story; I was a typical 14 yr old RS girl, there all w/e and any spare days (I even played truant to go there! :o:eek:) and as you do with friends, you'd hang over the door watching your favourite pony. My fave was a mare called Poppet, only been with the RS for a couple of months; she had come pretty poor but was improving and it was me that noticed yes, she was putting on weight but she was putting more on her abdomen than anywhere else so I muted about not being right, could she be in foal (in the hope!) Now I had never seen a mare in foal before so wouldn't have known what one looked like but she was looking totally different from a pony just putting weight on, even I as a child had noticed it. Owner poo pooed it but a bit later noticed it himself so got her vet checked; a month later she had a lovely chestnut filly that I was allowed to name, Frolic; it even made news in the local paper! :eek:
As I said before, people need to open their eyes and really watch their horses for the tiniest alteration, it would save so many being surprised then in possibly less than ideal circumstances.
 
Maesfen said:
I think people can be very unobservant these days which is the problem, they just don't see the minute changes that will have happened whether that be physical or mentally.
There's never a truer saying than 'watch your horse' if you want to learn about it.
Click to expand...

It all really depends how long the mare has to go when you buy her , knowing your horse comes with time spent
 
Since there is women who doesn't get the "classic" pregnant mother tummy or other noticeable common signs that is usually connected with being pregnant, I presume that there can be mares that doesn't get a "classical" pregnant mare tummy or other noticeable common signs that is usually connected with pregnant mares (i.e. udder changes etc.).

There is also "home-blindness", when there is only small changes, you can sort of get used to the small changes without knowingly noticing them. I've heard that some mares that has had several foals, can look somewhat pregnant even when not, and I've heard (both on HHO and on other places) about people who has had a mare checked by a veterinarian, and been told that she wasn't in foal, which might lead to that it takes a bit longer, before the owner begins to think that the veterinarian had missed something.

Anyhow, I don't know if it is possible "to not know a mare is pregnant right the full way through?!", I only presume that it perhaps can be possible.
 
i dont know anything either haha, but the size of this little mare and the size of her foal i imagine she would have been pretty big in her belly, and the fact she looks in quite poor condition (she looks pretty skinny in the photos, foaly looks nice and chubby chunky though :)) i thought would have made it more obvious! but again im no expert. foaly and mum were lucky to be ok since she was used in a lesson the day before foaling!
 
I can see how it would happen if you've only recently bought the mare, as you may think they are just a bit round, especially these cobby ones like Tess :-) If you've had the horse longer than 11 months then I'd say people need to be more observant of what they're getting up to out in the field and with whom!
 
We had a mare on our yard when I was a child who went eventing and hunter trialing all spring and when we went to fetch her in to go again trialing she had a colt foal overnight. Noone knew she was pregnant as it happened three more mares foaled shortly after all were by a cryptorchid thoroughbred that the vet had said was sterile and could be mixed with the girls He was gelded very smartly after that. they had to go hunting for his testicles but they were definitely there
 
There was one in the RS where I kept my horse years back.
She'd been doing Chase me Charlie height the day before :eek:. When one of the lads went to get her in next morning, he ran back to the yard to tell the YO, who thought he was joking :D.
Honestly, this mare was fit and lean, she certainly didn't look pregnant. Her foal was on the small side but soon picked up :)
 
Had A TB mare at the yard I was on, we knew she was pregnant but she didn't look it, sent her away to stud to foal down, even stud manager was worried that her udder wasn't big and she would have no milk to feed the foal. She did not look in foal, very trim and tidy. Foal was bloody huge as well lol, dunno where she was hiding it, and she fed her fine as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top