Pictures Is my mare in foal? No one knows...

Re feed I think I might be having another conversation with the vet. If she is in foal, a great deal of growing is done by the foal in the last month so you might need to think about nutritional requiremnts for "both" of them!!
 
She needs to be on feed as the above poster has said and taking her off it will damage both her and the foal please please re start her feed ASAP
 
BaronSamedi said:
She needs to be on feed as the above poster has said and taking her off it will damage both her and the foal please please re start her feed ASAP
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Calm down, It won't damage the mare and possible foal, but agree that dropping feed quickly isnt ideal.
An in foal mare does not NEED to be on hard feed unless she is lacking dietary input.
This appears to be a perfectly pleasant average native pony type who doesnt appear to need stuffing for 2, but to have a consistent amount of decent hay made available.
Yes, I've had a good number foal down in the past and did my stud diploma a few lot of years ago.
 
We had a section A arrive. She got fatter and fatter and got worked harder and fed less. Still getting fatter. Vet out, yep a foal in there. Foal was by a fressian stallion ?. After we worked out the sire she wasn’t fed any more than normal as we were so worried about the size of foal. She popped out a big foal at 11am in the blink of an eye. Foal thrived and is now 14hh. So not feeding did no harm!
 
I appreciate your concerns, but she, like her parents and herd before her, managed just fine on grass and what they could forage on the Moors, and with ad-lib hay and grazing from first thing in the morning until dusk, Magpie is not going without. I would not do anything to put my mare or a potential foal at risk. The feed was a couple of handfuls of Healthy Hooves as she is barefoot, she was not eating anything that was really going to provide for a foal to start with.

As I said, the vet is coming back next week to give her jabs, and I will call to ensure who they are sending is more knowledgeable about in-foal mares. If there is no change in my pony before by Sunday, she will go back on her Healthy Hooves. She's only been getting that for the last couple of months to start with, and I don't think a couple of handfuls of a feed designed for her feet is going to cause a huge problem. If the vet checks her again and tells me she is in foal, she will get the appropriate feed.
 
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The feed comments reminded me of a BOGOF I worked with over 30 years ago. Little native pony who was bad-tempered, fat, struggling with lami risk and getting fatter. Owners had the vet multiple times, vet was well respected and advice was less feed, more hard exercise. So pony came off all bucket feed, had evening hay reduced, and both owner and I rode daily. One day owner took pony galloping, that night pony dropped a foal... Poor old girl wasn't fat after all - was a surprise for the yard owner doing late night checks though!
 
timefort said:
The feed comments reminded me of a BOGOF I worked with over 30 years ago. Little native pony who was bad-tempered, fat, struggling with lami risk and getting fatter. Owners had the vet multiple times, vet was well respected and advice was less feed, more hard exercise. So pony came off all bucket feed, had evening hay reduced, and both owner and I rode daily. One day owner took pony galloping, that night pony dropped a foal... Poor old girl wasn't fat after all - was a surprise for the yard owner doing late night checks though!
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Very similar story at stables when I was a teen. Pony was on a diet and I was out with the owner building jumps on some waste land and jumping them with our ponies. Her owner was complaining she wasn't jumping as well as usual. Next morning a kid ran up saying 'sally's foaled' and the yo said 'where's she fallen?' and there was a bay colt in with her.
 
Ooh exciting! Have a feel for movement. Place your hand close to teats and another a few inches in front. If you can get her to stand quietly you should feel movement. Then you’ll know for sure ❤️
 
Also had a native pony getting ever fatter, the RI put a foot on her side to get the girth done up (horrible man, subsequently jailed for offences with underage girls!). Next day, there’s a foal in the field. Mum was sadly awful with her so she was hand raised.
 
Fortanedancer said:
Ooh exciting! Have a feel for movement. Place your hand close to teats and another a few inches in front. If you can get her to stand quietly you should feel movement. Then you’ll know for sure ❤️
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Back by her hip shifts about a fair bit, but I haven't felt anything below. I've tried, but she's reluctant to stay still so far. Plus, I have fibromyalgia and bending down long enough to wait for movement would be absolute agony in that position. I do persist in giving it a try whenever she is distracted, though!

As for color, who knows! Her momma was a pinto hill pony, pie or skewbald I'm not sure, I was just told 'colored', but other than that we have no clue what the rest of her family carried for color, or the color or genes of any colt or stallion she may have crossed paths with. So, if she does produce something it would be a 100% surprise.

For once I hope that the weekend doesn't drag on, I just really would like to know once and for all if she is in foal or if we should be looking for other medical reasons behind the changes in her. Financially, it would be preferable for her not to be, honestly, but as the old song goes, whatever will be, will be.
 
The riding school at the yard I used to be on had a little welsh mare who was regularly used for lessons due to being a favourite of the kids and as good as gold. I remember looking at her being lead back after a lesson one day and thinking that her belly looked rather odd for her frame, but I didn’t know much about her so didn’t give it a second thought. A couple of weeks later she came back from a lesson, was untacked and lay down and had a foal.
Foal was a strapping chunky coloured, in good health and is now also a riding school pony.
She would have just been fed the standard riding school feed- hay and a probably a bit of speedi beet for a bucket feed.
 
The same thing happened to me when I first got my mare. After a few months She started to look big in the belly everyone everyone thought she was pregnant. She looks identical to a brood mare in foal . I got her scanned Turn out she wasn’t she had a overy problem that was making her look pregnant. So you can’t really go by looks I am glad you getting a experienced vet out so you will finally find out the truth. If the previous vet couldn’t locate a foal and you mare is that big than she is probably not but I am not a expert. I can understand the stress that comes with it. So I hope you are okay
 
I could well be joining you. Mare colicked this morning, buscopan and bute seemed to ease it but still uncomfortable a couple of hours later so vet back out. Looks like she could be bagging up, waiting for a call back...Said mare is currently on schooling livery, oops! She had a negative test recently but obviously that can give a false negative if they’re due shortly.

I’m in shock, even if it’s not a foal it’s still a huge worry. Blinkin’ ponies eh?!
 
The vet was out this afternoon, and he scanned her. She is not in foal, but she may be experiencing a phantom or false pregnancy brought on by exposure to Merlin. He says that her follicles indicate she is about ready for breeding, as you would expect this time of year, and that if she has never visibly been in season, it is possible that she simply never has been with us. He said she is rather pear-shaped, but that she isn't what he would consider being terribly overweight, just in need of conditioning. He told me that he has seen a lot of ponies of a lot of varying shapes and conditions come off the Moors, and he isn't worried about her. We can bring her into work slowly now as planned, get some muscle on and tone her up. He isn't worried about anything health-wise, so all's well that ends well! I hate that she is experiencing the symptoms of pregnancy with no baby at the end for her, but it is a relief to know that she won't be at risk delivering a foal. We can move into her education and maybe get her driving by the end of the year, and properly backed in the winter. :)
 
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